The Desolate Era

“Seal!” A cold voice suddenly rang out from the Sacred Realm in front of them. A streak of light shot out from the Sacred Realm, forming a membrane in front of it that denied entry. A moment later, the four triangular weapons surrounding Ji Ning suddenly unleashed a blast of utterly terrifying power.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The four triangular weapons released all of the power held within them in a final explosion, blasting apart and sending shrapnel in every direction and creating a zone of death around them! There was no way one could avoid this zone attack, as the entire area was filled with explosive waves of power. Even the Blazesun Ruler would’ve been reduced to dust if enveloped by such powerful explosions.

“They actually detonated such incredibly valuable treasures?” Ning held a single Northbow sword at the ready. Swoosh! He suddenly sent out a swirl of sword-light that chopped through the space surrounding him like tofu, causing it to ripple and form into a dimensional barrier which surrounded and protected him.

“Time to go.” Ning wasn’t going to just stand there like a fool. Swish! Using his Dao of Space, Ning transformed himself into a dimensional shard that fled off into the distance! When any of the explosive power struck him, the dimensional barrier surrounding Ning would simply deflect it with a slight ripple. This level of power might be able to easily breach the defenses of a Sithe Exalt or the Blazesun Ruler, but the defensive power of Ning’s Space Sword Dao was far too great.

However... given enough time, the power would still be depleted and exhausted. action

Rumble... the dimensional tunnel had been completely disintegrated, while the four terrifying triangular weapons had exploded apart into countless little shards. Ning rapidly flew away from this region, ensuring that the detonations were unable to harm him in the slightest.

A short while later, Ning came to a halt. Northbow sword in hand and Sword Dao Domain surrounding him, Ning scanned the nearby area.

“So this is the seam between the eight realms, eh?” Ning mused to himself. Now that the dimensional tunnel had been destroyed, Ning was trapped within the seam between the realms. Space was incredibly chaotic and twisted here, but given Ning’s level of mastery he wasn’t impeded by it at all.

Whoosh. Ning used his Sword Dao Domain to separate the surrounding dangers from himself, then quickly advanced towards the front. A short while later, he saw an enormous membrane. Behind it, he could vaguely make out a vast world filled with incredible amounts of power.

“The Sacred Realm.” Ning immediately knew that the world beyond the membrane had to be the ‘Sacred Realm’, but the dimensional membrane was incredibly tough; Ning didn’t even need to test it with his Sword Dao Domain to know that there was no chance of using it to punch through.

“Even the membranes surrounding the six mortal realms of this hidden dimension were incredibly tough and durable. If I couldn’t break through them, I have no chance at all at this one around the Sacred Realm,” Ning mused. “The six mortal realms, the Sacred Realm, and Purgatory have all been completely sealed off. Does that mean I’ve been trapped here permanently?”

“No, that can’t be right. The Sithe wouldn’t do such a thing.” Ning quickly came to this realization. If the Sithe had merely wanted to trap him, they could’ve simply sealed off the Realmgate and kept Ning permanently trapped within the ordinary realm he was in.

“Let’s go check out the other places.” Ning flew through the vast realm-seam, moving towards some of the other realms.

......

The Sacred Realm.

This was the supreme world which was used to control this hidden dimension. Many powerful Sithe were located here, and at the center of this world was a trio of towering mountains. Each mountain had a pagoda at the peak, and each pagoda was exactly twelve stories tall! They all emanated auras of dazzling light that caused spacetime to ripple and twist within the area of their illumination.

These were the three Elder Palaces which the most mysterious and most exalted denizens of the Sacred Realm dwelt. However, the auras of two Elder Palaces were rather dim and weak; only one of them continued to radiate an aura of incandescent splendor.

Within the brightest Elder Palace. A large group of experts were standing within it, staring through the palace gates to the world outside. At their head stood a youth dressed in deep blue robes. His hair was deep blue while his was face grim and cold. He held his hands behind his back, standing ramrod-straight and emanating an awesome aura.

“We failed.” The blue-haired youth frowned. “It really is hard to get rid of someone in control of an Eternal Omega Dao.”

“Exalt.” Some of the Hegemons and Emperors standing behind him had undergone the Ritual Sacrificium, and one of the Hegemons spoke out: “Exalt, where did this white-robed Daolord come from? We detonated four Calamity-class weapons but still were unable to do anything to him.”

