Desolate Era

“I wish to find a female cultivator,” Ji Ning said.

“Find a female cultivator?” The three generals and the Black Emperors were all rather puzzled, as was the nearby Realmslord Windgrace. They all knew that Ning had trained for a fairly brief period of time and hadn’t travelled to many places; it should be easy for him to find a female cultivator. There was no need to send the entire Icepeak Army to carry out a task like this.

“Her name is Nuwa,” Ning said. “She hasn’t trained for very long either, and she should be incredibly talented. She might be a Daolord, but she might also have become an Eternal Emperor. She is most likely located in a place which is extremely far away from the Flamedragon Realmverse.”

Ning hadn’t visited too many places, but he had accumulated records on all the Daolords and Emperors of the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance. There had been no records of Nuwa at all!

Clearly, ever since Nuwa left the Three Realms she had never again appeared within the territory of the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance. After Ning had mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, he had reached an inconceivably high level of insight. He was now in control of one of the prime essences of the Chaosverse, the prime essence of the Dao of the Sword. In other words, he now had a vague understanding of how the entire Chaosverse itself functioned, giving him a greater degree of insight into fate! Mother Nuwa and Ning were connected to each other by karma, because the very first step Ning had taken as a mortal… was to study the [Nuwa Painting]!

After Ning had completed and mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, he was able to sense through the whispers of fate that Nuwa was still alive in an extremely remote part of the Chaosverse!

“Nuwa?” The three generals, Realmslord Windgrace, and the Black Emperors all revealed puzzled expressions.

“None of you have heard of her?” Ning couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed when he saw the looks on their faces. Realmslord Windgrace had many friends but was permanently stationed in the Hiddenfiend Realmverse; it wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t heard of Nuwa. The Icepeak Army, however, roved the Chaosverse and visited many places. Ning had thought that they might have heard of her, especially since Ning felt certain that Nuwa’s level of talent must have led her to accomplish great things!

It must be remembered that when the Pangu Chaosworld and the Seamless Chaosworld collided, that represented the smashing together of two Autarch-level godgems. In the resulting battle, Nuwa had broken through to the World level! Karmic luck had descended upon her, resulting in a great deal of the essence fragments of the Autarch’s godgems to swirl around her as well.

It was incredibly rare and marvelous for a cultivator to break through to the World level without any guidance whatsoever. Even Ning had merely been at the Elder God/Ancestral Immortal level when he left the Three Realms. True, Ning had only trained for a fairly brief period of time… but Mother Nuwa was definitely in a class of her own during the ‘Primordial Era’ of the Pangu Chaosworld. She had definitely surpassed the Three Sovereigns, Tathagata, Three Purities, and Subhuti, and she was the unquestioned leader of the Nuwa Alliance. By now, even Subhuti and Windfiend had fused multiple Supreme Daos together. Ning felt certain that Nuwa wouldn’t be inferior to any of them.

That meant that Nuwa would probably be quite famous in the region she was currently in! If the Icepeak Army had visited her region, it was highly likely that they would’ve heard mention of the name ‘Nuwa’.

“Haven’t heard of her.” Lord Wulf shook his head, then turned and barked, “Have any of you heard of a ‘Nuwa’ before?”

“No.”

“We’ve roamed through many places, but we’ve never heard of a powerful female cultivator named Nuwa.”

“Haven’t heard of her.” They all shook their heads.

Ning turned to look at Realmslord Windgrace, who immediately shook his head. “I haven’t heard of her either. Daolord Darknorth, the Icepeak Army has visited many places. If even they haven’t heard of her, she’s not going to be easy to find.”

Ning frowned. “Nuwa has only trained for a short period of time; perhaps she isn’t well-known yet. Icepeak Army, the mission I have for you is for you to ride realmships to one realmverse after another. Spread the word on my behalf! Say that I, Daolord Darknorth, am searching for a female cultivator named ‘Nuwa’. She should have only been training for roughly a hundred chaos cycles of ‘normal’ time. You can also make it known that I, Daolord Darknorth, will owe a debt to the first person to find Nuwa for me. I can use treasures to pay off my debt, but I can also help deal with someone… such as the Lonely King, who I slew!”

“This…” Realmslord Windgrace and the Icepeak Army were shocked. This offer was a crazy one. The Lonely King had been an incredible figure in the Chaosverse, a mighty ruler in his sector. Daolord Darknorth’s promise was definitely enough to drive many major powers wild with excitement.

A favor from Daolord Darknorth was definitely something worth having!

