Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Right.” Yichuan nodded.

  –––––––-

  Just as the husband and wife couple were chatting happily, the face of Ji Yichuan, who had been drinking wine from the bamboo tube, suddenly changed. This was the moment where Ning, at Serpentwing’s lair, had suddenly been transported into that mysterious, ancient underwater estate relic site.

  “What is it?” Seated next to him, Yuchi Snow noticed that her man’s mood had dramatically changed. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” Yichuan shook his head. “Only, I just remembered something I have to do.”

  Snow frowned. “You want to deceive me? Your face is completely incapable of fakery. Given your mental willpower, normal matters aren’t able to cause you to panic…and for you to panic to this degree, this must be a major event. Speak.”

  Looking at his wife, Yichuan sighed, “I originally gave Ning a jade sword. No matter how far away he is, I’ll be able to sense Ning’s location. I had warned him quite strictly that he is not permitted to wander more than ten thousand kilometers away from the West Prefecture City. If he goes beyond it, I will capture him, bring him back, and put him in the prison for three years.”

  “What, he went more than ten thousand kilometers away from West Prefecture City?” Snow hurriedly asked.

  “That’s not it.” Yichuan’s face was unpleasant. “I can’t sense the jade sword at all.”

  “What!” Snow, shocked, suddenly rose to her feet, then began to cough, cough very hard.

  “I didn’t want to say it, but you forced me to.” Yichuan hurriedly helped support his wife, rubbing her back. “Feel better?”

  Snow said frantically, “How can you not be able to sense the jade sword? Didn’t you say that you can sense it no matter how far away it is? If you can’t sense it…does that mean Ning has encountered danger?!”

  “Don’t panic.” Yichuan said hurriedly. “There’s two possible answers for why I can’t sense the jade sword.”

  “The first possibility is that Ning has encountered some danger, and then took out the jade sword, but before he was able to break it, the enemy instantly disintegrated the jade sword.”

  “The second possibility is that Ning was instantly transported to a very distant location, so distant that even I can’t sense it.”

  Snow calmed down.

  Snow was very experienced as well, and she nodded. “Even if your jade sword was destroyed and broken into small pieces, you should still be able to sense it. Unless it was completely disintegrated; only then would you be unable to sense it. But right now, Ning is very strong. He was able to send River Sansi flying with one kick. If he encountered such great danger that he had to take out the jade sword…he would be able to break it instantly. How could it be that he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to break it?”

  “In addition, if an enemy wanted to kill Ning, but was capable of instantly destroying the jade sword in Ning’s hands before Ning had a chance to break it, then he would have the power to easily kill Ning. Why bother with breaking the jade sword?”

  Snow’s train of thought helped her calm down slightly.

  Logically speaking, her son shouldn’t have died yet!

  “So it’s the other possibility.” Yichuan said. “Ning was instantly transported to an incomparably distant location. I can sense my jade sword no matter where it is…although this is a slight exaggeration, within an area of a million kilometers, at least, I should still be able to sense it. To instantly be transported more than a million kilometers is rather inconceivable as well. I think the more likely answer is that Ning should have been transported to another dimension. He stumbled into a relic site.”

  “Stumbled into a relic site?” Snow nodded as well.

  The two of them had adventured in the outside world, and had significant experience. They knew that this vast, boundless world was incomparably marvelous. The relic sites that were left behind from the Fiendgod era alone were uncountable in number. Some of those greater powers were capable of opening their own small dimension or small world.

  “Where was the last place you sensed Ning’s at?” Snow asked hurriedly.

  “Serpentwing Lake!” Yichuan said.

  “Let’s go to Serpentwing…cough!” Snow started to cough again.

  Yichuan said hurriedly, “I’ll go. You can’t go out yet.”

  “Ning is in danger. How can I not go?” Yuchi shook her head. “You know this stems from the illness that I had when I was pregnant with Ning. It’s fine.”

