Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Bang!” “Bang!” Ning’s two hands each formed sword-fingers, chopping down towards the air in front of him. Swish! Swish! Two rays of pressured energy waves, emitting an ear-piercing howl, rumbled out like crashing thunder.

  “So powerful.” Ning was tongue-tied from awe. He hadn’t used any sword techniques, simply pointed with two fingers in a sword-finger position, and yet the energy wave had been so astonishing…Ning had the feeling that if Jadechild was in front of him, he could smash Jadechild to smithereens with a single palm.

  “However, the amount of divine power which is used up is also astonishing.” Ning mused to himself, “I only struck out a single time, but I used up so much. The Crimsonbright divine power in my body probably is only enough to permit me to strike out a few dozen times.”

  In a life-and-death battle, a few dozen strikes was more than enough. But to challenge the Wargod Hall, for his divine power to only be able to last for so long truly wouldn’t be enough.

  “I won’t challenge the Wargod Hall.” Ning said. “I don’t have the time to waste.” “Right.” The giant yellow bear nodded. He pointed to an empty space nearby, and an extremely thick book with golden lettering appeared. Atop it were two characters, for the words ‘Precious Treasure’. “Because this is your second time selecting a Mortal-ranked magic treasure, the amount of treasures available in this book will be greater than previously. If you were to challenge and overcome the second level of the Wargod Hall, when choosing your third magic treasure, you would be permitted to freely choose from all of the Mortal-ranked magic treasures which Master acquired.”

  Ning understood. This was the difference between challenging the first and the second levels of the Wargod Hall. The second level was far more difficult than the first level, so naturally, the rewards would be different as well. Although it was still a matter of selecting Mortal-ranked magic treasures, the further along this path he went, the greater his choices would be.”

  “Indeed.” As Ning flipped through the book, he immediately saw the difference. “There are some more treasures recorded here than there was last time, and the additions are all extremely rare and powerful treasures.”

  “Jade Dragon Cutters…what a savage magic treasure.” Ning read carefully. “Souldrinker Bell. Far more powerful than the Myriad Wraths Banner, and on a much higher level.” Ning sighed in praise. If Bei Zishan had completed his Myriad Wraiths banner, it would have become a top-grade Mortal-ranked item. The methods by which it was created, however, were simply too despicable. By comparison, this Souldrinker Bell was far more intricate and exquisite, and in terms of power, it was even more powerful than a Myriad Wraiths Banner.

  Ning read through the descriptions of one treasure after another. There were magic treasures, there were formation flags…although all of them moved Ning, there wasn’t a single one which inspired a great feeling of desire within Ji Ning. This was because, after acquiring the divine ability, [Starseizing Hand], the Darknorth swords in Ning’s hands would swing out with extremely great power already. Although these magic treasures were powerful, if Ning were to control them, the power released would be far weaker from the power released from him using his divine ability.

  “Magic treasures are inferior to divine abilities, it seems.” Ning sighed in his heart. In reality, he had forgotten that the real issue was…what sort of divine ability he had just learned!

  “Eh?” Ning flipped past another page. His eyes suddenly lit up. This magic treasure was known as the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword. It was a top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasure, a magic treasure that had been created for the purpose of slaughter. It was forged from an extremely precious material, the golden Nirvana crystals. This was a magic treasure which was extremely well suited for slaughter and for sneak attacks. It was originally an Earth-ranked magic treasure, but after repeated forgings, it had dropped in power to become a top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasure. However, after committing enough slaughter, it could slowly rise in power to its innate level, and once more become an Earth-ranked magic treasure.

  Ning read through the descriptions carefully. There were incomparably detailed notes regarding this magic treasure. According to the notes in this book, it was indeed true that some of the top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasures Daoist Threelives had kept here had the potential for future growth. However, it wasn’t its potential for growth which attracted Ning.

  “Alright. This is the one I choose.” Ning felt joy in his heart. The Evanescent Demonslayer Sword had an aura of impermanence and transience about it; it was very hard to detect. Even if the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword drew close to a foe, the foe probably wouldn’t sense anything. This was what pleased Ning the most about it.

