Desolate Era

by RWX

  The world went silent.

  The river of lava, previously flowing in the opposite direction, came to a halt.

  The spraying water of the underground river froze in midair.

  The stones that had been blasted into the skies froze there.

  Ning was still in the pose of executing the Windwing Evasion and retreating frantically…

  Northson was standing in front of the grand sealing barrier, unmoving…

  Even the incomparably massive Dragonwhale Diremonster that was floating in the air had come to a halt. Its dragon-whiskers that had been dancing in the air were now frozen there.

  In this instant, it was as though everything in this region had gone still. But Ning, Northson, the Azure Skysnake, and the Dragonwhale King, these four living creatures, knew very well that this wasn’t the case!

  “This is…” Ning could feel an incomparably powerful force instantly descend, so powerful as to completely suppress him. He felt like an ant atop of an iceberg, completely unable to move. He even felt as though he couldn’t change his facial expressions. That surge of power was simply too massive.

  “What…what is going on?” Ning was completely stunned and uneasy. His soul was pulsing at him, screaming of a terrifyingly great danger. Ning had the feeling that whatever threat had appeared was capable of instantly annihilating him.

  ……

  “What…what’s this??!” Northson, who had just reached the grand sealing formation, was incomparably frantic as well. In his heart, he was also completely stunned. He felt as though he had been completely suppressed and sealed away; he couldn’t even move a single finger. He could also see that even the rocks in midair weren’t moving at all, causing him to feel all the more horrified.

  …….

  The Dragonwhale was stunned as well. It was a Primal Diremonster, and a Dragonwhale at that; how incredibly great was its power? With but a single flip of its body, it could shatter the heavens and break the earth. And yet, in this instant, its massive body hung there in midair, completely unable to move.

  “I’ve already reached the Primal stage. What power is this, which is capable of preventing me from even fighting back? Even Immortals shouldn’t be this powerful. Can it be a Celestial Immortal? Or a Loose Immortal who has lived for hundreds of thousands or millions of years?” The Dragonwhale’s heart was filled with many thoughts as well, and it too was both terrified and restless.

  …….

  Although Ning didn’t move at all, he could still see. “Is that…?!” Ning suddenly stared in astonishment as the distant, bubbling river of lava began to part. The entire earth began to crack open, as a massive, fiery red hand, wreathed in lava, emerged from it. This hand…just staring at it, Ning became filled with despair.

  This was something which occurred only when the disparity in power had reached an unbelievable level.

  This palm of this titanic hand was more than three thousand meters long, and the palm lines were all clearly visible. These ancient, criss-crossing palm lines appeared to be carved or sculpted. As this titanic, fiery hand stretched out from the lava, it seized the head of the Dragonwhale in midair.

  CRUNCH.

  Like crushing an egg, the titanic, fiery hand easily pinched and squished the skull of the Dragonwhale. Although the Dragonwhale was a Fiendgod Body Refiner, during the instant in which its head was pinched, even its soul was crushed and dispersed. It wouldn’t even have the chance to reincarnate.

  An exalted Primal Diremonster had just died!

  “This…” Ning’s heart was filled with incomparable shock, but his facial expressions remained completely unchanged from earlier. Even his facial muscles couldn’t budge.

  “Rumble…”

  An even more titanically massive, fiery red head suddently emerged from the splitting lava. Right; a head! He had a single eye, a nose, and a mouth. The size of his head alone was more than three thousand meters tall. His entire, massive body slowly emerged from the deep abysses of the earth. Only after half of his body was revealed did he come to a halt. His body seemed to be formed from solidified magma, and it emanated an incomparable, scorching aura. He glanced at the corpse of the Dragonwhale, which now lay amongst the shattered rocks. His single, fiery red pupil had a cold look in them.

  “A puny earthworm actually dared to destroy my residence and disturb my slumber. He deserved to die,” this titan rumbled.

  Ning was unable to reveal any expressions on his face. But in his heart, he was screaming in shock, “Fiendgod, this is definitely a true Fiendgod!”

