Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Go back to the Starseizer world for now,” Ning instructed, “And carry out the plan as we previously discussed.”

  Ninefangs instantly understood what Ning was planning.

  “Yes,” Ninefangs said respectfully. He then allowed Ning to pull him directly into the Starseizer world. By now, after Ning had completely mastered and bound the Starseizing Manor, Ning realized that the Starseizer world was actually hidden within a special region of the Starseizing Manor. Mother Nuwa had actually created the Starseizer world in that region.

  He was now completely capable of drawing others straight into the Starseizer world or teleporting people out from it. There was no need to go through the Starseizing Manor first, though of course this was only possible because he had already fully bound it.

  ……

  The Zhuanxu Realm. The Winterherald major world.

  Winterherald was the world where the great army which Emperor Zhuanxu had once used to unify the human race, the Winterherald Army, was stationed. The various matters of the Winterherald world were all decided upon by the general and the deputy general of the army. Normally, this was quite a peaceful world, but ever since the Seamless Gate had begun to infiltrate it, a large number of minor clashes had begun to erupt, causing the Winterherald world to become rather chaotic.

  But of course…

  These were all small-scale battles. They were still far away from launching the campaign against this major world, to say nothing of launching a Realmwar. A war against Emperor Zhuanxu, one of the Five Emperors of the Primordial Imperial Clan, would definitely come towards the very end of the campaign against the three thousand major worlds. The only thing the Seamless Gate was doing right now was tying down his forces, preventing him from being able to easily reinforce the other Daofathers.

  “This really is a different place.” Ning stood atop a mountain peak, staring at the vast world. His heartforce had spread out to cover it long ago.

  Heartforce, ephemeral and invisible…one had to reach the fourth stage to be able to cover an entire world with it. Most importantly of all, there was almost no way to sense someone else’s heartforce, as it was completely traceless; the only possible way was to possess heartforce on the same level. For example, when Ning had made his breakthrough on the Grand Xia, he had unconsciously spread his heartforce out to cover the entire Grand Xia without Daofather Ink Bamboo or Daofather Crimsonbright noticing it. This was because, although they were born as a True God and a True Fiend of tremendous power, they weren’t particularly strong in heartforce. Neither had reached the fourth level.

  Old Man Yuan and some of the supreme major powers, in turn, had only reached the fourth stage of heartforce.

  Only Houyi had ever reached the fifth stage.

  Of course, the Godking of the Seamless Gate would’ve been able to notice that Ning had spread his heartforce out, but the Godking had been in the Fifth World, not the Grand Xia. He was able to watch the battle and mentally converse with Daofather Ink Bamboo through sending his coresense out through the Void and into the Grand Xia, but coresense alone wouldn’t be able to discover heartforce.

  “The Winterherald world is actually very tightly governed and ruled. The Celestial Immortals and Fiendgods are all arranged into armies,” Ning sighed internally. “The Grand Xia only formed Immortal armies when forced to do so, but the army of Emperor Zhuanxu has existed since the Primordial Era. I imagine that their teamwork is far superior as well.”

  “Right. First, I’ll go wipe out the sixteen clones of Youngflame Freak.”

  “Youngflame Freak truly is a cautious fellow. On the surface, he appears to be accompanying Azurefox in the Crimsonbright Realm, but his other bodies were squirreled away here at the Zhuanxu Realm.” Ning’s body transformed as he used the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], instantly becoming a bit taller. He now had the aura of a Celestial Immortal.

  Swoosh.

  Ning disappeared into thin air.

  ……

  The Winterherald world. The Seamless Gate had three headquarters here, each of which had three Empyrean Gods and True Immortals guarding over them, along with many Immortals and layers of formations. Even if the experts of the Winterherald world assaulted them, they would be able to hold on.

  Aside from these three headquarters, there were also 182 bases spread throughout the world. These bases could be withdrawn or abandoned at a moment’s notice, or be used to launch sneak attacks when needed. They were more than enough to create chaos throughout the Winterherald world. To the Winterherald world, however, these bases were like ants that would occasionally give them a bite. But if they were to actually attack those bases…given the Seamless Gate’s intelligence abilities, the bases would be instantly evacuated. And, most importantly of all, those bases were so weak that they weren’t really worth annihilating.

