Desolate Era

by RWX

  Ning nodded. After battling shoulder-to-shoulder for counless years…one could imagine how close those soldiers were! Now that Adept Mooncrescent had died in his retirement, how could those people take it lying down?

  “This is trouble.” Ning frowned. Still, even if he had known Adept Mooncrescent’s background, Ning still would’ve done the same thing. Although Adept Mooncrescent had returned to Mount Mooncrescent to retire, he had still proved to be a calamity for the surrounding area. Ning had acquired quite a bit of information on Adept Mooncrescent when reading up on Yu Dong, and the description of the Adept was…he was a sinister, petty man who had offended many.

  Perhaps because he had so many pent up desires in the army, as soon as he had retired, he had relied on his power to act savagely and viciously, revealing his true nature! Ning wouldn’t show mercy to this sort of person.

  “Ning, son, what should we do?” The Whitewater Hound looked towards Ning. “Master?” Qingqing looked towards Ning as well.

  Ning frowned. “Let’s keep the liquefied elemental essence. We’ll put all the other treasures into the storage treasure, and then…Qingqing, use your Void Blink to go extremely deep underground and cast it deep into the magnetic core.”

  “The deep magnetic core?” Qingqing nodded. “Understood.”

  They kept only the thousand kilograms of liquefied elemental essence, and then discarded everything else, including even the jade bottle which held the essence! The liquefied elemental essence was incomparably pure and untraceable, so they could keep it, but everything else had the potential to prove problematic.

  “I’m going now.” The little azure snake winked out of existence, passing through the void and disappearing. Deep underground, there was a magnetic core, and a powerful field of magnetic light that one could see with the visible eye. Qingqing carefully threw the storage-type magic treasure, now unbound, into the magnetic light.

  A short time later.

  Qingqing returned. “I tossed it all.” She looked at Ning, who nodded. “Good. Everyone, let’s think it over. Have we left any clues behind?”

  “Senior apprentice-brother, earlier, when we appeared at Mount Mooncrescent…is it possible that the servants or disciples of Adept Mooncrescent might have noticed us?” Northson said, worried.

  Ning shook his head. “Don’t worry. My divine sense covered the entire Mount Mooncrescent, and everything was within my field of observation. Only three people accidentally saw our dragon-headed warship, but at that time, the warship was under disguise and also had a different coloration. There’s no way they would’ve been able to identify us just on the basis of seeing that warship.”

  “Alright.” Northson nodded. They came here secretly, and so they had naturally disguised the warship into a very ordinary, common-looking sort. “There’s no way they could find us just based on the appearance of the warship.”

  “Good.” Ning nodded. “Everyone, can you think of any flaws?” They all shook their heads. They had been incomparably cautious when coming, and hadn’t even used teleportation arrays. They had flown all the way here, through the clouds and the mist. Only three people had seen their true appearances at Mount Mooncrescent; Adept Mooncrescent, Yu Dong, and Yue Wei. All three were now dead.

  “Junior apprentice-brother, next I am going to act against Shui Yi. There’s no need for you to go,” Ning said. “Dealing with Shui Yi…will be much tricker than dealing with Yu Dong. Although he’s merely a peak Zifu Disciple, he’s within the Dong clan’s territory.”

  “I have no ties or attachments to be worried about. Senior apprentice-brother, don’t say anything else,” Northson said firmly. Ning nodded gently. “Fine, then. Still…we need to decide on how we should deal with Shui Yi.” Ning looked around at everyone.

  Qingqing said hurriedly, “It’s quite simple. Master, you have divine sense…you can effortlessly cover the entire Dong clan with it. As long as you find a chance to kill him, you can easily kill him, right?”

  “It won’t be that easy.” Northson shook his head. “That’s the lair of the Dong clan, and the home of a Primal Daoist. It definitely will be guarded by numerous layers of protections, and there’s no way an outsider will be able to silently sneak in…”

  Ning nodded. “Even an idiot can guess that this place must be ringed by countless formations. There’s no way to sneak in at all.”

  Qingqing pouted.

  “Ning, son,” the Whitewater Hound said, “Although it might be hard for us to enter the Dong clan to kill Shui Yi…why can’t we make Shui Yi come out instead?”

