Desolate Era

Chapter Book 29, 27 - Withdrawal

The silver-eyed elder’s body trembled when he heard this, and a hint of sorrow appeared in his eyes as he let out a sigh. “We still have a chance at gaining our freedom. In addition, the person who caused us to fall to such a state was the master of this estate. It had nothing to do with this young Daolord of the Second Step! Why must you get him involved?”

“The master of the estate? Yes, he’s the one who caused all this,” the blood-eyed elder howled, “And I know that he’s the one we should hate, but what can I possibly do to him? We stand no chance against him whatsoever. He captured us as easily as capturing ants, then transformed us into our current state. I want to take revenge, but I have no chance of succeeding whatsoever. He said that he would give us our freedom once he returned, but how long has it been?! He left more than thirty million chaos cycles ago. He’ll probably never be back!”

……

On the other side of the arch bridge, Ji Ning was speechless when he heard the conversation between the two. Thirty million chaos cycles? That was an incredibly long period of time! Even Samsara Daolords were only able to live for 108,000 chaos cycles. Eternal Emperors truly were special, capable of living nearly forever.

And, based on the conversation between those two, it seemed as though they had been effortlessly captured by the master of the estate. As they had put it, he had been able to capture them as easily as capturing ants.

“As expected of someone who created the Nine Chaos Seals,” Ning mused. “He really is unfathomably powerful and inscrutable. If he was able to so easily capture Eternal Emperors, he probably is at least at the Hegemon level of power. Is it possible that there’s an even higher level which he was at?”

……

“Kill. KILL. KILL!!! I’ve fallen so hard, why should I show pity for any others? To be able to discover this estate is indeed a tremendous blessing, but I’m going to make sure all of those lucky Daolords end up as dead Daolord!” The blood-eyed elder’s eyes were blazing with that bloody light as his murderous aura surged towards the skies. “That kid had better never step foot on the bridge again. Otherwise, I’ll definitely slaughter him!” His gaze was focused on the distant Ning, and he didn’t disguise his murderous intent at all.

“You… ugh. What’s the point?” The silver-eyed elder sighed when he saw this. As for the blood-eyed elder, he simply snorted.

“Leave, kid. Given that you were able to stay alive when my second brother delivered a killing blow towards you, you probably are one of the most freakishly talented Daolords of your generation.” The silver-eyed elder instructed, “My second brother wishes to stop you, but given your talent you might be able to defeat him once you become a Daolord of the Fourth Step. However, this estate is filled with layers of danger and is much more dangerous than my second brother. I strongly recommend for you to return only after you become an Eternal Emperor yourself.”

Ning stared at the two from the other side of the bridge. Both his azureflower seal and his azureflower region were shaking from the powerful resonance. Clearly, the thing which was calling to them was emanating from deep within this estate. But given that two Eternal Emperors were guarding the bridge, and that one was filled with the desire to kill him…

“The difference in power is too great. If I tried to force my way through, he’d probably bind and capture me.” Although Ning deeply esired to enter the depths of the Azureflower Estate, the difference in power was quite apparent.

“Go, go,” the silver-eyed elder said.

“Kid, even the outside perimeter held three sacred trees. There are even more treasures inside the estate. Don’t you want to go in? Ahaha, I’m sure you must.” The blood-eyed elder stared at Ning intently. Ning hesitated for a moment, then turned and left. He soon departed from the main gates of the Azureflower Estate.

The blood-eyed elder and the silver-eyed elder both watched as Ning disappeared off into the distance. “The kid is pretty decisive,” the silver-eyed elder praised.

“And what good is that? The master of this estate left behind many fortunes, but he also left behind many dangers. The two of us were nothing more than ants to him, and it was so easy for him to capture us and put us here to serve as his guards. Some of the other Eternal Emperors he caught were much more powerful than us, but all of them were assigned to the deeper parts of the estate.” The blood-eyed elder smirked.

The silver-eyed elder nodded. When he thought about what had happened all those chaos cycles ago, he couldn’t help but once again shiver in fear. They had been the two weakest Eternal Emperors which the master of the estate had caught.

“But that kid was quite talented as well. If he can become an Eternal Emperor, he might just be able to defeat all of the servants which the master of the estate left behind,” the silver-eyed elder said.

“Keep dreaming. Do you know how hard it will be for a freak like him to gain eternity? Hell, if he succeeds he’ll probably become a Hegemon!” The blood-eyed elder shook his head.

……

Outside the Azureflower Estate. Ning emerged from the estate feeling both excited as well as impatient. He really wanted to delve deeper into the estate and find the true source of that resonance with his azureflower seal! Alas, he couldn’t even handle the two Eternal Emperors at the outside perimeter.

