Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Right. The wars are becoming increasingly larger in size and scope. In a hundred years, or perhaps a thousand years at most, the final war for karmic luck will most likely begin,” True Immortal Luoshui said.

  Ning nodded.

  The final war for karmic luck…

  That would be one of the last great battles before the end. All the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would enter this final battle that would truly decide the war for karmic luck. In fact, if the losing side felt that things were going worse than expected, they might immediately launch the Endwar, resulting in all the major powers attacking! All the surviving major powers would then engage the final, true Endwar.

  Indeed, from the looks of things, this final battle would happen anywhere from a hundred to a thousand years from now.

  “Right. Yesterday, True Immortal Dongyan of your Grand Xia died in battle.” True Immortal Luoshui looked at Ning. “Did you hear this news?”

  “True Immortal Dongyan?” Ning was stunned.

  * * *

  Book 21, Chapter 4 - Yellow Emperor Realm

  Ninelotus belonged to the Dongyan clan. During the Crimsonbright Realmwar, True Immortal Dongyan had battled alongside Ji Ning for many years. Ning and True Immortal Dongyan naturally became quite close friends, and in his heart, Ning felt tremendous admiration and respect for True Immortal Dongyan, due to the way Dongyan acted and treated others. Dongyan was a truly honorable, just, and upright man, a true hero. However, Ning could tell that True Immortal Dongyan always seemed to have a hidden sorrow buried within his heart. Most likely, something that happened long ago which True Immortal Dongyan had never been able to fully recover from.

  “True Immortal Dongyan of your Grand Xia was quite an admirable person,” True Immortal Luoshui said with a sigh. “The Crimsonbright Realmwar ended long ago, which meant that the Seamless Gate had far fewer clashes against the Crimsonbright Realm. However, battles would still occasionally break out, and True Immortal Dongyan fought at the very front of almost every single battle. He was extraordinarily powerful, resulting in him killing two Empyrean Gods/True Immortals of the Seamless Gate. However, this time he was unlucky…he was surrounded by three Empyrean Gods/True Immortals of the Seamless Gate, and he wasn’t able to escape…”

  Ning nodded slowly.

  It had been six hundred years. Early on, when Ning had heard of the deaths of his friends, he felt pain in his heart. Later on, however, as more and more of them died, Ning was able to stay calm despite his grief. This was because he knew that this was a war that no one would be able to avoid or escape from…and in war, there would always be casualties.

  To prevent people from dying, there was only one solution – Win the war!

  “Ji Ning.” A voice suddenly rang out in Ning’s mind.

  “Master.” Ning was startled.

  “Come to Mount Innerheart right away.”

  A spatial whirlpool suddenly appeared directly in front of the wooden boat. True Immortal Luoshui, still on the boat, was a bit puzzled upon seeing this. Ning immediately explained, “Master has summoned me. I need to leave immediately. Please pardon the abruptness, fellow Daoist Luoshui.”

  “Hurry up and go, go! Don’t mind me,” True Immortal Dongshui said hurriedly. Ning was now powerful enough that his status as a disciple of Subhuti had long ago become widespread. The reason why Subhuti had forbidden Ning from telling others in the past was because he was concerned that when other experts knew of Ning’s true status, they would all do their best to curry favor with Ning and befriend him for the sake of giving Subhuti face. That would make it so that it would be very difficult for Ning to be truly tempered and tested while wandering the Three Realms.

  This was Subhuti’s standard plan for training disciples. In the beginning, Subhuti would not permit them to say that he was their master, unless he gave explicit permission. Only when they became powerful experts of the Three Realms would they be allowed to make it public.

  Whoosh. Ning immediately flew into the spatial whirlpool. He didn’t spend too much time traversing through it before arriving at the air above Mount Innerheart.

  Ning immediately landed before the Daoist monastery.

  “Uncle-master.” The two guards at the entrance, Clearwater and Whiteriver, both smiled as they welcomed Ning.

  Ning nodded, then stepped into the Daoist monastery.

