Desolate Era

Within the Brightmoon Diagram of the Mountains and Rivers.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Yu Wei’s emotions and her excitement were all difficult to control right now.

“Senior apprentice-sister, your earlier battle caused quite a stir, and you fought for a long while. Others are definitely lying in wait in this area, and even more are probably on the way.” Ning had no time to talk; with a wave of his hand, he collected the magic treasures and storage treasures of the silver-haired woman and the black-robed man. The talismans were located in the storage treasures; how could he not take them away?

Whoosh.

A ship appeared in front of Ning and Yu Wei. “Senior apprentice-sister, let’s go.” Ning pulled Yu Wei by the hand as he leaped into the ship. The two immediately entered it, and the ship transformed into a streak of light, quickly fleeing. As it fled, Ning spread out his divine sense to sweep the area… and, just as he had expected, quite a few people were present.

“Who was that black-robed youth? How could he be so powerful?”

“Given his power, he should be one of those who was ranked as one of the top hundred prior to the Conclave beginning. He seems rather similar to that Ji Ning, mentioned in the reports of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain. He uses twin swords, is very powerful in close combat, and is skilled in lotus techniques. Given the level of his power… it should probably be Ji Ning. However, Ji Ning is usually dressed in furs, whereas that youth was dressed in black robes. It seems that even Ji Ning doesn’t dare to be too bold and brash.”

“Right. Anyone would recognize him in furs. In black robes… one would have to carefully inspect him.”

“The top hundred experts of the Conclave truly are formidable. In single combat in close quarters against this Ji Ning, when he activates all his divine abilities… he can probably kill me in just one exchange of blows.”

“Gotta be careful.”

All of them quickly and secretly departed. Ning had fled quite fast. In addition, without enough people joining forces, they didn’t dare to try and antagonize Ning.

……

Whoosh.

The ship flew thousands of kilometers, then hide within a large mountain. Ning put away the flying treasure, then let out a sigh of relief alongside Yu Wei.

Ning said with a laugh, “Senior apprentice-sister, earlier when we were fighting, there were eight figures within ten kilometers who were watching us, and nearly two hundred people within a thousand kilometers were pressing near. In this Diagram, even if you get into a fight, you can’t continue to fight for too long. Otherwise, the disturbance will definitely attract attention from others. You have to resolve any fights quickly.”

“Of course I know that, but I was trapped by them and wasn’t able to even flee,” Yu Wei said helplessly. “I was just about to throw out my talismans and prepare to escape.”

His senior apprentice-sister definitely was a supremely beautiful woman in terms of appearances. This look of helplessness on her face couldn’t help but cause Ning’s heart to tremble slightly, but then he quickly calmed himself.

“Senior apprentice-sister, earlier you used phoenixes of ice and fire,” Ning said with a sighing laugh. “I have yet to congratulate you on mastering yet another complete Dao-Path.”

Three years ago, she had already mastered the Dao of the Freeze, but that was but a single Dao-Path.

“You all call me the Rainbowflame Fairy, right?” Yu Wei laughed softly. “I was more talented in fire to begin with. Thanks to a stroke of luck, I first mastered the Dao of the Freeze. My Dao of the Inferno was just a small step behind that.”

Ning nodded. He, too, felt as though he was about to make a breakthrough in the Dao of the Inferno… but he continued to be just a hair away from actually accomplishing it.

“Later on, I’ll need to ask you to help guide me on the Dao of the Inferno, senior apprentice-sister,” Ning said.

“A minor matter.” Yu Wei naturally was happy to help teach him.

“Right, senior apprentice-sister. This is the storage treasure of the silver-haired woman. Help me bind it. I’ll bind the other one’s storage treasure. The talismans are all inside.” Ning handed a bracelet to Yu Wei.

“You go ahead and slowly bind it yourself,” Yu Wei said, looking at Ning. “If I bound it, you definitely wouldn’t accept the talismans inside. Don’t try to trick me.”

Ning was flabbergasted. Yu Wei was truly quite meticiulous and intelligent. Ning felt that he was a smart man, but compared to her, he was still a bit inferior. For example, just now; all he had done was ask her to help bind the storage-type bracelet, and she had immediately been able to infer that in reality, he was giving the talismans within to her.

