Desolate Era

by RWX

  “Move it!” Ning, Su Youji, and the Ninedust Sectlord were already aboard the vessel, and they barked impatiently to the others.

  “Y-y-yes.” The Dragonwing Governor excitedly followed after them, and Skywind was similarly unable to disguise his excitement.

  Swoosh. The black vessel burst into the skies, then immediately disappeared without a trace.

  ……

  Ning and the others had long ago acquired a local map of this planet from the Dragonwing Governor. They knew where the Hiddensea Palace was located, and the planet itself wasn’t that large; at most, it was a bit over one billion kilometers in diameter. The ordinary mortals on this planet were fewer in number than even in the Three Realms, but on average they were more impressive as the rate at which they gave birth to Immortals and Fiendgods was far higher.

  Swish! Just a few heartbeats later, the black vessel had already left the Dragonwing Governor’s estate and arrived directly above the top of a cloud-piercing snowy mountain.

  “Here we are,” Ning said. “Hiddensea Palace is right below us.”

  “What? We arrived?” The Dragonwing Governor and Skywind stood at the prow of the ship, staring in astonishment at the scene below them. The mountain peak below them was covered with snow, with an ordinary-looking palace buried below it. This was Hiddensea Palace.

  “We made it there in one breath.” The Dragonwing Governor and Skywind exchanged glances. Both of them felt stunned. That had been simply too fast! To them, Hiddensea Palace was an extremely distant location that would only be reached through riding birds or mounts. The path was a dangerous, twisty one that needed careful navigation, and it would take them at least half a month to reach it.

  The nearby Ninedust Sectlord chuckled. “This ship can move at a hundred times the limits of the Heavenly Daos. A hundred million kilometers is nothing to it. You! Whats-your-face, Dragonwing Governor, right? Hurry on down and lead us to Immortal Slowseal.”

  “Understood. Skywind, follow me and stay behind me. As for the three of you?” The Dragonwing Governor hesitated.

  “We’ll go with you,” the Ninedust Sectlord said calmly. “No one in this puny little palace can possibly see through our illusions.”

  “Understood.” The Dragonwing Governor acknowledged the order.

  ……

  The Dragonwing Governor led the party while the other four temporarily followed behind him as he entered Hiddensea Palace. The former was a World-level cultivator, after all. He was on the same level as the Palace Lady and so was received with great courtesy.

  “Dragonwing.” The Palace Lady was a black-robed woman who looked quite ordinary but who had an extraordinary demeanor.

  “Hiddensea.” The Dragonwing Governor hurriedly rose to his feet.

  “What suddenly brings you to my place? Dragonwing City is quite distant from my palace. To think that you made the long, hard trek here in person… might I ask, what is the reason behind this?” The Palace Lady smiled. Her gaze just briefly lingered on Ning and the rest of the four behind the Dragonwing Governor. She noticed nothing remarkable about them at all; the difference in power between them was simply too great.

  The ‘long, hard trek’? The Dragonwing Governor couldn’t help but sigh to himself. It had all been done in the twinkling of an eye. However, he didn’t expose this. “Hiddensea, I’ve come to meet with fellow Daoist Slowseal.”

  “Meet Slowseal?” The Palace Mistress frowned. “Immortal Slowseal is a rather bad-tempered person. If I didn’t have something important I needed him for, I would never have invited him over. Why are you causing problems for yourself?”

  “I have something important to discuss as well,” the Dragonwing Governor said.

  The Palace Mistress gave him a hard look, then nodded. “Fine. I’ll help you send word, but you know what Slowseal is like.”

  “I do.” The Dragonwing Governor nodded.

  A few moments passed as she conversed with Immortal Slowseal. “Let’s go. I just checked and Slowseal agreed to meet with you. I’ll take you to him.” She led the Dragonwing Governor deeper into the palace.

  A short while later, they arrived within the most beautiful courtyard within the Hiddensea Palace. A horned, black-haired elder was seated within it, drinking some wine. When the Dragonwing Governor brought Ning and the others in, the black-haired elder’s eyes twitched. He glanced sideways at the four, then frowned and barked at the Palace Mistress, “Hiddensea, bringing in Dragonwing is one thing, but why have you brought in a group of juniors?”

