Desolate Era

by RWX

  A head-on, frontal collision.

  The sword-light smashed directly downwards against the giant stone palm, causing the stone titan to sink downwards into the ground. Even the mountain itself trembled slightly. However, this island had been constructed by Daolord Windsource; World-level experts would often spar in these islands but were unable to truly damage it in the slightest.

  As for Ning, he was driven quite a few steps backwards by the shockwave generated through this exchange of blows.

  “What tremendous power. I caught him off-guard and he only used one hand to block, but he was still able to knock me backwards. In raw strength alone, he vastly surpasses me,” Ning mused to himself.

  “I’ve received all three of your palm-strikes,” Ning said.

  The stone titan stared at Ning. Puzzled, he asked, “You…you ARE an Elder God, right?”

  “Can’t you tell from the aura?” Ning grinned.

  “But your power…I feel as though you are comparable to some of the World Gods I’ve met in the past.” The stone titan stared at Ning, feeling quite curious. “There are legends of some Elder Gods who can defeat World Gods. I think you should be able to defeat some of the weakest World Gods…but don’t get smug. I treated you as an Elder God and so I didn’t strike with full force. Otherwise, I would’ve smacked you flying with a single hit. I was afraid if I hit you too hard, I’d send you flying off the island and get you killed by the formations.”

  Ning laughed.

  He had noticed earlier that the attacks of the stone titan had all come from the same direction. From this direction, even if Ning had been sent flying, he would’ve merely smashed against the Immortal palace. But of course, if he was hit too hard, it was still possible that he would’ve bounced off the Immortal palace and been knocked off the island regardless.

  “Do you remember what you promised just now?” Ning said.

  “My previous master was a master of formations.” The stone titan glanced at the golden-robed figure within the pavilion. “I didn’t expect that my new master would be an Elder God with the power of a World God.” He opened his mouth, causing a fist-sized globe that was covered with countless divine runes to fly towards Ning, coming to a halt before him.

  Ning immediately recognized it. This was the life-core of a golem which contained its formation-diagram. This was the core of the entire golem; upon binding it, he would become capable of controlling it.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 4 - Twelve Disciples

  Ji Ning’s Elder God energy flew out, surrounding the life-core and quickly binding it.

  After binding it, Ning could sense the intimate connection that now existed between him and the golem. The golem was now completely under his control.

  “A World-level golem. This is far rarer than a Dao weapon.” Ning was in an excellent mood.

  “Master.” The stone titan now had a much friendlier look in his eyes as he looked at Ning.

  “Right. What’s your name?” Ning asked.

  “My previous master just called me Rocky,” the stone titan said honestly.

  Ning blinked. A World-level golem was actually named ‘Rocky’?

  “Alright, I’ll keep calling you Rocky as well.” Ning nodded, then turned towards the golden-robed corpse. Ning waved his hand, causing the golden-robed corpse and the stone titan to disappear.

  Within Ning’s estate world. This was a place filled with endless mountain ranges.

  Ning had sent one of his divine power incarnations to accompany the stone titan in travelling through this place.

  “When I encounter certain deceased Immortals and Fiendgods in my travels, I’ll generally bury them here.” Ning pointed at a distant mountain which held a graveyard filled with many tombstone, each tombstone quite large.

  “Open up.” Ning pointed at a verdant mountain in front of them. Rumble…the mountain began to split apart. Moments later, the golden-robed corpse flew into the mountain crevice. The mountain then reformed, a new tombstone appearing at its very peak.

  “What was your previous master’s name?” Ning asked.

  “Chaos Immortal Origination,” the stone titan rumbled.

  Ning nodded. A total of seven words immediately appeared on the surface of the tombstone: “The burial site of Chaos Immortal Origination.” The stone titan stared at the lush mountain for a moment, then rumbled softly, “Let us leave, Master.”

  The pavilion on the mountain in the outside world.

