The Desolate Era

Book 18, Chapter 41 - Birth

“Go. You don’t need to stay here and serve me,” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven instructed.

“Yes.”

The two True Immortals immediately flew downwards, beginning to make the arrangements for countless Celestial Immortals to refocus on the project. The two began to go all-out to manufacture some parts as well.

Blackheaven just looked downwards at them.

“Blackheaven.” Suddenly, a sonorous voice rang out by Blackheaven’s ears.

Blackheaven was startled. He immediately said respectfully, “Master, your powers are all-encompassing.”

“This type of Daofather golem is too weak. They are just barely at the Daofather level. When the Endwar comes, the truly supreme True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms, like the leaders of the Daoist Path and Buddhist Way, will be able to annihilate these golems with one blow.” The sonorous voice said calmly, “You shouldn’t divide your attention. Focus on manufacturing the ‘Envoy of All Things’.”

“Master, this is merely one of my avatars,” Blackheaven said respectfully. “And as you said, master, this sort of Daofather golem is just barely at the Daofather level; it’s fairly simple for me to work on it. It’s just two or three years; it won’t have much of an impact on things. All these years, I’ve roamed the Three Realms in a carefree, relaxed manner. That little girl Violetgrass...I did indeed dote on her. She’s dead, now. There’s no way I can let it go without taking revenge for her.”

“Mm. I never would’ve thought you’d feel affection for someone.” The sonorous voice held a hint of amusement within it. “If that’s the case...then go do what you need to do. However, you should know what truly matters and what does not.”

“Yes. Once this Daofather golem is completed, I’ll immediately send back these 1,080,000 Celestial Immortals and have them continue to work on the Envoy of All Living Things,” Blackheaven said respectfully.

The Seamless Alliance only had so many Celestial Immortals, after all. The number of Celestial Immortals who were skilled in the art of golems was even lower. 1,080,000 Celestial Immortals who were skilled in golems...this represented nearly 20% of the total number available. Sending them to work on this Daofather golem did indeed have a negative impact on the advancement of the Envoy of All Things. However, manufacturing that golem was a very arduous, lengthy task; it was true that ‘wasting’ the time of 20% of their Celestial Immortals for just three years wouldn’t make much of a difference.

If that wasn’t the case, Blackheaven wouldn’t have dared to reallocate these Celestial Immortals.

“It’s good that you understand this. We absolutely must win the Endwar. We already lost, once...I don’t wish to lose a second time,” the sonorous voice said.

“Yes,” Blackheaven said respectfully.

The presence departed from his mind. Only now did Blackheaven let out a sigh of relief.

“I have to go see the Godking as well. Otherwise, they might foolishly decide to give up that Realmwar,” Blackheaven mused to himself.

......

The vast world of darkness.

The Godking was seated high up on his towering throne, looking down at the world below him. A figure appeared in the darkness below; it was Celestial Immortal Blackheaven.

“Godking,” Blackheaven said.

“Grandmaster.” The black-robed Godking had a hint of amusement in his voice. “Why have you come to my place, Grandmaster?”

“I’d like to ask you, Godking, to invite Daofather Ink Bamboo as well,” Blackheaven said.

“Fine.” The Godking nodded.

Soon, yet another figure appeared within the world of darkness. It was Daofather Ink Bamboo, who glanced towards Blackheaven and said with surprise, “Grandmaster?”

Only the most top-tier figures of the Seamless Alliance knew who Blackheaven really was. It was precisely because of his status that they treated Blackheaven as they would an equal, and in fact were quite courteous to him. First of all...Blackheaven’s master was, at present, the most powerful figure of the entire Seamless Alliance...the Lord of All Fiends [1. This is a different person from the ‘Lord of All Things’ mentioned as being deceased just few chapters ago.]!

In addition, Blackheaven was the most skilled grandmaster the Seamless Alliance had in the Dao of Constructs.

Whether it was his own artistry in golems, or his master being the Lord of All Fiends...Blackheaven had a truly transcendental status.

