The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

They flew aboard the boat towards a spacetime transfer array, eventually making their way back to the Badlands Everworld.

“There it is. The Badlands Court.”

Ji Ning and Su Youji were walking atop the waves as they advanced. Soon, they reached the island located in the center of the lake, the island which held the Badlands Court. In front of the island was a crimson-haired man dressed in loose robes who smiled at the two of them. “Brother Darknorth, congratulations for becoming a World-level cultivator. Oh, the Flamefairy broke through as well? It seems this recent trip has been tremendously beneficial to the two of you.”

“Brother Qichang, why are you here?” Ning was surprised.

“Master instructed me to stay here and wait for you.” The crimson-haired man laughed. “Come, I’ll take you to meet with Master.”

Ning was secretly amazed. Daolord Badlands truly lived up to his reputation for divination. Indeed, Ning was planning to ask him to help dispose of the Eternal blood. Somehow, the Daolord knew about it even before Ning asked to speak with him, thus choosing to send a disciple out to come greet him…

“Youji, you can go to the Water Curtain Home for now,” Ning instructed.

“Alright.” Su Youji departed obediently.

“Please lead the way, brother Qichang.” Ning and the crimson-haired man advanced side-by-side. The Badlands Court was laid out in a truly intricate way and filled with many formations. If no one was around to guide him, Ning truly wouldn’t have been able to locate Daolord Badlands’ residence.

The two quickly arrived at a quiet, secluded courtyard.

The courtyard was quite simple and unadorned. Daolord Badlands was relaxing in the lotus position, a single flask of wine on the table in front of him.

“Master, I’ve brought Darknorth as instructed,” the crimson-haired man said respectfully.

“You can leave now,” Daolord Badlands instructed.

The crimson-haired man acknowledged the order, then respectfully departed. Daolord Badlands turned his gaze towards Ning. A hint of a smile on his face, he pointed at the other seat and said, “Sit.”

“Thank you, Daolord.” Ning sat down in the lotus position before Daolord Badlands.

“You’ve reached the World level? Old brother Solesky will be quite happy to hear this.” Daolord Badlands laughed. “This morning, I could sense that something was going to happen. I did some careful Numerancy and divined that there is something that you wish me to help you with.”

“Yes.” Ning immediately nodded. “There is indeed something. This junior was fortunate enough to acquire a treasure within the Allgod Estate known as the ‘divine blood of the Eternal’.”

“The Eternal blood?” A shocked look appeared on Daolord Badlands’ face.

Although he was skilled in the art of Numerancy, he wasn’t all-knowing. Divining the future through Numerancy was actually quite difficult and there would be many things that were left unclear. Using Numerancy to divine the past was actually much easier, because it involved things that had already happened. Things in the future had obviously yet to happen, and thus almost anything was possible! Future Numerancy was generally only capable of calculating out some particularly major events.

Ji Ning was specifically coming to ask Daolord Badlands for help, and so Daolord Badlands had been able to sense it. Just a simple bit of Numerancy was enough to tell him that Ji Ning was coming to ask for his assistance. By then, Ji Ning had already reached the Badlands Everworld and was heading towards the Badlands Court, giving this bit of Numerancy an extremely highly credible interval.

“Is it the Eternal blood of Emperor Melobo?” Daolord Badlands asked.

“Yes.” Ning nodded. “I hear that the Aeonians would do anything to get their hands on this Eternal blood.”

“Of course they would!” Daolord Badlands’ eyes lit up as he smiled. “That drop of Eternal blood represents half of the life energy and vitality of Emperor Melobo. It took him forever to recover from that loss. That drop of Eternal blood is uncalculably valuable to them, and it’s something which will never appear on the open market. It is more valuable and alluring to the Aeonians than you could ever imagine.”

Ning said, “I heard the spirits of the Allgod Estate say the same, which is why I’m worrying about the proper way to dispose of this Eternal blood. That’s why I came to ask you for help.”

“Right. The simplest solution is to offer it to the Dao Alliance.” Daolord Badlands chuckled. “But I have another idea, if you are interested.”

“Pray tell, Daolord.” Ning looked at him.

“Sell your drop of Eternal blood to me,” Daolord Badlands said.

“Oh?” Ning was slightly startled.

“If you offer it to the Dao Alliance, they’ll probably give you two million cubes of chaos nectar as well as grant you immediate entrance into the alliance. If you sell it to me… although I won’t be able to bring you into the Dao Alliance, I’d be willing to give you three million cubes! What’s more, given how strong you are, you’ll definitely be granted entry into the Dao Alliance in the future.” Daolord Badlands continued, “If there are any techniques or treasures that you want, just tell me and we can deduct it from that balance.”

Daolord Badlands truly wished to take possession of that drop of Eternal blood.

The Dao Alliance itself wouldn’t have much use for it, but it was still an incredibly rare and valuable item! Whenever a drop of concentrated Eternal blood appeared in the Dao Alliance, it would immediately be purchased by its most powerful Samsara Daolords or Eternal Emperors. Someone like Daolord Badlands wouldn’t even have a chance! Once those powerful Samsara Daolords acquired the blood, they would analyze it and research it to gain insights from it.