  After entering, Ning was quite surprised to see that far off into the distance, not only was the white-haired Subhuti seated in the lotus position, more than ten of his disciples were seated below him as well. All of them were at the Empyrean God/True Immortal level. His third apprentice-brother, Goldcrow, had made a rare appearance. Silvermoon and Lord Jiang, who he was quite familiar with, were here as well. Other members included senior apprentice-sister Empyrean Phoenix and senior apprentice-brother Junwu, who he had met just a few times.

  Ning hurriedly walked over, choosing a place to sit down.

  “Ji Ning, have Redsnow come out,” Subhuti instructed.

  “Yes, Master.” Ning nodded, immediately notifying Empyrean God Redsnow, who was in the Starseizer world, to come out. A short while later, Redsnow appeared as well.

  “Everyone is here now.” Subhuti looked downwards at his disciples, then said calmly, “You should all know that ever since the assassinations the Seamless Gate carried out three centuries ago, battles have continuously raged between us and the Seamless Gate.”

  Everyone present nodded.

  Everyone, Ning included, was enraged at the mention. Even mortals knew the principle of not getting family members involved, but the Seamless Gate had shown no scruples at all; they had launched a massive, Three Realms-wide assassination program! The Seamless Gate knew very well that this sort of assassination program could only be carried out once; after the first time, the Nuwa Alliance would be on their guard and give them no further chances. Thus, they made the program en enormous one. Although the Nuwa Alliance had many experts, they had been caught off-guard and so many had suffered catastrophic losses.

  The family members, friends, and beloved disciples of many experts of the Nuwa Alliance had died miserable deaths.

  In fact, twelve Pure Yang True Immortals of the Nuwa Alliance had been so enraged by what had happened that they had gone completely insane, resulting in them losing control of their power and thus losing their lives as well.

  Every single member of the Nuwa Alliance had been enraged by this. The Three Emperors of Mankind and the two leaders of Daoism and Buddhism knew that there was no way they could suppress the rage of their followers…and so war had erupted on a massive scale. The number of wars that had occurred during these three centuries was more than ten times as many as the wars that had occurred in the previous three centuries! Almost all of the Realms had experienced Realmwars by now.

  “The vast majority of the Realms in the Three Realms have experienced Realmwars now. Only a very small number of truly top-tier Realms have been able to just barely keep the peace,” Subhuti said. “And now, the place where the next Realmwar shall erupt…is the Yellow Emperor Realm!”

  “Yellow Emperor Realm?”

  “The Yellow Emperor of the Five Emperors?”

  All of them were shocked.

  The Realms of most True Gods and Daofathers were fairly ordinary in strength, with a realm that possessed a hundred Empyrean Gods/True Immortals to be a fairly powerful one. Ning and the others all understood that the scale of the wars was increasing in size, and they weren’t surprised that this Realmwar would be occurring within a Realm belonging to someone on the level of the Five Emperors. They had expected a war like this to occur for quite some time now.

  But…they didn’t expect that it would be the Realm of the Yellow Emperor!

  The Yellow Emperor was someone who held an extremely exalted status in human history. The human race was first unified by the Three Emperors: Suiren, Fuxi, and Shennong. The next to rise to power was the first of the Five Emperors, Xuan Yuan the Yellow Emperor!
In fact, long ago Shennong, then known as the Flame Emperor, had battled against the Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan for an extremely long period of time. Although Shennong was very powerful, he primarily focused his efforts on alchemy rather than leading his armies. Thus…in the end, he was actually defeated! It was the Yellow Emperor who won!

  Even in the Primordial Era, the human race would thus refer to themselves as the ‘scions of the flame and the yellow.’ [1. This comes from actual Chinese quasi-mythological history. The Flame Emperor ‘Yandi’ (who many believe to be Shennong or a descendant of Shennong) was defeated by the Yellow Emperor ‘Huangdi’, who merged their two tribes together into the ‘Yanhuang’ (flame-yellow) tribe that is viewed as the tribe that eventually became the Chinese people.]

  It can be said that in terms of his influence on the human race, the Yellow Emperor was supreme amongst the Five Emperors. Although in the end, it was Yu the Great who established and solidified the imperial clan of humanity which had persisted to this very day, in terms of personal charisma and military prowess, Yu the Great was actually inferior to the Yellow Emperor.

