Desolate Era

by RWX

  Daoist Zhenbao now understood as well. So it was time. Time had changed for them.

  It was as though an instant had passed for him, but thousands of years had passed for them; when time flowed at completely different rates, what happened just now would occur.

  “There’s actually a treasure like this…” Daoist Zhenbao murmured to himself.

  “Hahaha… you aren’t capable of stopping my young master. You aren’t capable of it!” The distant Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, had already begun to flee. As he did so, his laughter echoed out in the heavens.

  The Seawave Dao-soldiers were completely unable to catch him with their attacks. When Xiangliu Fang completely focused on running away, they weren’t able to catch up to him at all.

  “Let’s go, all of us.” Immortal Duohe had the appearance of a middle-aged man, but in that instant, he seemed to have aged significantly.

  Rumble…

  The two Seawave Dao-soldier formations reformed into one, and the massive seawave flew at high speed towards the distance.

  A short period of time later, the massive Seawave Dao-soldiers reunited with the Yaksha Dao-soldiers.

  “You actually failed? Failed?!” Immortal Witchsui sent a mental message over, and the other members of the Witchriver clan looked at them as well.

  “Failed.” Immortal Duohe said hoarsely, “These humans actually held an inconceivably powerful treasure.” Earlier, the two sides had been separated by ten thousand kilometers, and so the Witchriver clan hadn’t been able to clearly watch the exchange of battle.

  “What sort of treasure was it, for it to be able to break through your defense?” Immortal Witchsui asked.

  “A treasure capable of affecting time itself,” Immortal Duohe said, shaking his head.

  “Time?” Immortal Witchsui was shocked as well. He was, after all, of the Witchriver clan; he knew some secrets. Generally speaking, it was fairly common for Celestial Immortals to encounter treasures that affected time itself. For Celestial Immortals, it was a common type of attack. But it was rare for even even one out of ten thousand Earth Immortals to become a Celestial Immortal…

  Treasures capable of influencing the flow of time, to Loose Immortals, were incomparably powerful. The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals of the outside world might have witnessed such treasures before, but these two Loose Immortals of the Immortal estate world had only heard of them.

  “Don’t worry,” Immortal Witchsui sent mentally. “It is already incredible that the human had even one such treasure. I refuse to believe he has a second one.” Immortal Duohe nodded as well.

  “Duohe, we have no way out now. This is the last palace. We have to guard it! This is our last chance to acquire the key to the Immortal estate,” Immortal Witchsui said. “The dream which those of us within the Immortal estate have held for countless generations… this is our very last chance.”

  “Not just our last chance at leaving,” Immortal Duohe said hoarsely. “Our last chance at survival as well.”

  “Survival?” Immortal Witchsui was startled… and then, his face turned completely pale.

  “Someone capable of having a treasure like this, and having a Fiendgod serve as a guard… these humans definitely have an extraordinary background.” Immortal Duohe’s voice echoed out in the minds of every single Dao-soldier. He slowly said something which caused terror in every single monstrous Dao-soldier’s heart. “After he completely binds this final palace, then he will be in complete control of the entire Immortal estate. By then, he can do whatever he wants to us; everything will be under his control. He can also summon an army from the outside world, or he can also destroy the environment of this Immortal estate world, causing our descendants to not even have anything to eat or drink, starving them to death. In short… if he binds this Immortal estate, he will have countless tools at his disposal.”

  All of the monsters were terrified. Right. If the enemy was to control the Immortal estate, he could launch sneak attacks from anywhere in the estate. If he were to toss out some powerful, deadly poisons…

  It would be too simple to destroy an area of mere tens of thousands of kilometers. Some terrifyingly powerful poisons were capable of causing an area of tens of thousands of kilometers to be completely poisoned, where not even a blade of grass would grow.

  Creation was hard. Destruction was easy. After destroying the environment of this Immortal world, a few tens of thousands of years later, most likely almost no one would be left alive within it.

  “This is our last hope.”

  “This is our last chance.”

  “We have to fight.”

  “We have to seize the key to the Immortal estate.”

  “Even if all of us die, we cannot let them bind this final palace!!!” Immortal Duohe’s voice rang out in the skies.

  “Fight.”

  “Fight!”

  “FIGHT!”

  All of the monsters howled in anger. All of them brimmed with eagerness for battle. This was no longer a battle for freedom; it was a true battle for survival!

  ……

  Within an ancient palace.

  The warship had charged in, and as soon as it did, the golden glow around it completely vanished. The mysterious, powerful aura that had previously permeated the warship was completely gone; it seemed completely inert and lifeless.

  “The formation-diagrams finally collapsed.” Northson shook his head. “Towards the end, the warship was just flying forward on momentum. A Heaven-ranked construct-warship, just like that, was destroyed.”

  “The Heaven-ranked construct-warship was nothing.” Adept Vastriver shook his head, gesturing with his eyes. “Take a look at young master Youngflame.”

  Ning and the others had noticed as well. Youngflame Nong was currently clutching that paper scroll, staring fixedly at the ‘lock’ character atop it. Alas, the ‘lock’ character now seemed completely ordinary. There was nothing special about it at all.

