The Desolate Era

Book 36, Daolord of the Fourth Step, Chapter 21 – Archon Silksnow’s Plan

The conquest of the Sacred City of Silksnow had concluded long ago. As time flowed on, word began to spread through the Endless Territories. By now, even many ordinary Daolords had gradually begun to hear the word. By now, even the World-level cultivators of the Twelve Palaces of the Brightshore Kingdom had heard the stunning news about Daolord Darknorth.

Countless cultivators had been completely stunned by this this revelation. News of the battle had stirred waves in the realmverse. Everyone was talking about how ‘Daolord Darknorth crushed over twenty Emperors by himself’ and how ‘Darknorth blew through eight Eternal Emperors and annihilated them with ease, then sent Archon Silksnow fleeing and the others fleeing for their lives’. They spoke of how ‘Daolord Daolord is close to the Hegemon level of power’, how ‘Daolord Darknorth has surpassed the eight lords of the Sacred Cities in power’, and how he was the ‘number one Daolord to ever exist’.

All sorts of flattery could be heard. All of the cultivators felt proud that one of them, a Daolord, could achieve such a level of power.

At first, those who heard the news were rather puzzled. They couldn’t believe that it was true. However, as more and more information spread out, they began to understand that all of these stories were real! They naturally began to spread the stories even more vigorously, and the legend of Darknorth began to spread even more energetically than the legends of Emperor Heartsword had! Emperor Heartsword had been an Eternal Emperor, after all… but Darknorth was just a Daolord!

How was it that a Daolord had reached such an incredible level of power? It could be said that within just a few short centuries, everyone within the Endless Territories was talking about the legendary Daolord Darknorth! He was the topic of every get-together. It could be said that Daolord Darknorth’s fame and reputation was now second only to the three legendary Hegemons!

……

A desolate, barren planet. Every so often, a few flickers of flame would appear on the surface of the planet.

The skinny, white-browed Archon Silksnow had hidden himself within a valley inside this planet. When the flames moved close, they would naturally part before him. He sat there in the lotus position within the valley, a cold and dark look on his face.

“Damn him. He’s forced me to go into hiding at the very margins of the Endless Territories.” Archon Silksnow’s face was downcast, but there was nothing he could do. If he was a bit closer to Ning, both would be able to sense each other due to the resonance between their realmship parts! His only choice was to hide far, far away. He knew that he absolutely could not reveal the fact that he owned a realmship.

Even Nign and Ninedust merely believed that Archon Silksnow also had a realmship part… they had no idea that what Archon Silksnow had was a complete, albeit damaged, realmship that was actually usable!

This was a secret which Archon Silksnow had never made public. He was the only person who knew this secret. If it was ever made public, he would be in serious trouble. Most likely, even the three Hegemons would hunt him down with all the resources available to him, seeking to kill him no matter what the cost. A complete realmship would allow one to easily travel between realmverses and otherverses. It was definitely every bit as valuable as Crimsonwave Temple!

But of course, Archon Silksnow’s realmship was damaged and needed repairing.

“Darknorth. Darknorth!” Archon Silksnow’s eyes were filled with hatred and malice. He was by nature a savage and violent man. It was this brutal nature of his that caused so many evil Daolords and Emperors to choose to follow him.

Emperor Bloodcloud was just as strong as him, but he wasn’t as decisive. He wasn’t determined enough or ruthless enough when necessary. Only Archon Silksnow was ruthless and dominating enough to become the leader of their group.

“No rush, no rush. What I need to do is to repair the realmship as soon as possible. Once I repair it, I’ll be able to use it to escape with ease. Not even Hegemon Brightshore would be able to stop me, despite his unparalleled mastery of the Dao of Spacetime.” Archon Silksnow felt quite confident, because a fully operational realmship was truly unmatchable in terms of tunnel through spacetime. It vastly surpassed Hegemon Brightshore in this regard.

“Right. If I can’t handle Darknorth, I should go find Ninedust. Ninedust has a realmship part on him as well.” Archon Silksnow nodded slowly. “Perhaps the part he holds will be enough to repair my realmship.”

“Ninedust… hmph. He seems to be extremely good friends with Darknorth. If I can’t kill Darknroth, I’ll kill Ninedust. Hmph. Let’s see what Darknorth can do about it.” Archon Silksnow’s eyes flickered with dangerous light, but he then frowned. “However… I need to first locate Ninedust. Based on the information I uncovered, he entered the Terror Starsea a long time ago. How suicidal of him! Still… the places he would dare enter would probably be of no danger to me.”

