Desolate Era

by RWX

  He now had his techniques and his treasures. It was time to master the nine novessence arts!

  ……

  “He came out.” The skinny, gray-robed man was staring intently at Plumesoar Hall from his distant palace perch.

  Ning’s group of three had just flown out of Plumesoar Hall, smiles on their faces. They were chatting as they flew through the clouds. Ning was in an excellent mood, because he had come here precisely for the sake of those nine novessence arts! Although he had all but depleted his store of chaos nectar, he had done everything he wanted to do.

  “Eh?” Ning suddenly frowned. A thin, gray-robed Daolord was flying straight towards him. It was normal to encounter Daolords in Skywood City, a Sacred City of the Dao Alliance, but what caused Ning to go on his guard was the fact that this Daolord was the one he had encountered earlier in Plumesoar Palace.

  Although he was immediately put on high alert, on the surface he continued to smile as he lead Su Youji and Pillsaint forwards.

  BOOM!

  A black mist suddenly spread outwards, so thick that one couldn’t see through it with the naked eye. It instantly covered an area of tens of thousands of kilometers around them, and as it did an invisible surge of power swept across Ning. As for Ning, as soon as he saw the black mist coming he immediately drew Su Youji and Pillsaint into his estate-treasure.

  The surge of invisible power struck directly at Ning’s soul. If Ning really was just an ordinary Daolord of the Second Step, he would’ve fallen prey to this trick… but unfortunately, the gray-robed Daolord’s opponent was Ji Ning.

  “A soul-shaking technique? It doesn’t even match up to Youji’s.” Although Ning didn’t really worry about the attack too much, he was still prepared to unleash his full power in his counter. When a lion hunted a rabbit, it would still strike with full force!

  “DIE!” The gray-robed man manifested a total of six arms, each wielding a curved scimitar. The light of his scimitars howled through the air as he chopped towards Ning with them. The area around Ning began to crack and shatter as saber-light appeared everywhere.

  “First a secret art to shake my heart, then close combat to ensure my death. What a nasty fellow.” Ning waved his right hand, causing a Northbow sword to appear.

  “Break.” Ning stabbed out with his sword. His strike seemed ordinary in every respect. And yet, although the gray-robed man had clearly been the first to strike, Ning’s sword had stabbed through his forehead before his saber-light had even gotten close to Ning.

  Fast. Indescribably fast. This was the Blood Drop stance of Ning’s Omega Sword Dao! Of Ning’s five Supreme Daos, the only one which had made further breakthroughs thus far was his Blood Drop sword-intent, and so his Blood Drop stance of his Omega Sword Dao was currently his most powerful strike. He was now a bit more powerful than he had been when he fought Patriarch Clearwind, and the power of this strike was close to Patriarch Clearwind’s killer attack.

  “H-how can…” A look of horror and shock appeared in the gray-robed man’s eyes. How could it be that his six scimitars weren’t even able to touch or block this person’s sword? How could his opponent be this fast?

  Bang! The Blood Drop stance’s full, penetrating power stabbed deep into the gray-robed man’s body, instantly reducing it into dust. The man died on the spot! It must be remembered that Patriarch Clearwind’s killer attack was able to kill weaker Daolords of the Fourth Step. This attack of Ning’s wasn’t much weaker!

  “I never would’ve imagined that I’d be attacked as soon as I left Plumesoar Hall.” Ning waved his hand, collecting the treasures which the gray-robed man had left behind. “Not even cultivators are immune to the allure of treasures…”

  BOOM!!!

  Suddenly, a surge of terrifying black mist shot out of one of the hundred thousand-plus estates off in the distance. Ning turned to look, only to see a pair of eyes emerge from the mist and stare towards him with a murderous look.

  “Seal!” An invisible ripple of power spread out from afar. Although this attack came from a great distance, the region which Ning was in was almost instantly locked.

  Ning’s subconscious immediately began warning him that a terrifying threat was approaching, and the level of the threat was every bit the equal of the one posed by the Eternal Emperors Ning had encountered in the Azureflower Estate. Ning’s heart began to tremble. He knew that the situation was dire, and could vaguely sense that the Daolord of the Third Step he had just slain had to have had some sort of connection to a truly major power.

