The Desolate Era

Within the icy pool inside the cave. The small azure snake was ceaselessly absorbing the frigid energy of the icy pool, using it to nourish the ‘demon-ice’ in its body. Suddenly, its eyes flickered. It transformed into mist, and then reformed into an azure-robed maiden by the side of the pool. Red lips, ivory teeth, and dark eyes.

“They actually dare come to my place?” The azure-robed maiden muttered, “All I wanted to do was spend some extra time nourishing the demon-ice in my body, and yet they still come to cause trouble. Still, I’m not strong yet. It’s not good for me to fight.” The azure-robed maiden transformed into mist once more, and a small azure serpent appeared in midair. With a flicker, it disappeared into thin air.

.........

The white-robed cultivator and gray-robed cultivator were currently advancing stealthily through the cave, searching for any traces of the snake. Suddenly, they saw an azure light flash in the distance. An azure serpent in midair was roaring with anger, “You two human cultivators dare come to my place? You are dead meat!”

The voice echoed and thundered. Rumble...the azure serpent flashed in midair, then disappeared.

“That was the Azure Skysnake monster! It found us.” The two Immortal cultivators were instantly shocked. And then, the white-robed cultivator sent mentally, “This Azure Skysnake seems to be quite angry; it’s probably going to attack us. Let’s respond to its plots with one of our own; let’s quietly set down a space-sealing formation in the area! Once it draws near, we will immediately activate the formation, causing it to be unable to flee through Void Blink. Only then will we attack and kill it.”

“Alright. Be careful and make sure you set it up stealthily. Don’t let it discover you,” the gray-robed cultivator sent back.

..........

Thousands of kilometers away.

“Hahaha, I told those two that they were dead meat, so those two buffoons will definitely plan to fight me there. I’m an Azure Skysnake...my life is quite precious. Why would I fight head on against you two?” The Azure Skysnake continued to blink forward, disappearing once again.

.........

Ji Ning and Mu Northson were currently mounted on their dragon-headed warship, carrying the many humans towards the place in the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains where the Raindragon Guard were stationed.

Tens of thousands of kilometers away from Ning’s location. Another ship was present here, with two on this ship as well; one female, the other male. The man was tall, strong, and handsome; it was Eastriver Cloudsoar. The woman was also as beautiful as a flower; her name was Eastriver Snowite.

“Big Brother, it’s not too hard to kill Wanxiang monsters. With the two of us working together, in but a single day, we’ve already killed two of them,” Eastriver Snowite said happily.

“Killing two monsters isn’t that big a deal. The two of us were lucky; the first monster mountain we chose had two Wanxiang monsters present, and that’s exactly the number we needed to kill. By the time the other Wanxiang monsters arrived, we used the Lesser Teleportation Dao-seals to flee.” Eastriver Cloudsoar shook his head. “The more important requirement the Raindragon Guard gave us was to survive in the Gaol Mountains’s wild marshes for three months...three full months! These marshes are full of danger everywhere. Surviving will be much harder than killing one or two Wanxiang monsters.”

Eastriver Snowite said, “Big Brother, didn’t you say that the closer we are to the Raindragon Guard, the safer it will be? The monsters stay far away from that place...although we won’t be able to enter, we can just find a place close to the encampment and stay for three months.”

“Right. Still, we need to be careful,” Cloudsoar said. “This place isn’t like the clan...”

“I know,” Snowite responded.

Right at this moment, another warship flew over from far away. “Eh?” Eastriver Cloudsoar and Eastriver Snowite both turned to look.

“Haha, so it is fellow Daoist Cloudsoar, of the Eastriver clan.” Laughter rang out from the distant warship. Atop the warship was a white-robed man with a graceful bearing. The Eastriver siblings immediately recognized him...this was one of the hundred testees, Northriver Zhou.

“Fellow Daoist Northriver,” Eastriver Cloudsoar called back.

“It’s quite rare and fortunate that I would be able to encounter you two siblings here, fellow Daoist Cloudsoar. Would you be willing to board this construct-ship of mine and share some wine?” Northriver Zhou laughed.

“Yes!” Eastriver Snowite revealed a smile. But Cloudsoar shook his head. “No. No need.” This caused Snowite to look towards her older brother curiously, but Cloudsoar just gave her a glance. Snowite didn’t argue.

“If that’s the case, then I won’t force things.” Northriver Zhou was quite straightforward. With a laugh, he said, “I’ll leave, then.”

But just as his words came out...Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Five streaks of light suddenly flew out towards every direction, moving lightning-fast. These five streaks of light...were five Wanxiang Adepts, all of them amongst the testees for joining the Raindragon Guard. The bodies of the five Wanxiang Adepts all emanated a blurry gray light, and the body of Northriver Zhou, still standing atop that warship, also shone with that light.

Six of them in total! The gray lights were all connected, surrounding this region. “A spacelock formation!” The faces of Eastriver Cloudsoar and Eastriver Snowite completely changed.

“You...you...” Cloudsoar’s face was ashen as he stared at the six surrounding Immortal cultivators. “Dong One of Snowdragon Mountain, Xu Manquan of the Thousand Rivers Sect, Northriver Zhou of the Skysplitter Sword Sect...you actually prepared a spacelock formation.”

Lesser Teleportation Dao-seals were only useful against Zifu Disciples and ordinary Wanxiang Adepts. The majority of powerful Wanxiang Adepts would carry a spacelock formation with them. Once they set it down...there would be no way to teleport within the region with locked space.

“Four peak Wanxiang Adepts, two late Wanxiang Adepts.” Cloudsoar and Snowite exchanged a glance, despair in their eyes.

