The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

“Master, what should we do next?” Hegemon Wuye said softly. He had once been one of Realmslord Windgrace’s least remarkable students, but in the end he had become the most successful. Hegemon Wuye looked rather foolish, but how could a Hegemon who devoted to his life to analyzing Sithe golems possibly be foolish? At critical times like this, he was able to maintain a level of incredible calm. Wuye knew that the question of who the Chaos Primordial belonged to was a question which would impact his own master’s status.

Unlike Daolord Darknorth, his master was going to be around for an extremely long period of time. Daolord Darknorth had a limited lifespan, while his master had won eternity for himself. If he could also tame a Chaos Primordial, then his status in the vast Chaosverse would rise up once more to new heights. The Lonely King would no longer be on the same level as him.

“Do nothing at all.” Realmslord Windgrace shook his head. “There’s no need for us to try and force things. Daolord Darknorth is an intelligent man. He has his own plans.”

“Alright.” Wuye nodded.

“The more you try to force something, the less likely it will work out as you hoped. The only result would be that Daolord Darknorth might feel a sense of enmity towards us. The Lonely King’s subordinates have already caused the seeds of enmity to be sown between him and Darknorth. Based on my understanding of his personality, he’s definitely going to try and force things…” Realmslord Windgrace smiled. “We cannot try to rush this matter. We must be patient. Daolord Darknorth has to willingly hand over control. Once he fails his Daomerge, he’s eventually going to have to come to a decision about what he will do.”

The nearby Emperor Skylight asked, “Master, what if Daolord Darknorth succeeds in his Daomerge?”

“Succeeds?” Realmslord Windgrace laughed. “He trains in an Omega Dao. I once heard from an Autarch that there has never been a Daolord who has successfully completed the Daomerge for an Omega Dao! If he does succeed, he’ll reach such a terrifyingly high level of power that he’ll probably be far stronger than even the Chaos Primordial. By then, the Chaos Primordial won’t matter; what would matter would be Darknorth himself.”

Hegemon Wuye and Hegemon Skylight couldn’t help but begin to silently speculate as to how powerful an Omega Dao Emperor would be!

“Stop thinking about it. The cultivator civilizations of the vast Chaosverse have given birth to a number of Autarchs, but it has never given birth to so much as a single Omega Dao Emperor.” Realmslord Windgrace shook his head. “His chances of success are very, very low.”

……

Since Realmslord Windgrace had issued orders, everyone in the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance immediately moved to obey.

In truth, realmverses were all extremely distant from each other. It was quite difficult for news to spread across multiple realmverses, and the only ones within the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance who were capable of contacting the outside world were the Hegemon-class Emperors. So long as they kept their mouths shut, there was no way word would spread.

But as for within the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance? Word had already spread! Hegemon Brightshore, Hegemon Windrain, and Hegemon Netherlily had only managed to contact Realmslord Windgrace by going through several other Hegemons and Emperors! They didn’t have Primaltwins or avatars in the Blacksun, and so they had to convey their messages through others, who then conveyed the message to Emperor Skylight to give to Realmslord Windgrace.

Given how many had been informed, word naturally began to spread within the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance.

……

A realmship suddenly appeared at the borders between the Flamedragon Realmverse and the Great Dark. This was the realmship which Hegemon Thunderstar commanded. Within it were a total of six figures. One was a golden humanoid, four were onyx humanoids, and the final figure was a violet-robed, violet-haired man.

They were Lord Wulf of the Icepeak Army, four Black Emperors, and Hegemon Thunderstar, respectively.

“Swear the oath right away.” Lord Wulf cast the violet-robed, violet-haired man a cold look.

“Sure, sure.” Hegemon Thunderstar immediately smiled. “I would never dare to go against the Lonely King’s orders. I, Thunderstar, swear on my very life itself…” Hegemon Thunderstar had been forced to swear an oath not to divulge any information regarding the Chaos Primordial known as the Flamewing God.

“You can leave now.” Lord Wulf tossed out a storage-type magic treasure, then left alongside his four Black Emperors.

Whoosh. The realmship quickly departed, leaving Lord Wulf and his four Black Emperors at the borders of the Great Dark.

“General?”

“Are we really supposed to just swallow this crap?” The four Black Emperors remained unwilling to accept this. They had just suffered a huge loss; were they to take this lying down? The Icepeak Army would generally launch frenzied reprisals against any who dared to challenge them! This was why the Lonely King had gone so far as to kill three Otherverse Lords.

“You already know what his Majesty has commanded,” Lord Wulf said coldly. “What his Majesty commands, we shall carry out! Right now, his Majesty doesn’t care about this ‘Daolord Darknorth’; the only thing he cares about is that Chaos Primordial. If he can take control of it in the future, then our Icepeak Army shall become far more powerful than it is right now.”

