DETIOmegaJiTheSecond

Book 43, Final Fate, Chapter 4 – Solving the Heart of Eternity

Ji Ning stared at the six captured Sithe spies, then chuckled: “I’m a failed Daolord. Why would the Sithe be willing to expend this much effort on me?”

“It’s best if we keep your status a secret,” Autarch Stonerule said seriously. “The Sithe have never given up on their efforts to keep our entire Chaosverse under surveillance. In the past, we didn’t really care as we were sure their army remained permanently sealed within the Sithe heartlands, but it now appears highly probable that they long ago found out a way to slip out undetected. They’ve been biding their time, waiting to deliver a fatal blow to us. We’re quietly making arrangements for our forces throughout the Chaosverse to prepare for war, but this will take time. So long as you are still alive, the Sithe will be hesitant to start the war.”

“Right.” Ning nodded. The Sithe would naturally be unwilling to start the war while Ning was alive. Not because they feared him; rather, because they worried that the high-pressure life-and-death environment created by the war would result in Ning suddenly making a breakthrough and mastering an Autarch-level Dao! If that happened, Ning would be able to easily take control over the entire Chaosverse, and the problem with his crumbling truesoul would disappear.

Although chances of this happening were remote, the Sithe were unwilling to take this risk. Anyone who was able to master an Eternal Omega Dao on his own, without any guidance at all, was without question an incredibly talented figure who would have the blessing of the entire Chaosverse itself. It was entirely possible that a ‘miracle’ would happen, resulting in him gaining Autarchy.

Thus, it was best for the Sithe to play it safe. They would wait for Ning’s truesoul to completely break apart before launching the war! By then, the cultivators wouldn’t have even a single Eternal Omega Dao wielder at all, much less an Omega Autarch. The greatest Sithe fear would’ve been avoided.

“With your Eternal Omega Sword Dao serving as the guide, we’ve already begun to lead some of the most talented geniuses of the entire Chaosverse onto the path of the Omega Dao. However, the birth of a new Omega Emperor will take time! We might need millions of chaos cycles or even longer. I’m afraid the Sithe won’t give us the time we need,” Autarch Stonerule said. “But so long as you remain alive? They’ll have something to fear, something which holds them back.”

“I understand. I know what to do.” Ning smiled.

“Then I’ll be leaving now. Let me know right away if there’s anything you need.” Autarch Stonerule waved his hand, collecting the six spies and then disappearing without a trace.

Ning watched as he vanished, already beginning to consider what his next steps should be.

……

That very day, Ning went to meet with Hegemon Brightshore and Emperor Solesky.

“Brother Brightshore. Big brother Solesky.” Ning said, “My truesoul has been crumbling away ever since I failed the Daomerge. I’m worried that the remaining Sithe are trying to keep tabs on my status! Thus, we must destroy the heartlamp in the Sword Palace of the Brightshore Kingdom and the other life-monitoring artifacts pertaining to me in the Dao Alliance and in Vastheaven Palace.”

“Destroy?” Brightshore and Solesky were both puzzled.

“Then, we’ll replace them with fake ones,” Ning said. “The fake ones we create will always show that I am ‘alive’, even if ten million chaos cycles go by. I want the Sithe to always believe that I might be alive.”

Solesky couldn’t help but argue, “Creating a fake one will be easy, but your truesoul is breaking apart! Even if the fake soul lamps are lit for a million chaos cycles, do you really think the Sithe would believe that you are still alive?”

“Solesky, that could be explained away by temporal deceleration, yes? A million years could go by in the outside world, but for Darknorth only ten thousand chaos cycles would have gone past.” Hegemon Brightshore looked at Ning. “Darknorth, what are you planning to do next?”

“Go into secluded meditation,” Ning said. “After this, we probably won’t be meeting again.”

“Do you have a way to reverse the crumbling of your truesoul?” Hegemon Brightshore said rather anxiously.

“A way?” Ning smiled. “Maybe. Alright, enough of that. I’m going to leave with Youji and Pillsaint.”