  Ning continued to flip through the book at a slightly faster clip, finally finishing it. “And?” The giant yellow bear looked at Ning. “Evanescent Demonslayer Sword.” Ning said.

  “Haha, good eye.” The giant yellow bear nodded. “I, too, felt that the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword is the most suited to you. This Evanescent Demonslayer Sword is extremely good at hiding its aura, and quite suited to stealth attacks. Now that you have made a breakthrough in your soul, your divine will is incomparably astonishing. You can absolutely control this Evanescent Demonslayer Sword to engage in long-distance sneak attacks! More importantly, you don’t even need to fill it with your elemental ki; this will further lessen the ki ripples, making it even harder for your enemies to detect your Evanescent Demonslayer Sword.”

  Ning nodded. This was what he had been thinking about as well. He didn’t need to use his elemental ki, and could simply use divine will to control this Evanescent Demonslayer Sword…

  This magic treasure was innately hard to detect. Without any elemental ki ripples, it was just like an ordinary piece of muddy rock. It was too hard to notice it. His divine will could stealthily control the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword to drill through the ground until it reached the enemy, then suddenly attack!

  Even a Wanxiang Adept, upon suffering a sneak attack at close quarters, probably wouldn’t have enough time to command his magic treasures before having his head pierced.

  “My divine will is perfectly matched for combination attacks with this Evanescent Demonslayer Sword.” Ning mused to himself. “Senior, let’s go now.” Ning said hurriedly. Since he had acquired the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword, he needed to immediately return to Oxhorn Mountain.

  “Alright. Hurry up a bit. Previously, you spent roughly an hour undergoing the trial of the Divine Abilities Hall.” The giant yellow bear grabbed Ning, and then in the next breath, they vanished into thin air.

  * * *

  Book 6, Chapter 34 - Ji Ning Returns, The Final Battle

  It was already close to nightfall. The edges of the Golden Crow could still be seen, setting in the west.

  At the northern edges of Serpentwing Lake.

  Whoosh! A figure suddenly surged into the skies, moving as fast as lightning. This was Ji Ning, who had just been teleported out of the aquatic estate. Ning’s right hand was wielding one of his flying swords, the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword. The Evanescent Demonslayer Sword was the size of his palm, and it was so dim as to be half-translucent. The dark, translucent, palm-sized flying sword had a faint bloodstain atop it as well.

  “Windwing Evasion!” Ning executed the Windwing Evasion, transforming into a ray of light and moving far faster than sound, instantly tranversing a distance of tens of kilometers.

  “Father. Wait for me.” Ning’s eyes were filled with urgency. Previously, he had acquired this most suitable of assassination weapons, the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword. Now, Ning had been immediately teleported to the northernmost part of Serpentwing Lake. He immediately moved forward, binding this new treasure to him while flying forward.

  “I spent an hour in the Divine Abilities Hall. Father. You have to be able to hold on.” Ning burned with urgency. Whoosh! He was like a giant Roc in flight. Even Xiantian lifeforms probably wouldn’t even be able to catch a g
limpse of Ji Ning as he moved forward.

  …..

  Roughly two minutes later, Ji Ning saw, far in the distance, that grand sealing formation, which looked like a giant shell of clear water. The grand sealing formation completely covered covered the entire Oxhorn Mountain.

  Although the distance from Serpentwing Lake to Oxhorn Mountain was thousands of kilometers, Ning’s speed was now extremely fast. It must be understood that a Zifu Disciple who rode atop a magic treasure and travelled would be able to move two hundred thousand kilometers a day. Prior to this, when the Wanxiang Adept, Adept Xu Li, had led Dong Fanyu and the others, they had spent just two hours to make it to Swallow Mountain. They had travelled a hundred thousand kilometers in a single hour! Thus, every few minutes, they were travelling thousands of kilometers.

  When using his divine ability, Windwing Evasion, Ning was far faster than Adept Xu Li. Thus, it made sense for him to be able to make it from Serpentwing Lake to Oxhorn Mountain in two minutes.

  “Break!” Ning held a Darknorth sword in his hand, and the divine tattoo atop the palm gripping the hilt of the sword began to faintly emerge. The Darknorth sword in his hand pierced straight towards the grand sealing formation in front of him, and Ning himself didn’t lessen his speed in the slightest.