  “One Instant, A Thousand Years,” Yu Wei said softly. “This sort of treasure, when used, can virtually guarantee the death of a Loose Immortal. Although this sort of treasure isn’t Immortal-ranked, it isn’t too far from it in value.”

  Ning and the others were puzzled. The nearby Ninelotus, seeing the look on Ning’s face, sent mentally to him, “One Instant, A Thousand Years – this name symbolizes the ability of this sort of treasure to affect the rate of time. For you, it might feel as though an instant had passed, but for the enemy, more than a thousand years would have passed. But of course, that’s only an extremely, overly extravagant description. In short, when the rate of time is flowing at very different speeds, a Primal Daoist is capable of killing a Loose Immortal. From this, you can tell how precious this treasure is.”

  Ning understood.

  Originally, when he had received the [Starseizing Hand] transmission in the transmission space of the underwater estate, he had spent months within, but time in the outside world had barely moved. This was indeed far more incredible than a mere scroll.

  “Damn. Damn.” Youngflame Nong stared at the scroll in his hand, grinding his teeth.

  * * *

  Book 10, Chapter 18 - The Dao Repository of the Ji Clan

  “Judging from the look on young master Youngflame’s face, he must be about to go crazy from grief.” Mu Northson’s mental voice had a hint of schadenfreude to it. This exalted young master had taken one powerful treasure after another. How could Ji Ning, Northson, Xue Hongyi, and the others not feel powerless before them?

  They all understood that they were nothing more than geniuses of Stillwater Commandery… while the man before them was very likely going to be the next Godplume Duke! Someone who was even more exalted than the Marquis of Stillwater!

  Even though he was just the heir to the position, the treasures he possessed were enough to cause Ning and the others to constantly sigh in amazement.

  “The monsters of this Immortal estate… I won’t spare any of them.” Youngflame Nong ground his
teeth. To charge into this fourth palace, he had to use up his Heaven-ranked construct-warship, a Wildcore, and his ‘Lock’ scroll; psychologically, he had been completely unprepared to have to use up all three treasures. And this was just the fourth palace; by now the Seawave Dao-soldiers and the Yaksha Dao-soldiers had surely assembled outside the fifth and final palace. The cost for them to enter that fifth palace would definitely be incomparably astonishing. Just thinking about it made young master Youngflame feel miserable.

  “I am definitely going to enslave them all, then sell them offer to various tribes. Their descendants will forever be slaves,” Youngflame Nong said with a hate-filled voice.

  “Young master Youngflame.” Xue Hongyi spoke out softly.

  “Yes?” Young master Youngflame looked at him. “What is it?”

  Xue Hongyi immediately smiled and said, “Young master, are you worrying about entering the fifth palace? As I see it, actually, there’s no need to fight head-on against them. These monsters just want to leave this Immortal estate world, right? Young master, you can promise to let them leave. I imagine that these monsters would be willing to accept. Each of you can set an oath to the Dao of the Heavens, which they wouldn’t dare violate. In this way, young master, you would be able to enter the fifth palace without using up any treasures. What do you think, young master?”

  Xue Hongyi thought that his idea was a good one.

  Young master Youngflame gave him a cold glance. Between grinding teeth, he spoke out two words: “You imbecile!”

  “Young…” Xue Hongyi’s face instantly turned red.

  Being a genius of cultivation didn’t necessarily mean that one was intelligent in handling worldly affairs. Still, Xue Hongyi was still quite intelligent; upon being rebuked by young master Youngflame as an ‘imbecile’, although he felt incredibly insulted, he then immediately understood what Youngflame Nong was thinking.

  Ninelotus, standing next to Ning, sent a mental laugh to him. “This Xue Hongyi really is an imbecile. Since young master Youngflame has elected to come to this estate, he most likely has already prepared for all contingenices. As far as he is concerned, if he can bind this estate, then all of the monsters within can be toyed with as he pleases; they wouldn’t even be able to escape. Tens of thousands of monster-slaves, and all of which are Dao-soldiers as well! There are even precious Yaksha Dao-soldiers here… only Celestial Immortals could afford to be so extravagant. Once he offers these Dao-soldiers to his clan, not only will he be able to make up for his losses, he will be rewarded richly! To negotiate with the monsters and to let them leave… isn’t this the same as letting an enormous fortune just walk away?”

  Ning nodded his head. The vast number of Seawave Dao-armors and Yaksha Dao-armors alone was an inestimable fortune.

  “This palace actually doesn’t even have a single golem within, nor are there any attacking formations.” Youngflame Nong no longer focused on his losses, instead carefully inspecting the palace.

  “Hmph.” He suddenly waved his hand, and a bubbling, boiling black strand of elemental ki spread out in every direction, striking against the walls of the palace. Rumble, rumble, rumble. The palace walls were incomparably sturdy, but under the assault of the elemental ki, three words suddenly appeared on the palace wall in front of them: DAO REPOSITORY PALACE.

  “Dao Repository Palace?” The eyes of Ning and everyone else lit up.

