Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“You…” Ning’s face turned pale.

“You know them all, right? Haha.” The black-clothed man suddenly shouted loudly, “Ji Jadewich, Ji Shan, Poortile, Earthshaker, Blindfish, your young master Ji Ning of the Ji clan of the West Prefecture is within the formation. Your young master Ji Ning will soon accompany you! Hahaha…”

The voice was very loud, and it transmitted directly into the distant tunnel midway up the mountain.





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Book 4, Chapter 17 - A Frenzied Battle


Within the mountain.

Blindfish’s body was covered with blood, and he was currently tied to that pillar. Ever since the day he had arrived in this hellish place, he had lost all hope. Currently, he was currently grinding his teeth, enduring the pain while taunting them, “Is that all you got? Harder, hit me harder. Come at me, boy. Didn’t you drink enough milk when you were a lad?”

Suddenly…

“Your young master Ji Ning will soon be coming to keep you company! Hahaha…” That laughter rang towards them.

“Ji Ning!” The bearded Blindfish’s body trembled, and then he roared hoarsely with all his might, “Young master Ji Ning, hurry and flee! There is an Immortal practitioner here developing an evil magic treasure!”

Ji Jadewich, also bound by Blindfish’s side, had been holding his head down, exhausted, but now his spirit was roused, and he raised his head as well. He murmured: “Ji Ning? Ji Ning?”

“Ji Ning! Quick, flee! Quick, leave!” Jadewich howled desolately as well, striving to make himself heard.

In the past, although he had wanted for his father’s lineage to take over the Prefecture Lord position, since they had lost, he had submitted whole-heartedly. Ji Ning was their Ji clan of the West Prefecture’s next Prefecture Lord! He had personally seen Ning’s talent, and knew that the Ji clan of the West Prefecture would definitely become even more powerful because of Ji Ning. His dantian had already been destroyed and he had been captured. He didn’t want the most promising genius of the Ji clan of the West Prefecture, the next Prefecture Lord of the Ji clan of the West Prefecture, to die here as well. This was a humiliation to the Ji clan!

“Quick, flee!” Jadewiched howled heroically.

“Young master Ji Ning, quick, leave!” Ji Shan howled as well.

They had all been caught here, and had often seen those dread wraiths enter that underground tunnel. From that, as well as the discourse of those six handsome men and women, they had learned…that this was utterly a devil’s lair!

–––––––—

The black fog around him billowed, but from afar came furious, frantic howls.

“Young master Ji Ning, hurry up and flee! There is an Immortal practitioner here developing an evil magic treasure!”

“Young master Ji Ning, hurry and leave.”

“Flee.”

Although they had been tortured to the point of their voices turning hoarse, because he was so familiar with these people, Ning could tell who they were.

“Devleoping an evil magic treasure?” Ning forcibly swallowed down the fiery anger in his heart as he stared at the black-clothed man.

The black-clothed man chortled strangely. “The genius of the Ji clan, the mighty young master Ji Ning…don’t be so impatient, don’t be so angry. They will all die. As for you, you’ll die too.” He wanted to arouse Ning’s fury. When a person was enraged, they would lose their calm, and after doing so, their chances of victory would decrease.

“Go die!” Ning was like a tiger leaving the mounting, releasing a surge of seemingly unblockable power as he charged straight forward.

“Hmph, so rash. And they say you are a genius? In the end, you are still too young.” The black-clothed man said to himself. In his hands, he wielded black weaver’s shuttles in each hand, whirling them like devils as he welcomed the charging Ning. The two black shuttles stabbed towards Ning, and as the two drew near…

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

The two black shuttles actually shot out multiple black needles in a cluster towards Ning. Because they were too close, and the attack of the black needles was simply too fast, although Ning’s swordplay was powerful, he found it hard to block them all. Luckily, Ning’s body had those two layers of the Waterflame Lotus to block those black needles. The black needles just barely managed to break through the first layer before collapsing, and as they did, the earth immediately began to emit a hissing sound.

“All stained with poison.” The two Darknorth swords in Ning’s hands stabbed angrily outwards towards the black-clothed man.

The black-clothed man moved like a ghost, the two black shuttles in his hands just barely able to dodge while also shooting out those black needles.

“What a formidable Ji Ning.” The black-clothed man was secretly shocked. “His protective lotus flower is too powerful. It’s actually able to affect even my own movements. Luckily, my robes are actually formed from an armor-type magic treasure, as otherwise, the power of the protective lotus alone would have torn my clothes apart.”

“Bang!”

A sword shadow suddenly pierced through the black-clothed man’s arm, and the black-clothed man immediately leapt backwards at high speed, his face gradually turning savage. “What a marvelous, profound protective lotus you have. My Blackblood Needles are unable to break through it. It seems I’ll have to use power to break it.” The two black shuttles in his hands disappeared, and then in his hands appeared a long staff formed from six shuttles, while at the same time, the area around the body of the man began to faintly swirl with fire as a powerful aura began to emanate outwards.

“Staff?” Ning was secretly startled.

Earlier, when they had battled, he had noticed that this black-clothed man’s ability in wielding those black shuttles was truly quite weak. Only, the sudden shooting out of those Blackblood Needles was rather sinister. Now that the opponent was using a staff, Ning finally understood…that this was the weapon which the opponent was actually an expert in.

“A staff is a long weapon and a heavy weapon.” Ning mused. “Fiendgod Body Refiners generally like to use heavy weapon type magic treasures, using power to break through magic.”

“Receive my attacks.” The black-clothed man transformed into a black blur, and the longstaff was lifted up high and instantly began to increase in size rapidly, while its weight rapidly increased as well. The staff itself most likely now weighed tens of thousands of kilograms, and it smashed down directly towards Ning’s head!

Ning’s Darknorth swords swept upwards.

Clang!

An enormous clashing sound. Ning himself was sent flying backwards, creating a deep gouge in the earth. His two hands had cracked apart at the thumb, and blood had already dyed the sword handles red.

“What tremendous power, even greater than mine by far. Although I am merely at the fourth level of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens], I’m still comparable to most late-stage Fiendgod Body Refiners. This black-clothed man is actually even stronger than me. He must be a peak Fiendgod Body Refiner.” Ning understood that he had encountered a true opponent this time.

To kill an Fiendgod Body Refiner at the Xiantian level was a much harder proposition.

“I want to see how many staff blows of mine you can take.” The eyes of the black-clothed man flashed with a faint green light. He charged forwards with large steps, emanating an aura as mighty as a dragon’s, and as he drew near Ning, he delivered the longstaff in his hands in a forward blow. A direct attack!