Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Madame, is there truly a method by which monsters can enslave humans?” The black-faced man stared at the alluring, green-clothed woman.

  “That’s just a legend.” The alluring woman shook her head. “How would I, a minor Zifu-level monster, know about such things?”

  The black-faced man let out a cold snort. “After I become a monster Immortal one day, I will definitely…not good!” The black-faced man suddenly rose to his feet, staring outside the stone door.

  “Your Majesty?” The alluring woman was shocked. The look on the black-faced man’s face had changed, and he slapped the table, which with a shudder disintegrated into white dust. He roared with fury, “Since you dare come, why haven’t you shown yourself?”

  “Your Majesty, we caught a delectable human child for you.” A terrified voice rang out from afar. And then…“AHHH!” A miserable scream, and then the terrified voice was cut off.

  The alluring woman in the cavern estate knew that something was amiss. Terrified and restless, she said, “Your Majesty, what is going on? What is happening? Has a human Immortal cultivator come? Don’t we have layers of formations and restrictive spells here? How could the human cultivators made it all the way here?”

  The black-faced man just stared fixedly towards the outside. “They are formations experts,” he said, gritting his teeth. What he didn’t realize was that…

  Ning had actually gone around quite a few of his formations while avoiding activating the others. Ning had thus gone straight through, not setting off any alarms at all. In the end, Ning had been forced to break through the bewildering formation which was always active and protecting the caverns; this was why the black-faced man was suddenly shocked into wakefulness.

  “Don’t cry, don’t cry. In a short while, Big Brother will help you slaughter that monster.” Three human figures walked over. Walking in front was a fur-clad human youth, while behind was a white-robed youth who was holding the hand of and comforting a toddler who was dressed in just leaves.

  “Waa, waaaaaa.” The toddler sobbed, tears still cascading down. Just now, the monster had instantly been chopped into mincement, which had utterly terrified the toddler.

  Northson, enraged, pointed straight at the black-faced man. “Monster, the day of your death has come.”

  “Hahaha, it’s been quite some time since I encountered any human Immortal cultivators. You dared to come to my place? Today shall be the day of your deaths.” The black-faced man suddenly produced two massive black scimitars, then let out an angry howl. “DIE!”

  Bang! Above the hall, one bright star after another, and within this sea of stars, there was even a brilliant moon.

  “Kill!” The black-faced man’s face was savage. As for Northson, he howled in anger, “Senior apprentice-brother Ning, hand this monster to me.”

  Northson was comparatively immature in terms of personality. Upon learning that this child was about to be eaten by this old monster…his belly had instantly become filled with rage.

  “Alright.” Ning nodded, standing to one side, but prepared to attack at any moment.

  While Northson howled in range, the skies above him also became filled with stars. Amidst the sea of stars, both a brilliant moon and a blazing sun appeared. The sun and the moon hung in the skies…this caused the face of the Wanxiang monster to change. Only extremely talented humans with significant backgrounds were capable of manifesting such a Manifestation.

  “Die.” Northson gnashed his teeth. Swish! Swoosh! Two black lights began to gather in Northson’s hands. He opened them, and the two rays of black light shot out, forming two massive water-snakes within the air.

  The two Manifestations struggled against each other, but the Wanxiang monster’s was clearly struggling.

  “Bang!” “Bang!” The two giant water-snakes directly clashed in the air with the two giant black scimitars which the black-faced man had unleashed. The power of the collision was so great that even the nearby woman’s face changed dramatically. Instantly, she transformed into a white-furred fox, wanting to flee. However, a cold light flashed through Northson’s eyes, and one of the water-snakes swept out with its tail, smashing directly against the fleeing white-furred fox’s body. Crunch. The white-furred fox spirit was crushed into meat paste.

  Ning stood there watching. He nodded to himself. “My junior apprentice-brother has the upper hand. He lives up to his reputation as a genius of the Dao of Constructs who entered the Black-White College at age fourteen. Formidable.”