It must be understood that this drop of Eternal blood was the concentrated blood essence distilled from more than half the blood and flesh of a mighty Eternal Emperor of the Aeonian race. This had represented an enormous drop in Emperor Melobo’s power. No Eternal Emperor would be willing to make such a sacrifice… and the number of Aeonian Emperor’s could be counted on one hand to begin with!

Thus, the ‘set’ price of two million cubes which the Dao Alliance was willing to pay was an incredibly low price.

Daolord Badlands naturally grew desirous of this drop of blood…

Daolord Badlands was actually a dazzling talented Daolord as well. As the Goldeye Golem had put it, if he was able to reach the Verge of the Daomerge then he would become a terrifyingly powerful figure who would be as strong as Daolord Allgod had been.

Dazzling talents such as him naturally were filled with tremendous ambitions! In the past, he didn’t have that much wealth; even if you placed that drop of Eternal blood in front of him, he wouldn’t pay it much attention. But in order to get his assistance, Daolord Solesky had prepared a gift of tremendous value for him. Daolord Solesky was a Palace Lord of Vastheaven Palace and had been alive for an extremely long period of time, accumulating enormous amounts of wealth. He had offered roughly twenty million cubes of chaos nectar for Daolord Badlands’ assistance!

Some of those treasures were meant for Daolord Badlands to rebuild his avatar.

As for the other treasures?

Daolord Badlands actually had numerous plans for them, but now that Ji Ning had brought a drop of Eternal blood to his doorstep, he suddenly changed his plans.

“Perhaps some of my children will be able to draw out the power of the Aeonians from within that drop,” Daolord Badlands mused to himself. “My divinations indicate that there is a better than 20% chance of them succeeding in this endeavor. First, Daolord Solesky came bearing fabulous gifts. Now, my young friend Ji Ning is asking me to help him deal with this Eternal blood. This is a karmic blessing which destiny has bestowed upon me. I have to seize it!”

“What do you think?” Daolord Badlands looked at Ning.

“I’m in no rush to join the Dao Alliance. All I want to do is get rid of this Eternal blood as soon as I can,” Ning said with a laugh. “Selling it to the Dao Alliance, selling it to you… it’s all the same to me.”

“Good.” Daolord Badlands laughed. “Three million cubes of chaos nectar. The average networth of most powerful Daolords is roughly in this range. My young friend Ji Ning, you must make sure not to waste this tremendous blessing. Tell me, which treasures, techniques, and divine abilities do you desire? I’ll help you find them and buy them. But of course, if all you want is chaos nectar then I can provide that as well!”

What would be the point of acquiring that much chaos nectar? Was he supposed to eat it like food? The best solution was for Ning to use it to help himself grow more powerful as soon as possible.

“I want to acquire the final part of a divine ability,” Ning said. “This divine ability is known as the [Golden Idol].”

“The protective divine ability, [Golden Idol]?” Daolord Badlands nodded. “That won’t be too hard. I can buy it for you from the Dao Alliance. Do you want it for yourself or do you wish to be able to teach it to others? If you wish to be able to teach it to others, the price will be dozens of times higher.”

“I’ll use it for myself.” Ning wasn’t going to waste his money like that.

“This divine ability is quite powerful. It can make your body as tough as a top-grade Dao weapon. Abilities on this level are fairly rare. I’ll help you buy it, but it’ll take two hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar.”

Ning was secretly speechless. This was even more valuable than a Pseudo Samsara Pill!

If it cost that much just for him to train in, then wouldn’t that mean a version he could transmit to others would cost several million cubes? No wonder that not even Vastheaven Palace had access to such a wonderful technique. Large clans and sects all had many expenses they had to pay. World God Northrest switched to training in the [Golden Idol] after acquiring it, but he had only gained access to the upper portion and the middle portion.

“Generally speaking, only Samsara Daolords need to have bodies that are as tough as top-grade Dao weapons,” Daolord Badlands said. “Honestly, I don’t know why you are in such a rush to buy it. Still, you now are worth more than three million cubes of chaos nectar. Buying it won’t cause you much trouble.”

Ning smiled. He might not be a Daolord, but he did have a body that was comparable to a Daolord’s body!

“What else do you need?” Daolord Badlands asked.

“I’ve heard of an Eternal treasure known as the Elementum Waterflame Gourd,” Ning said. “I wish to buy it.”

“Right, right! That is indeed a good treasure. It is fairly cheap, but extremely useul for World-level experts.” Daolord Badlands immediately nodded. “This gourd will require roughly half a million cubes.”

The Elementum Waterflame Gourd…

It held both Firecloud Lightning as well as Watersmoke Lightning within it. Both were considered types of Dao-level lightning! These were two of the nine types of Dao lightning which Ning would need in order to train in the secret art of lightning known as [Novessence Thunder] technique. By buying this item, Ning would be able to use these two types of lightning for now as well as use them to train in the [Novessence Thunder] later. Two birds with one stone!

Dao lightning was extremely expensive because capturing it was incredibly difficult. A single type of Dao lightning would generally be worth a minimum of two hundred thousand cubes of chaos nectar. Firecloud Lightning and Watersmoke Lightning were two fairly common types of Dao lightning. There were certain rare types of Dao lightning that simply couldn’t be found on the market at all. Even Daolord Allgod had only found nine types of lightning that were suitable for his usage!