The Desolate Era - Volume 37 - Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Book 37, Flamewing God, Chapter 17 – Divining Danger

“More and more Hegemons are arriving from the other realmverses . ” Hegemon Brightshore looked at Ji Ning . “Darknorth, have you come up with a plan to deal with them?”

“Yes . ” Ning nodded .

“Let’s go, then . Accompany me back to the Brightshore Kingdom,” Hegemon Brightshore said . Ning didn’t decline . This time, Hegemon Winterflame attacked; next time, it might be an even more shameless Hegemon . In the end, his avatar was just much too wea . Without the Darknorth swords, his avatar was merely on par with Archon Silksnow . This was why he had been so easily forced to reveal his invulnerable form . A Hegemon who was willing to pay an extremely high price would be able to kill his avatar; to reside in the Brightshore Kingdom would be the safest decision .

Riiiiiip . A spacetime tear appeared in the starry cosmos, followed by Hegemon Brightshore leading Ning into the tear and disappearing without a trace .

……

The Terror Starsea . The Jadefire Realm .

Whoosh . Seven figures flew into the giant vortex of flames and entered the Jadefire Realm . These seven figures belonged to the seven Hegemons and Emperors who had accompanied Hegemon Winterflame on this journey to the Flamedragon Realmverse .

“Hegemon Blackwood, what should we do next? Should we enter separately?” a gaudily violet-robed man spoke out .

“Brother Blackwood?” the alien Hegemon, a large and muscular man, spoke out as well .

Only three of the seven were Hegemons . Clearly, they all cared quite a bit about Hegemon Blackwood’s views . This was because Hegemon Blackwood was a Hegemon who was extremely skilled in the divination arts of Numerancy! Although he was much weaker in Numerancy when compared to Emperor Waveshift, he had still reached a level where he could be considered number one in the Dao of Numerancy amongst those who still resided in the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance .

As for Emperor Waveshift himself, he had long ago disappeared to parts unknown . He was doted on and shown great favor by many Otherverse Lords and other major powers, all of whom treated him with tremendous friendliness .

Generally speaking, everyone wished to befriend a major power of the Dao of Numerancy . No one was willing to offend such a figure . If you wished to try and kill him, he’d be able to divine it and flee before you even arrived . Conversely, if you encountered certain dangers or troubles you might need him to assist you in a bit of Numerancy divination .

“Let me give it a try,” the bearded Hegemon Blackwood said, adjusting the eight azure wooden planks on his back . “However, as you all know this struggle over the realmship involves numerous Hegemons as well as Sithe relics; to apply Numerancy to it shall be extremely difficult . I tried on the way over but failed each time . Now that we’ve already entered the Jadefire Realm… perhaps I shall succeed . ” The closer they were to ‘reality’, the easier Numerancy was to engage in .

The other six figures didn’t dare to intervene . They watched as Hegemon Blackwood stood there, eyes closed as the eight azure wooden planks flew out from behind his black and surrounded him . They levitated there, circling around him nonstop and circulating with azure light . Countless runes appeared on their surfaces as an invisible ripple of power spread out .

In the blink of an eye, a full hour had gone by .

“Eh?” Hegemon Blackwood frowned as he opened his eyes .

“Brother Blackwood?” the alien Hegemon immediately asked .

“How did it go?” the violet-robed Hegemon asked as well .

“Don’t be impatient,” Hegemon Blackwood said . “Follow me into one of those flaming passageways . Remember, we’re going to stand in front of the passageway . We’re not going to actually go inside . ” As he spoke, he flew over towards a passageway . The other six figures hurriedly followed from behind . They soon reached the nearest passageway, where they all came to a halt .

“None of you are to disturb me,” Hegemon Blackwood instructed . He then sat down in the lotus position and began to calmly focus his entire mind on Numerancy . The eight pieces of azure wood continuously swiveled around him, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, carrying a strange cadence to them .

……

As soon as Hegemon Blackwood and the others appeared, Ning was immediately made aware of it . He watched these Hegemons closely from afar .

“E? Not good . They are moving together . Wait, why are they pausing at the entrance without going any deeper inside?” Ning was puzzled . To merely be at the entranceway meant they could retreat whenever they chose; Ning’s control over the flaming passageways wouldn’t give him any power of them .

……

Hegemon Blackwood spent a total of three years engaging in Numerancy . His face was rather ashen as he finally opened his eyes, an exhausted look in his gaze .

“Blackwood?” The other six looked at Hegemon Blackwood, with the violet-robed Hegemon calling out to him .

