The Desolate Era - Volume 38 - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Book 38, Daomerge, Chapter 2 – Ning’s Nervousness

“Chaos Primordials are born from within the prime essences of the vast Chaosverse . They are blessed by the prime essences and born with tremendous karmic luck . The vast majority of cultivators will never have a chance to even encounter one of these creatures . ” The bald old man looked at Ning, a smile on his face as he offered his congratulations: “Although you also have tremendous karmic luck, you still can’t compare to that Chaos Primordial . I imagine it wasn’t easy for you to run into it . ”

Ji Ning was briefly startled, but he quickly understood . It was indeed true that running into Chaos Primordials was incredibly rare, due to how much the prime essences of the Chaosverse doted upon them . Indeed, Ning himself had entered the Jadefire Realm many chaos cycles ago, but he had to undergo countless hardships before managing to solve the formation-diagram and thus have the chance to meet the Chaos Primordial .

However, from another perspective, this was also proof that in the long run, being ‘blessed with karmic luck’ and ‘beloved by the prime essences’ didn’t count for THAT much . The Chaos Primordial had still been trapped by the Sithe for countless years, right?

“I had to solve the Jadefire Realm’s formation-diagram before I was able to meet the Chaos Primordial,” Ning said .

“Treat it well . It will be of great help to you . Come, let us go to your homeland,” the bald old man said .

Whoosh . As soon as these words came out, spacetime twisted around them and everything became illusory and dreamlike . By the time spacetime went back to normal, Ning immediately saw a chaosworld off in the distance .

“We’ve already left the Terror Starsea?” Ning was immediately able to sense the location of his avatar and Primaltwin and thus knew where he was . He couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe, but he was able to keep his expression calm .

“I’ll take you to my homeland right away, senior,” Ning said .

“Wait, wait . Not just yet . I teleported your realmship here because there’s a young fellow that needs rescuing,” the bald old man immediately called out . With a swoosh, he flew out of the realmship and towards that distant chaosworld .

“Needs rescuing? Needs rescuing by an exalted AUTARCH?!” Ning and Azurefiend shared a glance, both feeling rather puzzled .

Swoosh . Swoosh . Ning put away the realmship for now, then flew towards that chaosworld as well . Azurefiend and Whitethaw followed close behind . Once they flew into the chaosworld…

“Haha, Daolord Cleardust, you’ve been trapped with my formation and have nowhere to run . In a mere thirty thousand years, the power of my formation will have ground you into dust and wiped out your truesoul . Did you think, young fellow, that you would be able to defeat me just because you broke through to become a Samsara Daolord? This chaosworld shall remain mine . No one can violate my will!” A red-haired old man was seated at the peak of a mountain, staring downwards into a valley .

The valley was filled with rolling black clouds and billowing flames . Every so often, one could see a fragile-looking you seated in the air in the lotus position . He was suffering all sorts of torment . The youth sat there in the lotus position, murmuring a chant while completely ignoring the red-haired elder .

“I established this chaosworld as my estate, and thus all the living creatures within it are subject to my will . All shall be as I will it! I never would’ve imagined that this chaosworld would actually give birth to a freakishly talented genius like yourself . You actually managed to reach the Samsara Daolord level because of a few so-called legacies I left behind out of boredom . ” The red-haired elder was in a good mood, as victory was clearly at hand . “You, a Daolord of the First Step, actually managed to fight me to a standstill even though I am a Daolord of the Third Step . I truly admire you very much . In the outside world, someone as talented as you would probably be recruited by one of the major organizations . Unfortunately, you shall die here . ”

“Yes, you shall die here!” A voice suddenly rang out, followed by a giant foot descending from the heavens . Sploosh! The giant foot stomped down upon the red-haired old man, smushing him into the ground . The red-haired man instantly stopped moving .

The owner of the foot descended from the heavens . It was a merry-looking bald old man . Moments later, Ning, Azurefiend, and Whitethaw all descended as well .

“No wonder this chaosworld was protected by so many barriers . I imagine most Daolords of the Second Step and even Daolords of the Third Step would be unable to pass through them,” Ning sent mentally . “So this was the estate of that deceased Daolord over there . ”

“Autarch Titanos intervened for the sake of that kid?” Azurefiend glanced downwards at the valley .

The bald old man had already walked down into the valley, easily tearing apart and destroying the formations . He was chatting with that fragile-looking youth, whose gaze was calm and distant . It was as though the youth had long ago seen and suffered countless torments and had endured everything one could endure .

“Hahaha . That Daolord over there… just judging from his gaze, I can sense that he has experienced much pain,” Azurefiend said .

“This chaosworld is an absolute hell . ” Ning swept the area with his gaze, seeing everything there was to see within this chaosworld . That demonic Daolord had clearly delighted in tormenting and abusing all the living creatures of this chaosworld, treating them as his playthings .

A short while later… “Time to go . ” The bald old man returned to Ning’s side .

