The Desolate Era

As Ji Ning and Mu Northson were absorbing wisps of dire-ice from within the glacial ice, trying to implant it into their Zifu region...

The winds were stirring and the clouds were gathering in the skies above ‘Dragonwhale Peak’, of the Mount Demonlotus region. A vast amount of elemental ki was gathering here, and in the skies, the vague manifestation of an enormous turtle with a serpent coiled around it could be seen [1. Xuan Wu, the Black Tortoise of the Chinese four legendary beasts, is often represented in this way].

“That’s...”

“The Turtle-Snake. The Turtle-Snake!”

The many monsters on Dragonwhale Peak all raised their heads, staring in astonishment at what had appeared in the skies. The gathering of the elemental ki, the manifestation of the Turtle-Snake...these monstrous Immortal cultivators naturally all knew what this represented.

“A Primal!”

“A Wanxiang monster, here on Dragonwhale Peak, has broken through to the Primal level.”

“It must be the Primal level.”

All of them were astonished and excited. When Ki Refiners reached the Primal level, regardless of whether they were Fiendgods, humans, or monsters, the ‘Primal Turtle-Snake’ would appear. The appearance of the Primal Turtle-Snake would naturally generate a constant flow of ‘primal fire’. The Primal Turtle-Snake embodied the most supreme of the mysteries of the universe.

“Who broke through to the Primal level? Our Dragonwhale Peak has quite a few Wanxiang monsters, and several of them are at the peak-stage.”

“I hear that last time, when his Majesty led a group of Wanxiang monsters out, he returned by himself. I heard that all the other Wanxiang monsters that went with him died.”

“They all died?”

“Right. The Wanxiang monsters of Dragonwhale Peak, including his Majesty, number just two or three in total. This time, it should be his Majesty who is making the breakthrough.”

......

As the monsters chatted amongst themselves, the most powerful leader of the Mount Demonlotus region, the Dragonwhale monster, walked out of his closed meditation room.

“Hahaha...hahahaha....” The massive, enormous Dragonwhale laughed with jubilation. His laughter crashed out in waves like the thunder, shaking the entire Dragonwhale Peak. Upon hearing this laughter, how could these monsters not understand? Their king had made a breakthrough.

“Congratulations, your Majesty! Felicitations, your Majesty!” The monsters in front of the Dragonwhale all fell to their knees and called out in unison.

“Congratulations, your Majesty! Felicitations, your Majesty!” The distant monsters began to call this out as well, and then even more distant monsters...in short, all of the monsters of the entire Dragonwhale Peak began to cry out, “Congratulations, your Majesty! Felicitations, your Majesty!”

Their voices rumbled through the skies and the clouds.

Primal? Upon reaching the Primal stage, one would be considered a mover and shaker of the entire Stillwater Commandery region. In addition, given the Dragonwhale’s innate gifts, even though he had just made a breakthrough, his combat power would still be incomparably astonishing.

“Your Majesty, you have painstakingly trained for so long, but today, you have broken through to become a Primal. You have gained eternal life, and in the future, not even Immortals can compare to you.” A sharp-mouthed simian monster was calling out flattery next to him.

Upon becoming a Primal, one’s lifespan did indeed become infinite. However, the increasingly powerful ‘Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations’ would cause Primal Daoists to eventually die at some point. Thus, only becoming a Celestial Immortal would one truly gain eternal life.

Still, the flattery was quite pleasing to hear.

“His Majesty’s innate talents are incredible, and he is a Dragonwhale with a Fiendgod’s body...even Immortals will most likely be unable to do anything to his Majesty,” another nearby monster, a devilishly alluring one, flattered.

“His Majesty...” One person after another began to flatter him.

The Dragonwhale glanced at the surrounding lesser monsters. He sighed in his heart. In the past, his Dragonwhale Peak had been the leading mountain peak of the Mount Demonlotus region, and he always had ten-plus Wanxiang monsters present. However, after that massacre by that human brat, Ji Ning, only two Wanxiang monsters were left, and they lived in two separate regions of Dragonwhale Peak. These little Zifu monsters in front of him were only able to engage in flattery.

