Desolate Era

by RWX

  “No wonder. No wonder Emperor Trisilk sent his disciple to stand guard over this place,” Solewind mumbled. “No wonder he was willing to attack us, even though he knew that we all had extraordinary backgrounds. They really can’t risk letting the secret of this mountain get out.”

  Bang! Bang! Bang! A deep sound rang out. Skyfire Brightshore had picked up an axe-shaped treasure and was using it to hack away at the mountain in front of him. Alas, he was only able to leave a few white marks behind on the fiery ore.

  “Can’t hack it apart.” Skyfire blinked a few times as he muttered softly to himself.

  “Wake up, guys! Wake up!” When Ning heard Skyfire mumble those words, he shivered then began to call out to them.

  The other four stared at Ning.

  “Stop daydreaming. This is an entire mountain of darkspace flamestone. We can’t even cut into it, much less mine it.” Ning shook his head. “I’d imagine only Daolords of the Third Step would be strong enough to just barely excavate some of the ore, and only at a very slow speed at that. This entire mountain is a million kilometers in size, and there’s no way for us to teleport it away. There’s nothing we can do at all.”

  They all understood. There was literally nothing they could do.

  Forget about them; not even Eternal Emperors or the almighty Hegemon would be able to do anything to such a vast mountain of precious minerals! Thus, Emperor Trisilk had elected to send a powerful Daolord and golems here to slowly mine away at the ore.

  Every single piece of ore was a priceless treasure. A mountain of ore which was a million kilometers in size naturally was filled with certain arcane powers. In fact, it was being reinforced by some of the prime essences of this entire alternate universe. If you wished to move it by just a few kilometers… most likely, there were incredibly few figures in this entire alternate universe who would be capable of such a thing. To store it away into an estate-world? Completely impossible.

  Think about Hydragon Mountain. The almighty Hegemon was incredibly skilled in the Dao of Spacetime, but even he was forced to resort to sending subordinates to slowly mine away at the ore.

  “What should we do?” Skyfire Brightshore stared at Ning and the other three.

  “We can only look, not touch.” Ning shook his head.

  “There really is nothing we can do.” Solewind shook his head as well.

  “All we can do is stare. And drool.” Firesurge licked his lips.

  “At least we had the chance to see such a mountain of ore,” Prince Greatjoy said.

  The five of them just stared at that mountain, their gazes blazing with lust. They were like five ordinary mortals who encountered an enormous mountain that was completely made out of gold. Although there was no way to move it, just staring at it was still a stunning experience.

  “Let’s go,” Greatjoy said. “If we waste too much time and end up being caught by Emperor Trisilk, we’ll be in trouble.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “In the end, this isn’t something which we are qualified to own.”

  Ning and the others were all men of talent. Although they were temporarily stunned by this sight for a time, they quickly came to the decision to leave.

  Whoosh. Prince Greatjoy took control over their flying vessel, and they left this place at high speed.

  If you wanted to take possession over such an inconceivably valuable place, you had to have the corresponding level of power! If you weren’t strong enough, then you would have to do what Emperor Trisilk did; secretly mine away without anyone knowing about it.

  The almighty Hegemon was a good example. The first to discover Hydragon Mountain wasn’t actually him, it was a group of adventuring World-level cultivators. In the end, there had been a grand battle, resulting in the almighty Hegemon taking sole ownership over Hydragon Mountain.

  The Church of Annihilation, in turn, had taken completely control over this entire alternate universe, becoming its paramount power.

  In the end, power was what mattered the most!

  Ning and the others advanced at maximum speed, relying on Prince Greatjoy’s mastery over spacetime to flee as fast as they could.

  However… this time, their guess was wrong. Right now, Emperor Trisilk was in no mood to search for them.

  ……

  Deep within another part of the Archaeus region.

  Rumble…

  Space was in chaos here, and spacetime itself trembled.

  This was an extremely inhospitable environment. Not even major powers would come here, but a translucent, virtually invisible drop of water was floating through this region of chaotic spacetime.

