The Desolate Era

Book 23, Chapter 21 - The Lord of the Demonheart

Ji Ning’s true body was as tough as a top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasure. Buddha Jueming had mastered the [Nine Elements Annihilation], coming up with his own palm-arts that were even more formidable than those of Lord Tathagata’s. Not only were his palms comparable to top-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasures, so was the rest of his body! As for Suiren...his attainments in fire were simply too profound. He had long ago mastered his own flameform incarnation technique, which was similar to how Lord Demonheart could transform his body into the waters of a raging river.

This was why Ji Ning, Jueming, and Suiren would dare to fight head-on against Lord Demonheart.

Lord Demonheart, however, held the Nuwa Alliance in no regard whatsoever. He sighed wistfully, “When Nuwa suddenly broke through to become a World God, she came straight for me. I was out of options. I could sense that the Heavenly Daos of the newly forming Three Realms contained a demonheart within it, and so I immediately merged myself into those Heavenly Daos, avoiding that near disaster. If Nuwa wanted to kill me, she would’ve had to destroy the entire Three Realms. Clearly, she wasn’t willing to do so.”

“Although I managed to survive, I was perpetually trapped inside of the Heavenly Daos, becoming part of them. Even I myself thought that I would forever be a part of the Heavenly Daos, and that I would perish with the Three Realms when it eventually perished, as all chaosworlds do. But I wasn’t willing to accept that...and so all this time I’ve been searching for a chance to escape the Heavenly Daos.”

Lord Demonheart once more turned his gaze towards the Nuwa Alliance. “The Heavenly Daos that apply to the Three Realms were formed from multiple Daos, including metal, wood, water, fire, earth, Yin, Yang, life, destruction, chaos, the sword, the Taiji, infinity, thunder, demonheart, and more. These countless Daos joined together to form the complete set of functioning Heavenly Daos.”

“Later...I realized that the Heavenly Daos weren’t always completely stable.”

“For example, when many worlds began to clear their forests, the causing the amount of wood in the Three Realms to slowly lessen, the Heavenly Dao of Wood would slowly begin to weaken as well.” Lord Demonheart smiled.

Upon hearing this, the distant Ji Ning was surprised.

Right.

The records which World God Northrest had transmitted to Ning had made it clear to him that there were differences amongst chaosworlds. In some chaosworlds, for example, there was an enormous amount of fire; those places were known as ‘flame chaosworlds’. The most powerful Dao in a flame chaosworld would be the Heavenly Dao of Fire, and in that chaosworld it was entirely possible that it would be nearly as complete as the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos.

The Dao of the Sword also had at least six levels and was thus also comparable to the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos.

Both the Dao of Wood and the Dao of Fire could also be continuously developed to the point where it would be a match for the Heavenly Dao of Primordial Chaos.

A flame chaosworld could, over the course of its development, suffer from special circumstances that would cause the entire chaosworld to all but be destroyed. This would instill the entire chaosworld with the aura of destruction, very possibly causing it to transform into a destruction chaosworld. As for the formerly supreme Heavenly Dao of Fire, it would dramatically weaken, allowing the Heavenly Dao of Destruction to become the most important Heavenly Dao in that chaosworld.

“There are fluctuations in every single Heavenly Dao.” Lord Demonheart smiled. “When the Three Realms sink into times of strife, resulting in many deaths and killings, the devil in the heart of all creatures will grow stronger. As a result, the entire Dao of the Demonheart will grow stronger and stronger.”

“I realized that as the Dao of the Demonheart grew stronger, my influence over the Three Realms grew greater as well. In fact, I had the feeling that if the Dao of the Demonheart grew strong enough, I would be able to break free from the Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms. And if the Dao of the Demonheart became the most powerful Dao of the Three Realms? Then I would become the absolute master of the Three Realms. My will would be the will of the Three Realms itself!”

“However, the Three Realms is merely a single chaosworld. How could I let myself be perpetually tied down to a single chaosworld? All I needed was to make the Dao of the Demonheart strong enough that I could escape the Heavenly Daos.”

“Alas...the Heavenly Daos functioned in a way in which the balance is automatically maintained. I had no chance of changing things at all...until one day, my chance came.”

Lord Demonheart said smugly, “After countless years of propagation, the number of living creatures in the Three Realms grew to an unfathomable level. More and more Immortal cultivators and Diremonsters emerged. More and more Celestial Immortals, Empyrean Gods, and True Immortals were born. In fact, even many Daofathers were born as well. This placed an increasingly greater burden on the Three Realms. All of you refused to engage in civil war, which meant that more and more experts continued to arise with very few perishing. The burden on the Three Realms grew to be so great that I could sense that one day, it could cause the Three Realms to collapse and be destroyed.”

“What?!” Everyone present was astonished. Too many living creatures could cause the destruction of the Three Realms?

“Don’t you understand? Imagine being on a boat that can seat twenty. If two hundred of you board the boat, the boat will sink! The same is true for the Three Realms. It is nothing more than a single chaosworld! You can see for yourselves how many major powers, Immortals, and Fiendgods existed within the Nuwa Alliance and my Seamless Gate. The number of Celestial Immortals was truly inestimable!” Lord Demonheart laughed coldly.

