Desolate Era

“I should be the only Verge-level Daolord to have entered the Waveshift Realm in recent memory.” Daolord Solesky said heavily, “I didn’t go out of my way to keep my trip a secret. Although not too many know about my trip, there are still a few Verge-level Daolords who know.”

“The only one?” Ji Ning’s face turned pale.

Daolord Solesky explained, “The Endless Territories have many dangerous locations within them, and the Waveshift Realm holds very few treasures! There’s nothing of real interest aside from the Voidsea Jadeseals, making it a much less enticing proposition than the Terror Starsea. Ever since Emperor Waveshift departed, no one has ever been able to find so much as a single one of those seals. Thus, there are now very few Daolords who will brave the dangers of the Waveshift Realm. I should be the only one to have gone inside in recent memory.”

“Then this is going to be trouble.” Ning nodded. “Everyone will be able to guess that someone inside the Waveshift Realm probably caused the enormous stir. If you are the only one who has gone inside lately, you are going to become everyone’s target.”

“Not just me. Even Badlands is going to be in trouble as well.” Daolord Solesky shook his head.

……

Daolord Solesky’s prediction was frighteningly accurate. The Badlands Court was indeed in trouble.

BOOM! A wicked black cloud descended upon the entire Badlands Court. A black-robed woman stood at the center of that black cloud. Her skin was green, her eyes were crimson, and she had a pair of curved green horns on her head. She called out in an icy voice, “Badlands!”

“Fellow Daoist Dustrain.” An azure-robed man stood in front of the Badlands Court. It was Daolord Badlands’ avatar.

“An avatar? Are you actually going to send a mere avatar to meet with me?” Fiendqueen Dustrain let out a cold snort.

Daolord Dustrain was referred to as ‘Fiendqueen’ due to her exceptional strength as well as the fact that she walked a devilish, demonic path. She was publicly acknowledged as the seventh most powerful Daolord of the Endless Territories! But of course, this ranking was only based on the Daolords who had revealed their strength to the outside world. There were many low-key ones who had not, and the outside world knew very little about them. For example, the Ninedust Sectlord was roughly on par with Daolord Dustrain but very few people knew about him.

“I’m quite sorry, but my true body has departed some time ago along with my wife for some sightseeing.” Daolord Badlands’ avatar swept the distant skies with his gaze. “Fellow Daoist Dustrain and the other fellow Daoists off in the distance… I know why all of you have come! The strange and incredible happenings within the Waveshift Realm are indeed related to me. However, I swear on my very life itself that neither I nor Daolord Solesky have acquired so much as a single Voidsea Jadeseal. Haha… Emperor Waveshift plotted all this out in advance. There’s no way he would have let us acquire them with such ease.”

“If you wish to attack, feel free to go ahead and wipe out my avatar. However… I, Badlands, will make it known to all of you that if anyone actually dares to attack, I will repay you tenfold!”

His words complete, Daolord Badlands turned and headed right back into the Badlands Court. He didn’t so much as glance at the many Daolords who had arrived, nor did he pay any attention to Fiendqueen Dustrain in the skies.

“Hmph.” Fiendqueen Dustrain had an ugly look on her face, and the other Daolords off in the distance were all hesitating. They didn’t fear death, but… if Badlands had already decided to ignore them, what were they supposed to do? There was no point in destroying his avatar; that would be a meaningless act.

And, if Daolord Badlands really did elect on taking revenge, he would become a very frightening foe. This would be doubly true once he became a Daolord of the Fourth Step. By then, he would be the number one master of the Dao of Numerancy within the Endless Territories. Not even Hegemons would be able to prevent him from taking revenge upon his foes!

“It seems that our only choice is to enter the Waveshift Realm. If we go in ahead of the others, our chances might be a bit higher.” Fiendqueen Dustrain pondered for a moment within the skies, then turned and flew straight towards the Waveshift Realm.

……

Although the Badlands Court was located within the Badlands Everworld, given that Daolord Badlands had made his position clear and had left merely an avatar behind, there really was no one who chose to attack him.

If his true body was here, he probably would’ve been captured long ago. But just an avatar…

In the end, Daolord Badlands had a sufficiently fearsome reputation and was able to deter these people. Vastheaven Palace, however, did not.

……

“I just received word that Daolord Badlands has merely left his avatar to stand guard over the Badlands Court. However, if anyone dares to attack the Badlands Court, he will repay the attacker tenfold in the future.” Two Daolords were chatting as they strode side-by-side through the void. A dimensional tunnel surrounded them, and they were walking straight through it with no need for a spacetime transfer array.

“That was a pretty nasty move!” One of the Daolords was dressed in dark-red armor.

“It seems our only choice is to see if we can get any information from Daolord Solesky.” The other Daolord was dressed in gray robes, and he let out a sigh.

