Desolate Era

by RWX

  His level of understanding had risen.

  Thus, the power his Waterflame Lotus now had was naturally much greater than before. That murderous grinding power alone would most likely instantly grind even peak Xiantian experts into tiny pieces in but an instant.

  “Darknorth sword.” Within the Waterflame Lotus, Ning drew forth a Darknorth sword.

  “Longing! Rain Line!”

  Ning murmured softly to himself.

  Each time he used this technique, he couldn’t help but think of his mother. This technique was one which he had developed thanks to the boundless longing he felt for his mother! It was the longing each drop of rain held for each other drop which allowed them to form a line of rain…the insights Ning had gained over the past five years into the Dao had resulted in him developing many techniques, but this was the most powerful of them all.

  This technique contained within it a boundless, powerful longing. It was born from the [Raindrop Sutra], but it had left the Raindrop Sutra far behind.

  “Swish….”

  Ning simultaneously struck out with two Darknorth swords at the same time, piercing past the Waterflame Lotus, which seemed to be like a shadow, not obstructing Ning’s swords in the slightest. Ning’s swords seemed to be like the caress of a mother, carrying boundless longing within them…as they summoned a large amount of natural power which directly coalesced atop the two swords.

  Anyone seeing this technique would unconsciously feel a sour feeling in their hearts, sense a powerful, endless yearning.

  “Crackle…” Many vines were instantly shattered. Although they were very tough, they were still chopped apart. In the face of Ning’s most powerful close-combat sword technique, the technique of Zifu Disciple Muse was unable to contain Ning.

  Actually, the first reason for this was that Ning’s swordplay had already far outstripped that of most Zifu Disciples. Most likely, even many Wanxiang Adepts wouldn’t be on par with him in this regard.

  The second reason was that Ning’s Fiendgod body was simply too powerful, comparable to an early-stage Fiendgod Zifu Disciple. His strength was so mighty, and his swordplay was so formidable; how hard must it be for a technique to contain him!

  Sword light flashed and danced, shattering a large number of frantically twisting vines. Ning followed his sword light and rose into the sky, breaking through the earth and arriving on the surface of the ground.

  ………

  “Bang!”

  Just as the Ji clansmen were worriedly looking at the ground, into the hole from whence the rattan vines had disappeared, suddenly, hundreds of meters away, the ground suddenly exploded as a ray of sword light soared into the sky. A fur-clad youth, wielding a pair of swords, his body surrounded by a Fire-water Lotus, suddenly drifted up, then landed on the ground.

  “How is that possible!” Dong Ziqi’s face changed dramatically. Others might not understand this technique of his junior apprentice-brother’s, but he understood it very well. A sudden attack from this technique…it would be very difficult for someone to break through it. Even if one succeeded, it would only come at great effort.

  “That Ji Ning broke through?” The muscular man behind Ziqi stared as he growled, “How is that possible. I’m a Fiendgod practitioner, but even I wouldn’t be able to break through if senior apprentice-brother Muse captured me.”

  Junior apprentice Ju San was the newest Zifu Disciple of the five, who had only recently established his Violet Palace.

  He was just an early Zifu Disciple, but he was a Fiendgod practitioner! As an early Fiendgod practitioner…his battle strength was also amazing. It didn’t matter if others injured him, but if he landed a hit on someone else, that person would die! This was the advantage which Fiendgod practitioners had; if he trained to become a late stage Fiendgod Zifu Disciple, even Dong Ziqi would address him as ‘senior apprentice-brother’.

  “He broke through?”

  “How old is he?”

  “Senior apprentice-brother Muse’s ‘Myriad Ancient Green Vines’ technique…was broken, just like that?” That green-haired male-female pair stared as well, their faces filled with disbelief.

  In their group, Muse’s status was second only to Ziqi, precisely because of how powerful he was! In particular, his ambushing abilities with the ‘Myriad Ancient Green Vines’ had caused the other fellow disciples to feel endless admiration for him. The restricting power of those green vines was indeed tremendous. How physically strong was a Fiendgod Zifu Disciple? And yet, even such a person was unable to break through.

