The Desolate Era

Ji Ning, Mu Northson, and the Azure Skysnake could feel the hint of killing intent wafting towards them from this ancient Fiendgod. The three of them truly were like ants before him; whether or not he killed them was truly a trifling matter. After all, he had been sleeping happily deep beneath the river of lava. After having been woken up, it was rather irritated, and so the main culprit, that Dragonwhale, was the first to die. Ning and the others were just unlucky enough to be caught up by it all.

“No.” Northson, upon feeling that killing intent, couldn’t help but feel despair in his heart. Was he going to die?

“I can’t die. I can’t die! I just entered the Black-White College. I swore an oath in front of Mother’s grave...that I would make the Bluewood clan regret what they did! I haven’t, I haven’t done anything yet. I can’t accept this, I can’t!” Northson’s eyes were filled with boundless panic and regret, but under that boundless pressuring power, he couldn’t even change his facial expressions.

..........

“Am I going to die?” The Azure Skysnake was coiled around Northson’s arms. She was able to see the towering, vast, ancient Fiendgod from the corner of her eyes. The feeling that ancient Fiendgod gave her was that of the vast universe itself; she couldn’t even bring herself to want to try to resist.

“It’s sad that I’m going to die along with Woody. If I have to die, I should die alongside Master,” the Azure Skysnake murmured to herself. She looked towards Ning as well, but because the mountain was blocking her vision, she wasn’t able to see him at all.

..........

Ning also felt as though death was coming towards him. He had never had a strong a feeling of impending death before; not even when he was progressing through the three trials of the underwater estate had he felt so powerless! He couldn’t fight back at all...this sensation of impending death was something Ning couldn’t resign himself to.

“I haven’t destroyed Snowdragon Mountain yet.”

“I haven’t even come close to being a major power in the Three Realms.”

“Father. Mother...I want to see if they are living good lives after their reincarnation.”

“And Autumn Leaf...she must be waiting for me still.”

Ning felt powerless. Although he still had that protective brooch in front of his chest that had been given to him by Immortal Diancai, which would release a protective sword-ki with but a thought...it would only be able to resist the power of a Loose Immortal or an Earth Immortal for a single breath’s worth of time. In the face of a Fiendgod who had killed a Primal Diremonster as easily as stepping on an ant, what could it possibly do?

“Activate.” Ning had bound the brooch long ago. With but a thought, Ning instantly attempted to activate the brooch, and the protective sword-ki within it tried to surge outside. Although it was probably useless, he had to at least give it a shot.

“Eh?” The ancient Fiendgod’s single eye turned to stare at Ning. That seemingly omnipresent power seemed to completely focus on Ning as well, also pushing down towards Ning’s brooch. The protective sword-ki within the brooch tried to charge out, but it was pressed down upon by an invisible, formless strength, preventing it from emerging.

It was pushed back inside!

Ning willed it to activate again.

But yet again, it was pushed back inside!

“How can this be?” Ning now felt truly powerless.

But a hint of surprise was in the ancient Fiendgod’s single eye. He looked at Ning, murmuring to himself, “A Sword Immortal? A Loose Immortal or an Earth Immortal? The sword-ki is both condensed and sharp; although it’s a bit different from that of Immortal Northwalker, who chased me around in the past, it’s still quite astonishing. This human brat most assuredly has a powerful Sword Immortal behind him.”

“That Sword Immortal...most likely has other colleagues and seniors who stand behind him as well.” The ancient Fiendgod mused to himself, “I had best leave. I suffered miserably enough, the last time I was chased around.”

As someone who had existed from the Fiendgod Era to the present era, he knew exactly how terrifying the humans were.

You kill a puny one, a strong one comes. You kill the strong one, an entire host of strong ones would come!

Humans simply had far too many experts, and they could send out entire groups of Immortals to attack him, a single person. The countless times he had suffered in this manner had caused him to become incomparably cautious. It was precisely this caution which had allowed him to survive to the present day. Otherwise, he would’ve been killed or sealed away by the humans long ago!

And, most importantly of all, humans trained far too quickly! Fiendgods were the favored children of the heavens. They were born with tremendous power, and didn’t even suffer from the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations as they naturally increased in power. Only human cultivators had to deal with the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations! However, in turn, Fiendgods were far slower in learning and comprehending. They generally would spend tens or hundreds of thousands of years in training, or even millions of years. Training, to them, took an incomparably long period of time.

But humans? A single human could become an Immortal in just a few centuries! A few centuries? This was an extremely short period of time for Fiendgods.

They had terrifying reproductive abilities, powerful learning abilities, and a rapid rate of advancement...this was why humans became the true leader of the countless races of this world, and indeed, of the entirety of the Three Realms. They were the true overlords! Even Fiendgods had to avoid them.

“Eh? And a Loose Immortal has come.”

The ancient Fiendgod glanced towards the distant skies. It would be extremely easy for him to kill this Loose Immortal, but did he dare? He did not, because he knew that this Loose Immortal should be a member of the Raindragon Guard. If he killed one of them, very soon, the Guard would send tens or even hundreds of Loose Immortals...and perhaps even the imperial capital of the Grand Xia Dynasty would send some of its ancient, nigh-unkillable figures.

“Time to leave.” The ancient Fiendgod’s entire body instantly emerged from the ground. With but a single step....whoosh. Space itself twisted, and the ancient Fiendgod entered the twisting void, disappearing without a trace.

The spraying water and flying rocks that had previously been locked in midair finally collapsed. For a moment, there was utter chaos.

“He left?” Ning gawked in astonishment. And then, from the corner of his eyes, he stared at the massive corpse of the Dragonwhale. He immediately waved his hand, collecting the entire, massive, three thousand meter long corpse of the Dragonwhale into his storage-type magic treasure.

