Desolate Era

by RWX

  Although they hadn’t personally witnessed it, the tens of Immortal-ranked magic treasures before them were real. They didn’t believe that the Flamewing King and the other monster kings who had used these Immortal-ranked magic treasures to dominate the region would just voluntarily give them to senior Darknorth.

  “Big brother, we must take on this senior Darknorth as our master. Once we miss this opportunity, we might never encounter someone like him again for the rest of our lives,” the black-robed princess suddenly said.

  “Right.” The crown prince’s eyes lit up as he nodded repeatedly. “Senior Darknorth is even more formidable than the twelve monster kings! He is far more powerful than our Qi Empire ever was.”

  The black-robed princess said solemnly, “The Flamewing King is now dead; the Flamewing Guards under his command were sent fleeing in panic. They know that we are under senior Darknorth’s protection, and so the surviving ones definitely will not pursue us any longer. In the future, we will no longer need to flee.”

  The crown prince was startled for a moment, but then he nodded repeatedly with excitement. He hadn’t seen the situation as clearly as his little sister.

  “But the only two survivors of the imperial Qi clan are the two of us. How are supposed to grow stronger?” The black-robed princess said in a low voice, “The two of us, relying on our own efforts…we will probably never see the Qi Empire returned to its former glory again in our lifetimes. But by borrowing the strength of senior Darknorth, we would still have hope.”

  “Right.” Qi Rufeng nodded solemnly. “Let’s go take him on as our master.”

  “We have to do so with sincerity. For someone as formidable as senior Darknorth…if he detects even a hint of insincerity, he will probably refuse,” the black-robed princess warned.

  The two siblings thus entered the Immortal estate as well.

  Within a hall in the Immortal estate. Bluecliff Xiaoyu was seated there, watching as the two imperial siblings entered the estate.

  “We wish to see senior Darknorth,” Qi Rufeng said.

  “Master is in seclusion right now. Wait a bit.” Xiaoyu didn’t shoo them away, because she knew that the only reason why the two were able to enter the Immortal estate was because Ning had permitted it. Ning was the master of this estate, after all; if he didn’t wish to permit it, there was no way they would’ve been able to enter at all.

  ……

  The reason why Ning had let them enter was because he had discovered some interesting things.

  “Eh?”

  “A treasure trove?” Ning flipped through the maps in front of him. There were eight maps, all identical, and all pointing towards a treasure trove!

  Although the eight slain monster kings were formidable, their storage-type magic treasures were all merely Heaven-ranked items. It was naturally quite easy for Ning to bind them. As he sorted through their items, he discovered to his surprise…that every single storage item contained a map of a treasure trove. All the maps were completely identical.

  The treasure maps only had some simple markings atop them, such as ‘Qi Empire’, ‘Riverfang Mountains’, etc. This made it so that Ning knew that the treasure map was originally created by the imperial Qi clan! This was the reason why Ning permitted the two imperial Qi clansmen to enter his estate.

  “Each of the eight monster kings had a copy of this map, with the Flamewing King’s copy being much older. The other seven should’ve been made through a ink-duplication technique.” Ning frowned. “Right…I merely killed a few hundred of Flamewing Guards, but all twelve of the monster kings immediately attacked just a short while later. Logically speaking, the twelve of them should be scattered throughout the Eastern Flows; it would take them quite a bit of time just to spread the word to gather here. There can only be one explanation…when word of my slaughter of hundreds of Flamewing Guards made its way to the Flamewing King, the other monster kings were already present!”

  “What sort of a situation would cause all twelve monster kings to gather together?”

  Given that every single one of them had a copy of this treasure map…Ning had his answer. “They were most likely gathering for the sake of this treasure trove!”

  Ning immediately began to search through the other items, paying especially close attention to the storage treasure of the Flamewing King. And indeed…although he didn’t find anything in the other storage treasures, within the Flamewing King’s items, Ning found an ancient book with golden parchment; clearly, it was designed to be able to withstand the passage of ages.