  But the person who had broken through it…was only sixteen years old! No matter how monstrous of a genius he was, it was too…

  But how could they know that Ning’s physical strength was comparable to their junior apprentice-brother Ju San to begin with. In terms of his level of attainment in the sword, he vastly outstripped Ju San by many levels!

  …….

  “Ji Ning.”

  “Ji Ning.” Ji Ninefire, Ji Truekeep, Granny Shadow, and the other members of the Ji clan all stared at Ning with surprise and delight. At the same time, they felt unbearably pleased at the looks of shock and amazement on the faces of the five Zifu Disciples of Snowdragon Mountain! Simultaneously, the Ji clansmen couldn’t help but feel stunned at Ning’s power. Ninefire’s eyes actually narrowed as he sighed in his heart that he felt he was growing more and more mystified by this kid.

  The Waterflame Lotus surrounding Ning vanished, and he walked over.

  “Ji Ning!” A hoarse voice rang out.

  Ning turned to look.

  From afar, there was a gray-robed man with an ashen, pallid face who stood by Dong Ziqi’s side. The man was staring fixedly at Ning. “You…what’s the name of that sword technique of yours?”

  “Longing.” Ning said softly. “Rain Line!”

  “Rain Line?” The gray-robed man stared wide-eyed in disbelief. “The power of the Rain Line technique of your Ji clan’s [Raindrop Sutra] is this great?” He was quite familiar with the nine sword stances of the [Raindrop Sutra].”

  “There are quite a few things that you don’t know.” Ning snorted coldly, no longer explaining.

  This sword technique was birthed from the Raindrop Sutra, but it was no longer the same as the Rain Line technique of the past.

  * * *

  Book 5, Chapter 18 - The Ji Clans Concession

  “Rain Line?” Dong Ziqi murmured softly as well. The four Zifu Disciples behind him were still in a state of shock.

  “This Ji Ning is even more powerful than anticipated.” Ziqi pondered. “He’s only sixteen years old, but even junior apprentice-brother Muse is unable to take him down! Most likely, only I will be capable of killing him.” If he were to personally attack, he would have to use his Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation. Once the formation appeared, then the two sides would fight to the death, and there would be no chance to salvage the situation.

  Dong Ziqi was very self-confident, but he also understood that the Ji clan’s power wasn’t weak either. If they were really to fight against each other, his side would lose one or two of their five Zifu Disciples.

  If he could let the other side retreat in the face of encroaching difficulties, that would be for the best.

  “Ji Ning, formidable.”

  “Well done.”

  The Ji clansmen all looked towards Ning. “Are you alright?” Ji Yichuan looked at his son. Seeing that his son was unwounded, he relaxed.

  “Dong Ziqi!” Granny Shadow said in a fierce voice. “What was the meaning of this? You suddenly attacked a member of our Ji clan! All of us are present, and yet you still dare to behave so rashly.”

  “Your Snowdragon Mountain clansmen are too wild and unbridled.”

  The Ji clansmen were all very angry, but they still forced themselves not to attack. The opponents, after all, belonged to Snowdragon Mountain.

  “Hahaha…” Dong Ziqi just laughed. “Sudden attack? That’s a nasty way to put it. My junior apprentice-brother sim
ply heard long ago that your Ji clan produced a genius with exceptional talents, and that even junior apprentice-brother Bei Zishan of our Snowdragon Mountain died in his hands. Today, when we saw this genius, he couldn’t help but feel his hands itch and want to have a little spar. What, can it be that a Zifu Disciple of our Snowdragon Mountain is forbidden from sparring with a member of your Ji clan?”

  “You call that a spar?” Granny Shadow said in a fierce, hoarse voice.

  “Naturally.” Ziqi said. “And now, it seems that this genius of your Ji clan is indeed formidable. He was able to break through the technique of my junior apprentice-brother. Admirable, admirable.”

  “You…” Granny Shadow felt a fiery rage build in her belly. She had lived for nearly four centuries, but had never been angered like this before. If she didn’t have other things holding her back, she would’ve attacked long ago, but for the sake of the rest of the Ji clan, she had to endure it.

