Desolate Era

by RWX

  Now, he had mastered two complete Grand Daos. The Grand Dao of the Sword and the Grand Dao of the Waterdrop.

  “The sword-arts here on Mount Dashcloud were left behind by casual strikes from Daofather Fuju; they aren’t that profound. The next month or two here won’t be of much help to me.” Ning didn’t hold too many hopes towards the rest of the twenty-six worlds either; the most important world was the final one, Sword Immortal world. Still, Ning was going to be very cautious and deliberate in his cultivation. He would first take a look at all of the twenty-six worlds; perhaps they might be of help to him in meditating on the complete [Five Treasures] sword-art.

  The second month after Ning’s arrival at East Phoenix world.

  The Golden Crow hung high in the sky.

  A large ship came sailing in through the heavens. There were many soldiers atop the desk of the ship, as well as many beautiful women who were surrounding a youth that was drinking wine merrily. He’d give a pinch here and a caress there, filling the ship with shrieks and giggles.

  “Your Highness, Mount Dashcloud is right up ahead,” a pale-faced, beardless man said respectfully in a low voice.

  “We arrived?” The beautifully dressed youth rose to his feet. The beautiful woman in his arms followed his gaze as he stared at the distant Mount Dashcloud.

  “My beauties, be good and have a nice rest. I’m going to go meditate on sword-arts for a while,” the youth chortled. The beautiful women all said a few flattering words, causing the youth to feel absolutely tickled. Still…this youth was qualified to act this arrogantly. He was the third prince of the East Phoenix Dynasty of this planet, and the most talented of all the princes. His status was quite special.

  “Let’s go.”

  Soon, the prince led his pale-faced attendant and a host of guards to the base of Mount Dashcloud. The weakest of his guards were at the Wanxiang Adept level, with the two commanders being Primal Daoists. As for the prince, he himself was a Primal Daoist as well.

  “So many people? So many monsters as well.” The prince frowned. “According to what Master told me, the Three Realms is in the midst of a storm…which has resulted in our minor world becoming more peaceful than ever before. Still, there are now almost no Celestial Immortals who come to our world. The most powerful cultivators here are merely on the Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal level. Longxiu, hurry up and shoo away one of the people at the front.”

  “Your Highness, you must not be rash. Although the strongest figures at Mount Dashcloud are merely Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals, some might have powerful backgrounds,” the pale-faced attendant hurriedly cautioned. “In addition, you yourself are merely a Primal Daoist, your Highness, and your two guards are merely Primal Daoists as well. Don’t anger those Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals. You might end up suffering because of it.”

  The prince nodded slowly. “Fair enough.” Although he didn’t really actually care about those Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals…right now, at least, he wouldn’t be able to beat them in a fight.

  “Then pick one of the weak ones.” The prince swept the people present with his gaze. “There should be some weaklings amongst the twenty-seven prayer mats in front, right?”

  “Nobody who can sit in the front would be truly weak. Let me take a look.” The attendant hurriedly took a good look. “Twenty-one of the prayer mats in the front are occupied by Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals; they give me a sense of tremendous pressure. The other six give me much less pressure; they should merely be at the Primal Daoist level. Your Highness, which of the six do you think I should pick?”

  “Six?”

  The prince took a careful look. “Four are monsters. Monsters who have reached the Primal level are generally much more powerful than humans of the same level. That leaves two…that white-robed youth, and that grim-looking man. The grim-looking man has a terrifying, baleful look in his eyes; I imagine his sword-arts must be quite formidable. That white-robed youth looks fairly unremarkable, though. I imagine he’s just an ordinary Primal Daoist.”

  There were differences in power amongst Primal Daoists. Some were monsters who could challenge Void-level experts. The baleful aura around the grim-looking man was definitely proof that he was no ordinary Primal Daoist.

  “Let’s go with that white-robed kid,” the prince said. “Hurry up and shoo him away.”

