The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

The imperial capital of the Grand Xia. Within a palace hall inside the Skylight Palace that glowed with a dull red light.

The black-robed Xia Emperor was seated atop his throne. Beneath him were a trio of generals, armored in dazzling golden armor. Their auras were incredibly powerful, no weaker than the aura of the Xia Emperor himself; clearly, they were Empyrean Gods or True Immortals! All three of them sat with backs straight, filled with an aura of desolation and slaughter. For the Primordial Imperial Clan...it was quite simple for them to be able to summon and command Empyrean Gods and True Immortals as they would ordinary soldiers.

Whoooosh.

Many images were projected in midair; these were the battles images that were being transmitted from many locations. The Xia Emperor had incredible control over the world of the Grand Xia. Once there were any ripples at the Celestial Immortal level, he would immediately find out.

“Young master Xiamang, it seems this Seamless Gate really holds our Primordial Imperial Clan in high regard; they’ve sent two thousand forces to launch a simple probing attack. There are far too many places with battles...there’s no way for you to find them all, one by one.” One of the three, an old man with a fiery red beard, let out a loud laugh. Flames appeared to be blazing within his eyes as well.

“I don’t have enough Pure Yang treasures to keep an eye on two thousand different battles at once,” the black-robed Xia Emperor said with a smile. There were only a few hundred images in midair; this was his limit with regards to how many places he could keep watch on at once.

One of the hundreds of images, however...was of the battle at Stillwater City!

After all, Stillwater City had an incredibly powerful figure, Celestial Immortal Unity, and the monstrously talented Ji Ning, who had an awe-inspiring backer!

“What formation are those eighteen Celestial Immortals setting up? A Turtle-Snake Formation?”

“Celestial Immortal Unity is in danger!”

All of them instantly noticed what was happening in this battle. After all, part of those two thousand battles were merely play-fights, while most of the rest were probing attacks; only a very small number were assassination attempts. The assassination attempts naturally drew their attention.

“Hmph.” The Xia Emperor’s face sank, but he continued to watch. He gave no orders for now.

The images showed how Celestial Immortal Unity had become trapped within the Turtle-Snake Formation. Suddenly...the faces of the Xia Emperor and his three golden-armored generals all changed, because they saw a youth use a divine ability to charge forward through the skies.

“Ji Ning?” The Xia Emperor frowned. “Is he crazy?”

“Is this person the ‘Ji Ning’ you’ve been paying attention to, young master xiamang?”

“He’s a bit too unwise, isn’t he?”

The three generals all shook their heads slightly...but suddenly, their facial expressions stiffened.

Within the images, Ji Ning’s sword-fingers suddenly expanded to become three thousand meters long. They lashed through the skies like an enormous divine sword, chopping down upon the Turtle-Snake Formation. The tough and incomparably tenacious Turtle-Snake Formation was actually completely shattered by this terrifying sword-finger attack. Caught completely off guard, six of the eighteen Celestial Immortals perished.

“What?!” The Xia Emperor jumped to his feet, a look of amazement in his eyes.

“Impossible.” The three generals had stood up as well. They all stared unblinkingly at the images.

Within the images, Ji Ning had just used [Three Heads, Six Arms] and was chasing after and massacring the fleeing Celestial Immortals. The Xia Emperor, in front of these three generals, didn’t feel any need to maintain his normal aura of dignified majesty. He said incredulously, “What’s going on? I don’t know if Ji Ning’s Primaltwin has undergone the tribulation yet, but his true body definitely has not.”

“If his true body had succeeded in overcoming the Empyrean Tribulation, he would be an Empyrean God by now. His divine abilities, spells, and other abilities would all be far stronger than they are now.”

“He clearly has not yet overcome his tribulation to become an Empyrean God!”

“But if he isn’t an Empyrean God...how could he be this powerful? Is it really possible for a Void-level Fiendgod to be this powerful?” Countless thoughts were rummaging through the Xia Emperor’s mind.

As for the three generals, they were no less stunned than the Xia Emperor was. The most muscular general actually began to frown. “A Void-level Fiendgod...even if he learned some of the most supreme divine abilities of the Three Realms, allowing him to become close to a Pure Yang True Immortal in power...he should only be roughly equivalent to Celestial Immortal Unity. How could he be this much more powerful than Celestial Immortal Unity? The level of power he’s displayed has completely transcended the gap between the Void-level and Empyrean Gods.”

“What a monster.” The Xia Emperor stared at Ning, stared at him as though he was looking at the most precious treasure that existed in the world. A look of actual greed was in his eyes.

