The Desolate Era

Book 42, The Five Truncheon Chapters, Chapter 21 – Glad You Are Safe

“It doesn’t really matter if we kill them or not. They’re nothing more than foot soldiers,” Autarch Titanos said. “But if we don’t kill them, I recommend that we at least imprison them. We shouldn’t let them escape and reinforce the other Sithe.”

“I understand.” Ning smiled. “There’s something else I’ll need to trouble you two with.”

“Hm?” Autarch Titanos and Autarch Mogg both looked at Ning.

“Please don’t tell the Paragon of Pills and the others about my true body dying here,” Ning said.

Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos blinked. Autarch Titanos said with surprise, “Don’t tell them? You came to the Sithelands for the sake of the Paragon, I believe. They’ll probably be able to guess the truth.”

“Let’s hide it as best we can. Otherwise, they’ll feel guilty about this,” Ning said with a smile. Suddenly, Ning’s gaze grew distant. He murmured softly, “What an odd feeling. So this is what it feels like for my truesoul to crumble…”

Boom! His truesoul completely fell apart. Ning could feel his mind and his thoughts turn sluggish. The entire framework of his truesoul was completely collapsing, like a cracked dike which was falling apart. Countless truesoul fragments spread out in every direction at a pace which was thousands of times faster than before.

So much of his truesoul was breaking apart that it was actually visible to the naked eye. Countless specks of light flew out from Ning as his divine power and Immortal energy both vanished as well.

“Everything… feels… slow. Going… back… to… Chaosverse?” Ning’s sluggish mind could sense that an enormous, warm location was calling towards him. This had to be the Quintessence of the Chaosverse.

Suddenly, Ning’s seated figure lit up like a ball of fire, instantly transforming into countless specks of light that blasted out in every direction, leaving nothing behind. Ning’s body was completely gone. The only things left were his clothes and magic treasures.

Autarch Titanos and Autarch Mogg simply watched silently.

……

Within an estate-world. The black-robed Ning was silently standing on his feet. The death of his true body had no impact on his Primaltwin at all, as the two were completely different ‘lives’. His Primaltwin would only perish if a powerful foe was able to use a karmic attack to slay the true body and then follow the karmic connection between the two to slay the Primaltwin as well! A normal dissipation, however, wouldn’t result in any connected consequences. Ning’s Primaltwin continued to slowly disintegrate, but it had yet to engage in any combat since his Daomerge attempt and so the process was still quite slow for it.

“So this is what it feels like for one’s truesoul to dissipate?” the black-robed Ning murmured softly.

His true body had died. If his Primaltwin was unable to devise the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ technique, it would face the same fate. “I have to seize this opportunity.” The black-robed Ning’s eyes were shining with hope.

“Autarch Titanos, let me out,” the black-robed Ning said.

“Very well.”

……

Within the Daoguard Tower. Ning’s true body had dissipated, while the black-robed Ning had appeared next to Autarch Titanos and Autarch Mogg.

“Come.” The black-robed Ning waved his hand, summoning his Northbow swords and his other treasures to him. Moments later, his clothes immediately changed as well, going from black to white as he sheathed the Northbow swords on his back once more.

“From this day forth… there is no ‘true body’ or ‘Primaltwin’; just me,” Ning murmured softly. This was the only life he had.

“Break.” Ning released his awesome Sword Dao Domain, instantly beginning to destroy the few remaining spacetime bubbles of the maze that had trapped him.

The nearby Autarch Mogg chuckled. “Let me give you a hand.” As he spoke, he unleashed an awesome wave of power that swept across the entire region, instantly annihilating the continuum bubbles and destroying them in just two seconds.

Autarch Skyfeeder and Autarch Mogg were most likely superior to all others in this Chaosverse when it came to solving spacetime mazes. One was the master of the Time Daobirth Essence, while the other was the master of the Space Daobirth Essence.

With the various continuum bubbles destroyed, the Hegemons and Emperors who had been scattered throughout the various seams were all revealed.

Some of the Sithe descendants managed to remain quite calm, but the true Sithe were driven to both rage and despair because they knew that Ning would never spare them.

“Daolord Darknorth… you didn’t die?”