“Alright . ” Ning and Azurefiend cast a final glance to ‘Daolord Cleardust’, who remained within the gorge . Daolord Cleardust looked back at these foreign cultivators, a slightly confused look in his eyes . He had no idea who was before him . One was a terrifyingly powerful golem, one was a supremely talented Daolord, the third was a Hegemon, and the old man was an Autarch, supreme amongst the cultivator civilizations .

“Autarch . ” While flying away from the chaosworld, Azurefiend couldn’t help but ask, “Why did you intervene to save a Daolord of the First Step?”

“Couldn’t you sense how much karmic luck swirled around him? Of course I had to aid him,” the bald old man said with a merry grin .

“You have to help him because of his karmic luck?” Ning was puzzled . Karmic luck was just a side benefit; personal power was what truly mattered . No amount of karmic luck would protect you in the face of overwhelming power!

“Of course!” The bald old man said hurriedly, “You clearly don’t understand . Each time I help someone like him out, my own karmic luck increases as well . When I act in accordance with the will of the prime essences of the Chaosverse, my own karmic luck will continuously increase . Do you know what will happen once your karmic luck reaches an incredibly high level?”

“What will happen?” Ning was curious .

“All sorts of rare and incredible treasures will appear out of nowhere, almost as though they are throwing themselves at me . I could choose a random boulder to sit on, and then I’d find out that it was part of an incredibly rare ore vein . Any random tree I chose to take shade under could possibly be a spirit-fruit tree of great value . ” The bald old man sighed . “All sorts of treasures will throw themselves at me . It is quite the pleasant experience . ”

“Buuut… I’ve come here to help you reverse spacetime to revive a Celestial Immortal . That goes against the will of the Chaosverse . ” The bald old man sighed again . “Looks like my karmic luck is going to drop by quite a bit . ”

An awkward look appeared on Ning’s face .

“Haha, I’m just teasing you . Honestly, karmic luck doesn’t matter all that much . Once you’ve trained to my level, it really makes no difference at all . It’s just a little game we play to keep score . ” The bald old man swept the area with his gaze . Boom! Suddenly, the space around them seemed to retreat as karma, spacetime, and luck all withdrew from them . A field of absolute void was formed around them, a region of complete stillness .

Ning and Azurefiend could both sense that they were completely unable to move . This invisible pressure had forced away even the prime essences of the Chaosverse, to say nothing of them .

“See this? This area is now devoid of the prime essences of the Chaosverse . This is now my absolute domain . ” The bald old man laughed .

Ning suddenly remembered how the area around the Azureflower Estate was similarly devoid of all outside types of energy . But of course, the effect wasn’t as strong as it was right now, where Autarch Titanos was personally and actively maintaining the effect .

“In the end, personal power is what matters the most . Kid, as a practitioner of an Omega Dao, if you somehow manage to succeed in your Daomerge you’ll probably understand . ” The bald old man continued, “Alright, hurry up and bring out your realmship . Lead me to your homeland . ”

“Alright . ” Ning, Azurefiend, and Whitethaw could sense that they were able to move again . They immediately entered the realmship . Whoosh! After just a short spacetime blink, the realmship appeared within the void outside the new Three Realms .

The bald old man stared at the distant Three Realms, then let out a surprised breath: “What an impressive chaosworld! Just by looking at it, I can tell that it is extraordinary . No wonder it was able to produce a freak of a Daolord like yourself, someone who trains in an Omega Dao!”

“It has already been destroyed once . ” Ning pointed at the void next to the new Three Realms . “That place over there used to be my homeland, a world within the Three Realms which was known as the ‘Grand Xia world’ . My Dao-companion used to live by my side there . ”

The original Three Realms took up much more space than the new one, as it had been shattered and splintered into countless pieces . There had been a Celestial Realm, a Netherworld Kingdom, and three thousand major worlds that had been scattered across an enormous amount of space . The new Three Realms was a single complete entity which took up much less space . The location the Grand Xia had been in was now just an empty patch of psace .

“Oh . Over here, right?” The bald old man walked over and chuckled while spacetime churned around him and began to reverse at increasingly high speeds .

Whoooooosh . Spacetime continued to reverse, and they quickly reached the scene of the old Three Realms .

“Slow down a bit,” Ning urged .

“Don’t worry . I’ll find the old you first,” the bald old man said . “Oh . There you are . ” A projection of the Grand Xia had appeared, centered around the old Black-White College . The scene was that of Ning, who had just entered the Black-White College . He was about to begin his duel against Yu Wei .

“The Black-White College?” The bald old man pointed towards Yu Wei’s image . “That should be your wife, yes?”

“Yes . ” Ning felt as though his blood was boiling from nervousness . It had been a long, long time since he had been this nervous .

“It seems she really did have a big impact on you . ” The bald old man laughed . “Wait for me to reverse the flows of spacetime and bring her back to life!”