Desolate Era

by RWX

  “I’ll change into…” Ning laughed. “…a hair on your head.”

  “Hair?”

  Northson was speechless.

  Ning laughed. Swish! He disappeared into thin air, and then an extra hair appeared on top of Northson’s head.

  “What do you think, junior apprentice-brother?” Ning’s voice echoed out.

  Northson, amazed, reached out with his hand to stroke this additional strand of hair that had just appeared. “You can do this?!”

  This was indeed a flawless plan!

  Swish.

  Ning reappeared.

  “If you transform into my hair…there’s no way I could recognize you. But is it possible that someone within the castle might detect you?” Northson asked, worried.

  “Even True Immortals and Empyrean Gods will be unable to detect me,” Ning said confidently. The ‘Seventy-Two Transformations’ was no ordinary divine ability.

  “Good.” Northson revealed a look of delight. “The other grandmasters and I are working in a region deep within that castle, where we are forging that Fiendgod Golem. That region is primarily meant for us grandmasters; there are only two guards there. No one else will go there to disturb us. Since there’s no way for us to escape, they aren’t worried about us at all. So long as you go…you’ll be able to easily capture that Fiendgod Golem.”

  “But senior apprentice-brother!” Northson said with worry. “Once you seize it, everyone in the castle will know right away. In fact, even that general will immediately be aware of it. If you threaten them, they might just kill you, then take the Fiendgod Golem back.”

  “Kill me?” Ning shook his head. “They won’t be able to kill me…so they will have to choose to lower their heads.”

  All he had to do was enter his mobile Immortal estate for just a brief moment, then immediately use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal.

  The enemies would probably truly be forced to lower their heads!

  Northson began to grow excited as well. His senior apprentice-brother’s plan was indeed workable. He hurriedly said, “We have to first acquire Yu Xia’s soul. I’m not afraid of death, but I’m terrified of the thought that Yu Xia’s soul will be tormented for countless ages.”

  Ning was startled for a moment, then nodded. “Right.”

  He could threaten them and force them to submit…but they might just pull out Yu Xia’s soul to counter-threaten him! His junior apprentice-brother would rather die than cause Yu Xia to be eternally unable to be reborn.

  “Are you able to acquire Yu Xia’s soul?” Ning asked.

  “It’s been a month since I’ve seen Yu Xia,” Northson said hurriedly. “After I enter the castle, I can request to see Yu Xia. Each month, we can see our loved one a single time! They won’t refuse…they’ll take me there, then I’ll see Yu Xia. You, senior apprentice-brother, will immediately strike and seize her soul.”

  “However…”

  “Seizing Yu Xia’s soul, or seizing the Fiendgod Golem. We have to choose between the two.” Northson began to frown.

  Ning laughed. “That’s simple. I’ll first go with you on a trip to the Fiendgod Golem, and then I’ll go to Yu Xia’s place. I’ll acquire her soul, then immediately use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to immediately head to the Fiendgod Golem and seize it as well.”

  “A Greater Teleportation Dao-seal?” Northson said, worried, “But once you move to flee the Eastwoods mountain range…will you have another method of escape?”

  “I have a few of these seals,” Ning said with a laugh.

  He did indeed. He had acquired one from the underwater estate, a second from killing Youngflame Nong, then more than ten from killing the monster kings and the vile Patriarch on the Crescent world. Every one of the monster kings had at least one Greater Teleportation Dao-seal on them; given their statuses, acquiring one wasn’t too hard.

  And now, given the number of treasures Ning had and his connection with Patriarch Skyfox of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain, it wouldn’t be too hard for him to buy eight or ten Greater Teleportation Dao-seals.

  “First seize Yu Xia’s soul, then Greater Teleport to seize the Fiendgod Golem.” Northson asked, “The seizing of the soul will cause alarms to go off within the castle; I imagine that seizing the Fiendgod Golem will prove troublesome.”

