Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Perhaps a strange, incredible treasure has just entered the world.” Ninefire said. “The elemental energy ripple that came prior to this could have been created by the emergence of this unique treasure, which might have caused the surrounding area to transform into an elemental ore mine.”

  “Or perhaps an Immortal was training here. When Immortals train, the amount of elemental energy they consume is as vast as an ocean.” Ninefire sighed. “If they train for a long period of time, an elemental ore mine will naturally form.”

  Granny Shadow frowned. “Elder Brother, are you saying…?”

  Ning and the others all looked at Ninefire.

  “I am guessing.” Ninefire’s eyes held a hint of desire. “That this elemental ore mine must have a secret behind its origins. Perhaps it has some treasures within, or some precious items left behind by an Immortal! Even items casually discarded by an Immortal…are enough to allow our Ji clan’s power to increase greatly.”

  “Patriarch, are you suggesting…?” Truekeep grew excited as well.

  “Treasures?” Yichuan and the others all stared towards the ground.

  Ninefire nodded. “Let’s dig into the ground and do an investigation. Perhaps we might find something.”

  “Right.”

  “Let’s go.”

  Each of them felt that the words of the Patriarch were reasonable. That elemental energy ripple from earlier had indeed been bizarre, and it was also strange that this elemental ore mine had never been discovered. Perhaps some treasure was hidden within.

  “Ji Ning.” Ninefire looked at Ning. “That protective lotus technique of yours seems to dig very quickly. It’ll be up to you. We’ll follow from behind you.”

  Ning nodded. “Fine. I’ll begin, then.”

  ……..

  Rumblerumblerumble…

  Ning controlled his Waterflame Lotus, making it swivel through the ground, constantly digging deeper into it. Those elemental stones were easily broken through, carving out a tunnel. Ning moved quickly and constantly, digging deeper and deeper, while Ninefire and the rest of the five were behind him.

  “His speed is so fast.” Truekeep sighed in amazement, following from behind.

  “When we started digging, we were fast as well, but after exhausting a large amount of our Ki, we had to begin to slow down. But Ji Ning is completely relying on borrowing the power of nature.” Ninefire had already been able to see through Ning’s Waterflame Lotus, and that it was formed from natural power.

  They continued to go deeper.

  “Ji Ning, wherever the quality of the elemental ore is the finest, that is where you should dig.” Ninefire said. “If there are any treasures present, they should be located at wherever the elemental energy is the strongest.”

  Ning nodded.

  He had noticed as well…that different areas had different quality elemental stones. Some places only had low-grade elemental stones, while other places had quite a bit of high-grade elemental stones.

  “Rumblerumblerumble…” The Waterflame Lotus drilled down, like a giant dragon swimming through the underground ore deposit, constantly boring in the direction of high-grade stones.

  After an hour…

  “The majority of stones here are high-grade stones. You can pick them out with ease.”

  “This is a precious location.”

  “So many high-grade elemental stones.”

  Although they knew all along that this was a rich vein, they hadn’t imagined that this elemental ore mine would actually have a location within it with such an abundance of high-grade elemental stones.

  “Bang!” Suddenly, an explosive sound.

  Ning came to a sudden halt, causing Ninefire and the other four behind Ning to come to a startled halt as well.

  “What is it?” Ninefire asked hurriedly.

  “In front of me, there is a very tough, unyielding stone. My Waterflame Lotus is actually unable to drill through.” Ning said, puzzled. The power of his Waterflame Lotus was now tremendous, and generally speaking, even forged weapons would be shattered by it, to say nothing of rocks. “It really is strange.”

  Rumblerumblerumble…

  The Waterflame Lotus quickly swept away the nearby stones, allowing Ning to get a good luck at what was in front of him; a very flat, rocky surface.

  “This is…?” Ning was puzzled. Ninefire, Yichuan, and the others were puzzled as well.