  “What the hell is going on?!” Ning had been in a wonderful mood just a few moments ago, but now his face immediately turned pale.

  “Hide!” Ning was out of options. He immediately transformed into a streak of light, moving ten times faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos as he charged right back into the nearby Plumesoar Hall.

  * * *

  Book 29, Chapter 33 - Daolord Kongsan

  Plumesoar Hall was very close, and so Ji Ning was able to almost instantly fly back inside it. Per the rules of the Dao Alliance, it was absolutely forbidden to engage in acts of violence inside the restrictive spells protecting the various palaces and estates within the eight Sacred Cities. Anyone who violated this rule would be slain and their Dao destroyed!

  “This fellow is pretty strong, but he probably wouldn’t dare to violate the rules of the entire Dao Alliance.” Ning relaxed slightly after hiding himself within the Plumesoar Hall. Even figures like Palace Lord Dawnstar or historical legends like Daolord Allgod hadn’t dared to challenge the Dao Alliance! The Dao Alliance’s roots were immeasurably deep, and it was the greatest organization of the entire Endless Territories. Challenge the Dao Alliance? The three Hegemons might have the power to do so, but even they wouldn’t actually carry it out.

  “What an enormous disturbance.”

  “What is going on?”

  The customers and servants inside Plumesoar Hall all stared outside. Although the battle between Ning and the gray-robed man had concluded quite quickly, it had caused quite a disturbance as well. As for Ning, he had no time to waste on the gazes of others; his attention was focused on what was happening outside.

  Whoosh. Far away, a ball of black mist suddenly appeared at the margins of the frozen space. Moments later, that black mist solidified into a human figure.

  This was a man dressed in long, beautiful black robes. He had fiery red hair and fiery red eyes that were filled with an evil, murderous intent. He was currently staring at Ning, hidden away within Plumesoar Hall. Ning was staring right back at this man. Their gazes collided in midair!

  “Quite bold. No wonder you dared to kill the disciple of myself, Kongsan.” Daolord Kongsan stood there calmly in empty space, emanating an aura of transcendant dominance. This was an aura that came from overwhelming self-confidence, which was in turn born from a person having reached an extremely high level cultivation that allowed him to roam the Endless Territories without meeting any superiors.

  “Kongsan?” When Ning heard this name, his heart turned cold. His star map had some records regarding some of the more famous Daolords of the Endless Territories. Although the records he had on Kongsan weren’t very detailed, he still had a rough idea as to how strong this person was.

  “Daolord Kongsan.” Ning remained within the protective embrace of the Plumesoar Hall’s barriers as he said in a loud voice, “I imagine, given your power, you know what happened just now. Your disciple suddenly ambushed me with the intention of killing me. I didn’t cause any trouble for him! Since he struck to kill, I cannot be blamed for killing him instead. I only struck out with a single sword.”

  “He ambushed you and wanted to kill you. He failed and you killed him instead. This is all very normal.” The distant Daolord Kongsan stared at Ning calmly, but Ning couldn’t help but feel a cold feeling in his heart. “He was still, however, my disciple. Since you killed my disciple, I am going to kill you. If you have the necessary patience, you should stay in Plumesoar H
all for the rest of your life. As soon as you leave it, I’ll kill you.”

  His voice was very calm, but the murderous intent within it was quite clear and heavy. There was nothing to negotiate.

  “Hmph.” Ning narrowed his eyes, then turned and left.

  ……

  The cultivators and servants within Plumesoar Hall all watched curiously as they listened to Ning and Daolord Kongsan’s conversation.

  “This white-robed Daolord is screwed. He actually pissed off Daolord Kongsan! Given Daolord Kongsan’s temper, he’s going to kill this kid no matter what.”

  “Poor bastard.”

  “Did he really think he could get away with killing Kongsan’s disciple?”

