Desolate Era

by RWX

  “The Pentabolt Gourd can be used to launch group attacks. Even if I can’t kill my foes, I can slow them down.” Ning nodded to himself.

  Ning had spent a total of 180 cubes to purchase the Pentabolt Gourd.

  The eighth day of the treasure auction.

  “This next treasure is a set of three golems.” The silver-eyed woman waved her hand, causing three fiery golems to appear in her palms before slowly levitating into the air. “However, these golems are unlike ordinary golems! They don’t have any treasure spirits within them, but they do have a compartment which a cultivator can enter and control them through.”

  “When these three golems come together into a formation, their defensive powers will increase exponentially.”

  “This set of golems has a reserve price of three hundred cubes. Let the bidding begin!” The silver-eyed woman said.

  Instantly, quite a few cultivators began to make their bids.

  These golems that could hold cultivators inside them were very popular amongst Chaos Immortals. Chaos Immortals had fragile bodies, but when they were inside golems they would be fairly safe! In addition, golems that fought on their own usually did so in clumsy ways. Cultivators had much higher levels of insight into the Dao; when they personally commanded a golem, it was only natural for the golem to be capable of much greater power.

  However, there was a weakness!

  Ning’s own stone titan golem was able to fight alongside him; the two were able to surround and pincer-attack a foe together. If Ning was to enter a golem, the fight would turn into a one-on-one fight.

  “Three hundred and sixty cubes.”

  “Three hundred and seventy cubes.”

  Ning was rather nervous. Twelve hours ago, a set of five similar golems had appeared. Ning had made multiple bids, but in the end the price had risen to over eight hundred cubes. Ning only had roughly six hundred cubes left!

  “I have to win this time,” Ning mused to himself. If he let his powerful Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals control these three golems, they would actually be a bit more powerful than the stone titan was. Ning would then have much more resources at his disposal if he encountered dangerous situations when adventuring.

  Originally, Ning had been planning on buying a Minor Thousand Elder Gods Formation.

  At this treasure auction, around two hundred cubes would be enough to procure one of these formations! As for the thousand Elder God slaves needed to operate it, they could be purchased for a hundred cubes. Three hundred cubes would translate into an army of Elder God slaves who were able to join together into a formation. However, by comparison the set of three golems was even more attractive to Ning, even though they were somewhat more expensive.

  “Five hundred cubes.”

  “Five hundred and ten cubes.”

  The price continued to rise.

  “Six hundred cubes!” Ning said. He only had a bit over six hundred cubes left.

  A momentary silence.

  The silver-eyed woman glanced at the people nearby, then said, “Six hundred cubes of chaos nectar. Any higher bids?” The three golems began to slowly descend from midair.

  “Six hundred and ten cubes!” Suddenly, a green-robed Chaos Immortal located in the corner of the hall gritted his teeth and place a bid.

  “Six hundred and twenty cubes!” Ning almost immediately raised his bid once more.

  The green-robed Chaos Immortal raised his head to glance at Ning. He didn’t say a thing.

  The silver-eyed woman continued to ask for more bidders as the three golems began their descent. Finally, they landed in her palm. “This set of golems has been sold for six hundred and twenty cubes! The bidding is complete.”

  Ning was standing at the window, staring down towards the great hall. He broke out into a grin.

  It was enough.

  Daolord Solesky wouldn’t be around to help him out. Ning would go out adventuring by himself, and he had spent all of his chaos nectar to buy what he needed. He had acquired enough from this treasure auction.

  “I’m completely broke now.” Ning sat down to simply watch. This treasure auction would no longer mean much to him.

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 19 - Pseudo Samsara Pill

  Ji Ning had also acquired a certain amount of chaos nectar and chaos jewels from the corpses of the three deceased World-level experts of the Windsource Realms. As a result, Ning still had roughly fifty cubes worth of chaos nectar left. However, such a small amount wouldn’t be enough to purchase any truly powerful items at this auction. It was better to hold onto them for now. If he ended up being heavily injured, he could use the chaos nectar to heal himself and save his life! This wouldn’t pose any burden to him and the healing effect would be quite quick.