“You killed both of those two. The talismans belong to you. How about we split them?” Ning said.

“You saved my life, and when I killed them, they were in a dazed state because of you.” Yu Wei shook her head. “Enough. In the future, we are going to continue to adventure in this Diagram. In the future, whoever makes the kill will get the items, but this time, since you saved my life, the talismans should be yours.”

Ning had no choice but to nod.

Seeing how Ning was behaving, Yu Wei felt quite happy, and the corner of her lips couldn’t help but curve upwards.

“Let’s go. Senior apprentice-sister, you battled for a long time earlier; you need to first restore your elemental ki and also calm your mind.” Ning immediately led Yu Wei to quickly find a cave to hide in.

Time flowed on. The days passed, one by one.

Together, Ji Ning and Yu Wei truly were much more formidable.

Yu Wei had mastered two complete Dao-Paths, and was able to combine fire and water together. Her phoenixes of ice and fire were indeed incredibly powerful, and in terms of defense alone, the ice phoenix was comparable to Ning’s Waterflame Lotus! This was the reason why Yu Wei had been able to hold on for so long against the attacks of those three. In terms of offense, the fire phoenix was quite astonishing as well.

With each other’s support, even if ten or so people attacked them at once, they would still have a chance at winning.

……

“Yu Wei truly is extraordinary; she has comprehended two entire Dao-Paths.” Immortal Fivecraze was quite delighted with the performance of these two disciples of the Black-White College. He often bragged about them to the nearby members of other major powers of Stillwater Commandery. “Ji Ning is even more formidable! One of the ninety-six positions will definitely go to our Black-White College. And the eldest disciple of the third generation; little Sloppy has yet to show his power.”

“Ji Ning is formidable, but I really don’t see anything remarkable about that Sloppy Daoist of your Black-White College.” A white-haired Loose Immortal of the Skysplitter Sword Sect shook his head and sneered, clearly unhappy at how smug Immortal Fivecraze was acting.

“You are just jealous!” Immortal Fivecraze stared at him.

……

The Conclave had been going on for more than a month. The Sloppy Daoist was reclining lazily within a cave. Next to him was a pool of water that was both clear and refreshing.

“The first three months will be the craziest. I’ll relax for three months. Those who survive to the end will all be formidable, and will definitely have many talismans on them. Fighting will only be fun by that point.” The Sloppy Daoist just lay there, producing a large cooked rib and beginning to gnaw on it, covering his mouth in oil.

Suddenly…

Whoosh!

A wind blew past, and eight figures suddenly appeared at the entrance to the cave. One of the eight, a muscular man, said with a laugh, “Eldest apprentice-brother, let’s take a break at this cave and bind the storage treasures we just acquired. I hope there are talismans inside---” But suddenly, the muscular man stared.

The other seven also stared, flabbergasted, at the sloppy, chubby man lying down in the cave and gnawing on a roast rib.

The world of the Diagram was clearly quite large; the chances of encountering someone in a cave they randomly selected was very low. For the Sloppy Daoist, despite having often hidden in this cave during the past month, this was his first time encountering someone at the entrance.

“If you always walk by the side of the river, eventually your shoes will get wet.” The Sloppy Daoist resignedly stood up and muttered to himself, then said with a chortle, “Everyone, I’m resting here. Why don’t you leave? Or perhaps I shall leave?”

“Little sloppy kid, are you playing dumb or actually dumb?” A youth with triangle pupils said coldly, “Be good and hand your talisman over and we can spare your life. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

“Nope.” The Sloppy Daoist shook his head.

“Don’t waste words with him. Attack!” The leader, a youth holding a feather fan, let out a cold laugh and then immediately waved his hand. Feathers instantly began to shoot out from the feather fan in his hands, and hundreds of feathers instantly formed into an enormous Immortal crane. The Immortal crane screeched as it sent its claws tearing towards the Sloppy Daoist, and the surrounding rocky walls of the cave were beginning to shatter from the force of the attack.