“Congratulations, young master Xiamang.”

The three generals simultaneously spoke these words.

The black-robed Xia Emperor chortled as well.

Indeed, this was something worth celebrating!

He was born a member of the Primordial Imperial Clan...and the greatest strength of the clan was that they were extremely unified. The reason why the Imperial Clan able to become the imperial clan of the Primordial Era was precisely because they had a large number of True Gods and Daofathers within their ranks....but clearly, these True Gods and Daofathers couldn’t have all been born into the Imperial Clan. Why, then, did all of them support the Primordial Imperial Clan?

It was precisely because the Primordial Imperial Clan had provided them with nonstop support prior to them becoming truly powerful. Given that the Primordial Imperial Clan had been so benevolent towards them...how could the True Gods and Daofathers not wish to pay back their kindnesses?

It must be understood that the more powerful one was, the more one cared about one’s Dao-heart, and the less willing one would become to feel indebted.

If someone had treated you with great kindness, but you refused to repay it...you would feel discomfort. This would impact your Dao-heart; in fact, in extremely dire cases, it could even cause you to go down a path of madness! Naturally, there was a very small number of True Gods or Daofathers who walked an extremely vile path; no matter how well you treated them, they would still kill you without blinking, which wouldn’t impact their Dao-heart at all. However, these people were quite rare, after all.

“Ji Ning?” The Xia Emperor’s eyes were shining. He now viewed Ning as a monster who would truly be of benefit to him...and one who hadn’t even undergone his tribulation!

He had the feeling...

That so long as Ji Ning didn’t die, it wouldn’t be hard for him to become an Empyrean God or True Immortal. In fact, he might even become one of the most supreme Empyrean Gods or True Immortals! To be able to make someone like this one of his closest allies...the Xia Emperor felt that this was utterly wonderful! And of course, if by some great stroke of luck Ji Ning became a True God or a Daofather, the Xia Emperor would bow down to thank Heaven and Earth.

Why was the Xia Emperor’s status so special? It was because, aside from the fact that his master was a Daofather, his lifelong friend, his brother...was Daofather Raindragon!

In the end, a master was just a teacher; he might provide some guidance to the Xia Emperor and behave benevolently towards him, but if the Xia Emperor truly ran into trouble, Daofather Crimsonbright might or might not actually intervene to help him. In fact, even if Daofather Crimsonbright were to watch the Xia Emperor died, it wouldn’t impact his Dao-heart; after all, the Daofather had many disciples. In addition, it was his disciples who owed him, not the other way around.

Daofather Raindragon, however, was another story. Daofather Raindragon was one of the Xia Emperor’s lifelong friends, his brother; this was a far closer relationship!

Now, the Xia Emperor was going to do everything he could to help Ji Ning and ensure that Ji Ning would remember how kindly the Xia Emperor had treated him. In the future, if the Xia Emperor encountered a crisis and asked Ji Ning to help...how could Ji Ning possibly just sit back and watch with his hands clasped behind his back?

“What a monster. From the Primordial Era to the present day, this is the greatest monster I’ve ever seen.” The black-robed Xia Emperor stared at the image of Ji Ning. Although the Primordial Era had given birth to some true monsters as well, the Xia Emperor hadn’t personally met them...but right here and now, a real, living, breathing monster was standing right in front of him.

......

Outside Stillwater City.

True Immortal Gaudy had a handsome face. He was famous for being a relaxed, graceful man...but his face was twisted right now. This was because he had just saw that little girl Violetgrass, who he had watched grow up, be killed before his very eyes! As soon as he had sensed Violetgrass shattering her talisman, he had immediately used Greater Teleportation to come to this place. He had mastered the Grand Dao of Qiankun long ago, and so he no longer needed to use Dao-talismans to perform Greater Teleportation.

However, since he had come here from another major world, he wasn’t able to perfectly sense where Violetgrass was; he was only able to get a general idea of where she was located.

His Greater Teleportation had taken him outside Stillwater City. By relying on his attunement to Qiankun and Space, he instantly found Violetgrass and understood that she was in danger. He immediately broke apart the grand sealing formation, but because he wasn’t able to make it right away, he hurriedly sent a mental message to call for a halt. Alas...the youth hadn’t hesitated at all. He had used all six arms of his [Three Heads, Six Arms] technique to launch sword-fingers attacks at Violetgrass and slay her.

“Little sister Violetgrass...” True Immortal Gaudy’s control over Qiankun was so great that it was as though he personally watched it happen. It was as though he personally watched Violetgrass be transformed into dust.