  The only things he really had to worry about were strange toxins, curse-spells from major powers, or attacks that caused the truesoul to crumble. It was hard to use chaos nectar to heal damage inflicted to the truesoul, but almost all other types of injuries could be healed.

  “Everyone, there are only nine treasures left in this treasure auction.”

  On the ninth day of the treasure auction, the mood in the hall noticeably grew more exuberant. The past few treasures had all sold for more than a thousand cubes or had been listed with such a high reserve price that over half of them hadn’t been sold. They were simply too expensive! Only someone truly in desperate need of them would purchase them.

  “The first of the final nine is an Eternal weapon, a greataxe-type weapon. This is a weapon suitable for Earth-attribute cultivators to use. This weapon possesses tremendous power and the quintessence core within it is so strong that we rank this weapon as high-grade.” The silver-eyed woman produced a small black hatchet in her hands. As it rose into the air, it quickly expanded in size as it began to emanate waves of overpowering majesty, causing all of the cultivators in the great hall to feel a sense of tremendous pressure.

  “This is an Eternal weapon, the ‘Three Extinctions Axe’. The reserve price is fifty thousand cubes. Let the bidding begin!”

  All of the cultivators were silent. Even the Daolords on the top floor were silent.

  And so…

  No bids were placed.

  It wasn’t that there was anything wrong with the treasure. It was that it was just too expensive! It was beyond what the vast majority of World-level cultivators could afford…and quite frankly, most World-level cultivators had no need of such a high quality Eternal weapon. They wouldn’t even be able to unleash much of its power! It was quite unlikely for a World-level cultivator to be able to unleash the full force of a high-grade Eternal weapon.

  Thus, even the most powerful of World-level cultivators generally preferred to use low-grade Eternal weapons. Power only mattered if you could actually command it and wield it! If you couldn’t, what good would it do you?

  “The second of the final nine…” The silver-eyed woman didn’t seem surprised.

  During each treasure auction, the final nine treasures would be truly fine specimens that were worth at least ten thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Thus, there were rarely any bidders on them.

  This time, there were bids on the fifth and sixth treasures, but the bids all came from the top floor.

  The fifth treasure was a drop of blood that was the size of a man’s head. It glimmered with azure light and radiated with an aura of tremendous power. The silver-eyed woman simply described it as being a drop of essence-blood from a Chaos Godbeast, giving no further information about it. In the end, it was purchased by Daolord Waterwind for a price of 83,000 cubes!

  The sixth treasure was a stone statue. The silver-eyed woman had given even less information about it: “This stone statue is filled with boundless mysteries. The reserve price is 80,000 cubes. Let the bidding begin.” In the end, Daolord Azuresky had purchased it at the reserve price.

  The seventh treasure…no bids.

  The eighth treasure…still no bids.

  “Alright. We have now com
e to the final treasure of this treasure auction.” As the silver-eyed woman’s words came out, the atmosphere in the great hall began to change. The tension was so palpable and thick, you could cut it with a knife.

  The eyes of all the cultivators had lit up. In fact, some were unable to even breathe.

  “Can it be true…?”

  Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog stared unblinkingly at the great hall below. Ning did the same.

  “You won’t be disappointed.” The silver-eyed woman smiled. “The final treasure up for sale in this treasure auction…is a single Pseudo Samsara pill!”

  ……

  “It really is a Pseudo Samsara pill!?” A white-haired woman in a room on the second floor had an utterly terrifying look in her eyes.

  ……

  “What a wonderful coincidence. I just acquired a large amount of chaos nectar, and the very first treasure auction I go to has a Pseudo Samsara pill for sale. I have to have it.” In another room on the second floor, a handsome man dressed in fiery red robes had a similarly terrifying look of lust in his eyes.