That very day, Ning departed from Vastheaven Palace with Su Youji, Pillsaint, and his other retainers in tow. They went back to the Three Realms.

Everything which was able to detect Ning’s status, such as his heartlamps or his life towers, were all destroyed and then replaced with fake versions. In all the Chaosverse, the only ones who would know for sure if Ning was alive or not were the Autarchs, Nuwa, and Subhuti! Not even his daughter Brightmoon or his parents would have a way to know for sure.

……

After finishing all of his arrangements, Ning entered the Azureflower Estate by himself. He needed the help of the Autarch’s stone dais for this project.

“Daolord Darknorth.” The estate-spirit was clearly much more respectful towards him than it had been in the past.

“I’ll be spending almost all of my remaining time on researching the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ technique.” Ning smiled. “Sorry to disturb you.”

“Daolord, if you really were able to create such a technique, you would’ve brought boundless blessings upon the entire Chaosverse. Not only would you yourself survive, you will have saved countless future generations of cultivators to come. Our entire Chaosverse shall thrive and grow strong.” The estate-spirit was filled with anticipation.

Ning smiled and nodded, then closed his eyes and emptied out his mind of all extraneous thoughts. With the Autarch’s stone dais and the Stonefire Pearl aiding him, Ning began to meditate on the task at hand. Countless insights flashed through his mind as he continuously analyzed, hypothesized, and restructured the technique he needed. With the [Deathless Chapter] serving as his framework, Ning knew what he needed to do. Every so often, he would finish completing an [Truesoul Everlasting] technique, but each time he tested it out he would discover that it didn’t work.

Time continued to flow on. Every so often, Ning would take a break from researching the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ to work on solving Autarch Awakener’s ‘Heart of Eternity’.

More than 1600 years after he had entered secluded meditation

Crack! Crack! Crack! Ning finally solved the seals covering the ninety-ninth level of the Heart of Eternity hovering before him. The final layer of incredibly complicated runes vanished from the sphere, and it was as though some mechanism had been activated within it. Moments later, the insides of the sphere were revealed.

Rumble… a streak of light shot out, resolving into a scholarly youth who was dressed in white robes with blue fringes. Ning immediately recognized this person as being Autarch Awakener! Autarch Awakener had been the most scholarly Autarch, the one with the biggest dreams. He had spent countless aeons working on the tenth chaos seal.

“Young friend,” the white-robed scholar said. Ning immediately understood that this was a projection which Autarch Awakener had left behind before his death.

“Since you were able to solve the ninety-ninth seal covering the Heart of Eternity, you must be at or near my own level with regards to the chaos seals I devised,” the white-robed scholar said with a smile. “Thus, you are probably strong and wise enough to know of the great danger our entire civilization is facing, and of the foes threatening our entire Chaosverse… the Sithe. The Sithe are still there, and they are still as dangerous as ever.”

“The Sithe are able to repair even shattered truesouls, allowing them to attempt the Daomerge repeatedly. They also have a more perfect energy system, allowing them to generate far more Autarchs than us.

“I have always hoped to create a similar technique which would allow us to birth more Hegemons, and perhaps as many as ten or twenty Autarchs! If I succeeded, we would easily win the battle which is yet to come.

“I have left behind my Nine Chaos Seals to this Chaosverse. Although their flaws mean that one can only successfully start to train in them prior to reaching the World level, I actually fixed those flaws long ago in my own version. I imagine that you, my young friend, can easily do the same as well. The reason why I intentionally published a flawed version of the Nine Chaos Seals is because those who cannot master it prior to the World level cannot be considered true geniuses. There is no chance that they can succeed in helping me to perfect the tenth stage of the technique.

“Within the Heart of Eternity lies the true, perfected version of the Nine Chaos Seals, as well as two lines of thought I have pondered while researching the tenth seal. I wasn’t able to succeed through either of these two paths, but I feel that both can theoretically lead to success. They represent my greatest accomplishments, and I entrust them to you along with my hopes and dreams.

