The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

Within the Swallow Mountain region.

The ancient Immortal vessel, emanating a powerful, crushing aura, was surging towards Serpentwing Lake.

“Our repsects to you, Patriarch.”

Xu Fang and the other Zifu Disciples knelt down, extremely nervous. They didn’t even dare to raise their heads to look at him. To the four Zifu Disciples…the Primal Daoist level was unfathomably distant from them. In addition, they hadn’t imagined that after shattering that talisman, one of the three Patriarchs of Snowdragon Mountain, Daoist Snowplume, would be the one to come.

“Describe the situation to me in detail.” The feather-robed Daoist Snowplume sat there. He gave them a sideways glance, then closed his eyes and calmly gave them their orders.

“Yes.” The leader, Xu Fang, cleared his throat, then said nervously, “Just yesterday, an envoy from the Ji clan came to our Snowdragon City and tossed a scroll written by Ji Ning for us to read. When we saw the scroll…we were immediately frightened by the terrifying sword-intent contained within those characters, to the point of our legs going soft and our hearts quivering.”

“You were so frightened that your hearts quivered and legs went soft?” Daoist Snowplume suddenly opened his eyes wide as he stared at the kneeling Xu Fang.

“Right. Patriarch, you can ask the other three,” Xu Fang said hurriedly. The other three kneeling Zifu Disciples all hurriedly nodded as well. “It is true. We were so frightened that our hearts shook and our legs went weak. The characters on that scroll did truly contain a terrifying sword-intent. We’ve never seen such a terrifying sword-intent before…those characters completely chilled our hearts.”

“We wouldn’t dare to live. This sort of sword-intent…we’ve never even heard of it before.”

“This was the letter written personally by Ji Ning of Serpentwing Lake.”

All of them hurriedly responded in unison. This caused Daoist Snowplume to frown and bark, “Give me that letter and let me look at it.”

Xu Fang immediately said, “That scroll was covered by a restrictive spell. When we opened it and read it, it automatically self-destructed and was set aflame.”

Daoist Snowplume’s face instantly turned rather unsightly. This caused Xu Fang and the other three to be utterly terrified at the thought that they might have angered their Patriarch.

“What did his letter say?” Daoist Snowplume barked.

“His letter just had a simple line of words. It said this: Xu clan, of the Swallow Mountain branch of Snowdragon Mountain. I give you ten days to get the f*ck out of Swallow Mountain. If after ten days you have yet to move, then don’t blame me for showing no mercy with my sword。“

Xu Fang was a cultivator; naturally, his memory was extremely good, and he had completely memorized the words which Ji Ning had written.

Daoist Snowplume, upon hearing this, immediately started to laugh. “He’s quite arrogant. He truly does hold our Snowdragon Mountain with no regard at all.”

“The rest of you can leave.” Daoist Snowplume waved his arm. Instantly, Xu Fang and the other three quickly departed from the cabin, leaving behind only Daoist Snowplume and his two disciples.

“Master.” Adept Xu Ke and the gray-robed man both looked towards their master, waiting for his response.

“For the sword-intent within that scroll to terrify Zifu Disciples to the point of their legs going soft…no one within Snowdragon Mountain has been able to produce sword-intent on this level,” Daoist Snowplume said, nodding gently. “I’ve heard that this Ji Ning specializes in using the sword. Now, it seems, this truly is the case. However, no matter how talented he is, he is merely a Wanxiang Adept, and the only magic treasures he can use are top-grade Earth-ranked magic treasures.”

Daoist Snowplume felt absolute confidence. Most of the so-called ‘Primal Daoists’ who were defeated by Wanxiang Adepts were mere early-stage or middle-stage Primal Daoists. He, however, was a peak-stage Primal Daoist!

He had trained for more than a thousand years. As one of the three Patriarchs of his clan, all the magic treasures he used were high quality Heaven-ranked magic treasures. Everything else aside, his foundation of elemental energy and his magic treasures completely surpassed Ji Ning’s. That was without accounting for the ‘primal fire’ his body could produce, or the ‘skywater’ he was cultivating, which was even more formidable than dire-ice…

“Let’s go take a look at this so-called genius of the Dao of the Sword,” Daoist Snowplume said with a calm laugh. “I truly am curious…what makes him think he can abuse our Snowdragon Mountain so? Does he truly think that his reputation as a disciple of the Black-White College is enough to allow him to act in such a lawless manner?”

