Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Right. If you have any questions, ask them here,” Adept Mooncrescent said hastily. “I definitely won’t interfere in the Raindragon Guards carrying out a case.”

  Ning’s face sank. This Adept Mooncrescent had reached the peak of the Wanxiang level more than two centuries ago, and was close to the end of his life. Because of this, Ning didn’t dare to underestimate him at all. Although his talent was inferior to the likes of Dong One, he had trained for very long and must have had many fortuitous encounters; an old fellow like him would surely have many tricks up his sleeve.

  To take away Yu Dong while he was present would be quite difficult. As for Northson, he pointed towards Adept Mooncrescent and cursed angrily, “Mooncrescent, we Raindragon Guards are carrying out a case, but you are here causing trouble. I urge you to immediately depart! Otherwise…don’t blame us two brothers for being merciless!”

  “Two sirs,” Adept Mooncrescent said, a smile still on his face, “This is the talisman of the Northmont clan of Stillwater.” As he spoke, a blood-red medallion appeared in his hands, with the characters ‘North’ and ‘Mont’ atop it. “You can refuse to give face to Snowdragon Mountain, but you should still give face to the Northmont clan of Stillwater, yes? If you have any questions, ask them right now. If you have no questions, hurry up and leave.”

  “A medallion of the Northmont clan?” Ning was startled. This wasn’t something an ordinary person could produce. The medallion which Baiwei had given him was merely the medallion of his father, Northmont Blacktiger, not the true medallion of the Northmont clan.

  As good friends of Baiwei, he had learned quite a few things. Someone capable of producing the ‘blood medallion of the Northmont clan’ was definitely someone who had a deep connection to the Northmont clan of Stillwater.

  “It’s been so many years, and this is only the second time I’ve ever taken out this medallion.” Adept Mooncrescent looked towards Ning’s group. “I haven’t much longer to live, and I really don’t want to trouble the Northmont clan to help me.”

  Although his words were casual, the threat behind them was real. This caused looks of delight to appear on the faces of Yue Wei and Yu Dong.

  “Senior apprentice-brother, what should we do?” Northson sent mentally. “This old fellow was actually able to take out a medallion of the Northmont clan; I imagine he has an impressive background. How about we step back for now…then find another chance later?”

  “Adept Mooncrescent.” A hint of anger was in Ning’s gaze. “You have truly decided to stand up for him?”

  Adept Mooncrescent smiled, then nodded. He could tell that this Raindragon Guard appeared fierce but was actually nervous; he trusted that this person would soon leave.

  “You can protect him for now, but I refuse to believe you can protect him forever!” Ning turned and said, “Junior apprentice-brother, let’s go.”

  “Hmph.” Northson let out an angry snort as well, also turning and leaving.

  But right at this moment…a savage look flashed through the eyes of Ning, who had just turned his back on Adept Mooncrescent. This was savagery born from long-suppressed hatred. However, since Adept Mooncrescent and Yu Dong couldn’t see Ning’s face…they were feeling quite smug, and a smile was actually on Adept Mooncrescent’s own face.

  “Rumble…”

  Ning’s powerful divine will suddenly swept outwards like a raging river, crushing directly towards Adept Mooncrescent. BOOM! It viciously collided against his soul. [Soulshaker Art]!

  Adept Mooncrescent was close to the end of his life, and he now only cared for enjoying himself; as a result, his Dao-heart had actually weakened considerably. Still, since Adept Mooncrescent would never encounter the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, he hadn’t cared too much about the weakening of his Dao-heart. At this moment, however, as Ning’s divine will came crushing downwards, Adept Mooncrescent instantly felt his soul shudder.

  “Not good! A divine will art!” He had many years of experience, and he had risked his life many times in the past for the Northmont clan. His Dao-heart was consequently still quite firm, and he was instantly shocked. “Wake up! Wake up!” Adept Mooncrescent’s soul was struggling fiercely, and a hint of clarity appeared in his eyes. “Saber formation!”

  Just as he was about to activate the supreme technique which he had used to dominate the region, the ‘Mooncrescent Saber Formation’, a mesmerizingly beautiful and seemingly slow sword-light flashed.