“I’ve created a Daofather golem,” Blackheaven said.

“Daofather golem?” The Godking frowned. “Those golems use up many precious materials, but are fairly weak. Didn’t the Fiendlord give up on them?”

Daofather Ink Bamboo looked towards Blackheaven in puzzlement as well.

These were core members of the Seamless Gate; they knew much about the plans they had to conquer the universe.

The Godking was the leader who commanded the various parties of the Seamless Alliance. But it was the Lord of All Fiends, however, who was the most powerful figure of the Seamless Alliance. It was precisely because the Lord of All Fiends was guarding the Allfiend world that the Nuwa Alliance was completely unable to acquire the core formation-diagrams they so desperately wanted. The most supremely powerful golems were all built within the Allfiend world, and the Lord of All Fiends was reverentially referred to by the Seamless Alliance as the ‘Fiendlord’.

The Lord of All Fiends didn’t take part in worldly matters, and so it was left to the Godking to command the Seamless Alliance.

It must be understood that even when the former ‘king’ of the Seamless Alliance was alive, the Lord of All Fiends was second only to him! After the king had failed to defeat Mother Nuwa, he had been forced to merge his body into the Dao of the Heavens. That way, at least his soul wouldn’t be destroyed. The Lord of All Fiends, however, had relied on his own techniques to flee from and escape Nuwa. After so many years having passed, the Lord of All Fiends had only grown even more unfathomably powerful.

Even major powers like the Godking or Daofather Ink Bamboo would be extremely respectful when meeting the Lord of All Fiends.

“Master knows of this, of course,” Blackheaven said. “I’ve created this Daofather golem for the purpose of killing someone.”

“Killing someone?”

The Godking and Daofather Ink Bamboo both looked at Blackheaven. The Godking asked, “Ji Ning?”

“Yes. I watched Violetgrass grow up. I absolutely won’t allow her to have died for nothing. I’m going to make Ji Ning pay a price.” Cold light flashed in Blackheaven’s eyes. “He has to die. I know that you encountered the Seven Planets God during this Realmwar. Once my Daofather golem appears, the Seven Planets God will definitely be defeated.”

“If the Seven Planets God is defeated...you should be able to win this battle, yes?” Blackheaven asked.

“If it really is a Daofather golem...then we can win this battle.” Daofather Ink Bamboo nodded.

They knew exactly how powerful Daofather golems were. Even some actual Daofathers such as Daofather Ink Bamboo, the weaker ones, would find it very hard to actually do anything to a Daofather golem.. It was much like how many Empyrean Gods found it hard to do anything to an Empyrean God golem; the principle was the same. Daofather golems had bodies comparable to Protocosmic spirit-treasures. They were very hard to damage!

They also possessed enormous, unearthly amounts of power.

Of course, the truly supreme True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms could easily destroy these golems. But the Seven Planets God?

The Seven Planets God was merely created through a formation of seven Empyrean Gods; its attack power was just barely at the Daofather level. Its attacks wouldn’t even scratch the body of a Daofather golem. The Daofather golem, however, could launch attacks with impunity. In the entire Crimsonbright Realm...there was nothing and no one that was a match for it. The only option was for many armies to join forces against it.

“This Blackheaven character really is quite the madman. The amount of precious materials needed to forge a Daofather golem is enough to create more than a thousand Pure Yang treasures. We are currently in the process of creating the Envoy of All Things, but he’s actually split off so many Immortals and precious materials to manufacture a Daofather golem? I imagine the Fiendlord can’t be too happy about this either.” The Godking and Daofather Ink Bamboo both had the same thoughts about this.

“With Blackheaven’s Daofather golem joining us...naturally, we would win. But if the Nuwa Alliance ends up sending over the Eight Immortals of the High Caves or similarly powerful Empyrean Gods or True Immortals to assist the Seven Planets God...they’d absolutely be able to block the Daofather golem.” Daofather Ink Bamboo expressed his concerns.