  Seeing the look in his wife’s eyes, Yichuan could only nod. “Fine. We’ll go find Aunty Flower and borrow her Azure Firebird. We’ll head to Serpentwing Lake at full speed.”

  –––––––––

  The vast Serpentwing Lake was very calm.

  A godlike husband and wife couple were currently standing atop the back of an enormous Azure Firebird, flying at high speed in the air towards Serpentwing Lake.

  “Hurry up and report to the great King that Ji Yichuan has come again. He brought a woman as well.”

  “Ji Yichuan.”

  “And sitting on that Azure Firebird.”

  Some of the lesser aquatic monsters glanced into the sky, then, terrified, hurriedly went to make their report.

  On the back of that Azure Firebird, Yichuan and his wife exchanged glances. Soon, Yichuan pointed at a nearby shoreline. “There are black armored guards there. Azure Firebird, go there!” The Azure Firebird hurriedly flew towards that direction, and the two black armored guards that had been keeping watch on the shores of Serpentwing Lake stared in astonishment at the male and female atop the back of the distant Azure Firebird.

  “Our respects to you, Commander!” The two black armored guards hurriedly fell to one knee in terror. They all recognized Yichuan.

  “I ask you, have you seen my son, Ning?” Yichuan asked directly.

  “We saw him.” One of them, the taller black armored guard, immediately replied. “Just now, young master Ji Ning was walking atop the surface of the lake, calling out for Serpentwing to come and do battle with him.”

  “Serpentwing?”

  Yichuan and Snow both had the same thought. However, they didn’t believe that their son, at his current level of power, wouldn’t even have the chance to break the jade sword when fighting against the Diremonster, Serpentwing. In fact, they even believed that Ning was fully capable of staying alive in the face of Serpentwing’s attacks.

  “But this time, the Diremonster, Serpentwing, wasn’t willing to come out.” The black armored guard said. “Young master Ji Ning called him out to do battle multiple times. His voice echoed across the entire lake, and most likely the black armored guards in the other areas all heard it as well. But because Serpentwing still refused to come out, nothing happened. We were too far away, so as to where young master Ji Ning went afterwards while walking on water, we don’t know.”

  The island was located in the center of Serpentwing Lake.

  The distance from the shore to the island was tens of kilometers. At the distance of tens of kilometers, the black armored guards were not able to see Ning at all.

  “Oh? You are certain they didn’t do battle?” Yichuan quickly asked.

  “They didn’t. We didn’t hear anything at all.” The two black armored guards were absolutely certain.

  –––––—

  Yichuan went to the other black armored guards to ask them these questions, and even sought out Autumn Leaf and Mowu, who were waiting at the designated meeting point. From these two, Yichuan understood that Ning had come in anger, intending to execute Serpentwing, but Serpentwing had remained in hiding and hadn’t come out…Ning had remained standing atop the water, and then walked off and disappeared!

  “Where did he go?” Standing by the lakeside, Yichuan and Snow stared towards the vast lake, frowning in concern.

  “Wife, what do you think?” Yichuan looked at his wife.

  Snow said pensively, “There wasn’t any disturbanc
e at all. It shouldn’t have been a battle. It’s very possible that it really was an ancient relic site! These relic sites might be in the middle of an empty area, only sealed off from us by a thin barrier, but we can’t see them or sense them at all.”

  “Perhaps our son is within a world that is hidden within a single speck of sand at the bottom of Serpentwing Lake.”

  “Or perhaps he is within an ancient, hidden formation.”

  “Only, the two of us aren’t capable of dealing with any of these possibilities.” Snow shook her head. “All we can do is wait. Wait for our son to come back to us, alive.”

  “Right. Wait.” Yichuan looked at the immeasurably vast lake as well. “I believe our son will come from afar, walking across the water back to us.”

  Snow nodded gently, leaning against her man.

  They were still waiting. Waiting for their son’s return.

  ––––––—

  Within the corridor of the aquatic estate, it was very dark. It felt that even the passage of time was slow here.