  “Immortal Origination didn’t have any Dao armor?” Ning began to bind Immortal Origination’s treasures and carefully sift through them.

  “Immortal Origination placed all of his time and energy into his golems. He never engaged in close combat against foes,” the stone titan said. “His most important treasures were the ‘Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation’ and a domain-type artifact known as the ‘Rainbow Cloud World’. Both can be considered top-grade Dao weapons.”

  After finishing his inspections, Ning was quite excited by what he had just found. He now possessed an enormous number of chaos jewels! Immortal Origination had stored up roughly fifty cubes worth of chaos jewels.

  “The Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation was his most powerful formation. Once he used it, no enemy would dare to move close to him. Once they entered the sphere of the formation, it would be almost impossible for them to break free from it. It was completely up to him whether or not he wished to keep fighting or to flee,” the stone titan said. “However, the formation is an incredibly complicated one. Only someone with incredible talent in the art of formations is capable of using it.”

  Ning waved his hand, causing the nine loops to appear before him. Every single loop was filled with countless divine runes that were much more complicated than even the formation-diagram located in the stone titan’s core.

  The stone titan had been personally created by Immortal Origination. This Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation, however, was a Dao weapon that had been fashioned by a Samsara Daolord. It was naturally much more profound.

  “It is too complicated. I can’t use it.” Ning shook his head then waved his hand again, causing a pearl to appear within it. This pearl was brimming with a strange mist that swirled around it. Ning smiled. “This is better for me. Domain-type Dao weapons are quite rare.”

  Although Immortal Origination didn’t have many treasures, the ones he did have were all exquisite.

  The Ninehearts Heavenloop Formation was a set of nine loops that were worth more than a hundred cubes of chaos nectar.

  The stone titan Rocky was also worth more than a hundred cubes.

  The Rainbow Cloud World was a domain-type treasure that was incredibly rare and worth more than fifty cubes.

  And then there was the enormous amount of chaos jewels!

  “Immortal Origination really had a lot of chaos jewels.” Ning let out a sigh.

  “He focused on the art of formations and the art of constructs. He naturally had to prepare many chaos jewels to keep them powered,” the stone titan said.

  “Help protect me for a time. I need to spend a bit of time in cultivation,” Ning said.

  “Yes, Master.” The stone titan nodded.

  Whoosh.

  The Heavengazer Tower of Radiance appeared next to him. Ning stepped into the tower.

  Within the tower.

  Ning sat down in the lotus position. He waved his hand, causing thousands of chaos jewels to appear, all of them brimming with power.

  “I can’t let all these chaos jewels go to waste. My protective divine ability isn’t really cutting it any longer. If I just slowly train it on its own, even if I use the Heavengazer Tower it’ll take me tens of thousands of years to master it,” Ning mused to himself. “Since I’ve gained such a great fortune, I might was well be a bit extravagant and break through my current bottleneck.”

  Ning had already mastered the upper portion of the [Golden Idol] when he was in the Three Realms, resulting in a divine body that was comparable to a top-grade
Protocosmic treasure.

  Ning had been working on the middle portion of the [Golden Idol] ever since he had become an Elder God.

  This divine ability was actually a very simple one. All it needed was energy. Divine power, Immortal energy, chaos energy, spirit-pills…it accepted all types of energy. Ning had started with complete mastery over the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] and so was able to use its energy to easily master the upper portion. The middle portion, however, was much more complicated…but it allowed for the cultivator to make his body comparable to a top-grade Chaos treasure. The amount of energy it required was correspondingly great as well!

  If Ning continued to simply train slowly, he would need roughly a million years before he was able to master this technique. Even when using the Heavengazer Tower to save time, he would still need tens of thousands of years. Ning had indeed been preparing to spend that time slowly cultivating, because if he wanted to rely on the energy of chaos jewels or chaos nectar he would need to spend dozens of cubes worth of energy. This price was far too high! Even most World Gods would rather spend twenty or thirty thousand years cultivating rather than pay such an enormous price.

