Desolate Era

by RWX

  Boom! Ning gave the gates to the Yi River Palace a hard shove.

  Rumble…the gates slowly swung open.

  “Let’s go in,” Ning said. “Youji, the deeper parts of the Yi River Palace are filled with tremendous danger. We can’t get in too deep. Let me scout out the outer perimeter of the palace first.”

  “Alright.” Youji nodded.

  The two carefully stepped into the estate. The Yi River Palace was extremely large and it had a front hall, a main hall, an inner hall, and many side halls. According to the information Ning had, the other halls of the Yi River Palace were fairly safe, but the main hall was filled with tremendous danger. However, the main hall also had the most treasures.

  “The Mirrorsnow Painting. It doesn’t seem to be in the main palace…” Ning could sense from his attunement to his own painting that this second one was actually located in a side hall.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 28 - Be Our Slaves

  Ji Ning led Su Youji towards the direction of the side hall.

  Whoosh.

  A streak of gray fog quickly surged out from that distant side hall, moving far faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as it poured out of the Yi River Palace.

  “That thing is carrying the Mirrorsnow Painting!” Ning’s face changed. “Chase it down!”

  He could sense that the Mirrorsnow Painting had originally been within the side hall, but it was now receding from him at high speed. Clearly, it was being taken away by that gray streak of mist.

  Swoosh. Swoosh.

  Ning and Su Youji immediately chased after it at high speed. Ning had always been extremely fast, while Su Youji was now a Chaos Immortal. Thanks to her powerful Immortal energy and the Jindan chaos region inside her body supporting her, she was now also able to easily overcome the limits of the Heavenly Daos and move just a tiny bit slower than Ning himself did. But of course, this was with Ning not using the Thunderlight Wings.

  Boom! An inch-thick streak of golden light shot out of Ning’s eyes, allowing him to clearly make out the true form of that fleeing streak of gray fog.

  Although it looked like gray fog, it was actually a strange beast that had a crocodilian body and a dragon-like head. Its four stubby legs propelled it forward at high speed, allowing it move faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as gray mist emanated from its body.

  “A bugbeast of some sort.”

  “It most likely is one of the bugbeasts which Daolord Allgod once reared.”

  Both Ning and Su Youji were able to see and identify the creature.

  Many bugbeasts lived within the Fog Sea region. It must be understood that Daolord Allgod was skilled in many things, including alchemy, artificing, formations, and more. He had also reached an extremely high level of skill in the art of rearing bugbeasts. Even though he had died long ago, certain formations within the Fog Sea region continuously nurtured and gave birth to multiple generations of World-level bugbeasts.

  “GRWAAAR!” The graymist beast let out a howl. Its body suddenly split into nine different pieces, each of which began to flee towards a different direction.

  “Don’t even think about fleeing!” Ning roared. He pulled out a giant gourd with his left hand, immediately uncorking it.

  Rumble…

  Countless thunderbolts blasted out from within the gourd, instantly covering the entire region but centering around the area which included the nine streaks of gray mist that were beginning to flee. The [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] technique was limited to the speed of the Heavenly Daos, but this Pentabolt Gourd which Ning had purchased during the treasure auction contained five different types of chaos lightning, each of which was able to effortlessly breach the speed of light. They all moved much faster than Ning himself.

  The five types of lightning crackled throughout the area and thundered around the gray mist.

  “EEEEE! An ear-piercing, soul-piercing cry.

  Eight of the nine streaks of gray mist instantly vanished. The remaining streak of gray mist quickly began to expand in size, its scaly crocodilian body beginning to emerge as well. The beast’s body was resisting the attacks of these five types of chaos lightning, and it turned to glare at Ning, its grayish-white eyes filled with rage.

  “Hand over that sword-ki diagram and I’ll spare your life,” Ning sent mentally.

  “You’ll never catch me.” The creature’s gravelly voice rang out in Ning’s mind.

  Swish.

