Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Low-grade Immortal-ranked?

Not all of these Wanxiang Adepts were as lucky as Ji Ning! Many Loose Immortals were not in possession of Immortal-ranked magic treasures; for them to possess one was already quite incredible.

Whoosh. The Xia Emperor smiled and nodded. Instantly, rainbow-colored raindrops appeared above Ning and the others. As they landed upon the bodies of the Ning and the others, Ning could feel his divine power and elemental ki be quickly restored. Those who were wounded were all quickly healed as well. Although most of them had spirit-pills that could have accomplished this, Ning and the others couldn’t help but feel excited that the Xia Emperor had personally healed them.

“Arise. All of you can go back and get some rest. Prepare for the next competition,” the Xia Emperor said.

Ning and the others all returned to their respective locations. Ning and the Sloppy Daoist returned to King Yan’s side.

Soon, the Xia Emperor ordered for the second round of duels to begin.

“The second round of duels shall begin now,” the Xia Emperor said calmly. “In the first battle, Xiangtian Xiao of the Xiangtian clan shall face Kindwater Gan of the Kindwater clan.” [1. Xiangtian Xiao is an interesting name; Xiangtian means ‘facing the heavens’, while Xiao means laugh; his name thus means ‘laughing towards the heavens’].

Xiangtian Xiao…he was the final remaining competitor of the Xiantian clan within this Conclave. Kindwater Gan, in the same way, was the final disciple the Kindwater clan had within this Conclave.

Both of these ancient clans hoped for their own disciples to win.

However, victory was determined after a few short exchanges in this duel. Xiangtian Xiao, with clear superiority, defeated Kindwater Gan.

“Xiangtian Xiao is quite powerful.” The Sloppy Daoist watched the battle outside the palace and spoke out in praise.

“Yes.” Ning nodded. “His Dao is the Grand Dao of the Sabre; the Dao of the Sabre is a Grand Dao that is comparable to the Dao of the Sword…and it is even more dominating and overbearing. Xiangtian Xiao himself is quite a heroic and straightforward figure, and his sabre arts are like him…he is indeed a formidable foe.”

“He can indeed be described as a formidable foe,” the Sloppy Daoist nodded.

“The second battle shall be between the unaffiliated Adept Blackstone and Adept Danzhu of the East Seas,” the Xia Emperor proclaimed.

Upon hearing this, Adept Danzhu, as beautiful as a fairy from the Moon Palace, couldn’t help but frown. Still, she still walked into the grand sealing formation outside of the main palace. As for Adept Blackstone, he appeared as he always did; barefoot, bald, and pitch-black. He leaned on a gnarled staff as he walked forward with a calm smile.

“The Xia Emperor actually pitted Adept Danzhu against Adept Blackstone? Based on what we saw from the first round…the Xia Emperor generally pits a strong fighter against a weak fighter, so as to ensure that strong fighters won’t clash against each other too early on.” Ning shook his head. “It seem as though in the Xia Emperor’s eyes, Adept Danzhu’s power should be in the bottom twenty-four of these forty-eight.”

“Right. Although Adept Danzhu is quite famous, she still isn’t a Fiendgod Body Refiner,” the Sloppy Daoist agreed. “When Ki Refiners fight against Fiendgod Body Refiners, they are generally at a significant disadvantage…especially seeing as how all the competitors in this Conclave are supreme geniuses. The weaknesses of Ki Refiners are made even more apparent.”

Ning nodded. It was true. And this was before the tribulation; upon a Fiendgod Body Refiner becoming an Empyrean God, his power would immediately be on the same level as a Pure Yang True Immortal! From this, one could tell how major an advantage Fiendgod Body Refiners towards the late stages!

……

The battle between Adept Blackstone and Adept Danzhu was an extremely weird battle.

Adept Blackstone only had to use his Fuxi Staff Formation to cause Adept Danzhu to be completely unable to fight back. In the end, she had to admit defeat. From start to finish, Adept Blackstone hadn’t been forced to fight in close combat a single time.

“What a terrifying Adept Blackstone.” This caused Xiamang Zishan, Ji Ning, Adept Ninedeaths, Cangwu Jiu, and the other geniuses to all memorize what had just happened.

……

One competition after another.

Several figures appeared who caused Ning to be secretly alarmed. There were some whom he wasn’t too familiar with, such as the likes of Adept Goldcrow, Adept Primalback, or Adept Unicosmo. Actually, everyone in the top twenty four was quite frighteningly strong.

“The twenty-fourth battle. The unaffiliated Adept Saberslave shall fight against Adept Bloodfiend of the Heaven Piercing clan.”

This was the final battle of the second round.

Adept Bloodfiend was a fairly dazzling figure; his berserkness and his bloodlust had caused everyone watching to firmly fix them in their minds.

But…

He was actually defeated miserably!

Just two blows of the saber! The first blow caused Adept Bloodfiend to be knocked flying backwards, but he had enough power to want to come back and try to fight again. The second blow, however…it chopped his body completely in half! The bisected Adept Bloodfiend hurriedly called out loudly, “I admit defeat!”

“What?!”

“How can this be?!”

Ji Ning, the Sloppy Daoist, Xiamang Zishan, Adept Blackstone, Adept Ninedeaths, and the others were all tremendously shocked. A serious look appeared in their eyes.

A formidable foe! Without question, a formidable foe! Nobody dared to say that they were confident in being able to defeat this mysterious ‘Adept Saberslave.’

Adept Saberslave was a black-robed man that carried a warcleaver. He was cold-faced and didn’t say anything at all. When he stood there silently, he was easily overlooked…but when acting against Adept Bloodfiend, he revealed his fierceness!

“This wandering cultivator…he should be the disciple of a good friend of mine. Previously, he didn’t cause any stir at all, and I thought that he simply had the same Daoist title. But those two saber blows, and his status as a wandering cultivator…there should be no doubt about it.” Lu Dongbin’s eyes lit up, and he laughed as he praised, “This good friend of mine once mentioned this disciple of his; he said that his disciple had taken on the Daoist title ‘Saberslave’ and had sworn that he would offer everything he had to the Dao of the Saber. He was going to infuse everything he had into the Dao of the Saber, and that he was willing to be a slave to the Dao of the Saber!”

“Oh? Intriguing.” Truelord Chiji’s eyes lit up. “Eastflower, who is friend of yours?”

“Umm…nice weather we have today!” Lu Dongbin suddenly turned his head to stare into the void of the skies.

Truelord Chiji was instantly speechless.

The Xia Emperor and the others couldn’t help but smile. Still, they could tell that Lu Dongbin clearly didn’t want to name this friend of his; most likely, this friend of Lu Dongbin most likely belonged to an alliance that was an enemy of one of the Daofathers supporting Lu Dongbin! Lu Dongbin made friends throughout the Three Realms; he even dared to befriend some enemies and some vile demons.