Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Ten times.”

  Ning’s thoughts and memories were linked to his clones in the outside world. He could thus naturally sense how much more quickly time was progressing within the tower. The difference was quite obvious.

  “Time to speed up the flow of time.” Ning immediately began to test out the process of further speeding up time. His Immortal energy began to rapidly deplete, and the flow of time began to speed up as well, going from ten times to twenty times, then thirty times. His energy began to deplete more and more rapidly as the tower’s energy consumption began to skyrocket.

  “At twenty times the normal rate of time, I use up energy at the same rate as I replenish it.”

  “Thirty times the normal rate of time starts to take a bit of effort.”

  “Forty times…I can still handle it.”

  “Fifty times…getting difficult!”

  Ning came to a halt after increasing the flow of speed to fifty times that of the outside world. He smiled. “My true body and my Primaltwin are both inside the tower; this places a major burden on it. However, when my true body is outside battling, I can have my Primaltwin calmly spend its time meditating in the tower. That’ll be ideal.”

  The white-robed Ning immediately left the Heavengazer Tower, leaving behind only the black-robed Ning.

  “Maintaining fifty times the normal flow of time…I’m still using up a lot of energy, but it’s much easier now than before.”

  “Sixty times…the energy usage is getting fast again.”

  “Seventy times…”

  “A hundred times…this is getting difficult.”

  “Two hundred times…energy is being used up way too fast.”

  “Three hundred times…the amount of energy being used up is astonishing.”

  For the sake of getting a better sense of how much energy would be used, Ning continued to furiously increase the flow of time.

  Four hundred times! Five hundred times! Six hundred times! A thousand times!

  At a thousand times the normal flow of time, half of his energy was consumed in an instant. Shocked, Ning finally came to a halt.

  “There’s a limit to how much the Heavengazer Tower can speed up the flow of time.” Thanks to his control over this treasure, Ning could tell that there was a limit to its power. He nodded to himself. “According to what I just sensed…a thousand times should be that limit. However, I can only maintain that speed for two seconds. Training requires time. I need to at least be able to train for a hundred years worth of time in the outside world. A hundred years of time in the outside world translates into thousands or tens of thousands of years within the tower. If I use up energy too quickly, no amount of spirit-pills will suffice.”

  He spent a few moments calculating and pondering. In the end, given that the Endwar was looming, Ning decided to take the risk of maintaining a flow of time that was a hundred times that of the outside world’s!

  “I’ll need to prepare some extra Great Firmament Immortal pills to stay at this speed for an extended period of time. It’s now time to return to the Three Realms.” The white-robed Ning put the tower away, then left the prisonworld.

  The Primaltwin remained inside the tower. It needed to spend time meditating on the Dao!

  Ning’s goal was to master an entire Heavenly Dao! He could only do this upon returning to the Three Realms. There was no way to meditate on other Daos when within the endless primordial chaos. Upon mastering a Heavenly Dao, Ning would have a chance of becoming an Ancestral Immortal or an Elder God. His power would definitely surpass that of an overlord-class Daofather by then!

  However, Ning didn’t dare to feel too confident. The Lord of All Fiends was an Elder God himself! He had been able to escape from the clutches of Mother Nuwa, who had broken through to become a World God, and he was the person who worried Ning the most. In addition, more than half a chaos cycle had gone by since the end of the Primordial Era. That was enough time for a minor figure to become a mighty one! How powerful were the two alliances? Hard to say. Things would only be made clear when the Endwar came.

  And…what was the cause of this great war?

  It was still a mystery!

  Although he already stood at the very peak of power in the Three Realms, Ning still wished to reach even higher heights.

  Within the endless Void.

  Ning appeared out of nowhere. He stared at the distant Solar Star, blazing with seemingly infinite heat, then gave the icy Lunar Star a glance as well.

  “The Three Realms.” Ning murmured softly to himself, then took out a message talisman and filled it with his Immortal energy, notifying his master of his arrival.

