The Desolate Era

Ji Yichuan was both surprised and delighted. As for the seven nearby Zifu Disciples, who were calling out bravely despite being in despair, Yichuan paid them no mind at all. The only one he cared about was Ji Ning, who was next to the bodies of those two on the ground; Adept Xu Li and Nong Zidao.

“How could...how could...it’s only, only been a short while...” Yichuan couldn’t believe it. How short a period of time had transpired, as he had charged over here from three hundred meters away? Adept Xu Li, an exalted Wanxiang Adept, had perished.

A corridor through the nether fog parted. Ji Ninefire, who had been watching from afar halfway up the mountain, quickly ran this way through the corridor. His face was covered with surprise and delight. Yichuan hadn’t personally seen the slaughter that had just occurred, but Patriarch Ninefire had been able to vaguely sense it all through his control of the nether fog. Although it wasn’t very clear, he knew without a doubt...that Ning had used only a single blow to kill Adept Xu Li.

“In a short hour, Ji Ning’s actually undergone a world-shaking transformation.” Ninefire’s heart was filled with unspeakable joy. “This truly is a blessing for our Ji clan!”

“Little Shadow, Liu Xing, Truekeep, all of you, come over. Snowdragon Mountain’s Adept Xu Li has already perished.” Ninefire sent to them while hurrying over.

In the various other regions. Granny Shadow and the others had felt shock and terror in their hearts, because just now, they had heard Adept Xu Li roar, “Ji Ning, have you come to deliver your life?” Granny Shadow and the others were incomparably terrified upon hearing this; hadn’t Ning left? Why had he returned? Or was Adept Xu Li lying?

And right in the middle of their fear, the Patriarch’s voice came towards them. “Snowdragon Mountain’s Adept Xu Li has already perished.” “Perished?” “The Wanxiang Adept perished?” Truekeep, Granny Shadow, and the others felt both astonishment as well as amazement. How could such a powerful Wanxiang Adept have died like this? They hurriedly traversed the corridors through the nether fog which had just opened before them, and they hastened towards Ning’s direction.

Soon...one figure after another arrived, moving at high speed. Ji Yichuan. Ji Ninefire. Granny Shadow. Ji Truekeep. The old servant, Ah Xing. The white-robed, white-haired man. The Thunderhawk.

“Uncle White.” Ning looked at the white-robed, white-haired man who had appeared before him, especially at the face that was striking similar to his father’s. He couldn’t help but call out in surprised delight, “You made a breakthrough?”

“By relying on the liquefied elemental essence, I broke through.” The Whitewater Hound nodded. He looked towards Ji Ning with eyes filled with love. “I didn’t expect that at the end, we would all survive. After all these years, I’ve never been able to speak with you. I didn’t expect that today, Ning, son, I would be able to speak with you.” Ning beamed.

“Adept Xu Li and Nong Zidao?” Truekeep looked at the surrounding area. “They’ve been cremated already.” Yichuan had a rare smile on his face as well. Just now, Ning had immediately cremated the remains and taken the magic treasures. Ning pointed at the seven utterly despondent Zifu Disciples. “Patriarch, how should we deal with these seven? The seven of them aren’t able to fight back at all; we can do with them as we please.”

“The seven of them?” Ninefire turned his head, sweeping them with a glance. “Kill them all. Our Ji clan has already established an enormous grudge with Snowdragon Mountain. There’s no point to keeping them.”

“No.” “Don’t kill me, I’m willing to give up my treasures in exchange for my life. “You will regret it. Your Ji clan will definitely be annihilated by the fiery rage of Snowdragon Mountain.” “Keep acting arrogantly. Your Ji clan will definitely be annihilated within a single day.”

Some of the seven Zifu Disciples were begging for their lives, while others were cursing angrily. Patriarch Ninefire frowned as he pointed at one of the middle-aged men. He barked, “What did you say? Our Ji clan will be annihilated within a single day?”

“Hahaha.” Lu Huang laughed wildly. “Do you know who you killed? The person you just killed was a Wanxiang Adept of our Snowdragon Mountain! Wanxiang Adepts can be considered high-level members of our sect. When they die, the main sect will instantly know, and also know where they died.”

The faces of Ning, Ninefire, and the others all changed. There were indeed quite a few methods by which a location could be divided. For a major sect like Snowdragon Mountain, it would be quite normal for them to leave some markings behind on their Wanxiang Adepts.