After having reached the early Wanxiang level, Ning had switched to using an Earth-ranked storage belt. This was a spoil of war he had acquired from killing the Wanxiang Diremonsters earlier. This belt had an enormous space within it; however, the massive body of the Dragonwhale still took up more than half of the space within.

“Senior apprentice-brother.” Northson ran over, excited.

“Master.” The Azure Skysnake transformed into an azure shadow, moving forward and coiling herself around Ning’s arm.

After having just escaped from certain death, they all had somewhat changed feelings in their hearts.

“Senior apprentice-brother, why did that Fiendgod leave?” Northson hurriedly asked, “And why didn’t he kill us?”

“I don’t know either.” Ning shook his head. Although the Fiendgod had been mumbling to himself, the surrounding space had been completely locked; not even sound waves were able to move. Naturally, Ning hadn’t heard anything. But right at this moment...

A blood-robed elder suddenly appeared in the skies. This blood-robed elder had a crown on his head, and the blood-red robes were incomparably beautiful. However, a hint of resentment was within his gaze. “I actually let it escape. It ran quite quickly. It can consider itself lucky.” As soon as he had sensed the local ripples, he had immediately hurried over here, but on the way, he had noticed that the Fiendgod had begun to flee. He had wanted to pursue it, but unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to.

“You three.” The blood-robed elder, after appearing in midair, stared downwards towards Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake. As he did, the three of them felt their hearts grow numb.

“You should’ve seen that Fiendgod emerge, just now.” The blood-robed elder’s voice was icy cold, and slowly, the world itself around them seemed to begin to freeze. Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake all felt an invisible pressure crush down towards them, quite similar to the technique which the Fiendgod had previously used. However, this pressure was far weaker than that of the Fiendgod’s. Despite that, however, Ning’s group knew that this Immortal in front of them was still invincible, as far as they were concerned.

“Tell me, what did it look like?” The blood-robed elder pointed towards the Azure Skysnake. “You, monster. You speak first.” A look of terror appeared on the Azure Skysnake’s face, and she immediately said, “It was an extremely massive Fiendgod, with a palm of more than three thousand meters long. As for its body, it was thirty thousand meters tall! Its body appeared to be formed from lava stones. It had a single eye, a single nose, and a single mouth. It didn’t have hair, and lava seemed to be flowing from its head as well.”

A look of shock appeared in the eyes of the blood-robed elder. Him? Only now did the elder know which Fiendgod it was, and cold sweat trickled down his back. That was too close; fortunately, he hadn’t caught the Fiendgod, as if he had, he probably would’ve died.

Next, he pointed towards Northson. “You. Speak.” As soon as his words came out, Northson felt an invisible power command his soul. Although he remained conscious, his mouth began to speak by itself. “He emerged from the lava beneath us. His entire body was fiery red, he bound us with an invisible pressure that we weren’t able to resist at all. He had a single eye, a single nose, a single mouth...”

“You. Speak.” The blood-robed elder pointed at Ning. Ning, too, sensed an invisible divine will instantly invade his sea of consciousness. However, Ning’s powerful divine will pushed back against it.

BOOM! A soundless, invisible collision of divine wills. Although the blood-robed elder held an absolute advantage, he was unable to control Ning like a puppet.

“Eh? Your divine soul is this powerful?” The blood-robed elder looked towards Ji Ning. “Which school are you from?”

“This junior is Ji Ning, disciple of the Black-White College. My master is Immortal Diancai.” Ning continued respectfully, “Next to me is my junior apprentice-brother, Mu Northson. This Azure Skysnake is a spirit-beast I have recently tamed while wandering the wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains.”

“Immortal Diancai? The Black-White College?” The blood-robed elder nodded calmly, then said in a still-cold voice, “I ask you this; when the Fiendgod appeared...why didn’t he kill the three of you?”

“I don’t know.” Ning shook his head.

I don’t know..” Northson said the same thing.

Qingqing just shook her head, not even daring to speak.

The blood-robed elder knew very well that this particular, ancient Fiendgod had a strange temper. When angered, it would occasionally kill humans. However, because that ancient Fiendgod had always been cautious and low-key, and had never acted to kill human Loose Immortals with powerful backgrounds, the Grand Xia Dynasty had never put too much effort into chasing after and capturing him.

If he had engaged in wanton massacres and killed many influential figures, the Grand Xia Dynasty, in its rage, might send its full might against him. In that situation, it probably would be caught alive after just a few days!

“The three of you can consider yourself lucky to have survived a meeting with a Fiendgod,” the blood-robed elder barked. “However, you absolutely must not reveal the details of this meeting. If I find out that you have, then the Raindragon Guard will hold you accountable for it!”

“Yes.” Ning, Northson, and the Azure Skysnake all acknowledged this order. The blood-robed elder calmly waved his hand. “Then hurry up and leave.”

Ning’s group didn’t dare to tarry; they immediately boarded the dragon-headed warship, transforming into a streak of light and leaving at high speed.

......

Whoosh!

Shortly after they left, yet another person appeared. This was a silver-haired youth with loose, unbound hair, and who also had a crown on his head. Immediately afterwards, a muscular, armored old man appeared as well.

“A Fiendgod emerged?” The silver-haired youth laughed calmly.

“Which Fiendgod was it?”

........

Ning had guessed that the emergence of this ancient Fiendgod would cause quite a stir. Still, for now, these were problems for Immortals to deal with; they were far from being something he could intervene in.

“Senior apprentice-brother, this time, that was far too close. We nearly died there.” Northson let out a sigh, staring towards the clouds nearby, then down towards the vast wilderness. “It’s so good to be alive.”

“It’s so good to be alive.” Ning nodded as well.

If he had truly died like this, then that would be far too unfair. There were many things he had yet to do!