  In this instant, Ning could think of no other possibilities. Neither Immortals nor Diremonsters matched this creature’s appearance. This incomparably ancient, terrifying presence…in terms of appearance, aura, or power, the only type of creature which matched it was a Fiendgod! Fiendgods were born from the heavens themselves, and thus most had incomparably vast bodies.

  They were incredibly powerful, and they had been born unfathomable ages ago, during the Fiendgod Era!

  “And two humans, along with a little snake.” This ancient Fiendgod, who had been slumbering for who knows how long, swept his single eye to glance towards Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake, as though he were looking at ants.

  * * *

  Book 8, Chapter 33 - Fiendgods and Humans

  Ji Ning, Mu Northson, and the Azure Skysnake could feel the hint of killing intent wafting towards them from this ancient Fiendgod. The three of them truly were like ants before him; whether or not he killed them was truly a trifling matter. After all, he had been sleeping happily deep beneath the river of lava. After having been woken up, it was rather irritated, and so the main culprit, that Dragonwhale, was the first to die. Ning and the others were just unlucky enough to be caught up by it all.

  “No.” Northson, upon feeling that killing intent, couldn’t help but feel despair in his heart. Was he going to die?

  “I can’t die. I can’t die! I just entered the Black-White College. I swore an oath in front of Mother’s grave…that I would make the Bluewood clan regret what they did! I haven’t, I haven’t done anything yet. I can’t accept this, I can’t!” Northson’s eyes were filled with boundless panic and regret, but under that boundless pressuring power, he couldn’t even change his facial expressions.

  ……….

  “Am I going to die?” The Azure Skysnake was coiled around Northson’s arms. She was able to see the towering, vast, ancient Fiendgod from the corner of her eyes. The feeling that ancient Fiendgod gave her was that of the vast universe itself; she couldn’t even bring herself to want to try to resist.

  “It’s sad that I’m going to die along with Woody. If I have to die, I should die alongside Master,” the Azure Skysnake murmured to herself. She looked towards Ning as well, but because the mountain was blocking her vision, she wasn’t able to see him at all.

  ……….

  Ning also felt as though death was coming towards him. He had never had a strong a feeling of impending death before; not even when he was progressing through the three trials of the underwater estate had he felt so powerless! He couldn’t fight back at all…this sensation of impending death was something Ning couldn’t resign himself to.

  “I haven’t destroyed Snowdragon Mountain yet.”

  “I haven’t even come close to being a major power in the Three Realms.”

  “Father. Mother…I want to see if they are living good lives after their reincarnation.”

  “And Autumn Leaf…she must be waiting for me still.”

  Ning felt powerless. Although he still had that protective brooch in front of his chest that had been given to him by Immortal Diancai, which would release a protective sword-ki with but a thought…it would only be able to resist the power of a Loose Immortal or an Earth Immortal for a single breath’s worth of time. In the face of a Fiendgod who had killed a Primal Diremonster as easily as stepping on an ant, what could it possibly do?

  “Activate.” Ning had bound the brooch long
ago. With but a thought, Ning instantly attempted to activate the brooch, and the protective sword-ki within it tried to surge outside. Although it was probably useless, he had to at least give it a shot.

  “Eh?” The ancient Fiendgod’s single eye turned to stare at Ning. That seemingly omnipresent power seemed to completely focus on Ning as well, also pushing down towards Ning’s brooch. The protective sword-ki within the brooch tried to charge out, but it was pressed down upon by an invisible, formless strength, preventing it from emerging.

  It was pushed back inside!

  Ning willed it to activate again.

  But yet again, it was pushed back inside!

  “How can this be?” Ning now felt truly powerless.

  But a hint of surprise was in the ancient Fiendgod’s single eye. He looked at Ning, murmuring to himself, “A Sword Immortal? A Loose Immortal or an Earth Immortal? The sword-ki is both condensed and sharp; although it’s a bit different from that of Immortal Northwalker, who chased me around in the past, it’s still quite astonishing. This human brat most assuredly has a powerful Sword Immortal behind him.”