  Within that drop of water, there was an estate.

  “Shit, shit.” A sinister-looking youth with nine malignant tumors on the top of his head was seated in the lotus position, grinding his teeth. “That old bastard Maniseal really is like a ghost that just won’t go away. It’s been nearly nineteen chaos cycles, but he’s still chasing after me. Is he never going to get tired of this? Shit, shit, shit! I really regret pissing him off. Who would’ve imagined that the silent old fellow would be this powerful? If I knew, I would never have pissed him off. If it wasn’t for the fact that I, Trisilk, am skilled at staying alive, I would’ve died by his hands long ago.”

  He truly felt regret.

  Emperor Trisilk was consumed with regret. He was a lawless figure who had committed countless sins. He was willing to do anything if it meant growing more powerful!

  Emperor Maniseal was an extremely low-key Eternal Emperor. He was known as a very good man who spent all his time training his disciples within his own territory. He was often taken advantage of by others in the Church of Annihilation, but he didn’t really care too much. Emperor Trisilk had thought Emperor Maniseal to be a complete pushover, and so when he heard that Emperor Maniseal had bestowed an incredibly valuable treasure known as the Violetbolt of Icy Flames to his second disciple, Trisilk had decided to take it. He had slain Emperor Maniseal’s beloved second disciple, then stolen the Violetbolt of Icy Flames.

  This was a treasure that was used to meditate on the Dao. When you kept it by your side, your heart and mind would become extremely calm, making it much easier and faster for you to comprehend the Dao.

  One of the reasons why Emperor Maniseal had been able to succeed in his Daomerge was because of this treasure! His second disciple was a Verge-level Daolord as well, and so he had chosen to give his disciple this treasure. Who would’ve thought that it would end up in that disciple being killed?

  He had been enraged. For the first time in many years, Emperor Maniseal had been truly enraged!

  His second disciple was the disciple he loved the most. His eldest disciple had long ago perished while adventuring, which meant his second disciple had been by his side the longest. He treated this second disciple as he would a son. Emperor Maniseal spared no expense to investigate the matter, in the end discovering that it had been Emperor Trisilk who had been the culprit! Emperor Trisilk had been too arrogant, feeling that Emperor Maniseal would not pose any threat to him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been discovered to be the culprit with such ease.

  Once Emperor Maniseal discovered who the murderer was, he left his home and began to chase after Emperor Trisilk.

  This chase…

  Stunned this entire alternate universe! Only now did they understand how terrifyingly strong Emperor Maniseal was. He was close to being on par with the sixteen Starkings! If he was just a tiny bit stronger, he probably would’ve been bestowed with the formal title of ‘Starking’ by the Church of Annihilation.

  With such a powerful figure pursuing him, Emperor Trisilk was forced to use up two of his most valuable life-saving treasures. He had even tossed the Violetbolt of Icy Flames over to Emperor Maniseal and asked other major powers to intercede on his behalf, but it was all to no avail. The kindly, good-natured Emperor Maniseal had been truly enraged. He had chased after Emperor Trisilk for nineteen entire chaos cycles, and he still continued
the chase without relenting in the slightest.

  “Ten chaos cycles, a hundred chaos cycles, or a thousand chaos cycles… so long as I, Maniseal, am still alive, I swear I shall one day slay Trisilk.” These were the words which Emperor Maniseal had said long ago.

  All Emperor Trisilk could do was hide as best he could.

  The universe was a vast place. If an Eternal Emperor wished to hide, it would be very difficult for anyone to find him. However… by the same principle, for a major power like Emperor Maniseal to unrelentingly search for and chase after you was an utter nightmare.

  “What horrible luck. Even my mountain of darkspace flamestone was discovered?” Emperor Trisilk muttered angrily to himself. He could sense his disciple’s death, but he didn’t dare to go and investigate what had happened. “My disciple had the power of a peak Daolord of the Third Step. With my formation supporting him, not even Verge-level Daolords would be a match for him. I wonder who killed him? Maybe that old bastard Maniseal knows about it as well.”

