The Desolate Era

There were three possible outcomes when one flew through this spatial vortex.

The first was that one would be able to safely reach the other side and enter the Badlands Territory. This was the ideal outcome.

The second was that a spatial rift would suddenly appear in front of you and suck you inside, resulting in you being teleported into an unknown territory of the primordial chaos. Ji Ning knew at least a few things about the Badlands Territory, thanks to the detailed star maps which the Three Realms had acquired long ago. The Mindlord which Ning intended to slay also resided in the Badlands Territory. If he ended up in a completely foreign part of the primordial chaos, he would have to slowly figure everything out from scratch. Still, this wasn’t the worst case scenario; he’d still be alive, after all.

The third possible outcome was that the spatial rift would teleport him straight into a death trap of some sort.

“I really need to stay away from those spatial rifts.”

Swoosh.

The Moatship flew forward at high speed like a sword, agilely dodging and avoiding the suddenly appearing rifts.

Rumble...

An enormous, savage-looking rift of violet light suddenly appeared in front of Ning, instantly covering a very large region.

“Backwards.” The Moatship quickly reversed and flew backwards, then curved around the rift and flew away from it.

He had to be able to make up to a thousand corrections every moment. This was an even deadlier process than actually fighting with the sword.

Ning’s complete attention was focused on controlling his ship, but he was also able to maintain total control over an area of ten thousand kilometers around himself. This was the ‘Heartsword Realm’ which Ning had developed some time ago.

Six days later.

A flying boat suddenly flew out from the mouth of an enormous spatial vortex.

“I made it.” Ning’s face was rather pale with exhaustion, but he now revealed a look of delight. “I finally made it through safely!”

These six days had been an absolute nightmare.

Those spatial rifts had appeared and disappeared with incredible speed, and some of them were simply enormous. If Ning was just a bit unlucky, it was entirely possible that rifts would simultaneously appear in every direction around him, making it impossible for him to dodge them. When that happened, the only choice would be to take a chance and choose a rift at random.

During the past six days, there was one time when Ning had actually been drawn into a spatial rift. Thankfully, it had quickly dispersed, allowing Ning to just barely escape from it and return to the spatial wormhole. If he hadn’t been able to do so...not even Ning himself knew what area he would’ve been sent to.

But of course, the more powerful a person was, the better his chances would be of successfully passing through the vortex.

Ning had been lucky in that he had only been sucked into a spatial rift once. This naturally meant that it had been fairly easy for him to survive passage.

Godfiend Witherspike, by contrast, had been drawn into rifts on nine different occasions. However, he had been fairly lucky; all nine times, he had been able to fight his way back out of the rifts before being drawn into the other side.

“The Badlands Territory.”

Seated within his Moatship, Ning stared at the vast primordial chaos around him. “Here I am.”

Thanks to his star maps, Ning knew exactly where this end of the spatial wormhole lay. Thus, without hesitating at all, Ning immediately began to move towards the spacetime transfer array which was closest to him. The primordial chaos was simply too vast; if he was to slowly fly through it while relying on his own power, even a trillion years wouldn’t be enough to finish travelling through every part of the Badlands.

Five months after Ning reached the Badlands Territory.

“There we are.” His Moatship flew out from the Void towards an enormous ellipsoid world.

Ning stared at the massive ellipsoid world, then let out a sigh. “This is the ninth chaosworld I’ve seen thus far. According to my star maps, I’ll need to travel past another twenty-six chaosworlds before I’ll reach Earthdrake.”

The spacetime transfer array which was closest to Ning was centered around the Earthdrake planet. There were so many celestial bodies in the primordial chaos that the vast majority were nameless. Only stars and planets with certain special qualities about them would be given names.

Ning had travelled past one chaosworld after another. Every so often, Ning would sense others scanning him with coresense. Each time, he would send his own dominatingly powerful coresense right back at them. When their coresenses ‘collided’, the other side would be so terrified that they would immediately stop their scrying attempts.

Thanks to his half-step World God body, Ning’s coresense was extraordinarily powerful!

After entering the Badlands Territory, there had been one occasion where Ning had encountered an incredibly powerful soul-sweep conducted by a World God. Ning had been so terrified that he had immediately Void-blinked far away, fleeing without a second thought. Although World Gods generally wouldn’t act against Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals without a good reason, Ning still felt that it would be better to stay a safe distance away.

One year and nine months after entering the Badlands Territory.

On this day, Ning finally reached the spacetime transfer array located closest to the Three Realms. For him to be able to reach an array after less than two years was actually quite fast; this would be considered an extremely close array.

The primordial chaos was so vast that even in an area like the Badlands Territory, it was common for individuals from backwater chaosworlds to spend up to ten years in order to reach a spacetime transfer array.

“Earthdrake.”

The Moatship hung there in empty space. Ning stayed inside of it, staring at the utterly stunning sight before him.

