Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Why hasn’t the young master returned?” Autumn Leaf held a flask of wine, standing behind Ji Yichuan. Yichuan sat down, and behind him was lying a big white dog, the Godbeast, ‘Whitewater Hound’. Autumn Leaf’s eyes had a hint of worry within them as well, because Yichuan had been waiting very long already. “The young master said that others were not permitted to disturb him, and that his room was to be completely sealed.”

  There was nothing Autumn Leaf could do. She knew Ning’s temper; if he said he was not to be disturbed, others absolutely would not dare disturb him.

  The only choice was to wait.

  “Don’t be impatient. There is enough time.” Yichuan held a cup of wine and spoke softly. He was very calm, because the coming battle would be the most glorious moment of his life.

  “Rumble…” The ground vibrated faintly from far away, and instantly, Autumn Leaf revealed a look of delight. “The young master should be leaving his closed quarters.”

  And then, a creaaaak.

  From afar, a door to a room opened, and a youth clast in beast furs stepped out.

  Yichuan stood up, frowning slightly as he looked at Ning. He had watched Ning grow up, and so he could sense any changes Ning went through. He noticed that the current Ning…seemed to be less ‘sharp’ than before, but in possession of a hint of the calmness of the water.

  “You were training?” Yichuan asked.

  Ning nodded slightly. “I had a breakthrough!”

  A look of delight and satisfaction appeared in Yichuan’s eyes. This was his final battle, and he believed that he would die in it! To be able to, before his death, see his son increase in power yet again…naturally, he was incomparably delighted. For his son to be such a monstrous talent…he could already see the sight of his son’s name being spread throughout the vast world.

  “Good.” Yichuan just said a single word.

  “Uncle White is going as well?” Ning looked towards the nearby Whitewater Hound.

  The Whitewater Hound nodded towards Ning.

  Yichuan glanced a side at the nearby Whitewater Hound. “Your Uncle White and I are lifelong brothers. I am prepared to die in this battle; even if I survive, I will be left a cripple. Before this, I released your Uncle White and Uncle Black, giving them their freedom…your Uncle Black has already returned to his mountain forests, but your Uncle White has chosen to accompany me. Even if he dies, he wishes to die by my side. I am unable to force him to leave. I simply cannot. For me, Yichuan, to have a brother like this…even in death, I will feel proud.”

  Ning’s heart trembled. He saw the tears brimming in his father’s eyes, and the steely, unrelenting look of eternal companionship in his Uncle White’s eyes.

  “Good. Let’s go together.” Ning walked over, embracing the Whitewater Hound, much like he had always done when he was young and would go out to train archery. “Uncle White, let’s go together.” The Whitewater Hound looked back at Ning, and deep love could be seen in his eyes. He had watched Ning grow up from an infant into an adult. This was the only son of his lifelong friend, Ji Yichuan. Naturally, he viewed Ning as a younger family member.

  Whoosh.

  A boat appeared out of nowhere. Hovering there in midair, it quickly expanded until it reached a size of more than thirty meters. Ning, Yichuan, and the Whitewater Hound boarded it.

  “Let’s go.” Ning willed it.

  The boat quickly began to fly through the skies, rapidly advancing through the dark night towards the north.

  …….

  Back at that desolate mountain forest.

  Ji Ninefire, Granny Shadow, the old servant Ah Xing, Ji Truekeep. These four had already arrived, and had already set up a bewildering formation nearby. Ning had spent quite a bit of time meditating in the Stellar Hall. The others had taken care of their matters, then returned. Given the speed a Zifu Disciple could move at, they had naturally already taken care of everything.

  “Why did you bring your spirit-beast as well?” Granny Shadow said in a hoarse voice.

  Truekeep stroked the head of a black eagle. “I didn’t want it to come, but it insisted. It followed me since it was a chick. All these years, it has never left me. This time, it refused to leave no matter what…forget it. We’ve known each other all our lives. The relationship between the two of us is closer and more familiar than even the relationship between myself and my wife and children.

  Ninefire and the others just looked at him, then nodded gently.

  For a spirit-beast to willingly accompany a person in braving danger; this was rare indeed.

