Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Milord, let us attack Ji Ning; he’ll definitely perish.”

  “At most, we’ll have to spend a bit of effort on it.”

  “Milord, no need to be angry.”

  The golden-robed Celestial Immortals before the throne were all eating, drinking, and laughing.

  The maiden frowned. “It will indeed require a bit of effort. We’ll have to ask that old geezer to help out.”

  Ji Ning had the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] protecting his body; her subordinates alone might be able to kill him, but it would still involve an element of risk! For example, the four mighty Celestial Immortals of the Youngflame clan hadn’t been able to kill him within an extremely short amount of time, resulting in his helpers arriving to rescue him! By this same principle…although her subordinate Celestial Immortals were definitely strong enough to completely dominate Ji Ning, they wouldn’t be able to break through the protection of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art].”

  “Exalted Immortal Blackheaven is arriving.” Suddenly, a figure appeared within the palace; it was a black-robed servant, who hurriedly said with respect, “Exalted Immortal Blackheaven has already left the Mount Stele major world and has gone to the Fifth World. He’ll arrive shortly.”

  “That old geezer is arriving?” The maiden frowned.

  All of the ten-plus golden-robed Celestial Immortals below her, however, all hurriedly rose to their feet. Celestial Immortal Blackheaven’s fame was widespread; although they were all Celestial Immortals, in the face of Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, they still felt a hint of nervousness.

  This was because…

  Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was an old freak that had power that was almost comparable to that of a Pure Yang True Immortal! He was one of the absolute most supreme of Celestial Immortals.

  “Ahahaha, little baby girl Violetgrass.” After a spatial ripple, a loud laugh could be heard that echoed throughout the palace.

  “Old bastard.” The maiden pursed her lips.

  A figure walked into the palace. He looked like a middle-aged man with long, unbound hair. He walked in barefoot, looking rather unkept and dissolute.

  “Exalted Immortal Blackheaven.”

  “Lord Blackheaven.”

  “Milord.”

  The other golden-robed Celestial Immortals all hurriedly called out to him.

  Exalted Immortal Blackheaven was someone which even the Gatemaster of the Seamless Gate had to give some face to. He was quite famous within the Three Realms. In terms of raw power in a frontal assault, he wasn’t that formidable; at most, he was on the level of Celestial Immortal Infatuation. But he simply was a master of far too many strange, unorthodox techniques.

  Fleeing techniques? Trapping techniques? Poison techniques? He had far too many techniques at his disposal; even True Immortals or Empyrean Gods would be miserable facing him! He was considered something of a legend in the Three Realms.

  “Little baby girl Violetgrass, I didn’t expect that you would end up begging for my help.” Exalted Immortal Blackheaven said smugly, “Ahaha, when I first saw you, you were a little baby girl…and now, you have made something of yourself.”

  “You owe me, you old bastard.” The maiden frowned.

  “Haha, yes…in the past, I did indeed promise to fulfill three requests of yours. You’ve used up one of them; this will be the second one.” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven laughed. “Speak! What do you want me to do?”

  The maiden waved her hand, and a book appeared within it. She tossed it straight to the distant Celestial Immortal Blackheaven, who accepted it, read it, then frowned. “Ji Ning?”

  “Within this book are all the intelligence reports we have gathered regarding this Ji Ning. Without question, he is not on our side; if he’s given time to grow and develop, he’ll probably end up being trouble for us. Thus, it’s best to get rid of him early on. The Gatemaster has instructed me to handle it, but I want to ensure that things will go exactly as planned, which is why I’ve asked you to help,” the maiden said.

  “The [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]?” After reading through the intelligence reports, Celestial Immortal Blackheaven’s eyes bulged out a bit. He then raised his head head and said unhappily, “Little baby girl Violetgrass, this is a practitioner of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]; the only powers in the Three Realms who can teach and transmit the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] are those Daofathers. Those who have this art can be counted on two hands, and each of them are utterly terrifying. This Ji Ning’s master is most likely one of them, and could crush me with a single finger.”

