The Desolate Era

In a different, incredibly distant part of the Chaosverse.

A vast layer of golden clouds could be seen here within the emptiness of space. Above the clouds, there were many divine palaces that emanated rays of golden light. The palaces were all connected together and emanated such incredible light that it illuminated the cosmos.

Within a side room inside the tallest, most towering palace. A white-winged man was standing by himself, staring into the endless darkness outside his window. He said calmly, “Demon Empress, why have you come here?”

Another person was within the room, a blood-winged woman with a single horn. She had a smile on her face that was filled with strange, beguiling charisma. “God Emperor Helong, we were once Dao-companions. Why must you be so heartless to me? For the sake of your Dao, of your [God Emperor’s Apocalypse], you were willing to give up even your Dao-companions. Even if you do succeed in becoming an Autarch, would it all be worth it?”

“Karma brought us into each other’s path, then took us away from each other. Our ties are ended,” God Emperor Helong said calmly. “No need to waste time on such nonsense. Why have you come here?”

“You’ve always thought of yourself as being an extraordinary figure,” the blood-winged woman smirked, “But have you heard of someone known as ‘Daolord Darknorth’?”

“Daolord Darknorth. A Daolord?” God Emperor Helong was puzzled.

“Hmph. I knew you wouldn’t know.” The blood-winged woman said, “While meeting with a few of my friends, I heard some interesting news. You should’ve heard of the Lonely King of the Icepeak Army, yes?”

God Emperor Helong said coldly, “He was destroyed by his love and went insane. He’s not worth discussing.”

“But he was still fairly strong,” the blood-winged woman laughed. “Are you able to kill him?”

“He engaged in the Ritual Sacrificium to become a Golden Emperor, and is also protected by multiple Sithe war machines. I heard that he once destroyed an otherverse. I admit that he’s quite strong. Killing him would be very difficult... but someone like him, who purely focuses on power, will have a Dao-heart which is riddled with flaws,” God Emperor Helong said disdainfully.

“The Daolord Darknorth I just mentioned to you? He killed the Lonely King with just one swing of his sword,” the blood-winged woman said.

“Impossible!” God Emperor Helong’s face completely changed. “Impossible. There’s no way it could be done with one strike, and no way it could be done by a Daolord! One would at least have to have the power of a Sithe Exalt to accomplish this!”

The blood-winged woman said, “Let me finish. Daolord Darknorth is an incredibly talented figure, and he trains in one of the legendary Omega Daos. He convinced a Hegemon to follow him as a retainer, and also tamed a Chaos Primordial! Not long ago he finally attempted the Daomerge! Although he failed in the Daomerge, the failure allowed him to truly understand and comprehend the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, and so he used just one strike of his sword to slay the Lonely King, who had come to take his Chaos Primordial from him. Realmslord Windgrace and the Icepeak Army were so terrified that they immediately moved to obey all his commands.”

“Eternal Omega Sword Dao?” God Emperor Helong was stunned.

“There’s always someone stronger than the strongest! Even in the cultivator civilizations, there are now those aside from the Autarchs who are more powerful than you, such as Daolord Darknorth.” The blood-winged woman smirked. “Do you still think you are all that extraordinary? You aren’t even close to being his equal.”

“An Omega Dao can actually be perfected into eternity?” A stunned look was in God Emperor Helong’s eyes. “Incredible, simply incredible. I truly am not a match for him. I, Helong, have only ever admired the Autarchs. Now, I also feel admiration for Daolord Darknorth.”

The woman was stunned. She had wanted to use the story of Daolord Darknorth to belittle the endlessly arrogant God Emperor. Who would’ve thought that Helong would immediately begin to feel admiration for Daolord Darknorth?

“If I could borrow his Eternal Omega Sword Dao and study from it, how wonderful that would be!” the God Emperor murmured softly, eagerness in his eyes.

“Stop dreaming. The Dao is not to be casually taught to others, and only Daolord Darknorth has ever successfully mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao! You can stop dreaming about it,” the woman mocked. However, she didn’t see any anger or frustration on God Emperor Helong’s face. This displeased her greatly, causing her to turn and leave. Still... at least she had achieved her goal of mocking the man.

......

The Twelve Palaces of Brightshore, especially the Sword Palace, were filled with just as many excited discussions as the outside world.

“I heard that our Palace Lord Darknorth has already been praised as the number one expert of the Endless Territories.”

Right. The Eternal Emperors all seem to be talking about this. Palace Lord Darknorth failed in the Daomerge, but he has actually reached an inconceivable level of power as a result of it. Even Hegemons are far beneath him!”

“Even Hegemons are far beneath him? How powerful must he be?!”

Although the Daolords of the Sword Palace didn’t really know the details or what the Icepeak Army was, there had been so many Emperors present watching the battle that details of it had quickly leaked. Thus, the Daolords all knew one thing – Daolord Darknorth might have failed the Daomerge, but he was so powerful that he surpassed even the Hegemons by a great amount. He was able to kill Hegemons with a flick of his wrist! This caused the countless Daolords to feel stunned, and the Daolords of the Sword Palace were especially proud.

“Even Hegemons are far beneath him?” The Universe treasure within Armaments Gorge, the broken sword, suddenly manifested a pink-robed woman above the sword. She was the sword’s spirit, and she couldn’t believe this news. “How can someone be more powerful than a Hegemon? Are we talking about that silly Daolord who visited me twice?”