  “Hmph. Yeah, yeah. Keep on killing. So many of us died during the Crimsonbright Realmwar, and now you want us to go kill others?” An ugly old man was eating some meat, a cold light in his eyes. “Still, I don’t really mind. Even if I lose another one of my clone, I’ll still have my sixteen clones hiding here safe and sound.”

  “The Zhuanxu Realm…I imagine that the war will only come here at the very end. That’s going to be quite some time from now. When it comes, I’ll slink off to a different Realm.”

  The two alliances were battling each other, and there was nowhere for the Celestial Immortals to run. He had to have a ‘legal’ status somewhere. The Crimsonbright Realm was very far away from the Zhuanxu Realm. Given that Youngflame Freak had been very low-key in the Grand Xia, there had only been a very low number of Celestial Immortals who had ever seen him. His clones in the Winterherald world were similarly low-key, and the number of Celestial Immortals who encountered him was similarly low.

  Only someone who had previously met him in person before would be able to tell that these were his clones! But clearly, Youngflame Freak hadn’t been that unlucky thus far.

  He had been hidden for countless years with the false identity of ‘Immortal Bloodfiend’. This was a publicly acknowledged persona, and no one suspected that there was a connection between ‘Immortal Bloodfiend’ and ‘Youngflame Freak’. Now that he had joined the Seamless Gate and had been inserted here, he was quite low-key.

  Youngflame Freak was very famous, but only had two clones; one public, one hidden.

  Immortal Bloodfiend was almost unknown. He had one public clone and fifteen hidden ones for a total of sixteen.

  “This storm is supposedly going to be a very dangerous one, but perhaps I’ll be able to survive yet again. Hmph, of what use is power? Staying alive is what matters. Ji Ning? I can’t be bothered to deal with you. You have already displayed your brilliance and your sharpness…now, let’s see if you’ll be able to survive the storm.” Youngflame Freak munched on his meat and guzzled his wine in a very relaxed manner.

  “I’m not going to go too crazy in defending this base. Some of the other bases are much more brash than me; the Winterherald world will go after them first, not me. However, my base isn’t a weak one either; the Seamless Gate will have no grounds to blame me. How pleasant.” When he thought about how the other Immortals and Fiendgods were risking their lives, and how many had died in the Realmwar, Youngflame Freak felt even more self-satisfied at how clever he was!

  “Staying alive is what really matt-” Youngflame Freak’s face suddenly changed. “An enemy’s attacking? Wait, that doesn’t make sense. There shouldn’t be any attacks against me.” Youngflame Freak immediately flew out, having no time to worry about anything else.

  * * *

  Book 19, Chapter 18 - Executing Youngflame Freak

  This was a fairly small base, with just a single Celestial Immortal protecting it – Youngflame Freak. It was similar to the Myriad Demons Cavern base which Ning had rescued Mu Northson out of; that place also had just a single Celestial Immortal within it.

  This was on purpose. The relative weakness of each base made it easier
for them to relocate as necessary, without paying much of a price.

  “Who is it?”

  There were groups of roving guards within the base, as well as some black-robed figures in the distance. The black-robed figures all had auras at the Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal level. For ordinary Immortal cultivators, a place like this was an absolute devil’s den…but to Ji Ning, this place normally wouldn’t be worth his time at all.

  His target was the guardian of this base…Youngflame Freak!

  “An enemy has barged in!”

  “Attack!”

  “It’s a Celestial Immortal.”

  “Surround and attack him!”

  The base was tightly guarded, and as soon as Ning used a Greater Teleportation to bypass the formations, he was instantly discovered.

  “Attack!” The group of black-robed figures instantly set up a great formation, beginning to attack Ning en masse. All of them were Loose Immortals, and some of them were comparable in power to Loose Immortals who had survived for a million years. If they joined forces, they were absolutely capable of battling a Celestial Immortal.

