Desolate Era

by RWX

  Immortal Diancai asked curiously, “Fellow Daoist Unity, you’ve taken on many masters?”

  “All mortals,” the gray-robed youth laughed.

  “Mortals?”

  Immortal Diancai and Ji Ning both felt startled; a Celestial Immortal who was willing to take on a mortal as a master? Not just anyone could do something like this!

  “I invited the two of you over for a nice chat,” the gray-robed youth said with a laugh. “A storm is about to befall the Three Realms, and the world of the Grand Xia is naturally not going to be able to avoid it. In addition, there are some hidden powers who are making use of this storm to cause waves of their own. In truth…ever since the Milky Way War, I’ve been living the life of an ordinary mortal. I’ve been quite relaxed…but this can no longer continue.”

  “The life of an ordinary mortal?” Immortal Diancai frowned.

  “If you wish to live a longer live, then you need to avoid being stained by karma,” the gray-robed youth said with a laugh. “What is karma? If you have a friend, and your friend falls into danger, you will naturally go help him; this is karma! If someone like me always hides within a minor world of mortals and doesn’t interact with any Celestial Immortals, with all my friends and enemies believing me to be dead…then they naturally won’t come bother me. This can be considered ‘severing karma’.”

  “I live a carefree life. Naturally, I’m able to live a long, long life.” The gray-robed youth looked towards Immortal Diancai, then laughed, “After this storm ends, fellow Daoist Diancai, you should also set up a ‘false death’ then hide yourself in a minor world of mortals. You can live for trillions of years and still probably wouldn’t perish…unless, of course, you encounter yet another storm like this one, which no one will be able to avoid.”

  Ning and Immortal Diancai were speechless upon hearing this.

  They understood…that this was indeed a fine way to ‘live a long life’. However, not everyone had this sort of willpower, to go live the life of a mortal despite being an exalted Celestial Immortal.

  “Senior Unity, you say that no one will be able to avoid this coming storm?” Ning hurriedly asked.

  “Perhaps the truly exalted Daofathers will remain safe,” the gray-robed youth said, “But for Celestial Immortals like us, and perhaps even for True Immortals and Empyrean Gods, I wager…it will be hard to avoid this storm. Based on what I know, this storm is about to envelop the entire Three Realms. A small place like our Stillwater Commandery has also been thrown into chaos. For example, the rise of the Blood God Church!”

  “Senior, you should be able to eradicate the Blood God Church, right?” Ning asked.

  “Eradicating them would naturally be easy. If I made a trip, they would be immediately wiped out. But if I did that, then the Northmont clan of Stillwater will most likely be viewed as a dangerous source of trouble for that hidden power,” the gray-robed youth said. “Thus…we shall simply continue the low-level struggle against them. We’ll slowly play with the Blood God Church. The biggest benefit of going with the flow is that when the true storm comes, we’ll all be able to join together to fight side-by-side.”

  Immortal Diancai asked, “A hidden power? Which power?”

  “I don’t know either. I imagine you, Diancai, also know that the Grand Xia Dynasty is currently in a state of great chaos. Clearly, the various evil or berserk clans and sects now all have hidden supporters,” the gray-robed youth said. “In fact, I suspect…that some marquises have already thrown their support to the hidden power.”

  “The marquises have changed their loyalties?!” Ning and Diancai were both shocked.

  “The waters are far too muddy right now. No one knows exactly what is going on. Not even the Xia Emperor dares to truly exert his power right now. Everyone is building up their power, waiting quietly to fight,” the gray-robed youth said. “It is the Xia Emperor’s job to deal with the hidden power; as for us, all we need to do is survive. To allow our clans and sects to survive! Thus, I hope that both of you, Ji Ning and fellow Daoist Diancai, shall stand together alongside myself and Hunchmont. If we join forces…we’ll be able to protect the Black-White College, protect Swallow Mountain, and protect the Northmont clan of Stillwater.”

  Ning and Immortal Diancai exchanged a glance.

  “Alright.”

  “Of course.”

  Both of them nodded, agreeing to this alliance.

  One chopstick is easily broken. A bundle of chopsticks are hard to break!