“We’re quite close to the Vastheaven Territory. Given your mastery over the Dao of Space, brother Soletruth, we should be able to get there quite quickly. In roughly two or so weeks, we should reach Vastheaven Palace. We might even be the first ones there.” The dark-red armored Daolord said coldly, “For the sake of the Daomerge, we have no choice but to employ unpleasant means against Vastheaven Palace.”

“Agreed. Daolord Solesky is the only Verge-level Daolord who has entered as of late, and he certainly knows more about the Waveshift Realm than most. Even if he simply gives us an intelligence report regarding the place, it’ll make our trip into the Waveshift Realm much simpler and our chances of acquiring the Voidsea Jadeseals much higher,” the gray-robed Daolord said.

With so many Daolords heading to the Waveshift Realm, they really weren’t confident in their own chances at all. There were far, far too many who were more powerful than them. However, if they were able to acquire some information in advance, they might have a shot!

A few days later. “We’re about to reach Vastheaven Palace,” the gray-robed Daolord Soletruth said.

“Vastheaven Palace…” A flicker of cold light flashed through the dark-red armored Daolord’s eyes. They would force the information out of Solesky, no matter what they had to do.

……

The weather was clear this day, and the skies were like an enormous, beautiful bowl of azure porcelain. The wind was blowing through this world, and two figures were slowly walking through the skies. They could already see Vastheaven Palace up ahead.

“We’ve reached Vastheaven Palace.” The dark-red armored Daolord was slightly excited. “Our best chances lie within Vastheaven Palace.”

“Agreed.” The gray-robed Daolord nodded.

“I’ll go call him out. I refuse to believe that old bastard would dare to refuse us.” A flicker of a murderous intent could be seen in the dark-red armored Daolord’s eyes. They had come here to force Solesky to give them what they wanted.

“SOLESKY!” After having flown slightly closer, the armored Daolord let out a loud call that echoed within the heavens, causing an invisible but baleful aura to spread outwards from him and cover the entire Vastheaven Palace. “SOLESKY! GET OUT HERE!”

……

Within a palace courtyard. Ning, Solesky, Battlemaster, and Brightfish were all present. All four of them had only left their avatars behind, and the vast majority of the Vastheaven Palace’s disciples had departed already. The only ones left behind were some disciples who had many clones, as well as a few servants.

“Solesky! Get out here!” A loud bellow rang out from outside.

“Here they come.” Daolord Solesky let out a cold snort. “So someone has finally arrived.”

Ning, Battlemaster, and Brightfish all had mixed looks on their faces. They had predicted long ago that trouble was coming for Vastheaven Palace, as there would definitely be some Daolords who would come for Daolord Solesky! In addition, some were located fairly close by. Some would move quickly while others would move more slowly, but in the end there would be many batches of them. Clearly, the first batch of Daolords had arrived.

“Let’s go take a look and see who it is.” Daolord Solesky arose and walked outside, with Ning, Battlemaster, and Brightfish following behind him.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. All four Daolord avatars flew out into the skies, remaining within the protective embrace of Vastheaven Palace as they stared at the two distant figures.

“That’s Daolord Soletruth and Daolord Mistbearer.” Daolord Solesky’s face tightened slightly as he sent mentally to the other three, “Daolord Soletruth is skilled in the Dao of Space and is an extremely troublesome foe, while Daolord Mistbearer is silled in close combat. These two are both on par with me.”

Ning understood. These two Daolords weren’t all that powerful; they were merely on the same level as Solesky and Patriarch Clearwind. The weaker ones wouldn’t even try to come here, while there were only a few strong ones; they would need time to make it here.

“Soletruth. Mistbearer. Why have you two come to Vastheaven Palace?” Daolord Solesky barked.

“Stop pretending. Are you trying to tell me that you don’t know why we are here?” The distant dark-red armored Daolord Mistbearer let out an angry snarl.action

“Is it about the Waveshift Realm?” Daolord Solesky said, “I can swear a lifeblood oath that I do not have any Voidsea Jadeseals right now.”

“I guessed as much.” Daolord Mistbearer smirked. “There’s no way the jade seals left behind by Emperor Waveshift would be obtained so easily. However… I need all of the information you know regarding the Waveshift Realm. So long as you provide that to us, the two of us will leave immediately.”

Daolord Solesky let out a cold snort. “That’s a nice dream you are having. Do the two of you really think you have what it takes?”

He and Daolord Badlands had spent many tens of thousands of years braving the dangers of that place and searching laboriously for as much information they could find. It was all thanks to Daolord Badlands’ repeated usage of Numerancy divination that hey had learned so many of the secrets of the Waveshift Realm. How could they just send this information out to others?

“This is an item we acquired last time we adventured through the Terror Starsea.” The distant Daolord Mistbearer produced a strange stone globe that was covered with many complex runes that faintly emanated a terrifying aura of power. “If I crush this item, I’ll be able to annihilate the entire Vastheaven Palace. If you refuse to give me the information I need, I’ll have no choice but to use it.”

“Speak!” The gray-robed Daolord said coldly, “Will you give us the information or not?”