  “I’m to blame for that.” The Dragonwing Governor hurriedly smiled. “It has nothing to do with Palace Mistress Hiddensea.”

  The Palace Mistress just stood there silently. She knew quite well that Immortal Slowseal was doing this to knock the Dragonwing Governor down a few pegs.

  “Hmph.” The black-haired elder let out a snort. “Throw these juniors out.”

  “But…” The Dragonwing Governor was stunned. As for Ning, Su Youji, and the Ninedust Sectlord, they revealed looks of resignation.

  “Ugh.” The Ninedust Sectlord let out a sigh, and as he did an invisible aura of power blasted out from around him, causing Skywind, the Dragonwind Governor, the Hiddensea Palace Mistress, and Immortal Slowseal to all feel their hearts quiver. The entire world seemed to have turned silent. Heaven and Earth had both vanished, leaving nothing else save his voice.

  “I wanted to resolve this peacefully and have a nice chat with Immortal Slowseal’s master.” The Ninedust Sectlord shook his head. “I didn’t imagine him to be such a fool. It seems we’ll have to do things the hard way.

  Ning and the others had indeed been planning on doing things peacefully. This planet was mysterious and inscrutable; they didn’t want to accidentally kick over a hornet’s nest. Unfortunately, this Immortal Slowseal was a bit too arrogant.

  “What’s going on? Why is this happening? W-who are they?!” Immortal Slowseal was panicking, and the Hiddensea Palace Mistress was amazed as well.

  “Slowseal actually has a Daolord as his master. It’s fine for him to be proud, but his pride goes too far.” Ning shook his head slightly as well. People truly did act differently once they had a powerful backer. In the Badlands Territory, if you encountered a disciple of the Badlands Court you generally wouldn’t dare to attack even if you were much stronger! As for the likes of the Skykwood Sect of Skywood City, one of the eight Sacred Cities? Whenever the weakest members of Skywood Sect so much as mentioned their sect, World-level cultivators and weaker Daolords would be utterly terrified.

  This was the good part of having a strong backer. This was why so many World-level cultivators wanted to join major schools, but the Badlands Court and Vastheaven Palace had very high standards. As for the Skywood Sect and other sects on its level, their standards were even more excessive. Thus, the World-level cultivators who weren’t able to join the major sects were forced to hide in one place. When trouble came knocking, they had no choice but to fight head-on… and if they failed, they would die.

  If you had a powerful background, even if you couldn’t win the fight you could report your name and thus stay alive in that way.

  It was much like what the Paragon of Pills had told Ning: “If you ever find yourself in a life-threatening situation, you can use my name!” Her being his backer would overawe many attackers.

  “W-who are you?” Immortal Slowseal was rather panicked. “My Master is Daolord Feng Xian.”

  “Kid…” The Ninedust Sectlord’s face was dark, and his voice was cold and grim. Waves suddenly arose in the area around him, swirling around him with torrential voice and filling Immortal Slowseal’s entire field of vision, making him feel as though they were about to drown him. The power held within the waves caused Immortal Slowseal to feel a sense of endless terror. Horrified, Slowseal immediately produced a jade talisman, then crushed it with a cracking sound.

  “My master is going to arrive soon! Don’t do anything crazy!” Immortal Slowseal said, terrified. />
  “Hahaha…” The Ninedust Sectlord started to laugh.

  “Haha…” Ning started to laugh as well. “Ninedust, I thought we’d have to threaten him a bit before his master would arrive. I never would’ve thought he’d panic so badly that he’d immediately crush a Dao-seal to summon his master.”

  “I was planning to torment him a bit. Now, it seems, he’s quite a clever boy.” The Ninedust Sectlord let out a chuckle as the waves around him all vanished.

