Desolate Era

by RWX

  The thunder in the skies finally came to a complete halt.

  The supreme Sword Immortal, Patriarch Lu, nodded as he watched from his position atop the nearby mountain peak. “Seven nine-sets of thunder tribulation; essentially what I thought it would be. My disciple is a Ki Refiner…even for a reincarnated Immortal, to encounter seven nine-sets of thunder tribulation is a bit much. It seems my disciple has indeed been hiding a few things.”

  “The demonheart tribulation is beginning.”

  “I’m afraid that for my disciple, the most dangerous tribulation is this demonheart tribulation,” Patriarch Lu mused to himself.

  Yu Wei, in her past life, had been a true asura demon; she had been extremely powerful, and in her past life she had been comparable to Immortal Northwalker. In this life, under the guidance of Patriarch Lu, she had reached an even higher level of insight into the Dao; after executing a forbidden technique, she had been able to overcome the seven nine-sets of thunder tribulation.

  But the demonheart tribulation was strange and unfathomable.

  “In her past life, due to her tragedies, she transformed into an asura demon,” Patriarch Lu mused to himself. “And in her heart, she is hiding a major secret that she won’t tell anyone, not even me. The deeper one hides secrets within the heart…the more terrifying the demonheart tribulation shall be. In her past life, she failed her Celestial Tribulation; I wonder how she will do in this one.”

  Time passed, one day after the other.

  Six days. Seven days. Eight days…

  Fifteen days. Sixteen days…

  Yu Wei still just sat there. Her demonheart tribulation persisted for an extraordinarily long period of time…

  * * *

  Book 16, Chapter 16 - Returning to the Grand Xia

  Yu Wei’s demonheart tribulation persisted for an extremely long period of time. Patriarch Lu, however, just stood there quietly atop the nearby mountain peak, watching in complete calmness.

  Suddenly…

  A sound rang out in the world, a sound which symbolized Heaven and Earth. It was incomparably profound, majestic, and intoxicating. As this Immortal melody rang out, rainbow-colored clouds began to appear in the sky, and the ground became filled with golden lotus flowers. It seemed as though the very center of the world was this black-robed maiden that sat in the lotus position.

  Yu Wei’s eyes were already open. A deep, longing love was in her eyes, but a hint of a smile was on her lips.

  A flood of natural energy was gathering around her, and her body was beginning to emanate with an Immortal, spiritual aura.

  “Heaven has bestowed propitious clouds, and Earth has given birth to golden lotuses.” The distant Patriarch Lu smiled, then clapped his hands lightly. “From now on, you shall no longer be subject to the Three Calamities or Nine Tribulations. A fine Celestial Immortal…a fine Celestial Immortal!”

  As for Yu Wei, she flew towards the distant Patriarch Lu.

  “Well done.” Patriarch Lu was very satisfied. “This tribulation is the greatest tribulation an Immortal cultivator shall ever face. After having overcome it…you have now ascended to the skies in a single step. Your life shall now last as long as the heavens themselves.” Of course, although one would no longer be bothered by heavenly tribulations and one had a truly unlimited lifespan, if other, more powerful Immortals or Fiendgods killed you, there was nothing for it.

  Even True Gods and Daofathers…even Pangu…would perish.

  “If not for your tutelage, Master, your disciple definitely wouldn’t have overcome this Celestial Tribulation.” Yu Wei fell to her knees, respectfully pressing her head downwards and kowtowing in thanks. She had been very strong in her past life, but she hadn’t even been able to withstand six nine-sets of thunder tribulation, much less seven nine-sets. She had advanced at an astonishingly rapid pace while accompanying Patriarch Lu.

  Patriarch Lu nodded lightly. After Yu Wei rose to her feet, he finally said, “Yu Wei…”

  Yu Wei was startled. Patriarch Lu very rarely referred to her by her name.

  “There is something which I have been hiding for you, so as to prevent it from impacting your Celestial Tribulation. And now…it is time to tell you,” Patriarch Lu said.

