Desolate Era

“Master,” the black-haired elder said respectfully.

Ji Ning sighed silently to himself. Ning knew himself to merely be a newly ascended Ancestral Immortal; it wasn’t very likely that he would be able to force other Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals to become his retainers, but he had succeeded in doing so. If he was in the primordial chaos, even if had managed to take on a retainer, it would have been his responsibility to provide his retainers with treasures and weapons. This was an extremely fair relationship; if the retainer was to risk his life for the master, then the master had to provide the retainer with cultivation techniques and treasures. This was the reason why powerful cultivators generally found it fairly easy to acquire retainers.

Ning, on the other hand, ended up extorting his retainers for THEIR treasures…

Still, the black-haired elder was going to remain locked up in here. Only a World God or Chaos Immortal would be strong enough to break his chains! Thus, even though he had pledged his allegiance, there was no way he could really serve on Ning’s behalf.

“Let me ask you a question.” Ning looked at the black-haired elder. “Do you have an ‘Elder God Formation’?”

“Elder God Formation?” The black-haired elder was flabbergasted. “Master, are you perhaps thinking a bit too highly of me?”

“Even a small one would do,” Ning said hurriedly. “Or perhaps the other fifteen Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals imprisoned here…would any of them have an ‘Elder God Formation’?”

“Fifteen?” The black-haired elder was surprised. “Which fifteen?”

He was kept separate from the others. The only Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals he knew of were the ones who had been imprisoned here before him.

“They include Ancestral Immortal Jadetide…” Ning listed all fifteen of the other names.

“So that madman was imprisoned here as well? Good, good, good!” The black-haired elder was in quite a good mood upon hearing these names…but he then looked at Ning and shook his head. “Master, forget about acquiring an Elder God Formation. Although all the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who have been imprisoned here are extraordinary, formations like that aren’t for meant the likes of us. None of the Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals of Pangaea would be able to acquire any Elder God Formation, even one that is only meant for four or five Elder Gods. Generally speaking, only World Gods and Chaos Immortals will be able to acquire them.”

Elder God Formations could be meant for many experts or just a few.

Some, for example, could be used by as few as six Elder Gods! The six Elder Gods would take bind different parts of the formation stone, allowing them to naturally join together in a large formation. They would be able to seamlessly share their divine power together, with their attacks dramatically increasing in strength.

An Elder God Formation that could use up to a hundred Elder Gods would be able to give even a World God a good fight!

Even small-scale Elder God Formations could be used to dominate other Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals with ease.

This was something which Ning badly wanted to acquire. Ever since he had heard of them from World God Northrest’s legacy, he had wanted to acquire one! If the Elder Gods of the Nuwa Alliance could join together in an Elder God Formation, they would definitely be able to effortlessly dominate the Seamless Gate with ease. Even if they didn’t have enough Elder Gods, they would be able to use certain True Gods to temporarily fill in positions!

“Even small-scale Elder God Formations would require five hundred bottles of chaos nectar in trade.” The black-haired elder shook his head. “Five hundred bottles! The King of Pangaea spent unbelievable amounts of resources and hard work in order to construct those thirty-six chaos nectar refinery formations. Although those thirty-six formations are known as ‘prisons’, in the eyes of the King of Pangaea their true value lies in their ability to distill chaos nectar.”action

“The prisonworlds can be said to be the most important treasures of Pangaea. For even a prisonworld to fall into your hands…it means that the chaos-kingdom of Pangaea might have truly been annihilated.”

“Thirty-six prisonworlds…each chaos cycle, they can only produce roughly two hundred bottles of chaos nectar.” The black-haired elder looked at Ning. “An entire chaos cycle! But small-scale Elder God Formations will require at least five hundred bottles of chaos nectar. World Gods and Chaos Immortals might be able to afford such a price, but Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals generally would not, unless they are ridiculously powerful or had absolutely incredible luck. Those of us who lived in Pangaea would rarely go out to adventure and risk our lives. Of course we wouldn’t have enough treasures!”

Ning nodded.

Elder Gods could generally be divided into two different types. The first type consisted of Elder Gods like Gonggong, Suiren, or Swordfather Triult; they spent their entire life in just a single chaosworld, rarely going out to adventure.

The second type consisted of the likes of the Lord of All Things or Godfiend Witherspike. They often went out adventuring. They acted carefully for fear of losing their lives, but if they were successful they could reap fantastic rewards!

“How much chaos nectar or chaos jewels do you have?” Ning asked.

“I have two bottles of chaos nectar and just a hundred or so chaos jewels,” the black-haired elder said.

Ning shook his head. How disappointing!

