Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

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“Can it be that this wasn’t done by this child of the Ji clan? Is there a terrifyingly powerful practitioner of the way of Immortal who, seeing the talent of this child, has decided to help him?” Ironwood Zhan was unable to flee, try as he might. He felt both frantic and terrified

“Waterflame Lotus!” Ning’s gaze focused on him.

The enormous fire lotus petal appeared above Ironwood Zhan, while an enormous water lotus petal appeared beneath Ironwood Zhan. At the same time, the two slowly began to swivel.

“I don’t know which elder is present?” Ironwood Zhan called out loudly, while revealing a Dao-seal in his hand. This Dao-seal transformed into an illusory diamond, then disappeared into his body, and his body began to glow with a faint golden light. “I am a disciple of the Ironwood clan, and I am on very good terms with Snowdragon Mountain as well.”

“Stop struggling.” The formerly distant Ning had already arrived.

“Child of the Ji clan.” The golden light on Ironwood Zhan’s body was trembling and swaying. He repeatedly, viciously twirled out the Blackwood Vinewhip in his hand, which quickly elongated as it flew towards Ning.

Ning wielded a sword in each hand. He was as fast as lightning.

“Chi!” The Darknorth sword in his left hand utilized the ‘Watertight’ technique. As soon as the Blackwood Vinewhip touched the Darknorth sword, it naturally wrapped around it, but Ning voluntarily began spinning his left sword…the Blackwood Vinewhip wrapped around it many times, and in the end, Ning’s left hand actually was able to snatch the Ironwood Vinewhip.

Swish!

Ning’s right hand reached an even faster level.

“Break!” Zhan roared fiercely while pulling at the Blackwood Vinewhip, but he wasn’t able to budget it at all. “No, I can’t die here. I can’t die to this little child of the Ji clan!” Sensing death draw nearer, Ironwood Zhan became even crazier. He even released the Ironwood Vinewhip in his hand.

Turning his head, he continued to flee!

“Bang!” Slowly being ground down by the Waterflame Lotus, the golden light on his body finally cracked and dispersed.

“Aaaah.” Ironwood Zhan’s clothes were instantly ground into dust by the Waterflame Lotus, revealing his body, which was beginning to turn black. He emitted an agonized scream.

“Swish!”

A raindrop pierced straight through Zhan’s forehead.

And then, the Waterflame Lotus dissipated. Ning withdrew his sword, looking quietly at the charred Ironwood Zhan.

Ironwood Zhan’s eyes were bulging. Even his eyebrows were gone, while in his forehead, there was a bloody hole. His eyes were filled with disbelief and rage. He hadn’t imagined that he would die at the hands of this youth. In his heart, he even more hated that ‘elder’ who had blocked his flight. If it hadn’t been for that elder practitioner, he would have been able to flee.

“Immortal practitioner?” Ning said to himself softly, his heart filled with a silent excitement.

Finally!

He had finally become a Xiantian lifeform!

Even the world-famous, powerful expert, Ironwood Zhan, had died in the face of his might.

“Even though I was reincarnated into the mortal world!” Ning growled in his heart. “Relying on my own efforts, I was still able to become a Xiantian lifeform! And that was just the beginning! The beginning of myself, Ji Ning!”

The experiences of his past life. Everything he had seen in this one.

They had all allowed Ning to have a heart that was filled with an incomparable urge to grow stronger. An urge to control his own destiny. To not be controlled by others, to not be controlled by fate!

“This is just the start!” Ning took a few steps forward, walking to Zhan’s corpse. With but a thought, a gust of flame instantly turned Zhan’s corpse into nothing but ash, leaving behind only an armguard and that Blackwood Vinewhip.

“Oh?” The armguard and the whip both flew into Ning’s hands. Ning inspected them carefully. “So this armguard is actually a storage-type magic treasure! The Blackwood Vinewhip is also a magic treasure.”

“Hm.” Ning returned.

He returned to the pool, collecting those eight Yin Yang Twin Energy Formation flags. The flags were all very dark and grey, and yet they emitted pulses.

“Magic treasures, Dao-seals. All of them are only usable when one is at least at the Xiantian level as a Ki Refiner.” Ning collected all these things into his kalestone. “I first have to reach the Xiantian level as a Ki Refiner as well.”

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Ning cleaned up the surrounding area. As for the corpses of the Bi’an Tiger and Ironwood Zhan, he transformed them all into ash. Ning then once again continued his meditations by the pool side, because he had the sense…that training his ki to the Xiantian level would be very easy!

The night after that battle!

Ning still sat in the lotus position by the side of the pool, and for the moment, the dantian in his body began to change and rumble! The original powerful threads of ki began to rotate and then condense into liquid drops. One drop of ki began to solidify, and Ning’s body also began to attract some mist which wrapped around him.

“So I’m about to break through.” Ning smiled.

When he had been in the womb, his meridians had been damaged. If he had been relying on Ki Refining to reach the Xiantian level, it would have been very hard. But upon reaching the Xiantian level through the [Scarlet Diagram of the Ning Shining Heavens], Ning’s entire body had been transformed into a true Fiendgod’s body by the Lunar Truewater and Solar Truefire of the Solar Star [Sun] and the Lunar Star [Moon]. Because his entire body had been transformed, his mortal body had been transformed into a Fiendgod’s body, and his meridians had been remade anew as well!

Currently, Ning’s meridian network had become perfected and unblemished. The meridian channels were far wider than that of most Xiantian Ki Refiners! In addition, Ning had a very high level of enlightenment, so naturally, he was now about to break through.

“The storage-type magic treasure.” Ning held the armguard while activating the ki in his body. He quickly managed to bind it to him.

“Storage-type magic treasures and natural kalestones really are different.” Ning instantly felt overjoyed. This armguard held an enormous storage space. Within an area of chaos, there was a storage area of tens of meters across. There were many items inside as well, such as clothes, food, gold, and other things.

The most valuable items were those eight Dao-seals! They had been slowly accumulated by Ironwood Zhan over many years. Today, he had used three of them in one breath, but he had still died in the end.

“A pity there are no other magic treasures.” Ning shook his head. Still, this was as he had expected. A Xiantian lifeform was already quite lucky to have just two or three magic treasures.

“This bow is pretty good.”

With a flip of his hand, Ning retrieved a simple, unadorned greatbow from within the storage-type magic treasure. “This should be the bow which Ironwood Zhan normally uses. After reaching the Xiantian level, I am in need of a good bow.”

Hua!

As he applied force to it, the monstrous, Fiendgod-like power he possessed easily drew the bow.