  Bang! Ning shot through like a meteor, piercing directly through the grand sealing formation and into the other side! “Father!” Upon piercing through the grand sealing formation, Ning saw the nether energy emanating from up ahead. The enormous Netherwyrm lay coiled atop Oxhorn Mountain. With but a thought, Ning’s awe-inspiring divine will parted a path through the fog. His divine sense encompassed the entire Oxhorn Mountain, including the entire Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation.

  Within the field of his divine sense, everything was made clear. The frantic, worried Patriarch Ninefire. The quietly waiting Granny Shadow. His father, Ji Yichuan, who had executed the forbidden technique and whose aura had risen to the heavens…

  And also the white-robed, white-haired man who looked similar to his father, but whose aura was the same as the Whitewater Hound’s.

  All of them were within the reach of his divine sense. “I made it.” Ning’s heart relaxed as he hurried forward. His divine sense also encompassed Adept Xu Li, Nong Zidao, and their group. To his divine sense, the bewildering function of the nether fog was completely useless, unable to affect Ning at all. Everything within the grand formation could be clearly seen by Ning’s divine sense!

  “Charge.” Ning’s speed didn’t lessen in the slightest. He immediately utilized his Windwing Evasion to charge towards Adept Xu Li.

  Halfway up Oxhorn Mountain. The face of Ninefire, who was controlling the entire grand formation, instantly changed. Others couldn’t see it, but as the master of the formation, he immediately discovered Ning charging into the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation.

  “Ji Ning?” Ninefire’s face instantly turned white from terror. Ning was the hope for the Ji clan’s future rise to power. He had entrusted Ning with the official writ for the City of Ten Thousand Swords. So long as Ning survived…even if the rest of them all perished, it wouldn’t impact the future of the Ji clan that much. Ninefire knew that all of them were going to die, but in his heart, he had still been calm, because Ning had already escaped.

  But now, Ning had returned. “Ji Ning! Leave, quick, leave!” Ninefire transmitted mentally, his thoughts filled with berserk fury. “Who told you to come back? Leave, leave!” Ninefire was truly frantic. Frantic and enraged, frantic to the point of insanity.

  If Ning were to die here, then the Ji clan would truly be annihilated. He, Ninefire, would have no face with which to meet the ancestors of the Ji clan.

  “Leave!!! Have you come to throw your life away?” Ninefire howled with rage. His voice carried a sobbing quality to it, but he could sense that Ning’s speed hadn’t lessened at all, and that he was continuing to charge straight towards Snowdragon Mountain’s group.

  Ninefire, upon discovering Ning’s appearance, had lost his mind out of franticness. If he had calmed down, he would have realized…that Ning was clearly within the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation, and he hadn’t created a passage for Ning through the nether fog. How, then, was Ning advancing directly towards Snowdragon Mountain’s group, as though he could see them?

  But Ninefire had been driven to the brink of berserk madness. Even tears had begun to appear in his eyes. How could he possibly calm down at a time like this?

  “Ji Ning, leave, leave, quickly leave.” Ninefire sent frantically. “Yichuan, Yichuan, quick, stop your son. Ning didn’t leave. He’s attacking Snowdragon Mountain’s group again!”

  Whoosh! Yichuan was currently leaning against a large, crooked tree trunk. Suddenly, he heard the Patriarch’s voice transmitted into his mind. And then, a corridor suddenly appeared within the nether fog which spanned into the distance. In the distance, he saw a figure moving as fast as lightning towards Yichuan’s general direction. This was because Yichuan was currently very close to Snowdragon Mountain’s group.

  “Ji Ning?” Yichuan’s face instantly turned completely white as well, and disbelief appeared in his eyes. He had already prepared himself for death, and his heart had been incomparably calm because his son had departed. The Ji clan would flourish, thanks to his son, and his son’s name would become famous throughout the vast world.

  But! Ji Ning had actually returned. “LEAVE!!!!” Yichuan howled hoarsely towards Ning, his face savage. “Ji Ning, who told you to return? Leave!!! If you don’t leave, even in death, I won’t be able to close my eyes in peace. Quick, leave!”