  ……

  “Please don’t fight me over it. Please don’t fight me over it. Gotta have it. Gotta have it.” A wild-haired youth was muttering these words feverishly to himself, a look of madness in his eyes.

  ……

  “A Pseudo Samsara pill.” The silver-eyed woman smiled as she swept the entire great hall with her gaze. “I imagine all of you know what it does. Let me remind everyone of the rules pertaining to this pill! Only those who have reached the level of full mastery as World-level experts can use Pseudo Samasara pills. This pill shall guide cultivators into finding their own Dao, letting them break through their bottleneck and become a Samsara Daolord.”

  “What?! It allows World Gods to become Samsara Daolords?!?”

  “A single pill?”

  “The path of cultivation is an incredibly arduous one. How could a single pill have such monstrous power?” The cultivators hearing about Pseudo Samsara pills for the first time, especially the Elder Gods and the Ancestral Immortals, were utterly speechless.

  Ji Ning, Su Youji, and Elder God Wilddog sighed in amazement from their room on the third floor. During the time they spent at the Badlands Court, they had learned that there was a very small chance that the final item for sale during each treasure auction would be a Pseudo Samsara pill! However, this truly was quite rare; less than one in a thousand treasure auctions would feature a Pseudo Samsara pill.

  However, this was virtually the only chance World-level cultivators would have to purchase one of the these pills. They were never sold on the ordinary market. They only ever appeared during the treasure auction!

  This was one of the reasons why so many World-level cultivators from neighboring territories had hastened here upon hearing that a treasure auction was going to be held soon.

  When master-class World-level experts used the Pseudo Samsara pill, they would have a better than 99% chance of becoming Samsara Daolords. It was all but guaranteed.

  “So pills like this really do exist. When I first heard of them, I really couldn’t believe it,” Ning murmured softly to himself.

  “The endless primordial chaos is filled with endless possibilities.” Su Youji was uncharacteristically quiet.

  “This is a pill that would drive any World God mad with lust,” Elder God Wilddog muttered.

  Ning nodded slowly.

  As for the Daolords on the top floor, they were actually sighing in a rather disappointed way.

  “Pseudo Samsara pills. I wonder what that Eternal Emperor was even thinking? To be skilled in the Dao of Alchemy is one thing, but why does he have to spend so much of his time making these Pseudo Samsara pills?” Azuresky shook his head and chuckled. “Pseudo Samsara pills are ruinous things. If you rely on one to become a Samsara Daolord, it is almost guaranteed that you will forever be stuck at the first step. Even if you have absolutely incredible luck, you would at most reach the second step. That will be a hard limit. Samsara Daolords move between life and death with each step. Weak Daolords like them will never have a chance of improving ever again. If they keep their head down, nothing bad will happen to them, but if they get too uppity…”

  “The second step? I’ve never personally encountered anyone who used a Pseudo Samsara pill who could reach the second step.” Waterwind shook his head.

  “Look at the two of you go.” Daolord Badlands laughed. “Yes, you feel disdain towards those pills, but the vast majority of World-level experts never stood a chance of becoming Samsara Daolords to begin with. They don’t care how far they can progress after becoming Samsara Daolords; just becoming a Samsara Daolord is enough to satisfy them.”

  The silver-eyed auction mistress continued, “Let me warn everyone once more of the Pseudo Samsara pill’s flaw. If you rely on it to become a Samsara Daolord, it’ll be very, very hard for you to make any further improvements afterwards.”

  Flaw?

  Who cared? Without it, most of them would never even be able to reach the Samsara Daolord to begin with.

  “The reserve price is a hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Let the bidding begin!” The silver-eyed woman announced.

  “A hundred thousand cubes!” Instantly, a hoarse voice rang out from a room on the second floor.

  “A hundred and ten thousand cubes!” An icy voice rang out from another nearby room.