  …..

  Because the Black-White College had a long-standing relationship with the Northmont clan, Ning and his master naturally decided to fight on their side and ally with them!

  “I wonder if you two seniors are aware…of any powers within the world of the Grand Xia who are skilled in the Ba-Serpent Formation?” Ning asked.

  “Ba-Serpent Formation?” Looks of puzzlement appeared on the faces of the gray-robed youth and Hunchmont.

  “There are some powers in the Three Realms that are skilled in the Ba-Serpent Formation, but as for the world of the Grand Xia…I truly haven’t heard of any.” The gray-robed youth shook his head. “Hunchmont, have you heard anything? You are often here at the Grand Xia; you should know more than me.”

  “I haven’t heard of anything either. The Ba-Serpent Formation is no ordinary formation.” Celestial Immortal Hunchmont shook his head as well.

  The next dawn.

  Ji Ning arrived at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain of Stillwtaer City. One of the Diremonster Immortals of the Mountain, a Celestial Fox Immortal, personally came to greet him. She was the highest-ranking member of this branch of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.

  “Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, might I ask why you have come to my Heavenly Treasures Mountain?” The Celestial Fox Immortal was astonishingly alluring, and her bewitching body was sinuous and curvaceous beneath the gauze she wore.

  Ning said, “I wish to investigate regarding a technique known as the Ba-Serpent Formation.”

  “Ba-Serpent Formation?” The Celestial Fox Immortal was startled. “Alright. Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, wait a moment. I’ll go look.”

  “Alright.” Ning nodded.

  He ended up waiting nearly a full hour.

  Ning stared in astonishment as a silver-haired man suddenly appeared before him.

  When he had gone to the imperial capital of the Grand Xia to sell off that arrow, he had encountered this individual, ‘Skyfox’. The reason why many of the branches of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain of the Grand Xia Dynasty were all managed by Celestial Foxes was precisely because the main Heavenly Treasures Mountain was established by this individual, Patriarch Skyfox – the silver-haired man before him.

  “Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, you wish to learn about the Ba-Serpent Formation?” The silver-haired man looked towards Ning.

  “Senior Skyfox, why have you come to Stillwater?” Ning asked, surprised.

  The silver-haired man laughed. Ever since the Xia Emperor had become convinced that Ning had a huge background, the Heavenly Treasures Mountain had naturally elevated Ning’s status in their eyes to an extremely high level. He was given more latitude than even most Celestial Immortal Patriarchs. When he made an intelligence request, this request was instantly relayed to the main headquarters, and once the main headquarters knew, Patriarch Skyfox had personally hurried to Stillwater.

  “I know that you wish to learn of the Ba-Serpent Formation, and so I came,” the silver-haired man said.

  “Does this involve something major?” Ning asked, surprised.

  “Yes.” The silver-haired man nodded. “Very major. This intelligence report is very precious as well. The Heavenly Treasures Mountain wouldn’t even give this report to most Celestial Immortals…but the Xia Emperor views you with great favor, and so we can give it to you.”

  Hearing that the Xia Emperor viewed himself with favor, Ning couldn’t help but say in a rather helpless way, “The Xia Emperor isn’t angry at me for not accepting Sword Immortal Ever
green as my master?”

  “Your choice of a master is primarily your own affair. No matter what, you are still a member of the world of the Grand Xia; you are one of our own. How could the Xia Emperor be such a petty person?” The silver-haired man laughed.

  Ning instantly felt relieved. He could tell that clearly, the Xia Emperor wished to befriend him.

  “The Ba-Serpent Formation…?” Ning looked at him.

  “The Ba-Serpent Formation. In the entire world of the Grand Xia, there is only a single power that knows how to execute it: Bloodcloud Hall,” the silver-haired man said.

  “Bloodcloud Hall?” Ning was puzzled; he had never heard of it before.

  “This is a very secretive assassin’s guild; the number one assassin’s guild of the Grand Xia.” The silver-haired man waved his hand, delivering a thick tome towards Ning. “There are a series of intelligence reports here regarding Bloodcloud Hall, as well as the links between them and some other hidden powers. All of these hidden powers, including Bloodcloud Hall, belong to a single mastermind, the great foe of the Grand Xia.”

