Desolate Era

The godlike sword carved through the air, leaving behind streaks of sword-light that looked like petals frozen in the air. The streaks of sword-light then all connected to each other into a beautiful arc, and it was as though the dazzling, snow-white sword-light had come alive. It was like a dazzling snow flower that had bloomed with breathtaking beauty, and the petals of that flower just so happened to pass through the eight-armed giant’s body, leaving behind a single giant wound.

Ji Ning’s sword-intent spread out through the power of karma, instantly annihilating every scrap of truesoul the eight-armed giant possessed. The giant’s life energy instantly vanished… but the dazzlingly beautiful snow flower of sword-light continued to hover there in the air.

Clink! Ning once more returned his sword into the sheath on his back… and with that, time seemed to return back to normal once more.

“Ah?!”

“This…”

“He twisted time?”

“That scene… it’s been forever burned into my memories.” The cultivators of Houwu City were all shocked. That sword-strike had been so beautiful! In addition, they had been able to see everything with perfect clarity. The drawing of the sword, the chopping, the flower of sword-light, the re-sheathing… it had all been clearly visible.

It must be remembered that it was extremely difficult to see the attacks of Hegemons with clarity! And to be precise, it wasn’t that they had really seen Ning’s attacks clearly; rather, Ning’s sword-arts had emblazoned themselves into their memories, making it impossible for them to forget any detail.

Boom! The eight-armed giant fell down from the skies, landing on the ground below.

“It has a Sithe treasure on it!” Quite a few cultivators instantly grew excited. Everyone could tell that those chains were quite extraordinary… but none of them dared to go and take it.

“Ugh. A major power like him would never suffer insults lightly.” The red-robed maiden couldn’t help but sigh as she watched from afar. She had wanted to stop the giant, but failed. “They are fine when calm, but when angered the end result shall be calamity. He had always been an idiot, but how could he be such an idiot in front such a major power?”

It was much like how no one would dare to offend an Autarch, or even an Autarch’s friends, family, and servants. There was no one who could endure the consequences of enraging an Autarch! The red-robed maiden could see that Daolord Darknorth was also someone who couldn’t be offended by the likes of her.

“The Eight-Armed Hill was simply too stupid. He deserved to die for offending you, Daolord Darknorth,” the red-robed maiden said hurriedly. “As for those cultivators the Ruler seeks to capture… Daolord, what do you think?

“There’s no way I can hand them over to you,” Ning said. “Go ahead and tell the Blazesun Ruler that there’s no way I’ll hand them over. That’s my bottom line! Anything else is negotiable, but if we cannot come to an agreement and he insists on killing them… then there’s nothing I can say or do. Your Ruler can come by himself or bring his army; I, Darknorth, will be waiting for him.”

The red-robed woman’s heart trembled. What a fierce thing to say. There really were very few cultivators who would dare to say something like this to the Blazesun Ruler.

“I’ll inform the Ruler about this. I’ll be leaving now, then,” the red-robed maiden said. As she spoke, she turned and immediately departed alongside the remaining creatures under her command. No one paid any attention to the eight-armed giant’s corpse, nor did they dare to go pick up the Sithe weapon he had left behind.

Ning watched from afar as those creatures hurriedly departed into the horizons.

“Darknorth,” Nuwa said, a hint of apology in her eyes, “Because of me, you…”

“Haha, I’m someone who failed the Daomerge. Even if I’m extremely careful, I only have a few thousand chaos cycles left. A few less years won’t make any difference,” Ning said with a laugh.

“Then what of the Blazesun Ruler?” Nuwa was worried.

“Daolord, the Blazesun Ruler is a truly supreme Sourcewalker,” the nearby Hegemon Goodsong said.

Ning slowly nodded. “The Blazesun Ruler’s power cannot be underestimated. If we can avoid battle, that would be the best solution. Everyone, make your preparations. This very day, we shall depart from Houwu City!”

“Alright.”

“We’ll head out today.” Patriarch Treewind and Imperator Jade Rainbow had come over as well, and they fully supported Ning’s decision. Although they knew Daolord Darknorth was incredibly powerful, they still felt a degree of fear towards the Blazesun Ruler! It was better to avoid battle.

……

That very day, Ning led Nuwa, Patriarch Treewind, and the others in departing from Houwu City.

“Be careful on your journey, Daolord.” Lord Houwu watched from afar as the realmship vanished from his demesnes.

“Lord Governor, you were far too rash! If you had merely asked Daolord Darknorth for some pointers, he would’ve agreed to give you some guidance,” the nearby silver-browed elder said.

“Forget it. That ship has already sailed. Just being able to witness that dazzling sword-strike was all worth it,” Lord Houwu said. “That sword-strike… I will probably never be able to forget it. It was simply too incredible.”