  * * *

  Book 19, Chapter 13 - Sword School

  “Your humble servant will go right now.” The attendant chortled, then walked forward.

  Mount Dashcloud was extremely large, and there were many regions from which one could view all of the remnant sword-scars left behind. The first row only had twenty-seven seats, but there was a distance of more than thirty meters between each seat. This way, everyone could train calmly.

  The attendant walked straight towards Ning. “Fellow Dao-” the attendant began to say in a shrill voice, reaching out to pat Ning on the shoulders.

  When training, Ning had his heartforce spread out to cover this entire minor world. He was completely focused on his meditations and on the sword-scars left behind by Daofather Fuju. He was mentally deducing and inferring one type of sword-art after another! He had already visualized thousands of different types, more than ten of which were more powerful than the [Three-Foot Sword].

  Every so often, he would gain an insight from the visualized sword-arts. This would allow Ning to walk farther and farther along the path of swordforce.

  At this moment, Ning was completely focusing on deducing yet another powerful sword-art.

  Pat!

  Someone patted him on the shoulder.

  Ning was instantly startled awake…and all of the effort he had put into analyzing this sword-art went completely to waste.

  “My heartforce has covered this entire minor world. If any Empyrean God or True Immortal arrives, I should have found out long ago. Who the hell just disturbed me?” Ning was rather displeased. One of the greatest taboos was disturbing others when they were meditating. Ning immediately turned his head to look towards the pale-faced attendant.

  Ning could immediately tell that this person was merely a Primal Daoist.

  “Fellow Daoist,” the attendant said, pointing at the prayer mat beneath Ning. “My prince wishes to meditate on sword-arts and needs a spot. He’s taken a fancy to your spot.”

  Ning frowned, then looked backwards. He saw the beautifully dressed youth ensconced by many guards. The youth gave Ning a sideways glance, seemingly quite disdainful.

  “You should know what to do.” A look of arrogance was in the attendant’s eyes. As he saw it, once this white-robed youth saw that there were three Primal Daoists accompanying the prince, he should be able to guess that the prince had an extraordinary background. Immortal cultivators generally understood the principle of courting fortune and avoiding misfortune.

  “Don’t bother me when I’m meditating on the Dao.” Ning gave the attendant a cold glance, then shut his eyes and continued to meditate.

  “You…” The attendant pointed at Ning, rendered momentarily speechless.

  “Fellow Daoist, don’t make trouble for yourself!” He barked.

  Ning completely ignored him. Given his power and his status, these little fellows were as weak as ants in the face of his might. Ning wouldn’t care too much if a few ants bellowed at him; he simply couldn’t be bothered to. In addition, this was Mount Dashcloud, a place for meditating on the sword-arts of a Daofather. Generally, very few would dare to actually attack someone here.

  Ning believed that this person would just yell at him a bit, then leave helplessly.

  “Your Highness.” The attendant ran back to the prince’s side.

  “What’s going on?” The prince was rather irritated.

  “That white-robed kid is like a stone. He’s quite tough. He completely ignored me,” the attendant said helplessly.

  “He’s courting death.” The prince’s face sank. “Attack. Kick him out of here.”

&nbs
p; “No!” The attendant said hurriedly, “This is Mount Dashcloud, a place for meditating on the Daofather’s sword-arts. Any disturbances will interfere with the meditations of countless Immortal cultivators and Diremonsters. All of them will be furious with us. It’s one thing for us to irritate one of them, but we can’t irritate all of them!”

  “We’re not going to kill him, we’re just going to kick him out.” The prince said with a frown, “Those who are truly focused on their meditations won’t be startled awake by some fights in the outside world. The ones that will wake up are the ones who aren’t in a true meditative state yet. Also, set up a small formation around him when you attack. That way, you won’t disturb the people around him, right?”

  “The three of you, go!” The prince gave the orders.

  The attendant and the two commanders shared a glance, then acknowledged the order. “Yes.”

  The three of them immediately walked towards Ning.