  ……

  Ning and the others, however, didn’t know any of this. Terrified of being discovered, they quickly moved towards the core parts of the Archaeus region.

  “Do you think Emperor Trisilk will be able to invert the flows of spacetime to find our tracks?”

  “Don’t worry. The Archaeus region is huge! It won’t be that easy for him to find us.” Ning and the others didn’t dare to relax in the slightest… but they had no idea that Emperor Trisilk was in no position to worry about anything besides keeping himself alive.

  * * *

  Book 28, Chapter 17 - A Group of Eight

  After leaving the Sacred Immortal Realm, Ji Ning and the others spent three hundred years in flight. Only after they felt that had fled a sufficiently long distance did they begin to divide up their loot.

  A flying vessel was lazily drifting through the void of the Archaeus region. Ning and the rest of the five were seated within the vessel, counting their earnings.

  “That weak Daolord actually had quite a few treasures, including two Prismatic Kiloleaf Flowers. If we add those two to the one which we harvested, that means we have three! He also had an Archaeus medallion as well as these other treasures…” Heartlord Solewind had placed the many treasures he had found across the deck of the vessel.

  “That’s quite a lot.”

  “Ahaha! That weak Daolord certainly had quite a lot of treasures.” Ning and the others were all pleasantly surprised by this. What they didn’t realize was that the stooped, green-robed Daolord had been assigned all of the more taxing tasks, such as tormenting the cultivators and taking care of the flowers. The actual planting and nurturing of a Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower was an extremely exhausting job, and each time a flower grew to maturity he would head over and harvest it. Although the harvested flowers were temporarily left with him, once their group left the Sacred Immortal Realm he would’ve had to hand it over to the black-robed Daolord.

  “How should we split these things up?” Skyfire Brightshore asked hurriedly.

  “You are an honorable prince of the Brightshore Imperials. Why are you trying to haggle over treasures with commoners like us?” Firesurge teased him.

  “How about this? Let’s consider the three flowers as three ‘portions’ of treasures, an Archaeus medallion as one portion, and all of those other treasures as a fifth portion. Each of us will get one portion, and we can choose as we please,” Heartlord Solewind said.

  Ning and the others all nodded.

  The stooped Daolord truly did have quite ac ollection of treasures, including a bit of darkspace flamestone. Although he didn’t have that much of the flamestone, the amount he did have was still worth close to a million cubes of chaos nectar.

  “I want the Archaeus medallion,” Prince Greatjoy said.

  “I want…” Ning spoke out at the same time, then paused, slightly stunned. He wanted the Archaeus medallion as well! Su Youji had been a master-class Chaos Immortal when she first acquired the legacy of Feixian the Exalted. Feixian the Exalted had been an extremely powerful Daolord, and his legacy was very well-suited for Su Youji. As a result, she now had the power of a supreme Chaos Immortal. This opportunity in the Archaeus region wasn’t to be missed!

  If she was given an Archaeus medallion, she would be able to journey alongside the five. She might grow a bit more stronger, in which case she could very well be able to break through to become a Samsara Daolord herself! A Samsara Daolord who knew the secrets arts of Feixian the Exalted would be a terrifyingly strong assistant, and Su Youji herself was actually an extremely talented individual as well.

  She had relied on techniques she herself had come up with to reach the apex of the Ancestral Immortal level. She had needed only one further step to reach the World level, and after she joined Ning she had indeed broken through to that level during their adventures within the Allgod Estate! She had been improving at an incredibly fast rate. Although she was inferior to Ning, she was still quite dazzling. Ning naturally was willing to spend time and effort on helping build her up.

  “Brother Darknorth, you want it as well?” Prince Greatjoy was startled.

  “The two of you really are generous. We’re valuing these medallions at around a million cubes each.” Firesurge chuckled as he picked up a Prismatic Kiloleaf Flower. “I’ll simply choose this pretty little flower.”

  “I have no retainers. I’ll choose one of the flowers as well.” Skyfire Brightshore also choose to acquire one of the flowers.