  “Yichuan hasn’t returned yet?” Truekeep stroked the eagle while raising his head to look. The bewildering formation hadn’t been activated yet; naturally, his vision was not impacted. Even in the darkness, the faint light of the moon was more than enough to allow Zifu Disciples to see to a great distance with the naked eye.

  “Don’t be impatient.” Ninefire said. “We still have quite a bit of time.”

  “It’d be best if that kid Ji Ning doesn’t come.” Granny Shadow sighed, speaking in her hoarse voice. “He insists on coming. He is the true hope of our Ji clan. Given his latent talent and potential, it shouldn’t be hard for him to become a Wanxiang Adept, but his temper is too stubborn.”

  Ninefire laughed, then said consolingly, “Don’t worry. He has the Traceless Talisman. When true danger comes, even if he doesn’t leave, we will force him to.”

  “Right. We will force him.” Granny Shadow nodded. “If he doesn’t leave at the critical moment, I’ll commit suicide right in front of him.”

  “Enough. He knows what is important.” Ninefire’s eyes lit up. “They are coming.”

  All of them raised their heads to look.

  From afar, in the air, they saw a ray of light fly over. Only when it began to slow as it descended could they see clearly what it was; it was a boat. This boat swiftly descended from the skies, and then, roughly thirty meters away from the ground, vanished. Ning, Yichuan, and the Whitewater Hound all landed on the ground.

  “You brought your Whitewater Hound as well?” Truekeep laughed.

  Yichuan glanced over in surprise as well. “Your Snow Eagle came as well?”

  The two glanced at each other, then both laughed. They both understood why.

  “Alright. We are all here.” Ninefire said. “We should prepare to deal with Snowdragon Mountain.”

  “Right.” Everyone’s faces grew a hint more solemn.

  Ninefire spoke out. “Earlier, I made a special trip to Swallow Mountain City, to pay a visit to General Dong, who is in charge of the forces stationed here!”

  “How did it go?” All of them asked with anticipation.

  A hint of fury was in Ninefire’s eyes. “Everyone knows General Dong. He is one of the members of that large, far away clan; the Dong clan! That’s the reason why he was able to become the commanding general of the Grand Xia Dynasty’s forces here.”

  Ning nodded. They knew these things long ago; becoming a general in the Grand Xia Dynasty’s military…wasn’t something which someone in a small clan like the Ji clan could hope for. After all, that was, without question, a wonderful assignment. Once you put on the ‘tiger garb’ of serving the Grand Xia Dynasty, who would dare offend you?

  “I didn’t want to offend this General Dong.” Ninefire said. “Unfortunately, when I wanted to make the report, I was told that General Dong was in closed door meditation and unable to receive visitors. I went to see the Deputy General, but I was told the Deputy General had left Swallow Mountain City and wasn’t here at present.”

  “What.”

  They all grew frantic.

  “Definitely a delaying tactic. They didn’t want to meet with us.”

  “Snowdragon Mountain must have done something.” Ning was frantic as well. The point of them setting the formation was to delay until the Grand Xia Dynasty’s Celestial Envoy arrived. But if there was no report filed…how could the Celestial Envoy come?

  Ninefire said, “I
couldn’t be bothered with anything else. This matter involves the fate of our Ji clan. Thus, I no longer cared about whether or not I was offending General Dong. Thus, I began to shout, sending my voice echoing throughout the entire Swallow Mountain City…I said that my Ji clan was willing to offer to the Grand Xia Dynasty an enormous elemental ore mine! My voice naturally flooded the entire Swallow Mountain City, and everyone within it, along with all of the soldiers, all heard my voice. General Dong thus no longer dared to delay, and so he hurriedly came to see me, his face as black as thunderclouds, and then angrily shooed me away.”

  * * *

  Book 6, Chapter 8 - A Wonderful Treasure!

  “Well-offended.” Ji Yichuan’s eyes flashed with cold light. “This matter involves the survival of the Ji clan. How can we be bothered by whether or not we are offending a garrison general?”

  “Right.” Ji Ning, Ji Truekeep, Granny Shadow, and Ah Xing all nodded.

  Garrison generals wielded great power. The six hegemons of the Swallow Mountain region all needed to pay a large amount of tax each year to the Grand Xia Dynasty. They delivered it directly to Swallow Mountain City! Aside from the authority to collect taxes, the garrison general was also responsible for oversight; he was responsible on behalf of the Grand Xia Dynasty for managing this region.