  Rumble…

  A crystalline globe of fire appeared before the attendant’s chest. Instantly, a barrier of flames appeared around them, surrounding Ning.

  “Fellow Daoist!” The attendant barked loudly, his voice exploding by Ning’s ears like thunder.

  Ning opened his eyes. He gave the three a look.

  “Hurry up and leave. Give up your seat. Otherwise…don’t blame us for showing no mercy,” the attendant barked. The two nearby commanders became filled with auras of power as well. The Immortal cultivators and Diremonsters who were nearby all halted their meditations, focusing their attention on the area around Ning with curiosity.

  “Amusing.”

  “It’s quite rare for people to fight at Mount Dashcloud.”

  “These three are a bit too brash. If the fellow wants to give up the seat, that’s one thing, but they actually intend to force him from it? Even if they really want to give him a drubbing, they should wait until he leaves Mount Dashcloud. Why rush?” The surrounding Immortal cultivators and Diremonsters all chatted amongst themselves.

  It was very common for Immortal cultivators to get into fights over minor matters, but it was rare for something like this to happen at Mount Dashcloud.

  Unwilling to give up your seat? Fine. Once you leave Mount Dashcloud, don’t blame me for showing no mercy!

  In the face of a threat like this, most weaker cultivators would obediently give up their seats.

  “Hurry up and leave.”

  “F*ck off!”

  The two commanders barked out as well. They both had extraordinary backgrounds; they wouldn’t care about an ordinary Primal Daoist.

  “Insolence.” A cold light flashed through Ning’s eyes.

  Rumble…an invisible wave surged out, striking against the bodies of the three Primal Daoists. The attendant and the two guard commanders were just about to attack, but they suddenly sensed a wave of unearthly power crash over them. They were knocked backwards, and the commander who had told Ning to ‘f*ck off’ began to scream in agony as soon as he landed on the ground.

  “AHH! AHHHHH! M-m-my Zifu…my Zifu…” The commander’s voice was filled with agony and terror.

  The other, chubbier commander fell on the ground alongside the attendant. The two of them clambered to their feet, staring at their comrade.

  “H-his Zifu was destroyed.”

  “Destroyed.”

  Both of them were filled with utter terror. The three of them had been knocked flying in a single clash, with one of them having his Zifu destroyed…although they all had extraordinary backgrounds, this was exactly why they had been unwilling to offend any of the Earth Immortals or Loose Immortals. Although they had extraordinary backgrounds, it would take time for reinforcements to arrive. If they were crippled in the interim, that would be a miserable outcome, and so they had sought out the white-robed kid, who had appeared to be the easiest to bully.

  “We just rammed into a steel plate,” the chubbier commander muttered. “A steel plate with nails.”

  “Bullshit!” The prince roared. The chubbier commander instantly no longer dared to say a word. In secret, however, he celebrated the fact that it was his comrade who was the one to speak rudely, as was usually the case. This time, his comrade had really suffered for it.

  “Your Highness,” the attendant said hurriedly. “This person is very powerful.”

  “How dare you cripple my man?” The prince had a terrifying look in his eyes as he stared daggers at the distant Ning.

  The worst part of the situation was that more than half of the Immortal cultivators and Diremonsters seated below Mount Dashcloud were watching this event with curiosity. They weren’t like Ning, after all, who could easily go into a months-long meditative state. They were far weaker than him, and the Daofather’s sword-arts were far too profound. They had to stop extremely frequently, after just meditating on the sword-arts for a short period of time.

  For so many cultivators to stare at him…the prince felt even more embarrassed and angry, and he shifted all of it towards Ning.

  “Fellow Daoist.” The prince strode forward, his attendant and the chubbier commander hurriedly following behind him.

  The prince’s voice was clear, but it carried anger in it. “Your actions are quite vicious.”

