Desolate Era

by RWX

  This was what made adventuring in these places so alluring!

  Just the tiniest part of the fortune left behind in the ruins of a deceased Daolord was comparable to the networth of an ordinary World God!

  And yet, the danger level in such a place was similarly high. As soon as Ning had entered the Ruins, he had been beset by dangers. He had damn near died when the windbeasts had chased after him. The only reason why he was able to safely return to the ‘outer region’ was because he had stupid good luck, resulting in him finding and entering that private estate.

  To safely leave the inner region was incredibly difficult. Only around half of the World Gods who entered the place would be able to leave alive.

  But for those who did manage to leave…almost every single one of them returned with great rewards.

  “So many treasures…this should be enough to repair my sword, Violetjewel,” Ning mused to himself. Even if he used up all of the treasures, Ning wouldn’t feel any heartache. This was because Violetjewel was a weapon that had a quintessence core!

  “Master.” The fiery-robed Su Youji walked out. As she looked at the seated white-robed youth, she felt quite happy.

  She had been pursued by Elder God Skysouth for so long. Whenever she thought of his ugly smile and his demand for her to become his pleasure-companion, she felt extremely repulsed. When she looked at the seated Ning, she could sense the distance between the two of them.

  There were many cultivators who tried to befriend her and move closer to her, hoping that they would have the chance to enjoy ‘the joy of fish when entering the sea’. But Ning, however, only gave her a feeling of distance. Clearly, he didn’t wish to be too intimate with her.

  “Oh?” Ning turned his head to look at her. “Right. If you aren’t busy, accompany me on a trip to Fogstone.”

  “Fogstone?” Su Youji was startled for a moment, then smiled beautifully. “Alright. When?”

  “Right now,” Ning said.

  Ning deeply desired to completely repair Violetjewel and restore it to its full level of power. According to the books he had read as well as the notes left behind by World God Northrest, weapons that had quintessence cores were incredibly marvelous. They surpassed all ordinary weapons and stood at a completely different level of existence.

  Immortal cultivators of Ning’s level focused on attuning to certain essences, such as how Ning was attuning to the prime essence of the sword in the hopes of reaching a higher level of skill with it.

  However, Violetjewel had such an essence within it! This quintessence core was the most valuable part of Violetjewel. The stories regarding weapons like Violetjewel were simply too obscure and mystical; Ning wanted to see it for himself!

  Ning and Su Youji flew together within his ship, departing from the Windsource Chaosworld and heading towards Fogstone.

  Fogstone.

  Last time Ning had come to this place, he had been an outsider. This time, he was a general of the Fogstone Army. He was considered one of them and there was no need for someone to guide him around.

  “Greetings, seniors. What sort of treasures might you need?”

  They were within an enormous hall inside an island. This hall was filled with many beautiful maids, with one being on the True Immortal level. When she sensed Ji Ning and Su Youji’s auras, she immediately became extremely hospitable. This place was extremely important. It was the central location for people to sell treasures to Fogstone. Because it was located in the heart of Fogstone, the forces of Fogstone didn’t really worry about anyone causing trouble here.

  Ning waved his hand, producing his general’s insignia.

  “General?” The violet-robed female True Immortal’s attitude became even more respectful.

  “How many treasure fragments do you have here?” Ning asked.

  To repair Violetjewel, he would need Five Elements essence.

  The cheapest way to acquire Five Elements essence was to purchase treasure fragments from already-destroyed treasures. A more expensive solution would be to purchase undamaged ingredients, while the most extravagant way was to purchase undamaged artifacts and treasures.

  “Treasure fragments?” The violet-robed female wouldn’t dare to lie to one of Fogstone’s generals. She immediately said, “There aren’t many cultivators who need treasure fragments. Most who purchase them do so to extract Five Elements essence from them to repair other treasures. As a result, our entire stockpile is worth less than a cube of chaos nectar. However, this should be more than enough to repair a Dao weapon.”