  The sword-light was absolutely breathtaking! Just as ten black sabers appeared in the surrounding area and were about to join together to block, the sword-light slashed past one of the black sabers…and chopped directly onto the body of Adept Mooncresent. The two scimitars in Adept Mooncrescent’s hands moved to block, but were knocked flying away.

  Slash! His body was rent in half, and blood splattered everywhere. Ning appeared directly behind Adept Mooncrescent, Darknorth sword in hand.

  In that instant…he had used the [Soulshaker Art], the [Starseizing Hand], the Windwing Evasion, and also the Manifold Thistlethorns of the [Three-Foot Sword]!

  In that instant, Ning had completely exploded forth with his most powerful attacks! This was an old fellow who had lived for very long, and who had an unfathomable background…Ning didn’t want to waste too much time with him. If he did, who knew what might happen? Ning’s subconscious had been warning him…that this old fellow would be extremely hard to deal with! He had to instantly execute the old man as he was feeling smug and overconfident.

  “You…you killed…” Yu Dong came to his senses. Staring at Adept Mooncrescent’s bisected body, his face completely changed.

  Darknorth sword in hand, Ning stared coldly at him. The icy look in his eyes caused Yu Dong’s heart to shudder. Ning said in a growling, cold voice, “Forget about a damn medallion…even if members of the Northmont clan were present, I would still kill him!”

  * * *

  Book 9, Chapter 9 - Why, Why?!

  Yu Dong felt despair. The youth in front of him was simply too terrifying; he had actually killed Yu Dong’s master, Adept Mooncrescent, in an instant…and that divine will attack! Yu Dong had personally sensed it as well, and had gone dizzy for a brief moment. He knew exactly what that sort of short-term dizziness represented in a battle between Immortal cultivators, where life and death was determined in an instant.

  “Milord Raindragon Guard.” Yu Dong was incomparably frantic; he could sense the surging, killing intent coming from the person before him. “Are you sure there isn’t a mistake? I, Yu Dong, have always been unwilling to offend people, and in fact, I’ve never offended others. Milord Raindragon Guard, is it possible that you’ve been deceived? Killing me isn’t a major matter, but if you were to let the real culprit escape, that’d be a disaster.”

  Yu Dong was trying his best to dissuade Ning. Ning just laughed. “Deceived?” His laughter caused Yu Dong to shiver. Could it be that Ning’s father and mother had deceived him? In addition, Ning’s Uncle White, who had personally experienced the events of that year, was standing right next to him. How could there be any mistake?

  “The real culprit is enjoying himself while you, milord, have been deceived into acting against me,” Yu Dong said frantically. Ning, seeing the frantic, terrified look on Yu Dong’s face as he tried to dissuade him, only felt a surge of satisfaction in his heart. The more panicked his enemy was, the more agonized and desperate he was, the more satisfied Ning would be!

  “Father. Mother. Uncle. Can you see this?” Ning murmured in his heart. “This Yu Dong is just the first one. All of them will slip into despair. They will die in regret,” Ning promised himself.

  Yu Dong watched as the freezing light in Ning’s eyes continued to grow, and he couldn’t help but grow increasingly frantic. What should he do? What should he do?

  He had yet to become a true leader within Snowdragon Mountain; had yet to make his name known throughout the world. How could he die like this? Yu Dong’s heart was filled with a strong unwill
ingness to accept this. What he desired the most was not to slowly, stealthily clamber his way up to the top using tricks and stratagems; he wanted to use absolute power to shock the world and be revered by countless individuals.

  He had yet to truly explode onto the world’s stage! The vast world had yet to hear of his name! “I have to go all out!” Yu Dong felt as though he had become suddenly trapped back into his early, childhood days when he had to fight and kill, with only a hint of a chance of survival. Success meant that he would rise to the heavens, while failure meant that he would die without a place to be buried.

  The same was true right now. If he were to escape, he would be able to soar to the heavens. If he died, he would truly not even have a place to be buried.

  “Junior apprentice-sister.” Yu Dong looked towards Yue Wei, then sent urgently, “Help me stop him at any cost.” He trust in his junior apprentice-sister, trusted in his own abilities. He knew with absolute certainty that his junior apprentice-sister wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice her own life for him.

