Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Who told you that the Primordial Ruinworld consists of the skeletal remnants of Pangu’s World?” The Rahu Bow asked.

  “Isn’t this public knowledge?” Ning asked.

  Ning did indeed know that the destruction of Pangu’s World involved many secrets…but aside from the skeletal remnants of Pangu’s World, what else could the Primordial Ruinworld be?

  “What the public knows is wrong!” The black-robed youth was disdainful.

  “It is indeed wrong,” the giant yellow bear sent mentally. “In fact, even I’m not too sure about the true truth behind the birth of the Primordial Ruinworld.”

  “Eh?” Ning was startled. “Senior bear, what do you know?”

  “Ask your master in the future,” the giant yellow bear said. “The Rahu Bow and I are merely treasures, and Rahu’s master, Qi, was merely an Empyrean God. Although the master I followed was more powerful, Master hid me away long before he went to participate in the final battle, and so I know very little. Your master’s status is even higher than my master’s; he definitely knows far more than me.”

  Ning nodded lightly.

  “However…I can tell you with certainty that the Primordial Ruinworld isn’t as simple a matter as you have described it to be. If it truly was merely the remnants of Pangu’s World, how could it be such a terrifying place? You need to understand that Pangu’s World was an extremely normal world, whereas the Primordial Ruinworld you have described is far too terrifying. Not even the Dao of the Heavens exists within it…it truly is bizarre!” The giant yellow bear continued, “As for this place where you are right now…I’ve given it some thought, and I believe that it should be the region where the Void meets the Primordial Ruinworld…the Nihilum Zone!”

  “Nihilum Zone?” Ning’s eyes instantly lit up.

  He naturally knew about nihilum zones.

  A major world was like an island that existed within the vast, infinite Void! At the borders where the Void met the island, stormy voidwaves would emerge and crash against the world. This region would commonly be referred to as a nihilum zone. However, because major worlds were ‘tiny’, the voidwaves around them would be very weak, and so the nihilum zones around the likes of the Grand Xia world were quite safe. For people like Ning, at least, they were like tiny little ripples.

  “Right. Everyone says that the Primordial Ruinworld is comparable to Pangu’s World in size; it is infinitely vaster than ordinary major worlds,” Ning immediately said. “Then the place where the Primordial Ruinworld meets with the Void will naturally have far more powerful voidstorms.”

  “Right!”

  “This should indeed be the Nihilum Zone outside the Primordial Ruinworld,” Ning said. “Only a place as mysterious as the Primordial Ruinworld can possibly result in a place where even the Dao of the Heavens cannot be sensed.”

  “Ji Ning, no matter what, you absolutely must not enter the Primordial Ruinworld. The Primordial Ruinworld probably still has remnants of dangerous power within it,” the giant yellow bear sent hurriedly. “A huge number of True Gods and Daofathers died in the past within this place; even if it’s no longer as dangerous as it was before, for someone like you to enter might result in instant disintegration.”

  “Right, right, right. Don’t go in!” The Rahu Bow hurriedly agreed.

  “Of course not. After all, according to the legends…not even True Gods or Daofathers are willing to recklessly enter the Primordial Ruinworld.” Ning nodded.

  ……

  An hour later.

  Boom…

  The voidwaves were growing increasingly powerful, sending Ning flipping more than ten thousand kilometers away before he was able to come to a halt.

  “…That’s way too much power. The harder I press forward, the more powerful the waves become.” Ning felt helpless. “How am I supposed to get out of here?”

  “You are so stupid.” The black-robed youth stood next to him, completely ignoring the voidwaves. He roared with laughter, “The voidwaves will naturally weaken once they grow close to a major world…but the farther away they are, the more savage they become, until they reach a certain limit! If this Primordial Ruinworld is comparable to Pangu’s World in size, then most likely only a True God or Daofather will be able to force their way out of the Nihilum Zone. Not even Empyrean Gods or True Immortals will be able to accomplish it. Given your power…there’s no way you can possibly force your way out past the waves.”

  “Then am I supposed to just go along with the waves?” Ning asked.