  “Master, what is it?” Yu Wei hurriedly asked. In her heart, however, she had a bad feeling. So as to prevent it from impacting her Celestial Tribulation? Her Dao-heart was incredibly strong; what sort of matter could possibly make Patriarch Lu worry about her Celestial Tribulation being affected? A major matter, for sure…and one which involved something she truly cared about.

  “Is it…my junior apprentice-brother, Ji Ning?” Yu Wei looked at Patriarch Lu. Her parents had died long ago; the only person she truly cared about in this world was her Dao-companion, Ji Ning.

  “Right. It is Ji Ning.” Patriarch Lu nodded.

  Yu Wei’s face changed slightly.

  Patriarch Lu continued, “Just as you were preparing for your tribulation, the Xia Emperor of your Grand Xia world informed me of something. He said that Ji Ning fought a battle against nine Celestial Immortals of his hated foes, the Youngflame clan, in their Oldjade mountain range. That battle had severe repercussions; in fact, a number of Fiendgods that had been imprisoned there for countless years were released as well. However…the main event was still the battle between Ji Ning and the Celestial Immortals of the Youngflame clan. Two of the Celestial Immortals of the Youngflame clan perished; Celestial Immortal Goldclock and Celestial Immortal Flamefish. Ji Ning had the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] protecting him, and so the Youngflame clan was completely unable to do anything to him. Thus…they played a trick. They caused Ji Ning to accidentally kill ten billion mortals.”

  Yu Wei’s face instantly turned ashen!

  She didn’t have any time to feel astonished by the Youngflame clan having nine Celestial Immortals, or to feel stunned by the fact that Ning had killed two of them. She didn’t have any time to feel amazed by the fact that he possessed the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] either. In her mind, a single phrase echoed repeatedly: ‘Accidentally kill ten billion mortals’.

  “He accidentally killed ten billion mortals?” Yu Wei mumbled to herself.

  The Dao of the Heavens were without compassion.

  It judged karmic virtue and karmic sin according to its own rules. Even if one killed by accident, one still had to shoulder an appropriate amount of the karmic blame…and the amount of sin generated by killing that many mortals was utterly terrifying to even think about.

  “His sin towered to the skies, causing karmic sinflames to descend,” Patriarch Lu continued. “The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan, Immortal Venomfreak, used the Protocosmic spirit-treasure, ‘Worldhold Pagoda’, to teleport the still-burning Ji Ning outside of the world of the Grand Xia, to an undoubtedly dangerous location. The seven days have long since passed; Ji Ning was able to successfully endure the karmic sinflames, but he still hasn’t returned to the world of the Grand Xia. This means he should be trapped in some extremely dangerous place which he cannot return from.”

  Yu Wei’s heart shook, falling and rising and falling again.

  Upon hearing that Ning had survived the karmic sinflames, she had let out a sigh of relief…but upon hearing that he had yet to return, she grew nervous again.

  “Master…is there anything you can do?” Yu Wei immediately asked.

  “Nothing.” Patriarch Lu shook his head. “The Worldhold Pagoda is a Protocosmic spirit-treasure with unfathomable power; it is even capable of sending someone to the infinite Void outside of the Three Realms. The Void outside the Three Realms contains many danger zones, and Greater Teleportation is useless within many of those danger zones. In fact…there are some places where even I would die if I were trapped there. Since Ji Ning has not yet returned, he definitely must be trapped there. The longer he stays there, the more dangerous it will be…and perhaps one day, he shall die.”

  Yu Wei’s body shook.

  “There’s nothing I can do. There’s
nothing you can do either.” Patriarch Lu shook his head. “The danger zones of the infinite Void…most likely, only True Gods or Daofathers would dare to enter those places. However…those danger zones are far too vast! Even if a Daofather was to personally go out and investigate them, some danger zones would take tens of thousands of years, or even millions of years, to search through.”

  The Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld, for example, surrounded and covered the entire Primordial Ruinworld. If a Daofather wanted to search it…he would have to spend an extremely long period of time.

  “Then…then…” Yu Wei found it hard to accept this.

  “You can only wait.” Patriarch Lu continued, “Ji Ning has trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]; his master is definitely a Daofather. Only a Daofather has even a hint of a chance of finding him within the infinite Void. However…it’s hard to say how long that would take. I hope that his master will find him while he is still alive.”

