Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Haha…” Suddenly, loud laughter rang out.

  The imperial prince, the two princesses, and the guards all turned to stare in astonishment. That fur-clad youth who they had assumed to be a mortal was standing there, laughing. The fleeing imperial prince of Qi naturally understood right away that this backwater youth was clearly not a mortal. A mortal would have been quivering supinely on the ground by now.

  Rumble…

  An invisible aura of might and power swept out from Ning like an enormous tidal wave, smashing towards the imperial Qi group.

  All of their faces changed. This backwater youth…he was no mortal. He was someone whose power vastly outstripped theirs.

  “My name is Shi Feng. These are my family retainers. Dare I ask who you are, senior?” The tall imperial prince immediately spoke out with great respect. At the same time, he produced a tiny bead of water on his finger. He pretended to scratch his eyes, but in reality he pressed that bead of water onto them.

  Rumble…

  The imperial prince lifted his head to take a look. He saw the ripples of power emanating from the backwater youth, then immediately sent mentally to his two little sister, “Ruyu, Ruhui, judging from the ripples this backwater youth is emanating, he should be at the peak Primal level…and he doesn’t seem to have any ill intentions. We absolutely cannot make an enemy out of him. Each time we use up one of our protective treasures, that is one less that we will never get back.”

  “Understood, big brother,” the black-robed princess sent mentally.

  “He’s just a Primal Daoist. If our imperial father were here…how could a Primal Daoist like him possibly behave so arrogantly in front of us?” The violet-robed princess felt relaxed; she no longer felt afraid. They were of the imperial clan, after all; although their nation had collapsed, they had quite a few treasures on them. They had remained alive for several decades despite being continuously pursued; this was proof of their ability to stay alive.

  Clearly, they were confident in being able to escape from a single Primal Daoist by using up some treasures.

  ……

  “I am Darknorth. For us to meet here today is destiny.” After releasing his aura, Ning then said, “Come aboard my boat and drink a few cups of wine?”

  Ning could tell that these individuals had moved towards Viledragon River with the intent of sailing atop it.

  However….

  Viledragon River was extremely famous, and of these nine only a single was at the Wanxiang Adept level. The other eight were all merely Zifu Disciples. Why was it that they dared to come to Viledragon River?

  Others might fear Viledragon River, but Ning was Patriarch Subhuti’s disciple. He often chatted with his fellow disciples, and had learned about some of the secrets of this Crescent world. Naturally, he had no fear of Viledragon River.

  “Since senior Darknorth has invited us, we shall naturally comply.” The imperial prince immediately accepted the offer. They were going sailing to begin with; with a peak Primal Daoist by their side, they might have a helper.

  Whoosh. Ning waved his finger, and instantly the wooden boat expanded in size, expanding to a three hundred meter long ship. The nine figures immediately boarded the large ship.

  Atop the deck of the ship appeared chairs, tables, fine wine, and spirit-fruit.

  “Sit.” Ning sat down at the host’s position. The imperial prince and the two princesses all sat down, while the other guards remained standing.

  “Shi Feng.” Ning’s gaze fell upon the female maidservant whose body was covered by the golden light of karmic virtue. The golden light surrounding her appeared incomparably majestic and vast; it was at least nine hundred meters long. That was as long as some of Earth’s rivers were wide; from this, one could imagine how utterly astonishing this young woman’s karmic light of virtue was.

  “She is your maidservant?” Ning pointed at the maidservant standing behind the seated violet-robed princess.

  The imperial prince smiled. “Indeed.”

  “What is her name? What is her history? Tell me of her,” Ning said. As Ning saw it…it wouldn’t be too hard for him to take this maiden away from these people. However, this was his first time taking on a disciple! Ning naturally wanted to get an idea as to what sort of personality this maiden had. Her golden light of karmic virtue might be a result of her actions in her previous life; it was hard to say what she was like in this life.

  If she had a negative personality, Ning would rather go find another person with karmic virtue.

