Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

“Those robes, that bracelet…they should be extremely rare top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasures. As for the jade hairpin…even I can’t tell what it is!” Qi Rufeng said.

“Darknorth truly is an extraordinary figure. Although Mortal-ranked magic treasures aren’t that precious, top-grade Mortal-ranked magic treasures…they are still very rare.” The black-robed princess sighed in amazement. “In addition, judging from the way in which senior Darknorth took out a hundred high-grade Heaven-ranked magic treasures earlier, he probably would’ve given her even better treasures, were it not for the fact that she is still weak and can only use Mortal-ranked treasures. That jade hairpin…it should also be a top-grade Mortal-ranked treasure.”

The violet-robed princess disagreed. “It’s just a bunch of Mortal-ranked items.”

Qi Xiaoyu walked down the stairs, then knocked on the door to the cabin.

“Open the door,” the crown prince immediately instructed. One of the guards behind him immediately walked forward to push open the cabin door.

Qi Xiaoyu walked in, then immediately said, “Your Highness, Master wishes you to go to him.”

“In the future, there’s no need to refer to me as ‘your Highness’. You are now the exalted disciple of senior Darknorth; you can just refer to me by my name,” Crown Prince Qi Rufeng said.

But young princess Qi Ruhui said, “Xiaoyu, what sort of magic treasure is that hairpin? Neither my big brother nor my second sister can recognize it.”

“Master said that this is a protective treasure that can only be used once. Once the elemental ki within it is unleashed, it can withstand the attacks of even a supreme Loose Immortal for a space of ten breaths,” Qi Xiaoyu replied obediently.

“What?!” Everyone in the cabin was astonished. Block a supreme Loose Immortal’s attacks for the space of ten breaths? This was definitely a supremely valuable protective item.

In truth, this was just one of the many magic items left behind by Immortal Juhua. Ning felt that it was actually rather embarrassing for him to give out Mortal-ranked magic treasures to his first disciple; after all, she too was now a member of Mount Innerheart. Thus, he gave her this protective item.

“To block a supreme Loose Immortal…” The violet-robed princess gritted her teeth. She couldn’t help but feel jealous. “This shitty slave…she sure has some good luck.”

Because they had been fleeing for so long, they had often used this sort of protective, anti-attack magic treasure. Over the course of tens of years, they had used them all up!

……

Qi Rufeng hurriedly emerged from his cabin, climbing up the stairs to the second floor to go see Ji Ning.

“Greetings to you, senior Darknorth,” Qi Rufeng said respectfully.

“Qi Rufeng, I have questions for you.” Ning sat there, pointing towards a chair. “You can sit as well.”

“Alright.” Qi Rufeng immediately sat down obediently as directed. He was a person who knew when to advance and when to retreat. There was an enormous gap in power right now; he was completely unable to fight back against someone like Ning. Ning had given him a promise, and he had the feeling that this senior Darknorth was a decent person. If he had encountered a vicious, barbaric person, that sort of person would undoubtedly have had many ways to force him to hand over Qi Xiaoyu.

“I ask you this. Why is it that you have fled for so many years from the Flamewing King without successfully escaping?” Ning asked, puzzled, “Given how large this Star continent is, if you run a few million kilometers away, it will be easier for the Flamewing King to find a needle in the sea than to find you. And yet…you’ve been fleeing in such a haggard fashion for decades, and remain under pursuit.”

Qi Rufeng shook his head and sighed. “This Flamewing King was originally a venomous pest of a type known as the ‘flamewing bug’ who cultivated the Dao. After he led his Diremonster army to suddenly attack my Qi Empire, the Flamewing King personally covered the entire imperial citadel with flamewing venom. The venom filled every single palace, and it instantly merged into the body of every single person it touched. There’s no way to separate it from the bodies it has touched, and in fact it even has corrupted our souls. Even Earth Immortals or Loose Immortals are unable to get rid of this poison.”

“Oh?” Ning was surprised. Flamewing bugs? He had never heard of this sort of venomous bug back in the Grand Xia world.

“This flamewing venom doesn’t actually harm the body or the soul.” Qi Rufeng shook his head, then said bitterly, “But no matter how far away we move away, the flamewing bugs can still sense the location of the flamewing venom. Even if we flee to the Cloud continent or the Flame continent, the flamewing bugs can still sense us. The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals under the Flamewing King’s command can engage in teleportation and go to the Cloud continent and Flame continent…and so no matter where we flee to, we are unable to escape pursuit.”

Ning now understood. What a nasty poison! He still remembered how in his youth, when he was adventuring in Eastmount Marsh, he had been attacked and pursued by Ironwood Zhan. It was precisely because Ning had been touched by that ‘iceflower liquid’ that Ironwood Zhan was able to continue the chase, even though Ning had fled very far away.

However, by comparison this flamewing venom was even more formidable…and it was the Flamewing King who had personally used it. It was able to stain even the soul. Within this Crescent world, no matter where the clan fled to, the countless flamewing bugs under the king’s command would still be able to sense their direction.

“The majority of our imperial clan was killed on the spot, and the rest fled in every direction,” Qi Rufeng said. “Back then, Loose Immortals numbered amongst the fleeing survivors. However, no matter where we fled to, they continued to chase us. Thus, we chose to continue to flee about the former territory of our Qi Empire; after all, this was the place we originally controlled, and so we were quite familiar with it. In addition, the imperial clan had built up many secret bases…”

“After having fled for so long, we three are the only survivors.”

Qi Rufeng’s words were filled with grief and powerlessness.

Ning now understood it all.

The main problem was that the flamewing venom was hard to eradicate; thus, this crown prince and the princesses were constantly pursued. This sort of venom that stained even the soul…not even Ning was able to help get rid of it.

“I ask you this,” Ning said. “How great a sinner is this Flamewing King? Is he surrounded by bloody sin light?”

“The Flamewing King is one of the Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows. He is famous for his savagery; naturally, the amount of sins he has committed towers to the skies. As far as the bloody aura of sin…from what I hear, all twelve of them are wreathed in tremendous amounts of bloody sin light. Anyone who uses divine sense to look at them will see a towering, tidal-wave of bloody sin light swirling around them. Even Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals will feel terrified upon seeing them,” Qi Rufeng said.

Ning felt a sense of jubilation in his heart. A towering tidal-wave of bloody sin light? A huge sinner?

The trial to acquire the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was to kill ten great sinners and to accept a disciple. He had now accepted a disciple, and his next objective was to kill ten great sinners. Perhaps he would be able to fulfill the criteria by dealing with these twelve monster kings.