  “What are you afraid of? You think his master would dare intervene?” Violetgrass was disdainful.

  “Maybe…” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven shook his head. “Too dangerous. This is too dangerous.”

  “You old bastard!” The maiden said angrily. She knew this Celestial Immortal Blackheaven quite well; after all, she had followed the Gatemaster and Celestial Immortal Blackheaven when she was very young. Celestial Immortal Blackheaven was legendary for his cowardice and caution, as well as being skilled in unorthodox abilities.

  “Fine.” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven said resignedly, “Perhaps the chances of his master intervening are indeed remote…since it is for you, I’ll let one of my clones go deal with Ji Ning.”

  “A clone?” The maiden stared.

  “Don’t worry. I’ll let my clone carry my ‘Polaris Godlocking Circlet’; once it emerges, he will definitely be locked in place by it, without any chance to resist.” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven chortled, “In the blink of an eye, I’ll have captured him. I’ll take him away and let you decide how to handle him.”

  The maiden said, puzzled, “Polaris Godlocking Circlet’? What type of a treasure is that? Why haven’t I heard of it?”

  “I have rarely fought others, from the Primordial Era to the present era. How much do you think you know? If it wasn’t for the fact that the Three Realms are about to be swept into a storm, I wouldn’t be willing to use any of these treasures of mine.” Celestial Immortal Blackheavens said loudly, “Alright, tell me…where is this Ji Ning? Tell me, and I’ll go collect him.”

  The maiden, upon hearing this, laughed. “Our most recent intelligence places him at the imperial capital of the Grand Xia.”

  “The imperial capital of the Grand Xia?” Celestial Immortal Blackheaven frowned. “That’s not a place I can go to. The Xia Emperor isn’t easy to deal with. After he leaves the imperial capital, I’ll make my move.”

  * * *

  Book 15, Chapter 16 - The Fourth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]

  “Fine. As soon as Ji Ning leaves the imperial capital of the Grand Xia, I will immediately notify you.” The maiden nodded.

  Celestial Immortal Blackheavens chortled merrily and nodded. “Then before I deal with Ji Ning…come! Let’s have a nice chat and catch up with each other.”

  The imperial capital of the Grand Xia.

  The black-robed Ning was seated face to face with Uncle White, while his true body had entered the underwater estate.

  The underwater estate. Within the Still Room.

  Ning’s true body was seated atop the bed of netherwater jade. Surrounding him were a large amount of Five Elements treasures, ranging from a thousand kilograms to tens of thousands of kilograms in weight. All of them were circling around Ning.

  Time flowed on.

  Some of the ripples coming from the Five Elements treasures were growing progressively weaker as they quickly began to transform from spirit-items to useless items. One could watch as the pieces of gold-gems from the Heaven Realm began to visibly decay, becoming worthless rocks that were a dull white color. The flows of liquid lava, formingly agile and graceful, swirled in the air, but were quickly being transformed into acidic water.

  Ning’s twin hands were glowing with five colors of light. They were skyrocketing in power as they ravenously consumed the Five Elements essence from those spirit-treasures.

  This continued for twelve full hours.


  The surrounding area was now littered with floating bits of shatter rocks, rock-like strips of bamboo, ordinary and rather disgusting acidic water, as well as a large amount of random dirt.

  “Whew.” Ning exhaled, lowering his head to look at his two hands. His hands were glowing with a dull light, and the power within them was truly shocking.

  “Success.”

  “The Fourth Cycle of my [Starseizing Hand]!”

  Ning’s eyes were blazing. However…he could sense that his current hands had reached an absolute limit in power. There would be no way for him to strengthen them any further for now. If he wanted to…he would have to get his hands to qualitatively evolve and transform to a completely new stage, one which required him to first break through to the Empyrean God level.

  “The Fourth Cycle of the Starseizer. My twin hands are now comparable to supreme Pure Yang treasures. When using [Three Heads, Six Arms], I’ll have the equivalent of six supreme Pure Yang treasures at my disposal…” Ning could sense how powerful his palms had become.