  “If you go with the waves, you’ll end up in the Primordial Ruinworld. That’s death,” the Rahu Bow said.

  “Then what should I do?” Ning was helpless.

  He couldn’t force his way against the waves, but if he went along with them into the Primordial Ruinworld, that would be suicide.

  “What else can you do? Try your best to stay alive,” the Rahu Bow said. “Just slowly train within this Nihilum Zone. The power of the Solar Star and Lunar Star cover this place; you can continue to train in divine power.”

  “That’s my only choice, I suppose.” Ning couldn’t come up with any ideas, no matter what he did.

  So…he might as well as just wander.

  He’d slowly drift about on the voidwaves. As long as he didn’t go too close to the Primordial Ruinworld, it didn’t matter where he went.

  He would train on his journey.

  ……

  As Ning was drifting about within the Nihilum Zone outside the Primordial Ruinworld. Within the Youngflame clan’s tower.

  Whoosh! A streak of light flew into the tower; it was the horned, golden-robed man.

  “Ancestor.”

  “Master.”

  Everyone called out to him.

  “I’ve already sent Windraiser to the mini-Netherworld.” The Youngflame Ancestor nodded, then said, “The Ten Yama-Kings of Hell of the mini-Netherworld gave me face, but Windraiser’s sin was simply too deep; he’s currently being tormented and tortured within the endless depths of Hell. After his torture ends and his sin has dissipated, he’ll be reborn into your Youngflame clan. However…that will be more than eight million years from now.”

  Celestial Immortals Infatuation, Sunfish, and the others all nodded.

  Tremendous sinners who entered the Netherworld would indeed suffer mightily; there was nothing that could be done about this.

  “Ji Ning and Windraiser both suffered the descent of karmic sinflames.” The Youngflame Ancestor’s face turned grim and sinister. “Now that more than seven days has passed…he is either dead or alive. Come up with a way to have some of our people go investigate Ji Ning’s school, the Black-White College. If he is dead, his life-tablet within the Black-White College will shatter. Investigate in detail; we absolutely must find out if his life-tablet is intact or not.”

  “Alright.” Each of them assented.

  “I’ll make the arrangements,” Celestial Immortal Arcanum said. He carried out the most miscellaneous tasks amongst their group; after all, he was the weakest of the Celestial Immortals.

  “Fine. Arcanum, you can hanldle it. Remember, you have to investigate this in detail; you have to verify whether or not his life-tablet is intact. You can’t just listen to some wild rumors or speculations.” The Youngflame Ancestor’s eyes narrowed. “Until I know for sure that he is dead…I will find it hard to rest at ease.”

  All six of them had solemn looks on their faces.

  If Ning didn’t die, they would feel uneasy.

  After all…it was incredibly difficult for a Celestial Immortal to be born, but they had lost two of them to Ji Ning! In addition, if Ning truly had managed to survive…that calamitous fiend would most likely cause the Youngflame clan to continue to suffer terrifying losses in the future.

  * * *

  Book 16, Chapter 7 - Half A Year Later

  As the Youngflame clan was planning to send people to Stillwater City and come up with a way to verify Ning’s status…the Xia Emperor, within the imperia
l capital of the Grand Xia, was planning to send out his subordinate, Skyfox.

  “Skyfox, pay a visit to the Black-White College. I need to know if Ji Ning is alive or not.”

  “Yes, Master,” Skyfox said, accepting the order immediately.

  The Xia Emperor cared deeply about whether or not Ning was alive. He had decided long ago that Ning had to be a Daofather’s disciple. Could it be that such a peerless figure had truly perished? Emotionally speaking, the Xia Emperor truly couldn’t believe this…but after hearing the report from Youngflame Freak, he had immediately dispatched his Godslayer Guards to deal with the escaped Fiendgods, then began to use his Mirror of Omniscience to watch what was happening within the Oldjade mountain range. He had personally watched the descent of the karmic sinflames through the Mirror of Omniscience!