  Power over both oversight and tax collection…if they were really to squabble, these things would cause the Ji clan to suffer in the future.

  But that was just suffering; compared to the possible perishment of the entire clan, it didn’t matter!

  “As long as we sign an agreement with the Grand Xia Dynasty, we would have their protection. He, a garrison general, wouldn’t be able to do anything to us.” Ji Ninefire said. “Since everyone is here, I will let you know that I have already chosen the location for our battle with Snowdragon Mountain. Let’s head out.”

  “Where will we battle with Snowdragon Mountain?” Ning asked.

  “Oxhorn Mountain, located close to the City of Ten Thousand Swords.” Ninefire said.

  “Oxhorn Mountain?”

  Ning was naturally extremely familiar with the geographical areas around the Ji clan. Upon hearing what Ninefire said, he immediately understood where they would be. Oxhorn Mountain was roughly eight hundred kilometers away from the City of Ten Thousand Swords. It was a large, desolate mountain. Because the peak of the mountain was split in twain, like the horns of an ox, it was referred to as ‘Oxhorn Mountain’.

  “I’ve also sent envoys.” Ninefire said. “They are flying on winged beasts towards Snowdragon City to idirectly inform them that our Ji clan has set a grand formation at the base of Oxhorn Mountain. Given the speed at which my envoys travel at, I imagine that in roughly ten hours, they will arrive at Snowdragon Mountain.”

  Ning and the others nodded.

  Ten hours?

  It would probably be tomorrow at noon, then! It made sense. The winged beasts the envoys flew on were ordinary, trained animals; it was only natural that they would not be able to compare with Xiantian-level flying monsters, or to Zifu Disciples.

  “I will collect this bewildering formation, and then we will immediately head out.” Ninefire, afraid of being suddenly attacked, had set up the formation here.

  “Whoosh!”

  An enormous gourd appeared. Ji Ning and the other five, along with the two spirit-beasts, stood or sat atop the gourd. The gouard flew through the skies at high speed.

  Oxhorn Mountain was roughly three hundred or so kilometers away. They arrived within moments.

  “Right there.” Ninefire pointed at the split peak of Oxhorn Mountain below them. “Land there onto Oxhorn Mountain. We can see everything from there, and given that the surrounding area is completely desolate…there’s nothing that can block our line of sight. As long as those Snowdragon Mountain disciples come, we will immediately see them from far away.”

  Ning, Yichuan, and the others all nodded.

  Whoosh!

  They landed from the skies, then put the gourd away. Ninefire and the others thus landed atop the mountain.

  “I have already prepared six formations. They represent my hundreds of years of painstaking research in analyzing formations.” Ninefire pointed at the surrounding area. “I’ll only need as much time as it takes to boil a kettle of tea before I set these formations down. Even if experts from Snowdragon Mountain who specialize in formations come to break through them, they will probably need to spend quite some time to break through six of them. During that period of time, we can also borrow the power of the formation to launch sneak attacks and ambushes, one after another, disrupting them from breaking through the formations! Our goal is to make them waste as much time as possible. Based on my calculations, the Celestial Envoy of the Grand Xia Dynasty will arrive in three days. If we can hold for three days, then once the Celestial Envoy arrives, we will have won!”

  “Right. Once the Celestial Envoy arrives, they will no longer dare to act.” Granny Shadow nodded as well.

  “Even if we die, we have to delay them from breaking through our formation.” Truekeep nodded solemnly as well. “Our power, compared to that of a large group of Zifu Disciples of Snowdragon Mountain…if we fight them head on, there’s no way for us to compete. We have to rely on the formations! The more time it takes for them to break through our formations, the greater our chances for victory. Ideally, we should get rid of the formation experts which Snowdragon Mountain has invited over.”

  Ninefire shook his head. “They will definitely focus on protecting their formation experts; they might even prepare specifically for us launching our most powerful attacks against the. It isn’t too likely that we will be able to kill the formation experts.”

  Yichuan nodded as well. “Let’s do our best to delay!”

  Six grand formations!

  The disruption of each formation represented an increase in the level of danger the Ji clan would face.