  Ning, his divine power fully recovered, finally stood up. Staring at the other corner of the corridor and its corpses, he understood that he had nowhere to retreat to. If he wanted to leave, he had to go forward!

  “I have to live.” Ning stared at those distant corpses, then walked over.

  * * *

  Book 3, Chapter 17 - Dao Battle-Armor

  Wielding a Darknorth sword in each hand, Ji Ning headed straight towards the center of this ancient corridor.

  Suddenly, a thousand or so meters in front of him, several blackish-blue seeds appeared at the same time, four ahead of him, five behind him. These seeds appeared at the same time as nine sets of battle armor. The battle armors were all completely black, and the weapons were identical as well; long staffs that were seemingly made of stone.

  Nine seeds. Nine sets of battle gear.

  “Hua…” The blackish-blue seeds suddenly transformed into a liquid, flowing into the armors, then transforming into massive men with blackish-blue skin. These massive men were several meters tall and had two horns in their foreheads. Their faces were ugly, and they had sharp fangs in their mouths. They donned the armor, while simultaneously picking up those three-meter long stone staffs next to them.

  The nine ugly giants all glanced at each other, their eyes filled with savagery and excitement.

  “It’s been so long. We’re finally out again!”

  “This time, the person we have to deal with is this human youth. Such a tender-fleshed human. I can squeeze him to death by myself. The nine of us combined, and with these godly weapons and armor, haha…this is going to be too easy.”

  “Set up the formation first.”

  The nine ugly giants all began to chant the words to some foreign tongue which Ning couldn’t understand, but his face quickly changed, because he understood that these ugly giants which had sprouted from those seeds were intelligent, and even capable of conversation!

  The two ends of the halls once again became filled with dense fog.

  “Human, prepare for death.” The nine ugly giants all released furious roars. The ancient armor on their bodies immediately began to emit dazzling black light. The black light, emitting the stench of blood, quickly connected with each other, forming an enormous spiderweb in mid-air.

  Ning was shocked. “Dao Battle-Armor?”

  Dao Soldiers were a type of seed-soldier often used by the Grand Xia Dynasty. The Ji clan’s most powerful seed-soldier, the ‘Scarlet Guardians’, were the lowest-level type of Dao Soldiers. Every single Dao Soldier’s armor contained a large number of rune inscriptions, and the Dao Soldiers were capable of combining their energy together to attack the opponent together. They were also capable of combining their defense.

  Dao Battle-Armor like that of the Scarlet Guardians of the Ji clan were at most capable of allowing nine of the Scarlet Guardians to combine forces. Once they joined together, nine Scarlet Guardians were even capable of giving an early Xiantian expert a good fight.

  What’s more, the Ji clan had five hundred thousand of these powerful seed-soldiers, the Scarlet Guards!

  This was the true backbone of the Ji clan.

  Normally, missions were carried out by black armored guards. Each time the Scarlet Guardians were sent out, it was only after the Ji clan’s Five Prefectures all agreed to send them out, and it would have to involve a major event of the Ji clan.

  “Dao Battle-Armor. Aren’t they all used for Houtian experts? And they should be covered with a large number of runes that can be seen at a glance.” Ning stared at them. “But these nine strange giants have armor that don’t have any runes on top of them, and each of them have power that is not weaker than that of a Xiantian.”

  “This is going to be trouble.” Ning held his breath.

  Dao Battle-Armor which Xiantian experts could use was something which the six hegemons of Swallow Mountain simply did not have. Ning hadn’t even heard of such a thing. Most likely, only the armies of the Grand Xia Dynasty had them!

  “Kill!” The nine ugly giants raised their large, thick staffs, charging towards Ning from both directions with angry roars, that enormous illusory spider web still connecting them from up above.

  Ning immediately transformed into a ray of smoke, quickly pouncing towards the direction which only had four of those strange ugly giants, who were maintaining a distance of several meters from each other as they wielded their massive stone staffs and charged forward wildly with long steps.