“The dangers of the Jadefire Realm primarily reside within the prison regions and the flaming passageways . So long as we avoid the prison region, we won’t be in any danger,” Hegemon Blackwood said . “Thus… the main things for us to be concerned about are the flaming passageways! After physically entering one of them, my divinations became a bit clearer than before . There are many invisible forces disrupting my Numerancy, and those disruptions are extremely strong . ”

What Hegemon Blackwood didn’t know was that Ning trained in the Omega Sword Dao . Divining anything which was related to Ning in any way was guaranteed to be a ridiculously difficult task . Given how many Hegemons were involved as well as the Sithe ruins known as the ‘Jadefire Realm’, those who didn’t have nigh-perfect mastery over the Dao of Numerancy wouldn’t be able to see anything clearly at all .

“So what’s the conclusion?” the alien Hegemon immediately asked .

“This is going to be extremely dangerous,” Hegemon Blackwood said softly . “I feel as though we are heading into a world of mist . Right now, I can only come to one vague conclusion… only if we stay together will we have a chance at being safe . Once we separate… we could very well die . ”

“What?!”

“Very well die?!”

“As terrifying as that?” the other six were all shocked . Based on what they knew of this place, the Jadefire Realm was once deadly but had now fallen into disrepair . It also had no one in control of it, which meant that it shouldn’t be nearly as dangerous as it once was . To Hegemons and extremely powerful Emperors, it shouldn’t post much of a threat .

“If we separate… we might be safe, but we might also die,” Hegemon Blackwood explained . “But if we stay together, there will be almost no danger at all . Go ahead and decide; should we move together or separately? If you agree to travel alongside me, I’ll accompany you inside as a group . Otherwise, I’ll wait for the next group of Hegemons and accompany them instead . ”

“Together . ”

“Together, of course . ” the violet-robed Hegemon and the others all immediately spoke out in unison . With Emperor Waveshift permanently ‘missing’, Hegemon Blackwood was now the number one expert of the Dao of Numerancy in the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance . Moving alongside someone like him would be the safest choice .

“Should we wait for Hegemon Winterflame?” an Emperor spoke out .

“Why the hell should we?”

“Hmph, traveling alongside him is a disgrace . ”

“Let’s go . Given the detour he took, he’ll be at least two centuries behind us,” Hegemon Blackwood said calmly . “I certainly don’t have the patience to wait for him . ” Hegemon Blackwood was an extremely proud figure, far more prideful than even your average Hegemon . He had never held Hegemon Winterflame in any respect!

Since Hegemon Blackwood had spoken, no one else argued the matter . Whoosh . The seven Hegemons immediatey joined forces to advance through the flaming passageways together, each using their own techniques to keep everyone safe . Spacetime techniques, special treasures, secret arts… they were put on full display as they advanced .

……

“Eh? They actually have chosen to advance as a unit?” Previously, Ning had been relaxing with Whitethaw within a flaming passageway inside the Jadefire Realm, sipping some wine from inside his hidden realmship . Now, however, he could no longer relax .

“Hegemon Blackwood, eh? I didn’t expect this many major powers to get involved, or that one of them would be able to divine a correct path of action despite my Dao being that of the Omega Dao,” Ning mused . He was on good terms with Daolord Badlands and thus knew a bit about the Dao of Numerancy . The more variables that were involved, the more difficult the divination would become .

Ning trained in an Omega Dao; each time Daolord Badlands tried to engage in Numerancy divinations regarding Ning, he saw nothing but blank fogginess . It was extremely difficult .

If (for example) an Autarch was somehow involved in a matter, most likely not even Emperor Waveshift would be able to divine anything whatsoever .

“The Dao of Numerancy truly is incredible,” Ning sighed . If his foes had chosen to travel separately, they would be like meat for his butcher’s block . Now that they were moving together, there wasn’t much he could do to them .

“Since Hegemon Blackwood and the others have started to move, it’ll be time to draw in my web soon . ” Ning then pondered for a moment, “Wait, not just yet . I’ll wait for Hegemon Winterflame to arrive as well . ”

Hegemon Winterflame had sought to use Vastheaven Palace to threaten Ning; how could Ning let him off the hook?

Soon, after roughly 180 or so years, Hegemon Winterflame arrived at the Jadefire Realm . He randomly picked a flaming passageway, then entered it . As he did so, Ning finally put down his winecup and rose to his feet within his realmship .

“The Jadefire Realm’s flaming passageways now have a total of twelve Hegemons within them!” Ning was able to clearly track the actions and movements of all the Hegemons and Emperors . “Once I move against one of them, I’ll be exposed and the rest will be forewarned . Thus… I’ll probably only be able to actually capture one of them . ”

“Which one should I choose?”

Ning suddenly grinned . “The strongest one, I suppose!”