“This is all the Heart of Eternity holds. In terms of value, this probably is not that valuable to someone who is incapable of solving the Heart of Eternity… but to one who was able to solve it, they may perhaps be of some use.

“My young friend… after spending countless aeons in painstaking research, I discovered that I was unable to advance any further. This is why I gave up.I hope you can complete the Ten Chaos Seals and give our civilization a chance to defeat the looming threat. If you can… then I, Awakener, will be grateful even in death.” Autarch Awakener smiled, then his projection vanished.

The white-haired elder who was the estate-spirit had been watching this entire time. Tears streamed down his face.

Ning could sense the powerful will which had driven Autarch Awakener to do so much. He felt a deep sense of admiration for Awakener, who truly had been a leader for the cultivator civilizations.

Ning turned to inspect the contents of the Heart of Eternity, which indeed held many techniques and records left behind by Autarch Awakener. One of those techniques was the perfected Nine Chaos Seals.

The perfect Nine Chaos Seals could be trained in by World-level cultivators, Daolords, and even Emperors. After doing so, it could be used like ‘divine power’ inside the body and ‘Immortal energy’ outside the body. This was a truly flawless type of energy… but it was limited to the first nine stages.

“Perfecting it was simple.” Ning was at such a high level of enlightenment that he immediately grasped the principles behind it. Given enough time, he too would be able to duplicate the work which Awakener had done.

“So Autarch Awakener actually had two different lines of theory, both of which he thought could be successful in creating the Tenth Chaos Seal?” Ning nodded slowly. He had the assistance of the [Deathless Chapter], and he was using it and his own insights to pursue multiple avenues of research as well. Two of them were the ones which Autarch Awakener believed to be workable. The first was the path of the ‘Infinity Everlasting’, while the second was the path of the ‘Void Everlasting’.

Ning began to greedily read through Autarch Awakener’s notes. Over the course of aeons of research, Autarch Awakener had clearly gained many more insights than Ning with regards to these two paths. He also had many different ideas of his own, which quickly gave Ning new insights and ideas.

Ning became completely focused on reviewing Autarch Awakener’s work and adding it to his own. A thousand chaos cycles… two thousand chaos cycles… five thousand chaos cycles… ten thousand chaos cycles…

Time continued to flow onwards, as cold and uncaring as ever.

Book 43, Final Fate, Chapter 5 – Out of Seclusion

The white-robed Ji Ning was as still as a statue, his eyes closed. He had been seated there for countless years now.

Finally, Ning opened his eyes. His gaze was filled with the boundless power of space and time, containing all the cosmos within them.

“Truesoul Everlasting…” Ning murmured softly. He had the insights of Autarch Awakener and the [Deathless Chapter], as well as 15,000 chaos cycles worth of meditation. By now, he had reached a level of understanding with regards to the ‘Truesoul Everlasting’ that vastly surpassed Autarch Awakener’s.

“It has been over 15,000 chaos cycles. I only have 1000 chaos cycles left. Time for me to resolve my various affairs.” Ning rose to his feet.

His original body’s lifespan had been rapidly depleted due to the battles which it had fought, but this body had never fought a single time since failing the Daomerge. The Water Sword Dao, Space Sword Dao, Illusion Sword Dao, and other Daos had all strengthened his truesoul considerably, dramatically slowing down the crumbling rate and extending his lifespan considerably.

However, he had spent over 15,000 chaos cycles in training. He didn’t have much time left, and he had some things he wanted to resolve before he could finally, fully devote himself while holding nothing back at all.

“Daolord Darknorth.” The elderly white-haired estate-spirit immediately came over to him.

“I’m going to make a short trip. The next time I come back, I’ll be entering terminal seclusion.”

“Terminal seclusion?” The white-haired elder was shocked. He could sense the firm resolve within Ning’s words.

Terminal seclusion… it represented abandoning everything else and entering seclusion for the final time. Either one would succeed in one’s goal, or one would die in seclusion, never to return!

