Desolate Era

The white-robed Ji Ning was as still as a statue, his eyes closed. He had been seated there for countless years now.

Finally, Ning opened his eyes. His gaze was filled with the boundless power of space and time, containing all the cosmos within them.

“Truesoul Everlasting…” Ning murmured softly. He had the insights of Autarch Awakener and the [Deathless Chapter], as well as 15,000 chaos cycles worth of meditation. By now, he had reached a level of understanding with regards to the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ that vastly surpassed Autarch Awakener’s.

“It has been over 15,000 chaos cycles. I only have 1000 chaos cycles left. Time for me to resolve my various affairs.” Ning rose to his feet.

His original body’s lifespan had been rapidly depleted due to the battles which it had fought, but this body had never fought a single time since failing the Daomerge. The Water Sword Dao, Space Sword Dao, Illusion Sword Dao, and other Daos had all strengthened his truesoul considerably, dramatically slowing down the crumbling rate and extending his lifespan considerably.

However, he had spent over 15,000 chaos cycles in training. He didn’t have much time left, and he had some things he wanted to resolve before he could finally, fully devote himself while holding nothing back at all.

“Daolord Darknorth.” The elderly white-haired estate-spirit immediately came over to him.

“I’m going to make a short trip. The next time I come back, I’ll be entering terminal seclusion.”

“Terminal seclusion?” The white-haired elder was shocked. He could sense the firm resolve within Ning’s words.

Terminal seclusion… it represented abandoning everything else and entering seclusion for the final time. Either one would succeed in one’s goal, or one would die in seclusion, never to return!

Ning departed from the Azureflower Estate and made his way over to the Three Realms.

……

Ning arrived at Brightheart Island in Serpentwing Lake. This was where Ning’s family resided, and Ning’s three major retainers Azurefiend, Su Youji, and Pillsaint lived here as well, as did Ning’s eighth disciple ‘Stonepool’.

Everyone was seated, happily enjoying a meal together.

“Ji Ning, each time you go into seclusion you disappear for a few thousand chaos cycles. We hardly see you these days,” Ji Yichuan said with a smile. He was in a wonderful mood today. Whenever Ning reached a bottleneck, he would leave seclusion and spend some time with his family. During the past 15,000 chaos cycles, he had exited seclusion a total of six times.

“Our son is busy with something that’s very important to him. He needs to stay in seclusion to do his best, rather than stay with us and let you bother him all the time.” Yuchi Snow immediately leapt to Ning’s defense, then turned and smiled at him: “Ning, son… let me make the introductions. Dawnjade, come over here.”

The adorable child who had been waiting nearby for quite some time immediately ran over. Yuchi Snow happily took the child’s hand, then said towards Ning, “Dawnjade is the most intelligent child our Ji clan has produced in aeons. He’s an absolutely unparalleled genius who has embarked upon the path of the Omega Dao. He is currently a Daolord of the Second Step.”

“Oh?” Ning glanced at the ‘child’ in astonishment.

“Greetings, Patriarch Darknorth,” Ji Dawnjade said respectfully.

“Father, I have to admit that Dawnjade is very talented. He’s much more talented than me,” the nearby Brightmoon said happily. “He’s only been cultivating for a very brief amount of time, and we didn’t dare to disturb you when you were in seclusion. That’s why we didn’t inform you when he became a Daolord.”

Ning had long ago instructed that he was only to be disturbed if someone was in mortal danger. Otherwise, his seclusion was not to be interrupted.

Ning looked the child over, his eyes lighting up.

He had long ago instructed his daughter, Brightmoon, to take his place in teaching his eighth disciple, ‘Stonepool’. After spending many years training together, the two of them had actually ended up becoming Dao-companions! Both of them had actually been emotionally hurt when they were young. Brightmoon had been single her entire life, while Stonepool had poured all of his efforts on cultivation. Still… after spending many years together, they began to grow extremely fond of each other.

The two had ended up having a child… and Stonepool had voluntarily suggested that the child have the surname ‘Ji’ in order to show respect to his master and father-in-law, Ji Ning! If they had a second child, that child would take his family name. And so, Ning’s lineage began to grow.

Time had passed on, and Ji Ning’s line had flourished. All of them were born with tremendous blessings of karmic luck, but none of them were comparable to the most impressive geniuses of this realmverse… until, that is, Dawnjade was born. He was incredibly intelligent and sailed through his path of cultivation, rapidly advancing to the World level with her clan’s aid. He had then gone out adventuring… and the end result was that he had also embarked upon the path of the Omega Sword Dao!

