Desolate Era

by RWX

  Swoosh!

  He flew over at high speed.

  “That Fiendgod is coming again.”

  “We can’t kill him… why’s he coming?”

  “Can it be that he wants to enter the palace? Let’s follow him and go in together.” The monstrous Dao-soldiers reformed into that titanic wave and the Yaksha Dao-soldier. They looked at the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, but didn’t attack.

  Whoosh. In midair, an enormous palace door suddenly appeared, and then the door swung open. Fiendgod Xiangliu Fang had just reached that location. With a swoosh, he flew through the palace door… and then, the illusory door once more vanished.

  Xiangliu Fang and young master Youngflame’s coordination was simply perfect. As soon as he had arrived, the door had appeared, and as soon as he entered, the palace door had once more shut, causing the pursuing Dao-soldiers that were right behind him to be unable to enter at all. After all, Fiendgod Xiangliu Fang was faster than them to begin with.

  “Wait! I refuse to believe he won’t come out! As soon as they come out, we’ll first kill those humans, then seize the key to the Immortal estate.” The monstrous Dao-soldiers could only choose to wait patiently.

  ……

  Within the massive palace hall. Ning’s group was still fighting back against the wildly attacking Qiongqi golems.

  “Swoosh.” A figure suddenly charged in. It was a pitch-black, narrow-eyed, middle-aged man… the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang.

  “Uncle Fang.” Youngflame Nong was delighted. Finally, he had reunited with Uncle Fang. After seeing Uncle Fang, his restless, uneasy heart finally calmed down. With Uncle Fang present, he was safe.

  Upon entering, Xiangliu Fang immediately saw those Qiongqi Manticore golems.

  “Golems?” Xiangliu Fang, with a single step, arrived next to one of the Qiongqi golems. The golem immediately bellowed, slashing out with his claws and wanting to tear Xiangliu Fang apart. But what welcomed it was Xiangliu Fang’s fist!

  BOOM!

  The fist smashed directly upon the Qiongqi golem, like the descent of a meteor, knocking it flying back and, with a titanic smashing out, sending it smashing hard against the walls of the palace. The walls of the Immortal estate were incomparably sturdy, while the Qiongqi golem itself was a magic artifact; neither were damaged. However, the Qiongqi golem first slumped to the ground, before then clambering back to its feet.

  “A Primal golem?” Xiangliu Fang frowned, and then he threw out an enormous sack. “Come.” Xiangliu Fang waved his large hands, and then his ten fingers transformed into ten giant snakes, filling the air as they seized two of the Qiongqi golems. The two Qiongqi golems struggled viciously, but weren’t able to escape from Xiangliu Fang’s snake-hands.

  “Get in.” After having seized the two Qiongqi golems, Xiangliu Fang tossed them directly into the sack.

  Xiangliu Fang moved as fast as lightning, his giant hands filled with boundless, awe-inspiring might. Clearly, this was a powerful divine ability he had access to. With power far greater than that of the Qiongqi golems, he snatched them two or three at a time. In the blink of an eye, all eighteen of the golems had been seized and thrown into the sack; they didn’t even have a chance to flee.

  “So powerful.” Ning and the others were stupefied and speechless with amazement.

  “Uncle Fang.” Youngflame Nong was delighted.

  Xiangliu Fang nodded, then gave a sideways glance to the Whitewater Hound, who was still maintaining the formation. He said softly, “Whitewater Hound? There are very few monsters who are skilled in formations. Whitewater Hounds are indeed extremely intelligent and well-suited for analyzing formations.”

  After speaking, Xiangliu Fang transformed into a streak of light.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! He flew to three places, smashing down viciously with his fist. Although the palace itself was undamaged, some of its decorations, such as its giant chandeliers and drapes, were smashed into tiny bits.

  “Alright. I’ve already blocked the critical chokepoints to the formation.” Xiangliu Fang looked towards the Whitewater Hound. “No need for you to constantly maintain the formation.”

  The Whitewater Hound retrieved the artifacts from his Fuxi Staff Formation, and indeed, the previously active enemy formation didn’t respond at all.

  “Whew.” Ning and the others shared glances, then revealed smiles. With an expert present, things would indeed be much simpler going forward.

