Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“Congratulations and felicitations, father,” a middle-aged man with several dozen braids in his hair said. “That Yichuan was so arrogant and blind that he actually said he would have his son go seize the golden sword… the West Prefecture has been in the hands of our Ji clan for generations. Not a single person has taken the Prefecture Lord position through seizing the golden sword.”


The old man with flaming red hair and that scarlet snake in his ears slapped his hands together. “When I was young, I should’ve become the Prefecture Lord! But at that time, I was simply too much of a show-off and ended up losing to my big brother, Ji Young. That old bastard Young ended up taking the Prefecture Lord position and has been in that position for eighty years!”

“Eighty full years!”

“I’ve been waiting all this time. Every day has been a crucible.” Lee ground his teeth. “I didn’t expect that his line of descent would produce someone like Yichuan! He truly is a glorious, outstanding talent. Fortunately, fortunately, Yichuan is only interested in training to become an Immortal and doesn’t care about becoming the Prefecture Lord. Yichuan was simply too arrogant today. He actually chose such a path for his son.”

“It seems it is the will of Heaven that we take the Prefecture Lord’s position,” the middle-aged man said excitedly.

“Don’t be hasty.”

Lee shouted. “When I was young, that loss I suffered taught me… that a person can’t be too happy before one has actually succeeded! What we need to do is prepare!”

“Father, do you mean to say…” the man asked.

Lee was frowning in concentration.

Time slowly passed. The middle-aged man sat off to one side, not daring to disturb him. He knew his father was thinking.

“Right!” Ji Lee suddenly said in a soft voice. “That’s what we’ll do!”

The middle-aged man looked at his father. “Father, what is your plan?”

“In order to seize the golden sword, one must defeat all of the youths of the tribes and the descendants of the Ji clan,” Lee said in a low voice. “Although there are few clan members, they are able to acquire a large amount of treasures and secret manuals, while there are many youths in the tribes, very few will get any treasures. But despite that, in the quadrennial Golden Sword Ceremony, out of every five or six ceremonies, only once will a Ji clan member win.”

The middle-aged man nodded. “There are simply too many tribe members. There will always be an extremely talented person who emerges. However, no matter how great their talent, we won’t teach them the truly powerful arts of the Ji clan. We’ll only teach them some of the lesser arts. Although those youths of the tribes might be powerful during the Golden Sword Ceremony, after seventy or eighty years, the most powerful exponents are those of the Ji clan.”

“What I mean to do is…” Ji Lee said in a whisper. “Select a few outstanding youths from the tribes and give them a large amount of treasures and resources and train them. Without my training, those tribal youth talents are already so powerful. Once they receive my training, they will definitely skyrocket in power and become even mightier! I refuse to believe that the son of Yichuan will be able to defeat all of them and seize the golden sword.”

“Right. Right.” The middle-aged man hurriedly nodded.

Usually, the treatment of the tribal youths and of the Ji clan members were totally different.

The Ji clan youths were of one family. Naturally, the Ji clan would treat them much better. But in dealing with the youths of the tribes, they would have to both draw them close and also control them well! But this time… he would use all of his talent to cultivate the most promising youths!

“Father, if you do this, then Ji Yichuan’s son will definitely lose,” the middle-aged man said confidently.

“Hahaha…” Lee laughed. “Remember. Plant some of our people by Yichuan’s side. I want to know how rapidly Yichuan’s son grows in power. Only knowing one’s own power and one’s opponent’s power will one gain victory!”

“Yes!” The middle-aged man’s eyes were shining.

……

Yuchi Snow gently placed her son down atop the warm bed.

“Ning, be a good boy and sleep tight.” Snow gently kissed her son’s face, then lay down on the bed as well.

A pained look was on Ning’s face.

He wiped the corner of his lips. He had just drank breast milk. What a weird sensation.

The events of the past twenty four hours were simply too shocking, too unbelievable. First, he had passed the Bridge of Despair, but then, just before he was to drink Grandma Meng’s Elixir, a great upheaval had occurred in the Netherworld Kingdom. It was as though the world was about to shatter. He had been lucky enough to react in time and jump into the Mortal Realm’s tunnel, and had been reincarnated into this world.

A snow white hound who was his ‘Uncle White’?

A several hundred-meter giant black python that could raise its head up to the level of a house, and also transform into a black-haired middle-aged man, who was his ‘Uncle Black’?

And now, he was supposed to seize some golden sword and become some Prefecture Lord?

Hey guys, did you think about asking me how I feel about all this?

“Bah. Infants have no human rights.” Ji Ning licked the milk from the corner of his lips while pondering. Still, a hint of excitement was in his eyes. “Time to train!”

The very first day he had arrived here, he had sensed that his clan was a powerful one. How could a clan capable of commanding countless tribes be ordinary? But clearly, the position of Prefecture Lord had aroused interest from all sides. That old fellow with the red snake in his ear wasn’t weak either. He dared to argue against the Prefecture Lord and squabble with Ning’s father.

Screw it!

Ning was still just an infant. There was no reason for him to worry about all these things. Right now, the most important thing was to train. Train in the visualization technique – Nuwa Painting.

The Nuwa Painting, according to the Lord of Cui Palace, was something which would allow him to be an outstanding figure, even if he had been born into the Heaven Realm and had joined the Celestial Host, much less here in the Mortal Realm. In the Mortal Realm, it definitely would be the most top tier of visualization techniques. Such a precious technique that had been deeply ingrained into his mind was the most powerful source of support he would have in this world.

In his past life, he had been tormented by illness for eighteen years. He had been exhausted just by strolling for half an hour. He had simply had enough of that powerless sensation! The sensation of being powerless in the face of death! He had enough! Enough! Enough!!! He would take his destiny into his own hands, and that destiny was to follow the path that the Lord of Cui Palace had spoken to him of: Training to become an Immortal!

Training to become an Immortal was the only choice he would make!

Ning closed his eyes and began.

A hint of natural energy slowly began to enter Ji Ning’s body. It was being attracted into his consciousness and began to strengthen his soul. But because only a tiny amount of natural energy was being absorbed, neither Yichuan nor Snow noticed at all.

The visualization technique was capable of absorbing natural energy?

This was simply incredible.

The reason was, this wasn’t an Immortal training technique, nor was it a Immortal magic technique. If it was an Immortal training technique, it would wildly devour the surrounding natural energy. But the visualization technique, despite absorbing just a bit of natural energy… was already quite incredible.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Tiny threads of elemental energy constantly entered Ning’s infant body.

Natural energy repeatedly entered his body and cleansed his body. Infants were born pure. Only after experiencing life would they be sullied by the dirt and grime of the world. But right now, Ning’s body had very few impurities within it. With the natural energy repeatedly cleansing him, he quickly became incomparably pure, as pure as a newborn!





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Book 1, Chapter 5 - Ji Clan