  He had joined the Black-White College at age fourteen, and had been completely absorbed in his meditations in the Black-White Diagram. If it hadn’t been for Ning eclipsing everyone else, Northson would have been a dazzling, eye-catching genius. Only, because he walked the Dao of Constructs, many of his senior fellow disciples weren’t able to truly comprehend what a monstrous genius Northson truly was.

  “Halt!” The black-faced man immediately bellowed. He had the sense that things were not right at all. In the past, he had once killed a human Wanxiang Adept. How was this seemingly soft, weak, white-robed youth so strong? In addition, the fur-clad youth standing behind the white-robed youth seemed to be even more dangerous.

  “Too late to feel regret!” Northson snapped coldly.

  “Why haven’t they arrived yet? Why haven’t they arrived?” The black-faced man struggled to endure. Although his power would increase dramatically once he transformed into his real form, if he truly did that, this would truly become a battle to the death. What he needed to do, right now, was to delay.

  “I shattered the talisman earlier. My Third Brother and Fifth Brother are located the closest; with their movement techniques, they should have arrived by now.” But suddenly, a hint of joy appeared on the face of the black-faced man.

  He could sense something. Although the formations he had set around the mountain hadn’t been able to detect these two humans, they had detected the arrival of his two good brothers.

  “Just you wait. My Third Brother and Fifth Brother will suddenly ambush you, and with me joining forces…the two of you will definitely die,” the black-faced man mused to himself. At the same time, he continued to furiously struggle to resist the attacks.

  At this moment, Ning, standing behind Northson, had a changed expression n his face. With a cold snort, he said, “Old monster, so you actually have reinforcements coming.”

  The black-faced man’s heart instantly clenched. How had this Immortal cultivator found out? Could it be that this Immortal cultivator had also set down a formation in the area, and so had discovered his allies coming?

  No longer considering anything else, he immediately roared loudly, “Third Brother, Fifth Brother, attack together and kill these two Immortal cultivators!”

  Northson also let out a wild howl. “Two more coming? Wonderful! We were complaining about there not being enough Wanxiang monsters!”

  Ning looked towards the stone door outside the cavern estate, a faint sword-light flashing through his eyes.

  * * *

  Book 8, Chapter 14 - The [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] Reveals Its Might

  Two figures, transformed into streaks of light, were making haste towards the cavern estate of this monster mountain. One of the two figures was a hawk-nosed, golden-robed man, while the other was a dark, skinny youth. These were monster kings of two nearby monster mountains. The wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains were incomparably dangerous, and even monsters had to form alliances to help each other.

  In this surrounding area, a total of eighteen Wanxiang monsters had formed an alliance; if one encountered any danger, they would immediately shatter their runic talismans, and the other seventeen would all immediately be aware of it and would come at maximum speed!

  The eighteen Wanxiang monsters had all sworn an oath to the Dao of the Heavens. It was precisely because the eighteen of them had formed a mutual defensive alliance that in this region, it was extremely rare for a monster to be killed.

  “Big Broth
er shattered his runic talisman. I wonder if he encountered one of those lone wanderer freaks, or an Immortal cultivator!”

  “The two of us are stronger than Big Brother. When we join forces…regardless of whether its wandering monsters or Immortal cultivators, they will all die!”

  The two old monsters were chatting mentally to each other. The original ranking of the eighteen monsters was based on age and seniority, not strength. Their Big Brother was a Blacktusk Elephant who had been training for a very long time.

  “Third Brother, Fifth Brother, attack together and kill these two Immortal cultivators!” Suddenly, a loud roar rang out from within the distant cavern estate.

  “We’ve been discovered!” The two Wanxiang monsters exchanged glances. They had wanted to launch sneak attacks, but they no longer had the chance now. “Kill!” They transformed into streaks of light, charging directly towards the door of the cavern estate.