In truth, the Autarchs had already begun to ensure that quite a number of geniuses scattered throughout the vast Chaosverse had begun to train in the path of the Omega Dao. There was now one or two in virtually every single realmverse who trained in an Omega Dao… and after over ten thousand chaos cycles, the Ji clan had finally given birth to a second such genius. Yichuan and Snow naturally doted on him heavily.

“Mm.” Ning stared at Dawnjade, scanning his past as he did so. Ning could even get a vague sense of what the future held in store for the child, and what he saw was a truly extraordinary destiny. The boy would probably surpass even Ning’s eight disciples… but in the end, the Daomerge would remain a huge obstacle.

“Good. Good!” Ning actually praised the boy twice. “Dawnjade, from this day forth, you shall stay by my side. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask me.”

“Yes, Patriarch!” Dawnjade said excitedly. He all but worshipped the ground ‘Patriarch Ji’ walked on; the Patriarch was a man who treated with Autarchs as an equal! Dawnjade had also heard many boasting stories from Hegemon Azurefiend, including the story of how the Patriarch had captured nearly four thousand Emperors with ease. He knew that the Patriarch was inconceivably powerful and was the most supreme expert of the Dao of the Sword their Chaosverse had ever seen.

The more Ning saw of Dawnjade, the more he liked the boy. Ning felt almost as though he was seeing a reflection of himself in many ways. If Ning himself failed in his terminal seclusion but Dawnjade succeeded in his Daomerge… that wouldn’t be too bad an outcome.

“Sit next to me,” Ning ordered. He didn’t disguise his fondness for Dawnjade in the slightest.

“Brightmoon.” Ning turned and smiled. “Has anything important happened lately?” Each time Ning left his secluded meditation, he would ask her this question.

Both Brightmoon and Stonepool were Daolords of the Fourth Step. The former was Ning’s daughter, while the latter was Ning’s disciple. They often wandered the outside world, and they were well-versed in what was happening lately.

“Yes, actually. Something very important happened,” Brightmoon said. “I actually considered asking you to leave seclusion, but in the end I decided not to disturb you. For you to find out a bit later doesn’t make much of a difference.”

“Something very important? What?” Ning asked curiously.

“Second brother ‘Green Bamboo’ succeeded in the Daomerge and became a Hegemon!” Brightmoon said happily. “He was the first in our group to attempt the Daomerge. To this very day, I’m still afraid to make the attempt!”

“Quding succeeded in the Daomerge?” Ning was delighted to hear this. He immediately began inspect the karmic threads binding him to his disciple.

His second disciple, ‘Green Bamboo’ Yang Quding. When Ning was at the World level, Ning had met him by accident when he had entered Annihilation’s otherverse. Back then Yang Quding had been an ordinary mortal, but his Dao-heart had impressed Ning. Ning had taken a liking to him and had accepted him as his second disciple.

Ning always had the feeling that his second disciple would probably become an extremely accomplished figure… but Ning never would’ve expected him to become a Hegemon so quickly!

“After he succeeded in the Daomerge he came here in person, wanting to pay his respects to you, Father. I didn’t want to disturb you, so after discussing the matter with Patriarch Subhuti I decided to give him three Sithe treasures as a celebratory gift,” Brightmoon said.

“You did well.” Ning nodded. He had acquired many Sithe treasures from that hidden dimension, but he had given them over to Nuwa, Subhuti, and Brightmoon to hand out as they saw fit. He wouldn’t hand over treasures of such power to even his disciples without a good reason. Giving his second disciple a few of them to celebrate his Hegemony, however, was fine.

“I’m not finished. Not too long ago, second brother received an otherverse and became an Otherverse Lord!” Brightmoon said happily. “He didn’t acquire it in battle, he was given it by an Autarch.”

“By an Autarch?” Ning was startled. Ning knew the Autarchs very well; they wouldn’t casually hand over otherverses to juniors, no matter how much they liked them. They acted impartially in all things.

“So here’s the story. Second brother is incredibly talented in the Dao of the Sword and has a perfect Dao-heart. He had an accidental meeting with the Autarch of Annihilation, who tested him. He passed the test, and the Autarch viewed him so favorably that the Autarch bestowed an otherverse upon him,” Brightmoon said.

“A perfect Dao-heart?” Ning was astonished. A perfect Dao-heart was a prerequisite for becoming an Autarch, and also a prerequisite for succeeding in the Daomerge for an Omega Dao. Everyone who had a perfect Dao-heart was without a doubt an extraordinary character.

“No wonder Ekong showed him such favor.” Ning had felt long ago that Green Bamboo had an extraordinary heart and was highly suited for cultivating in the Dao. Ning had ‘released him into the wild’ and allowed him to make his own way in the world as a mortal cultivator with just a few techniques. Ning hadn’t spent too much time teaching or taking care of this second disciple; the man had to rely on himself for everything.