  Ning was startled.

  Almost all of the information regarding the powers serving this enemy mastermind had been recorded down in this book. This sort of intelligence report was indeed priceless; the Xia Emperor was actually willing to let him see it?

  “What, don’t you want to read it? This is a detailed report that came at a price of countless lives. Although we aren’t able to completely uncover the face of the enemy mastermind…we can vaguely make him out now.” The silver-haired man continued to hold out that thick tome.

  Ning laughed, then stretched his hand out and accepted it.

  * * *

  Book 14, Chapter 27 - The Sixteenth Stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]

  Roughly thirty years ago, mysterious organizations began to appear throughout the entire world of the Grand Xia. It seemed as though they had come from another world.

  One of the organizations was known as Bloodcloud Hall.

  Bloodcloud Hall was an assassin’s guild. It didn’t participate in any political struggles; whoever gave them treasures, they would help in carrying out assassinations! They would assassinate anyone from puny mortals to mighty Celestial Immortals! They could kill anyone in the entire world of the Grand Xia, aside from the Grand Xia Emperor himself. Ever since Bloodcloud Hall had appeared in the world of the Grand Xia, they had delivered talismans to the various supreme marquises, clans, tribes, and sects. Through the talisman, one could reach out to Bloodcloud Hall and go to the legendary ‘Bloodcloud Hall world’. There, they could offer treasures and sign agreements. Bloodcloud Hall would then go kill their targets.

  If the mission failed, Bloodcloud Hall would try again. If Bloodcloud Hall chose to give up the mission, they would return all the treasures taken.

  If they succeeded…neither side would owe the other anything.

  ……

  There was another power, one known as the Seamless Gate.

  This was a power that was far more mysterious than Bloodcloud Hall. The Seamless Gate had also revealed traces of itself in the world of the Grand Xia roughly thirty years ago. They had furiously stirred up trouble throughout the entire world; for example, here in Stillwater Commandery, they had gifted the Blood God Church, which had always felt hatred towards the Northmont clan of Stillwater, with secret arts and treasures so as to help them grow much stronger.

  In the past, the Blood God Church had been weak, and so the Blood God Church had suppressed its hatred for the Northmont clan. Now that they had grown powerful, and with the blandishments of the Seamless Gate…they had instantly begun to launch frenzied attacks.

  The Seamless Gate had moved to seduce many powers in many places.

  They would bestow treasures and secret arts…and would reward those who killed powerful figures! The more merits their supporters rendered, the more gifts they would bestow.

  “What is this Seamless Gate trying to do?” Ning read through the intelligence report. He couldn’t help but feel dazed and tongue-tied. “They are causing so much trouble in the entire world of the Grand Xia…they are causing everyone to kill as many people as possible, and the more one kills, the more treasures and secret arts one would acquire?”

  No one knew where the headquarters of the Seamless Gate was located.

  In fact, no one had even located a gathering point for the Seamless Gate. The seduced powers all had to wait for the envoys of the Seamless Gate to personally come visit them.

  The Seamless Gate was extremely powerful…their white-robed envoys were all Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals, while their golden-robed envoys were Celestial Immortals. More than three hundred different Celestial Immortals had already been verified!

  “Three hundred?!” A look of utter shock appeared on Ning’s face as he read this figure.

  Terrifying. Utterly terrifying!

  During the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, just a thousand or so Celestial Immortals had come from throughout the Grand Xia Dynasty to the main hall of the Skylight Palace. Of course, there were even more who had remained at home, declining to participate, such as Celestial Immortals Hunchmont and Unity. The Youngflame clan, in turn, had only sent Patriarch Arcanum.

  The entire Grand Xia Dynasty most likely had several thousand Celestial Immortals, perhaps even as many as ten thousand.

  But…

  They represented the full force available to all the marquises, schools, and sects. They weren’t necessarily part of the imperial clan’s power! There was a limit to how powerful the imperial clan was, and in fact there had even been rebellions led by marquises in the past. Even powers like the Northmont clan of Stillwater were acting in a low-key manner, watching passively as events unfolded. There was no way they would act in an insane manner and go serve as cannon fodder for the imperial clan.