  A savage look flashed past Ziqi’s eyes, and he snorted coldly. “Forget about sparring; even if we really killed that Ji Ning, what would your Ji clan do about it?” Dong Ziqi’s cold, sinister eyes swept past this group of Ji clansmen, and a disdainful smile was playing at the corner of his lips, causing the Ji clansmen to feel all the more enraged.

  Swollen with arrogance!

  What Ziqi was doing was being swollen with arrogance, with the intention of completely suppressing the Ji clansmen!

  “Patriarch.” Truekeep was truly enraged now, and he shouted, “Our Ji clan cannot let ourselves be so easily abused as this. I’d rather live and stand fighting rather than die kneeling. Our Ji clan has made one concession after another, but Snowdragon Mountain just continues to advance and pressure us further. Do they really take our Ji clan to be made out of mud, for them to mold as they please? Let’s go all out against them! Five of them came today. We are definitely going to make sure at least half of them die!”

  “Let’s go all out.”

  “Patriarch, let’s go all out.”

  “They refuse to give our Ji clan a way out. We won’t let them live either.” Immediately, quite a few Ji clansmen egan to bellow with rage.

  This caused Dong Ziqi and his group of five to be slightly startled. Snowdragon Mountain was indeed mighty, but that was thanks to the main sect! The Swallow Mountain branch of Snowdragon Mountain, by itself, was more powerful than the Ji clan, true, but only to a certain point…after all, everyone only had access to Zifu Disciple level fighters at most. If they really went all out, even if Snowdragon Mountain eradicated the Ji clan, the losses to the Swallow Mountain branch would still be heavy.

  “Shut your mouths.” Ninefire turned and shouted mentally through his Ki, his voice reverberating within the ears of each member of the clan.

  The clansmen all looked towards Ji Ninefire.

  ………

  “What are they discussing?” That muscular young man, Ju San, asked the other members of Snowdragon Mountain mentally.

  “These local bumpkins.” The gray-robed Muse sent back. “They are used to life in the tribes, where they would rather break than bend. If you force them too far, they’ll go all out…we gave them a bit too much pressure, and so they are beginning to fight back.”

  Dong Ziqi sent back confidently, “No need to worry. Ninefire is an old fellow who has lived for nearly four centuries. He is quite sly. He will remonstrate with and hold back those other clansmen.”

  ………….

  The Ji clansmen were secretly speaking mentally to each other.

  “Snowdragon Mountain has gone too far, true.” Ninefire sent mentally. “But no matter how arrogant they behave, we have to endure it. Or are we really going to fight against them?”

  “But Patriarch, we can sign a transfer agreement with the Grand Xia Dynasty. By then, we would have the protection of the Grand Xia Dynasty, and we would even receive thirty percent of this elemental ore mine.” A muscular member of the Ji clan sent mentally.

  “Fool!” Ninefire sent back. “To sign a transfer agreement with the Grand Xia Dynasty, we must first make a report, at which point an Celestial Envoy of the Grand Xia Dynasty would come to inspect this elemental ore mine. Only at the very end would a transfer agreement be signed! This process takes time. During the course of such a long period of time, our Ji clan would most likely suffer the risk of annihilation!”

  “For the sake of thirty percent of an elemental ore mine, cause the entire clan to fall into the risk of annihilation?” Ninefire shouted. “Foolishness, utter foolishness! And even if we truly do succeed in signing a transfer agreement, resulting in the Grand Xia Dynasty protecting our Ji clan for a thousand years…what about after that thousand years? By then, Snowdragon Mountain would come to take revenge on our Ji clan, and our clan would still end up doomed. That’s why I would rather give this entire elemental ore mine to Snowdragon Mountain.”

  “But…”

  “This is too infuriating.”

  “Too…”

  The hearts of every Ji clansman burned with rage.