  Yue Wei’s eyes reddened, and infinite love radiated from her eyes. “Do it!” Yu Dong howled mentally. Swoosh! Yue Wei threw herself straight towards Ning, just like a moth throwing itself into a flame. Her Zifu Lake instantly began to detonate. Tears were at the corners of Yue Wei’s eyes, and she stared at Yu Dong with a longing look in her eyes as she sent to him, “Senior apprentice-brother, I truly do love you!”

  BOOM!

  Ning’s Waterflame Lotus had both dire-ice and earthflame merged into it. The power of his Waterflame Lotus was consequently much greater than before…the self-detonation of a Zifu Disciple wouldn’t be able to move him in the slightest.

  “Senior apprentice-brother, I truly do love you!” Her voice echoed in his mind, and even Yu Dong felt his heart shake. But then, he instantly suppressed this feeling. He understood that this ‘love’ his junior apprentice-sister felt towards him was nothing more than a natural ‘love’ that would emerge once a person’s soul had been completely dominated and tamed. It was precisely because her mind had been tamed that she was willing to die for him.

  Was this love?

  This was just slavery!

  BOOM. As the explosion rang out, Yu Dong instantly fled far away, and as he did, he produced an insect nest in his hands. “Children, go, stop them!”

  The nearby Northson and Whitewater Hound just watched, not interfering. As for Ning, the Waterflame Lotus around him first blocked the self-detonation of that woman, and then greeted the countless venomous pests that swarmed towards him. The enormous Waterflame Lotus was imbued with both dire-ice and earthflame, which were no weaker than divine abilities. However, after imbuing both into the Waterflame Lotus, they both reached new heights of power.

  Under that grinding, killing power, the countless venomous pests were all ground into dust, without a single one of them able to survive for even a moment. Seconds later, the countless, heaven-covering swarm of venomous pests that had been attacking Ning had all been reduced to dust.

  “Hahaha…” Yu Dong had charged far away into the distance, and activated a bewildering formation. Instantly, the area around him changed and twisted into illusions as he remained within its borders.

  “Do you think that you’ll be able to escape, just because you are hiding within a bewildering formation?” Ning took a single step forward, towards the formation.

  Ning appeared to be quite brash and arrogant, but in truth, he was being extremely cautious. His divine sense had already covered this entire area, to a distance of a hundred kilometers, and everything was under his control. If a Primal Daoist suddenly appeared, Ning would no longer delay, and would instantly kill Yu Dong. But now? Since no one had appeared to stop him, Ning would slowly torment him.

  The long-suppressed hatred within Ning’s heart made it so that he wasn’t willing to let the man die too easily.

  “What?” Within the bewildering formation, Yu Dong watched as Ning walked in. Ning didn’t appear to be the slightest bit puzzled or baffled by the formation, and he walked directly towards Yu Dong. “How can this be?! Seal it!” Yu Dong once again used a formation technique; this was his estate, and naturally he had quite a few formations present.

  A blurry light sprang up, protecting him. Swish. A sword-light flashed past, and Ning easily chopped apart the grand sealing formation.

  “Too weak.” Ning continued to slowly stroll forward.

  “Teleport.” Yu Dong clutched at his precious Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal, intending to flee…but it was completely useless.

  “The surrounding region has already been spacelocked.” Ning continued to walk towards him.

  Yu Dong finally went berserk. He howled with rage, “What the hell do you want?! The bewildering formation is useless against you, you effortlessly killed my venomous bugs, you killed even my master with a single sword blow…and you even prepared a spacelock formation in advance! You are so powerful and so calculating…what the hell did I do to piss you off?”

  Instantly, a figure appeared before him, moving as fast as lightning. A sword-light pierced directly into Yu Dong’s dantian. One magic treasure after another tumbled out from his body. Only the magic robe he wore on him, as well as the bracer on his arm, remained his; the rest all fell out, no longer under his control. This sword attack was so fast that Yu Dong wasn’t even able to dodge.

  “You…you!” Yu Dong stared. Ning replied calmly, “The Zifu in your dantian has already been destroyed by me.”

