Desolate Era (Book 41 - Book 45)

“Darknorth… will such a large-scale resurrection be bad for this Chaosverse?” Autarch Titanos asked.

“Don’t worry,” Ning laughed. “Even after being revived, they remain a part of the Chaosverse. The actual amount of energy which has been permanently lost due to the revival process is quite low. For example, reviving the six of you cost roughly the amount of energy a single Autarch contains within him. Reviving all these Hegemons and Emperors didn’t cost too much at all. I can handle it with ease.”

It really mattered very little. Iyerre’s death alone had granted their Chaosverse more than a hundred Autarchs worth of power.

……

After chatting with the eight Autarchs, Ning departed and went back to the Three Realms. Ning’s emotions towards the Three Realms were the deepest of all.

Nuwa, Subhuti, Maitreya, Kuafu, Crazy Ji… all of them had received mental messages from Ning. They were his old friends, and now all of them were standing by his side.

“Return to us.” With but a thought, Ning brought back the Three Realms of old. Countless specks of light began to gather, resulting in countless figures emerging within it. These were the Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms who had died in the Endwar against Old Man Yuan and the Seamless Gate, as well as those who had died even earlier. Daoist Three Purities, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Buddha Jueming, Suiren, Shennong, Fuxi, Lord Everwood, senior apprentice-brother Houyi, Gonggong, Daoist Threelives…

Countless Immortals and Fiendgods were brought back to life. Many friends were reunited.

Tathagata, Maitreya, Ananda… these old friends of the Buddhist Sangha all gathered together. As for the Daoist Way? Three Purities, Daofather Carefree, Lu Dongbin, and the others all gathered together as well, with those who had survived the Endwar narrating what had happened afterwards.

Too many people. Too many stories. All of them had been brought back to life.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Houyi held Chang’e by the hand, walking over to stand before Ning. “Thank you.”

“Haha. Eldest apprentice-brother, spend some time chatting with my sister-in-law. Don’t waste any time on me,” Ning laughed.

“Master.” Ning walked over to Daoist Threelives, who looked rather hesitant even though the big yellow bear next to him nodded encouragingly. Daoist Threelives was normally a very straightforward and heroic figure, but when he spoke to Subhuti and his other old friends he quickly learned just how incredible Ji Ning was. Ji Ning was someone completely omnipotent, capable of controlling life and death, and able to link past, present, and future together. And… Ji Ning was his disciple? Although he was nominally Ning’s master, this was their first time actually meeting each other.

“Uh. Hi there, Darknorth,” Daoist Threelives said rather hesitantly. This was their first meeting, and the two didn’t really share the relationship which a master and disciple should. This was something which took time.

Ning didn’t try to force things. He turned, staring off into the distance. All the Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms had been brought back to life. They were all reunited now, sharing their stories with each other. It would be years before things calmed down.

Ning immediately retreated, vanishing without a trace.

……

Ning arrived back at the Black-White College of Stillwater Province, located within the Grand Xia major world of the Three Realms. Since Ning had remade the entire Three Realms with his will alone, the Grand Xia was currently devoid of life.

“Senior apprentice-sister.” Ning walked over to the Dao Debate Palace of the Black-White College. He had left her for last. She was going to be revived by herself.

“Come back to me, senior apprentice-sister.”

Countless specks of light began to appear. They appeared unspeakably beautiful and graceful, and they gathered together into the form of the young, black-robed Yu Wei. As more and more truesoul fragments gathered, life appeared within Yu Wei’s eyes. She stared at Ning, who looked back into the eyes of his senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei.

The white-robed Ning and the black-robed Yu Wei simply stared at each other in silence. As the final piece of her truesoul fragment returned, Yu Wei regained all of her memories and she began to emit the aura of true life.

“Junior apprentice-brother?” Yu Wei couldn’t believe it. Her final memories were of the war-torn Three Realms and her death at the hands of the Godking.

“Senior apprentice-sister.” Ning stepped forward, gently taking his wife into his arms. He simply held her, inhaling into her hair and smelling her sweet fragrance. This scent had become a dusty memory that had lain dormant for many years. Ning felt intoxicated by it. He had trained and fought and bled for so long, but it was all worth it. This single instant… it surpassed all of eternity.

Yu Wei hugged Ning back. She was still rather confused. Her memories had ‘jumped’ from her death in the Three Realms war to the present day. She didn’t know what Ning had experienced, but she knew that Ning must have made many, many sacrifices in order to bring her back to life.

Finally Ning released Yu Wei, but he continued to hold her by the hand. He pointed at the area around them. “Senior apprentice-sister, remember this?”

“Of course I do. This is the Dao Debate Palace. We had a little competition here, and you lost,” Yu Wei teased. Suddenly, she couldn’t help but ask, “Junior apprentice-brother… can you tell me what has happened?”

“Let’s sit down and talk it over.” Ning pulled Yu Wei over to sit down atop a dais before the Dao Debate Palace, then began to explain. “During that battle, you were killed by the Godking…”

Ning talked for a long, long time. He narrated the end of the war for the Three Realms, his journey to the Badlands Territory, his abduction by Hegemon Brightshore, and even his adventure into that otherverse. He explained how he came to understand the Omega Sword Dao and then used it to become a Daolord of the First Step, Second Step…

He told of his adventures in the Terror Starsea, of how he fought to acquire a Voidsea Jadeseal within the Waveshift Realm, of his battles against Archons of the Sacred Cities, and even him acquiring the Flamewing God and then begging Autarch Titanos to bring her back to life.

“I was heartbroken when I failed in that attempt.” Ning pointed towards an area up ahead. “I got completely drunk, right over there. I fell asleep on the snow.”

With but a thought, Ning caused snow to flutter down around them. Ning and Yu Wei gazed at the beautiful snowscape, while Ning said with a smile, “It’s actually quite odd. I was heartbroken, which is why the snow fell… but now when I see the snow, I feel very happy.”

Yu Wei didn’t say anything. She just tightly held onto Ning’s hand. She herself felt heart-aching pain ever since Ning had begun his tale.

Ning continued to narrate his story. “Afterwards, I attempted the Daomerge. Unfortunately, I failed.” He explained of his hunt for Nuwa, his meeting with the five Autarchs, and how he had gone into the Sithelands to save the Paragon of Pills. He told of how he had found the [Five Truncheon Chapters] within that hidden world, and in the end managed to complete the [Void Everlasting] technique which gave him an imperishable truesoul. He told her of how he had become an Omega Emperor, and of the war which the Sithe had unleashed.

“We won that final battle. I broke through and took the final step on my path.” Ning smiled as he looked at Yu Wei. “We won, and so everything I wanted became real. All my old friends came back to life… and of course, so did you.”

Yu Wei looked at Ning. She truly couldn’t imagine how Ning could’ve experienced so many things since her death in the Three Realms. It had been just a blink of an eye for her. She felt pained at all he had suffered.