“Hurry up and spread the word to as many realmverses as you can. This is the only task I have for you,” Ning said. “Once I find Nuwa, you’ll gain your freedom. If I cannot find her, then you’ll be released from this oath after I die and my Dao vanishes.”

“Very well.”

“Don’t worry, Daolord Darknorth.” The three generals and the Black Emperors all immediately agreed. This was an incredibly simple task; all they had to do was serve as a messenger! Daolord Darknorth wasn’t going to be around for much longer; at most, he’d survive for another thousand chaos cycles. This was quite easy. The Icepeak Army immediately swore the requisite lifeblood oaths.

“Go now. If anyone discovers Nuwa, they can immediately inform Windgrace. When he knows, I’ll know,” Ning said. In the end, he himself simply didn’t know enough people. Even if someone did locate Nuwa, it would be quite difficult for that person to find Ning. Windgrace, however, had a wide network of friends; it would be far easier for others to reach him.

“Understood.” The members of the Icepeak Army all assented to his order, then excitedly departed.

How could they not be excited? This wasn’t the calamitous punishment they had expected; in fact, it was a huge blessing in disguise! Now that the Lonely King was dead, their lives were their own again. They would truly be free once more. How many major powers were truly willing to serve as pawns and footsoldiers for another? Long ago, they had been weak and thus lusted after the power which becoming a Black Emperor or Gold Emperor would grant them, which was why they had gritted their teeth and accepted servitude.

Now? They didn’t lose any of the power they had gained, nor was their fate in the hands of another. They were all free. Wasn’t this a wonderful thing? And once they helped Daolord Darknorth locate ‘Nuwa’, they would become truly and perpetually free.

“Windgrace.” Ning looked at Windgrace. “You can probably guess what I need you to do.”

“A simple task. I’ll send the word out as widely as I can,” Realmslord Windgrace said.

“Good.” Ning nodded. “Sorry to trouble you, Realmslord.”

“Tis nothing at all.” Realmslord Windgrace secretly let out a sigh of relief as well. Daolord Darknorth truly was an easy-going person. Many cultivators in his position would behave much more ruthlessly! Given that Ning had already failed the Daomerge, no one would’ve been surprised if he had turned ruthless and chose to simply kill Windgrace. If that happened, Windgrace wouldn’t even have had a chance to feel regret! Thus, he had waited nervously for Ning’s judgment, not daring to argue in the slightest. But now, it seemed, Ning’s request was quite simple. All he had to do was to spread the word.

……

The story of the legendary battle which occurred after Daolord Darknorth’s attempted Daomerge was quickly spread by Realmslord Windgrace, the Hegemons and Emperors of the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance, and the Icepeak Army. The latter rode realmships in every direction, spreading the news far and wide. As a result, word spread like a tempest!

Although the Chaosverse was so vast that spreading information was usually quite difficult, this particular bit of news was utterly astonishing, especially given how famous the Lonely King was. As a result, news truly did spread quite fast.

……

“Old man! Old man! A giant foot came crashing down through the clouds and slamming against the surface of an enormous planet, causing the earth to tremble. The towering figure to which the giant foot belonged continued to bellow, “Hurry up and wake up, you blind old man!”

“FUCK OFF!” a hoarse, ear-piercing voice rang out from deep underneath the earth.

“Hurry up and wake up! Something big just happened. Stop sleeping! This time, the towering figure stomped down on the ground using his two bare feet, causing the earth to shudder and shake.

“One day, I’m going to EAT you,” the hoarse, unpleasant voice said. A boom rang out, followed by the entire planet exploding as an ugly black bird appeared in its center. This bird had just a single eye, but the eye was shut. It looked rather like an owl, but it had a pair of extremely large black wings.

“I’ve got some good news for you, you blind old man! A while ago, the Lonely King sent the Icepeak Army after you and forced you into fleeing, right?” The speaker was an alien Hegemon dressed in simple armor and who had two furry heads. “The Lonely King died!”

“Why are you mentioning this again? I TOLD you to never… huh? Did you just say the Lonely King died?” The black avian let out a startled, ear-piercing screech.

“It’s true! Word has spread to our Fivebug Realmverses. You’re probably the only one who doesn’t know because you spend all your time sleeping!” the two-headed Hegemon said.

“How’d he die?” the black avian immediately asked. “Given how strong the Lonely King was, so long as he didn’t do anything suicidal there shouldn’t be anyone capable of killing him.”

“Heh heh heh… I have to tell you a story about someone truly remarkable named Daolord Darknorth.” The two-headed Hegemon immediately began to narrate the story.