  Yu Dong was absolutely terrified. The Zifu in his dantian was his foundation as a cultivator; it had been destroyed, just like that? In the instant it had been destroyed, a feeling of weakness suddenly filled his body, causing him to be incomparably terrified…

  “Why don’t you just kill me cleanly?” Yu Dong howled with rage. “Kill you?” Ning shook his head. “I simply destroyed your Zifu in your dantian because I was afraid that you would commit suicide.” If the Zifu was present, Yu Dong would’ve been easily able to self-detonate his Zifu Lake.

  But with his Zifu destroyed, Yu Dong had been transformed into an ordinary mortal. But of course, despite being an ‘ordinary’ mortal, his body had been nourished for many years by elemental ki, and so it would still be quite powerful, comparable to an ordinary Xiantian lifeform. Unfortunately, he was now no longer able to use magic treasures; naturally, he wouldn’t even be able to kill himself in front of Ning.

  “Afraid that I’d commit suicide?” A look of terror appeared on Yu Dong’s face. What the hell sort of a grudge was this? This person wouldn’t even let him commit suicide?

  With the destruction of his Zifu, the formation around him naturally vanished. Northson and the Whitewater Hound walked over as well.

  “Enjoy this,” Ning said with a cold laugh. His elemental ki quickly formed into a shining runic seal in front of him. Upon seeing the shining rune, Yu Dong seemed to realize something. Instantly, utter horror appeared on his face, and he immediately turned to flee. Ning, with a gentle flick of his fingers, sent that shining runic seal into Yu Dong’s body.

  “NO!” Yu Dong let out a miserable cry, his skin and his bones beginning to twist and his skin beginning to turn red. “AHH, AHHHH!!” An agonized scream ripped out from his throat.

  Yu Dong was like a lobster that was being boiled alive; his entire body was turning red, and he fell to the ground, beginning to twitch and twist about. He felt as though countless bugs were crawling beneath his skin, and could even see his skin begin to char and turn black.

  “The Heartburner Art?” Northson was secretly shocked. This was a torturing technique possessed by the Black-White College’s Dao Repository Vault. Because it didn’t have much combat potential, one didn’t need too many black-white pellets to trade for it.

  Ning had memorized it long ago. When he had memorized it…it was for the purpose of allowing his enemies to enjoy its taste! Enjoy the taste of having their hearts been set aflame! When Ning’s father and mother had died, he himself had be
en filled with the utmost of agony, despair, and hatred. He had decided long ago to do the same in gaining revenge!

  “Tell me tell me tell me tell me…” Yu Dong howled hoarsely as he stared at Ning, his eyes filled with madness.

  “You are actually still clear-minded. Even though you have the soul of a Wanxiang Adept, for you to stay awake for so long is inconceivable.” Ning let out a cold snort. “It seems as though your Dao-heart is even stronger than I had anticipated.”

  “Why, why?!” Yu Dong’s eyes were filled with resentment. As for Ning, he turned towards Uncle White, who was by his side. Uncle White instantly transformed into mist, then reformed into a large, snowy white hound.

  “Yu Dong. Do you remember me?” The Whitewater Hound looked towards Yu Dong. Yu Dong’s agonized eyes were suddenly filled with shock and resentment. Immortal practitioners had nearly perfect memories. Because Uncle White was now a Wanxiang Diremonster, and because he was in human form, Yu Dong had been unable to recognize him earlier. Now that Uncle White had returned to his true form…Yu Dong immediately thought back to the events of that year…

  “Young master, look. That little lady looks quite attractive. That face, that aura, that attitude…ohoho!”

  “Mm, not bad at all! And she seems to be pregnant as well…hah, just what I like. The two of you, go over there and catch that little lady alive. Be careful though; those two men next to her should both be Zifu Disciples. The two of you had best not grow careless and fail.”

  “Don’t worry, young master.”

  “Young master, leave it to us. We’ll definitely catch that little lady and bring her over to you.”

  Those events…that battle…everything came to his mind. Deep in his memory, he thought back to how both of those men had been willing to sacrifice their lives for that woman.

  “Little Sister, the two of you, go!”