  ………

  Within the cavern estate, Mu Northson was exerting his strength to deal with the black-faced man, while Ji Ning was holding onto the child’s hands, looking at the expression of amazement on the child’s face. He said consolingly, “Don’t worry. Just stay next to me and don’t run around.”

  Bang! Bang! Three streaks of light suddenly shot in from outside; it was a sharp knife and two sharp awls. They were all incredibly sharp and had a shocking aura.

  “Hmph.” Ning, seeing the situation, applied his will. Whoosh! A dense cluster of 729 flying swords suddenly appeared next to Ning. At the very core of those swords was a sword formation that was noticeably more powerful; these were the ‘Nine Yang Sword Formation’ swords and 36 high-grade Mortal-ranked water-attribute flying swords.

  As for the other eight major sword formations, four were formed from the 324 water-attribute flying swords, while the other four were formed from fire-attribute flying swords.

  Water and fire looped amongst each other, and in the center were the ‘Nine Yang Swords’!

  “[Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], level nine!” Ning’s powerful divine will completely filled these 729 flying swords, and they transformed into fire and water, competing against each other and reinforcing each other. The water was Yin in nature, while the fire was Yang in nature; given Ning’s accomplishments in the art of formations, he clearly now found it much easier to control the swords. Operating this sort of exquisite, pure sword formation was actually quite comfortable for Ning.

  “Seven hundred flying swords, all of which are high-grade or top-grade,” Ning sighed mentally. “In addition, half are fire, while the other half are water; controlling them is an utter joy.”

  Controlling so many flying swords placed an incomparably shocking amount of pressure on the soul. Ning, however, was able to withstand it easily.

  “Crackle crackle crackle.”

  The flying swords rose and fell in an undulating pattern, all of them emitting a hazy white light on their surfaces. In front of Ning’s chest, an even more brilliant, moving flying sword formed of white light had began to form! This white flying sword was as pure as jade, and it was covered with a lustrous layer of light that made it seem incomparably lovely. The entire flying sword emanated this layer of light, as though it were the treasure of an Immortal.

  This was the sword-light of the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]! Now that Ning was using such high-quality Mortal-ranked swords, and had such a powerful soul to control them with….it could be said that Ning had already reached the theoretical limit of power a person at the Zifu Disciple level could reach when using the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]. Such power already vastly oustripped even using the likes of divine abilities such as [Heavenly Transformation] or the [Luminous Eye of the Heart]..

  “Go!” Ning smiled. This white, jade-like flying sword shot out, streaking out in an arc and flowing forward like water. Rumble…those three streaks of light were trapped and blocked by this flowing stream of water.

  “As I thought, the fur-clad youth really is more powerful.” The black-faced man currently battling against Northson felt shock in his heart. “He’s actually able to simultaneously block the combination attack of two of my brothers by himself.”

  Thud! Thud! The hawk-nosed, golden-robed man and the dark, skinny youth both landed within the estate, and their gazes towards Ning were filled with caution as well.

  “Third Brother, Fifth Brother!” The black-faced man hurriedly sent mentally, “The two of you, deal with the fur-clad one. Leave the smaller one to me. Use all your strength and kill him.”

  “Alright, Big Brother.”

  “Done.”

  These two newly arrived Wanxiang monsters realized that if they were to maintain human form and control magic treasures from afar, they probably wouldn’t be able to suppress this fur-clad youth. “Human Immortal cultivator, accept death!” The two monsters roared with rage, and then began to transform. The hawk-nosed, golden-robed man instantly transformed into a divinely handsome and golden-feathered winged eagle! As for the other, the black, skinny youth, he instantly transformed into a four-legged weirdbeast with coal-black skin and two curved yellow horns on its head.

  “Die!” The black-faced man also transformed into mist, then resolidified into a long-trunked elephant with enormous black tusks.

  The three monsters were now all in their true forms! In addition, the power of the magic treasures they were using to attack Ning and Northson had suddenly increased dramatically!