  “No matter how angry and unwilling to accept it we might feel, for the sake of the Ji clan, we have to endure it all.” Ninefire sighed mentally to them. “As long as the Ji clan can continue to exist and prosper, so what if we have to suffer some mistreatment?”

  “If you have to blame someone, then blame us for not being strong enough. This clearly is a stroke of luck bestowed upon us by the heavens, but we are unable to accept and make use of this elemental ore mine.” Ninefire looked towards Ning. “Ji Ning, you are the most incredible talent which our Ji clan has ever produced, since the founding of the clan. If you continue developing, even becoming a Wanxiang Adept is virtually guaranteed.”

  All of the clansmen looked towards Ning, their eyes filled with hope and longing.

  Right.

  The hopes of the Ji clan’s future rise to prominence rested on him! These Xiantian lifeforms of the Central Prefecture previously had held some doubts regarding Ning’s power, as prior to this, they had only heard rumors about him…but now, they had personally witnessed Ning reveal some of his power. He had even broken through the technique of a powerful Zifu Disciple expert of Snowdragon Mountain. Ning was only sixteen years old! When they thought of Ning’s potential, all of them were excited.

  “However, no matter how great a genius someone is, once he’s dead, he’s no longer a genius.” Ninefire looked at Ning. “For the sake of our Ji clan, you must survive and live a long life.”

  Ning nodded gently.

  He thought of a person…the fourth master of the Aquatic Manor. Rampart. The man who, despite the presence of so many competitors, had successfully become the personal disciple of Immortal Juhua. There was no need to say anything about his talent…but he had died as a Wanxiang Adept.

  “We members of the Ji clan will firmly remember the insults we have borne today.” Ninefire looked at every member of the clan. “We have to grow strong. After we grow strong, others will not dare to insult us, look down on us.”

  “Right.” The clansmen all nodded, and Ning nodded as well.

  …..

  Dong Ziqi and his group of five Zifu Disciples just watched to the side. Watched as the group of Ji clansmen all forcibly restrained and swallowed the anger. Seeing the looks on their faces, they couldn’t help but snicker. This was something they had seen too many times. In the past, when they had acted on orders from the main sect, those minor tribes and clans had all been forced to bend their waists and lower their heads in the face of Snowdragon Mountain.

  “Dong Ziqi.” Ninefire turned his head to look towards Ziqi and the others.

  “Finished chatting?” Ziqi looked at Ninefire. “But Ninefire, let me tell you clearly that no matter what, you must hand over the official writ for the City of Ten Thousand Swords! If you don’t hand it over, then the destruction of your Ji clan will be impending!”

  The members of the Ji clan were barely able to restrain their rage, which was now painted upon their faces.


  They ‘had’ to hand over the official writ?

  Wasn’t this the same as forcing their Ji clan to give up their territory?

  Ninefire clenched his teeth, his face ugly to behold. One word at a time, he ground out, “My Ji clan can give up the official writ and leave this land! This land will all belong to Snowdragon Mountain.”

  “What.”

  Everyone was stunned. Ning stared at the Patriarch in shock as well.

  Ninefire continued to speak, grinding each word out. “But your Snowdragon Mountain must give our Ji clan an official writ as well, to give our Ji clan a place to resist! We’ll use the official writ for our City of Ten Thousand Swords in exchange for another official writ of a large commandery city of the Grand Xia Dynasty. Our Ji clan is willing to leave our homeland and depart.”

  * * *

  Book 5, Chapter 19 - Separation

  Turn their backs on their homeland and leave?

  Ji Ning forcibly suppressed the unwillingness in his heart. He wasn’t willing. He truly wasn’t willing. But he saw that all the members of the clan around him, including his father, Ji Truekeep, Granny Shadow, and the others were all silent. As long as the Ji clan could continue to survive and prosper, then they would be willing to endure even departing from their homeland!

  “As long as Snowdragon Mountain will hand over an official writ.” Ninefire said in a low voice. “Then our Ji clan will immediately hand over the official writ for the City of Ten Thousand Swords!”

  “Official writ?”

  In the distance, Dong Ziqi and the other five looked at each other, quietly discussing this amongst each other.