  “No…no…” The gray-robed, triangle-pupiled old man in the first room had a look of resentment and grief in his eyes. He didn’t have that much chaos nectar, just a hundred thousand cubes. He had gone to all of the treasure auctions in the surrounding territories after amassing this fortune, and on this trip, his third, he encountered a Pseudo Samsara pill. He made a bid at the reserve price, hoping no one would fight him for it, but…

  Everyone who wanted a Pseudo Samsara pill knew exactly how much it was worth. Thus, whenever a treasure auction was being held, all the interested experts from the dozens of nearby territories would all hasten to the auction location.

  This was one of the true reasons why treasure auctions were publicly announced ninety-nine years in advance.

  The price continued to rise.

  “A hundred and fifty thousand cubes!”

  Each time one of these pills appeared, the price would be driven to a staggering level. Most Eternal weapons were worth just ten thousand cubes, while high-quality ones might be worth thirty or forty thousand cubes. Top-grade ones would generally go for around a hundred thousand cubes, and there were indeed some extremely powerful World-level experts who were capable of purcashing one or two of them. However, many of them saved their money instead…all for the sake of being able to afford a Pseudo Samsara pill!

  Ning couldn’t help but sigh. Only someone who had been driven to despair would go so berserk over a pill.

  God Emperor Blacklotus had an Eternal weapon, but it was merely a low-grade one that was worth twenty thousand cubes. He had no chance of getting a Pseudo Samsara pill at all, as they would usually go for more than 160,000 cubes during the treasure auctions.

  “168,000 cubes. Any higher bids?” The silver-eyed woman spoke out. “Then…the bidding for the Pseudo Samsara pill…is over!”

  Her final words came out very slowly as she scanned the crowd for any more bids. This was the only treasure which they didn’t take out to physically show the cultivators present.

  “Ahahahah! It’s mine! MINE! Ahahahahah!” Frenzied laughter rang out from the second floor. The bidders for the pseudo Samsara Pill had all been located on the second floor, choosing to hide their identities from the masses.

  “I finally have it.” The handsome, fiery-robed man had a look of excitement in his eyes. “I’ll train to become a Samsara Daolord right here in Waveshift City. I have ten thousand cubes of chaos nectar left. I can even buy a weak Eternal weapon for myself to use!”

  * * *

  Book 25, Chapter 20 - [Quintessence Sword-Intent] The First Stance

  The tr
easure auction had come to an end!

  After having experienced that great battle against God Emperor Blacklotus, Ji Ning had felt as though he now knew something of how the world worked…but now, he realized how truly vast the universe really was. There were many terrifying World-level experts skilled in formations or bugbeasts who could easily destroy him, to say nothing of Samsara Daolords.

  “Let’s follow the plan.” Ning led Su Youji and Elder God Wilddog to move towards the other disciples of the Badlands Court. They jested and chatted amongst themselves as they headed back to the Court.

  Swoosh.

  Swoosh.

  Swoosh.

  Azuresky, Dracogod, Thousand Shadows, and Waterwind all began to depart as well. Azuresky and Thousand Shadows soared into the skies and left, while Dracogod was forced to use his legs to physically walk out of Waveshift City.

  “Hmph.” Daolord Dracogod glanced coldly at Waterwind and Thousand Shadows as they soared into the skies. Thousand Shadows didn’t actually have the power to fly on this everworld by herself; it was Waterwind who was helping her do this.

  “Thousand Shadows…that bitch. Hmph. All she can do is flatter and cozen up to Waterwind and the others. When the chance comes, I’ll slaughter you myself.” Daolord Dracogod then quickly hid the killing intent that had appeared in his eyes. He had given himself the name ‘Dracogod’, and getting a ‘dragonification fruit’ was an incredibly important part of his cultivation path. Alas, it had been seized by Daolord Thousand Shadows all those years ago.

  He had many friends, true. But Daolord Thousand Shadows also had many friends of her own.

  Daolord Dracogod deeply desired to kill Daolord Thousand Shadows. Alas, she was his equal in strength.

  “She ruined my karmic luck! One day…” Daolord Dracogod strode through the land, quickly arriving at the spacetime transfer array and departing from the Badlands Territory.

  ……