“To the Terror Starsea I go!” Archon Silksnow decided to head to the Terror Starsea to hunt down Ninedust and take the realmship part.

……

For now, Ning had left all his troubles and worries behind… because he had already left the Flamedragon Realmverse. He had entered the Great Dark and was hurrying towards the Stone Hellephant Wall.

“Here we are.” Now that he was a Daolord of the Fourth Step, he was far faster than before. Just a short while after heading out, he reached the Stone Hellephant Wall.

The entrance to the enormous silver Stone Hellephant Wall remained open. Prior to Ning and Ninedust’s original arrival, the local cultivators had long ago searched the insides of the Stone Hellephant Wall and had realized that there was no way out. Thus, even though it had been hundreds of millions of years since Ning had left the Stone Hellephant Wall, not a single one of them had exited via the entranceway! Even if they did, though… when faced with the endless darkness of the Great Dark, they probably would’ve been completely lost.

Whoosh. Ning flew into the passageway, quickly descending upon that world inside. Darknorth Palace remained the preeminent power of this planet… and no one even realized that Ning had already left and then returned.

Boom! The headquarters of the Fumo clan, one of the ‘three great clans’. This was a place protected by many barriers and a Sithe disc, but an enormous explosion suddenly rang out as a terrifying, watery streak of sword-light tore straight through the layers of barriers with overwhelming power.

“What?!”

“W-what’s going on?!” The countless Fumo clan members were all shocked and terrified.

Sithe discs were used by the Sithe to construct and stabilize large-scale barrier formations. They were generally used in sets of nine, twelve, or more in order to set up the formations. These locals, however, didn’t really know how to use them properly. They didn’t have enough of the discs anyhow, and so they merely used a single disc… and with Daolord-level energy, at that! Despite that, the barriers were still strong enough to defend against ordinary Archon-level foes.

If they had eleven more discs and used them properly with an Emperor controlling them, not even ten Hegemons working together would be able to burst through the barriers! Alas… the original attacker had been Autarch Bolin. He had blown trhough the formations with ease, destroying everything with impunity. Quite a few Sithe discs had been destroyed by his assault. Autarch Bolin wouldn’t even bother to look at ordinary treasures; he only took away the precious ones, such as the complete realmship.

“Spare us!”

“Spare us, Lord Darknorth!” The Fumo clan members finally saw the white-robed youth standing in midair.

“Hand over all of your Emperor-class golems,” Ning called out from the skies. “You are permitted to keep a single royal golem.”

“Understood.” Although the Fumo clan members were both terrified and reluctant to comply, no one dared to voice an objection. In the past, they had been the rulers of this planet… but they were completely unable to fight back against Ji Ning. Even their protective Sithe disc had been torn apart. How could they even think about resisting?

Soon, Ning departed with the Emperor-class golems and the royal golems (comparable to Daolords of the Fourth Step) in tow. He also took away many of their magic treasures. The Fumo clan now only had a single royal golem left to them. This was now the most powerful force they had to muster. With it, they would probably be able to stay strong… but if they spread themselves too thin and attracted an entire host of enemies, they would still be doomed.

Ning couldn’t be bothered with intervening in the lives of the local cultivators on this planet. He was now on a completely different of level compared to before. He simply blew through the barriers protecting the three great clans, then swept them clean of their Emperor-class golems, royal golems, and treasures.

……

Now that no one had access to any Emperor-class golems, no clan on this planet was overwhelmingly more powerful than any other clan. No one was invincible any longer… and so, the planet entered a brand new era.

Ning once more entered the secret Sithe ruins located within this planet.

“Whitethaw, guard the entrance.” Ning waved his hand, causing that honest-looking Sithe Protector to appear by his side.

“Yes, Master,” Whitethaw said respectfully, then stood in front of the entranceway to the ruins.

Ning nodded. He had once sparred against this golem… and even when he fought with all his power, he still wasn’t able to seize any advantage over it! Whitethaw was like an immovable mountain. Even if a Hegemon came, he would still be able to protect Ning for a time. With Whitethaw watching the entrance, there was no way any of the golems within the ruins would be able to escape.

Whoosh. Ning transformed into a streak of light as he flew into the shattered palace ruins. A number of Emperor-class golems secretly watched him from behind the barriers that were still active within the vast ruins. For now, Ning ignored them as he flew straight towards the core regions.

“You again?!”

“Darknorth, how dare you return!” Four streaks of light flew over towards Ning. It was the four Archon-class golems.

Ning slowed down when he saw them, then smiled. “My four old friends, join me in leaving these ruins. Life here is far too boring. The outside world is much more interesting.”