  Yu Wei bit her lips.

  “What are your plans now?” Patriarch Lu looked at Yu Wei.

  “I wish to return to the Grand Xia,” Yu Wei said softly.

  “Mm.” Patriarch Lu nodded slightly.

  ……

  The world of the Grand Xia. Black clouds filled the skies above Stillwater City. Thunder and lightning were flashing within the dark clouds, occasionally striking downwards. Thunderclaps rang out incessantly, and an enormous amount of rain was falling.

  Within the lightning and the rain, a black-robed woman exited from a spatial tear that she had created above Stillwater city.

  “Junior apprentice-brother, I’ve returned…so why aren’t you here?” The black-robed woman looked downwards at Stillwater City, but only felt pulses of sadness and worry. In her past life, her heart had been encased in ice; after her parents died in this life, her heart had only grown even colder. The only person she truly cared about in her heart was Ji Ning; for Ning’s sake, she would even be willing to annihilate the heavens themselves without any hesitation.

  In fact…when she had faced the demonheart tribulation of the Celestial Tribulation, she had relied on the love and affection she felt for Ning to help her endure that extremely long tribulation. This had caused the love she bore for Ning to grow even deeper. Within the illusions of the demonheart tribulation, she and Ning had experienced three thousand years of life together.

  Whoosh.

  Yu Wei flew downwards into Stillwater City, into the Black-White College.

  She scanned the Black-White College with her coresense.

  Rumble…

  Another strand of coresense touched hers.

  Whoosh.

  Immortal Diancai instantly appeared in the air above his residence. Raising his head, he saw the distant black-robed maiden who was flying in his direction. He couldn’t help but call out with surprise and delight, “Yu Wei, you overcame the Celestial Tribulation?”

  Immortal Diancai could hardly believe it; he wouldn’t have been surprised by Ning overcome the Celestial Tribulation, but Yu Wei?

  Yu Wei had failed at the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, during the trials within the Brightmoon Diagram of the Mountains and Rivers. There was no way her talent compared in any way to Ning’s. It had only been a few short decades; Ning hadn’t undergone his tribulation yet, so how was it that she had overcome hers? Could it be that Yu Wei’s Celestial Tribulation had been extremely weak? Or perhaps that Patriarch Lu was so formidable at teaching disciples that Yu Wei had been successful in overcoming her tribulation?

  “Yes.” Yu Wei nodded gently.

  Immortal Diancai nodded repeatedly in excitement. “Good. This is a chaotic era; for our Black-White College to now give birth to another Celestial Immortal is wonderful. Wonderful!” But suddenly, Immortal Diancai thought of Ji Ning, and the fact that he had become Dao-companions with Yu Wei. His smile instantly vanished; in fact, a hesitant look appeared on his face.

  Should he tell her?

  “Uncle-master Diancai…” Yu Wei said.

  “No need to call me ‘uncle-master’,” Immortal Diancai immediately said. Given Yu Wei’s current level of power, the two could converse as equals; after all, for Immortal cultivators, age didn’t really matter. For example, Yu Wei had reawakened her former memories, and if one counted her past life, she was much older than Immortal Diancai.

  “You are Ji Ning’s master; I naturally need to address you as ‘uncle-master’,” Yu Wei said. “Are you about to tell me about Ji Ning?”

  Immortal Diancai was startled. “You…you already know?”

  “Before I returned to the Grand Xia, my master informed me,” Yu Wei said.

  “Will Patriarch Lu be able to do anything?” Immortal Diancai asked frantically, “Does he know where Ji Ning was exiled to?”

  “He doesn’t know.” Yu Wei shook her head.

  “Then we should…?” Immortal Diancai had been worrying about Ning this entire time.

  “Wait,” Yu Wei replied.