That dazzling, snow-colored, flower-like sword had already surpassed the limits of sword-arts. It truly was unsurpassably beautiful.

……

The Blazesun Domain was a truly mysterious place. It was filled with many Sithe treasuries, Sourcewalkers, Chaos Primordials, strange creatures, and multiple otherverses. It was one of the most marvelous places of the Chaosverse, one of the Eight Domains.

Swoosh! The red-robed woman and the crimson bloodfiend leader flew through the void side-by-side, finally landing upon a long walkway of frozen ice.

For a walkway of frozen ice to appear within the blazingly hot Blazesun Domain was truly a marvelous thing. Thanks to its vast size, the Blazesun Domain was a self-contained system unto itself that was extremely stable, and filled with places that had both mud and water. Ice, however, was still very rare, much less an entire walkway made out of ice.

The frozen walkway was semi-translucent and stretched off for countless kilometers. It was lined with stone columns to each side, and each column had a ball of fire blazing on top.

The red-robed maiden and the crimson bloodfiend leader walked across the walkway of ice. After walking for a time, they saw an enormous altar that had been sculpted out of ice. It had many layers of frozen steps which led to a frozen throne at the very top.

Atop the frozen throne sat a muscular man whose entire body was black. He was dressed in black armor, and his eyes were two blazing balls of fire. He rested his jaw on one hand as he stared downwards and said calmly, “The Eight-Armed Hill’s lifestone has shattered, which means it is dead. How did it die? I do not believe the Lord Governor of Houwu City has the courage to launch a war against me! In addition, I’ve never humiliated or made things too difficult for their city. This time, they went too far in destroying something which I loved.”

The crimson bloodfiend leader shivered, not saying a word. The red-robed maiden, however, bowed respectfully: “Ruler, we went on your orders to apprehend those five cultivators. As you said, the Lord Governor of Houwu City would never dare to make an enemy out of you… but those five cultivators have a powerful backer.”

“A backer?” The muscular black figure stared downwards at them.

“Yes.” The red-robed maiden said hurriedly, “Their backer is named Daolord Darknorth!”

“A Daolord?” The muscular black figure was instantly astonished. In truth, neither the red-robed maiden or the Blazesun Ruler had heard the name ‘Daolord Darknorth’ before! Although the legend of Ning had spread quite far by now, it had only spread amongst the cultivators. No one would go out of their way to share news like this to Sourcewalkers or the other civilizations! In addition, the Sourcewalkers were located quite far away from each other; it was generally quite hard for them to send word to their fellows. Thus, there were very few Sourcewalkers who knew the legend of Daolord Darknorth.

“Are you joking with me?” the Blazesun Ruler said coldly.

“I wouldn’t dare.”

“We would never dare to lie to you, Ruler!” the crimson bloodfiend said hurriedly. “It truly was a Daolord, an extremely powerful one. He didn’t even use any techniques at all; he simply manifested countless streaks of sword-light in the world, and every single streak of sword-light was capable of slaying Hegemons with ease! He was utterly terrifying. I was completely dazed when I saw this.”

“What? He manifested countless streaks of sword-light, each of which could slay Hegemons?” The Blazesun Ruler rose to his feet in shock.

“Yes.” The red-robed maiden said hurriedly, “It should’ve been a domain formed by the Dao of the Sword! A terrifying one at that. The Eight-Armed Hill, that fool, actually thought that Daolord Darknorth was just faking it and putting on a false front, insisting on charging towards Daolord Darknorth and attacking him. I couldn’t even stop him! Daolord Darknorth used just a single blow of his sword to kill the Eight-Armed Hill. In addition, Daolord Darknorth is a Daolord who has failed the Daomerge. I can sense that his soul and truesoul were slowly dissipating with every passing breath.”

The Blazesun Ruler murmured softly, “I’ve never even heard of such a terrifying Sword Dao domain. Can it be… a legendary ‘Eternal Omega Dao’, one of the sword?”

Omega Daos were all legends. The Blazesun Ruler knew of them, but he also knew that no one had ever succeeded in the Daomerge for an Omega Dao, and that no one had ever mastered an Eternal Omega Dao! But when he heard of how Ning had created such a terrifying Sword Dao domain, and that Ning was a Daolord who had failed the Daomerge… save for the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, the Blazesun Ruler couldn’t think of any other possibility.

“Interesting.” The Blazesun Ruler’s eyes lit up, and the flames that served for his eyes suddenly glowed brighter. “A Daolord who has failed the Daomerge but mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao? I’ve never heard of such a thing. Finally, something interesting has appeared to break up the monotony of life.”