  “Have him come out?” Ning’s eyes lit up. “Right!” Northson called out in approval as well. Ning quickly began to ponder this, and the information he had acquired on Shui Yi began to flash through his mind. Soon, he came up with a way.

  “If it’s hard to go in to kill him, then we’ll draw him out.” Ning nodded. “Find. Then let’s go right now…”

  “Let’s go.”

  Immediately, the warship, now appearing to be an ordinary, pitch-black ship, disappeared from the clouds.

  They had already killed Adept Mooncrescent. There was nothing else they could do about that now! However, just as they were afraid of…Adept Mooncrescent’s group of old friends wouldn’t let the matter of his death rest! The entire Shadow Army wouldn’t let one of its old, retired brothers die in such a manner! The members of the Shadow Army had all battled for many years together, and too many of them had died. Very, very few survived to retire. If even their retirees could be killed without rhyme or reason…how could they accept this?

  “Don’t worry. The old brothers of our Shadow Army won’t be killed for no rhyme or reason, just like this! In other places, the intelligence reports of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain might be formidable, but here in Stillwater Commandery…the intelligence reports of our Northmont clan are even more superior!” Within the headquarters of the Shadow Army, a red-haired old man was speaking to a group of blood-robed men in a loud voice.

  Stillwater Commandery was the territory of the Northmont clan. Here, the Northmont clan’s roots were the deepest.

  Just half a day later….

  Stillwater City. Northmont Blacktiger’s Estate.

  “Eh?” Northmont Baiwei, who was drinking some wine and listening to music, suddenly frowned. He heard footsteps from outside. “I’m listening to music. Who dares disturb me?” A hint of anger could be seen in Baiwei’s furrowed brows.

  Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and a muscular, bald man dressed in an ornate black uniform walked in. Next to him was a pale-faced, beardless old man with triangular pupils. The triangle-eyed old man seemed to have a hint of laughter on his face, but it made others shiver.

  “Father!” Baiwei shot to his feet. In the face of his father, Biawei always felt uncontrollably nervous. “Baiwei.” Northmont Blacktiger’s deep, hooded gaze was like an infinitely cold pool of ice. “I ask you this – was it you who sent people to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain for an intelligence report on Yu Dong, Shui Yi, and Dong Seven?”

  “Yes.” Baiwei nodded. “Why?” Blacktiger asked. Baiwei immediately said respectfully, “It was for the sake of my brother, Ji Ning, who brought his fellow disciple, Mu Northson, and asked me to assist. He didn’t wish for the Heavenly Treasures Mountain to find out, so I was extremely careful as well. Aside from myself and the our servants who carried the orders out, no one else knows.”

  “Oh?” Blacktiger’s eyes were dark and cold. He said calmly, “It seems, then, that the culprits are Ji Ning and his group.”

  * * *

  Book 9, Chapter 12 - Father and Son

  “The culprit is Ji Ning?” Northmont Baiwei said, frantic, “Father, what are you talking about? What ‘culprit’? What are you saying?”

  “Can’t you guess?” Northmont Blacktiger looked at his son. This was the son who he had entrusted all his hopes to, the one whom he had always strove to train. If he hadn’t placed all of his hopes on Baiwei, he would’ve left
Baiwei to his own devices and let him become a carefree, ignorant, wastrel descendant. However, Blacktiger had instead always been very strict and exacting with him.

  “Father, are you saying…” Baiwei was no fool. Frowning he said, “Brother Ji Ning didn’t want for the Heavenly Treasures Mountain to know it was him, so he must’ve been carrying out something he couldn’t let others know about! He went to kill an enemy with a powerful background? Dong Seven, Yu Dong, Shui Yi…of the three of them, the only one with a bit of a background is Dong Seven! Can it be that he killed Dong Seven? But Dong Seven has a mere Primal Daoist backing him; he isn’t worthy of you, Father, acting like this.”

  Blacktiger nodded. “It isn’t Dong Seven. He killed Yu Dong.” Baiwen shook his head. “Yu Dong? He’s just a minor figure.”

  “But Yudong’s master, Adept Mooncrescent, was present at the time as well. Thus, most likely because he tried to stop Ji Ning, he was caught up in the fray and killed by Ji Ning as well.” Blacktiger stared at his son. “And Adept Mooncrescent was a retired Immortal cultivator who belonged to one of the armies under the control of our Northmont clan of Stillwater, the Shadow Army.”

