Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Qi Xiaoyu felt her heart unclench slightly. The person she felt the most gratitude for in the entire imperial Qi clan was her master, Everlotus. Everlotus had taken care of her like she was her own daughter. She had loved her and cherished her. Qi Xiaoyu had been able to sense how much love Everlotus had felt for her, and ever since she was young, her master had taught her. Thus, although she didn’t have many memories regarding life in the Bluecliff tribe and although she only had blurry memories of her parents, she felt an extremely deep affection for her master, Everlotus. After all, they had been together for the longest period of time.

Qi Xiaoyu was fairly accurate in sensing if others were kind or malicious towards her, if they cared about her or hated her. She had always felt as though her master, Everlotus, had truly loved her. This was why she felt such gratitude for the imperial Qi clan. In fact, when the now-deceased leader of the imperial Qi clan had asked her to swear an oath to the Dao of the Heavens, she hadn’t hesitated at all.

“What just happened?” Crown Prince Qi Rufeng came back to his senses. He quickly regained his memories, and his face immediately changed. He stared towards Ning in terror, then looked towards Qi Xiaoyu.

“Master Everlotus…I can understand why you did what you did. I don’t blame you. I don’t blame you…” Tears streaked down Qi Xiaoyu’s face. She stared at the black-robed princess and the crown prince. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Your imperial Qi clan destroyed my tribe and home and killed my family. But Master Everlotus’s benevolence towards me was as weighty as a mountain. From this day forth, I, Qi Xiaoyu, will no longer have any connection to your Qi clan. From this day forth, my name shall be Bluecliff Xiaoyu!”

“Master.” Bluecliff Xiaoyu turned to look towards Ning, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, master, for enlightening me and not letting me continue to remain deceived. I wish to be by myself for a time.”

“Go.” Ning nodded, then willed Qi Xiaoyu to be teleported into his Immortal estate with a swish.

Ning’s gaze turned towards the crown prince and the princess. Both of them felt helpless; when they had been hypnotized, they had thought it was just over the little princess’ plot, but who would’ve thought that this senior Darknorth would actually uncover the matter of the destruction of the Bluecliff tribe? Still…by now, they had no options left. All they could do was beg for their lives.

“Since you had no intention to harm me, I naturally won’t act against you. I will still hold to my promise,” Ning said. “However…before I do so, come with me to a place.”

As he spoke, Ning waved his hand, causing the imperial Qi clansmen and the flying shuttle to all be drawn into his Immortal estate. And then, Ning strode forward across the waves of Viledragon River, quickly departing from this place.

……

A short period of time later.

The peak of a tall mountain, surrounded by clouds. A ripple in space could be seen above it, then a fur-clad youth appeared out of nowhere and descended.

“This place works.” The fur-clad youth nodded, then waved his hand. An Immortal estate appeared.

Within the Immortal estate. As Ning entered, the crown prince and the second princess both immediately paid their respects. The crown prince said, “Senior, where are we?”

“You can exit the estate now, but you had best not go too far. If you do, I won’t be able to keep you alive,” Ning said calmly. “This place is more than ten million kilometers from our previous location; I trust that the Flamewing King will need some time before chasing you here. Take a rest and prepare for the next battle.”

“The next battle?” The two were startled.

“I killed hundreds of Flamewing guards, including three Loose Immortal monsters. Do you think that the Flamewing King is just going to shrug that off?” Ning said calmly.

The two shook their heads. Impossible. The Eastern Flows region was the territory of the twelve monster kings; given that this senior Darknorth had killed hundreds of Flamewing Guards, how could the Flamewing King not be enraged? It must be understood that the Flamewing Guards were the most devoted servants of the Flamewing King. Given that so many of them had perished, the Flamewing King would probably personally attack next time.

“The Flamewing King is coming in person.” Both the crown prince and the second princess felt restless and uneasy. “And yet this senior Darknorth still intends to fight?”

“How powerful is he? Can it be that my earlier investigations were in error? He is more than just a peak Primal Daoist?”

Their hearts were in a state of panic. Still, given how quickly Ning had chased after him, he must have disposed of all of those Flamewing Guards…which meant that things probably truly were as Ning said. He had killed hundreds of Flamewing Guards.

“In such a short period of time, he killed hundreds of Flamewing Guards, broke the formation, then caught up to us. How powerful is this Ji Ning? Is it truly possible that he can fight the Flamewing King?” The crown prince and the princess both felt as though their thoughts were in a jumble.

……

Ning couldn’t be bothered to pay them any heed. He entered a private room within the Immortal estate. A ripple in space appeared within it and Ning stepped into the ripple, entering his underwater estate.

“I can’t underestimate the Flamewing King’s power. In fact, I might have to deal with the other monster kings as well. Before doing so…I need to increase my power a bit,” Ning mused to himself. “My true body, when using [Three Heads, Six Arms], needs a total of six Immortal swords. Three of them are my Darknorth swords, and the other three would ideally be Immortal-ranked.”

He had an exquisitely top-grade Thousandbull Sword, as well as a low-grade Immortal-ranked flying sword that the Grand Xia Emperor had bestowed upon him previously. Just now, when killing those three Loose Immortal monsters, he had further acquired two more low-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasures, one of which was a flying sword.

“My true body needs to break through to the early Void stage as soon as possible. Only then can I better unleash the power of my Immortal-ranked magic treasures,” Ning mused to himself. Those two low-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords were comparable to the Darknorth swords in power…what Ning really cared about was the Thousandbull Sword! That sword had close to the power of a Pure Yang treasure!

Ning immediately entered the Still Room within his underwater estate, then began to absorb liquefied elemental essence…





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Book 13, Chapter 22 - The Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows


Roughly ten million kilometers away, in the imperial capital of the former Qi Empire. Within the imperial palace.

Within a lavishly decorated palace hall. Beautiful female attendants carried in platters of exquisite food and Immortal nectar, delivering them to the twelve tables, including the main table at the front of the hall.

“Come, drink.”

“Big brother, I toast you.”

“Ninth brother, it has been a thousand years since we met. Come, come, come; let us brothers have another cup together!”

Carefree laughter rang out. High-pitched, low-pitched, screeching…every single voice carried a dominating aura.

The monsters in the form of female attendants all felt their hearts tremble. They acted with the utmost caution, terrified of offending one of the monster kings. They knew that the twelve gathered here in this hall today were the Twelve Monster Kings of the Eastern Flows; the likes of them could not risk offending any of these twelve. If they accidentally irritated one of the monster kings, the results would be disastrous.

One of the maidservants had, due to her nervousness, splattered some of the wine from her platter atop the Jadetoad King, one of the twelve monster kings. The Jadetoad King had rolled his eyes, opened his mouth, and devoured the maidservant into his belly.

In the center of the hall, there were beautiful human maidens and monsters who were engaging in dance. Naturally, there were also musicians who were beating the drums and playing the flute.

“Alright, all of you can leave for now.”

After a long time, the Flamewing King, seated in the host position at the front of the palace, ordered the servants to depart.