  “But the white-robed Daolord is also quite formidable. He’s clearly just a Daolord of the Second Step, but he was able to kill Daolord Kongsan’s disciple with ease. That disciple had visited Plumesoar Hall on many occasions, often serving as his master’s errand boy. He was still, however, a Daolord of the Third Step. I never would’ve thought that he’d be killed in the blink of an eye. He didn’t even have the chance to beg his master to come save him.”

  These cultivators and servants all chatted amongst themselves, with the servants of Plumesoar Hall being especially casual in their words. They might be weak, but they belonged to the Skywood Sect. There was an ironclad rule in Skywood City – disciples of the Skywood Sect were not to be touched! Not even Eternal Emperors would dare to violate this rule within the confines of Skywood City. This type of rule was a joint one shared throughout the eight Sacred Cities.

  Whoosh. Ning entered the hall once more. The cultivators and servants turned their gazes towards Ning, and they naturally stopped chattering about him. Ning had a solemn look on his face, and his forehead was furrowed as he frowned. Clearly, he was quite troubled.

  To have been targetd by Daolord Kongsan was indeed quite troublesome. Still, Ning wasn’t really afraid of him. The deceased Hegemon had given him two Dao-seals, after all, which contained the power of a full-force strike from the Hegemon. If push came to shove, he would just use one of them up! However, Ning knew exactly how valuable those two Dao-seals were. They were priceless treasures! The Sword Hegemon had only been willing to pay the price necessary to make them once he realized that he was definitely going to die. These two Dao-seals would be protective, life-saving talismans for Ning for a long time to come. Ning wouldn’t use them unless he truly had to.

  “Senior.” The female attendant who had received Ning earlier walked over to him once more.

  “Right. I heard that in a month from now, Plumesoar Hall will be holding a treasure auction?” Ning suddenly asked with a laugh. The nearby guests and attendants were all secretly amazed. This Daolord of the Second Step was still able to laugh at a time like this?

  The female attendant immediately replied, “Yes, senior. A month from now, Plumesoar Cloud will indeed hold a treasure auction. Quite a few treasures will be up for sale this time, and the reserve prices will be much lower than in the outside world. You might find something which is both cheap and useful.” The low reserve prices of the treasure auctions was a main reason why they were so attractive to cultivators.

  “I’m being targeted by Daolord Kongsan, so I can’t leave for now. I have nothing better to do, so I figured I’d go check this treasure auction of yours out,” Ning laughed. “Give me a private room. I’ll wait a month for that treasure auction to begin.”

  “Done.” The female attendant nodded repeatedly. “Please follow me.”

  There were some very cheap seats for each treasure auction, but there were also private, secluded rooms. If you wished to purchase some extremely valuable treasures while keeping your identity private, you would generally use one of those private rooms. No one would disturb you so long as you remained inside – this was one of the rules which Plumesoar Hall had established long ago.

  The attendants and guests once more began to speculate as they watched Ning leave with the female attendant.

  “The white-robed Daolord looks pretty calm.”

  “Agreed. He knows that Daolord Kongsan is outside waiting for him, but he’s still able to relax and take part in the treasure auction.”

  “In my opinion, he’s probably going to stay inside this hall for a very long period of time.

  ……

  Ning couldn’t be bothered to respond to the gossip going on around him. Soon, he and the attendant both reached a private room. Daolords lived for extremely long periods of time; for them to arrive a few months early for a treasure auction was quite commonplace.

  “Senior, while you are in this private room, no one will disturb you unless you summon them first. Not even the members of Plumesoar Hall itself will disturb you, to say nothing of Daolord Kongsan,” the female attendant said.

  “I have faith in the Skywood Sect.” Ning nodded. “Now, there’s something I need you to do for me.”

  “Please tell me what you need, senior” the female attendant said.

  Ning nodded slowly. “I need an intelligence report regarding Daolord Kongsan’s abilities, the more detailed the better. It needs information on all his techniques and secret arts, as well as information on his previous opponents. I need as much information as your Skywood Sect can provide.”

  The female attendant couldn’t help but feel shocked, but she nodded. “As detailed as possible? The price will be quite high. It’ll probably cost around a hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar.”