  Ning just shut his eyes again, completely ignoring him. The prince didn’t dare to actually act against Ning himself; he had seen Ning attack earlier. The prince was a mere early-stage Primal Daoist; how could he be a match for Ning?

  “My five junior apprentice-brothers!” The prince called out loudly.

  Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

  Instantly, five figures descended from the top of Mount Dashcloud. Each of them had powerful auras. They were all at the Loose Immortal level.

  “Five Loose Immortals.”

  “The five Loose Immortals who stand guard over Mount Dashcloud for the Sword School.”

  “This youth actually addresses the five of them as ‘junior apprentice-brother’? Can it be that he is also a member of the Sword School? However…judging from his age, I would’ve thought those five Loose Immortals should be much older than him.”

  “Do you really need to ask? If he dares to address the five of them as ‘junior apprentice-brother’, then he must be a true, formal disciple of the Sword School.”

  “I recognize him. He’s the third prince of the East Phoenix Dynasty. He has been accepted by Celestial Immortal Triscorpion as his disciple.”

  “So that’s the case. Seems like the white-robed man is doomed. He’s offended a formal disciple of the Sword School…”

  “The white-robed man really doesn’t know his limits. He should know that his opponents must have powerful backgrounds, for them to dare act in such a brash manner here at Mount Dashcloud. He should’ve been more cautious. Look at him now. He’s pissed off a major foe.”

  Instantly, everyone began to discuss this matter.

  The five Loose Immortals all landed, the cultivators and monsters around them making way before them. None of them dared to offend the Sword School. The five Loose Immortals all bowed courteously towards the prince.

  “Senior apprentice-brother Eastluck.”

  “Greetings, senior apprentice-brother Eastluck.”

  These five Loose Immortals had all been alive for more than a hundred thousand years, but they all spoke out with great courtesy. They were disciples of the Sword School, but they were merely outer disciples, not core disciples, which is why they had been sent here to maintain order. Their task was to ensure that the beautiful surroundings of Mount Dashcloud were not damaged…or, to put it another way, they were gate guards. The prince before them, however, was a true disciple!

  “So he really is a disciple of the Sword School.”

  “A formal disciple.”

  “Look at that gold medallion.”

  “I heard that the Sword School is actually a very powerful school of the Three Realms. The founder was Daofather Fuju himself!”

  Instantly, yet another stor
m of discussion arose. The Sword School had been founded by Daofather Fuju, and in the past its status had been equivalent to that of Mount Innerheart! However, Daofather Fuju had died. When trees fall, the monkeys that lived in it would scatter. In addition, Daofather Fuju was fairly mediocre in teaching disciples; he hadn’t been able to produce a single Daofather. Thus, only three Empyrean Gods and True Immortals continued to remain within the Sword School. The current Sword School wasn’t even as strong as the Starseizing Manor.

  But despite that, it was still a school with three Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, and with many friends spread throughout the Three Realms. Thus, it could be considered one of the top-tier schools of the Three Realms. A formal disciple had a status that was far higher than the status of an ordinary Void-level Earth Immortal.

  “This man actually dared to be disrespectful to our Sword School.”

  “Seize him.”

  “Seize him!”

  The five Loose Immortals flew towards Ning like streaks of light.

  Ning opened his eyes again. He gave them a glance.

  Boom!

  His gaze struck against their bodies as though it had taken solid form. The five of them once more transformed into streaks of light, but this time they flew backwards…and they flew so far away that they could no longer be seen with the naked eye.

  Ning turned to look towards the prince.

  “No…” The prince was so terrified that he hurriedly stumbled backwards. In his terror, he fell backwards and tumbled to the ground in a sitting position. This was too terrifying. He hadn’t even seen what technique this man had used! It seemed as though the man had merely used his gaze to send those five Loose Immortals flying. The guards behind him were utterly terrified as well. None of them even dared to breathe.

  Whoosh. A streak of light flashed, and a bald old man appeared next to Ning. He hurriedly said respectfully, “Manorlord, your subordinate came late.”