  This feeling of tremendous power really was wonderful.

  Magic treasures were extremely important to an Immortal cultivator. Why was it that at the early Wanxiang stage, one would be able to completely dominate a peak Zifu Disciple? The Primal level, the Void level, the Celestial Immortal level…advancing through the major stages caused an enormous increase in power, partially because one’s own elemental ki would change, but also because one’s magic treasures would dramatically improve! Even if one’s insights into the Dao were comparable to one’s foes, there would still be a huge difference in power.

  Wanxiang Adepts were able to use Earth-ranked treasures, Primal Daoists were able to use Heaven-ranked magic treasures, Void-level Earth Immortals were able to use Immortal-ranked magic treasures, and Celestial Immortals were able to use Pure Yang treasures.

  Magic treasures advanced in power to a truly staggering degree.

  For example, Ji Ning! In terms of insights into the Dao, he was actually comparable to Patriarch Goldclock. And thanks to his [Starseizing Hand] divine ability, Ning’s foundation was actually superior to Patriarch Goldclock’s.

  Why, then, had he been beaten silly by Patriarch Goldclock, without having any chance to fight back at all?

  Why was it that he was clearly weaker than Patriarch Goldclock?

  Precisely because Patriarch Goldclock had a top-grade Pure Yang divine greatclock!

  For another example, Patriarch Deadwood and Patriarch Goldclock. In terms of insights into the Dao, Patriarch Deadwood was considerably superior to Patriarch Goldclock, but Patriarch Goldclock’s power was comparable to Patriarch Deadwood’s. This was because his magic treasure made up for their disparity in power.

  “In the Three Realms, there are some experts who primarily rely on their magic treasures to roam the realms.” Ning had read up on many commonly known facts while at Mount Innerheart, and had learned that some Celestial Immortals relied on extremely powerful Protocosmic spirit-treasures to roam the Three Realms. By relying on some especially unique ones, they might even be able to fight against True Immortals or Empyrean Gods!

  “My two palms have just skyrocketed in power, from being just barely at the Pure Yang level to the very pinnacle of the Pure Yang level! They are comparable to supreme middle-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasures. My close combat power has most likely increased by an enormous amount as well.”

  Ning knew very well that with his [Starseizing Hand] having advanced from the Third Cycle to the Fourth Cycle, the amount of physical strength he would be able to instantly unleash had just risen dramatically.

  In addition…his palms were now comparable to supreme Pure Yang treasures (supreme middle-grade Protocosmic spirit-treasures); they were now on par with the Rahu Bow.

  With these two factors combined…Ning’s power had just skyrocketed up several levels! Patriarch Goldclock? Ning now held him in no regard at all.

  “I am stronger than Patriarch Goldclock in every conceivable way now.” Ning walked down from the netherwater jade bed, allowing all of the rubbish hovering within the room to be reduced to dust by his sword-light.

  ……

  Ning’s true body emerged from the Still Room and went to the main hall of the underwater estate.

  “Ji Ning.” The giant yellow bear had a smile on his face. “Mm…you’ve mastered the Fourth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand]. You can now be considered a decently strong figure of the Three Realms.”

  Ning nodded.

  Although the [Starseizing Hand] ‘merely’ had a total of six cycles, he had to reach the True God level before he could train in the Sixth Cycle, while the Fifth Cycle required that he become an Empyrean God. To become a True God was simply far, far too difficult. True Gods were comparable to Daofathers in power, and so for the foreseeable future, Ning would probably only have a chance at mastering the Fifth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand].

  The Fifth Cycle would render Ning’s palms as powerful as a supreme Protocosmic spirit-treasure. In the Three Realms, this was enough to render many True Immortals and Empyrean Gods jealous of him.

  In truth, the Fourth Cycle alone was enough to make Ning’s palms truly precious ‘items’. If someone were to kill Ning and hack off his palms, they would probably be used as magic treasures!

  “All my power is thanks to the fact that Master Threelives was able to develop such an incredible divine ability,” Ning said.