  “Yu the Great is the leader of the Primordial Imperial Clan. When the Primordial Imperial Clan gives the order, all the clans of the human race shall join together under their banner. They will definitely be saved for the final war for karmic luck.” Empyrean Phoenix was puzzled. “But of the four remaining monarchs, Emperor Yao, Emperor Shun, Zhuanxu, and the Yellow Emperor…Xuan Yuan the Yellow Emperor is definitely the most powerful of the four. More than a thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals are by his side at all times. His Realm is considerably more powerful than the Realms of Emperor Zhuanxu, Emperor Yao, and Emperor Shun. Why has war broken out in his Realm instead?” [2. Yao and Shun are two famous Chinese Emperors who were legendary for their benevolence. The ‘Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors’ are part of actual Chinese quasi-history.]

  Ning and the others all knew that the likes of Emperor Zhuanxu only had six hundred or so Empyrean Gods and True Immortals under their command. Emperors Yao and Shun had perhaps a bit more, but they didn’t have more than a thousand. Xuan Yuan, however, had roughly 1500 of them under his command.

  It must be understood that the Five Emperors ‘merely’ had the power of elite True Gods/Daofathers. If one truly wished to become as powerful as possible, one would generally choose to become a follower of the Three Sovereigns instead! Suiren’s Kindlefire world, for example, had more than ten thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals within it. There were many secret whispers that Suiren was actually the most powerful individual in the Three Realms, and so he naturally had many followers.

  The Primordial Imperial Clan was the master of the entire human race. Many Daofathers were at its command, to say nothing of Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.

  For Xuan Yuan, who had long ago given up his title as leader of the human race, to still command more than 1500 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals was actually quite incredible.

  Subhuti gazed downwards. He said calmly, “Since we are going to fight, then let us have a good one. This Realmwar is going to be different from the previous ones. In all the previous Realmwars combined, we lost around a thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals. But this time…Xuan Yuan has more than 1500 under his command. Factoring in all the reinforcements he will receive, he will have more than 2000 under his command. ‘Ordinary’ casualties would be in the hundreds, but if the fighting becomes especially fierce, it’s entirely possible that more than a thousand will be killed. In other words…this Realmwar will see as many casualties as all the other Realmwars thus far combined!”

  Everyone below him could feel the silent pressure.

  Their side would have more than two thousand Empyrean Gods and True Immortals? The enemies would most likely have a similar number of experts.

  A battle like this…even most Daofathers would run the risk of being surrounded and annihilated.

  “Which of you would like to join?” Subhuti looked at Ning and the others. “If you wish to join, you will of course be allowed to command a formation comprised of other Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.

  Each and every one of Subhuti’s disciples was extraordinary. Even the latecomers like Ji Ning and Redsnow were quite impressive.

  “Me.” A voice rang out.

  Ning and the others all turned to look.

  The speaker was Empyrean God Silvermoon. Silvermoon no longer looked as relaxed and carefree as he had in the past. His body was covered with a baleful aura that had come from centuries of battle and slaughter. Long ago, Silvermoon had expressed a willingness to accompany Ning in battle, but for the sake of rescuing his wife, Ning had temporarily put aside his plans to enter the war. Silvermoon was unwilling to wait, and so he had gone out by himself to take part in quite a few wars.

  * * *

  Book 21, Chapter 5 - Daomother Devilhand

  Of the disciples under Subhuti’s tutelage, Silvermoon’s battles against the Seamless Gate were the most savage of them all.

  At first, Ji Ning didn’t understand why. Later, he learned that Silvermoon had once had a Dao-companion. However, during the war that destroyed the Primordial Era, his Dao-companion had died…and it was as though Silvermoon had lost his soul.

  Later on, the Lord of All Fiends had brought back the survivors of the Seamless Gate to the Three Realms, and the Nuwa Alliance had been unable to do anything to him. Thus, the two sides had made peace, resulting in the Seamless Gate being allowed back into the Three Realms.