  “Eh?” Xiangliu Fang frowned slightly as he looked towards a distant place in the palace. He pointed towards it, and instantly, a ray of black divine power flew out from his finger, striking against the distant palace wall. Three giant characters instantly appeared on the wall – VAULT OF TREASURES.

  “The Vault of Treasures?” Ning, Northson, and Xue Hongyi were all overjoyed.

  The Immortal estate world had a total of five palaces. Ning’s group had no idea what the palace they had entered was meant for. Now, upon seeing those three characters, they knew immediately that this must be for storing treasures! Originally, Youngflame Nong had promised that any treasures they were capable of acquiring from within the Immortal estate would be theirs!

  * * *

  Book 10, Chapter 11 - The Treasure Vault of a Celestial Immortal

  “Don’t be impatient.” Youngflame Nong could naturally tell what Ji Ning and the others were thinking. Smiling, he said, “The treasures aren’t going anywhere. As I said to you, and as I even promised in the name of the Youngflame clan, anything you acquire will belong to you.”

  Ji Ning and the others all nodded.

  “And these.” Youngflame Nong pointed towards the ground nearby. On the ground were the magic treasures left behind by Adept Bu You and the ten Wanxiang Deathsworn.

  “This time, we were trapped within the Immortal estate’s formation; it was thanks to Ji Ning’s spirit-beast that we were able to break through it. These magic treasures aren’t worth that much; Ji Ning, go ahead and take them.” Youngflame Nong looked towards Ning, who didn’t hesitate; he immediately collected all of the various magic treasures. After all, these were treasures from eleven Wanxiang Adepts, one of whom was a two-clawed Raindragon Guard. This sort of treasure was quite valuable.

  Xue Hongyi looked at Ning, musing secretly to himself, “Damn your luck! I want to see how long it holds!”

  Although he felt jealous hatred, he still understood that right now, the Black-White College’s five disciples held the advantage in power.

  “Let’s go.” Youngflame Nong now appeared much more relaxed. With Xiangliu Fang by his side, he began to walk leisurely to the front.

  Each of the five palaces were extremely large. However, Xiangliu Fang was a true expert of formations; he led them with ease through the various corridors, and they thus naturally made their way towards the heart of the entire palace. Just a short while later, Ning’s group arrived at an incomparably wide hall within the palace, filled with a jade bed at the front and prayer mats below.

  The jade bed was most likely where Immortal Witchriver used to sit and meditate.

  “This is…!?” Youngflame Nong suddenly stared at the jade bed. His Immortal estate key was vibrating strongly, having sensed where the heart of this palace was.

  “That jade bed is the core of this palace,” Youngflame Nong said.

  “Young master, let me take a look.” Xiangliu Fang stretched his hands out. His hands instantly expanded, and his ten fingers transformed into ten giant snakes which filled the air and swarmed the region. After sweeping past the region, he nodded and said, “Young master, there are no dangers here.”

  Only now did Youngflame Nong, with a swoosh, scurry to the top of the jade bed. He sat down in the lotus position, then began to fill the jade bed below him with elemental ki.

  This jade bed was the core of this palace, the Vault of Treasures. Every palace had a core, and if one could bind them all, the entire Immortal estate would be bound as well. The test the Youngflame clan had given Youngflame Nong was to have him co
mpletely bind this Immortal estate.

  “Alright. The rest of you can go,” Youngflame Nong said, seated on the jade bed, “And search to your hearts’ content for the treasures which Immortal Witchriver left behind here. I won’t go.”

  Xiangliu Fang stood at the jade bed as well, quietly standing guard.

  Ning and the others exchanged a glance, secretly celebrating. If the most powerful member of their group, the Fiendgod Xiangliu Fang, was not going to compete with them for treasures, it would be wonderful.

  “I’ve already begun to bind the core of this palace. None of the restrictive spells within this palace will activate, so the only thing you need to worry about are golems lying in wait,” Youngflame Nong said with a loud laugh. “However, my guess is that this palace doesn’t have any golems left. If there were, they would’ve attacked us long ago.”

  “Young master Youngflame, we’ll go search for treasures, then.” Ning and the others didn’t stay here any longer; they immediately departed. They had arrived in the hall together, but now, they immediately parted ways.