  The scaly crocodilian creature once more transformed into mist. This time, the misty gray aura surrounding it brightened dramatically as it began to fly off into the distance at a speed which rendered Ning speechless. Even if he used his Thunderlight Wings, he still wouldn’t be able to catch up to it. His only choice was to use the Pentabolt Gourd to release those five streaks of chaos lightning to slow the creature down…and yet, although the creature seemed to be weakened by the lightning it didn’t slow down in the slightest.

  “We can’t catch up to it, Master.” Su Youji was worried. The bugbeast had already flown out of the range of the five types of lightning. This place was quite dangerous, and Ning didn’t dare to let the lightning reach out to a much greater distance, for fear of accidentally striking and irritating other powerful bugbeasts.

  “I can sense that it’s been injured.” Ning chuckled. The final blasts of lightning had injured the creature. Although it had managed to escape, its aura had been noticeably weakened.

  “It won’t be able to escape me.” Ning could continuously sense the exact location of the Mirrorsnow Painting. So long as the creature remained within the Allgod Estate, Ning would still be able to sense its location.

  A short while later.

  “It is up ahead. It isn’t moving,” Ning sent.

  Soon, Ning and Su Youji saw the creature. It was a crocodilian bugbeast with black scales, and it was resting as it lay atop a giant boulder. It instantly noticed Ning’s arrival and immediately transformed into an aura of gray mist as it once more began to flee.

  Bugbeasts were artificially created lifeforms. They had tremendous strength and certain special gifts, and they used these advantages when they fought. However, they didn’t have divine power or Immortal energy. Thus, they were unable to bind magic treasures to themselves. In other words, the bugbeast hadn’t been able to bind the sword-ki painting and thus couldn’t sense Ning’s location.

  Boom! Ning didn’t have enough time to chase after the creature. He instead once more pulled out the Pentabolt Gourd and released those five types of chaos lightning to attack.

  The aura of the fleeing streak of gray mist began to noticeably weaken yet again.

  Swoosh. Swoosh.

  Ning and Su Youji continued their chase.

  ……

  “I can sense ripples coming from over there.”

  “There’s a battle happening nearby.”

  Two men who were seated in the lotus position rose to their feet. One was dressed in golden robes while the other was dressed in black robes. Both had dark, swarthy skin, and their faces were covered with green floral tattoos. Both emanated auras of tremendous power as well. One was a World God, the other a Chaos Immortal.

  “Let’s go take a look.” The two exchanged a glance, then quietly began to move towards the direction of the ripples.

  ……

  “It is still fleeing.” Ning and Su Youji continued their pursuit of the bugbeast. By now, the bugbeast could tell that the two cultivators probably had a way to track it and so it continued to frantically run as fast as it could.

  “It’s moving farther and farther away.” Ning was worried. “The bugbeast knows the Fog Sea much better than us. It’ll probably end up hiding itself within a dangerous location. We have to catch up to it soon. If too much time passes, we’ll be in trouble.”

  “HALT!” Suddenly, an icy shout rang out from afar and blasted into the ears of Ning and Su Youji.

  “Eh?”

  Ning and Su Youji had been flying at high spe
ed. Both frowned and turned to look at the two figures which had appeared behind them. These two figures both emanated auras of power and savagery.

  “Master.” Su Youji’s face tightened as she sent a quick mental message. “I know these two. One is known as World God Foxblaze while the other is Chaos Immortal Foxbold. The two belong to the same race and are extremely savage.”

  “Oho, isn’t this Flamefairy Su Youji?” Chaos Immortal Foxbold was dressed in golden robes, and his eyes lit up when he saw the Flamefairy. “You actually broke through to become a Chaos Immortal! I hadn’t heard the news. It must be recent. Huh. Come to think of it, a short while ago the chaos energy within the Allgod Estate was in a state of great turmoil. Was that when you made your breakthrough?”

  “Su Youji?” The black-robed World God Foxblaze’s eyes lit up as well. “Oho, what a rare treat…”

  Su Youji was a peerless beauty of tremendous charm. After becoming a Chaos Immortal, her aura and demeanor had only grown more graceful. Both of these World-level experts felt a certain itchiness in their hearts when they saw her.