  “Junior apprentice-brother Northson,” Ning sent. “Will you be able to hold?” Northson sent back confidently, “Don’t worry. I haven’t even started using my abilities.”

  Ning laughed. “Excellent.” Right at this moment, the gold-feathered eagle charged forth with a howl, its pitch-black claws ripping through the air and suddenly expanding tenfold in size to the point where the air itself seemed to emit an ear-piercing screech. Ripples in the air that could be seen with the visible eye appeared; the power of this claw definitely surpassed that of the earlier magic treasure it had used.

  Monsters and humans were different; monsters had bodies which were innately powerful and possessed innate abilities. For example, some monsters had the innate ability to control water; and even if they didn’t train in a Fiendgod Body Refining Technique, they would still possess enormous strength! Some of them might even be able to temper parts of their body into magic treasures, such as their horns, their claws, or their tails. This would result in their very body becoming an intrinsic magic treasure, and thus possess astonishing power when used.

  “Rumble…” The entire cavern estate was beginning to shake. The four-legged weirdbeast had lowered its head, and its hooves thundered across the ground as it charged towards Ning. The two curved yellow horns on its head suddenly expanded in size and became even sharper than before, and its hoofsteps became incomparably weighty, causing the entire cavern estate to begin to shake and collapse. When these two monsters used all their power, they were truly shocking.

  “Hmph.” Ning shook his head. “Die.”

  The white sword formed from the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] instantly slashed through the air. In midair, an enormous millstone of fire and water suddenly appeared. Within the center of this millstone of fire and water, a wild tempest of incomparable, astonishing power suddenly formed! The white flying sword was in the center of this millstone of fire and water, and it, too, dissolved into the tempest.

  Fast! This was the Ning’s [Tripartite Millstone Sword], the power of which was only inferior to the second stance of the [Three-Foot Sword]. It could also be referred to as the ‘Waterflame Millstone Sword’. Although it was named after the slowly-grinding millstone, it was supremely fast.

  Wherever the sword light flashed past…fire and water howled as well, and the millstone itself transformed into a blur! “Not good.” The golden-feathered eagle sensed tremendous danger, but it still sent its sharp claws over in a savage blow.

  Whoosh! It was too fa
st. The flashing light of the millstone sword easily dodged past the claw, then slashed past the body of the golden-feathered eagle. The feathers of the golden-feathered eagle were incomparably tough, as unyielding as a magic treasure…but they weren’t able to defend against this attack in the slightest. They were immediately broken through, and then the light of the Waterflame Lotus Sword turned, sweeping directly towards the impending, charging weirdbeast monster.

  “Third Brother!” The four-legged weirdbeast monster was instantly scared silly. His third brother had actually been killed in a single exchange. Everyone in the region knew how powerful the eagle talons of his third brother were. Ordinary hawks used their claws to snatch snakes; from this, one can imagine how fast hawk claws could strike. And yet, the eagle talons of a Wanxiang monster, an intrinsic magic treasure, still hadn’t been able to block and snatch that sword light.

  He had never even heard of swordplay on this level. But this was what a Sword Immortal was! It must be understood that when Ning first joined the Black-White College, he had been able to shock everyone just by using the first stance of the [Three-Foot Sword]. Now, he had been able to use the [Lesser Five Elements Sword] manual to develop this Waterflame Millstone Sword, a technique which vastly surpassed the first stance of the [Three-Foot Sword] in power. What’s more, the technique was executed through a sword-light that was manifested by the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]. Its speed and power…how could a Wanxiang monster possibly defeat it?

  “Flee.” The four-legged weirdbeast monster instantly slammed the ground with its hooves, causing the entire cavern estate to tremble. It turned its body, immediately ramming into the nearby stone wall, intending to charge through.

  Rumble! The stone wall was instantly shattered, but the light of the millstone sword followed as fast as the wind, continuing to chase after it and not intending to halt before it perished. The four-legged weirdbeast tried to dodge, and it even shot out one of the sharp curved horns on its head, sending it directly towards the sword light.