  Every single power needed to build a Dao Repository. Even the Ji clan of West Prefecture City had its own vault that was used for hiding sutras and scripts for its descendants to learn from. The Black-White College had its own Dao Repository as well. Immortal Witchriver had his own forces; although his roots weren’t as deep and his history wasn’t as old as the Black-White College, he vastly surpassed the likes of Snowdragon Mountain.

  Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

  Without even waiting for Youngflame Nong to say anything, Ning and the others transformed into streaks of light, charging towards a corridor right next to the three characters, ‘DAO REPOSITORY PALACE’. The reason they all charged towards this corridor was because this was the only corridor there was.

  “These guys…” With a swooshing sound, Youngflame Nong charged forward as well.

  ……

  Upon charging into the corridor, what greeted them was a massive, vast hall. The insides of this hall were filled with countless books, a veritable sea of them, most likely not much smaller than the Dao Repository of the Black-White College.

  “Quick, take them.”

  “Quick.”

  All of them seemed to have been possessed.

  Every single power cared deeply about its techniques and secret arts. If they were to find any which the Black-White College was not in possession of and offer it to them, they would be able to acquire enormous sums of black-white pellets.

  “Whoosh.” Ning waved his hand, and a large number of books in front of him were immediately collected into his storage-type magic treasure.

  As for the Azure Skysnake, she blinked from place to place, calling out in celebration, “C’mere, all of ya!” The books beneath her all vanished.

  “Come.” The Whitewater Hound collected the books before him as well.

  “Take them.”

  “These are mine.”

  Xue Hongyi had gone crazy as well. Everyone, including the final person to enter, Youngflame Nong, began to quickly collect the books.

  Although this giant hall had a massive number of books, in just a few moments, the entire hall had been completely emptied out. In the end, they didn’t even spare the shelves used to carry the books.

  “Look at how crazy all of you have gotten.” Youngflame Nong shook his head. “I hope these aren’t just the abridged versions. All of you will be stupefied if they are.”

  Ning and the others knew this as well. It was very likely that the books here were simple abridged versions… but no one wanted to take the risk that they weren’t. After all, it would take some time to ascertain if a book was an abridged version or not, and in the time it took, everyone else would have seized all the other books.

  “Let’s take a look.” Ning and the others started to take out one book after another, perusing through them carefully. Moments later…

  “Abridged.”

  “This one is abridged; it just has the very first part of the technique.”

  “This is abridged.”

  “This one is also abridged.”

  “This one isn’t abridged, it is complete, but it is actually the most commonly seen formation technique.”

  All of them were instantly downfallen; nearly ninety percent of the books were abridged, and as for the complete versions? They were commonly known commodies; in the Black-White College, one didn’t even have to use black-white pellets to trade for them. Almost all larger schools had them.

  The books with more valuable techniques, secret arts, and divine abilities… were all abridged.

  “Almost all of these are abridged,” Ning mused to himself. “But there should definitely be a place where the full versions are located. The full versions should be located in a more hidden area. I refuse to believe that Immortal Witchriver carried all of those books with him. Can it be that his clansmen wouldn’t need to train while he was wandering and adventuring?”

  Swoosh! Ning immediately scurried towards one of the four corridors leading away from the massive hall.

  It wasn’t just Ning who had come to this conclusion; the others had as well. There had to be complete versions somewhere! And that place was most likely hidden.

  Swoosh. Youngflame Nong, by relying on the affinity from the key to the estate, moved into one corridor, quickly discovering a private room.

  “Here it is.” Youngflame Nong entered the room, immediately seeing the skeleton within it.

  This skeleton was the guardian of the Dao Repository Palace!

  “In you go.” Youngflame Nong collected the skeleton, and then turned his gaze towards a st
one book. His key was telling him… that this stone book was the core for the entire Dao Repository Palace.

  “Bind.” Youngflame Nong just bound a small part of it, then came to a halt. He only needed to bind a small part of it to ensure that all of the formations and restrictive spells within the Dao Repository Palace would be deactivated.

  And then, Youngflame Nong quickly left the room, beginning to search as well. If he were to locate a powerful divine ability or secret art which the Youngflame clan didn’t already possess, he would be rendering a major merit. However, given how ancient and powerful the Youngflame clan was… it was very, very hard to discover secret arts or divine abilities they didn’t already have.

  ……

  Ning’s divine sense had been activated long ago, filling every single part of the hall he was in. However, since the walls of the Immortal estate blocked out divine sense, he wasn’t able to search deeper.

  “Ning, son, quick, come over here!” Uncle White suddenly sent him a mental message.

  Ning, just about to push open a stone door and investigate, suddenly came to a halt. He transformed into a streak of light, hurrying towards Uncle White’s direction. Just a few seconds later, he entered a private room.

  Within the private room, there were rows of books, all of which were protected by restrictive spells. However, these restrictive spells were all inactive, and the Whitewater Hound, Xue Hongyi, and Adept Vastriver were frantically seizing them.’

  “Quick.”

  Ning had no time to waste. He began to frantically start collecting books. Actually, as soon as he entered the room and saw the books and bookshelves, Ning felt quite certain that they should all be complete versions. This was because generally speaking, complete versions of techniques would span up to ten full volumes. Abridged versions, in turn, might take up just a thin book.