  ……

  Immediately after charging into the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation, Ning heard the voices of the Patriarch, and then a corridor in the nether fog ahead of him appeared, revealing, in the distance, his father, Yichuan! His father, Yichuan, was currently just three hundred meters away from Adept Xu Li’s group.

  “Leave!” “Quick, leave!” “If you leave, even in death, I won’t be able to close my eyes in peace!” “We will be ashamed to face the ancestors of the Ji clan!”

  Patriarch Ninefire and his father, Yichuan, had been incomparably calm in the face of death, but they were now nearly at the point of collapse. Ning’s appearance…was like an utter nightmare to them! They would rather have their souls destroyed than see such a sight. They were at the point of insanity.

  Ning’s heart trembled upon hearing his father and the Patriarch’s voices. He knew what his father and the Patriarch were thinking. “They’ll understand soon enough.” Ning’s eyes turned sharp, and a ray of light pierced through the ground, controlled by Ning’s divine will. The Evanescent Demonslayer Sword was moving deep underground at a high speed towards the direction of Adept Xu Li.

  Swoosh! Ning himself used his divine ability, the Windwing Evasion, and moved lightning-fast towards Adept Xu Li’s group…

  Surounded by nether fog and a snowy white dragon, Adept Xu Li, Lu Huang, Nong Zidao, and the other Immortal practitioners were all quite relaxed and leisurely. Only Nong Zidao was frowning, his eyes closed as he focused on his analysis. The nether fog bewildering formation’s elemental ki ley lines had clearly grown much more complicated. Fortunately, he had gained some experience from breaking the formation previously, and so he was still able to break through this one. Only, he now needed considerably more time.

  “Eh?” Adept Xu Li’s face changed slightly. He turned his head, staring into the distance; he could sense that the grand sealing formation he had set up had been pierced through. “Who just passed through my sealing formation?” Adept Xu Li’s heart clenched. He grew cautious, and a Dao-seal appeared in his hand out of nowhere.

  As a Wanxiang Adept, he had experienced quite a few dangers. Naturally, he was very cautious. Before preparing for victory, he would first prepare his retreat in event of defeat.

  “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” The ‘Black Serpent Cord’ and the ‘Earth Garrison Seal’, his two mighty Earth-ranked magic treasures, all app
eared and hovered around him, prepared to guard him at all times. But suddenly…

  Swoosh! A figure charged in from within the nether fog, swooping in like a giant Roc. The figure was currently wielding a pair of swords, and moved so fast that Adept Xu Li and the others had to sigh in amazement. But upon seeing the charging figure, Adept Xu Li let out a sigh of relief, then called out in a high voice, “Ji Ning! Can it be that you have come to deliver your life…”

  His voice was still echoing within the region as he summoned seventy two flying swords out of nowhere, sending them enveloping towards Ji Ning. Adept Xu Li already had some experience with dealing with Ning’s speed; this time, he immediately used the many flying swords to entangle Ji Ning.

  “Bang!” An explosive sound rang out. One after another of the flying swords were knocked flying away, and a sword flash immediately appeared in front of Adept Xu Li. Boom! Boom! The Earth-ranked magic treasures, ‘Black Serpent Cord’ and ‘Earth Garrison Seal’, were all blasted away, and the sword light flashed past Adept Xu Li’s head…sending it flying.

  Adept Xu Li had died!

  Rumble…the snowy white dragon that had been coiling around them disappeared as well, and the Zifu Disciples, astonished, weren’t able to react at all. “Bang!” An illusory figure suddenly appeared from from the ground, slashing past Nong Zidao’s head!

  Nong Zidao had been completely absorbed in analyzing the formation. Even now, he was still absorbed in his task…and so, just like that, Nong Zidao died!

  ……

  It all happened in the blink of an eye! Adept Xu Li and Nong Zidao had both died in the blink of an eye. Ji Ning had immediately used his divine ability, ‘Starseizing Hand’, while the Darknorth swords in his hands had also unleashed their most powerful attacks. The power of these attacks was incredible. The seventy two flying swords had all been knocked away, and the two Earth-ranked magic treasures had both been sent flying as well. The sword flash had passed directly through the snowy white dragon and slaughtered Adept Xu Li!