  “Disciple.” Subhuti’s voice echoed within the empty space around him.

  “Master, I wish to return to the Crescent world,” Ning said.

  “Very well.” Instantly, a spatial whirlpool appeared in the empty space around him. Ning gave the spatial whirlpool a hard look. He could now vaguely sense that aside from changing space, this whirlpool also made slight alterations to time. The Crescent world didn’t exist in the same temporal dimension as the rest of the major worlds of the Three Realms, which was why the other major powers had no way of finding it at all.

  Ning stepped into the spatial vortex and disappeared from the Void.

  Blue skies and white clouds greeted his arrival.

  Ning appeared in the middle of the air. “Eh?” Ning glanced downwards with surprise, seeing a beautiful island off in the distance.

  “Master actually led me here?” Ning was quite surprised, as he thought that the whirlpool would’ve led straight to Mount Innerheart.

  “Eh? Uncle White. Little Qing. And…my daughter Brightmoon? All of them are on the island?” Ning became even more surprised. His ‘spare’ Primaltwin clone was still by his daughter’s side, albeit quietly hidden. It wouldn’t make an appearance unless his daughter was in grave danger. Upon arriving, Ning could sense that his Primaltwin was right at that island. Clearly, his daughter, Little Qing, and Uncle White were there as well.

  “She’s already a Celestial Immortal. Why is she staying on this island?”

  “In the past, Master always brought me directly to Mount Innerheart. Why has he brought me here, this time?” Ning felt quite curious, but he still flew downwards. As he moved closer to the island, he could sense his heart clench involuntarily. Ning gave the beautiful island a closer look, and as he did his face blanched as though he had seen something terrifying.

  “This formation…it’s so mysterious, but even the tiny bit of it that I can sense is utterly terrifying.” Ning felt dread in his heart. He was already an overlord-class figure, but he could still feel a vague sense of danger emanating from this island.

  “Disciple, come in.” Subhuti’s voice suddenly rang out.

  “Yes.” Ning quickly landed. Although this island held a terrifying formation within it, the formation didn’t act to impede him at all. Ning was able to easily and safely land on the sandy beaches, and as he did he immediately saw a distant group of Immortals flying around in the skies above the island. He also saw a number of linked palaces that radiated mighty auras.

  “Isn’t that the Carefree Immortal Palace of Exalted Celestial Carefree? That’s a top-grade Protocosmic estate-treasure.”

  “And…that’s the Three Realms Dragonrover Ark of Daofather Snowdragon?”

  * * *

  Book 22, Chapter 5 - A Change in the Three Realms

  As a half-step Elder God, Ji Ning possessed incredibly sharp vision. When he swept the island with his gaze, he saw many Immortal palaces, flying arks, and mazes that were extremely famous in the Three Realms. Many were treasures belonging to True Gods and Daofathers, and all of them possessed extremely powerful defenses.

  “Junior apprentice-sister, look, that’s Sword Immortal Darknorth.”

  “So he is Ji Ning?”

  “I heard Father say that Sword Immortal Darknorth’s sword-arts are absolutely astonishing. In fact, his sword-arts
are the best sword-arts of the Three Realms, and he’s just as powerful as Father is.”

  “Best in the Three Realms? That’s a bit exaggerated, isn’t it? He’s simply mastered the [Five Treasures]; his swordforce is still merely at the fourth stage. His true body has been wiped out by the Seamless Gate as well. When he was using the Envoy, he was perhaps comparable to Master, but I heard that the Envoy’s been ruined. With his true body lost as well…he surely is much weaker than Master now. He was born at the wrong time. If he was given another ten thousand years, he would probably be far more powerful than he is now.”

  “Look. That’s Ji Ning over there.”

  “Sword Immortal Darknorth?”

  “Such a pity. I heard that he was ambushed by the Seamless Gate.”

  “The killer was Swordfather Darklight…supposedly, he was killed by Houyi afterwards. Houyi truly is incredible. He didn’t even use his arrows; he just used a single blow from his hatchet to kill Swordfather Darklight.”