  Immortal Diancai suddenly thought of something. He hurriedly instructed, “Ji Ning killed two of the Youngflame clan’s Celestial Immortals; they are utterly enraged by this. Although they’ve exiled Ji Ning, they aren’t going to let it rest! Any members of the Ji clan who dared to leave Swallow Mountain have all been killed by the Youngflame clan. You are Ji Ning’s Dao-companion; once they learn that you are back, they’ll probably act against you. You just became a Celestial Immortal; it’s unwise for you to fight against the Youngflame clan head-on for now.”

  “Act against me?” A hint of a cold, murderous look flashed past Yu Wei’s eyes.

  ……

  The Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld.

  Ning was knocked flying backwards. After stabilizing himself, he looked at his surroundings, then suddenly began to laugh. His laughter was filled with madness, but it was also filled with a hint of longing and apology; longing for his loved ones, and an apology for leaving them.

  “I won’t be able to accompany you any further,” Ning murmured to himself. His divine power had been almost completely used up.

  However, the distant violet-caped warrior who had been battling Ning actually retreated.

  The group of horned, violet-caped warriors began arguing amongst themselves.

  “Tonto finished his contest; let me go next.”

  “No, let me go.”

  “Why should you be the one to go?”

  “It’s rare for us to encounter an alien that can’t be killed, no matter how hard we hit him. This is a perfect chance for some training and tempering. Let’s take it slow. Don’t be in a rush!” The golden-caped general added, “And it looks to me like the alien is pretty much exhausted. Let him rest for a bit. After he recovers, you can go challenge him one-by-one. As long as he doesn’t die, you’ll all have a chance.”

  Ning was speechless.

  He had thought that he was definitely going to die…but they were going to let him recover?

  “The warriors of the Snaphorn world…really like to fight. Are they…are they treating me as a training dummy?” Ning was puzzled.

  The general and his violet-caped warriors, however, were quite resigned.

  Liked to fight?

  Yes, they liked to fight. However, their innate nature was such that they would generally slaughter their foes; why would they let a fight drag on like this? However, this was the order of the Queen Mother, and in fact the Queen Mother’s mind was riding with them, ordering them to fight against Ji Ning one by one. How could they possibly dare to disobey?

  “Forget them. Every extra day alive counts.” Ning stood there within the vacuum of space, immediately beginning to attune himself to those two supreme stellar bodies in the deepest reaches of the Void, the Solar Star and the Lunar Star. He began to draw energy from them, converting it into divine power.

  Within the underwater estate. A black-robed Ning sat there in the lotus position. Suddenly, the giant yellow bear appeared, then hurriedly said, “Ji Ning, Ji Ning!”


  “Senior bear.” The black-robed Ning looked at the giant yellow bear.

  * * *

  Book 16, Chapter 17 - The Seventeenth Stage of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]

  “What happened just now?” The giant yellow bear immediately asked, “I clearly sensed that you were at your limit, but were still unable to defeat that violet-caped fellow. How is it that suddenly…?”

  The black-robed Ji Ning knew what the big bear was asking. He didn’t seek to hide anything from the big bear; after all, there were a good number of individuals in the Three Realms who used heartforce. He immediately replied, “Senior bear, previously, when my divine power was almost used up, I felt as though things were hopeless. Ignoring all else, I poured everything into executing my most powerful sword-arts…but who would’ve thought that the power of my sword-arts would exceed even my own expectations? Only then did I realize that my heartforce had actually flowed into my sword-arts and had been slightly depleted.”

  “Heartforce?” The giant yellow bear was surprised. “You were able to use your heartforce through your sword-fingers?”

  “Yes.” Ning nodded.

  “But but but…” The giant yellow bear didn’t dare believe it.

  In truth, the giant yellow bear actually knew less about heartforce than Ning himself did. Ning, after all, had trained in [Houyi’s Archery], and had read a good number of books at Mount Innerheart regarding the Three Realms. As for the giant yellow bear, all he knew, he had learned while accompanying Daoist Threelives.

  “You…you were able to use your heartforce through your sword-fingers…but you haven’t even undergone your tribulation, right…?” The giant yellow bear was still in a stunned state. Within the Three Realms, those who could control heartforce were all quite famous; every single one of them was a terrifying force, generally at the True God or Daofather level. Even the weakest of them were generally at least Empyrean Gods or True Immortals.