  “That Sword Immortal…most likely has other colleagues and seniors who stand behind him as well.” The ancient Fiendgod mused to himself, “I had best leave. I suffered miserably enough, the last time I was chased around.”

  As someone who had existed from the Fiendgod Era to the present era, he knew exactly how terrifying the humans were.

  You kill a puny one, a strong one comes. You kill the strong one, an entire host of strong ones would come!

  Humans simply had far too many experts, and they could send out entire groups of Immortals to attack him, a single person. The countless times he had suffered in this manner had caused him to become incomparably cautious. It was precisely this caution which had allowed him to survive to the present day. Otherwise, he would’ve been killed or sealed away by the humans long ago!

  And, most importantly of all, humans trained far too quickly! Fiendgods were the favored children of the heavens. They were born with tremendous power, and didn’t even suffer from the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations as they naturally increased in power. Only human cultivators had to deal with the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations! However, in turn, Fiendgods were far slower in learning and comprehending. They generally would spend tens or hundreds of thousands of years in training, or even millions of years. Training, to them, took an incomparably long period of time.

  But humans? A single human could become an Immortal in just a few centuries! A few centuries? This was an extremely short period of time for Fiendgods.

  They had terrifying reproductive abilities, powerful learning abilities, and a rapid rate of advancement…this was why humans became the true leader of the countless races of this world, and indeed, of the entirety of the Three Realms. They were the true overlords! Even Fiendgods had to avoid them.

  “Eh? And a Loose Immortal has come.”

  The ancient Fiendgod glanced towards the distant skies. It would be extremely easy for him to kill this Loose Immortal, but did he dare? He did not, because he knew that this Loose Immortal should be a member of the Raindragon Guard. If he killed one of them, very soon, the Guard would send tens or even hundreds of Loose Immortals…and perhaps even the imperial capital of the Grand Xia Dynasty would send some of its ancient, nigh-unkillable figures.

  “Time to leave.” The ancient Fiendgod’s entire body instantly emerged from the ground. With but a single step….whoosh. Space itself twisted, and the ancient Fiendgod entered the twisting void, disappearing without a trace.

  The spraying water and flying rocks that had previously been locked in midair finally collapsed. For a moment, there was utter chaos.

  “He left?” Ning gawked in astonishment. And then, from the corner of his eyes, he stared at the massive corpse of the Dragonwhale. He immediately waved his hand, collecting the entire, massive, three thousand meter long corpse of the Dragonwhale into his storage-type magic treasure.

  After having reached the early Wanxiang level, Ning had switched to using an Earth-ranked storage belt. This was a spoil of war he had acquired from killing the Wanxiang Diremonsters earlier. This belt had an enormous space within it; however, the massive body of the Dragonwhale still took up more than half of the space within.

  “Senior apprentice-brother.” Northson ran over, excited.

  “Master.” The Azure Skysnake transformed into an azure shadow, moving forward and coiling herself around Ning’s arm.

  After having just escaped from certain death, they all had somewhat changed feelings in their hearts.

  “Senior apprentice-brother, why did that Fiendgod leave?” Northson hurriedly asked, “And why didn’t he kill us?”

  “I don’t know either.” Ning shook his head. Although the Fiendgod had been mumbling to himself, the surrounding space had been completely locked; not even sound waves were able to move. Naturally, Ning hadn’t heard anything. But right at this moment…

  A blood-robed elder suddenly appeared in the skies. This blood-robed elder had a crown on his head, and the blood-red robes were incomparably beautiful. However, a hint of resentment was within his gaze. “I actually let it escape. It ran quite quickly. It can consider itself lucky.” As soon as he had sensed the local ripples, he had immediately hurried over here, but on the way, he had noticed that the Fiendgod had begun to flee. He had wanted to pursue it, but unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to.