  “The first time I ventured to the Riverfang Mountains, I was merely adventuring and entered by accident…”

  “I am already a Void-level Earth Immortal; before my tribulation comes, I’ve decided to venture there once more, even though I know this place is very dangerous. I’ve only investigated a very small portion of this treasure trove; I trust that if I can acquire some more treasures, I will have a good chance of overcoming my Celestial Tribulation and becoming a Celestial Immortal.”

  “……”

  “Six Loose Immortals once more ventured to the Riverfang Mountains…”

  “This time, we prepared many Dao-seals and treasures before venturing forth to the Riverfang Mountains…”

  Ning flipped through the pages of the book. This was a legacy record passed down by the imperial Qi clan; it described the secrets of the Qi Empire’s sudden rise to power. The founding emperor of the Qi Empire had acquired a portion of the benefits of the treasure trove and thus founded his empire. In just a a few tens of thousands of years, the Qi Empire had grown to encompass an enormous territory and have quite a few Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals. Thus, the imperial Qi clan had naturally tried repeatedly to enter and investigate further. As they did, they had noted down the various dangers within the treasure trove.

  They wanted to accumulate more experience and penetrate deeper within!

  “A treasure trove?” Ning said softly in surprise, “Based on what this book describes, this treasure trove has Ki Refining Techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts…and is the reason why the Qi Empire was able to give birth to dozens of Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals within a short span of just a few tens of thousands of years. This is far more formidable than the Black-White College; I imagine that these techniques also vastly surpass the Black-White College’s.”

  “Mm. I need to go take a look.”

  While at Mount Innerheart, Ning would often chat with his fellow disciples, and so he naturally knew quite a few things about this Crescent world. For example…he knew about the secrets of Viledragon River. He also knew the secrets of many other places.

  Although Patriarch Subhuti had created the Crescent world, in truth, when Pangu’s World had shattered, Patriarch Subhuti had used a powerful divine ability to teleport some of the shattered portions of the Primordial World to his own Crescent world. In addition, when Patriarch Subhuti wanted to test something or create something a new, his experiments would be carried out here on the Crescent world! This was because this world was his territory; the secrets here would never be released to outsiders.

  “From what my senior fellow disciples told me…within this Crescent world are some remnant parts of the ancient Pangu’s World, as well as some of the treasures left behind by that cataclysmic war.” Ning instantly felt a hot eagerness rise in his heart. Very few knew this secret, and almost all who did were the personal disciples of the Old Patriarch. Thus, they would often go roving and exploring within the Crescent world.

  “But after the Old Patriarch sealed off these places with vestigial powers left behind by the cataclysmic war that ended Pangu’s World…if one doesn’t visit the places in person, it would be very hard to locate the places from afar.”

  “Now, it seems…this treasure trove is one of those special places.”

  Ning felt quite certain. This was because the book stated that the deepest ripples within the treasure trove caused the Loose Immortals of the Qi Empi
re to tremble with terror. It must be understood that Loose Immortals were capable of suppressing and binding Immortal-ranked magic treasures, and sometimes even capable of suppressing Pure Yang treasures. A treasure that could cause them to feel terror? Could it be the corpse of a major power from the Primordial Era? A weapon? A grand formation? Or was it some other oddity?

  “I need to go take a look.” Ning immediately made up his mind to go take a look. Since destiny had come knocking, why hesitate?

  The crown prince and the princess waited for Ning for a long time. Finally, Ning came out.

  Ning asked questions them regarding the treasure trove. The second princess knew nothing of this matter, while Crown Prince Qi Rufeng hemmed and hawed, not wanting to reveal the biggest secret of their imperial Qi clan. However, by the time Ning spoke of the Riverfang Mountains…the crown prince felt regret for his hesitation. Only now did he hurriedly reveal everything.