  But Silvermoon had attacked. He started a wild massacre of the Seamless Gate’s forces. He was even willing to kill Celestial Immortals! As for Empyrean Gods and True Immortals? Nearly twenty of them died by Silvermoon’s hands! He had fought in such a berserk fashion that he had accidentally killed many weak cultivators as well. He had fought like a man possessed, causing the True Gods and the Daofathers of the Seamless Gate to be both shocked and enraged.

  Back then, the Seamless Gate wanted to live a peaceful life in the Three Realms. Because Silvermoon was the disciple of Subhuti, they didn’t kill him; instead, they negotiated this matter with the major powers of the Nuwa Alliance. In the end, Silvermoon’s master had forcibly ordered him back to Mount Innerheart, where he was given the low-key position of overseeing the Divinities Palace.

  He had slaughtered and murdered so many that he, too, suffered the effects of karmic sinflames. Back at Mount Innerheart, he talked and laughed as though nothing had ever happened, and his life within the Divinities Palace was a relaxed, leisurely one. No one knew, however, that the hatred and fury in his heart had never subsided. When the storm had descended, he had been willing to follow Ji Ning and kill alongside him, as he could see that Ji Ning was as berserk as he was. However, who would’ve thought that Ji Ning would suddenly stop fighting? He had thus ventured out on his own to fight alone. He didn’t blame Ji Ning at all. He knew very well that if it was his Dao-companion, he probably would’ve made the same choice as Ji Ning had.

  “Alright.” Subhuti nodded. “Who else?”

  “Me.”

  “I’ll go.”

  “It’s been a long time since I’ve fought in a war.”

  The many disciples actually all began to call out. Of the many disciples present, the only two not to speak out were actually Ji Ning and Redsnow. Ning hesitated a moment, then said, “Master, let me go. This Realmwar is different from the others.”

  “There’s no need for you to go.” Subhuti shook his head. “A Realmwar on this level…your participation won’t have much of an effect.”

  Ning was stunned.

  His master’s words were correct. A grand formation created by just 200-300 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals would be comparable to a true Daofather in power! His own Rahu God was actually probably a bit weaker than those formations. In this war, each side was mobilizing 2000-3000 Empyrean Gods and True Immortals, who would be using some truly powerful formations. Even ordinary Daofathers would die if they intervened. Whether Ning
participated or not really wouldn’t make much of a difference.

  In a war like this, massed power was what really made the difference.

  “Redsnow? How about you?” Subhuti looked towards Redsnow. Redsnow had been the follower of Daoist Threelives, and was legendary for his warmaking abilities.

  “I won’t go.” Redsnow shook his head. “Your disciple has gained some insights lately and is at a critical moment.”

  “Oh?” Subhuti’s eyes lit up. He didn’t believe Redsnow was lying about this.

  Ning wasn’t surprised. Ever since he had given a bottle of chaos nectar to Redsnow, allowing Redsnow to train to the second stage of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods], Redsnow had entered secluded meditation for some reason! The only reason Ning had reached out to him was due to Subhuti’s summons; otherwise, he wouldn’t have bothered Redsnow.

  “If that’s the case, focus on your training. It would be wonderful if you can break through to become a Daofather before the Endwar,” Subhuti said with a smile. He knew that Ning had given a bottle of chaos nectar to Redsnow, as Ning had actually discussed this with him before doing so.

  To Subhuti, a single bottle of chaos nectar wasn’t enough. Any True God or Daofather would need at least a hundred such bottles in order to train to the second level of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods]. A single bottle? It would only be of use when given to Empyrean Gods and True Immortals.

  Two days later, Subhuti led his disciples to the Deerchaser major world of the Yellow Emperor Realm. The Deerchaser major world was the world where the Yellow Emperor, Xuan Yuan, lived.

  Within the imperial palace of the Deerchaser world.

  Subhuti and Xuan Yuan were both seated, with Ji Ning and the rest of the disciples all standing to one side. Ning carefully inspected this legendary figure, this Yellow Emperor Xuan Yuan who had once defeated even Shennong in their battle for dominance over the world. In terms of appearance, Xuan Yuan was an immaculately handsome man. His gaze seemed to bring an aura of the spring wind with it, causing others to unconsciously feel well-disposed towards them.