Ning departed from the Azureflower Estate and made its way over to the Three Realms.

……

Ning arrived at Brightheart Island in Serpentwing Lake. This was where Ning’s family resided, and Ning’s three major retainers Azurefiend, Su Youji, and Pillsaint lived here as well, as did Ning’s eighth disciple ‘Stonepool’.

Everyone was seated, happily enjoying a meal together.

“Ji Ning, each time you go into seclusion you disappear for a few thousand chaos cycles. We hardly see you these days,” Ji Yichuan said with a smile. He was in a wonderful mood today. Whenever Ning reached a bottleneck, he would leave seclusion and spend some time with his family. During the past 15,000 chaos cycles, he had exited seclusion a total of six times.

“Our son is busy with something that’s very important to him. He needs to stay in seclusion to do his best, rather than stay with us and let you bother him all the time.” Yuchi Snow immediately leapt to Ning’s defense, then turned and smiled at him: “Ning, son… let me make the introductions. Dawnjade, come over here.”

The adorable child who had been waiting nearby for quite some time immediately ran over. Yuchi Snow happily took the child’s hand, then said towards Ning, “Dawnjade is the most intelligent child our Ji clan has produced in aeons. He’s an absolutely unparalleled genius who has embarked upon the path of the Omega Dao. He is currently a Daolord of the Second Step.”

“Oh?” Ning glanced at the ‘child’ in astonishment.

“Greetings, Patriarch Darknorth,” Ji Dawnjade said respectfully.

“Father, I have to admit that Dawnjade is very talented. He’s much more talented than me,” the nearby Brightmoon said happily. “He’s only been cultivating for a very brief amount of time, and we didn’t dare to disturb you when you were in seclusion. That’s why we didn’t inform you when he became a Daolord.”

Ning had long ago instructed that he was only to be disturbed if someone was in mortal danger. Otherwise, his seclusion was not to be interrupted.

Ning looked the child over, his eyes lighting up.

He had long ago instructed his daughter, Brightmoon, to take his place in teaching his eighth disciple, ‘Stonepool’. After spending many years training together, the two of them had actually ended up becoming Dao-companions! Both of them had actually been emotionally hurt when they were young. Brightmoon had been single her entire life, while Stonepool had poured all of his efforts on cultivation. Still… after spending many years together, they began to grow extremely fond of each other.

The two had ended up having a child… and Stonepool had voluntarily suggested that the child have the surname ‘Ji’ in order to show respect to his master and father-in-law, Ji Ning! If they had a second child, that child would take his family name. And so, Ning’s lineage began to grow.

Time had passed on, and Ji Ning’s line had flourished. All of them were born with tremendous blessings of karmic luck, but none of them were comparable to the most impressive geniuses of this realmverse… until, that is, Dawnjade was born. He was incredibly intelligent and sailed through his path of cultivation, rapidly advancing to the World level with her clan’s aid. He had then gone out adventuring… and the end result was that he had also embarked upon the path of the Omega Sword Dao!

In truth, the Autarchs had already begun to ensure that quite a number of geniuses scattered throughout the vast Chaosverse had begun to train in the path of the Omega Dao. There was now one or two in virtually every single realmverse who trained in an Omega Dao… and after over ten thousand chaos cycles, the Ji clan had finally given birth to a second such genius. Yichuan and Snow naturally doted on him heavily.

“Mm.” Ning stared at Dawnjade, scanning his past as he did so. Ning could even get a vague sense of what the future held in store for the child, and what he saw was a truly extraordinary destiny. The boy would probably surpass even Ning’s eight disciples… but in the end, the Daomerge would remain a huge obstacle.

“Good. Good!” Ning actually praised the boy twice. “Dawnjade, from this day forth, you shall stay by my side. If you have any questions at all, don’t hesitate to ask me.”