“Die.” The muscular man let out an angry roar, then immediately expanded in size to thirty-six meters. Because they were in a cave, he had to squat down and lower his head. He also suddenly activated the [Three Heads, Six Arms] divine ability, and in each hand he wielded an enormous greataxe.

He transformed into a streak of lightning, charging forward.

Each of the eight released their own techniques.

Three were Fiendgod Body Refiners, while the others were Ki Refiners. Each had secret arts of their own, and the ‘Immortal Crane of the Nine Heavens’ technique of their leader, the fan-wielding youth, wasn’t that much weaker than even the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]. However, although the technique was fine, the power a technique could actually unleash depended on the user. For example, when Ning used the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], it was even more powerful and dazzling than when the Thousand Swords Immortal had used it back when he himself had been at the peak Wanxiang level.

These eight all came from an extremely large clan from the Eastern Seas known as the ‘Myriad Beasts School’. This was ranked as one of the most supreme of schools in the entire Grand Xia Dynasty, and it was ranked several tiers higher than the Black-White College. It had hundreds of Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals! Naturally, all eight were extremely powerful.

Rumble…

The battle began. Rocks began to fly everywhere, and the mountain peak itself began to crumble.

BOOM!

Within the crumbling mountain peak, the illusion of an enormous Turtle-Snake suddenly appeared. A powerful aura that filled the heavens swept out from it. A chubby youth with the eyes of a snake and whose skin was covered with tattoos that looked like the shell of a turtle was there… and with his bare hands, he smashed aside a giant, blood-red seal, then slapped a terrified white-robed youth into dust with a single palm blow. Next, his hand formed into a claw, striking forward like the beak of a crow and piercing directly through the head of one of the Fiendgod Refiner men. Then, with a swiping movement, he completely tore the Fiendgod Refiner’s body apart.

Whoooooosh. The enormous illusion of the Turtle-Snake quickly ground apart the body of the Fiendgod Refiner, quickly transforming it into ash.

“Quick, run!”

“My lord…”

“How can he be this powerful?! The records of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain regarding the most powerful participants made no mention at all of this sloppy-looking fatty!”

The geniuses of the Myriad Beasts School had completely collapsed. They all threw our their talismans, but in total six of them still ended up being killed by the sloppy-looking fatty. Only two of them just barely managed to escape with their lives.

“Whew.” The Sloppy Daoist stood there atop the destroyed mountain. Waving his hand, he collected up all the talismans and storage treasures. He was completely back to normal, and no longer seemed as terrifying as he had before.

“I didn’t want to fight in the first three months, but they actually forced me to unleash my grand divine ability.” The Sloppy Daoist shook his head. “The participants of the Conclave of Immortal Destiny truly are extraordinary. The attacks of just eight of them were enough to force me to use my grand divine ability. I imagine that many others are going to quickly arrived. I’d best leave.”

Whoosh.

With a single step, the Sloppy Daoist transformed into a gust of wind and disappeared.

……

The main hall of the Skylight Palace.

The faces of the Xia Emperor, Lu Dongbin, the Immortal Elder of the Northlands, and the rest of the nine had all changed. Although it didn’t appear as though they were paying much attention to the Diagram, since they were Pure Yang True Immortals, they actually saw everything which was going on within it.

“The Grand Black Tortoise divine ability.”

“Grand Emperor Xuanwu!” [1. As noted previously, Xuanwu, literally ‘dark warrior’, is both the name of an Immortal as well as the Black Tortoise of the Four Beasts. There are many legends regarding them both, and often the legends are linked, such as the Black Tortoise/Turtle-Snake originally being the guts and intestines of Xuanwu.]

“He’s actually a successor for Grand Emperor Xuanwu. I wonder if he is a personal apprentice or just an honorary apprentice.”

They all had solemn looks on their faces now. Grand Emperor Xuanwu… he was one of the major powers of the Three Realms, and an extremely terrifying figure.

“The Grand Black Tortoise divine ability… it is definitely ranked as one of the top hundred divine abilities of the countless divine abilities created since the universe was established.” Lu Dongbing spoke with a serious look on his face. “I didn’t imagine that here, at the Conclave of Immortal Destiny of your Grand Xia Empire, I’d be able to see one of the most supreme divine abilities of the Three Realms!”

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