  “He’s trained for less than a century, after all. Although he is a genius the likes of which the entire major world rarely sees…in the face of the descent of karmic sinflames, he has less than a ten percent chance of surviving.” The Xia Emperor had watched Ning battle with the Youngflame clan through his Mirror of Omniscience. He wanted to be friends with Ning, while the Youngflame clan was his subordinate tribe…it truly wasn’t appropriate for him to intervene, and so all he could do was help neither side.

  Stillwater City. The Black-White College.

  A white-robed, white-haired man was flying towards Immortal Diancai’s residence.

  “What? You want to know if Ji Ning is alive or not?” Immortal Diancai glanced at Immortal Skyfox, utter confusion on his face. “Fellow Daoist Skyfox, why would you ask such a thing?”

  “Eh?” Immortal Diancai turned his head to glance outwards. As the master of this place, he had naturally set up a series of simple formations around his mountain. When the white-robed, white-haired Whitewater Hound arrived, Immortal Diancai noticed right away. Frowning, he murmured to himself, “The Whitewater Hound came as well?”

  “Whitewater Hound?” Immortal Skyfox smiled. “Since Ji Ning’s spirit-beast is here…it’s best for you to ask the Whitewater Hound abouto Ji Ning, fellow Daoist Diancai. He will definitely know more than I do.”

  “Brother White.” Immortal Diancai immediately called out to him.

  Although Uncle White wasn’t a formal disciple of the Black-White College, he was the spirit-beast of a formal disciple and was also a Void-level Earth Immortal. His status within the Black-White College was now far higher than it had been, and he was allowed to go to almost anywhere he pleased.

  “Immortal Diancai.” Uncle White walked over. Upon seeing the seated Skyfox, he immediately said, “My respects to you, Immortal Skyfox.”

  “Sit,” Immortal Diancai immediately urged.

  Uncle White sat down. Immortal Diancai immediately asked him, “Fellow Daoist Skyfox came to my place to ask about whether our Ji Ning is alive or not. What has happened to him?”

  Uncle White couldn’t help but look towards Skyfox.

  Skyfox said, “I have come on orders from the Xia Emperor to investigate this matter.”

  “The Xia Emperor sent out the Godslayer Guards; he must know exactly what happened within the Oldjade mountain range. Is there really a need for me to spell everything out?” Uncle White had a rather ugly look on his face; he felt that given that the Xia Emperor had sent out the Godslayer Guards, he should’ve been able to rescue Ning…but he had not.

  “The Xia Emperor only sent out the Godslayer Guards after receiving a report from the Youngflame clan that many Fiendgods had escaped into the world,” Skyfox immediately said. “At first, he didn’t know about what had happened with Ji Ning. Only when the Godslayer Guards returned to make their report did he learn that Ji Ning was present as well…and so the Xia Emperor went to query the Youngflame clan, at which point he learned what had happened. However, by then it was far too late!”

  Uncle White didn’t say anything.

  “What are you talking about?!” Immortal Diancai asked.

  “My son Ning has an extremely deep feud with the Youngflame clan,” Uncle White said plainly. “The Youngflame clan wasn’t willing to let things rest either, and so Ning charged straight into the Youngflame clan’s headquarters. They weren’t able to do anything to him, but they played a dirty trick which caused him to kill more than ten billion ordinary mortals. Karmic sinflames instantly descended upon him.”

  “He accidentally killed ten billion mortals, causing the descent of karmic sinflames?” Immortal Diancai’s face immediately changed.

  He viewed Ji Ning as he might one of his own children. Upon hearing that Ning had accidentally killed ten billion mortals and caused the descent of karmic sinflames, he was instantly stupefied.

  “Then where is he now?” Immortal Diancai asked.

  “My son Ning was instantly assaulted and burned by karmic sinflames, but the Youngflame clan still wouldn’t let it rest. They used some sort of teleportation technique to send him far beyond the world of the Grand Xia,” Uncle White said, his face ashen.

  “How long ago did the karmic sinflames begin to wreath themselves around him?” Immortal Diancai asked.

  “Seven days ago,” Uncle White said. “More than seven days have passed, but I can sense that he is still alive. He’s survived the karmic sinflames.”