“I wish to save Yu Wei, but that path will be a difficult one. This estate, however, might just prove to be one of the major fortunes which I will need to succeed.” Ning turned to stare at the azure flower image once more.

This place was indeed a source of tremendous fortune. Ning’s subconscious was whispering to him that if he succeeded in traversing this place, he would undergo a truly earth-shaking transformation. This place might enable him to ask the most ancient of powers to come and bring Yu Wei back to life.

“Can’t be impatient. Time spent sharpening the axe will be earned back with interest when you go out to chop the wood. I’ll return once I become a Daolord of the Fourth Step,” Ning mused. He didn’t have any confidence in being able to become an Eternal Emperor! This didn’t have anything to do with a weak Dao-heart; rather, it was because far, far too many freakishly talented Daolords had failed in this final step. Ning knew exactly how difficult it was, and it would be even harder for him because his path was that of the Omega Sword Dao. Most likely, it would be far more difficult than the paths which Bertulu, Solewind, and the others were going to walk. For peerless geniuses like them, becoming an Eternal Emperor was incredibly difficult. If they succeeded, they would become Hegemons.

Ning was in control of an Omega Sword Dao. How difficult would his path to eternity be? Still, he was fairly certain in his ability to become a Daolord of the Fourth Step. By then, challenging the Azureflower Estate would be much simpler.

“At least…” Ning stared at the azure flower image floating in front of the gates. “Here, at least, I can see a hope of saving her. The next time I come here, I’ll definitely make it into the depths of the estate.”

Ning left, but when he left his heart was filled with hope.

……

The void of the primordial chaos. A flying vessel was advancing through the chaos once more, with Ning seated in the lotus position atop the deck of the vessel, attuning himself to the surrounding area while recording down the various danger zones on the star map in his hands.

Su Youji was seated next to Ning and was pouring his wine for him, a lovely smile on her face. Although trailblazing was somewhat dangerous, it really wasn’t that concerning for someone on Ning’s level. That trip to the Azureflower Estate had been far more dangerous! When Ning had returned from the estate, Su Youji had asked about what he had found. Ning’s response was this: “I nearly died in there.”

Su Youji and the others still felt twinges of fear when they thought back to that answer. Now that Ning was back by her side once more, she felt at peace.

“Master, that place was far too dangerous. In the future, you should avoid places that are excessively dangerous,” Su Youji said.

“Don’t worry. I probably won’t go back for a long time,” Ning said.

“You shouldn’t go at all,” Su Youji said hurriedly.

“Next time, I’ll be confident in my abilities to survive. For now, I’m not good enough.” Ning shook his head. In the Endless Territories, he was definitely one of the major powers now; he had even been able to survive a killing blow from an Eternal Emperor, after all! If word of this spread, his reputation would definitely increase dramatically. However, Ning’s goals were much higher than merely this. Not even the most freakishly strong of Daolords would be able to revive an extinguished truesoul, after all.

Time flowed on, and more than thirty years passed in the blink of an eye.

“Haha…” Still seated in the lotus position within the flying vessel, Ning suddenly put down his star map and rose to his feet with a laugh.

“What is it, master?” Pillsaint and Su Youji were both confused.

“The trailblazing is complete. We’ve arrived.” Ning smiled. “I’m familiar with this region. We have now blazed a trail from the Badlands Territory to my homeland.”

With his Primaltwin serving as his goal, Ning was able to spent three hundred years to reach the Three Realms without getting lost.

……

The primordial chaos outside the Three Realms. Ji Ning’s chaos estate.

A white-robed Ji Ning led the peerless beauty Su Youji and Daolord Pillsaint into his chaos estate, where a black-robed Ning was awaiting them.

“T-this…” Su Youji and Pillsaint both had looks of astonishment on their faces. Before coming, they had both sworn oaths never to divulge anything regarding Ning’s homeland to anyone else. The trailblazing, the region of empty space, the Three Realms… they were not permitted to discuss anything they saw. However, they were still stunned by what was before them.

“What’s wrong, Pillsaint, Youji? Don’t you recognize me?” The black-robed Ning laughed.

“A Primaltwin?!” Su Youji and Pillsaint couldn’t help but blurt out these two words. There were very few Daolords who had Primaltwins.

The white-robed Ning waved his hand, causing a painting to fly out and towards the black-robed Ning. This painting contained an estate-world inside of it, and it was filled with the countless secret arts, divine abilities, cultivation techniques, and other techniques which Ning had acquired from Vastheaven Palace. It also contained the various treasures he had obtained from Daolord Blesswind and the other enemies he had faced, along with chaos nectar, chaos jewels, and more. There was at least ten million cubes worth of chaos nectar and chaos jewels here! Ning estimated that this should be enough to establish a solid foundation for the Three Realms.

“It is time for the Three Realms to truly rise to prominence.” Ning nodded.