“Yes, Patriarch!” Dawnjade said excitedly. He all but worshipped the ground ‘Patriarch Ji’ walked on; the Patriarch was a man who treated with Autarchs as an equal! Dawnjade had also heard many boasting stories from Hegemon Azurefiend, including the story of how the Patriarch had captured nearly four thousand Emperors with ease. He knew that the Patriarch was inconceivably powerful and was the most supreme expert of the Dao of the Sword their Chaosverse had ever seen.

The more Ning saw of Dawnjade, the more he liked the boy. Ning felt almost as though he was seeing a reflection of himself in many ways. If Ning himself failed in his terminal seclusion but Dawnjade succeeded in his Daomerge… that wouldn’t be too bad an outcome.

“Sit next to me,” Ning ordered. He didn’t disguise his fondness for Dawnjade in the slightest.

“Brightmoon.” Ning turned and smiled. “Has anything important happened lately?” Each time Ning left his secluded meditation, he would ask her this question.

Both Brightmoon and Stonepool were Daolords of the Fourth Step. The former was Ning’s daughter, while the latter was Ning’s disciple. They often wandered the outside world, and they were well-versed in what was happening lately.

“Yes, actually. Something very important happened,” Brightmoon said. “I actually considered asking you to leave seclusion, but in the end I decided not to disturb you. For you to find out a bit later doesn’t make much of a difference.”

“Something very important? What?” Ning asked curiously.

“Second brother ‘Green Bamboo’ succeeded in the Daomerge and became a Hegemon!” Brightmoon said happily. “He was the first in our group to attempt the Daomerge. To this very day, I’m still afraid to make the attempt!”

“Quding succeeded in the Daomerge?” Ning was delighted to hear this. He immediately began inspect the karmic threads binding him to his disciple.

His second disciple, ‘Green Bamboo’ Yang Quding. When Ning was at the World level, Ning had met him by accident when he had entered Annihilation’s otherverse. Back then Yang Quding had been an ordinary mortal, but his Dao-heart had impressed Ning. Ning had taken a liking to him and had accepted him as his second disciple.

Ning always had the feeling that his second disciple would probably become an extremely accomplished figure… but Ning never would’ve expected him to become a Hegemon so quickly!

“After he succeeded in the Daomerge he came here in person, wanting to pay his respects to you, Father. I didn’t want to disturb you, so after discussing the matter with Patriarch Subhuti I decided to give him three Sithe treasures as a celebratory gift,” Brightmoon said.

“You did well.” Ning nodded. He had acquired many Sithe treasures from that hidden dimension, but he had given them over to Nuwa, Subhuti, and Brightmoon to hand out as they saw fit. He wouldn’t hand over treasures of such power to even his disciples without a good reason. Giving his second disciple a few of them to celebrate his Hegemony, however, was fine.

“I’m not finished. Not too long ago, second brother received an otherverse and became an Otherverse Lord!” Brightmoon said happily. “He didn’t acquire it in battle, he was given it by an Autarch.”

“By an Autarch?” Ning was startled. Ning knew the Autarchs very well; they wouldn’t casually hand over otherverses to juniors, no matter how much they liked them. They acted impartially in all things.

“So here’s the story. Second brother is incredibly talented in the Dao of the Sword and has a perfect Dao-heart. He had an accidental meeting with the Autarch of Annihilation, who tested him. He passed the test, and the Autarch viewed him so favorably that the Autarch bestowed an otherverse upon him,” Brightmoon said.

“A perfect Dao-heart?” Ning was astonished. A perfect Dao-heart was a prerequisite for becoming an Autarch, and also a prerequisite for succeeding in the Daomerge for an Omega Dao. Everyone who had a perfect Dao-heart was without a doubt an extraordinary character.

“No wonder Ekong showed him such favor.” Ning had felt long ago that Green Bamboo had an extraordinary heart and was highly suited for cultivating in the Dao. Ning had ‘released him into the wild’ and allowed him to make his own way in the world as a mortal cultivators with just a few techniques. Ning hadn’t spent too much time teaching or taking care of this second disciple; the man had to rely on himself for everything.