“It is one thing for us Zifu Disciples to die, but the main sect will immediately send people over to investigate the death of Adept Xu Li.” Lu Huang looked at Ning. “Ji Ning. Although you are formidable and although you are a talent, in the face of our entire Snowdragon Mountain, you will definitely die.”

“Right. The death of an Adept is an enormous matter. The elders of the main sect will definitely arrive within a single day. You will definitely perish.”

“Before the Celestial Envoys of the Grand Xia Dynasty who you are waiting for will arrive, our elders of the sect will arrive.”

The morale of the Zifu Disciples clearly began to rise. Swish! Suddenly, without giving them any chance to respond, a semi-translucent shadow flashed past, instantly piercing through the heads of the various Zifu Disciples. Blood sprayed everywhere, and then all of them collapsed, dead.

“So fast.” “There were no warning signs at all.” The faces of Ninefire, Truekeep, and the others all changed. Ning’s attack had created no ripples or disturbances at all! After all, Ning hadn’t even filled the Evanescent Demonslayer Sword with his elemental ki; he had completely relied on his divine will to control it. Naturally, Ning was able to attack without giving any warning signs. The seven were still cursing in despair, but in the next instant, they had all died.

“Xu Li is already dead.” Ning said solemnly. “The worst case scenario would be that the Snowdragon Mountain really will send even more powerful experts to come here to investigate. We need to immediately make preparations.”

“What the hell is this? There’s no end to this!” Truekeep gritted his teeth painfully. “Alas!” Patriarch Ninefire shook his head as well. Previously, they had all been incomparably excited, but now, a bucket of ice water had been poured on their heads. Their hearts turned cold!

.......

More than a million kilometers away from Swallow Mountain. Snow drifted down from the skies. It was perpetually freezing here. The endless mountains stretched in a chain, as far as the eye could see. Some were tall, while others were short; some had peaks that stretched into the clouds. This was the location of the main sect of one of the great powers within Stillwater Commandery, Snowdragon Mountain.

Snowdragon Mountain’s main sect was divided into three factions, and the leaders of the three factions were all Summit Lords, with the positions being assumed by Primal Daoists.

The three tallest, most awe-inspiring majestic mountain peaks...were the residences of the three Primal Daoists. There were many other mountain peaks around them, which were the residences of the various Wanxiang Adepts. Naturally, there were many Zifu Disciples who would follow these Wanxiang Adepts or serve the Primal Daoists, waiting for a chance to hear them expound on the Dao.

Within Coldfocus Peak of Snowdragon Mountain were halls and palaces. Within one of the main palaces, there was a jade bed, atop which sat a red-clothed youth in the lotus position. By his side stood a pair of maids. They stood there nervously, not daring to make a sound and disturb him.

Coldfocus Peak...it was a mountain peak that was ranked amongst the top peaks of the many mountains of Snowdragon Mountain’s main sect. The Summit Lord, Xue Hongyi, was a truly outstanding genius that had been cultivated by Snowdragon Mountain. Age ten, Xiantian. Age sixteen, Zifu. Age thirty nine, Wanxiang. Thirty years later, after many trials and tests, he had become a member of the Grand Xia Dynasty’s Raindragon Guard!

In the Raindragon Guard, he had learned some particularly powerful techniques. His battle prowess was now within the top three of the Wanxiang Adepts of Snowdragon Mountain.

There could be a tremendous gap in power between two Wanxiang Adepts. The likes of Adept Xu Li were simply ordinary Wanxiang Adepts. There were some particularly talented Wanxiang Adepts who trained in some extremely powerful techniques, who had extremely formidable magic treasures or divine abilities, or controlled particularly powerful golems who were capable of fighting beyond their level and approach the Primal Daoist level of combat power.

Amonst Zifu Disciples, there were outstanding talents and also comparative weaklings. The weaklings were like Ji Ninefire; the stronger ones were like Dong Ziqi. Both were peak Zifu Disciples, but a single Dong Ziqi could battle ten Ji Ninefire’s. As for the more formidable ones like Jadechild, because of their divine abilities, they could dominate a group of Zifu Disciples by themselves. And of course, there were monsters like Ning, who could kill Jadechild as easily as slaughtering a chicken.

Amongst Wanxiang Adepts, there could similarly be a great difference in power levels. Xue Hongyi was one of the most dazzling ones, who had close to a Primal Daoist’s power in battle.