  Chaos jewels and chaos nectar were used like currency in the Endless Territories.

  Chaos nectar’s advantage lay in its quality! It was incredibly marvelous and could be used in many ways. Many divine abilities, secret arts, pill-making techniques, and protective spells needed it.

  Chaos jewels’ advantage lay in energy quantity! They were jewels that were naturally formed through a crystallization of chaos energy, which meant that every single chaos jewel held an enormous amount of chaos energy within it. Powerful formations and powerful golems all required chaos jewels to be used as their energy sources. Chaos jewels had many uses as well.

  “I need to break through this bottleneck as quickly as I can. If I do so, I’ll stand a better chance of surviving any future dangers. Although big brother Solesky said that I should be able to handle the dangers here, nothing is absolute. Best to be safe.”

  Ning waved his hand, causing a chaos jewel to fly into his palm.

  Ning then sat there in the lotus position, drawing out an enormous amount of chaos energy into his body from the chaos jewel. His divine body began to transform, and Ning’s skin began to emanate a faint golden light…

  Two days later.

  After having used up nineteen chaos jewels, Ning opened his eyes.

  “Mm. My body has broken through to the Chaos treasure level. I’ll pause here for now. When I go to the outside world and have some more free time, I’ll finish the process.” Ning had spent hundreds of years slowly drawing in energy, resulting in him reaching a bottleneck. Within the Heavengazer Tower, he was able to cause time to flow fifty times faster than in the outside world, resulting in his body eventually breaking through to the Chaos level. Although this used up quite a bit of energy, Ning wasn’t worried about the cost in chaos jewels.

  Whoosh.

  Ning appeared within the pavilion once more.

  “Master.” The stone titan looked at Ning.

  “Rocky, there should have been two other World-level experts on this island, right?” Ning asked.

  “Yes.” The stone titan pointed at the other distant islands. “There are twelve islands surrounding Daolord Windsource’s residence. These islands housed his twelve disciples as well as some servants.”

  “Twelve disciples?” Ning was startled. “What of this island?”

  “The three World-level experts who resided on this island were World God Cavecry, Chaos Immortal Bloodpool, and Chaos Immortal Origination. World God Cavecry was the Daolord’s disciple while Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool were responsible for serving World God Cavecry,” the stone titan said. “World God Cavecry was far more powerful than Immortal Origination and Immortal Bloodpool.”

  Ning’s curiosity had been aroused. “World God Cavecry was Daolord Windsource’s disciple. Was he ordered to accompany his master into death as well?”

  “The disciples who were summoned here were all the ones he didn’t really like. The Daolord was a strange man with a strange personality. If he didn’t acknowledge and respect you, you would die with him,” the stone titan said. “However, Daolord Windsource still bestowed a painting upon World God Cavecry. I still remember what the Daolord said to him when giving him the painting. ‘If you can comprehend and master this painting, you’ll be be given your freedom and allowed to leave.’ Alas, World God Cavecry didn’t manage to master it before his death.”

  “Oh.” Ning nodded.

  “Actually, Daolord Windsource gave all twelve of these disciples a chance to live. The problem was that he gave them extremely harsh tests that were far too difficult for them. I don’t think any of the twelve managed to live,” the stone titan said.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 5 - The Underground Hallway

  The stone titan said hurriedly, “These twelve disciples were not favored by the Daolord and weren’t acknowledged by him. However, although the Daolord had a rather strange temperament, he would still work hard to cultivate and rear powerful subordinates. Thus, the stronger ones were all expelled and driven away once the Daolord returned to his home. The ones who were required to follow him to this place were the ones who didn’t have much potential.

  “Didn’t have much potential?” Ning immediately asked, “Did World God Cavecry have an Eternal weapon?”

  “He did not.” The stone titan shook his head.