  Immortal Diancai let out a sigh of relief.

  Karmic sinflames!

  They were utterly terrifying. Even he, Ning’s master, wouldn’t dare claim that he would definitely be able to withstand them. He felt both worried for and proud of his disciple.

  “Congratulations, felicitations! He overcame the karmic sinflames tribulations.” The nearby Skyfox laughed, but his heart was still filled with utter amazement. And not just him…even the Xia Emperor had felt that Ji Ning was extremely unlikely to have survived the karmic sinflames.

  “He should have finished with the karmic sinflames tribulations roughly three or four hours ago.” Uncle White continued in a low voice, “He naturally has a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal with him…he would’ve teleported back long ago, unless he was trapped within some sort of unescapable danger zone. Since he hasn’t come back…he’s clearly trapped in a place where even a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal does not work.”

  Immortal Diancai’s face turned ugly again.

  Skyfox nodded gently. “That makes sense. The Youngflame clan has an extremely terrifying clan-protecting treasure, a Protocosmic spirit-treasure that is known as the Worldhold Pagoda. The Worldhold Pagoda has the power to tear open space and teleport people through it. Given how much they hate Ji Ning, they definitely must have sent him into the infinite Void that lies beyond the Three Realms. They absolutely wouldn’t have sent him somewhere where he could simply use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to escape and return.”

  “Then what should we do?” Immortal Diancai immediately asked.

  “There’s nothing we can do. Some of the danger zones within the Void are so deadly that not even True Immortals or Empyrean Gods can escape from them.” Skyfox shook his head. “Diancai, although you’ve become a Celestial Immortal…you are unable to help Ji Ning in this matter. In addition, no one knows where he is right now.”

  “The Youngflame clan…” A look of boundless rage was within Immortal Diancai’s eyes.

  Immortal Diancai knew very well about the feud between Ji Ning and the Youngflame clan.

  After all…in the past, Patriarch Arcanum of the Youngflame clan had actually gone to the Black-White College to try and force them to hand him over.

  “Also…the Youngflame clan is extremely wary of Ji Ning,” Skyfox said. “Two of the Celestial Immortals of the Youngflame clan died by his hand this time. Most likely, they are going to do everything they can to investigate as to whether or not he was able to survive the karmic sinflames. Thus…they will definitely come to the Black-White College to investigate.”

  “He killed two Celestial Immortals?” Immortal Diancai was surprised.

  “Yes, that is why the Youngflame clan is wary
of him,” Skyfox said. “This disciple of yours truly is formidable.”

  Immortal Diancai quickly calmed down. Nodding, he said, “Understood. Don’t worry…the Youngflame clan can forget about learning any information regarding Ji Ning’s status from our Black-White College. Also…fellow Daoist Skyfox, I hope that your side will not leak out any information regarding his status either.”

  “Don’t worry. When I return, I will make my report to the Xia Emperor, and him alone. The Xia Emperor wouldn’t act to leak this news to the Youngflame clan,” Skyfox said.

  ……

  That very day, Immortal Diancai issued an order: The Starfire Palace, where all the life-tablets of the disciples of the Black-White College were located, was to be completely sealed and locked down! Nobody was permitted to go anywhere near it! Not even the Loose Immortals of the Black-White College dared to go there now. Immortal Diancai was now a Celestial Immortal; naturally, that meant he had the highest rank and authority within the Black-White College.

  In addition, the sealing of a palace that contained life-tablets was a minor matter. No one opposed it.

  “Sealed?”

  “Completely sealed? Why has the Black-White College suddenly and completely sealed away the Starfire Palace? Can it be that Ji Ning truly has perished?” Celestial Immortals Arcanum, Deadwood, and the others were all puzzled upon hearing this news.

  ……

  Time flowed onwards.

  Immortal Diancai personally stood guard over the Starfire Palace.

  “Disciple, it has been more than three months…” Immortal Diancai stared at the table in front of him, covered with life-tablets. One of the life-tablets represented Ji Ning. This life-tablet remained unbroken; clearly, Ji Ning remained alive despite being trapped in a distant danger zone.