  “My senior apprentice-sister told me that Ji Ning’s talent is absolutely incredible. He’s no less talented than Houyi.”

  “Perhaps. But for now, there’s no way that Ji Ning can be compared to Houyi; the difference in power is simply too great. If his true body was still alive, then after a few million years he would perhaps be a match for Houyi. Now, however…there’s no hope of it happening.”

  “A pity.”

  The island wasn’t that large, just a few hundred thousand kilometers in size. Given how many Immortals were present, quite a few noticed as soon as Ning arrived on the island. All of them felt pity for Ning. They all felt that Ning had been born at the wrong time! He was born with utterly astonishing talent, but alas he had been born just a little too late.

  “What’s going on? So many treasures have appeared here, and the secret formation protecting this island is utterly terrifying…” Ning’s heart was filled with questions. “And these Immortals…there are even Empyrean Gods and True Immortals here, many of whom are the descendants and progency of major powers.”

  “Come over here.” A mental message was sent to him.

  Ning turned to look in towards the direction from which the message had come. His eyes were filled with torch-light, and he was able to see a seemingly ordinary Daoist monastery looked far off in the distance.

  “Master?” Ning was truly stunned now. This was the monastery which Patriarch Subhuti lived in. It had been located on Mount Innerheart for countless years. Why did it now appear atop this island?

  Swoosh. Ning immediately flew a hundred thousand kilometers before landing before the monastery.

  “Uncle-master.” Standing at the entrance of the monastery were the two Dao-novices, Clearwater and Whiteriver. Both of them called out quite respectfully, and their eyes were filled with curiosity and admiration as they stared at Ning.

  Ning relaxed slightly upon seeing these two ‘children’. Their presence meant that everything should be fine. Ning immediately strode into the monastery.

  Soon, he saw the white-haired Patriarch Subhuti seated on the ground in the distance.

  “Master.” Ning immediately walked towards him, then respectfully knelt on the ground.

  “Sit.” Subhuti smiled as he looked at Ning.

  Ning sat down in the lotus position as he looked at his master.

  “Aren’t you curious?” Subhuti looked at Ning.

  “Of course I am.” Ning nodded. “The Crescent world…in the past, this island didn’t exist. Now, it suddenly has appeared out of nowhere, and has such a terrifying formation protecting it! The estate-treasures, palaces, and flying arks of many major powers are here as well, as well as many of their disciples and progeny. And you, Master…you actually moved your own monastery here as well!”

  “Master, can it be that the major powers of the Three Realms are using this place as their refuge?” Ning frowned.

  Subhuti nodded. “This place has indeed become a place of refuge.”

  Ning felt an uneasy feeling in his heart.

  “Master, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Daoist Three Purities, the Primordial Imperial Clan…they each have their own abilities. It shouldn’t be hard for them to protect their disciples and progeny. Why is it that they’ve all been moved over to the Crescent world?” Ning hurriedly asked, “Has the war taken a turn for the worse?”

  “It has indeed, but we are doing this just to prepare for the worst,” Subhuti said.

  “It really has taken a turn for the worse?” Ning was shocked. He had only spent six years in the prisonworld. How could such drastic changes have occurred in the outside world?

  “What’s going on?” Ning immediately asked.

  “Listen to me carefully,” Subhuti said. “When the Seamless Gate ambushed you, we negotiated with them and agreed that they were no longer to use Envoys in the war for karmic luck, while you were not to participate either. After the negotiations, the Realmwars began once more, and everything proceeded as we expected. However, half a year ago…”

  Ning was secretly shocked. Something unexpected had happened half a year ago?”

  “Half a year ago, Daoist Three Purities could sense that given how ferocious the war for karmic luck had become, as soon as it ended the Endwar would immediately begin! Aside from our two sides, there are two other forces that we have to reckon with. If they aren’t dealt with, then it is very possible that those two forces will take advantage of our conflict to become the final winner.”

  “Two other forces?” Ning was stunned.