  Ning continued to control his Waterflame Lotus to scatter aside the surrounding elemental stones…and soon, what appeared before their eyes was part of an enormous stone room, with a door in front of it.

  “This…this…”

  “This is a stone room! Manmade! Even Ji Ning’s Waterflame Lotus is unable to break through it. This is no ordinary stone room; it must have been left behind by an Immortal.”

  The members of the Ji clan all revealed looks of wild joy on their faces.

  Deep within the ground, more than a hundred kilometers down, in the heart of this elemental ore mine, they had discovered a stone room. Who amongst them would believe that it was a common room?

  “Ji Ning, don’t go too close. Beware of restrictive spells.” Ninefire said. “Keep away from it, and control your magic treasures to open the stone door at a distance.”

  “Right.” Ning nodded.

  All of them hurriedly retreated, while Ning directly controlled a sword-type magic treasure, sending it flying outwards and pushing at the stone door. Rumble…the stone door slowly turned, revealing an entrance. Instantly, an incomparably thick surge of elemental essence spurted out from within that stone room, causing Ning and the rest of them to feel incredibly comfortable.

  “There must be Immortal treasures within.” Ninefire called out frantically.

  * * *

  Book 5, Chapter 25 - Establishing the Zifu

  The dense elemental aura caused Ning to take a deep breath. He could feel the Xiantian ki in his dantian rumble as it continuously grew. “What pure, dense elemental energy. The elemental energy released just by opening the door to this stone room is already so dense…then what about inside the room?”

  “Don’t go in rashly. There might be danger within.” Ji Ninefire hurriedly warned. “I’ll release a bug to go investigate inside.”

  Ninefire opened his mouth, and a black wasp immediately flew out, quickly flying through the stone door and darting into the stone room. After a span of time of ten breaths, the black wasp flew back out, and Ninefire swallowed it once more into his body.

  “How is it?”

  Each of them looked at Patriarch Ninefire, who just laughed. “I’ve finished my investigation. There’s no danger at all within. Come, let’s go take a look! You follow behind me. Even if there are dangers hidden within the stone room that I could not detect, I will be the first to die. Ji Ning, you walk in the very back!”

  “Right. Ji Ning needs to stay in the back.” Each of them looked towards Ning.

  There was nothing Ning could do. He didn’t argue, instead just docilely following from behind. Ninefire and Granny Shadow were in the very front, and as soon as they entered, the sound of their delighted, amazed cries rang out. “What a treasure! What a treasure!” “This place definitely was a place where an Immortal trained. Definitely!”

  Ning, hearing this, had an itchy feeling in his heart. What exactly was inside?

  “You can all come in. I’ve swept it with my Ki. There’s no danger.” Ninefire said.

  Immediately, everyone entered, and even Ning hurriedly followed them inside.

  “What thick elemental energy.” This was the first thing Ning sensed when he entered; that there was an incomparably dense, natural elemental energy in this place, causing all of the pores of his body to swell open and welcome it, absorbing as much of it as they could. The entire room seemed to be filled with a visible, verdant aura off life energy. This was a natural color which would appear once natural elemental energy reached a certain density.

  “Ji Ning, shut the stone doo
r. Don’t let this elemental energy leak out. This stone room is rather special. Once the door is shut, the elemental energy won’t leak out.” Ninefire said.

  “Yes.” Ning understood this as well. Prior to this, it was only when he had pushed the stone door open that the elemental energy had leaked out. Rumble…the stone door shut.

  Ning looked curiously in detail at his surroundings.

  This room was thirty meters in diameter. There was even a door nearby; there should be other rooms within as well.

  “Look.” Ninefire pointed at a large pool, which was filled with a layer of thin green liquid. The green liquid was slowly swirling, filled with boundless life energy. The reason why the air here was emanating that incomparably dense elemental energy was because the liquid was releasing it into the air.