  Ning felt a bit of disappointment. When he had heard that the lord of this island was World God Cavecry, who had two Chaos Immortals serving him, he had thought that Cavecry had to be a truly incredible figure. Who would’ve thought that he didn’t have so much as a single Eternal weapon?

  “Eternal weapons are extremely valuable. Not even Daolords can just toss them around casually, and the Daolord preferred for his disciples to adventure for their treasures rather than just wait for him to hand them out,” the stone titan said. “Based on what I know, only nine of the Daolord’s disciples had Eternal weapons. Most of them acquired them on their own. The Daolord doted dearly on his first disciple and his second disciple, and he only bestowed Eternal weapons upon the two of them.”

  “None of the twelve disciples who accompanied him in death had Eternal weapons.”

  “However, quite a few of his hundreds of slaves had Eternal weapons. They had acquired those weapons by chance as they had accompanied the Daolord in his adventures,” the stone titan said.

  Ning nodded slowly.

  “Don’t feel disappointed, Master.” The stone titan said hurriedly, “As I recall, before World God Cavecry died he would often spend his time staring at that painting. My master said that painting is equal to an Eternal weapon in value.”

  “Painting?” Ning suddenly remembered that Daolord Windsource had bestowed a painting upon World God Cavecry, promising to release him if Cavecry was able to comprehend it.

  Alas…World God Cavecry was unable to do so.

  “Are you familiar with the palace?” Ning pointed at the Immortal estate before them.

  “Of course. Follow me, Master,” the stone titan said.

  The stone titan shrank down to a size of three meters, then walked down the mountain alongside Ning and entered the palace.

  “Master, you must be careful. World God Cavecry was a cruel, narrow-minded, vicious man who was exceedingly selfish,” the stone titan warned. “Even though he knew he was going to die, he still didn’t wish for others to be able to acquire his treasures. His extreme selfishness was the true reason why Daolord Windsource disliked him. Early on, he improved incredibly fast as a cultivator, and so the Daolord held high hopes for him. However, later on he stopped improving. Given how selfish he was…the Daolord ended up choosing him to be one of the twelve to accompany him in death.”

  Ning nodded as he gripped Violetjewel carefully in his hand.

  “He spent most of his time within the underground study, foc
using on the painting,” the stone titan said. “Daolord Windsource’s death came suddenly. As a result, World God Cavecry died in that underground study, and his corpse remains there.”

  When Daolord Windsource died, his twelve disciples and many servants all died as well.

  The servants and disciples all knew that his death was impending, but none of them knew exactly when it would occur. There was of course no way that Daolord Windsource himself could send them a mental message warning them that he was about to die.

  Rumble…

  The stone titan led the way, pushing aside a stone wall in a practiced manner and revealing a stairway leading downwards.

  The stone titan walked in front while Ning walked behind him. The two advanced down the stairway.

  It was fortunate for Ning that the stone titan was very familiar with the Immortal estate. Otherwise, given how he couldn’t even scan the place with coresense or heartforce, it would’ve been extremely difficult for Ning to locate the door behind that wall.

  “Careful, Master. We are now very close to that private study. There might be danger,” the stone titan said as they advanced through the dark hallway.

  “Right.” Ning remained on high alert.

  The underground hallway was extremely dark, with just the divine runes etched into the sides of the corridor providing a dim amount of flickering light.

  The stone titan and Ning continued their advance.

  “Come here, Master!” When they reached a turn, the stone titan suddenly sent a mental message to Ning. At a time like this, the stone titan was quite cautious as well.

  Ning silently moved to stand next to the stone titan and peered down the hallway.

  A figure in blood-colored robes was seated on the ground, slumped against the walls.

  “That was Immortal Bloodpool.” The stone titan sent mentally to Ning, “Immortal Bloodpool was probably walking through this hallway when his truesoul was suddenly extinguished, which is why he is half-sitting, half-slumping.”

  “Right.” Ning felt a bit of eagerness.