  “Patriarch.” Ning said solemnly. “I have a grand formation as well. We can be considered to have seven formations in total.”

  “Oh?” They all looked at Ning.

  “You have a grand formation?” Ninefire was extremely surprised. “Was it Bei Zishan’s? Bei Zishan came from Snowdragon Mountain, and he should have had some formations available to him.” Although this was what he said, in his heart, Ninefire didn’t feel too hopeful, because as he saw it, Bei Zishan was an amateur, while he, Ninefire, had chosen these six formations based on the most exquisite formations available to him and based on the treasures the Ji clan held.

  “No.” Ning shook his head. “I once had a special stroke of fortune, and the most valuable item I acquired from it was this grand formation.”

  “A special stroke of fortune?” They were all stunned. Yichuan stared at Ning. Yichuan’s first reaction was to think back to how Ning disappeared in Serpentwing Lake. That time, he and his wife had been worried for many days.

  Yichuan said, “Ji Ning has indeed had a special stroke of fortune, which he narrowly survived. However, I didn’t know he had acquired a powerful magic treasure from it.”

  Ning nodded. “Patriarch, look.”

  Ning waved his hand, and instantly, a black light appeared above them, covered with incomparably intricate, wondrous magical runes. It was the dragon pearl and the four black scales. They caused the surrounding space to fill up with a black fog. Just by looking at them, especially considering the majestic presence of the faint draconic shadow within the dragon pearl, Ninefire and the others felt incomparably delighted.

  “Dragon pearl?” Ninefire called out in surprise. “There is a dragon soul within?”

  “Look at these runes. In my entire life, I’ve never seen runes as beautiful as the ones atop this treasure.” Granny Shadow was scrutinizing the scales.

  “What complicated runes.” Ninefire was stunned as well.

  Ning said, “Patriarch, once you bind it, you will understand.”

  “How can I bind it? A treasure like this…our J
i clan has existed for thousands of years without having a treasure like this.” Ninefire shook his head. Although the Ji clan had its important, clan-protecting treasures, those were generally one-use Dao-seals and the like. How could it have an incomparably precious treasure like this, which could be used repeatedly? “This treasure isn’t something which the likes of our clan can use. Normally speaking, we’d be afraid others would come to steal it. However, now that our Ji clan is facing annihilation, I don’t have to be worried, I suppose. Still, Ji Ning, it’s best if you are the one to bind this magic treasure.”

  “Patriarch, didn’t you say that once things grew dangerous, I would have to immediately leave?” Ning said helplessly. “If I leave…am I supposed to take the formation with me?”

  “Oh…” Ninefire hesitated slightly, then gritted his teeth. “Fine. I will bind it. For now, I’ll use it!”

  Given that the annihilation of his clan was at hand, Ninefire wouldn’t hesitate.

  However, he could tell, just from the quality of the worksmanship, the runes, and the materials used that this magic treasure was extremely precious.

  “Whoosh.” Ninefire stretched out his right hand, and a flood of elemental energy flowed into the dragon pearl and the four draconic scales. This treasure didn’t have any remnants of ki within it, and so it naturally was easily bound.

  “A wonderful treasure. A wonderful treasure!” As Ninefire bound it, he immediately began to understand the secrets of the treasure, and his eyes turned completely round. “This is too, too…”

  Although he knew that it would be an excellent treasure, Ninefire was still stunned.

  “Patriarch?”

  “Elder brother?”

  Granny Shadow, Yichuan, and the others all looked at the Patriarch.

  “What a truly fine treasure!!!” Ninefire stared, round-eyed. He said excitedly, “My Ji clan has hope now. It has hope now! We have a chance! A real chance!”

  “What sort of treasure is it? Hurry up and tell us! I’m impatient to hear it!” Granny Shadow said hurriedly.

  Ninefire said, with incomparable excitement, “This grand formation has five parts. I can control them all by myself, but I need four Zifu Disciples assisting me! The four Zifu Disciples will be assigned to different locations. One Zifu Disciple will become the core of the ‘Dragonhead Formation’, one will be the core of the ‘Dragonbody Formation’, one will be the core of the ‘Dragontail Formation’, while one will be the core of the ‘Dragonclaw Formation’! Naturally, I will stand guard at the center and control the dragon pearl.”