  “You can leave now.” This was the last thing Ning said to them.

  The crown prince and the princess both fell to their knees, wanting to beg Ning to take them on as disciples. But Ning’s response was very simple; he teleported them outside the Immortal estate, and then caused the entire Immortal estate to vanish into thin air.

  The crown prince, the princess, and their servants stood there in a daze, atop the half-shattered mountain peak. The mountain wind blew through their hair, causing them to feel despair.

  “The opportunity was right there in front of me. Why didn’t I tell him? It’s just a treasure trove! Senior Darknorth already knew about it; he must’ve been considering taking us on as disciples, and just wanted to give us a test. But I didn’t tell him! Damn me!” Crown Prince Qi Rufeng was utterly tormented by regret.

  But he had no idea that even if he had been honest, Ning still wouldn’t have taken him on as a disciple.

  How could one accept disciples in such a casual manner?

  ……

  Ning didn’t immediately hurry to the treasure trove area in the Riverfang Mountains. Instead, he went to search for those two other great sinners.

  He first went to search for the three surviving monster kings of the Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows who had fled. Unfortunately…the only one Ning found was the fourth, the ‘Venomspike King’. The Venomspike King was drinking unhappily in his palace with a belly full of anger and unhappiness. He was toying with a beautiful, fox-like maiden in his arms as he drank.

  When Ning appeared, the Venomspike King was so terrified that he wanted to immediately flee…but how could Ning give him the opportunity to do so?

  “How the hell did I piss you off?!” The Venomspike King was only able to let out one final enraged bellow before being killed by Ning.

  ……

  Ning then spent more than half a month before finally finding a Loose Immortal within a school whose evil reputation was widespread. This was a human Loose Immortal, and the most powerful expert of his school! This was an old fellow who had lived for six hundred thousand years. His school was an evil one, and so Ning immediately went to uproot this vile base!

  He first slaughtered three Loose Immortals who charged towards him, causing the old fellow to appear at last. As the many disciples of the school watched with anticipation…their ‘infinitely powerful’ and savage Patriarch battled against Ning for a period of time, then was pincered and slain by Ning’s true body and Primaltwin!

  “What a fellow. His power was close to the Goldfur Bearking’s; only, his defense was a bit weaker.” Ning had enjoyed this battle quite a bit. He had also acquired two more Immortal-ranked magic treasures from the old fellow, one a high-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure, one a top-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure.

  This was the most powerful person Ning had slain.

  “Wonderful, wonderful.”

  “I’ve killed so many formidable Loose Immortals, all of whom were surrounded by vicious, baleful auras. My three Darknorth swords are now comparable to high-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords now.” Ning felt quite delighted; killing ordinary Loose Immortals didn’t do much, but the nine monster kings and that wicked Patriarch released an absolutely astonishing amount of baleful energy when slain. The wicked Patriarch in particular; his baleful aura was comparable to four or five of the monster kings combined!

  “If I kill ten more figures like that wicked Patriarch, I imagine that my Darknorth swords will be comparable to top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords.” This was Ning’s estimation.

  ……

  He had successfully taken on a disciple. He had also killed ten great sinners. Now, Ning led his disciple, Bluecliff Xiaoyu, to the Riverfang Mountains.

  “So these are the Riverfang Mountains?” Ning stared towards the distance. The mountains here stretched out past the horizon and were perpetually shrouded by fog and clouds. From Ning’s vantage point, these mountains did indeed look like a series of sharp fangs that were jutting towards the skies.

  * * *

  Book 13, Chapter 27 - Riverfang Mountains

  As Ji Ning stared at the distant Riverfang Mountains, he couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat. He could vaguely sense an incomparably terrifying threat that lay coiled deep within the mountains.

  “At my current level of power…there are very few people in the entire Crescent world who can pose a threat to me. The ones who are more powerful than me have almost all been recruited into Mount Innerheart; when they see me, they might even have to address me as ‘uncle-master’. Even the True Immortals and Empyrean Gods would be my fellow disciples,” Ning mused to himself.