  “A hundred thousand is fine.” Ning nodded. The more powerful a cultivator was, the more expensive intelligence reports about them would be. The Brightshore Kingdom’s star map held information on virtually all the Daolords of the Endless Territories, but that information was fairly cursory in nature. To procure much more detailed individual intelligence reports was extremely difficult.

  “Give me a moment,” the female attendant said respectfully, then retreated.

  Within the private room. Ning was originally there by himself, but moments later Pillsaint and Su Youji appeared by his side.

  “Master, what happened?” Su Youji immediately asked.

  “Why did you put the two of us into the estate-world?” Pillsaint was puzzled as well.

  “We encountered a bit of trouble.” Ning narrated what had just happened to them. Su Youji and Pillsaint’s faces instantly turned pale.

  Su Youji said worriedly, “From what you are saying, it sounds as though this Daolord Kongsan is extremely powerful. What should we do?”

  “Haha, no need to worry too much. We have all the food and drink we want here. Why worry about him?” Ning picked up a nearby canteen of wine and poured himself a cup, then began to sip it in a relaxed manner as he glanced sideways at Pillsaint and Su Youji. “Don’t just stand there like idiots. Sit down and have a cup with me.”

  Su Youji and Pillsaint were both feeling rather nervous, but they still sat down. After a short period of time drinking together, the sound of the door being knocked rang out. “Come in,” Ning said.

  The female attendant was outside. She handed a jde slip to Ning, then said respectfully, “Senior, all the information we have regarding Daolord Kongsan is here.” Skywood Sect not only engaged in the treasure trade, it also engaged in the intelligence trade.

  “Mm.” Ning put down his wine cup, then picked up the jade slip and began to read it carefully. As he read through the information, he tossed a storage treasure to the outsider woman. “You can leave now.”

  The attendant looked through thestorage treasure, then left obediently. “If ther’s anything that you need, just summon me whenever you wish, senior.”

  Ning nodded, and she shut the door behind her.

  “Kongsan.” Ning picked up the jade slip once more, studying all of the information regarding Daolord Kongsan which was within that jade slip.

  * * *

  Book 29, Chapter 34 - Secret Arts Mastered

  Ji Ning began to frown as he stared at the jade slip. What a formidab
le figure. He was so strong that he was most likely ranked amongst the second tier of Verge-level Daolords.

  Based on what Ning knew, the first-tier Verge-level Daolords included the likes of Palace Lord Dawnstar, Daolord Allgod, and other similar figures. Palace Lord Dawnstar had once slain an Eternal Emperor with three chops of his saber, while Daolord Allgod had sent Emperor Melobo fleeing in terror.

  It must be remembered that Emperor Melobo was not only an Eternal Emperor, he was also an Awakened member of the Aeonian race who was still alive today. Ordinary Eternal Emperors simply couldn’t compare to him in power… and yet, in the face of Daolord Allgod, he was only able to flee. In a true duel, Daolord Allgod was a bit inferior to Palace Lord Dawnstar in ferocity of attacks, but he was actually superior in tenacity and endurance. The Dao of the Sword and the Dao of the Saber were offensive Daos, after all!

  “Daolord Kongsan is a bit weaker than Palace Lord Dawnstar, but not even Palace Lord Dawnstar would be able to slay him.” Ning frowned. “He’s skilled in the Dao of Darkness and can transform into darkness itself. He’s virtually unkillable. His ability to transform into darkness means that he has incredible control over space! When fleeing, he’s able to move at thirty-six times the speed of light. The darkness, by nature, is inscrutable and mysterious. This Dao can be used to affect the soul, but its particularly dangerous in close combat.”

  “He’s an untamable, unruly figure with no clan and no sects. He is also an extremely selfish person, and at least sixteen Daolords of the Fourth Step have died to him. He’s currently living in an estate within Skywood City.” The more Ning read, the bigger his headache became.

  Daolords who were skilled in combat weren’t terrifying. Daolords who were skilled in staying alive were! Kongsan was one such person. His ability to dissolve into darkness made him virtually unkillable, and he was incredibly fast and skilled in spatial teleportation. He could flee whenever he wished, but was also dangerous in close combat. He had no obvious weaknesses!