  “Don’t worry. As long as we are fast enough, and as long as we immediately Greater Teleport upon acquiring the soul…there will be no one who can stop us,” Ning said. “The only person in the entire Eastwoods mountain range who can threaten me is that general you spoke of. By the time he hears of the soul being stolen, I’ll have already taken the Fiendgod Golem as well.”

  The plan had more or less been set. The two of them discussed some of the finer details, then Northson began to give a introduction to the layout of the castle.

  Just as the two grew more and more animated in their discussions…

  Northson’s face suddenly turned ashen.

  “Senior apprentice-brother!” Northson looked towards Ning with worry. “If you steal Yu Xia’s soul, then threaten them to force them to release me…they’ll definitely suspect there is a connection between us. Given that you’ll have to fight when moving to steal the Fiendgod Golem…you’ll probably have to use your skills as a Sword Immortal, at which point they’ll know it is a Sword Immortal they are facing.”

  “They would be able to guess right away that the person who rescued me was most likely you, senior apprentice-brother.”

  “They’ll be able to tell it from your swords.”

  Northson stared at Ning.

  Ning sighed mentally to himself.

  His junior apprentice-brother had discovered the flaw.

  Right…

  He had already been trapped within this Eastwoods mountain range once; given the power of that mysterious organization, they probably suspected that he had trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art].

  Given that he was then able to enter stealthily, then steal the Fiendgod Golem despite the tight defenses and guard…they would probably grow even more certain that he had used the ‘Seventy-Two Transformations’. After all, other methods of entry, such as a Greater Teleportation, would cause spatial ripples and be discovered.

  The chances of him being exposed would be very high.

  He absolutely could not underestimate this foe. They were far too powerful…Ning knew this all along.

  “Junior apprentice-brother,” Ning said. “Don’t worry. Even if I am exposed in the end…all I’m doing is rescuing you. To this mysterious power, a single grandmaster of constructs isn’t that important. You are nothing more than one amongst many such grandmasters. It is the Fiendgod Golem which truly matters. So long as they let you free, I’ll return that to them; they won’t have lost much. They won’t go so far as to make an enemy out of a Daofather’s disciple over this matter.”

  Northson shook his head. “Senior apprentice-brother, your words are reasonable, but I can sense how savage and arrogant that organization is…and they truly are powerful. I don’t want them to act against you. I’d rather stay here and endure the thousand years.”

  “Will you be able to endure it?” Ning snapped frantically, “Look at yourself right now. You’ll probably die halfway through it!”

  “Enough!” Ning said seriously. “If you disagree, then I’ll do it myself, without your help.”

  “Senior apprentice-brother…” Northson couldn’t believe it.

  “Decide!” Ning said. “Am I going to do this myself, or are we going to do it together?”

  * * *

  Book 15, Chapter 3 - Class: Winged Immortal

  Mu Northson stared at Ji Ning. Finally, he nodded. “Fine. We two brothers shall do it together.”

  “Hahaha, that’s more like it!” Ning laughed, then slapped him on the shoulder.

  Northson looked at Ning, then smiled as well. Deep in his heart, however, he firmly engraved the memory of this kindness into his soul.

  ……

&nb
sp; The two hours of rest time had concluded.

  The gray-robed figures all returned from their various residences. Northson returned as well, his hair still disordered.

  “Hurry up.”

  “All of you, hurry up!”

  The black-robed figures were already snapping at them to move faster, but the grandmasters remained calm and silent. They completely ignored the black-robed figures; they were grandmasters of the Dao of Constructs, after all. If they didn’t work hard, they might suffer some consequences or punishments, but taking their two-hour rest was ordinary.

  “The black-robed figures have very low statuses in this mysterious organization. Those Wanxiang and Primal level black-robed figures are merely Fiendslaves, while the Loose Immortal and Earth Immortal black-robed figures are Fiendserfs.” Ning had already learned a bit regarding this mysterious organization thanks to Northson’s explanations.

  Rumble…

  A blurry light flowed across the castle. The gray-robed figures passed through it to enter the castle, and Northson entered as well.