  “What?!” Baiwei’s face instantly changed. Naturally, he knew that his own clan, the Northmont clan, had some hidden, powerful armies of Immortal cultivators. Every single Marquis had some armies of their own.

  The Grand Xia Dynasty knew this as well. However, the exact number of secret armies, how many individuals were in each army, and how powerful the members of the armies were…those were the true secrets.

  “A retired cultivator of the Shadow Army?” Baiwei began to mumble to himself, “A retiree? Then he must have fought for many, many years…he must have many old friends and brothers-in-arms. The retirees…they are the most sensitive figures for these Immortal armies.”

  “Right. Just so!” Blacktiger growled, “They battle for the sake of our Northmont clan, and countless numbers of them have perished. Very, very few are able to survive and retire. If the retired cultivators are killed…the cultivators of the entire army will naturally be enraged! They absolutely will not permit this sort of event to occur, and if it were to occur, they will find out who the killer was, then take revenge for their old brother!”

  “This is a sensitive, sore spot for Immortal cultivator armies! Those who touch it will die!” Blacktiger’s eyes were filled with solemnity as well. This was one of the unspoken rules of the armies; they wouldn’t permit their old, retired brethren to suffer! Absolutely not!

  “Ji Ning’s group acted very cleanly and professionally,” Blacktiger said. “The intelligence division of the Shadow Army has begun their investigations, they have already searched the memories of many of the ordinary mortals who lived on Mount Mooncrescent. They’ve even found the blood-robe which Adept Mooncrescent once wore; it had been cast deep into the magnetic depths of the world.”

  “However, because a total of three people had died, being Mooncrescent, his disciple Yu Dong, and his daughter Yue Wei, the Shadow Army’s intelligence division has already begun to investigate Yu Dong and Yue Wei as well. Soon, they found that someone has recently asked the Heavenly Treasures Mountain for a copy of the report on Yu Dong.”

  Blacktiger stared at his son. “Following this clue, the Shadow Army’s investigations led them to my estate; the Northmont Blacktiger Estate! That is how I learned of this.”

  “What should we do, then?” Baiwei was worried now. “The Shadow Army is currently following up on several leads,” Blacktiger said, “But if Shui Yi and Dong Seven both die as well, then the Shadow Army will definitely grow convinced that the culprit had purchased intelligence reports on these three figures at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.”

  Baiwei said, frantic, “Then I’ll immediately send someone to seek out Brother Ji Ning and have him temporarily avoid killing Shui Yi and Dong Seven?”

  Blacktiger shook his head. “No use. They’ll soon be able to rule out the other leads, at which point in time, they will make inquiries to us regarding this matter.”

  “Then what should I do?” Baiwei said, worried. “There are two options,” Blacktiger said. Baiwei looked towards his father.

  “The first option is to give up Ji Ning,” Blacktiger said. “That way, we’ll avoid all trouble.”

  “Impossible.” Baiwei shook his head.

  Blacktiger, seeing this, actually began to laugh. “Hahaha, that’s my boy. Right; don’t easily give up or betray your good friends and brothers! If you can so easily sacrifice them…then you’ll never be able to make any true friends and brothers! If you wish for others to be willing to risk their lives for you, you have to treat them with sincerity, understood?”

  Baiwei was startled.

  “Then, only the second option remains,” Blacktiger said. “Just admit that you were the one who did this deed.” Baiwei was astonished. “Me?!”

  “Right. Admit to the Shadow Army that it was you who did it; it was you who sent people to investigate Yu Dong, and then who led people to kill Yu Dong! However, because Adept Mooncrescent tried to stop you…you ended up killing him as well!” Blacktiger continued, “You had no idea that Adept Mooncrescent was a retired soldier, and thus you cannot be faulted for what you did. There’s no way for the Shadow Army to insist on punishing you…as a member of the main lineage of our Northmont clan, and as someone who might become a future Marquis of Stillwater, for you to have accidentally killed Adept Mooncrescent is just a small matter.”