Still, this was the average networth for an ordinary Ancestral Immortal. Most of his resources would have been spent in acquiring those valuable Chaos treasures, after all! That black chain, for example; it would be worth quite a few bottles of chaos nectar. As for the Triult Swords? They were worth dozens of bottles of chaos nectar, and Swordfather Triult had only acquired them after spending countless years building up his resources.

Chaos nectar was something of a common currency in the endless primordial chaos!

It was the extracted essence of chaos energy and could be used to replenish the soul, divine power, Immortal energy, heartforce, all physical wounds.

After asking the black-haired elder a few more questions, Ning finally gave up on acquiring an Elder God Formation, a World Castle, or any other incredibly powerful treasures. It really just wasn’t realistic. Only the most monstrously powerful Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals had access to such treasures, such as the ones who were able to battle against even World Gods and Chaos Immortals.

“Go ahead and give me your Chaos treasures,” Ning said.

“Ugh.” The black-haired elder revealed a hint of pain in his eyes, but he still waved his hand, causing the two crystalline swords and the golden sword to join together and fly over towards Ning. The black chains appeared as well, spinning around him.

“You only have two?” Ning asked.

“How much more do you want?” The black-haired elder said angrily, “I nearly lost my life in acquiring the Triult Swords. Go ahead and see how many of the other fifteen Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals here have treasures superior to the Triult Swords!”

Ning laughed, then waved his hand and accepted the two treasures, sending out his Immortal energy to quickly bind them.

“Eh?” A look flashed past Ning’s eyes.

“How many levels of the Triult Swords and the Darkcloud Chains have you mastered?” Ning asked.

“I’ve mastered the third level of the Triult Swords and the second level of the Chaincloud Chains,” the black-haired elder said.

“Oh, right. Take out all your other treasures and let me choose from them,” Ning said.

“You…!” The black-haired elder was instantly rendered speechless.

This was worse than a robbery!

What sort of a person extorted his own retainers like this?!

Ning didn’t pay any attention to the man as he picked through the treasures. These treasures weren’t very useful to him, and the two bottles of chaos nectar wouldn’t make much of a difference, but…when he left the Three Realms in the future, he would have to make sure that he had enough good things to leave behind for his daughter Brightmoon.

After cleaning out the black-haired elder, Ning immediately left. He wasn’t willing to face the old man’s glowering, resentful glare.

He located a nearby mountain, then landed atop it.

Ning waved his hand, causing the three Chaos swords to appear in the air before him as well as the large, serpent-like black chains.

“Blackcloud Chains. It has three levels of power, and can just barely be considered a high-grade Chaos treasure.”

“The Triult Swords…ehehe. They actually have six levels of power, and all three are top-grade Chaos treasures. Upon being joined together, they actually exceed the entire Chaos-level of power.” Ning nodded silently to himself, then began to test out binding the treasures.

First, he bound the Blackcloud Chains.

The Blackcloud Chains could be used to bind and trap enemies, or it could be used to circle around the user and deflect enemy attacks! Ning’s true body didn’t need this sort of protective treasure, as he had an extremely strong protective divine ability, but his Primaltwin was only an Ancestral Immortal. His Primaltwin’s body wouldn’t be able to resist enemy attacks in the same way, making the Blackcloud Chains quite a useful item for it.

“The first level is fairly simple.”

“The second level…done.”

After spending a bit more than two hours, Ning finished mastering the first two levels of the Blackcloud Chains. The aura of the Blackcloud Chains increased dramatically in strength, and the chains themselves seemed to move more agilely as well.

Ning’s sword-arts truly were at an incredibly profound level. As a result, he had now mastered six of the Nine Chaos Seals, even though he only spent part of his time analyzing them. Even Daoist Three Purities had only mastered seven of the chaos seals back during the Primordial Era. Thus, he was able to easily master the first two levels of the Blackcloud Chains.

“The third level is too difficult…I won’t be able to unlock it in a short period of time.” Ning spent six more hours working on the chains before giving up. “I’ll focus on the Triult Swords first.”

“Violetjewel’s still the best. There are no restrictions or levels that I need to bind and unlock,” Ning said with a sigh. “It’s a divine sword that has a core quintessence within it, after all.”

Chaos weapons were considered fairly high-level weapons. Above Chaos weapons were Dao weapons. World Gods and Chaos Immortals generally would use Dao weapons.

Violetjewel, however, was something that surpassed even Dao weapons! It even had a core quintessence within it. Ning had merely repaired the surface layer of the sword, but that was still enough to allow it to have more power than any Chaos weapon!

But of course, Violetjewel was a weapon which even World Gods and Chaos Immortals would go berserk for. When World God Northrest had fled all those years ago, he had sent his truesoul riding on the sword. All his other treasures had been lost, and even his very body itself had been lost. The only things left to him were his truesoul and his precious sword.