  Roaming within the Crescent world should be like roaming within his own family garden. This was the very first time he felt a thrill of fear!

  “It seems there really is some danger here, enough danger to threaten me.” Ning nodded lightly. “Mm. If the situation looks bad, I’ll immediately hide in the underwater estate. Later, I’ll ask Master to help me escape back to Mount Innerheart.”

  When trapped in dire circumstances, ask for Master’s aid. Although this was a bit shameless, Ning was within the Crescent world, after all; his master couldn’t be too strict with him. In addition, after he truly left the Crescent world, Ning wouldn’t even be able to mention his master’s name; he’d have to rely on himself for everything.

  “Master?” The nearby Bluecliff Xiaoyu called out softly.

  Ning glanced sideways at his disciple, then said with a laugh, “Xiaoyu, I am going into the mountains to take a look. These mountains are very dangerous; go into the Immortal estate first.”

  “Yes, Master,” Xiaoyu said obediently.

  Ning waved his arm, immediately drawing Xiaoyu into his Immortal estate. And then, by himself, Ning transformed into a streak of light that flew straight into the Riverfang Mountains.

  ……

  Ning had acquired the detailed records produced by successive generations of Qi Empire experts. He soon reached the outer perimeter of the treasure trove.

  “Eh?” As he strode through the mountains, Ning felt a strange sensation coming to him through the earth.

  “Kill…kill…kill…”

  He could vaguely sense as though an invisible howl was being transmitted from far away through the dirt, as though an unfathomably long period of time ago, an enormous battle had occurred in this place. Even now, after so many years had passed, the murderous intent from that battle remained unabated.

  “The earth here is different from the ordinary earth found elsewhere in the Crescent world. It’s clearly much heavier, and the earth’s aura in this region is significantly denser as well.” Ning nodded lightly. “This might truly be a tiny remnant of Pangu’s shattered Primordial World which was teleported here.”

  With the aid of the tests the imperial Qi clan had carried out, Ning quickly found a mountain valley and began to walk through it. The clouds and the mists coiled about here, making it so that even Ning was only able to see to one or two kilometers. As for divine sense? What his divine
sense found was completely different from what his physical eyes could see. This was because….

  “My divine sense has been completely fooled. Everything my divine sense is showing me is false.” Ning even stretched his hand out to touch a place, ascertaining that his eyes weren’t being deceived as well!

  He carefully advanced.

  Far away, up ahead, he saw an enormous ravine. Ning could sense a terrifyingly sharp saber-intent radiating from that ravine.

  “Apparently, although this ravine looks as though it was naturally formed, it was actually carved out through saber-ki.” Ning walked forward for the amount of time needed to boil a kettle of tea. Suddenly, he felt an invisible pressure envelop him.

  “This is the same as what was recorded within the Qi Empire’s book. According to the book, the deeper one goes in, the greater the pressure shall become. The experts of the various generations of the Qi Empire were all ultimately forced to give up by this pressure and return. The pathway I’m walking through right now should be the pathway with the least amount of pressure.” Ning quickly advanced. As he did, the strength of the pressure rose dramatically.

  When Ning had first entered this region, five thousand kilograms of pressure was evenly being applied to his body. But now, it had already reached five hundred thousand kilograms…fifty million kilograms…

  Rumble…

  A powerful repulsive force collided against Ning’s body, causing a series of rumbling sounds. The amount of pressure pushing down against Ning was now comparable to a series of massive mountains that were smashing down repeatedly towards him!

  “Even most Loose Immortals wouldn’t be able to withstand this amount of pressure.” Ning waved his hand, and the Thousandbull Sword appeared within it. Brandishing the Thousandbull Sword, Ning caused a divine black dragon to suddenly howl forth, striking against the pressure that was crushing down against Ning and lessening it.