“Immortals?” The Dragonwhale secretly shook his head. He knew exactly how powerful he was. “I’ve only made a breakthrough as a Ki Refiner; I didn’t make a breakthrough as a Fiendgod. After becoming a Primal...although my power has indeed increased significantly, I’m still far from being able to compete with Immortals. Still, in the future, if I encounter that human punk, Ji Ning, I’ll definitely execute him.” The Dragonwhale monster’s dark green eyes flashed with a savage light.

“Big Brother!”

“Congratulations on your breakthrough, Big Brother.”

From far away, two streaks of light flew over. It was the other two Wanxiang monsters who lived on Dragonwhale Peak. The Dragonwhale looked towards them, then said in a clear voice, “It is good that you have come, my brothers. I just made my breakthrough. When I think about how our other brothers and sisters were massacred by that human brat...my heart aches, and I feel endless regret. I was just about to give an order for some of the other monster of the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains who are on good terms with us to help me search for him. We must find those two human brats.”

“Well spoken, Big Brother.”

“Right. We should indeed take revenge.”

Those two monsters both landed. Their bodies were massive and pitch-black, with curved horns on their heads. They were a pair of bison-type monsters, and they were the two who the Dragonwhale trusted in the most. Even when he went out to do battle, he would have these two stay behind to protect his lair.

The Dragonwhale nodded. “I’ll send someone to deliver the letters now to the various monster kings and have them help investigate.”

“Now that you’ve made this breakthrough, the various monster kings will all have to give you face, your Majesty.”

“I trust that we’ll quickly be able to find them.”

The two bison-type monsters spoke in unison. As for the Dragonwhale, he took out a sheet of leather parchment. Atop it, he wrote a description of Ning, Northson, and Qingqing, as well as provided drawings of them that were almost lifelike in their accuracy. In addition, he also described the dragon-headed warship and a few other unique aspects. He also filled this parchment with his powerful Primal aura.

It was the water-imprinting technique. As a water-type monster, the Dragonwhale naturally found it quite easy to utilize this technique. It used it dozens of times, making tens of copies of the leather parchment. And then, he instructed his many Zifu monsters to go deliver the letters.

Soon, the Zifu monsters all transformed into streaks of light, moving towards the various bases of power amongst the monsters.

“When I think of that human brat, I can’t help but want to eat his flesh and drink his blood.” The Dragonwhale ground his teeth. “I haven’t even avenged the death of my lifelong brother. And now, so many brothers and sisters who have accompanied me for so many years have died as well. The more I think about it...detestable!”

“Big Brother, don’t be angry for now. I trust that in a few days, you will hear some news.”

“Once we find those human brats, we’ll go kill them.”

Both of the bison-type monsters tried to placate him.

“True.” The Dragonwhale nodded. “I’ll endure it for a few more days, and then I’ll go kill them.”

...........

The peacock king was seated on its throne. It glanced at the leather scroll, and as it did so, its face instantly changed. It looked down from the throne. “Your king...he broke through to the Primal level?”

“Our king made the breakthrough just today,” the Zifu-level simian said with a touch of delight. The peacock king nodded. “Understood. I will instruct the monsters under my command to help search for these two humans and that Azure Skysnake. Go and make the report.”

.........

One group of powerful monsters after another received letters from the Dragonwhale. From the letter, they could sense that the Dragonwhale had broken through to the Primal level. Those powerful monsters who had previously been equals with the Dragonwhale now no longer dared to treat him with any discourtesy at all. All of them gave the order to begin the search for those two humans and the Azure Skysnake.

.........

Meanwhile, Ning and Northson had no idea as to what had just happened in the outside world.

Within the room of ice. Ning and Northson were seated in the lotus position in front of the dire-ice. The vein of dire-ice, previously many tens of meters in size, was now less than thirty meters. Clearly, it was now a full size smaller.

“Absorb.”

One wisp after another of dire-ice continuously flew towards the mouths of Ning and Northson. Clearly, however, Ning’s absorption rate was much faster.

“That’s about it.” Ning’s complete attention was on his Zifu region. He didn’t dare to be the slightest bit rash. The dire-ice within the little island atop the sea of elemental ki in the Zifu region was beginning to solidify and taken shape.

At this point in time, the dire-ice within the Zifu region was like a poisonous pustule that could explode at any moment, causing the entire Zifu to be damaged! This was an extremely dangerous moment! This was because the dire-ice had yet to completely solidify and take shape. The more Ning absorbed, the greater the danger would be. Only after the implanting process was complete would things be safe.