  “Please make way! We are busy,” Su Youji barked.

  “Make way? Su Youji, you just recently became a World-level expert. Instead of finding a safe place to stabilize your foundation, you instead came here to the Fog Sea. You are lucky that it was the two of us who found you.” World God Foxblaze laughed coldly. “It would be simplicity itself for us to kill you, but we’ll give you a chance to stay alive.”

  Newly ascended World-level experts were very weak, especially Chaos Immortals. Chaos Immortals had fairly weak bodies; when they first made their breakthrough, they could be considered as having just barely reached the World-level threshold of power. Although World God Foxblaze and his friend weren’t that powerful, they had still been alive for a very long period of time. It would indeed be quite easy for them to slay a newly ascended Chaos Immortal.

  “Right, right. We’ll give you a chance to live.” Chaos Immortal Foxbold stared appraising at Su Youji, licking his lips. “It’s simple. You simply need to swear a lifeblood oath to be our slave.”

  “Slave?” A layer of frost appeared on Su Youji’s face.

  “Don’t worry. You are a World-level expert as well; we won’t make things too hard for you. After you become our slave, all you’ll have to do is engage in ‘dual cultivation’ with us every so often. Dual cultivation is a source of great joy, as you’ll soon come to know.” World God Foxblaze’s eyes grew colder. “But if you refuse, today is the day you die.”

  “All we ask is that you engage in ‘dual cultivation’ with us. You’ll have a much higher position than all the rest of our slaves,” Chaos Immortal Foxbold agreed.

  The two had many women, but female Chaos Immortals of such peerless beauty and charm were incredibly rare. Most importantly of all, Su Youji had just recently become a Chaos Immortal. She was still very weak and would be easily captured.

  Both of their gazes were fixed upon Su Youji.

  As for Ji Ning?

  He was merely an Elder God. The two completely ignored him!

  “The two of you are going a bit too far.” Ning’s voice rang out. He didn’t want to fight as that would distract him from chasing after the fleeing bugbeast.

  “World-level experts are speaking. How dare you interrupt us, you ant?” World God Foxblaze looked at Ning, a lofty look in his eyes. He naturally felt complete contempt towards a mere Elder God like Ning.

  “Puny Elder God, how dare you speak so rashly before us? I was planning to simply enslave you as well. I suppose I might as well just kill you instead.” Chaos Immortal Foxbold glanced at Ning as well, a similar look of arrogance in his gaze. He, too, felt as though he was speaking to an ant.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 29 - Slaying World-Level Experts

  An island within Ji Ning’s estate world.

  “Wild Dog. Blacksun.” A booming voice echoed across the great island. Elder God Wilddog and Elder God Blacksun had been seated amongst their fellow Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals, eating and chatting, but now the two immediately rose to their feet. They called out in unison, “Master.”

  “Take control of your golems and await my signal.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  Elder God Wilddog and Elder God Blacksun simultaneously transformed into two tall, muscular black golems. Previously, the golems had been fiery red in color, but they had been cosmetically altered and recolored to black in order to conceal their true power. Once you bound a golem, you could completely withdraw and suppress its aura of power. In fact, golems with spirits controlling them such as Rocky were almost like living creatures. Rocky was able to completely suppress his own aura and transform into a boulder that not even Ning would be able to detect.

  The two black golems stood there at the edges of the island, awaiting Ning’s summons.

  “We’re about to enter combat.”

  “Yes. We’ve been waiting forever for a real battle like this. All we were doing prior to this was nothing more than sparring.”

  Both were filled with an eagerness to do battle. The golems they commanded filled them with tremendous self-confidence. It must be understood that Ning had to spend more than six hundred cubes of chaos nectar to purchase these three golems…and that was at the discounted treasure auction price. Normally, each of these three golems would go for significantly more than two hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Each of the three were individually more powerful than Rocky, and they were able to join together in a formation as well.

  The outside world. The Fog Sea region of the Allgod Estate.