  “Her name is Qi Xiaoyu [1. Xiaoyu means Little Rain.]; she came from a backwater place,” the imperial prince said with a laugh. “An elder of my family saw that she was talented, and so took her on as a disciple when she was very young and taught her cultivation. The elder doted on her fiercely; although she is a servant in name, in reality she can be described as my junior apprentice-sister.”

  “Qi Xiaoyu?” Ning raised an eyebrow, then turned to look at her. Her appearance was quite pretty; although she was inferior to Yu Wei, she was still quite a beauty. In addition, there was a resolved look in her eyes; clearly, her Dao-heart was excellent as well.

  “Qi Xiaoyu, come here and sit.” Ning waved his hand, and another table filled with fine wine and spirit-fruit appeared next to him.

  Qi Xiaoyu stood there, hesitating slightly as she looked towards the imperial prince and the two princesses.

  The imperial prince instructed, “Senior Darknorth has already given you instructions; why don’t you go to him?”

  “Alright.” Qi Xiaoyu immediately walked obediently towards the table, but she didn’t touch the wind or the spirit-fruit.

  Ning looked towards Qi Xiaoyu. He could sense that this maiden had an invisible sort of magnetism that caused one to naturally gravitate towards her and want to befriend her. “Is this what it is like to be blessed with tremendous karmic virtue? This is my first time seeing her, but I can’t help but feel kindly inclined towards her.”

  “Xiaoyu,” Ning spoke out.

  “Senior Darknorth,” Qi Xiaoyu replied with great respect.

  “Tell me about your life, from youth til now,” Ning said.

  Qi Xiaoyu looked towards the imperial prince and the two princesses. In truth, this request of Ning’s was rather excessive. Still, the imperial clansmen didn’t wish to offend Ning. This was one of the benefits of being powerful; as long as Ning didn’t go way too far, the imperial prince and princesses wouldn’t quibble too much.

  The imperial prince nodded gently.

  Qi Xiaoyu immediately said, “Senior, when I was young, I lived in a tribe with a few tens of thousands of individuals known as the Bluecliff tribe. The chief of the Bluecliff tribe was my great-grandfather. When I was young, I was without a worry in the world. I was very happy…”

  As she spoke, a look of happiness appeared on Qi Xiaoyu’s face.

  “However, my tribe suffered an attack from Diremonsters. Our tribesmen were all forced to flee in defeat. My family all died, and as I was fleeing, I encountered Master…”

  Ning listened quietly. At his current level, Ning could clearly sense the changes in Qi Xiaoyu’s soul! If she lied, Ning would immediately be able to tell.

  ……

  As Ning was revealing his power, forcibly inviting the imperial Qi clansmen onto the ship, then asking Qi Xiaoyu about her history…

  In the skies more than ten thousand kilometers away, there was a giant black ship. The giant black ship had twelve black-armored figures aboard it.

  The giant black ship had a single flag atop its mast; the flag had the diagram of a pair of flaming wings.

  Local monsters and Immortal cultivators would immediately be able to tell…that this was the legendary Flamewing Guard, which many powers were in absolute dread of.

  “Captain, the survivors of the imperial Qi clan really know how to flee. It has been so many years, but they still haven’t been wiped out yet. Our Flamewing Guard have been chasing them for this entire time.” A
skinny man with scales on his face let out a sigh as he spoke.

  “They are indeed skilled at flight. For the Qi Empire to be able to take over a territory of a million kilometers over the course of just a few tens of thousands of years, and for them to have been able to kill so many Diremonsters at the Earth Immortal or Loose Immortal level…how many treasures must they have? In addition, given how rapid their rise to power was, there are many who believe that the founding emperor of the Qi Empire had acquired an enormous treasure trove. Regardless of whether or not that is true, these fleeing survivors most assuredly have many treasures on them. We’ve chased after and attacked them so many times, but they’ve always been able to flee.” A massively muscular black-armored man replied.

  Next to him was an alluring woman who had a plume on her head. She laughed beautifully. “Captain…no matter what, more and more of the surviving imperial Qi clansmen have been killed by us during the pursuit. The last time we attacked them, we killed the final Primal Daoist the imperial Qi clansmen had. The only three survivors of the imperial Qi clan are the crown prince and those two princesses.”