  Ning’s field of vision changed. Within the castle gateway, he saw a bronze-armored man whose aura was clearly much more powerful than the individuals he had seen earlier.

  “Bronze-armored guards? Fiendguards? I wonder how many Fiendguards this location has,” Ning mused to himself.

  Fiendslaves were at the Wanxiang and Primal level.

  Fiendserfs were at the Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal level.

  Fiendguards were extremely powerful Loose Immortals; as Ning saw it, most likely each of them was roughly at the power of that vile Patriarch he had killed.

  Above them…were the Fiendlords!

  The Fiendlords were the ‘generals’, all of them at the Celestial Immortal level.

  The corridors within the castle were deep and gloomy. The surrounding area was divided up into numerous large regions, each of which had grandmasters of the Dao of Constructs! Northson, however, continued to walk deeper into the castle.

  “Here we are.” At the end of the tunnel, a bronze-armored Fiendguard said with a laugh, “Open up!”

  “Yes.”

  The nearby black-robed Fiendserf quickly pushed the door open. It rumbled open, then the gray-robed figures entered. As for Ning, in the shape of a strand of hair, he followed Northson in as well.

  “Whew.” Northson let out a sigh of relief. “Senior apprentice-brother’s transformation abilities truly are formidable; the castle is protected by layers of formations, but it still wasn’t able to detect him.”

  After entering through the gate, they were now in an incomparably enormous stand-alone region.

  This region was thirty thousand meters in circumference, and the gray-robed figures were all standing atop clouds, walking around an enormous golem. The area around the golem was filled with many materials, and all of the grandmasters immediately began their fabrication efforts.

  “That’s huge.” The hair-Ning stared at the enormous golem. “Although I heard junior apprentice-brother speak of it…this golem is truly stunning to behold. So when a Celestial Immortal controls it, it is virtually invincible to anyone below the True Immortal or Empyrean God level.”

  Per what his junior apprentice-brother had said, the most important golem within this forbidden region was referred to as the Fiendgod Golem; it was of the ‘Fiendgod’ class.

  Its body was more than three thousand meters tall. It was pitch-black, and appeared similar to a crab in appearance. It had eight slender, sharp claws, as well as two enormous pincers. Its torso was filled with countless runes that joined together into a formation-diagram that caused Ning to feel dizzy just looking at it. It was simply too complicated.

  “How savage. Just by looking at it, I can tell that it was meant for war.”

  The aura alone which emanated from this massive, black, half-finished, crab-shaped Fiendgod Golem was already superior to that of an ordinary Celestial Immortal’s!

  “This place has experts in the Dao of Constructs from more than a hundred commanderies,” Ning mused to himself. “And this is just a single gathering point…yet it’s already able to create such terrifying golems. Based on what junior apprentice-brother said…they are able to produce one in roughly ten to twenty years. Then…across the 3600 commanderies and four seas of the Grand Xia Dynasty…how many gathering points are there?! How many of these golems are they able to produce every century?”

  Ning understood, naturally, that things couldn’t be calculated in this manner.

  After all, the materials required to produce these golems were all extremely expensive. Many grandmasters in the Dao of Constructs alone wouldn’t suffice; materials would also be needed.

  “This has merely been thirty years. But in the many years before they even came to the world of the Grand Xia?”

  Ning couldn’t help but feel shock in his heart. This power was simply unfathomable ! No wonder even Patriarch Subhuti, he who possessed the [Dream of the Three Realms], felt so worried.

  Swoosh!

  Suddenly, Northson halted his forging, flying towards one of the entrances to this region. There were two black-robed figures standing at the entrance.

  “What are you doing? Why aren’t you forging?” One of them barked.

  “I wish to see my Dao-companion,” Northson said.

  “See your Dao-companion?” The black-robed man frowned.

  “I haven’t seen her this month,” Northson said. “I can see her once a month.”

  “Fine, fine. What a pain in the ass. Wait a moment, I’ll go inform his lordship,” the black-robed figure said.