“I’ve absorbed enough of the dire-ice. I should be able to begin condensing it into a ‘seed’, now.” Ning spent a few moments in preparation, and then, with a thought, caused the thousands of stars, the Jade Rabbit, and the Golden Crow within the skies of his Zifu region to begin to shoot down rays of light towards that dire-ice island. These rays of light contained incomparably pure elemental ki, and as they appeared in the air above the dire-ice island, they began to gather together there. They formed an incomparably transparent seal over the dire-ice.

BOOM!

It was like an earthen rampart or barrier that had been erected over it, completely sealing it in. The entire dire-ice island appeared almost crystalline in its transparency. Above it, multiple runic symbols began to appear, and the dire-ice began to appear and condense atop each of the runes. It was as though the runes were the countless branches of a large tree.

A short period of time later...

“Crackle!” A sound akin to the wild grass growing out from the earth. An extremely thin layer of dire-ice emerged from the surface of the mountain, trembling and shaking, but continuing to grow. And so, a vein of dire-ice appeared in Ning’s Zifu, just like that.

“Success!” Ning instantly opened his eyes, overjoyed. He instantly saw the distant Qingqing, who was standing guard carefully while staring at the nearby Northson, who was still seated, absorbing the dire-ice.

“Master, you succeeded?” Qingqing asked excitedly. Ning nodded. “Right. Has anything happened to my junior apprentice-brother?” Qingqing shook her head. “Nothing. Only, he clearly absorbs dire-ice much more slowly than you do. You succeed in the implanation in just a day. Given his speed, he’ll probably need three days to fully complete the process.”

Ning nodded. His Zifu was even more stable than his junior apprentice-brother’s, and his divine will was powerful as well. He was also able to control dire-ice more easily as well. These were the reasons why Ning had expected his implantation process to be quick.

“Master. I have a present to serve as your congratulatory gift for success in implanating the dire-ice,” Qingqing laughed.

“Congratulatory gift? There’s no need for such things between the two us,” Ning said with an involuntary laugh.

“You’ll definitely like it, Master.” Qingqing let out a mysterious smile. Then, with the wave of her hand, she produced an enormous wooden chest that was completely gray and emanated a fragrant scent. Ning said, puzzled, “Something within the chest?”

“Look.” Qingqing smugly opened the lid to this wooden chest. Within it, there was a chunk of ice that was two feet long and one foot wide, and which glowed with a hint of green light. When this piece of ice was fully revealed, the surrounding temperature began to fall. It must be understood that this was a room of ice to begin with; and yet, this piece of ice was capable of causing the temperature to drop even more?

“This is ancient glacial ice,” Qingqing said smugly. “I discovered this, too, in the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains. That place even has a freezing pool of liquid. I was enjoying myself immensely, lying down in that freezing pool and absorbing the frigid aura from it to nourish my dire-ice, when some Immortal cultivators suddenly came. Thus, I dug out this piece of ancient glacial ice.”

Ning did indeed feel exceptionally delighted and surprised. Qingqing truly was a little treasure trove. That piece of dire-ice in his body was nothing but a mere ‘seedling’, dire-ice of the ninth grade. It needed constant nourishing. Although elemental ki could be used to nourish it, the speed would be too slow. It would be much faster to use certain types of precious, rare treasures, and ancient glacial ice was one of them.

“Don’t you need it for yourself?” Ning asked. “Use it for yourself. I’m in no rush.”

A slightly awkward look appeared on Qingqing’s face, “Eh heh heh, I dug out quite a bit. I just gave you a small chunk.” “How big is your piece of ancient glacial ice?” Ning asked.

“Ten meters tall.” Qingqing lowered her head, then stretched out her dainty little hand. An enormous chunk of ice suddenly appeared out of nowhere; it looked like a miniature iceberg. And then, it vanished away as Qingqing stored it away again.

Ning blinked. It really was ten meters tall. He then turned to look at his congratulatory gift, the six foot tall chunk of ancient glacial ice.

Ning shook his head and laughed. He immediately accepted it, then immediately began to utilize the power of this ancient glacial ice to nourish the dire-ice within his body.