The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

“Quick, flee!”

“How is this human so powerful?”

The monster kings were terrified and gripped by despair. Of the group, only their boss, the Goldfur Bearking, was able to withstand Ji Ning’s attacks. The others were only able to buy themselves a bit of time, but Ning’s terrifying [Heavenraker] attacks and savage close-combat strikes would take their lives if they made even the slightest of mistakes.

Swoosh. A bloody streak of light flashed through the skies as the Redhate monster quickly fled.

“Time to go.” A gale arose, but six streaks of distorted sword-rifts appeared in the skies, surrounding that gale and slaughtering three of the monster kings who had been on the verge of fleeing.

……

They had truly stumbled into a hornet’s nest. The Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows had never imagined that this human, this Immortal Darknorth, would have reached such a terrifying level of power. If they had been able to use the perfect, complete ‘Grand Soaring Bear Formation’, they definitely would’ve been able to suppress Ning…but Ning had plotted to kill the Flamewing King right off the start, causing them to only be able to fight individually.

Ning’s own level of power was simply too strong. Ning’s Primaltwin was at the late Void-stage and trained in the [Darknorth Sutra], a Ki Refining Technique developed by a Daofather of the Great Firmament. In terms of elemental ki, he had an amount that was comparable to the amount which Immortal Northwalker had previously possessed. In terms of sword-arts, he was comparable as well. But more importantly, Ning had a full set of nine top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords that were perfectly suited to the [Heavenraker] sword technique.

Thus, the power of Ning’s Primaltwin was on a level higher than even Immortal Northwalker!

Ning’s true body was a bit weaker, but the Thousandbull Sword was exceptionally ferocious. In addition, wounds were not a problem for his Fiendgod body, and slashes and stabs were of minor import. This caused the Loose Immortal monster kings to fear fighting Ning in close combat.

……

Two Nings. One had incomparably powerful long range attacks that surpassed each of the monster kings in might. The other had a Fiendgod body that excelled in close combat.

Combined, the two utterly dominated these eleven monster kings that were unable to assemble into their standout formation, causing one after another to perish as they tried to flee.

“Immortal Darknorth.” The Goldfur Bearking stood there in midair, his voice booming. “What sort of a grudge did you have against the twelve of us, for you to repeatedly plot against us in such a manner?”

By now, the Goldfur Bearking could tell that Ning had been scheming against them this entire time. Ning had first feigned weakness and had even lowered the power of the Thousandbull Sword, only to suddenly unleash it later on and kill three of the monster kings. The monster kings had immediately been thrown into a state of utter chaos. Each and every action of this Immortal Darknorth was clearly meant to result in the deaths of the twelve of them!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Three figures disappeared into the horizons. Ning shook his head and sighed softly. “I was so careful, but I only killed eight of them.” He only had a single main body and his Primaltwin, while his opponents were far more numerous. When they all moved to flee, they all began to use formidable agility techniques; naturally, Ning was unable to kill them all.

The Goldfur Bearking was so angry, he almost vomited blood. ‘Only’ killed eight of them?

“CHOP!” Ning’s gaze turned towards the distant Goldfur Bearking.

Whooooosh. Nine streaks of distorted sword-tears ripped through the skies, wrapping around the body of the massive Goldfur Bearking. The ninety-nine pearl-type magic treasures around the Goldfur Bearking, however, moved about in extremely profound ways as they joined together in three layers of defense. The defense was extremely tight and blocked off Ning’s sword-light attack.

“Don’t waste your energy. I’ve fought against more than ten Celestial Immortals, and none of them were able to do anything to me.” The Goldfur Bearking’s voice boomed out as he growled, “Tell me, why did you kill my brothers?”

“Brothers?” Ning shook his head. “Goldfur Bearking, all of the other monster kings were wreathed in enormous amounts of sin, and each of them were covered by more than three hundred meters of bloody sin light. You, however, have an extremely low amount of sin; you just have a bit of a corrosive black aura around you. You are completely different from them.”

The Goldfur Bearking nodded slowly. “Truth. You speak truth. They are too blind, too foolish, too insane. I am more clear-headed than them. In the face of the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, they were all gripped by despair and so no longer cared about incurring sin at all. But I know that the more sins one commits, the more powerful the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations are. I want to live longer; naturally, I won’t let large amounts of sin wrap around me.”

“But they were my subordinates, the subordinates I used to unify the Eastern flows region. You’ve destroyed everything.” The Goldfur Bearking growled, “I don’t wish to be enemies with you, but I want to understand things clearly. Why did you have to kill them?”

“Because of…” Ning said with a laugh, “Sin!”

The Goldfur Bearking suddenly understood. “Ah, I see. You wish to kill great sinners so as to accumulate more karmic merit. The more karmic merit you accrue, the easier it will be and the more help you will have during your tribulation.”

“No.” Ning chuckled. “It is because of a test my master gave me.”

“Oh?” The Goldfur Bearking was puzzled.

“I must kill ten great sinners. This is my trial,” Ning said.

The Goldfur Bearking was speechless. “What…what school are you from? Why would you be given a trial like this? And…you are already so powerful. Who would dare give you a trial? Can it be that your master is a True Immortal or an Empyrean God?”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Let me ask you a question; compared to Celestial Immortals, how strong am I?” Ning asked. Since this Goldfur Bearking had fought with more than ten Celestial Immortals, he should be able to give an accurate assessment.

The Goldfur Bearking nodded. “You are a Sword Immortal. Your attacks are extremely powerful, especially those of your Primaltwin, which has reached the level of an average Celestial Immortal.”