  “You three.” The blood-robed elder, after appearing in midair, stared downwards towards Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake. As he did, the three of them felt their hearts grow numb.

  “You should’ve seen that Fiendgod emerge, just now.” The blood-robed elder’s voice was icy cold, and slowly, the world itself around them seemed to begin to freeze. Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake all felt an invisible pressure crush down towards them, quite similar to the technique which the Fiendgod had previously used. However, this pressure was far weaker than that of the Fiendgod’s. Despite that, however, Ning’s group knew that this Immortal in front of them was still invincible, as far as they were concerned.

  “Tell me, what did it look like?” The blood-robed elder pointed towards the Azure Skysnake. “You, monster. You speak first.” A look of terror appeared on the Azure Skysnake’s face, and she immediately said, “It was an extremely massive Fiendgod, with a palm of more than three thousand meters long. As for its body, it was thirty thousand meters tall! Its body appeared to be formed from lava stones. It had a single eye, a single nose, and a single mouth. It didn’t have hair, and lava seemed to be flowing from its head as well.”

  A look of shock appeared in the eyes of the blood-robed elder. Him? Only now did the elder know which Fiendgod it was, and cold sweat trickled down his back. That was too close; fortunately, he hadn’t caught the Fiendgod, as if he had, he probably would’ve died.

  Next, he pointed towards Northson. “You. Speak.” As soon as his words came out, Northson felt an invisible power command his soul. Although he remained conscious, his mouth began to speak by itself. “He emerged from the lava beneath us. His entire body was fiery red, he bound us with an invisible pressure that we weren’t able to resist at all. He had a single eye, a single nose, a single mouth…”

  “You. Speak.” The blood-robed elder pointed at Ning. Ning, too, sensed an invisible divine will instantly invade his sea of consciousness. However, Ning’s powerful divine will pushed back against it.

  BOOM! A soundless, invisible collision of divine wills. Although the blood-robed elder held an absolute advantage, he was unable to control Ning like a puppet.

  “Eh? Your divine soul is this powerful?” The blood-robed elder looked towards Ji Ning. “Which school are you from?”

  “This junior is Ji Ning, disciple of the Black-White College. My master is Immortal Diancai.” Ning continued respectfully, “Next to me is my junior apprentice-brother, Mu Northson. This Azure Skysnake is a spirit-beast I have recently
tamed while wandering the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains.”

  “Immortal Diancai? The Black-White College?” The blood-robed elder nodded calmly, then said in a still-cold voice, “I ask you this; when the Fiendgod appeared…why didn’t he kill the three of you?”

  “I don’t know.” Ning shook his head.

  I don’t know..” Northson said the same thing.

  Qingqing just shook her head, not even daring to speak.

  The blood-robed elder knew very well that this particular, ancient Fiendgod had a strange temper. When angered, it would occasionally kill humans. However, because that ancient Fiendgod had always been cautious and low-key, and had never acted to kill human Loose Immortals with powerful backgrounds, the Grand Xia Dynasty had never put too much effort into chasing after and capturing him.

  If he had engaged in wanton massacres and killed many influential figures, the Grand Xia Dynasty, in its rage, might send its full might against him. In that situation, it probably would be caught alive after just a few days!

  “The three of you can consider yourself lucky to have survived a meeting with a Fiendgod,” the blood-robed elder barked. “However, you absolutely must not reveal the details of this meeting. If I find out that you have, then the Raindragon Guard will hold you accountable for it!”

  “Yes.” Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake all acknowledged this order. The blood-robed elder calmly waved his hand. “Then hurry up and leave.”

  Ning’s group didn’t dare to tarry; they immediately boarded the dragon-headed warship, transforming into a streak of light and leaving at high speed.

  ……

  Whoosh!

  Shortly after they left, yet another person appeared. This was a silver-haired youth with loose, unbound hair, and who also had a crown on his head. Immediately afterwards, a muscular, armored old man appeared as well.

  “A Fiendgod emerged?” The silver-haired youth laughed calmly.