  “Since Master left his legacy behind, you are the first person to reach such a level of power. Don’t underestimate yourself.” The giant yellow power laughed. “Alright…your power has now increased dramatically. The ninth level of the Wargod Hall…you now have a 99% chance of overcoming it. Wish to give it a try?”

  Ning was instantly delighted.

  The giant yellow bear was modest of speech, and would generally give very conservative estimates; for even him to use the term ‘99%’ meant that Ning’s success was virtually assured.

  “I’m now comparable to a supreme Celestial Immortal?” Ning said in surprise and delight.

  “Void-level Fiendgods can be comparable to Celestial Immortals. Since your [Starseizing Hand] has reached the Fourth Cycle, you can now compare to the most supreme of Void-level Fiendgods.” The giant yellow bear laughed, “This naturally means that you are now comparable to the most supreme of Celestial Immortals. Will you challenge the Wargod Hall or not?”

  “Yes, of course.” Ning nodded.

  ……

  The ninth level of the Wargod Hall.

  This was a completely empty void. Ning suddenly appeared out of nowhere within it.

  “This is…?” Ning glanced around himself.

  Whoosh. From far away, a drop of golden blood suddenly manifested. This drop of golden blood quickly transformed into a Fiendgod that was wearing a set of golden armor. He was tall and muscular, with blood-red hair and a long black spear in his hands. His eyes were filled with an unearthly killing intent, one strong enough to cause Ning to feel startled.

  Ning stared in amazement at the figure that had just appeared.

  “So you are Ji Ning?” The red-haired Fiendgod actually revealed a smile, a very gentle and kindly smile, the smile a father would have when looking at his child.

  “You are…?” Ning was rather flabbergasted.

  Although he had always felt that the Wargod Hall was quite peculiar, and had discovered more and more oddities as he had progressed through its ranks, he had never come to truly understand the secrets behind it. This opponent which he was now encountering here on the ninth level…he was far more powerful than any of the previous figures Ning had encountered. That aura alone…Ning could sense that this person might even be comparable to his senior apprentice-brother Silvermoon.

  “My name is Redsnow,” the red-haired Fiendgod said with a smile.

  “You are an Empyrean God?” Ning asked.

  The red-haired Fiendgod laughed. “Good eye. I am indeed an Empyrean God, but this is just an e
xtremely weak clone of mine, created through a single drop of blood.”

  Ning understood the profound mysteries behind the art of clones.

  The more divine power one put into a clone, the more power the clone would have. For example, a clone that was created from a single hair would naturally be extremely weak. To a Fiendgod, blood was still quite important. A clone created from the blood of an Empyrean God would most likely be at the Celestial Immortal level. As to how powerful it was, exactly? Hard to say.

  “Senior Redsnow, how do you know that I am Ji Ning?” Ning asked. He found this quite peculiar.

  “It was the big bear who told me,” the red-haired Fiendgod laughed. “The Godking finally has a successor. All of us have waited far, far too long.”

  Ning’s heart shook.

  Waited far too long?

  “Come, Ji Ning. The Godking chose you as his successor. Let me see exactly how strong you are…and if you are qualified to have your position.” The longspear in the red-haired Fiendgod’s hand trembled.

  * * *

  Book 15, Chapter 17 - The Rahu Bow At Full Power

  The red-haired Fiendgod’s power caused Ji Ning to feel shock. He was far too powerful! That longspear…it moved like a ghost or an illusion. No matter how he used his hands to attack, be it with sword-fingers or various sword-arts, the longspear was able to easily break through his techniques. While breaking through, the longspear would also strike out in pierces, thrusts, or sideways swipes!

  In short…Ning was at a complete disadvantage!

  The longspear moved like a dragon, danced like a spirit through water. It carried inconceivably profound mysteries with it, causing Ning to feel like nothing more than a punching bag.

  “No more, no more!” The red-haired Fiendgod finally came to a halt. Shaking his head, he sighed. “I lost.”

  “Senior Redsnow, you clearly are far more powerful than…” Halfway through his sentence, Ning suddenly understood.