Brightheart Island. Serpentwing Lake. Within a study.

Ji Ning was currently doing what he did almost every day…writing calligraphy! Next to his side, Autumn Leaf continued to grind ink for him. Ning, brush in hand, wrote one character after another. To him, writing was a form of enjoyment, a way to temper his heart and improve his understanding of the Dao of the Sword.

Rumble…

A surging, crushing wave of divine will instantly swept across nearly the entirety of Serpentwing Lake, including the entire Brightheart Island.

Boom. Ning’s own divine will, however, was like an unmoving boulder, and when the crushing wave of divine will struck against it, the wave.

“Which fellow Daoist is this?” Ning instantly sent through divine will.

“Divine sense? It seems the outside world has underestimated you, Ji Ning. At such a young age, you already possess divine sense…I imagine you are a reincarnated Immortal.” The other surge of divine sense, having realized that it held no advantage at all in terms of the soul, began to chat with Ning. As for Ning, his own divine sense swept out as well.

[Soulshaker Art]!

A raging wave of divine will smashed outwards, crashing towards the soul of Daoist Snowplume, who was in the air above Serpentwing Lake!

BOOM.

Although Daoist Snowplume had trained for more than a thousand years, ten years ago, Ning had already reached the Primal Daoist level in terms of the soul. During the past ten-plus years, he had never slackened off vigilantly training with the [Nuwa Painting]. His soul-improvement had been tremendous, and his divine sense was now capable of stretching to nearly a thousand kilometers. This made it so that even the vast majority of Primal Doaists were unable to compete with him.

Daoist Snowplume, at least, was somewhat weaker in terms of the soul. His divine sense was only capable of stretching to six hundred kilometers!

“Autumn Leaf, tidy things up here. I’ll go and take a look,” Ning said. Autumn Leaf nodded and replied, “Yes, young master.”

There was an ancient, enormous Immortal warship hanging in the air above Serpentwing Lake. The Immortal cultivators aboard this ship included a feather-robed Primal Daoist; it was Daoist Snowplume. At this moment, Daoist Snowplume’s face changed slightly; clearly, he was feeling some discomfort from Ning’s [Soulshaker Art] attack. However, since the difference in soul strength between the two wasn’t that great, the collision wasn’t able to affect him much.

“What a formidable Ji Ning!” Daoist Snowplume, having suffered a slight loss in secret, murmured softly to himself, “No wonder he is such a monster…so he truly is a reincarnated Immortal! But so what if he is? It’ll be even harder to withstand the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations,” Daoist Snowplume smirked.

Every three centuries, a tribulation would descend. Generally speaking, a mental trial would accompany the tribulation, and the more one knew, the more terrifying the mental trial would be. Reincarnated Immortals would have mental trials that were far more powerful than the trials ordinary cultivators would face. Thus, Immortals who chose to reincarnated would initially advance at a breakneck pace, but the further they went, the harder they would find it.

In turn, there were few to no reincarnated Immortals who would successfully pass the Heavenly Tribulation to become Celestial Immortals. Their chance was actually far lower than the chance which most Immortal cultivators faced.

“A reincarnated Immortal?” Adept Xu Zhen and the gray-robed man looked at each other, secretly shocked.

“This Ji clan truly did blunder into tremendous luck; a reincarnated Immortal was actually born into their clan,” Adept Xu Ke mused to himself. “That junior apprentice-brother of mine, Xu Li…poor bastard…he died to a reincarnated Immortal…”

Daoist Snowplume said calmly, “Don’t be frightened by that. So what if he is a reincarnated Immortal? Many reincarnated Immortals fall and perish on their Immortal path, even before becoming Immortals again. This is all too common.”

This was the truth.