  The violet-robed woman was privately guessing that this general was intent on repairing a Dao weapon.

  “Less than a cube?” Ning was no longer the ignorant child he had been when he was in the Three Realms. A treasure with a quintessence core that had been almost completely wrecked internally would require an enormous amount of Five Elements essence if one wanted to repair it. If he was to purchase raw ingredients rather than treasure fragments, even a hundred cubes of chaos nectar might not be enough.

  Purchasing treasure fragments was a better path to success.

  “That’s it…?” Ning frowned, but this was as he had expected. Fogstone only had nine World-level experts. Why would it see the need to store so many treasure fragments here?

  “Let’s go.” Ning led Su Youji away.

  He wasn’t worried about openly asking for treasure fragments here on Fogstone. Everyone on their side was bound by a lifeblood oath preventing fratricide. This was one of the reasons why Ning had chosen to come to Fogstone.

  “It seems I’ll have to pay a visit to the Badlands Everworld if I wish to acquire enough treasure fragments to repair Violetjewel,” Ning mused silently to himself. “I can be a bit more relaxed here on Fogstone, but I’ll have to be careful when I’m in the Badlands Everworld. If I’m too arrogant and end up catching the wrong person’s attention, I can very well die.”

  Although Ning was going to be vigilant, he wasn’t scared.

  “Youji.”

  The two were within a flying warship that soared through the space outside Fogstone. Ning said to the nearby Su Youji, “I’m preparing to pay a visit to the Badlands Everworld.”

  “I’ll go wherever you go, Master.” Su Youji laughed. “And I’ve visited the Badlands Everworld before. I’m quite familiar with the place. Although I was just there once, I have to admit that it truly is a remarkable and marvelous place. Many cultivators reside there, and even the most powerful organization of the Badlands Territory, Badlands Court , is located there.

  “Mm.” Ning nodded.

  The flying warship continued to advance through space towards the distant Sevenwater Star. From there, they would be able to make use of a spacetime transfer array that would send them directly to the Badlands Everworld!

  * * *

  Book 24, Chapter 30 - First Visit to an Everworld

  Sevenwater Star was a long distance away from the planet of Fogstone. After reaching it, they had to wait for another year before the spacetime transfer array was activated. Thus, it took them two years before they were able to reach the Badlands Everworld. This was actually quite a short period of time, and the reason why the transfer happened so quickly was because the Badlands Everworld was a fairly high-traffic location. The Badlands Everworld was the center of the entire Badlands Territory and held the most powerful organizations in the region.

  Whoosh.

  Ji Ning and the other cultivators appeared within the spacetime transfer array. As for Flamefairy Su Youji, Ning had naturally been stored her away into his estate-world.

  “So this is the Badlands Everworld?” Ning walked out of the array, staring at the vast world that had appeared before him. He waved his hand, causing Su Youji to appear next to him.

  “Can you feel it?” When Su Youji appeared, she smiled as she looked at Ning.

  “Yes…”

  Ning nodded slowly. “What an odd feeling.”

  Ning was now powerful enough to easily destroy mos
t chaosworlds. However, the Badlands Everworld gave Ning an impression of exalted majesty, a sense of all-encompassing grace that was completely ineffable.

  “I really can’t fly here.” Ning tried to fly but couldn’t, no matter what he did.

  “How marvelous. This place is exactly as the legends said it is. Supposedly, the skies have been completely sealed in the Badlands Everworld. There really is no way to fly through the air here.” Each time Ning tried to fly into the air, a strange, unfathomable sort of law seemed to exert its power upon him, making it impossible for him to fly.

  According to the legends, when each everworld was first created by their powerful creators, certain Laws would be set down.

  For example, there might be a ‘flamebane’. This meant that all fire-attribute types of power would be completely unusable within that everworld.

  Or for another example, there might be a ‘swordbane’. This meant that even the most formidable of experts in the Dao of the Sword would find themselves unable to summon the energy of the prime essence of the sword. In fact, they wouldn’t even be able to draw their swords!

