Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

An Immortal was someone worthy of befriending.

Immortal Firedragon was in no rush to join a side right now. He had to see what sort of offers would be made to him, after all. He knew very well that in the end, this boundless world belonged to the Grand Xia Dynasty. If he wanted to rise and to make his clan grow and prosper, it was best if he either joined with the forces of the Grand Xia Dynasty, or if he joined with the forces of the various Marquises, who had deep roots in their respective areas.

“Let’s go.” Immortal Skyfall stretched his hand out, taking Immortal Firedragon’s.

Whoosh!

They disappeared from mid-air.

………….

The City of Ten Thousand Swords was the base and foundation of the Ji clan. Ji Ninefire and Granny Shadow both lived within this city. What’s more, that elemental Anomaly originated from just a thousand or so kilometers from the city; given their speed, the two of them naturally soon arrived at the desolate mountain forest.

“It should be right here.” Ninefire and Granny Shadow, along with an old servant, were currently standing atop a large magic calabash gourd. Ninefire was staring down at the desolate mountain forest. He said, “But why is it that it seems as though this mountain wilderness is very calm. There’s nothing special here.”

“I can’t see anything either.” Granny Shadow and the old servant were watching as well.

“Elder Brother.” Granny Shadow said in her hoarse voice. “I’ll go down and take a look. Ah Xing, you stay here as well.”

“Mistress, let me go.” The old servant let out a hoarse whisper, and then transformed into a ray of light, descending towards the desolate mountain forest below.

Granny Shadow was frantic. “Ah Xing!”

“Wait.” Ninefire looked at Granny Shadow. “This old servant of yours truly is devoted to you.”

The earlier, violent ripples of elemental energy clearly involved a major affair. The first person to investigate thus would be taking on great risk. Ninefire, as the Patriarch of the Ji clan, was the true pillar of the clan and thus couldn’t be risked. This was why Granny Shadow was about to go down, but the old servant went down first.

“In the entire world, Ah Xing is the most loyal person to me.” Granny Shadow said gently.

Moments later…

A blur from below rose into the skies, landing atop the flying gourd. It was that old servant with unbound hair and dressed in beast furs. Ninefire immediately asked, “How is it?”

“There is a large amount of elemental ore below.” The old servant said in a low voice.

“A large amount of elemental ore?” Ninefire frowned. “How much?” Elemental ore contained gems which possessed elemental energy. However, the amount of elemental energy which people were able to absorb each day was limited, generally speaking. At a certain point in time, it would be impossible to absorb any more. Ordinary elemental gems were thus used to set up formations, or they might be useful in creating golems.

But training? They weren’t very useful.

But of course, some rare natural treasures existed that didn’t place much of a strain on the body, but which when ingested could provide power comparable to ten or even a hundred years of training. In addition, amongst elemental stones, there were high quality ones which had special effects. The elemental energy within high class elemental stones was very pure; when absorbing the energy within them, the body wasn’t placed under much strain, and thus by using them, in a single day, one would be able to make gains comparable to ten days of normal training. However, the rate of consumption of stones for training in such a way was significant as well! It wasn’t so bad if one only occasionally used a piece or two of high class elemental stones, but if an Immortal practitioner wanted to use them for long term training, one would have to buy thousands or more.

This wasn’t something which the Ji clan was capable of affording.

“Very many. Very many.” The old servant said solemnly. “It should be an elemental ore mine. In addition, my superficial scan turned up high quality elemental stones already.”

“What? An elemental ore mine? With high class elemental stones?” Ninefire was instantly stunned.

An elemental ore mine?

Generally speaking, certain special environments would produce elemental ore mines. But of course, one was also capable of intentionally forming an elemental ore mine. For the sake of making his breakthrough, Immortal Firedragon had to have enough elemental energy present for him to use. Thus, he was willing to pay a high price to set up a grand formation which drew in the surrounding elemental energy. Day after day, month after month, an elemental ore mine was formed.

“Elemental ore mine?” Granny Shadow revealed a look of excitement as well. “Our Ji clan is about to suddenly rise to prominence?!”

“Let’s go take a look first.” Ninefire suppressed his excitement. He immediately collected his magic gourd, and the three of them descended at high speed into the desolate mountain forest, diving into the ground to investigate.





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Book 5, Chapter 14 - A Large Scale Mine


The sky slowly grew brighter. Ji Ning and his father, Ji Yichuan, were currently moving at top speed, moving towards the origin of those elemental ripples.

“Eh? I have never competed against Father in speed before. Father is actually this fast?” Ning was extremely surprised. His divine body was comparable to that of early-stage Zifu-level Fiendgod practitioners. Given that he also had the Windwing Evasion technique, one could imagine how fast he was. Even when he didn’t use his wing-type magic treasure, he was still very fast…but his father, Ji Yichuan, was able to move at the same pace as him.

“Father, your footwork technique…? Can it be that you have established your Violet Palace?” Ning use his ki to ask mentally while hurrying forward. He didn’t realize that when the disaster had occurred, aside from the injuries suffered by the Yuchi siblings, his own father, Yichuan, had been heavily wounded as well.

“No need to ask.” Yichuan clearly didn’t want to discuss it. “This speed is already my maximum.”

“Understood.” Ning nodded.

If he were to use his wing-type magic treasures, he would still be able to increase his speed by quite a bit, but there was no need.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

The two moved forward like blurs of smoke. Moving at such an astonishing speed, this distance of thousands of kilometers was traversed in just a single hour! Their speed was completely at that of the Zifu Disciple level.

“It should be in this region.” Ning came to a halt, standing atop the crown of a large, ancient tree. He stared towards a mountain forest. “The ripple originated from no more than three hundred kilometers away.”

“Should be.” Yichuan nodded as well.

“Let’s take a close look.” The two looked about carefully as they ran forward atop the trees. Soon, Yichuan jumped directly down into the ground, emerging shortly afterwards. “Ning, come over here.” Ning immediately leapt down, moving like a ray of light to the grassy area where Yichuan was currently standing.

Ning hurriedly asked, “What is it?”

“There are elemental stones underground.” Yichuan said solemnly. “And this should be an extremely rich elemental ore mine. I’ve even noticed high quality elemental stones.”

“High quality elemental stones?” Ning was shocked as well. “The area under the control of my Ji clan actually has high quality elemental stones?”