  “They don’t even have Primal Daoists with them; they are going to die soon.”

  “If we can kill the crown prince and the two princesses, we will have rendered a great merit.”

  Although the survivors of the imperial Qi clan were very weak…they represented the last remnants of their clan. Many of the treasures of the Qi Empire, and perhaps even the Dao-Repository of the Qi Empire, were undoubtedly being carried by the crown prince.

  “Eh?” Suddenly, the massively muscular black-armored man was startled. He waved his hand, and a fireseed appeared within it. The fireseed was trembling.

  “We are within ten thousand kilometers of the survivors of the imperial Qi clan!” The black-armored man revealed a look of delight.

  “Hahaha, this time we are going to catch them all.”

  “We’ve rendered incredible merits.”

  “They don’t even have a single Primal Daoist with them. Wanxiang Adepts? Killing them is as easy as chopping lettuce!”

  The soldiers of the Flamewing Guard were all extremely excited.

  There had long been rumors that the reason why the Qi Empire had risen to power so quickly was because they had acquired an enormous treasure trove. As a result, even the Flamewing King had grown envious, and he had led his Diremonster army to annihilate the entire Qi Empire! He had seized all of the important treasure troves of the Qi Empire. As for the surviving imperial clansmen, the Flamewing King couldn’t be bothered to kill them personally; he simply ordered his subordinates to handle it.

  “If we were to kill these survivors, we can just offer the most precious treasures to the King. As for the other treasures…” The twelve soldiers of the Flamewing Guard looked at each other and smiled. Their eyes flashed with greed and viciousness. Their monstrous king was savage, and his soldiers were also quite savage as well.

  * * *

  * * *

  Book 13, Chapter 16 - Flamewing Guard

  The waves of the vast Viledragon River crashed down like the stampede of ten thousand stallions.

  Aboard the giant ship. After chatting for a period of time, Ning felt as though his mind had been settled. The little lass named Qi Xiaoyu had very little experience; she was as pure as a sheet of white paper. In addition, she was clearly quite respectful towards the young man and the two sisters; she continuously watched for the young man’s signals before acting.

  “Based on what she said, she’s only trained for twenty years. Those blessed by great karmic virtue are indeed talented. And…she isn’t a bad person.” Ning nodded lightly.

  He didn’t require that his disciples be perfect; however, they couldn’t be evildoers. Given his current level of enlightenment, it was very simple for him to judge and assess a mere Zifu Disciple.

  “I like Xiaoyu very much,” Ning said. “Since Xiaoyu’s former master has already perished…I wonder, Shi Feng, if you would be willing to give her up and let her become my disciple.”

  The waves of the vast Viledragon River continued to crash down resoundingly…but within the ship, things had fallen silent.

  Qi Xiaoyu was completely speechless. She hurriedly shook her head repeatedly as she looked towards the crown prince.

  The crown prince and the princesses had changed looks on their faces.

  “This Darknorth really thinks too highly of himself,” the violet-robed princess sent angrily. “He actually wants to take Xiaoyu as his disciple. Xiaoyu is blessed by karmic virtue; she can provide karmic luck to our entire imperial clan. How can we give her away to a random Primal Daoist?! Hmph, even if an Earth Immortal or Loose Immortal wants to take away Xiaoyu, we still shouldn’t agree hastily, to say nothing of this Darknorth!”

  “Big brother,” the black-robed princess sent mentally as well, “What should we do? We definitely can’t let Xiaoyu just be taken away, but this Darknorth wishes to take her as a disciple…what should we do?”

  The crown prince was frowning. The roots of their imperial clan were very deep, and in the past, they had Primal Daoists of their own! A simple sweep of divine sense had allowed them to know that ‘Qi Xiaoyu’ had an utterly astonishing level of karmic virtue. Thus, they had done everything they could to take Qi Xiaoyu into their fold, and had even bestowed her with the imperial surname of ‘Qi’. They had shown her incomparable favor, causing her to feel incomparably grateful.