  There could be some other special Laws as well. So long as the creator of the everworld set down that rule, all others who came to the everworld would be forced to follow it.

  One of the Laws of the Badlands Everworld was its ‘skybane’. No living creatures were able to fly here, not even winged creatures like birds! Nothing and no one could fly in this world.

  Of course, if you were incredibly powerful, you might be capable of resisting this law. Daolord Badlands, for example, might be strong enough to force his way into the air…but of course, that was just conjecture. No one had ever seen Daolord Badlands flying about within the Badlands Everworld. The only reason why people thought he might be capable of disobeying the Law was because everyone here felt the utmost of respect for Daolord Badlands’ abilities! However, it was also equally possible that not even the Daolord was capable of flying here.

  As for others?

  No World-level expert was capable of overcoming a local Law, to say nothing of an Ancestral Immortal or Elder God.

  “Still, the everworld is a very comfortable place,” Ning said softly. “This world is incredibly deep and dense. It feels as though it embraces all visitors with warmth and kindness, bringing peace to their hearts.”

  “This is a reason why so many cultivators like to live here within the Badlands Everworld and why so many organizations want to take this place over. However, only the most powerful organization of all, the Badlands Court, is qualified to rule this place!” Su Youji said.

  “Come. Let us go find Waveshift City.” Ning immediately strode forward.

  The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder as they advanced at tremendous speed.

  Waveshift City was the largest, most bustling city of the Badlands Everworld. It was indescribably old, and it had existed ever since the Badlands Everworld itself had first come into being! Naturally, this made it far older than the so-called Badlands Court, which had merely destroyed the previous occupant of this everworld, took it over, and changed its name to be the ‘Badlands Everworld’.

  Waveshift City was quite close to the spacetime transfer array.

  Ning and the Flamefairy merely had to walk for roughly an hour before arriving at the base of the mountains around Waveshift City.

  “Quite high.” Ning raised his head to stare upwards.

  This was a mountain that was a million kilometers tall, its peaks wreathed in white clouds and crowned with an enormous city. Waveshift City.

  “Let’s hike up the mountain,” Ning chuckled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone hiking.”

  “We have to walk our way up step by step. I feel just like a mortal.” Su Youji grinned as well.

  The mountain path was a sinuous one that coiled around the mountain peak, slowly guiding travelers upwards. If Ning was able to fly, he would’ve flown straight up to the peak of the mountain. Instead, he now had to slowly hike up one step at a time. Within the everworld, flight simply didn’t work.

  “This everworld is truly vast, far larger than any chaosworld.” As Ning hiked up the mountain, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh. “I hear that the everworld has many ancient ruins located inside it.”

  “Yes.” Su Youji nodded. “I heard there are more than ten.”

  There were more than ten ancient ruins within the Badlands Everworld which had never been fully conquered! This was because the Badlands Everworld was simply far too vast.

  “Here we are.” Su Youji pointed towards their front.

  The mountain peak itself was just a few hundred kilometers around, but it held up an enormous city that spanned hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The city almost looked as though it was hanging precariously in the air, ready to tip at a moment’s notice. Ning and Youji followed the mountain path forward, walking towards the gates.

  The walls of the city were engraved with two words ‘Wave’ ‘Shift’.

  “Waveshift…” Ning raised his head to look at those two words, sensing the incredibly arcane ripples emanating from within them.

  Those ripples were simply too hard to lock down. Just trying made Ning feel tired and extremely uncomfortable. The difference in power was simply too great. Ning quickly tried to give up attuning to those ripples, but was unable to break free from the endless might that radiated out from those two words.

  “Urgh.” Ning vomited out a mouthful of blood before finally coming back to his senses.

  “Master, don’t you know that you must not stare at those two words?” The Flamefairy asked.