  “Darknorth, if you also want an Archaeus medallion, the answer is simple. Give me your portion of the spoils and I’ll give you one of my medallions.” Solewind smiled. “After the black-robed Daolord died, I found two of the medallions on his corpse.”

  The black-robed Daolord himself had a medallion, and he had kept another one of them stored inside his storage treasure.

  “Alright.” Ning nodded. “Thank you.”

  “No need for thanks. I’m not giving it to you, I’m selling it to you for a million cubes,” Solewind said. “Although I have quite a few retainers, there is only one worth me spending time on.”

  Ning, Solewind, and Greatjoy each had a few retainers. Firesurge actually did as well, but he didn’t feel any of them had that much potential and so he wasn’t willing to spend much effort on them. As for Skyfire Brightshore… he had originally been a lone wanderer before he was abducted to the Birghtshore Kingdom. Even in the kingdom, he was a lonely and solitary figure who had no retainers at all.

  ……

  After splitting up the loot, Ning’s group once more continued on their journey.

  Within Ning’s estate-world. Su Youji and World God Pillsaint, along with the other World-level retainers, were sparring against each other.

  Whoosh. A pair of dazzlingly beautiful wings of fire suddenly appeared behind Su Youji. Light shone from her eyes, causing the muscular World God facing her to grow rather dazed. An indecisive look of struggle appeared on his face, and quite some time passed before he was able to come back to his senses.

  “The Flamefairy’s mastery over the arts of charm is growing more and more formidable. I, Qiyang, am full of admiration for you.” The muscular World God hurriedly spoke out in praise.

  “You were dazed long enough for her to kill you a hundred times over.”

  “The Flamefairy really is incredible.”

  The World-level retainers were the ones who Ning had captured during his invasion of their branch of the Bluegrace Sect. They all knew that Flamefairy Su Youji had gained the legacy of Feixian the Exalted, and ever since then she had only become more and more mesmerizing. The charm which she naturally extruded was now so dazzling that weaker World-level cultivators would be uncontrollably smitten by her. Even the stronger cultivators would be dazed for a while then they saw her.

  It must be understood that in a life-and-death battle, a single instant of befuddlement which came at a critical moment could result in immediate death.

  None of the ot
her supreme World-level cultivators under Ning were a match for Su Youji at all. This was how formidable a powerful legacy could be! But of course, it was also partially due to the fact that Su Youji’s Dao was quite a good match for the Dao of Feixian the Exalted, making it easy for Su Youji to train in her skills.

  Because of her alluring charm, all of these World-level cultivators couldn’t help but flock around her. In fact, some of them secretly fantasized about one day becoming Dao-companions with her. Alas, Su Youji was not interested in them at all.

  “Youji.” A voice suddenly rang out.

  “Master.” A look of pleased surprise appeared on Su Youji’s face as she turned to look, only to see a white-robed Ning appear off in the distance. This was a divine power incarnation of Ning’s.

  “Master.” The other World-level retainers all called out respectfully as well, looks of dread appearing on some of their faces. They had seen Ning attack before, and they knew that he was only a completely different level compared to them.

  “Follow me,” Ning instructed.

  “Yes.” The Flamefairy immediately moved towards Ning, following right behind him. Soon, the two moved into a copse of trees.

  “A great opportunity has come,” Ning said, looking at Su Youji. “If you can grasp it… it could propel you to become a Samsara Daolord.”

  “A Samsara Daolord?” Su Youjij was stunned. Although she had been improving rapidly in the arts of charm, illusion, and control, she wasn’t even close to becoming a Daolord just yet.

  “This opportunity is something which people like us can only hope for, not count on.” Ning waved his hand, causing a dark-red circular disc to within it. “This is an Archaeus medallion. Bind it and carry it with you. If you don’t keep it with you, you won’t be able to leave this estate-world. If you tried, you would be crushed to death by the power of the Archaeus region.”

  “An Archaeus medallion?” Although Su Youji was puzzled, she felt absolute faith in Ji Ning. She obediently bound the Archaeus medallion, then took it into her possession.