  “We have already discovered more than three hundred Celestial Immortals under this single organization, the Seamless Gate. In the entire Grand Xia Dynasty, aside from them, most likely only the imperial clan is this powerful. None of the other clans or tribes are so strong.’ Ning was secretly amazed by this. “No wonder not even the Xia Emperor dares to act rashly; after all, the three hundred-plus so-called ‘golden-robed envoys’ are merely ‘envoys’; they don’t represent the Seamless Gate’s full power.”

  ……

  Bloodcloud Hall was willing to kill anyone for treasures; even the imperial Xia clan could hire them to take on assassination missions.

  The Seamless Gate stirred up trouble throughout the world, causing chaos everywhere. But no one knew anything about the true power, headquarters, or gathering points for the Seamless Gate.

  ……

  Aside from these two major powers, there were other hidden powers as well…but they were even more low-key, showing very few traces of themselves. These two major powers were too brash; naturally, there was a bit more information regarding them.

  Be it the already-revealed Bloodcloud Hall and Seamless Gate, or those other hidden powers…

  They shared a commonality.

  They all appeared roughly thirty years ago!

  “No wonder the Xia Emperor is being so cautious. Bloodcloud Hall and the Seamless Gate are already terrifyingly powerful…much less the other hidden powers,” Ning mused to himself. By now, he had finished reading the book.

  “Don’t worry too much,” the silver-haired man laughed. “The person who controls this world of the Grand Xia is still his Imperial Majesty! These powers that are causing trouble in secret, such as the Seamless Gate…if they truly had the power to shake the imperial clan, they wouldn’t be hiding around furtively, not daring to show their faces, nor would they act in such indirect ways.”

  Ning was momentarily startled, but a moment later he nodded. “Right. I understand.”

  It made sense. Even the likes of the Northmont clan of Stillwater had secret powers behind them such as Patriarch Unity. As the controller of this entire
major world, and as the Grand Xia Emperor who came from the Primordial Imperial Clan…how much power had the Xia Emperor built up over the countless ages? The control the Grand Xia Emperor had over this entire world was extremely deep. Just look at the Raindragon Guard!

  Every single commandery city had a Raindragon Guard branch, and every single Raindragon Guard branch was comparable in power to the local marquis.

  The Raindragon Guard, as a whole, possessed utterly enormous power!

  “His Imperial Majesty was able to bring an end to the era of Fiendgods in this world; he’s not someone that these minor powers are capable of shaking. The storm has yet to truly come; this is nothing but a bit of wind and a few sprinkles of rain.” The silver-haired man smiled as he looked at Ning. “I imagine, Ji Ning, that you now understand things a bit better, and also see clearly the overall state of affairs here in the world of the Grand Xia.”

  “Right.” Ning nodded. “Thank you, senior Skyfox. Oh…I should be thanking his Imperial Majesty for allowing me to see this intelligence report. If it wasn’t for this report, I would have no idea about what Bloodcloud Hall was, to say nothing of the Seamless Gate.”

  “If there’s anything you need, you can go to the imperial capital of the Grand Xia and seek me out,” the silver-haired man said with a laugh. “I’ll naturally do my best to help out.”

  “Definitely.” Ning nodded, then suddenly asked, “Right, has there been any news of my senior apprentice-sister, Yu Wei?”

  “After Yu Wei accompanied Patriarch Lu in leaving the world of the Grand Xia more than thirty years ago, she has yet to return. I imagine she is still training,” the silver-haired man said.

  ……

  Ning led Uncle White out of Stillwater City, returning to Swallow Mountain.

  On this trip to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain, he had gotten the answer he had come for; the Ba-Serpent Formation was a formation often used by the assassins of Bloodcloud Hall. The twelve who had tried to assassinate Ning were then most likely assassins of Bloodcloud Hall. As for who had invited Bloodcloud Hall to do the deed…the first thought Ning had was of the Youngflame clan. Aside from them, Ning could think of no others.