“If that happens...then forget about the battle. There’s only one target; Ji Ning,” Blackheaven said.

“If it’s just to kill Ji Ning...fine.”

“Agreed.”

Both the Godking and Daofather Ink Bamboo agreed.

They both knew very well that the Crimsonbright Realm had already summoned a significant amount of their forces for this Realmwar. The Nuwa Alliance had to worry about many different theaters of war as well; it wasn’t that likely that they would send some of their supremely powerful forces to take part in the Crimsonbright Realm. If they did, their other regions would be thrown into danger.

Thus...they should be able to win this battle.

“One month. The Daofather golem will be ready in one month. A month from now, go to the Allfiend world and I’ll give it to you,” Blackheaven said, then disappeared into thin air.

The Godking and Daofather Ink Bamboo exchanged a glance.

“This Realmwar in the Crimsonbright Realm is starting to spin out of our control,” the Godking said softly.

“Once the Seven Planets God which Daoist Threelives left behind emerged, the entire battlefield was thrown into a state of frenzied chaos,” Daofather Ink Bamboo said. “To be honest...to manufacture a Daofather golem simply for the sake of winning a single Realmwar isn’t really worth it.”

“Still. We’ve already paid a very high price...which makes winning this Realmwar all the more important,” the Godking said heavily.

......

Time passed, one day after another.

“What’s going on? The Seamless Gate isn’t retreating?”

“The Seamless City is still there.”

The walls of the Eight Dragons Cloudcity were often occupied by Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, as well as the Celestial Immortal commanders. They would stare at the distant Seamless City, and indeed....that towering black citadel was still there, not having budged at all.

“They’ve suffered catastrophic losses, and our Seven Planets God is much stronger than their Three-Eyed Demon. Why haven’t they retreated?”

“They fled quite quickly last time. If they dare to fight us again, we’ll completely wipe them out.”

The Crimsonbright Realm’s forces had very high morale right now.

In fact, Daofather Crimsonbright often ordered his armies to go out and call for the Seamless Gate’s forces to come out and fight, but the Seamless Gate’s armies remained inside their city, not budging at all.

......

Soon, half a month passed after the last major battle.

Within a world of pristine mountains and lovely streams.

This was the vast world within the Pure Yang Treasure, ‘Violetdawn Pearl’. Long ago, Ji Ning had relocated all of the Ji clansmen to this place. Uncle White, Mu Northson, Little Qing, and Autumn Leaf were living here as well. A short time ago, Ning had moved Yu Wei to this place as well. His Primaltwin, however, remained within the Eight Dragons Cloudcity, prepared to enter combat at a moment’s notice.

Within a quiet courtyard.

Ji Ning, Ji Truekeep, Uncle White, Little Qing, and Mu Northson were all here. Ji Ning was seated on a stool, occasionally glancing towards the closed door of the courtyard residence. His senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei, was currently within that room along with Autumn Leaf.

“Look at him. He’s not saying a thing, and he has a strange little look on his face,” Northson snickered.

“He’s about to become a father. Of course things are going to be different.” The Whitewater Hound lay there to one side as he smiled towards Ning. He felt quite gratified. Ji Ning was finally about to become a father. Finally, he would have a child of his own.”

“Ning, son, don’t be nervous. Wait patiently. You’ve been able to wait for several years; it’s just a little bit longer,” Uncle White said with a laugh.

“Right.” Ning nodded.

Yu Wei was a Celestial Immortal; naturally, she would be completely safe in childbirth. But when he thought of how his child was about to enter this world, Ning felt an inexplicable nervousness and uneasiness. Would he be able to take good care of his child? To protect his child?

“Five years, two months in the womb. I wonder what your child will look like, senior apprentice-brother.” Northson let out a sigh.

This made Ning even more nervous.

A while later, suddenly...

“Your child greets you, Mother. Uh, where’s my father?” A clear, crisp, childish voice rang out from within the room, followed by a surprised cry from Autumn Leaf..

Ning had previously been nervous. Now, he was simply stunned.