“It is all your fault. Why did you have to come here?! We grew tired of the war long ago and were enjoying a peaceful life in this dimension. You had to come and ruin everything!” Some of the true Sithe were howling angrily at Ning.

“My fault?” Ning shook his head. “You know the secrets behind this hidden dimension. Do you really think I would’ve been able to enter on my own? Clearly, it was the controller of this hidden dimension, Bowenya, who forcibly teleported me here.”

The formerly-howling Sithe suddenly fell silent. Right. It had to have been Bowenya who teleported Ning here… but he did so because he wanted to render great merits to the Sithe and be rewarded for it. This was on the standing instructions of the supreme Sithe leader. Who could blame him?

“You wanted to kill me, so I had to fight back,” Ning said. He then expanded his Sword Dao Domain to cover all of the Hegemons and Emperors.

“Get in here.” He instantly teleported them into his estate-world. Now, the only figures left in the Daoguard Tower were the two Autarchs and Ning.

Next, Ning willed the Paragon of Pills, Hegemon Tia, Hegemon Flameleft, and Lord Annihilation to appear.

“Darknorth.” The Paragon and the others turned to look at the two Autarchs, both of whom radiated auras of ineffable power, then at Ning. Ning’s truesoul was clearly disintegrating at a very, very slow pace. They all revealed looks of delight.

“Respectful greetings, Autarch!” All four of them bowed respectfully.

Autarch Titanos and Autarch Mogg both nodded slightly, but their gazes flickered a little when they glanced at the Paragon of Pills, who Ning clearly cared about deeply. It was for this woman’s sake that Ning had lost his life.

Ning continued to maintain the illusory effect around his Sword Dao Domain, ensuring so that his truesoul appeared to be crumbling faster than it actually was. He didn’t wish for the Paragon of Pills and the others to be able to see any flaws in his pretense.

His Primaltwin had never engaged in battle after the Daomerge, and so its truesoul was crumbling at a pace which was slower than his true body’s prior to his true body entering the Sithelands. This was an obvious problem, and so Ning quickly masked it.

He didn’t wish for the Paragon of Pills to feel too much guilt. He had already accomplished his goal and saved her; there was no point in making her feel guilty about it.

“I’m glad you are safe.” The Paragon of Pills was all smiles.

“I knew that Daolord Darknorth would be able to defeat those Sithe with ease!” Lord Annihilation said flatteringly.

“I was just lucky. I also have to thank these two Autarchs for managing to get here in the nick of time. Otherwise, I would’ve been in serious trouble,” Ning said. “Mistress, since you have realmships you can head off on your own. I have a few things to discuss with the Autarchs.”

“Very well.” The Paragon and the others all nodded.

“Autarch Mogg, please help send them outside the Sithelands,” Ning said.

“That’s easy. Let’s leave this dimension first.” Autarch Mogg sent out a powerful wave of dimensional might which captured all of them. Swish! They instantly reappeared in the black void of space outside.

A surprised look appeared on Ning’s face. “We left? As easy as that?”

“When we broke into this place, I went ahead and bound the core of this Daoguard Tower to myself. I can now control it with ease,” Autarch Mogg said. “That’s why we were able to leave so easily.”

“The rest of you can be off now.” Autarch Mogg waved his hand, cutting through space with ease. Riiiip! An iridescent dimensional tunnel appeared before him, leading out of the Sithelands.

The Sithelands was quite a dangerous place, after all. Who knew what would happen if they had to fly out? Given how strong the Paragon was, once they made it outside the Sithelands they would definitely be safe.

“Darknorth, I really have to thank you for everything.” The Paragon looked at Ning. She felt extremely grateful towards him. Not only had Ning ensured that her three ‘brothers’ were brought back to life, he had also helped her survive this place, allowing her to reunite with them in person. She had no idea how she was supposed to repay him. Thankfully, Ning didn’t suffer any serious injuries during their time in this dangerous dimension. Otherwise, she truly would’ve been wracked by guilt.

“Off with you. Shoo.” Ning smiled at her.

The Paragon of Pills and the others quickly entered the dimensional tunnel and disappeared. Autarch Mogg and Autarch Titanos glanced at each other, then sighed.

Clearly, the Paragon of Pills had no idea that Ning’s true body had already died within this hidden dimension. She would probably never know the truth.