  “Senior apprentice-brother, treasure-hunting is a matter of individual luck,” Northson said with extraordinary excitement.

  “There might be Immortal-ranked magic treasures,” Adept Vastriver said with great eagerness as well.

  “It’s up to destiny,” Ninelotus said.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! They all quickly parted ways. Even the Whitewater Hound and Little Qing parted ways from Ning, moving out on their own.

  “I refuse to believe you’ll be that damn lucky.” Xue Hongyi, at the rear of the procession, had a cold look on his face. He chose a pathway for himself, then began to search.

  ……

  The Vault of Treasures, one of the five palaces of the estate, was simply too vast.

  “And my divine sense can’t even penetrate through the walls here?” Ning had no other options; he had to rely on the simplest, most rudimentary of methods to search; push through the doors of each room and search them.”

  Rumble. A stone door was pushed out. Ning swept the inside of the room with his divine sense while also scanning it with his eyes. “Not this one.”

  Rumble. Yet another stone door was pushed open, and Ning searched this room as well. “Not this one either.”

  “Nope.”

  “Not this one.”

  Ning quickly searched through multiple rooms.

  Rumble! Ning pushed open the door to the sixth room. “Not this one eith-… eh? This is…?!”

  Ning’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot with excitement. He hurriedly shut the door to the study, then entered.

  Surges of ripples emanated from the magic treasures in this room. Ning stared at the magic treasures and sensed the rippling waves of energy coming from them, and felt as though he were in a dream.

  “I actually was the one to discover the true Treasure Vault. It seems I really am lucky.” Ning swept the room with his gaze. Upon an enormous display case, there were many magic treasures, including ropes, flying swords, gongs, disks, needles, awls, nails, sacks, warhammers, seals, staffs, ribbons, horsetail whisks, fog bottles, jade flasks, colored clothes, powders, armbands…

  The amount of treasure here was simply astonishing. They all had different auras of power as well; the ones closest to Ning had ripples of power that were a bit weaker, while the more distant ones were more powerful. Clearly, these magic treasures were divided up by power levels.

  “So many magic treasures… how could Immortal Witchriver possibly have a use for all of them?” Ning sighed gently, but suddenly, he thought about the so-called ‘Witchriver clan’ which he had encountered in the outside areas of the Immortal estate world. “Right. Immortal Witchriver, as a Celestial Immortal, naturally had many, many monstrous attendants. Of course he would want to be able to take good care of them and provide resources for them.”

  It was much like how Ning had made certain preparations for the Ji clan as well. Immortal Witchriver had made preparations to strengthen his descendants. In addition, as a Celestial Immortal, Immortal Witchriver naturally had far more members in his clan than the Ji clan did. In turn, then, he would need to be extremely strict in handing out magic treasures. He must have created this ‘Vault of Treasures’, with clansmen who had rendered meritorious deeds or who had extremely good talent being provided gifts. This was only logical.

  “Bind them!” Ning’s body instantly emanated streaks of elemental ki, like ribbons of light, filling the air with them as he shot them towards the magic treasures. Countless years had passed; even if the treasures did have masters in the distant pass, by now, there wasn’t even the slightest bit of vestigial ki within them, and they were extremely easy to bind.

  “These are Mortal-ranked. These are Earth-ranked… I’m unable to bind this one! Haha, it has to at least be a Heaven-ranked magic treasure.” Ning could no longer remain calm, beginning to laugh wildly.

  He had hit the jackpot!

  He had truly hit the jackpot today. This was a stroke of tremendously good fortune. He originally had thought that Immortal Witchriver would carry his most important treasures with him, and thus logically the Vault of Treasures wouldn’t have too many treasures within, but in reality, within this treasure room, there was a veritable sea of treasures, all of which Immortal Witchriver had prepared for his clansmen.

  A few poor Witchriver clansmen had been trapped within the Vault of Treasures after Immortal Witchriver’s death, forever unable to leave. They had died within the vault of old age. Fortunately, however, the Witchriver clansmen outside the vault had some other treasures as well. Still, despite that, they were only able to be local hegemons in the outside world of this Immortal estate world.

  In as much time as was needed to boil a kettle of tea, Ning completely bound everything he could.