  “I am absolutely certain.” Ninefire said confidently. “That it definitely was an Immortal in training who caused this elemental ore mine to be formed. He intentionally set down a formation to summon a boundless amount of natural elemental energy from the surrounding area. After many years of accumulated energy, the elemental ore mine was formed. But to an Immortal, what is necessary isn’t elemental stones, but rather, this…”

  Ninefire pointed at the water pool filled with the layer of green liquid, incomparably certain. “Liquefied elemental essence! This is the true essence of natural elemental energy, extremely pure liquefied elemental essence!”

  Ning and the others held their breaths.

  Liquefied elemental essence?

  If one described the elemental energy contained within high-grade elemental stones as ‘very pure’ and as being not very burdensome to the body, and capable of increasing training speed tenfold, then liquefied elemental essence…was the purest form of elemental essence, which place no strain on the body whatsoever. One could completely absorb and convert it within a short period of time.

  For example, some Immortals, after being reincarnated, would lose their memories and become ordinary mortals. Once they regained their memories, however, based on the insights they had gained into the heavenly Dao, as well as the power of their souls, they could for example obtain and make use of a legendary ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’, which contained an ocean’s worth of elemental energy, and which also placed no burden on the body, allowing one to quickly absorb it all within a short period of time.

  Once a reincarnated Immortal regained his memory and swallowed a ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’, then just by relying on the natural elemental energy contained within the pill…he would be able to once again become an Immortal within a single day!

  To improve in one’s training?

  Strengthen one’s soul! One’s level of understanding! One’s techniques! Elemental energy! Not a single one of these four could be lacking! As for reincarnated Immortals, it was because they possessed the first three already, which was why they could rely on a single ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’ to instantly become an Immortal. If they didn’t have the Nine Cycles Golden Pill, even reincarnated Immortals would have to slowly, step by step train and rise in power. As for ordinary mortals, if they swallowed a ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’, they would be instantly exploded by the sea of elemental energy the pill contained!

  The Nine Cycles Golden Pill…was the stuff of legends.

  But Ning had read about liquefied elemental essence in books before. Liquefied elemental essence, in sufficient quantities, could be comparable to a Nine Cycles Golden Pill.

  “The Immortal who trained here…” Ninefire said excitedly. “He definitely had accumulated a large amount of liquefied elemental essence here. Because of his training, he had already used up the vast majority of it, leaving behind only this thin layer. But even just this thin layer…is perhaps comparable to the entire wealth of our Ji clan. And in addition, even if our Ji clan had the wealth to buy something like this, we still wouldn’t be able to.”

  Everyone present was excited.

  They all understood that liquefied elemental essence would allow a person to avoid spending a long period of time in absorbing and refining energy! Thus, it had long ago been monopolized by large sects and large clans. They might gift it to some truly monstrous talents, or some top-tier experts, making it so that they wouldn’t have to waste too much time in slowly refining elemental energy. How could the Ji clan possibly be able to buy something like this?”

  “Patriarch, with this, will you be able to break through to the Wanxiang Adept stage?” Ning asked hurriedly.

  “Our Ji clan’s training methods are fairly poor.” Ninefire shook his head. “In theory, I can break through, but in reality, our Ji clan, from past to present, has never produced a single Wanxiang Adept! I’ve trained for nearly four centuries now. If it were possible for me to become a Wanxiang Adept, I would’ve broken through long ago. This liquefied elemental essence is useless to me, or for your Granny Shadow. But for you, Ji Ning, it has quite a bit of use!”

  “Right. Ji Ning, you are the most suitable person for usig it.” Granny Shadow looked at Ning as well, her eyes filled with expectation. “You are such a genius. In truth, for you to have been born to our Ji clan has resulted in the Ji clan holding you back. You have to waste so much time in slowly accumulating elemental ki energy. If you were born within some top-tier clans, you would train much more quickly than you have thus far.”

  “Ji Ning, use it.” Yichuan said as well. “Don’t be hesitant and shy. I know exactly what level you are on. In terms of insight, most likely all of us are at least a level bellow you. By relying on this liquefied elemental essence, you absolutely can reach a higher level.”