The likes of the Sloppy Daoist and Holyfire all had foundations for becoming Immortals! However, the path of Immortal cultivation was a path which went against the will of the heavens…and so the heavens would send invisible trials and tribulations, causing the vast majority of these geniuses to fall and perish. It was equally possible for reincarnated Immortals to perish at the Wanxiang Adept or Primal Daoist levels.

“Are you Daoist Snowplume of Snowdragon Mountain? A distant voice rang out, a voice which shook the world. Daoist Snowplume walked straight to the helm of the ship, staring into the distance.

Off in the distance, there was a fur-clad youth. He looked like an ordinary youth from a barbarian tribe, and behind him, there was an azure-robed maiden and a large, snowy white dog. They all stood there in midair, staring towards the ship.

“Master, these people from Snowdragon Mountain come with bad intentions,” the nearby Little Qing sent mentally.

“Of course they do. However, I didn’t expect that my intentions to drive out their Swallow Mountain branch caused a Primal Daoist to come in person.” Ning stared towards the distant warship.

Daoist Snowplume, standing at the helm of the Immortal warship, truly did have the elegant aura of an Immortal. He laughed loudly, “I am indeed. I heard that the Black-White College has produced a disciple, Ji Ning, whose talent is astonishing and whose power is formidable. Upon my first time meeting you…I can tell that your reputation is well-deserved.”

“You praise me too much,” Ning replied. “Might I ask why you have come to my Serpentwing Lake, Daoist Snowplume?”

Daoist Snowplume, aboard his warship, spoke frankly. “I have come because of some matters between you and the local branch of our Snowdragon Mountain. Your Ji clan is expanding its territory here in Snowdragon Mountain…our local branch won’t hinder you in the slightest, but I heard that you sent word ordering the branch to move away within ten days?”

“That did indeed happen,” Ning said, nodding.

“Don’t you feel that you are being a bit too arrogant?” Daoist Snowplume looked towards Ning.

Ning shook his head. “Based on what I know, your Snowdragon Mountain, in establishing your headquarters, have taken over a territory of a hundred thousand kilometers. You have also set up numerous branches throughout Stillwater Commandery, and are constantly infiltrating into new areas and continuing to expand your branches. Can it be that your own Snowdragon Mountain is permitted to frantically expand, while my Ji clan is to be so limited that we cannot even take over the Swallow Mountain region?”

Those who were powerful would naturally expand.

“How can your Ji clan be compared in the same breath to my Snowdragon Mountain!” Daoist Snowplume said with a frown.

“In the past, when our Ji clan was weak, your Swallow Mountain branch dared to constantly invade and push forward, becoming the most powerful force within Swallow Mountain despite not being local to this place. You even dared to try and forcibly take our elemental ore mine!” Ning stared at Daoist Snowplume. “Now that our Ji clan is powerful, can it be that we can’t even expel a single branch of yours? Can it be that only you are allowed to abuse others, while our Ji clan isn’t even allowed to expand?”

A look of anger was on Daoist Snowplume’s face. “You truly are determined to exile our Swallow Mountain branch?”

“Right.” Ning nodded.

“You are holding Snowdragon Mountain in no regard at all!” Daoist Snowplume said with anger.

“Think whatever you wish. The expelling of the Swallow Mountain branch is something I have set my mind on doing,” Ning said, staring at Daoist Snowplume.

Their gazes intersected.

Daoist Snowplume instantly understood that this Ji Ning was not going to lower his head.

“Do you think that your reputation as a disciple of the Black-White College will scare me off?” Daoist Snowplume’s face sank, and his voice began to echo in the skies. “I urge you to know when to cut your losses. Otherwise…today, I will personally teach you a lesson and let you know…that the words you say need to be matched with an equal amount of strength.”

Ning stared at the distant Daoist Snowplume. He cracked his lips into a smile, and his voice also echoed in the skies. “The words you say need to be matched with an equal amount of strength…well-spoken! I was actually hoping for you to provide me with some pointers, Daoist Snowplume, and see what formidable techniques you have!”

Daoist Snowplume was instantly enraged. “You don’t know your limits,” he howled angrily, his voice echoing out like a thunderclap from an enraged God of Thunder. Instantly, the world around them began to change colors. “I shall grant you your wish.”

“Come!” Ning’s response was cold and calm.