  Everyone else, including Immortal Slowseal and Palace Mistress Hiddensea, felt their hearts quiver as their legs turned to jelly. Prior to this, Ning’s group had shown them no enmity and had completely masked their auras, making it so that Immortal Slowseal could sense no power at all. Now that they fully released their auras, they felt an instinctive, bone-deep terror in their hearts!

  “W-where did all these terrifying figures come from?” Immortal Slowseal felt misery in his heart.

  * * *

  Book 30, Chapter 22 - Outlander Demons

  At the very peak of a desolate mountain. A gray-robed man was seated here in the lotus position. He had been seated here for more than a hundred thousand years, ignoring the howling of the wind and the beating of the rain.

  “In the end, this world is simply too small.” The gray-robed man raised his head to stare into the skies. “I need to do the same thing the other major powers did; leave this world, fight my way through the endless demons of the outlands, and then enter the wider world beyond. According to what the legendary Prophets said, the world beyond ours is vast and filled with countless cultivators. It is a world trillions of times greater than ours.”

  “That place is the place I should be in!” A look of desire was in the gray-robed man’s eyes. Leaving this world and entering the outlands carried a high risk of death, but generations of Daolords continued to do just that. In the end, this world was simply too small, even smaller than the Three Realms. For figures as powerful as Daolords, spending a few dozen chaos cycles in such a small place left them with little to no interest in it at all. They wanted to explore the wider, more exciting world outside, especially after they had learned from the Prophets who had descended as to just how amazing that world was.

  “But I’m not quite there yet. I should first become a Daolord of the Fourth Step. Then, I might perhaps be able to leave.” The gray-robed man nodded slowly.

  Suddenly…

  Bang! The gray-robed man suddenly turned his head to stare in a certain direction. He frowned. “Why is my disciple suddenly asking for rescue via his message-talisman?”

  He truly was puzzled. This world was fairly small, and all the Daolords within it knew each other. As a result, even if they chose to punish his disciple for some reason they would first give him, Daolord Feng Xian, a heads up. This particular disciple, Slowseal, was very attentive and obedient. As a result, Daolord Feng Xian liked him very much. In addition, Slowseal had no chance of becoming a Samsara Daolord, nor did he ever go out adventuring. That was why this didn’t make sense.

  He wasn’t out adventuring and Daolords wouldn’t attack him. Why then was he begging for aid?

  Swoosh! Although quite puzzled, Daolord Feng Xian immediately flew into the skies towards the direction the plea had come from.

  ……

  A courtyard within the Hiddensea Palace.

  Ji Ning, Su Youji, and the Ninedust Sectlord were seated here casually, chatting and drinking wine. Skywind and the Dragonwing Governor stood next to them, while Palace Mistress Hiddensea hurriedly attended to their every need, pouring wine and delivering platters of fruit. As for Immortal Slowseal, he watched from a distance, his heart filled with terror and unease.

  A short while later…

  Whoosh. A figure suddenly descended from the skies.

  “Master.” Immortal Slowseal raised his head, a look of delight on his face.

  “There he is.” Ning, the Ninedust Sectlord, and Su Youji all turned their heads to stare at the gray-robed man descending from the skies. The man’s gaze instantly fell upon Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord.

  “Eh?” The gray-robed man’s face changed. He was a Daolord of the Third Step; there was no way those three Daolords could mask their auras in front of him.

  “Who are you?” the gray-robed man roared. He didn’t care about Su Youji, but Ning’s aura was that of a Daolord of the Third Step. As for the Ninedust Sectlord, his aura was even more powerful and terrifying than that of a Daolord of the Fourth Step!

  “I’ve never met you three before. You shouldn’t be from our world.” The gray-robed man had an ugly look on his face as he roared angrily, “Are you outlander demons?!”

  “Outlander demons?” The Dragonwing Governor and Skywind all stared at Ning’s group, stunned.

  Outlander demons… here in this world, those things were creatures of nightmares! Once outlander demons appeared, everyone would pay any price necessary to wipe them out – this was a shared acknowledgement amongst all cultivators in this world! Skywind and the Dragonwing Governor had heard stories of outlander demons since they were young; they knew that every appearance of an outlander demon represented a calamity descending upon their world.