  “Unfortunately for you, I’m not a Celestial Immortal,” Ning sighed to himself.

  Whoosh. A giant flag appeared in Ning’s hands, brimming with menace. This flag was a transformation of one of the Thirty-Six Heavens created by the 3600 stargold beads. This Protocosmic spirit-treasure could change form at well, and it possessed tremendous power; Ning enjoyed using it very much.

  “Attack!”

  “Tie him down! Once Immortal Bloodfiend arrives, he’ll be dead!”

  “Right. Immortal Bloodfiend is incredibly powerful; no ordinary Celestial Immortal can match him. Tie him down!” The black-robed figures were all valiant and fearless. They formed together into an enormous black dragon, attempting to tie Ning down for now.

  Ning held up the giant flag, pointing the tip of the flagpole towards them.

  “Such hollow, meaningless attacks.” Ning stood there in the air, moving lightning-fast as he charged into the base. The flag in his hands swept outwards like an Immortal sword, causing golden light to appear in the skies. As for the black-robed figures who were in formation? Every single one of their chests was pierced straight through.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  As Ning advanced, the flag in his hands stabbed through the chests of nine of the black-robed figures. They were crushed like ants, all nine of them dying on the spot. The great formation was instantly dispersed.

  “Who dares to barge into the forbidden grounds?!” An ugly old man charged out with a hideous roar, surrounded by the stench of blood.

  “Milord.”

  “Milord.”

  The surrounding guards felt as though their savior had come. They all called out hurriedly towards him. They had been utterly terrified just now; the only reason they had dared to battle Ning was because they had a formation, but even the formation was useless against him. Faced with such a supremely powerful ‘Celestial Immortal’, they no longer dared to fight back at all.

  “Name yourself!” The ugly old man said coldly.

  Ning stood there in midair, staring at the ugly old man. He recognized him as Youngflame Freak right away; he had personally seen Youngflame Freak before, after all. Ning laughed coldly, then said angrily, “The Seamless Gate killed my loved ones. Now that my power has increased, I’m going to wipe you all out! If I find one, I’ll kill one; if I find two, I’ll kill a pair. I’ll make the Seamless Gate regret what it did!”

  “All by yourself?” The ugly old man snickered. “The Seamless Gate isn’t something the likes of you can offend. I urge you to leave right away. Otherwise…don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

  “Leave? In your dreams!” Ning charged straight towards Youngflame Freak.

  In his heart, Youngflame Freak was cursing to himself. “What horrible luck. I actually ran into a madman who wants revenge. The Seamless Gate has harmed countless people throughout the Three Realms; there are far, far too many people with grudges against it. This is a Celestial Immortal who I’ve never even seen before. He must’ve been harmed by the Seamless Gate in the past. Now that he’s broken through to become a Celestial Immortal, he’s gone mad for revenge. There are so many bases in the Winterherald world…why the hell did he have to choose mine? What horrible luck!”

  He felt extremely unhappy, but since his foe was already attacking, Youngflame Freak didn’t dare to take him lightly. He produced a blood-colored horsetail whisk in his hand, then swept the whisk forward, transforming it into three thousand blood serpents that surged towards Ning.

  Whoosh! The giant flag in Ning’s hands fluttered. The flagpole was still merely as thick as a palm, but suddenly it expanded to become three thousand meters long. It struck out lightning-fast, stabbing straight into Youngflame Freak’s chest with a piercing sound! As for those three thousand blood serpents…how could they possibly stop the might of this ‘Banner of the Heavens’?

  “You…you…” Youngflame Freak’s eyes bulged out as he stared towards Ning in disbelief. His heart was filled with utter rage. “He’s close to a Pure Yang True Immortal in power? He absolutely is extremely close to that level. Why is my luck so horrible! A random attacking Celestial Immortal ends up having close to the power of a Pure Yang True Immortal. His treasure is an extraordinary one as well; it has to be a Protocosmic spirit-treasure.”

  “What horrible luck.”

  “Thank goodness I have many other clones. He shouldn’t be able to find the place where my other clones are hidden.”