  “If you accept responsibility for this matter, it will just be a small matter, because in the end, the Shadow Army is the army of our Northmont clan. It won’t be easy for the cultivators of our Shadow Army to make too much trouble for a main lineage descendant of the Northmont clan, just due to an accident.”

  “However, if anyone else were to accept responsibility, they would almost assuredly die.” Blacktiger looked at his son. “Still…as a result of this, I imagine that there will be some old fellows of the Shadow Army who will hate you.”

  “Just hate me? A mere retired Wanxiang Adept…I would be shocked if there was even a single Loose Immortal-level cultivator who was a true friend of his! And I imagine that very, very few will truly, deeply hate me.” Baiwei shook his head. “For now, I don’t have anything to do with the Shadow Army. As for Brother Ji Ning, I can tell that he’s the sort who is willing to shoulder difficulties for his friend. I will accept responsibility for this matter!”

  “Good.” Blacktiger nodded. “As for how Yu Dong, Shui Yi, and Dong Seven offended you, I’ll come up with a suitable excuse.” Baiwei nodded respectfully. “It shall all be as you say, Father.”

  “Remember!” Blacktiger looked at his son, then said softly, “You’ve done very well to be willing to sacrifice for your brother, but you must remember…you need to let Ji Ning know what you did for him.”

  “Let him know?” Baiwei was startled. “Right. Let him know about your sacrifice,” Blacktiger said calmly. “You’ve paid a high price for him; if he doesn’t even learn of it, then wouldn’t that mean that you did it for nothing? If he were to ‘accidentally’ find out the truth of what transpired, then he will naturally feel grateful towards you.”

  Baiwei frowned. “Isn’t that a bit artificial and contrived?” “Contrived?” Blacktiger gave his son a glance. “You just need to let him find out by ‘accident’; after all, you really did take on responsibility for his actions. Remember…although you must be sincere in taking care of your friends, you need to be slightly strategic about it as well. This is the principle behind using your human resources.”

  “Think about what I have said.” Blacktiger gave his son a frowning glance. His son was extremely intelligent, and he had high hopes for him. However, thanks to the influence of Baiwei’s mother, he was sometimes excessively sincere in his treatment of his friends. Although this allowed him to make some truly good friends, a temperament like this would make it very hard for him to truly dominate and unify a powerbase.

  “Let�
��s go,” Blacktiger said, leading the triangle-pupiled elder away with him. The frozen atmosphere within the courtyard instantly grew calm, and the beautiful maid who had been singing a little song nearby suddenly came to her senses. “What, what happened?”

  She didn’t see anything or hear anything earlier; in fact, it was as though she had lost a portion of her memories. She just vaguely remembered the master of the estate, Northmont Blacktiger, arriving. And then, by the time she regained her faculties, Northmont Blacktiger was departing.

  “Strategy? Using your human resources?” Baiwei frowned. “Father…you are calculating towards everyone…and that’s why Mother left you. You are you. I am myself.”

  His father wanted to train him and make him into a second Northmont Blacktiger.

  But he was Northmont Baiwei.

  The one and only Northmont Baiwei!

  “I wonder how Ji Ning is doing,” Baiwei worried silently to himself.

  ……..

  Ning’s group had flown for half a month and had arrived at Stillwater Commandery’s ‘Dawn Bay’. Dawn Bay was roughly equivalent to Swallow Mountain in size.

  “Shui Yi’s tribe really is puny.” A ship that was six hundred meters wide was floating atop Dawn Bay. The Dawn River was more than a million kilometers in length, and it was a large river that passed through nearly half of Stillwater Commandery. Northson, atop the ship, said with a sigh, “It actually doesn’t even have a single commandery city!”

  “It is quite weak.” Ning nodded. The Ji clan at least had a commandery city of the Grand Xia Dynasty, the City of Ten Thousand Swords; being in possession of at least one commandery city was necessary for a clan to be considered a local hegemony. But Shui Yi’s clan, the Shui clan, was truly puny.

  Before Shui Yi had appeared, their clan was an extremely ordinary, weak one. Afterwards, Shui Yi had become a servant for the extremely large and powerful Dong clan, and had been trained by the Dong clan until he had risen to the Zifu Disciple level. He had also served young master Dong Seven for a long time. Naturally, he brought prominence to his Shui clan as well.