“No...”

True Immortal Gaudy’s eyes instantly turned completely bloodshot, and his face began to twist.

“All of you will DIE!” True Immortal Gaudy went completely berserk. An enormous grand seal that was black and white suddenly appeared. This grand seal was primarily black, while the sides of it were white. The grand black-white seal appeared out of nowhere, instantly transforming to be the size of a mountain as it smashed downwards. Although the local protective formations were strong, True Immortal Gaudy had mastered the Grand Dao of Qiankun and was skilled in formations. In addition, he was simply too strong, far more so than his foes.

BOOM!

The grand seal completely smashed through the protective formations.

On the other side.

“Ji Ning, be careful!”

“An enemy has arrived!”

“He’s broken the sealing formation; it should be an Empyrean God or a True Immortal.” Immortal Diancai, Yu Wei, and Unity all sent frantic mental messages.

“Hurry up and leave!” Ning immediately understood; he had previously controlled the formation as well, after all. Right as he killed Violetgrass, Ning manifested a black greatbow in front of him. Stretching his hand out, Ning grabbed the black greatbow with one hand. Within his other hand, an arrow appeared, instantly blazing with flames as it did.

In midair, Ning immediately nocked the arrow, drew the Rahu Bow, then filled it with his divine power. All of his power was cycled through it to converge onto the arrow, with Ning’s heartforce included into the mix. The method of applying heartforce through [Houyi’s Archery] was even superior to Ning’s own self-developed methods; with Ning’s current level heartforce, he could only sustain seven arrows at most.

“Go!”

TWANG!

Instantly, the world itself seemed to shake. A dazzling red light instantly tore through the skies, and as it did so it continuously drew in the surrounding natural energy of the world. This was the power of [Houyi’s Archery]; it was a terrifying archery skill that could ravenously draw in the might of Heaven and Earth.

Although both [Houyi’s Archery] and the [Starseizing Hand] were ranked as the top ten divine abilities to be created after Pangu established the universe...in raw power, [Houyi’s Archery] surpassed the [Starseizing Hand]!

Rumble...

The giant black-white seal came crashing down, smashing through everything.

The fiery arrow shot through the skies like a blazing meteor.

BOOM!!!

The two collided. The area around them completely blew apart! The earth below was suddenly caved in; clearly, this was caused by the shockwave of the collision!

“Eh?” Immortal Gaudy’s face changed slightly. Very, very few people in the Three Realms used [Houyi’s Archery]. For example, although there were a number of people under Patriarch Subhuti who did train in it, their primary skills lay in other areas; they normally wouldn’t use [Houyi’s Archery]. Thus, there were very, very few people who were able to truly able to get a taste for how formidable [Houyi’s Archery] was. Even Ji Ning had to first reach the third stage of heartforce and perfect his control over it before he was able to unleash [Houyi’s Archery] to this level of power.

The collision with the arrow caused the giant black-white seal to instantly grow slower.

Twang! Ning once more nocked his arrow, drew his bow, and sent off a shot that blazed through the skies. Once more, this was a full-strength attack. Ning’s heartforce was depleting at a terrifying pace, but he didn’t dare allow the enemy’s attack to draw near him. After all, this was an actual True Immortal. There were very few True Immortals who were merely at the ‘base’ level of power for a True Immortal; most were far more powerful.

Yet another blazing comet shot through the skies.

True Immortal Gaudy once more sent his giant black-white seal to crash downwards onto that arrow.

Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!

Five more consecutive bowshots rang out, the power of the arrows preventing even the utterly enraged True Immortal Gaudy from immediately catching and slaughtering Ji Ning and his friends.

“Let’s see how many more arrows you have!” True Immortal Gaudy had a terrifying look in his eyes. He knew that divine archers were generally only able to launch a very low number of full-power shots. And indeed, after the seventh arrow shot out, there was a pause. Now...there was nothing to block the infuriated True Immortal Gaudy.

The giant black-white seal once more began to crush through the opposing formations, smashing towards Ning and the others.

“Go!”

The whole reason why Ning had unleashed those seven shots was to buy time to allow Immortal Diancai, Yu Wei, and Celestial Immortal Unity to escape. However...when they attempted to use a Greater Teleportation, they realized that this region had been completely dimensionally severed from the surrounding world. There was no way to use any sort of teleportation here at all.

“None of you will be able to escape. All of you will die.” True Immortal Gaudy was filled with a towering killing intent. His giant black-white seal once more came smashing downwards through the skies.

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