Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“Chi.” Ning tested his finger against the blade of the sword.

“Careful. It is very sharp,” the man with the serpent called out in alarm. This precious weapon could cut through stones like tofu.

Ning felt the skin of his fingertips shake slightly. He couldn’t help but feel surprise. “I have the Goldstar Shirt protecting my body, which is currently spread to every inch of my skin. Just then, when I casually sliced my finger… it actually impacted the Goldstar Shirt. If I were to swing the sword down hard, it probably would have broken through the Goldstar Shirt’s defense. I walk through the city streets every day on my way to archery training and have seen countless weapons, but I’ve never seen such a sharp, precious weapon.”

Others only sensed that this weapon was very sharp, but they didn’t know exactly how sharp it was. But Ning had the feeling… that even his Goldstar Shirt would find it hard to block this precious weapon.

“I want this weapon.” Ning looked at the man with the snake.

The man was both excited and nervous. He hurriedly said, “Young master, for the sake of this weapon, our tribe…” In front of this young man of exalted status, he was nervous and didn’t dare to demand a certain price.





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Book 1, Chapter 18 - Wings


“Mm.” With a flip of his hand, a piece of blue-tinged gold appeared in Ning’s palm. He tossed it directly towards the man with the black serpent. “Take it.”

“Just this little tiny piece of gold?” The man with the black serpent and the two behind him were frantic. They stared at that tiny bit of blue-tinged gold, just the size of a finger. “And it isn’t even pure?”

“Young master.”

“Respected young master.”

The three men began to call out and beg. How could they possibly return to the tribes with this? The other tribal warriors were outside the city waiting. None of them were willing to enter the city… because the cost of entering the city was a lambskin or some other equivalent value item.

“You pack of idiots. That is thundergold!”

“I’m willing to pay a hundred beastheads of gold for that piece of thundergold.”

“Just a hundred beastheads? A piece of thundergold of that size, I’d pay 160 beastheads! I can send someone to bring the beastheads of gold right now!” Instantly, the nearby people began to make offers. All of them were people of some status in the West Prefecture City, or came from the clans with Xiantian lifeforms in them, or perhaps belonged to the powerful tribes that were located close to the West Prefecture. How excellent their judgement must therefore be!

The man with the black snake hurriedly clutched the piece of thundergold. He clearly felt that the weight of this item was far beyond that of normal yellow gold. He exchanged glances with his two friends, both shocked and overjoyed.

“Thank you, young master.”

“Thank you, mighty young master.”

The three men instantly thanked him, filled with gratitude.

“Now you thank him? The Raindrop Sword is a major figure whose fame is known everywhere. Think about what sort of status his son has. How could he possibly take your weapon by force? Just the tiniest portion of his fortune that he could casually toss out would astonish you,” a fat, fur-clad old man next to them said in a loud voice. Clearly, these words were intentionally said for the not too distant Ning to hear.

Ning chuckled, and then casually made the sheath with the three swords disappear into his kalestone. Because the space inside the kalestone was limited, thus Ning only carried a few beastheads of gold with him. Everything else he had was all precious treasures.

……

Within the hall.

Ji Yichuan was seated at the master’s seat, while Yuchi Snow sat on his left. The two were slowly eating the food on the table in front of them.

Swoosh!

A human figure rushed in. It was Ning, who had finished his stroll.

“Father, mother,” Ning said hurriedly.

Yichuan frowned. “Why didn’t you pay attention to the time when you were taking a stroll outside?”

Ning obediently didn’t dare to make a sound, hurriedly running to his usual spot, sitting on his knees and beginning to eat. Their lunch was rather sumptuous, with all sorts of meats, bread, and wine on the table. Ning’s current appetite was simply voracious, and virtually all of the food and beverages on the table were devoured by Ning in a short period of time.

Snow laughed as she watched her son tear through the food like a tornado.

“Father, mother.” Ning suddenly thought of the sheath and three swords he had purchased today. He hurriedly said, “Today, while taking the walk, I ran into three tribal warriors. They should have come from a distant, impoverished place of the Western Prefecture City. They came for the purpose of selling a precious weapon. And I… decided to buy it.”

“Precious weapon?” The seated Yichuan frowned. “In the treasure warehouse of our Ji clan here in the West Prefecture, we have plenty of precious weapons. In the past, didn’t you already select two precious weapons? How can those lowly peddlers in the city possibly have anything good.”

Because Ning had yet to reach the Xiantian level in Ki Refining, he naturally couldn’t control any magic treasures yet, which is why he went to the treasure warehouse to pick out two precious swords. But of course, when training in the cage, he only used ordinary weapons.

“Father, the two precious weapons I selected in the warehouse are far inferior to this one I just bought,” Ning said seriously.

“Oh?” Yichuan looked at his son.

“Actually, the precious weapon I bought is a damaged sword-type magic treasure,” Ning explained. “There are occult runes carved onto it, but they are totally damaged. Therefore, it can only be used as a fairly sharp precious weapon. However, it really is sharp, far more so than the previous precious weapons in my residence. If I use some force, I can pierce through the Goldstar Shirt.”

“Pierce through the Goldstar Shirt?” Yichuan revealed a hint of surprise. “Let me take a look.”

Ning stretched his hand out, and that simple, unadorned sheath and three swords appeared within it. Standing up, he walked it over to his father.

Yichuan accepted it and took a close look at the sheath, then pulled out the three swords. “The magic runes on the swords are totally destroyed, but it feels as though… this is indeed a flying sword magic treasure! Unfortunately, it’s a damaged magic treasure. Most damaged magic treasures aren’t worth much. At most, they might be sold to be broken down into some other materials.”

Ning nodded.

He had read many books, and knew that damaged magic treasures were not worth much, because the material components of magic treasures had already undergone various fusing techniques, making it so that even if one broke down the magic treasure, one wouldn’t be able to get many of the original components back.

“Chi!” Yichuan stroked the tip of the sword with his finger, and a hint of blood appeared on his fingertip. A look of shock appeared on his face. “What a sharp sword. Without any energy infused into it, the sword is still so incredibly sharp. I’ve never seen such a thing. Snow, come take a look. Can you tell where it comes from?”

Yuchi Snow accepted it and carefully looked it over, then slowly shook her head after a long time. “I can’t tell.”

“Mother, if this magic flying sword treasure wasn’t damaged, would it be a ‘ranked’ treasure?” Ning hurriedly asked.

“Of course it would be a ‘ranked’ treasure.” Snow nodded. “Even though it is damaged, the sharpness of this sword is still on par with some ‘unranked’ magic treasures. When it was undamaged… of course it was a ‘ranked’ treasure. Only, exactly what rank it was at, I can’t tell at all. Perhaps no one in the entire area around Swallow Mountain can tell.”