  “Xiaoyu is an important chess piece. This Darknorth is just a Primal Daoist…we absolutely cannot give her to him,” the crown prince sent mentally.

  ……

  As the crown prince and the princesses were conversing mentally, Qi Xiaoyu said hurriedly, “Senior Darknorth, I received great benevolence from Master and cannot betray…”

  Ning said, “So long as you are willing to allow Xiaoyu to be my disciple, then I will repay you with magic treasures.” As he spoke, he suddenly produced ten Heaven-ranked flying swords that emanated watery ripples of power. The strength of these ripples caused everyone present to feel a sense of pressure.

  “Ten high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords. What do you say?” Ning asked.

  “It seems this seemingly rustic Daoist Darknorth is actually quite wealthy,” the violet-robed princess sent mentally.

  “Heaven-ranked magic treasures are very important to Primal Daoists. It isn’t easy for one of them to produce ten. It seems he truly does want to take Xiaoyu as his disciple. Unfortunately for him, as far our imperial Qi clan is concerned, ten high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords are nothing,” the crown prince sent back.

  Although the three feigned looks of amazement, in their hearts they remained quite calm.

  Seeing this, Ning frowned slightly. “How about a hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords?”

  Instantly, a dense cluster of a hundred Heaven-ranked flying swords appeared in the air above the ship. The ripples emanating from each Heaven-ranked flying sword were enough to cause the Wanxiang Adept and eight Zifu Disciples present to feel an enormous sense of pressure.

  “This, this…”

  Qi Xiaoyu was completely stunned. A hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords? To take her on as disciple, this man was willing to take out this many magic treasures? Although she wasn’t willing to betray the clan, the actions of this ‘senior’ Darknorth who looked like a youth still caused her to feel a hint of delight. For this senior Darknorth to be willing to offer such a high price was testament to how much he valued her.

  “A hundred!” The crown prince and the princesses felt desire now. Although they had quite a few treasures on them, over the course of decades of pursuit after the destruction of their country, with so many of their experts having perished and their treasures having been taken…the total number of treasures they had was now limited.

  A hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords was worth five hundred thousand kilograms of liquefied elemental essence!

  “This Pr
imal Daoist has actually taken out this many Heaven-ranked flying swords.” The violet-robed princess’s eyes were blazing. “Big brother…”

  “The three of you!” Ning controlled the hundred Heaven-ranked flying swords which hovered above them as he frowned and barked, “This is enough. Don’t go too far!”

  The crown prince naturally wanted these items. But he knew quite well that these hundred Heaven-ranked flying swords would be of almost no use to them in their flight. Even if they went to a city and traded it for some elemental essence, what good would that be? They already had some protective, fleeing items; if they bought a few more copies, that wouldn’t make a huge difference.

  “Senior Darknorth,” the crown prince said respectfully, “For you to give up a hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords in exchange for having Xiaoyu follow you as her disciple is of course acceptable. However…it isn’t that we aren’t willing, it is that after Xiaoyu became a Zifu Disciple, she swore an oath to the Dao of the Heavens to be loyal to my clan. For you to force her to leave would be to cause her to violate her oath. She will immediately perish.”

  Ning frowned. “The oaths a servant swears to the Dao of the Heavens…but the master can generally gift the servants to others.”

  It was extremely common for major clans to give away Deathsworn, for example. Thus, when servants swore an oath to the Dao of the Heavens, they would generally say that they would follow the clan leader’s orders in all things.

  “That is true. However, that requires the clan leader of my Stone clan to agree. I cannot agree in his stead,” the crown prince said.

  Ning’s face instantly sank. As it did, the hearts of the crown prince and the others all clenched.

  Ning waved his hand. The hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords in the sky all vanished, and he gave the crown prince a cold look. “You are lying.”

  “Lying?” The crown prince was flabbergasted. “I didn’t lie…”

  “You say that you are Shi Feng? That was a lie! You said that you are unable to permit Xiaoyu to be my disciple and that you need the clan leader to agree; this, too, was a lie!” Ning said coldly.