When the four Black Emperors thought back to how terrifying the Flamewing God had been, they couldn’t help but shudder.

“In the coming days, we shall remain hidden within the Flamedragon Realmverse and keep a close watch on Daolord Darknorth. We shall wait for him to fail his Daomerge.”

……

The news that a Chaos Primordial had appeared was like a bomb exploding within the Sixteen Realmverses Alliance! It shocked all of the Hegemons and Emperors. As for the Lonely King and Realmslord Windgrace, they just waited quietly. Both of them were waiting for Ning to fail his Daomerge.

“Let’s go.” A vile, blood-robed elder who radiated a reeking aura of blood stood there in the air. He let out a sigh. Behind him was an entire host of evil Emperors.

“Are we… are we really going to just leave like this?” The Emperors were rather unwilling to go.

“We lost.” The blood-robed Emperor shook his head. “Daolord Darknorth has survived many attempts against his life, and he now has both a Hegemon retainer and a Chaos Primordial. There’s no way we can possibly be a match for him. If we stay in the Flamedragon Realmverse… given his influence and power, we’ll probably be wiped out soon.”

“Now… our only chance for survival lies in departing from the Flamedragon Realmverse,” the blood-robed elder said.

“Let us go our separate ways and begin to wander through the Great Dark. Only by leaving can we survive.” The blood-robed elder let out a sigh. “I, Bloodcloud, simply am not strong enough. I feel ashamed.”

Whoosh. The legendary Emperor Bloodcloud, a man who had reached the Archon level of power, tore through spacetime and departed on his own.

The other Emperors traded glances with each other. All of them were truly unwilling to accept this. It would take them at least a million chaos cycles to travel another realmverse, after all. This would take an incredibly long period of time!

“In the end, there shall be other places in the chaosverse where we can live and thrive. Let us go.” The Emperors quickly came to the decision to depart. Singly and in small groups, they began to depart from the Flamedragon Realmverse and begin to wander through the Great Dark. Ji Ning had once sworn to slay every single one of the demons of Silksnow Palace. How could they possibly dare to remain here any longer?

……

Vastheaven Palace.

By now, Hegemon Brightshore and the others had departed. Now, Emperor Waveshift had come to bid Ning farewell as well.

“Big brother Waveshift, you are leaving as well?” Ning was rather surprised and unwilling to part from him.

“The main reason I came back was to see just what new power has arisen within my homeland. Now that I know it is the Flamewing God and have met with you, Darknorth, I’m satisfied.” Emperor Waveshift smiled. “I have other business to attend to in the outside world.”

Ning nodded.

“Now that you have Flamewing under your control, the only ones you need to keep an eye out for are two people. One is the Lonely King of the Icepeak Army, and the other is Realmslord Windgrace.” Emperor Waveshift smiled. “The Lonely King’s temperament is a bit too bloodthirsty, and in comparison he isn’t quite as experienced as the Realmslord. He was simply someone who was lucky enough to find a Sithe armory and thus rose to power! Realmslord Windgrace is different. He rendered great merits during the Dawn War and has been guided by multiple Autarchs. He has seen far more things, and as a result he has chosen to be low-key.”

“It’s hard to predict what Realmslord Windgrace will do. If you do fail the Daomerge, you can entrust your final wishes to Realmslord Windgrace. That old man is quite trustworthy,” Emperor Waveshift said.

Ning was slightly startled by this.

“Of course, I hope you succeed in the Daomerge.” Emperor Waveshift let out a long sigh. “You’ve only seen a tiny fraction of what the Chaosverse holds; you haven’t even left the Flamedragon Realmverse! Countless marvels are waiting for you, and there are countless secrets waiting for you to uncover them. Darknorth, I truly do hope that you succeed in the Daomerge. When you do, I’ll ride your coat-tails and have you take me to some places I would never dare to visit on my own.”

Ning said with some surprise, “Countless marvels are waiting me?”

“You’ve barely visited any places.” Emperor Waveshift shook his head.

“I’ve visited an alternate universe before!” Ning said. “And also many places here in the Flamedragon Realmverse.”

“As I said, you’ve barely visited any places. Otherverses are created by Autarchs for amusement, and they hold nothing special within them,” Emperor Waveshift said. “The Chaosverse… now THAT is truly something. Even the Sithe were nothing more than part of the Chaosverse. Only those who truly understand how marvelous the Chaosverse is will know how tiny they themselves are!

“This is why Realmslord Windgrace, who has served and followed Autarchs in the past, is such a low-key figure, while the short-sighted and ignorant Lonely King is so arrogant and brash. His only claim to fame stems from those Sithe war machines. In terms of real power, those Otherverse Lords who managed to merge their heartforce, divine power, and Immortal energy together are the truly terrifying figures of the Chaosverse. They truly do stand at the very peak of power, save for the Autarchs.”