  Youngflame Freak gave Ning a cold glare, then died.

  “Milord!”

  “Quick, flee!”

  “His lordship is dead!”

  Everyone began to panic.

  The giant flag in Ning’s hands swept forward. Boom! The Flag of the Heavens contained a world within it, and he immediately dragged all of the servants of the Seamless Gate’s base inside that world. In fact, he even absorbed some of the local palaces and structures into the Flag of the Heavens.

  Within the world inside the flag.

  “What is this place?”

  “Where are we?”

  This was an empty world. The Immortal cultivators and Fiendgods of the Seamless Gate were all terrified.

  Rumble…

  Two vigorous streams of power surged through the skies, forming a pair of enormous millstones above and below them. These two giant millstones began to grind down towards the people between them!

  As the spatial millstones began to crush down…

  Splat! Splat! Splat!

  The servants all perished. Even the Fiendgods were completely slain and destroyed…and one of the bracelets worn by one of the Fiendgods was completely smashed apart. That Fiendgod’s other treasures, however, were left unharmed.

  “What’s going on?!”

  One old man after another began to appear. Each of them had different appearances, but their auras were all identical to Youngflame Freak’s aura. There was a total of fourteen of them.

  Youngflame Freak’s fourteen clones stared at their surroundings. Instantly, the looks on their faces changed.

  “My fourteen clones have been captured.” Youngflame Freak instantly understood…then began to panic. “How is this possible? That Fiendgod was just an ordinary Fiendgod, and his bracelet was just an ordinary Heaven-ranked storage treasure. Generally speaking, powerful Immortals wouldn’t deign to act against such puny Fiendgods. Even if they did, they wouldn’t go so far as to destroy a Heaven-ranked treasure.”

  But of course, he had no idea…that Ning knew exactly where he was. Patriarch Subhuti had told Ning long ago. Thus, there was no chance for Youngflame Freak to escape at all.

  Boom! The millstones once more came smashing down…and so the fourteen Celestial Immortal clones were all crushed within this supreme Protocosmic spirit-treasure. It must be understood that Ning was using his True Immortal energy in controlling these treasures; even Empyrean Gods and True Immo
rtals would perish if they were trapped within this stargold bead, to say nothing of Youngflame Freak!

  The internal crushing power of the Stargold Beads of the Heavens was no lower than the power of the Eight Fires Qiankun World. Most importantly of all, once you entered it, there was no way out. Empyrean Gods might be able to endure the crushing power for a period of time, but they wouldn’t be able to endure it forever.

  ……

  The Winterherald world. Within Ironsoldier Hall, one of the three major headquarters of the Seamless Gate.

  This was a massive, towering edifice that was completely built using enormous swords, sabers, staffs, and other weapons. It had the appearance of a countless number of weapons plunged deep into the earth, but in reality all of the ‘weapons’ were parts of a single titanic formation. They were shaped as weapons for cosmetic purposes only.

  “Eh?”

  “Immortal Bloodfiend suffered an attack.”

  Within the main hall of Ironsoldier Hall. This was a grand hall that was shaped like an enormous axe. A middle-aged man was solemnly staring at a midair mirror as two other Empyrean Gods and True Immortals hastened over.

  “Immortal Bloodfiend suffered an attack. These are the scenes from just now. Take a look.” The leader of Ironsoldier Hall, ‘True Immortal Ironsoldier’, spoke out. His power was significantly stronger than the power of the other two, so he naturally became the temporary leader of the group. However, each headquarters only had a total of three Empyrean Gods or True Immortals, and so there really wasn’t much of a difference in status.

  “Oh?” The other two consisted of a male golden-armored Empyrean God and a female pink-robed True Immortal. The two appeared to be quite intimate with each other; clearly, they were a couple. They were known as the ‘Goldred Couple’, and they had a bit of a reputation in the Three Realms. They were fairly average in terms of power, but had a bit of a reputation for a rather unsavory reason. Empyrean God Goldspear had thousands of concubines, while True Immortal Redflower had more than ten thousand male lovers. The two of them really were a perfect pair for each other.