Both the Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate had to admit this was true.

Previously, they had all been sighing emotionally at how this war was far greater in scale than the one which had destroyed the Primordial Era. And yet, the experts who took part in the war that ended the Primordial Era had come from two different chaosworlds, while this time they came from just one; the Three Realms. This single chaosworld of the Three Realms had more experts than those two chaosworlds combined!

Even though the Three Realms was a special chaosworld that had been born from the collision of two different chaosworlds, it apparently had still been under enormous pressure due to the number of creatures who were living within it.

“The Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms were intrinsically searching for a solution to lower the number of living creatures in the Three Realms. They sent down countless disasters and tribulations, but it was all useless. Immortals and Fiendgods are simply too good at staying alive. The calamities the Heavenly Daos sent down were only capable of killing ordinary mortals, and even then Immortals and Fiendgods would sometimes set up large formations to protect those mortals.”

“Mortals continued to propagate, filling every world of the Three Realms. Countless Immortals and Diremonsters continued their path of cultivation, resulting in more and more powerful experts. If this continued unabated, the entirety of the Three Realms would be completely crushed and shattered by the burden.”

“That’s when I knew that my chance had come.”

“I communed with the Three Realms, imparting unto it the suggestion to have the Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate engage in a great battle. My idea was to have the two sides engage in a great civil war; without a doubt, enormous amounts of Immortals and Fiendgods would die during this war. This would instantly cause the burden on the Three Realms to be dramatically lessened.” Lord Demonheart laughed. “And it would be quite easy for us to instigate this war. All we had to do was to have fate whisper to both sides and guide them, telling them that only one of the two sides could survive. If one side wished to survive, they would have to annihilate the other side.”

“The living creatures of the Three Realms would never question it when fate itself whispered to them.”

“Ahahaha...but the River of Destiny of the Three Realms is nothing more than part of the Heavenly Daos that function to maintain the Three Realms.” Lord Demonheart roared with laughter. “In the past, the Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms had functioned in an extremely fair and just manner. However, after the Heavenly Daos realized that the propagation of the various living races was threatening the very survival of the Three Realms, it automatically began to adjust itself in a way that would ensure more internal warfare amongst the various races. All I did was give it a little push.”

The Nuwa Alliance and the Seamless Gate all had ashen looks on their faces.

It was...

It was all a scheme? It was the Heavenly Daos of the Three Realms which had guided them to kill each other?

“I nudged the Seamless Gate into causing all sorts of trouble, filling the Three Realms with all sorts of chaos and slaughter. Shadows were cast over the hearts of countless living creatures, giving birth to the demonheart within their soul.” Lord Demonheart laughed. “I even had the Seamless Gate launch large-scale assassinations of the family members and loved ones of the Nuwa Alliance, causing the demonheart to fester and growth within the hearts of many of your experts. Some of them actually died when their demonhearts grew out of control.”

“The Three Realms were thrown into chaos, and the demonheart prospered.”

“The Dao of the Demonheart continued to grow increasingly powerful. Although I could sense that much chances were growing greater and greater, I continued to wait. I knew that I could only make one attempt to break free of the Three Realms. If I failed, the Heavenly Daos would use all sorts of schemes and ploys to more firmly entrap me and suppress me. It would be very hard for me to find a second such chance.”

“After a thousand years of chaos in the Three Realms, the Dao of the Demonheart had become very powerful.”

“Finally...you started the wars.”

“What a fine slaughter it was! Immortals and Fiendgods died in droves.”

“You were filled with hatred and the desire to kill. You hated your enemies to the bone, but you had no idea that as your hatred filled the heavens, the demonheart grew within the Three Realms and within you. The Dao of the Demonheart only grew even more powerful.” Lord Demonheart smiled. “Nuwa left behind those three guardian formations, and I imagine she also left behind a technique allowing one to train to become an Elder God. Quite a few of you ended up becoming Elder Gods, and you also had such powerful formations...the Endwar has just started, but the Seamless Gate has already begun to crumble. That’s why I decided to immediately break free of the Three Realms.”

“Hahaha...I’ve been scheming and preparing for countless years for this moment. I was at a higher level of enlightenment than I was during the war that ended the Primordial Era. When I suddenly struck out, I was able to break free of the Three Realms in one blow.”

“From this day forth, I shall forever be free and unrestrained, bound by no one and nothing.”

Lord Demonheat laughed heartily, his laughter reverberating throughout the endless Void. Everyone present, be it the Nuwa Alliance or the Seamless Gate, could sense the wild, exultant joy which the Lord of the Demonheart felt.

He had been imprisoned for countless years and had schemed for countless years to escape, knowing that there would only be one chance...

And he had succeeded!

Why shouldn’t he be excited?

“Since the story has been made clear to all of you...” Lord Demonheart swept the army of the Nuwa Alliance with his gaze. “All of you can die now.”