  “Impossible. There’s no way my master could be an outlander demon.” Skywind couldn’t, wouldn’t, believe it.

  “Outlander demons?” Ning’s group of three exchanged glances. This world was indeed filled with many flaming creatures who were known as outlander demons. They were incredibly powerful creatures, and some of them dared to enter this world. Although they would be suppressed by the might of this planet, ensuring that their power dropped dramatically, the ones who did dare to enter here were always amongst the most supreme of the flaming creatures and were at least at Ji Ning’s level. Some were even stronger!

  But of course, upon entering this planet and being weakened by it they would become far weaker than Ning or the Ninedust Sectlord.

  The gray-robed man immediately sent a message back to the sacred grounds. “Three strange figures have appeared, and their auras are at the Daolord level. One has an aura even stronger than that of a Daolord of the Fourth Step. I suspect he is a transformed demon from the outlands.”

  ……

  A beautiful underground palace located roughly 190 million kilometers benearth the ground. One of Daolord Feng Xian’s avatars was located here, and it immediately sent out the word.

  “Three Daolords? One has an aura even greater than that of a Daolord of the Fourth Step?”

  Within an ancient, still room. A white-robed elder was seated in the lotus position here, and by his side was a violet-robed man who was also seated in the lotus position. The walls around them were filled with countless ancient runes.

  “They should be the two Prophets and their servant,” the white-robed elder said. “Inkmind, go and pay a visit to those two Prophets.”

  “Acknowledged,” the violet-robed Daolord Inkmind said respectfully

  Ning’s group was behaving with caution, but the ‘sacred grounds’ which had unified this planet were similarly cautious. The wealth which had been built up in the sacred grounds over the course of countless years was more than enough to stir Prophets with greed! That was exactly what had happened last time, and a disaster had befallen the world as a result. As a result, the sacred grounds behaved very cautiously. At first, they had been able to track Ning’s descent through the nine barriers around their world, but they were unable to track them afterwards.

  They could’ve forcibly swept the world through their godsense, but they wanted to avoid unnecessary trouble. They chose to wait and see what the two Prophets would do first, leaving the initiative to them. Given how powerful the Prophets were, it was impossible for them to remain completely hidden within this world.

  “You should know exactly how you should deal with the Prophets,” the white-robed elder said. “We naturally wish to act in a friendly manner, but if they leave us no choice then we can choose to battle them and wipe them out.”


  “Understood,” Daolord Inkmind said respectfully. Last time, they were only forced to use a world-destroying measure to kill the Prophet because they had been caught off-guard. As a result, virtually all living creatures on the surface of the world had been wiped out as well. Fortunately, the ‘sacred grounds’ still held living beings within it, and over the course of countless years they slowly propagated to the point of allowing the world to flourish once more. This time, if they felt that the Prophets were likely to cause trouble they would choose to immediately kill them!

  Whoosh. Daolord Inkmind departed.

  “We’ve never experienced two Prophets descending together. I hope things can be resolved peacefully,” the white-robed elder murmured softly in his room.

  ……

  The atmosphere in the courtyard was very tense and heavy. Daolord Feng Xian stared unblinkingly at Ning’s group, certain that they were outlander demons. The only people who came from the outlands were either demons or Prophets. Prophets? From the day this entire planet was created til now, there had only been three times that Prophets had descended. The chances of this happening were incredibly low. Although outlander demons were also fairly rare, they were far more common by comparison.

  “There’s no way Master and the others are outlander demons.” The nearby Skywind continued to refuse to believe it.

  Swoosh! Just two seconds after the two sides first began to face off, a golden vessel suddenly appeared in the skies.

  “They came.” Daolord Feng Xian revealed a look of delight when he saw that flying vessel. The sacred grounds had sent him reinforcements. He truly hadn’t been certain of victory if he had to face this alone.

  “They are incredibly fast. That ship moved at roughly a hundred times the speed of light.” Ning and the others raised their heads, watching the flying vessel approach them.