  “I know, but I still wanted to take a look. I won’t die just because I looked at them, right?” Ning laughed. “They truly are incredible. Those two words made me vomit up blood just because I looked at them. I wasn’t able to glean any insight into them at all, just a feeling that they are unfathomably profound.” According to the legends, even World Gods who stared at those two words would vomit up blood, to say nothing of someone like Ji Ning.

  Generally speaking, if you took over an everworld you would change its name.

  The Badlands Court had taken over this everworld and had thus renamed it to be the ‘Badlands Everworld’. However, they hadn’t changed the name of the most prosperous city of this everworld, precisely because those two words ‘Wave’ ‘Shift’ were completely inviolable. Those two words served as the core of the entire city and possessed utterly supreme power. So long as those two words remained on the walls, all other cultivators would continue to call this place ‘Waveshift City’, no matter who tried to change its name.

  Thus, there were many cultivators who suspected that when the Badlands Everworld was first established a long, long time ago, its original name might’ve been the Waveshift Everworld.

  “No one knows who wrote those two words.” The Flamefairy let out a sigh. “That person might well be more powerful than even Daolord Badlands.”

  “Mm.” Ning nodded.

  It made sense.

  There were differences in power even amongst Daolords. Didn’t Daolord Windsource have a Daolord amongst his retainers?

  Ning’s heart began to beat slightly faster as he thought about that ancient, powerful figure. A few moments later, he turned and entered Waveshift City alongside Su Youji. Waveshift City was an incredibly prosperous city, and it had one simple rule: All combat within city limits was forbidden! Anyone who violated this rule would instantly suffer automatic attacks from the formations protecting Waveshift City.

  “What a bustling place.” As Ning walked through the wide streets, he could see Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals everywhere. As for True Gods and True Immortals, there was a ridiculous number of them located here.

  “I would imagine that almost half of the cultivators of the entire Badlands Territory are gathered here,” Su Youji said. “Waveshift City even holds more than a thousand World-level experts!”

  Ning nodded. This was a place of power and safety. No one would
dare to attack you here.

  However, once you left the city, no one would care if you lived or you died.

  “Is that the Palace of Ten Thousand Treasures?” Ning stared off into the distance. Far away, at the ends of the street, there lay an utterly enormous palace that glowed with absolutely breathtaking light. The entire palace emanated many ripples of power, each of which represented the presence of a Dao weapon. The ripples which the palace were intentionally radiating out numbered over a hundred.

  “Yes, that’s the Palace of Ten Thousand Treasures. It holds more treasures within it than any other place within Waveshift City. Here, you can buy whatever treasures you desire! You can have Dao weapons custom made for you, or even be able to purchase one of those legendary treasures with a quintessence core inside of it. So long as you are willing to pay the price, you can buy anything…but of course, the price of such a weapon would be truly terrifying.” Su Youji let out a sigh.

  Nind nodded. He knew that the master of this Palace was actually Daolord Badlands himself!

  Daolord Badlands could capture a few dozen World Gods, then enslave them and sell them off, but they still wouldn’t be as valuable as a single treasure with a quintessence core. The price of such a treasure was unimaginable, enough to drive even a World God completely mad.

  “What do you plan to buy or sell, Master? You can do it all here. This place is extremely safe, and the Palace will never reveal your secrets,” the Flamefairy sent mentally.

  “I know.” But in his heart, Ning silently muttered to himself – Bullshit.

  Yes, the Palace was an extremely safe place where he could sell off his Dao weapons to acquire a hundred cubes of chaos nectar; the Palace wouldn’t really care much about it. But if he was to directly purchase ‘treasure fragments’ from them in large quantity, everyone would be able to guess that Ning had a treasure which required significant amounts of Five Elements essence to repair!

  Daolord Badlands had an exalted status here; there was naturally no way he could possibly switch positions and decide to come here to run the shop. The ones in charge of this place were most likely World Gods or Chaos Immortals…and Violetjewel was a treasure that would attract attention from any World-level expert, some of whom would actually stare at Ning from afar.