  “Kill!” One of the ugly giants raised his enormous stone staff up high, then smashed downwards.

  “Come on.” Ning let his strength explode as well. His Fiendgod-like power completely filled his Darknorth swords, and he took this blow head on. He wanted to get a clear understanding of the strength of these ugly fellows.

  Swish!

  The stone staff was as thick as a man’s thigh and over three meters long. It slashed through the air, smashing down on Ning’s Darknorth swords. Immediately afterwards, with a ‘Swoosh!’ Ning’s entire body was sent flying backwards, while the strange giant only took a single step back, garbling in his racial tongue, “This human has great strength. However, he still cannot compare to me, much less the nine of us combined.”

  Although Ning had only fought one of them head on, because of the Dao Battle-Armor…in reality, that staff blow had contained the combined strength of those nine strange giants.

  Flying backwards through the air, Ning felt his entire body was numb. His hand was damaged, and even the Darknorth sword in that hand flew out.

  “Can’t take it head on!” In mid-air, Ning flipped over, his Fiendgod body quickly healing. Still in mid-air, he stepped onto the sides of the corridor walls, then like a giant Roc, scurried out, quickly leaping past the oncoming charge of those nine strange ugly giants.

  “Don’t run!”

  “What sort of talent is fleeing?”

  “Humans only know how to run.”

  The nine strange giants opened their fanged mouths, howling angrily. They discovered that this human was even faster than them.

  Ning pointed from a distance. “Waterflame Lotuses!”

  Huahuahua…

  Every single Waterflame Lotus was formed from a fire lotus petal and a water lotus petal. Six sets of Waterflame Lotuses appeared out of nowhere, completely surrounding those nine ugly giants within. Every single lotus petal was slowly swiveling in opposite directions, forming a terrifying grinding, killing force.

  “What a powerful human.” The nine ugly giants came to a halt and looked at each other. “Without this godly armor, we probably would’ve been injured long ago.”

  Ning saw that the nine giants had come to a halt, and were even conversing in their strange tongue.

  But his ever-successful Waterflame Lotuses were completely unable to harm them.

  “No use.” Ning was surprised. Last time, when fighting against Ironwood Zhan, Zhan had relied on his formation and his Diamond Seal
to hold on for a long time, which let Ning understand that his Waterflame Lotuses couldn’t actually break through everything. “My Waterflame Lotuses were developed just recently, and were originally meant to protect me. Thus there are some deficiencies when using them to attack.

  Wielding their stone staffs, the nine strange giants once more charged forward en masse.

  “Lotus Protection.” In the area around Ning, three fire lotus petals and three water lotus petals appeared, surrounding him. When the nine strange giants charged over and collided with the swiveling Waterflame Lotus, they were all impacted and were no longer able to attack Ning together.

  Ning, wielding his Darknorth swords, chose one of them to attack!

  “Die.”

  His sword flashed like fire, moving at astonishing speed as he displayed the killing technique of the [Thunderflame Sword], the ‘Thunderflash Flint’.

  Hua! Hua! Hua!

  Rays of sword light shot towards the giant, who howled with valiant fury as he brandished his stone staff. The stone staff was incomparably heavy. Last time, when Ning had struck it, his entire body had gone numb. No longer daring to take it head on at all, Ning completely relied upon his marvelous sword techniques to deal with the giant in front of him.

  The battle armor was only capable of protecting part of the body. The head and some other areas were still exposed.

  Ning’s sword blows were all aimed at this giant’s head!

  Only, each blow was hampered by that dense black light. After just barely breaking through the obstruction, it was only capable of leaving some wounds on the giant’s face, which immediately would heal, leaving the giant unwounded.

  “Kill, kill, kill.” Ning was going all out.

  “I want to live! So I have to kill you all!” Ning used all his strength, even filling the Darknorth swords with his Xiantian ki as well. All he could do, however, was to leave some flesh wounds on these strange giants. The giants were capable of completely ignoring the negligible drop to their strength from these wounds.