  “The first is Old Man Yuan’s forces,” Patriarch Subhuti said. “The Four Ancestors of the River Source aren’t that powerful; before the Endwar begins, they will have to choose to join one side or another. In truth, they aren’t powerful enough to try and take advantage of the war to become the final victor.”

  “The second, however…is the Primordial Ruinworld!” Patriarch Subhuti had a solemn look on his face.

  Ning was suddenly jolted.

  The Primordial Ruinworld?

  Right.

  The Primordial Ruinworld! He had been so focused on the Seamless Gate that he had nearly forgotten the Primordial Ruinworld. When he had been exiled into the Nihilum Zone, he had suffered attacks from the Snaphorn world of the Primordial Ruinworld. In the end, it had been his master Subhuti who had intervened to rescue him and wipe out those three Queen Mothers. The Snaphorn world was just a weak power in the Primordial Ruinworld; if the entire Ruinworld rose up together, they would constitute a terrifyingly powerful force! Not even True Gods or Daofathers would dare to casually enter the Primordial Ruinworld; they could very well die if they did!

  “The Primordial Ruinworld is far more powerful than the Four Ancestors of the River Source,” Patriarch Subhuti said. “After the war that ended the Primordial Era, Mother Nuwa drove all of those alien Outsiders into the harsh environment of the Primordial Ruinworld.”

  Ning nodded. The Primordial Ruinworld’s environment was indeed harsh and inhospitable. Both space and time were scrambled there. The environment itself was quite deadly; ordinary True Gods and Daofathers could easily die if they encountered a shattered region of spacetime.

  “When Mother Nuwa became a Pangu-level divinity,” Subhuti explained, “She invincibly dominated all her opponents. The reason why she didn’t wipe out the alien Outsiders was because she wanted to leave them behind for us as ‘neighbors’, constantly reminding us of the importance of being vigilant. We were to never again engage in internal civil wars. In fact, their very existence was a way of subtly ensuring that we would continue to train and grow more powerful.”

  “Mother Nuwa’s actions were quite correct, and we agreed with them back then. During the Primordial Era there were no outside invaders and so we constantly engaged in internal wars, causing many major powers to perish.”

  “Ever since Mother Nuwa left them behind, we have never again engaged in large-scale civil wars,” Subhuti said. “In fact, experts from the Three Realms will often enter the P
rimordial Ruinworld region to test and temper themselves. This has resulted in the Immortals and Fiendgods of the Nuwa Alliance to constantly grow more powerful, resulting in quite a few new True Gods and Daofathers being born.”

  Ning nodded. An outside threat was a good way to ensure internal unity.

  “Daoist Three Purities decided that before we were to begin the Endwar against the Seamless Gate, we should first deal with the Primordial Ruinworld,” Patriarch Subhuti said. “Those alien Outsiders have been forced to live in the deadly Ruinworlds, and they have always wished to enter our Three Realms. Once both the Seamless Gate and our Nuwa Alliance are both exhausted by the Endwar, they will definitely seize this opportunity to invade from the Primordial Ruinworld.”

  “Right.” Ning agreed with this.

  “And so, we raised this mater with the Seamless Gate. Since there’s no way to avoid the Endwar, it would be best if both sides join together to deal with this future threat first.” Patriarch Subhuti shook his head. “But the Seamless Gate was completely disinterested in fighting against the Primordial Ruinworld.”

  “They weren’t interested?” Ning was puzzled. “Why is that? Do they want to leave it up to us to handle? They want the Nuwa Alliance to waste its own power? But…but they aren’t fools. They should understand that if we don’t get rid of the Primordial Ruinworld, neither side can fight the Endwar with confidence.”

  “It’s not as simple as you think.” Subhuti shook his head. “Several other major powers and I have been investigating in secret. We’ve discovered…that the Primordial Ruinworld is now filled with many, many terrifyingly powerful formations. Fuxi has looked at these formations, and he can recognize them as being the work of Keeper Everwood.”