  World God Foxblaze and Chaos Immortal Foxbold both glanced disdainfully at Ning, ignoring him after mocking him. In their eyes, he truly was nothing more than an ant-like presence. They were on a completely different level of power; why would they pay him any heed?

  Their gazes turned once more to Flamefairy Su Youji. World God Foxblaze spoke out: “Su Youji, if you wish to live a long life, you have to learn when to compromise. We won’t make your lifeblood oath too harsh.”

  “All you have to do is serve us in dual cultivation. It’ll be fun.” Chaos Immortal Foxbold truly looked forward to enjoying the pleasing company of this truly ravishing female Chaos Immortal. He never thought that a chance like this would come so quickly.

  The two alternated between threatening her and persuading her. They wouldn’t be able to overpower her and force her to serve them; even if they did manage to capture her, she would be able to effortlessly self-detonate herself. It must be understood that even slaves could easily choose to self-detonate themselves. Thus, while an owner could oppress and coerce their slaves, they still had ensure that their slaves weren’t driven to utter despair. Otherwise, their slaves could choose to be disobedient. When Daolord Windsource had commanded his slaves to accompany him into death, many of them had cursed and railed at him for his actions. Alas, all they could do was curse, nothing else.

  “Come here.”

  “Come, Su Youji.” The two stared hungrily at the Flamefairy.

  Su Youji’s face was so cold, it looked as though it was covered by a layer of frost. She sent to the nearby Ning, “Master, what should we do?”

  “Since they insist on dying…then let’s just go ahead and spend a little bit of time to get rid of them.” Ning glanced at the two World-level figures. “Kill them!”

  To be honest, Ning truly didn’t wish to get into this fight. Killing World-level experts wasn’t a simple task. World God Foxblaze was an elite World God while Chaos Immortal Foxbold was merely an ordinary one. Ning was completely capable of slaying the two of them, but it would still take him quite a bit of time. This was why he had been hoping he could talk the two of them into getting out of his way.

  “We can hunt down the bugbeast later. Given that I can sense its location, I’m sure it’ll hide somewhere it feels is very safe.” The more Ning thought about it, the angrier he became.

  “Fine.” Su Youji suddenly cl
enched her teeth and said aloud, “Show me your lifeblood oath.”

  “Ahahaha, that’s more like it!”

  “Good, good, good! What a fine beauty you are. Don’t worry. We couldn’t bear to mistreat you.”

  World God Foxblaze and Chaos Immortal Foxbold were delighted upon hearing her words. Just like that, a lovely female Chaos Immortal had fallen into their clutches. What a stroke of great luck! World God Foxblaze waved his hand, causing a golden pearl to fly out. “This is my oathstone. Take a good luck, my pretty. If there’s anything you don’t like, we can change it.”

  “Ehehe.” Chaos Immortal Foxbold felt more and more excited. This was better than finding an entire stash of valuable treasures. They never would’ve even imagined in their wildest dreams that such a female slave would fall into their clutches.

  “I simply can’t believe how lucky we are. As soon as Su Youji broke through to become a Chaos Immortal, she ran into the two of us.” Both of them were filled with eagerness. They could already visualize the fantastic scenes of the two of them cavorting with her, causing their hearts to blaze with lust.

  Ning was standing next to Su Youji. His eyes suddenly turned cold.

  “Attack!”

  His voice echoed within his estate-world as a black gourd suddenly appeared in front of him. The black gourd vomited out countless streaks of lightning, completely filling the region with five types of chaos lightning that surrounded and attacked Chaos Immortal Foxbold and World God Foxblaze.

  “Shit!” The two blanched as they saw this happen. Chaos Immortal Foxbold’s robes instantly glowed with light, forming a protective barrier around him. Alast, the five types of chaos lightning were simply too powerful, causing the barrier to completely shatter as they crashed straight through it and against Foxbold.

  A series of flying daggers had also appeared around Chaos Immortal Foxbold, but they were only able to deflect part of the lightning. The rest of the lightning crashed directly against his body.