The Desolate Era

Book 34, Chapter 1 - Reviving Yu Wei

Ji Ning, Winesage, and Ninedust were all rather dazed as they watched the three Hegemons and numerous supreme Eternal Emperors fly towards them. Ning immediately recognized the white-bearded old man with six curved horns on his head as Hegemon Brightshore.

As for the other two Hegemons, one was a dazzlingly beautiful scepter-bearing woman; when Ning saw her, he felt as though he had seen the most beautiful creature in all of existence and felt the uncontrollable desire to venerate her. It was impossible for anyone to feel any untoward thoughts regarding her at all! The second Hegemon was a man with long green hair and a big green beard. His hair, his eyebrows, and his beard were all extremely long.

“Darknorth.” Brightshore Hegemon smiled. “Let me make the introductions. This gentleman here is Hegemon Windrain of the Aberrants.”

Ning looked at the green-haired, green-bearded man. Hegemon Windrain had a very unusual aura. When Ning looked at him, he felt as though he was staring at a vast forest of trees. “Greetings, Hegemon Windrain,” Ning said respectfully.

This person stood at the very apex of power within the Endless Territories. How could Ning dare to be disrespectful in the slightest?

“Darknorth, my young friend, you really are quite impressive. There are only nine command talismans in there, but you acquired eight of them. Impressive, impressive!” Hegemon Windrain praised.

“What?” Ning, Ninedust, and Winesage were all stunned. They looked at each other. None of them had publicized the fact that Ninedust had given Ning three talismans while Winesage had given Ning two.

“Don’t feel so surprised,” Hegemon Brightshore said. “Realmsoul Polo informed us.”

“Oh.” Now Ning and the others understood.

“Let me continue with the introductions.” Hegemon Brightshore’s voice turned a bit cool as he glanced at the woman: “This is Hegemon Netherlily of the Ancient cultivators.”

“My young friend Darknorth.” Hegemon Netherlily was surpassingly beautiful and her voice was extremely soft; one couldn’t help but feel friendly towards her. She smiled as she looked at Ning. “You are such an impressive talent, but you ended up joining the Brightshore Kingdom. What a pity! It’s all because this old fellow Brightshore is so completely shameless as to randomly abduct cultivators throughout the Endless Territories and bring them to the Brightshore Kingdom. If it wasn’t for that, given the relationship between you and Ninedust, I feel confident that you might choose to end up joining us.”

The Ancient cultivators, much like the Brightshore Kingdom, did allow certain cultivators to join them.

“Jealousy. That’s just jealousy talking,” Hegemon Brightshore said coolly.

Although Ning had been abducted by the Brightshore Kingdom, he didn’t feel any resentment towards Hegemon Brightshore. If it hadn’t been for the guidance provided by the Brightshore Kingdom, the many sword-arts he had given access to within the Sword Palace, and the chance to visit the Genesis Lands of the alternate universe he visited, he might not have been able to develop his Omega Sword Dao!

“This gentleman right here is Emperor Goldisle of the Dao Alliance.” Hegemon Brightshore was slightly nervous, as the Dao Alliance would definitely be his greatest competitor in bidding for the fruits which Ning had acquired. “Emperor Goldisle is one of the two leaders of the Dao Alliance.”

“Darknorth and I have met.” The gold-furred alien smiled as he looked at Ning.

“Mm. And this gentleman is Emperor Islehide of the Aeonians.” Hegemon Brightshore didn’t want to give Emperor Goldisle the chance to chat too much with Ning, and so he immediately began to introduce the others. Emperor Islehide was a peerlessly handsome man who was even more attractive than Hegemon Netherlily was beautiful. He had long red hair and dim red eyes that were filled with a strange charisma.

“Darknorth.” Emperor Islehide smiled slightly as he glanced at Ning.

Ning immediately replied, “Emperor Islehide.”

“The last one is Emperor Severfive of the Dark Kingdom.” Hegemon Brightshore glanced sideways at the rather bizarre-looking alien elder, whose long blue hair flowed up from his head like a pair of wings.

“Daolord Darknorth.” Emperor Severfive looked at Ning with a very sincere and modest gaze. Those who actually interacted with the Emperors of the Dark Kingdom all knew that the Dark Kingdom was actually quite low-key and modest. They were outsiders and foreigners who were despised and ostracized by the native organizations of the Endless Territories and thus couldn’t afford to be too brash.

“The people I’ve just introduced you to are more than capable of representing the six organizations in the Endless Territories,” Hegemon Brightshore said.

Aside from the six, there were also a number of retainers and servants present. For example, Hegemon Brightshore had a single-horned youth who had a very ordinary aura standing by his side, while Emperor Islehide of the Aeonians had an ordinary looking white-robed woman standing next to him.

“Come over here, Winesage,” Emperor Severfive instructed.

“Coming.” Winesage obediently walked over to Emperor Severfive’s side.

“Redwater.” Hegemon Netherlily looked at Ninedust, who immediately and obediently flew over to her side as well.

......

Faced with the supreme leaders of the six greatest powers in the Endless Territories, Ning couldn’t help but feel a sense of pressure... but he also felt excitement! These were the people who might have the answers as to how he could revive his wife. Even if they couldn’t do it, they would definitely know much more about it than he did.

“Darknorth, we need some of the coldflame cauldron fruits,” Emperor Severfive of the Dark Kingdom said hurriedly. “Just tell me what you need.”

“Don’t be so hasty.” Emperor Goldisle of the Dao Alliance said calmly, “Why don’t we let Darknorth list what he needs first. The side which can assist him the most shall be the side Darknorth chooses.” The Dao Alliance was able to speak so confidently due to their great wealth.