“Kill them.” A cold look flashed through Northriver Zhou’s eyes.

“Kill!”

Cloudsoar and Snowite went berserk as well.

......

“I, Eastriver Cloudsoar, will definitely get revenge! Definitely!!!” A desolate, fierce, hate-filled cry rang out from far away. Eastriver Cloudsoar, who had charged outside of the spacelock formation, his body covered in blood and missing an arm, immediately used his Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal and disappeared. As for his little sister, she was already dead.

After all, these two siblings weren’t faced against Wanxiang monsters who didn’t have any legacies or treasures; they faced human Wanxiang elites who were also from famous tribes and clans!

Four peak Wanxiang Adepts, two late Wanxiang Adepts. Upon joining forces, they were absolutely able to crush the two of them.

“That Eastriver Cloudsoar managed to escape.” Northriver Zhou shook his head. “He should consider himself lucky.” The other five flew back to the warship, while Zhou picked up the magic storage belt of the slain Snowite, beginning to look through it.

“How is it?” The others asked. “Not bad. There’s the corpse of a Wanxiang monster here.” Northriver Zhou handed the magic storage belt to someone next to him, letting them all look through it. Although the six of them had joined forces to support each other in killing others, and although they had sworn an oath to the Dao of the Heavens, they all still wanted to look through the spoils of war.

Northriver Zhou laughed. “Three months. It’ll definitely be quite easy for us to find six Wanxiang monster corpses.”

“Right..” The golden-robed Dong One smiled and nodded. “Those Immortal cultivators who slew Wanxiang monsters will most likely all return to move close to the Raindragon Guards. As long as we patrol this area...we’ll definitely run into more. Any we run into, we kill!”

“We’ll keep doing this, then.” All of them were filled with eagerness. Upon killing cultivators, not only would they acquire Wanxiang monster corpses, they would also be able to obtain the magic treasures of those cultivators. This was far more profitable than just killing monsters.

......

“I, Eastriver Cloudswear, swear that I will definitely kill them.” Cloudsoar appeared in midair, covered in blood. His eyes were filled with hate. “Northriver Zhou. Xu Manquan. Dong One...” Cloudsoar gritted his name as he recited the names, one after the other, as though he was storing them deep into his memory.

“Little sister...little sister.” Cloudsoar’s tears began to fall. He had known all along that the path of Immortals was an incomparably dangerous one, but who would have thought that on his very first true adventure, his little sister would die? This caused Cloudsoar, who had been excited and eager, to become filled with boundless pain and hate.

He knew that Wanxiang Adepts often killed each other, and that the seniors of their clans wouldn’t generally intervene. Only if, say, a Primal Daoist had acted against a Wanxiang Adept, which would be a case of a senior bullying a junior, would the seniors of the sect intervene. So long as the fights were amongst those of the same generation...if you died, you could only blame yourself for being weak!

But of course, if the person who died was a junior who was particularly beloved by a powerful figure, such as the sole disciple of someone...then the powerful figure might go berserk and ignore protocol to gain revenge for that junior.

.......

Ning and Northson road atop the warship, constantly advancing towards the Raindragon Guard’s encampment.

“Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning.” Northson stared at those terrified, restless humans, then said softly, “They are still terrified and uneasy. Even now...they are still afraid of us. Only the children have a bit more courage.”

“They’ve been enslaved for too long.” Ning shook his head. “Slavery has rooted itself within them. To change that will be very, very hard. The children have some hope.”

Northson looked at the first child they had saved. Smiling, he walked over to them. Next to the child was a grimy-looking woman. Terrified, she immediately pulled her son away, but her son was fearless. He just looked at Northson.

“Kid, what’s your name?” Northson said. “My name is Ironboy!” The child raised his head and said, “What are your names, Immortals?”

Northson laughed. “My name is Mu Northson. Over there is my senior apprentice-brother, Ji Ning.”

“Mu Northson. Ji Ning...” The child gently murmured the names, as though memorizing them.

Ning laughed and walked over as well. “This Ironboy is quite clever.”

.......

As Ning and Northson were chatting with the kid, a distant ship was beginning to draw close to theirs.

“Look. That dragon-headed warship.” Northriver Zhou pointed towards the distance. “If memory serves, that dragon-headed warship belongs to one of the hundred, that Black-White College disciple, Mu Northson; it’s the construct-warship he displayed. Most likely, Mu Northson and his senior apprentice-brother are on that ship.”

“The Black-White College?”

“Every member of the Black-White College is a peerless genius. They aren’t easy to deal with.”

“Should we attack?”

These people began to hesitate. But the golden-robed Dong One said, “No need to worry. I understand this Ji Ning quite well. He should only be twenty years old! Although his talent is astonishing, he’s trained for too short a period of time. You should all be aware that his [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] is only at the ninth stage. He’s a bit dangerous in close combat, but as long as we can stay away from him, we don’t need to fear him at all. As for that Mu Northson, since he follows this Ji Ning’s lead, his strength probably isn’t that great either.”

“The two of them are headed back...they probably have the corpses of two Wanxiang monster.”

“Disciples of the Black-White College. Killing them is worth more than killing quite a few Wanxiang Adepts. In addition, one of them is a middle-stage Wanxiang Adept, while the other is a Fiendgod Body Refiner who can just barely be considered an early-stage Wanxiang Adept. Us? Four of us are peak Wanxiang Adepts, while the other two are late-stage, and we can join together in a six-man formation attack.”

“Given that we’re plotting against them while they aren’t against us, we have excellent chances.”

Soon, the six came to a unified agreement. “Let’s go. Let’s kill these two ‘peerless geniuses’ of the Black-White College!” Northriver Zhou’s eyes flashed with a savage light.