“Hongyi.” An icy cold voice suddenly rang out by the ears of the red-clothed youth. “Hm?” The red-clothed youth opened his eyes, a look of respect appearing in them. “Master.” “Your junior apprentice-brother Xu Li just perished, and it should have been within the Swallow Mountain region.” The icy voice continued, “Hongyi, go make a trip to Swallow Mountain and investigate how your junior apprentice-brother Xu Li died. You are a member of the Raindragon Guard; you can borrow their teleportation array to move to Swallow Mountain as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, Master.” The red-clothed youth nodded. He was an orphan whom his master had taken in, because he had been discovered on Snowdragon Mountain’s territory. Back then, because he had been found wearing naut but a red, cotton-padded jacket, his master had bestowed him with the surname of ‘Xue’, meaning ‘snow’, and his name as ‘Hongyi’, meaning ‘red clothes’. The relationship between himself and his master was akin to that between a true father and a son. Only, the two weren’t good at expressing it, as they both had cold, sharp personalities.

“Whoosh.” A red cloud suddenly appeared before the red-clothed youth, and in an instant, it flew out of the main hall, howling through the air as it disappeared into the horizons at an astonishing speed.

.......

Oxhorn Mountain. The Ji clan was currently deciding how they should deal with the expert which Snowdragon Mountain would invariably send over.

“A major sect such as Snowdragon Mountain cares the most about their reputation. Our ‘puny little Ji clan’ has killed so many of their disciples; they definitely won’t let this matter rest.” Truekeep said frantically. “Now, our only chance is to hope for the Celestial Envoy of the Grand Xia Dynasty to arrive. Once the Celestial Envoy arrives, we will have the protection of the Dynasty. No matter how audacious Snowdragon Mountain is, they won’t dare attack.”

“But the expert from Snowdragon Mountain will arrive within the day.” Ninefire said with a frown. “As for the Celestial Envoy of the Grand Xia Dynasty, the Envoy probably won’t be able to arrive within a day.” All of them were pondering.

“Our only option is to flee.” Granny Shadow said in her hoarse voice. “Right. Flee.” Ninefire said. “We cannot fight head on. We can’t let Ji Ning take on this sort of danger again. We shall flee immediately. After we flee, Snowdragon Mountain will spend some extra time investigating. As long as we can delay until the Celestial Envoy arrives, we will have succeeded.”

“I’m just afraid that if the experts of Snowdragon Mountain aren’t able to find us, in their rage, they will harm our ordinary clansmen.” Truekeep said.

Ning’s face suddenly changed as he turned to look into the distance. “Eh?” Everyone else, seeing Ning’s face change, also turned to look towards the distance.

The nether fog around them had grown sparse. Ning and the others could now see far into the distance...and because Ning’s soul had reached the ‘divine sense’ level, his senses were extremely acute. He could sense that from far away in the sky, there were faint ripples. Thus, he had turned to look.

From afar...a towering, lofty, wide warship was currently pressing down, emanating waves of energy as it flew over. There were massive armored warriors standing atop the ship, and all of them had extraordinary auras and gazes. This group of warriors surrounded a tall, slender youngster who was dressed in a magnificent uniform and who wore a crown on his forehead. His bearing was extraordinary, and by his side there was an armored man who was fawning on him.

The warship had two mighty pillars and two flags fluttering atop them!

Atop the first flag were two characters: “Still” and “Water.”

Atop the other flag were two other characters: “North” and “Mont.”

“The Northmont clan, of the Marquis of Stillwater.” Ninefire raised his head, staring at the enormous ship which flew through the airs towards them. Upon seeing the great flag atop the warship, he couldn’t help but murmur to himself.

“The Marquis of Stillwater!” Ning was shocked as well. The Sillwater Commandery was a vast, vast land, and it had all been enfeoffed to the Marquis of Stillwater! One could imagine how vast the power of the Marquis of Stillwater was. Only the Raindragon Guards could be considered to be on par with him, but with regards to some of the matters within the territory of the Marquis, not even the Raindragon Guard would dare to casually interfere in and disrupt the Marquis of Stillwater’s management of his lands.

“That is...General Dong.” Truekeep said. “The person standing next to the youngster is General Dong.”

The warship continued to fly towards them. General Dong, who stood atop the warship, by the side of the youngster in the beautiful black uniform, hurriedly barked downwards, “Members of the Ji clan and Snowdragon Mountain, hurry and pay your respects to the exalted envoy of the Marquis of Stillwater!”

His voice echoed and rumbled, reverberating throughout the lands.

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