  “My heavens.” Ning took a deep breath, his heart pounding so loudly, he felt as though he could audibly hear his heartbeat. This was simply too amazing.

  “More than 180,000 Mortal-ranked treasures, more than 16,000 Earth-ranked treasures, and more than a hundred treasures which I could not bind.” Ning was somewhat stunned. This… this was too amazing. Although he had already been an extremely wealthy Wanxiang Adept, compared to this sea of treasures… there was no comparison at all.

  “Even Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals probably don’t have this much,” Ning sighed in amazement. “Celestial Immortals live up to their reputation. Even a small fraction of their wealth is far beyond what ordinary Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals possess.”

  “I’m taking this.”

  “And this.”

  “My precious, my precious, all of you, come here.” Ning was absolutely giddy. He collected up all the Mortal-ranked magic treasures, storing them in his storage magic treasure, then stored all of the Earth-ranked magic treasures into his Zifu region. His Zifu was incomparably vast; even the 16,000-plus Earth-ranked magic treasures only took up a small corner of his Zifu.

  Swoosh! Ning, with a flash, instantly arrived next to one of the longest display counters. This display counter was covered with magic treasures that emanated powerful ripples; Ning wasn’t able to bind any of them.

  “Unless I’m mistaken, these should be Heaven-ranked,” Ning said softly. Although he was unable to bind them, which meant they could also be Immortal-ranked treasures, logic argued against it. Although the magic treasures atop this long table emanated ripples that were different in power, the general strength of the ripples were roughly on the same level.

  Most likely, some were middle-grade Heaven-ranked magic treasures, while others were high-grade or even top-grade.

  “Even Primal Daoists generally only have a few Heaven-ranked magic treasures, but I have more than a hundred. And, given that they were stored away by a Celestial Immortal, I imagine that none of them are weak.” Ning could feel his blood pumping.

  It must be understood that even the weakest, low-grade Heaven-ranked magic treasures could only be purchased with
five hundred kilograms of liquefied elemental essence. Slightly better treasures would cost much more, upwards of five thousand kilograms.

  If, theoretically…

  If all of these hundred-plus magic treasures were Heaven-ranked, and all of them were slightly better than low-grade, without a single top-grade… they would still be worth nearly five hundred thousand kilograms of liquefied elemental essence! This was a sum that was enough to cause even Earth Immortals or Loose Immortals to feel their hearts tremble.

  “A Celestial Immortal could pluck a hair from his head, and it would still be thicker than my legs. And what I have here isn’t just one of his ‘hairs’… it’s more like one of his ‘legs’!” Ji Ning was simply too excited. He actually began to ramble and spout nonsense, while mentally calculating the worth of these Heaven-ranked magic treasures. The powerful ripples emanating from them caused Ning to feel incomparably delighted, especially because several of the ripples were extremely strong, which caused Ning to feel even more pleasure.

  “Haha, the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]? Just 700 Earth-ranked magic treasures… that’s nothing!” Ning continued to celebrate. “In training to the Second Cycle of the [Six Cycles of the Starseizer], I’ll also need a lot of precious materials, but with this, I can go trade for them at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.”

  Previously, he had been extremely tight on money. He felt that he was extremely poor, unable to buy this and unable to buy that. Now, however, he suddenly felt that he was extremely rich. Even ordinary Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals were a bit less wealthy than him! But of course, some of the top-class Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals were still wealthier.

  “In you go.” After savoring the feeling for a while, Ning began to collect these powerful Heaven-ranked magic treasures as well. As he was unable to bind them for now, he had no choice but to put them within his storage-type magic treasure.

  “This trip with Youngflame Nong to this Celestial Immortal’s estate was absolutely worth it. Celestial Immortals… Celestial Immortals… they really live up to their reputations.” Ning had completely cleaned out all of the treasures within this room. Suddenly, he blinked. “Hey… these display tables that held the magic treasures… the wood seems to be quite extraordinary. Slumberghost Waterwood? A single kilogram of it is equivalent in value to two taels… there has to be a million kilograms worth of Slumberghost Waterwood here. Mm, makes sense… Immortal Witchriver put the magic treasures on the display tables for his descendants to look at. Of course he had to procure some good tables. I’m taking this as well! And this one here!”