“Enough.” The blue-haired youth waved his hand, then turned to stare at the Hegemons and Emperors behind him. He said in a calm voice, “We failed our first attempt, which means it is now up to Purgatory to act! If Purgatory succeeds, this matter shall be at an end. If Purgatory fails, we’ll have no choice but to draw him into the Sacred Realm and resolve this through battle!”

“Master, why? He’s a Daolord who failed the Daomerge. His truesoul is crumbling away! So long as we keep him completely sealed within these eight realms and ensure that he is trapped within the realm-seam, he’ll die of natural causes,” a red-robed youth said.

“If he really did die of natural causes, that would be an absolute waste.” The blue-haired youth shook his head. “I’m not going to explain any further. We have to do everything in our power to kill him, even if it costs us our very lives! No price is too great to pay if it means killing him. This is our responsibility as Sithe.”

“Understood,” the red-robed youth said.

“Send word to Purgatory,” the blue-haired youth said. “Once the white-robed Daolord reaches Purgatory, Purgatory is to send all of the exiles against him. If they can kill the white-robed Daolord, they’ll not only be allowed to come back to the Sacred Realm, they’ll also be heavily rewarded. As for the person who actually managed to kill the Daolord... I’ll give him control over one of the two Elder Halls.”

“Control over an Elder Hall?”

“T-that’s not appropriate.”

“How can an exile be worthy of controlling an Elder Hall?” Everyone in the hall began to speak out in shock.

The blue-haired youth swept them with his icy gaze, quickly silencing them all. He explained calmly, “Tell them that the white-robed Daolord is incredibly powerful; their only option is to kill him through exhaustion and attrition. They also need to remember to keep the Soul-Eating Mantra active at all times! They need to make sure that they swallow all of the truesoul fragments that are breaking off of him.”

Exalts were not to be questioned or challenged. Long ago, this hidden dimension actually had a total of three Exalts. Later on, this dimension had sent out a grand army to take part in the war, with two of the Exalts personally leading that army. This Exalt had been left behind to guard the hidden dimension... but alas, those two departed Exalts had never returned.

The blue-haired youth turned and departed. With his departure, the Hegemons and Emperors left in the hall quickly scattered as well.

After leaving the hall, two Sithe Hegemons began to quietly whisper amongst themselves while they walked out side-by-side. “This is a Daolord in control of an Eternal Omega Dao. If we can somehow kill him, we’ll be given unimaginable rewards.” These two Hegemons were extremely excited. “This is doubly true for the Exalt. Even if he dies, once his truesoul returns home, he’ll be rewarded by being brought back to life via spacetime reversal. No wonder the Exalt is so excited over this.”

Reviving an Exalt was incredibly difficult, but the Sithe Lord of Chaos was capable of it. However, this would cause a degree of injury to the prime essences of that Chaosverse; generally speaking, a Lord of Chaos would be unwilling to make that sort of sacrifice.

However... if one accomplished great deeds, one had to be rewarded for it! Killing someone who was in control of an Eternal Omega Dao was viewed as a slightly greater deed than even killing an Autarch would be! If they were successful, then the Exalt would not only be brought back to life, he would be given many gifts as well. It truly would be a case of him rising to preeminence.

“Unfortunately, that Daolord is terrifyingly strong. Otherwise, we’d charge out and kill him ourselves.”

“Yes, he’s absolutely terrifying. Not even the Exalt dares to challenge him. He’s in control of an Eternal Omega Dao, and this is his Chaosverse. With the support of the Dao, he’s virtually invincible.”

“Thankfully, his truesoul is crumbling away! The more he fights, the faster the truesoul will break apart. That’s why the exiles in Purgatory have a chance.”

“However, the Exalt was quite odd about this. Why did he say that the person who killed the white-robed Daolord would be allowed to take control over an Elder Hall? Many of the exiles were local natives. Is he really going to let a local take control over an Elder Hall? They might be our progeny, but they were born in this Chaosverse, not our own; that makes them native to this Chaosverse, and they are born with power over the Dao. If we let one of them take control over an Elder Hall, that person might become a source of trouble.”

“Don’t worry, our progeny swore long ago not to betray us. And... in the end, they are our children. They share our blood. Why would they view us as enemies?”

“They are still natives; they aren’t true Sithe like us. They belong to this Chaosverse, while we belong to a different one. In the end, this is an insurmountable difference.”

“But we Sithe gave birth to them!”

“Enough, enough. Let’s not argue about this.” These two Hegemons were not native to this hidden dimension. Rather, they had invaded this Chaosverse alongside the grand Sithe army.

Clearly, the true Sithe viewed the ‘Sithe progeny’ in this hidden dimension as being different from them.