“Hmph. Even if it’s true... so what? He failed his Daomerge, which means he will die soon,” the sword-spirit murmured to herself. “Besides... given how he asked me to join him last time, he probably still doesn’t have any Universe treasures. Hmph.”

......

The many major powers in the vast Chaosverse, including the Hegemons, the Emperors, and other incredibly famous ancient figures who were on par with Realmslord Windgrace and the Lonely King, were all stunned by the news they heard regarding this ‘Daolord Darknorth’.

The weaker ones were able to gain a general sense of how terrifying Daolord Darknorth was... but only the strongest ones truly understood what the ‘Eternal Omega Sword Dao’ truly represented! All of them knew that Daolord Darknorth was most likely second only to the Autarchs in all the parts of the Chaosverse ruled over by the cultivator civilizations! Even though he failed the Daomerge and his life would be brief as a result, no one would dare to challenge him so long as he was alive.

The legend of Daolord Darknorth only continued to grow... as did a second person’s name. ‘Nuwa’.

Daolord Darknorth was searching for a female cultivator called Nuwa. The first person to find her and send word of her to Daolord Darknorth would be owed a favor by the Daolord! Such a favor had tremendous uses and implications.

“Nuwa?”

“Have you heard of a powerful female cultivator named Nuwa?”

“An incredible Daolord or a powerful Hegemon? Never heard of her.”

“Based on what Daolord Darknorth has told us, Nuwa has probably only trained for a hundred chaos cycles or so. She can’t be all that strong. Maybe she’s already dead?”

“Impossible. Think about the level which Daolord Darknorth has reached; he’s second only to the Autarchs! How could he be mistaken about her being alive?”

News continued to spread.

......

The Flamedragon Realmverse.

Rumors continued to bubble and froth in the outside world. By now, Vastheaven Palace had become something of a holy place, the most unique power in all the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance.

Ning, however, was busy taking care of many things he had to handle.

Whoosh. Ning and his team rode the realmship into the Terror Starsea.

“Master?” Flamewing looked at Ning, puzzled.

“Here we are.” Ning stared up front.

“Here we are?” Hegemon Azurefiend stared towards the front as well, puzzled. The only thing in front of them was an area of jumbled primordial chaos. “There’s nothing in front of us.”

“A cave is hidden there,” Ning said with a laugh, “And it holds a world where my third disciple, Skywind, resides. I’ll go in first.” As he spoke, he took a single step forwards and disappeared from the realmship.

Ning’s mastery over the Dao of Spacetime was such that he was able to easily enter the cave within that hidden pocket of spacetime, while his sword-light was even more easily capable of cutting a hole into it.

“Same old cave.” Ning swept the area with his gaze. He saw the two Hegemon’s corpses as well as the Black Emperor’s corpse.

“Disciple.” Ning stared into the Black Emperor’s corpse. His gaze pierced through the dimensions, allowing him to see Daolord Skywind within a planet inside that corpse.

“I have several disciples... but you, alas, have the toughest destiny,” Ning sighed softly. His mastery over the Dao of Karma had long ago reached the Archon level. Now that he had mastered the Eternal Omega Sword Dao, he was able to see even farther into the future.

The future was in a constant state of flux, but he was now able to see the vast majority of possible futures. Now that he had failed his Daomerge, he turned to focus on preparing things for his family and friends. As for the Three Realms, he had naturally spent even more effort there. He was searching for Nuwa for the sake of the Three Realms. As Ning saw it, Mother Nuwa had to be fairly powerful and was most likely capable of helping out and protecting it. Ning was planning to give the Sithe war machines he had acquired from the Lonely King over to Nuwa.

As for his disciples? His first disciple, Bluecliff Xiaoyu, lived a carefree life, but as a result she had accomplished the least. There was no need to discuss her.

His second disciple was ‘Green Bamboo’ Yang Quding. Ning had engaged in some divinations on his behalf and had discovered that Yang Quding was a person of remarkable mental prowess. He would be able to solve even the most dangerous of problems, and he was surrounded by great luck. His future potential was virtually limitless; most likely, he would become the most accomplished of Ning’s disciples.

His third disciple was Skywind. Skywind was the best-suited to the Dao of the Sword, but he was stubborn and antisocial, and he was the most vicious of his peers. That stubborn, eccentric personality would bring him many problems. Ning had scried the future, and it appeared as though Skywind would be incredibly dazzling amongst the other Daolords of the Fourth Step, but he would be constantly surrounded by trouble. The ties of karma surrounding him indicated that he would actually fail his Daomerge without question.

This was much like how Emperor Waveshift had once divined that Ning would definitely fail the Daomerge.

His fourth disciple... to this very day, no one had acquired the legacy Ning had hidden, the legacy which would result in that person becoming Ning’s fourth disciple. Ning had the vague feeling that his fourth disciple would not be born for a long, long time.

His fifth and sixth disciples were both at Vastheaven Palace and so were blessed with many advantages. There was no need for Ning to worry about them.

“Skywind,” Ning murmured softly, “Everyone chooses their own paths in life. The only thing I can do to help you is this.”

Ning waved a finger. Countless streams of sword-light began to gather together, coming to form a formation. Ning placed some presents inside the formation, which had many illusions and other tempering techniques within them. It also included various techniques involving the Dao of the Sword, some spirit-fruits and treasures, as well as treasures which were unremarkable to Ning but which would be of tremendous help to Skywind.

“Of all my disciples, the one I worry about the most is you.” Ning shook his head slowly. “However... in the end, I’ll still have to eventually let go.”

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