  Northson just stood there obediently.

  Within another region inside the castle. There were a group of gray-robed figures here as well, surrounding an enormous golem. They couldn’t help but stroke the enormous golem in a sad, longing manner. This golem had cost them their blood, sweat, and tears…but now it had been completed, and it was going to be taken away.

  Although they wore gray-robes, their statuses were lower than that of Northson and his fellows. They were also more numerous; they were comparatively less skilled in the Dao of Constructs.

  “Milord, this ‘Winged Immortal’ class golem has been finished.” There was a red-robed elder standing nearby. One of the black-robed figures made this report respectfully to him.

  “Mm.” The red-robed elder revealed a smile. “The forging speed is rather slow. These young fellows from the world of the Grand Xia truly are weak in the Dao of Constructs. It took so many of them so long just to complete a single golem of the ‘Winged Immortal’ class.”

  The nearby black-robed figure was secretly speechless.

  Slow? You old bastard, you don’t even know how to forge constructs, and you have a low status within the sect as well; the only thing you can do is flatter the general, which is why you were given the job of overseeing the construction of these golems. If any of the formal disciples of the sect who actually trained in the Dao of Constructs was to appear, you’d probably immediately kneel down and lick their toes, you old bastard!

  “Out of the way!” The red-robed elder walked forward whiel shouting loudly, and the gray-robed figures quickly retreated.

  Smiling merrily, the red-robed elder waved his hand. Instantly, the enormous winged golem, the ‘Winged Immortal class golem’, was stored into his storage bracelet. “We’ve finished yet another Winged Immortal class. Heh heh heh…within the sect, my branch in the forbidden region should be ranked amongst the top ten in producing Winged Immortals. Once the Fiendgod-class is completed…we’ll most likely all be awarded many gifts.”

  “Milord, milord.” Suddenly, a voice disturbed the red-robed elder’s ruminations.

  The red-robed elder glanced sideways irritably. Seeing the lowly black-robed figure running towards him, he snapped coldly, “You useless piece of trash…can’t you see I’m busy? What’s this about, with all the screaming and shouting?”

  “Mu Northson wishes to see his Dao-companion,�
�� the black-robed figure said hurriedly. In his heart, however, he was cursing at the old bastard.

  Fiendslaves, Fiendserfs, Fiendguards…

  They were ranked according to power.

  Strictly speaking, this red-robed elder was merely a Fiendserf. However, he was awarded the red robes as a gift and sent to oversee the creation of constructs in this part of the forbidden region. But in truth, as far as strength went, he was merely on par with the other black-robed figures. Seeing how arrogantly the red-robed elder acted, the black-robed figures naturally felt resentment. All of them hoped for the day when the red-robed elder fell!

  “Mu Northson?” The red-robed elder pursed his lips. “What a pain in the ass. Fine, fine, fine. Let’s go see him.”

  There were only so many grandmasters within the castle; he naturally memorized the names of every single grandmaster clearly.

  ……

  Soon, the red-robed elder saw Northson.

  The hair-Ning saw the red-robed Elder as well. Northson had told him long ago that this red-robed elder was a fairly important figure in the forbidden region; his name was Qu Huan, and he was in charge of overseeing those who were fabricating the golems. As far the souls went…it was this red-robed elder who was in charge of hiding them somewhere within the castle.

  Northson immediately said, “I wish to see my Dao-companion.”

  “Let’s go,” the red-robed elder said irritably. “You all have a chance to see your family once a month; we’ll definitely make it happen. But you have to work hard in your fabrications; if you don’t work hard, then…hmph. You should know what will happen.”

  Northson nodded. “I know, I know.”

  The red-robed elder walked in front, passing through a wide hall, then entering a slender passageway. Soon, they arrived within a private room.

  “Wait here. I’ll be back shortly,” the red-robed elder said.

  “Alright.” Northson sat in the lotus position on a prayer mat. This room was very quiet; the only person present was a black-robed guard who was keeping watch on him from the door.