“Agreed.” Hegemon Brightshore nodded.

“Yes, let our young friend Darknorth tell us what he needs,” Hegemon Netherlily agreed.

“My young friend?” Hegemon Windrain looked at Ning.

The three Hegemons were the strongest experts in the Endless Territories and had been alive for extremely long periods of time. As a result, they were also quite wealthy, which was why they dared to compete against the Dao Alliance in this manner.

“Seniors...” Ning said respectfully, “There is indeed something I would like to request.”

“Speak,” Emperor Goldisle said confidently. The three Hegemons as well as Emperor Severfive and Emperor Islehide all looked at Ning.

“I once had a beloved Dao-companion,” Ning said slowly. “Long ago, she perished. The main reason why I’ve trained so hard is primarily because I wish to bring her back to life.”

When Winesage and Ninedust heard this, they stared at Ning in shock. Revive a Dao-companion? None of them had ever imagined that Ning held a secret like this in his heart.

“Revive?” Hegemon Windrain’s green brows furrowed in a frown. “I imagine her soul and truesoul were shattered?” If her truesoul was still around, reviving her would be extremely easy.

“Correct.” Ning nodded.

All three of the Hegemons exchanged glances, as did the three Eternal Emperors.

“I’ll ask the questions,” Hegemon Netherlily said. The others all nodded towards her.

“Darknorth, when your Dao-companion died, had she reached the World level of power?” Hegemon Netherlily’s gaze was very gentle, as was her voice.

“She had not.” Ning immediately explained, “She was merely a Celestial Immortal.”

Hegemon Netherlily nodded slightly. “Mm. Fairly weak. There’s still a chance at reviving her.”

Ning was wildly overjoyed upon hearing this.

“My next question is, where did she die?” Hegemon Netherlily asked, “Did she die in an everworld? A chaosworld? In the emptiness of space? Or in an alternate universe?”

“She died in my homeland, in a chaosworld,” Ning explained.

“In a chaosworld?” Hegemon Netherlily frowned. “That makes things difficult.”

“Difficult?” Ning’s heart clenched.

“Reviving those who died in everworlds is the simplest; any Hegemon is capable of doing this,” Hegemon Netherlily explained. “Reviving those who died in alternate universes, also known as otherverses, is a bit more difficult. Reviving those who died in chaosworlds or in the emptiness of space is the most difficult of all. Although she was merely a Celestial Immortal, this still isn’t something the likes of us are capable of.”

Ning’s face turned pale.

“Darknorth.” The nearby Hegemon Brightshore explained, “Everworlds contain the rules and laws established by the Eternal Emperors who created them. You can view them as basic, rudimentary versions of the prime essences. For example, if the founding Emperor established a law that ‘the skies are dark’, the skies in that everworld shall forever be dark. If he says that ‘flying is impossible’, then no one will be able to fly in that everworld. The only way to get around this is through possessing so much brute force that one can resist the binding effects of those laws.”

“Everworlds have elementary prime essences within them, and those who die in an everworld shall return to those everworld prime essences. If you wish to twist spacetime and revive a Celestial Immortal, you would only need to resist the backlash from the everworld. Everworld’s are fairly weak; most Hegemons are capable of doing such a thing.”

“Otherverses are generally the same size as a realmverse. You’ve visited one of them in the past,” Hegemon Brightshore explained. “I think you understand that these otherverses have their own prime essences, and their prime essences are far more perfect than the ones within the everworlds!”

Ning nodded.

“The various otherverses all have their own prime essences. If a cultivator dies in one of those otherverses, his or her truesoul shall return to the prime essences of that otherverse. If you wish to revive someone, you must be able to endure the backlash generated by that entire alternate universe,” Hegemon Brightshore explained.

“As for chaosworlds or the void of space? They don’t have any prime essences they belong to, and so whenever a truesoul in a chaosworld is extinguished, its energy shall revert back to the Chaosverse itself. If you wish to revive such a person, you’ll need to be able to endure the backlash generated by the entire Chaosverse! This is a terrifying concept,” Hegemon Brightshore explained.

Reviving someone in an everworld was easy?

Reviving someone in an otherverse was hard?

Reviving someone from the Chaosverse was nearly impossible?

Ning’s face grew uglier and uglier as he absorbed this information. “What exactly is a ‘realmverse’? And what is the ‘Chaosverse’?”

He remembered that the Starflow race which lived in the Terror Starsea had once lived in a place named the Peacock Lotus Realmverse. A grand war had destroyed that realmverse, resulting in the Starflow race fleeing and moving to the Endless Territories.

“Our home, the Endless Territories, is a realmverse,” Hegemon Brightshore explained. “Its true name is the Flamedragon Realmverse.”

“As for the Chaosverse, it is the source of all things and is truly infinite beyond measure...” Hegemon Brightshore explained, “It is like a vast, endless sea. Realmverses are like small reefs within that vast sea! Otherverses are another type of reef, a fairly special type. All reefs are located extremely far from each other, and so the Great Dark is the vast emptiness between reefs. All realmverses are very, very far away from each other.”

The sea? Reefs? Ning was rather dazed by all this. The alternate universes and the ‘Endless Territories’ were nothing more than ‘reefs’, while the Chaosverse was an ocean?

“Then who is strong enough to resist the backlash from the Chaosverse and revive my Dao-companion?” Ning grew increasingly anxious.

“Your Dao-companion was only a Celestial Immortal. Although reviving her will be difficult, at least there is hope,” Hegemon Netherlily said.