The primordial chaos in front of him had long ago been torn asunder, revealing eight utterly dazzling stars that glowed with layers of light. These eight stars all revolved around a final planet located in their center. These eight stars were the ‘servants’, while this ninth planet was the ‘master’! These nine celestial bodies came together to form an enormous ‘spacetime transfer array’, and their light was far more dazzling than even the Solar Star of the Three Realms.

In terms of raw size? The formation was probably comparable to the entire Three Realms!

“How could a single formation be so large?” Ning let out a sigh. “I really can’t imagine how powerful the person who set up this formation was.” According to his records, not even World Gods or Chaos Immortals were even close to being powerful enough to construct spacetime transfer arrays. These arrays had all been passed down from the most ancient of days.

As for the question of who built them? No one even asked any longer.

“Go over there.”

Swoosh. The Moatship quickly flew towards the enormous spacetime transfer array.

The core star surrounded by the eight other stars was the Earthdrake planet. Even before landing on Earthdrake, Ning could sense the ripples of power emanating from atop it. These were ripples that emanated from powerful experts.

“Come back.” Ning put away his Moatship, then quickly descended upon the star.

Earthdrake was an enormous planet that was comparable to the Solar Star or the Lunar Star in size. However, the entire planet had been refined and retrofitted, making it more like an utterly enormous magic treasure.

“So many experts...” As Ning sensed the powerful ripples emanating from the star, he immediately transformed into a Ninehorn Lightning Serpent as he flew towards the very center of Earthdrake.

Swish.

The Ninehorn Lightning Serpent was quite fast. While flying forward, Ning encountered quite a few other cultivators. Some looked similar to humans, while some looked extremely different. As they saw the Ninehorn Lightning Serpent fly past them and sensed the undisguised aura of dominating power radiating from Ji Ning, they all revealed looks of wariness on their faces.

Whoosh. Ning landed on the ground, a miniature spacetime transfer array located directly in front of him.

Although spacetime transfer arrays were utterly enormous, their most important cores were just a few hundred kilometers in size. These miniature spacetime transfer arrays actually had buildings located in side of them. Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were stationed in these buildings to keep the array safe. There were also many True Gods and True Immortals here, along with a vast number of Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals. All of them were responsible for maintaining the spacetime array and keeping it in good shape for any future uses.

“Where are you going?” An Elder God dressed in golden robes with a scaly reptilian tail was seated in the lotus position in front of Ning. His body was utterly massive, and he peered down as he looked at Ning. When he sensed how powerful Ning’s aura was, his attitude improved slightly and he even put a smile on his face. Earthdrake was primarily populated by Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. World Gods and Chaos Immortal were incredibly exalted figures, after all; they generally wouldn’t deign to handle such low-level matters.

“Sevenwater Star,” Ning said.

Sevenwater Star was naturally a star that was located at the heart of a different spacetime array.

Actually finding and reaching Vastheaven Palace would be too hard. Ning’s first goal was to deal with the Mindlord, who was one of the Nine Divine Generals of God Emperor Blacklotus. The records the Three Realms had regarding God Emperor Blacklotus stated that he was an incredibly powerful World God who had five other World Gods serving him. Together, they dominated a wide swathe of territory.

The area around Sevenwater Star was dominated by God Emperor Blacklotus, the Starlord of Fogstone, Sovereign Eastvictor, and several other hegemons. God Emperor Blacklotus was just one of them.

“Sevenwater Star?” The Elder God nodded. “If you want to go right now, we can activate the transfer array just for you, but that’ll cost you a total of 120 bottles of chaos nectar. If you are willing to wait...if you are lucky, in around eight years or so there will be another group activation of the array for transference to Sevenwater Star. Only a single bottle will be required.”

“Eight years?” Ning nodded slowly. “Alright.”

This spacetime transfer array was the size of the entire Three Realms. Activating it required a significant cost, and a payment of 120 bottles of chaos nectar was quite standard. However, Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals usually wouldn’t be willing to act in such a wasteful, extravagant manner. The total networth of most Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals wouldn’t even necessarily be that much!

“Yes, eight years.” The Elder God nodded. “There’s a stone stele over there with detailed information regarding transfers.”

“Alright.” Ning walked over to the stone stele, giving it a glance. It was filled with detailed information regarding how long one would have to wait for transference to each other spacetime array.

“If I wanted to go to the Badlands Everworld, I wouldn’t have to wait nearly so long. That destination is a much more frequently visited place,” Ning mused to himself. “Still, there’s nothing for it. I’m simply too far away from Sevenwater Star; if I wanted to fly there by myself, I wouldn’t be able to get there in a trillion years. I might as well wait for eight.” Although Ning had acquired the treasures of the Elder God and Ancestral Immortal prisoners of the prisonworld as well as around 120 bottles of chaos nectar, Ning had left a hundred of those bottles to the Three Realms. He had left them behind for the sake of his daughter and Autumn Leaf.

As for himself? He was strong enough and capable enough to acquire more on his own.

Whoosh.

Ning quickly flew away from this place. He found and selected a beautiful, secluded mountain peak within Earthdrake. He waved his hand, causing an Immortal estate to descend upon the peak. Ning then entered the Immortal estate and began to quietly wait.

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