“As for your true body, it is a bit weaker; it should be at the level of a weak Celestial Immortal. Still…your true body should have an extremely powerful Immortal-ranked flying sword which is clearly more formidable than the other five. Although you are ‘only’ at the level of a weak Celestial Immortal, you have the advantage of being a Fiendgod Body Refiner.”

“If the twelve of us had been able to form into the ‘Grand Soaring Bear Formation’, we would’ve been able to suppress you. Without it, however, you were able to break us down one by one and defeat us. The other eleven were comparatively weak and were not quite comparable to Celestial Immortals yet,” the Goldfur Bearking evaluated.

Loose Immortals were capable of living for a hundred thousand years, three hundred thousand years, five hundred thousand years, seven hundred thousand years, nine hundred thousand years, a million years…

The longer they survived, the greater their power became.

Back in the world of the Grand Xia, Immortal Floatcloud was merely a Loose Immortal at the hundred thousand year tier. These monster kings, however, were all at least at the five hundred thousand year tier. The Goldfur Bearking had surpassed the million-year tier, which was the level of Immortal Northwalker. As for Immortal Juhua, he had lived for millions of years.

“Oh.” Ning nodded, now having a rough estimation of his level of power.

“Immortal Darknorth, if there’s anything you need, you can come visit me at Goldtop Mountain.” After speaking, the Goldfur Bearking transformed into a streak of golden light and disappeared.

……

Ning watched as the Goldfur Bearking left. He mused softly to himself, “The defense of that Goldfur Bearking was quite formidable. Those ninety-nine pearl-type treasures…the value of that entire set is definitely incalculable. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to acquire it.”

“Eh?” Having suddenly thought of something, Ning took a step back and returned to the cliff. The mountain was now a full level shorter than it had been in the past.

Ning waved his hand and an Immortal estate appeared. Bluecliff Xiaoyu and the imperial Qi clansmen emerged from the Immortal estate.

“What’s going on?” The imperial Qi clansmen stared around in terror.

“Did that Immortal Darknorth die, resulting in the Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows acquiring his Immortal estate? Are we now in the hands of monsters?” The black-robed princess was terrified as well. Xiaoyu stared around with worry as well, searching for her master’s figure.

Suddenly…they were all transfixed by what they saw.

This was because they saw Ning seated next to the cliff, a gourd of wine in his hands. He was sipping it and staring towards the endless sea of clouds in the sky.

“Where are the monsters?” Qi Rufeng was awestruck.

“But, but…” The black-robed princess was stunned as well.

“Master, Master.” Xiaoyu ran over to Ning’s side. Amongst Immortal cultivators, masters and disciples had extremely close relationships. As the saying went, ‘one who is your master for a day should be revered as a parent for a lifetime’; this saying was no joke. After all, the benevolence shown by a master in transmitting the Dao was extremely great. Xiaoyu was very excited to discover that the seemingly young-looking youth was still alive and perfectly fine.

“Senior Darknorth, where are the Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows?” Qi Rufeng didn’t dare believe that Ning had the power to defeat the twelve of them, and he couldn’t help but ask this question.

“Unfortunately, I only killed eight of them.” Ning shook his head and sighed.

“What?” Qi Rufeng’s eyes bulged out.

Ning paid him no attention. He continued to drink his wine and stare at the scenery. Although he was in quite a good mood, he still felt rather regretful. His trial for acquiring the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was to kill ten great sinners, but he had only killed eight! He was still missing two! If he had just killed two more of them, he would be able to go back to Mount Innerheart and learn the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] right away. Now, however, he would need to remain here for at least another short period of time and find two more great sinners to kill.

“Senior Darknorth…senior Dark…?” Qi Rufeng couldn’t help but call out repeatedly.

“Master.” Xiaoyu called out softly as well. At the same time, she couldn’t help but use her dainty little hand to gently touch Ning.

Ning turned to look at her. Xiaoyu’s face was full of questions. She whispered, “Master, you said you killed eight of them? But this…this…” She was a mere Zifu Disciple; the twelve monster kings were incomparably exalted figures in her eyes. The entirety of the Eastern Flows were ruled by them. Her master had claimed to kill eight of them? He must’ve actually just killed eight ordinary Loose Immortal monsters, right?

“Look.” Ning disdainfully waved his hand, and one Immortal-ranked magic treasure after another appeared in midair. These items had been left behind by the eight slain monster kings, and each of them emanated powerful ripples.

The eyes of Crown Prince Qi Rufeng, who had the most experience of the lot, instantly bulged out. He had seen Immortal-ranked magic treasures back in the imperial palace, which was why his eyes were bulging out right now. “These…these…these are all Immortal-ranked magic treasures? So many…how…what…”

“This set of Immortal-ranked treasures!” Qi Rufeng suddenly stared at six scimitars that hung in the skies. The six scimitars were the very same Immortal-ranked magic treasures which the Flamewing King had used long ago to slaughter a path through the Qi Empire. Qi Rufeng would never forget the scene of how one Loose Immortal after another fell in the face of those scimitars’ wanton slaughter.

“This set belonged to the Flamewing King. He’s dead now,” Ning said calmly. “He was one of the eight I killed. I promised to protect you for a year, or until I killed the Flamewing King. I’ve accomplished my promise and I’ve done enough. You can go now.”

Ning began to walk towards his Immortal estate, then instructed to Xiaoyu, “Xiaoyu, come with me.”

“Y…yes master.” Bluecliff Xiaoyu immediately followed Ning into the estate obediently.

As the two entered the Immortal estate, the Crown Prince and the princess simply stood there and stared at the estate for a long, long moment.