  “Right.” Truekeep, Ninefire, and the others all looked eagerly towards Ning.

  Ning felt a warm feeling in his heart.

  Such a treasure…

  And yet, they were all leaving it for him.

  “Patriarch, I won’t be shy then.” Ning said directly. “I’ll immediately take the liquefied elemental essence and begin to train.” It would be hard for him to break through as a Fiendgod Body Refiner, and even if he wanetd to try, he needed the power of the Sun and the Moon…and so, this liquefied elemental essence was more suited for him in training as a Ki Refiner. He had reached the necessary level of insight long ago; he absolutely could establish his Zifu foundation!

  “Good.” Ninefire and the others were filled with excitement and anticipation. To them, this liquefied elemental essence would only be able to raise their power by a limited amount. But to the most monstrously talented member of the Ji clan, Ji Ning…it would most likely increase his power tremendously.

  “I’ll go look at the other rooms and see if there’s anything else we can use.” Ninefire said hurriedly.

  There was the other room nearby.

  In that room, there was only a stone bed, a stone chair, and a stone table. Nothing else.

  “It seems this place was just the place where the Immortal shut himself in for training, while this other room was the study where the Immortal would rest and flip through Immortal manuals.” Ninefire said. “The other room is a room where the Immortal actually trained.”

  “There’s nothing else.”

  “No other treasures.”

  Yichuan and the others took a careful look as well, but this stone room just had a primary room and a side room. It was very simple and plain, and one could tell at a glance that there was nothing else here. They used their ki energy to sweep it as well, but couldn’t find any hiding places for treasures.

  “Let’s go.” Ninefire and the others returned to the main room. They looked at Ning, then instructed, “Ji Ning, you remain here and train. Remember, shut the stone door. There’s a secret mechanism above the door. Once you shut the door, no one outside will be able to open it. We’ll wait aboveground for you.”

  “Fine.” Ning nodded.

  Ninefire and the others all quickly left, leaving only Ning behind in the stone room. Ning pushed the door shut, locking it in place.

  Training was something very impor
tant. One had to be very careful. Otherwise, if one was disturbed at an important point during the training, it would be very dangerous.

  “This time…I should be able to establish my Zifu.” Ning looked at the pool, filled with that spiritual liquefied elemental essence. He didn’t hesitate any further, immediately sitting down next to the pool and immediately activating his [Water Element Art] technique. The [Water Element Art], although a very basic technique, was one in which establishing the Zifu was simple.

  However, after establishing his Zifu, Ning needed to change to a different type of Ki Refining technique. Otherwise, just by relying on this poor technique, it would be quite difficult for him to become a Wanxiang Adept. In theory, it was possible, but only in theory. As for becoming a Primal Daoist? Even in theory, it was impossible!

  However, Ning wasn’t impatient. He primarily trained as a Fiendgod Body Refiner, after all. In the future, he would also leave Swallow Mountain. Naturally, he would be able to acquire a higher level technique.

  “Rumble…” Ning activated the [Water Element Art], and immediately began to absorb the elemental energy nearby. The elemental energy within this stone room was simply too dense, and it constantly condensed into Ki.

  Ning opened his mouth.

  Absorb!

  Immediately, part of the liquefied elemental essence within the pool flew up into the air. Controlled by Ning’s divine will, the essence flew straight into Ning’s mouth and entered his body. As soon as the liquefied elemenetal essence entered his body…it instantly transformed into elemental energy. The incomparably pure elemental energy constantly circulated within his dantian, transforming directly into elemental ki energy. It was successful at a single go! It didn’t place any stress on his body at all. Ning could constantly, unceaselessly continue to absorb and transform this energy.

  “Rumble…” The green water-type ki in his dantian began to surge about like endless, vast waves, wildly swirling and constantly accumulating!

  “Again.” Ning once more opened his mouth, drawing some liquefied elemental essence into his body.