Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

“Eh?”


“A treasure trove?” Ning flipped through the maps in front of him. There were eight maps, all identical, and all pointing towards a treasure trove!

Although the eight slain monster kings were formidable, their storage-type magic treasures were all merely Heaven-ranked items. It was naturally quite easy for Ning to bind them. As he sorted through their items, he discovered to his surprise…that every single storage item contained a map of a treasure trove. All the maps were completely identical.

The treasure maps only had some simple markings atop them, such as ‘Qi Empire’, ‘Riverfang Mountains’, etc. This made it so that Ning knew that the treasure map was originally created by the imperial Qi clan! This was the reason why Ning permitted the two imperial Qi clansmen to enter his estate.

“Each of the eight monster kings had a copy of this map, with the Flamewing King’s copy being much older. The other seven should’ve been made through a ink-duplication technique.” Ning frowned. “Right…I merely killed a few hundred of Flamewing Guards, but all twelve of the monster kings immediately attacked just a short while later. Logically speaking, the twelve of them should be scattered throughout the Eastern Flows; it would take them quite a bit of time just to spread the word to gather here. There can only be one explanation…when word of my slaughter of hundreds of Flamewing Guards made its way to the Flamewing King, the other monster kings were already present!”

“What sort of a situation would cause all twelve monster kings to gather together?”

Given that every single one of them had a copy of this treasure map…Ning had his answer. “They were most likely gathering for the sake of this treasure trove!”

Ning immediately began to search through the other items, paying especially close attention to the storage treasure of the Flamewing King. And indeed…although he didn’t find anything in the other storage treasures, within the Flamewing King’s items, Ning found an ancient book with golden parchment; clearly, it was designed to be able to withstand the passage of ages.

“The first time I ventured to the Riverfang Mountains, I was merely adventuring and entered by accident…”

“I am already a Void-level Earth Immortal; before my tribulation comes, I’ve decided to venture there once more, even though I know this place is very dangerous. I’ve only investigated a very small portion of this treasure trove; I trust that if I can acquire some more treasures, I will have a good chance of overcoming my Celestial Tribulation and becoming a Celestial Immortal.”

“……”

“Six Loose Immortals once more ventured to the Riverfang Mountains…”

“This time, we prepared many Dao-seals and treasures before venturing forth to the Riverfang Mountains…”

Ning flipped through the pages of the book. This was a legacy record passed down by the imperial Qi clan; it described the secrets of the Qi Empire’s sudden rise to power. The founding emperor of the Qi Empire had acquired a portion of the benefits of the treasure trove and thus founded his empire. In just a a few tens of thousands of years, the Qi Empire had grown to encompass an enormous territory and have quite a few Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals. Thus, the imperial Qi clan had naturally tried repeatedly to enter and investigate further. As they did, they had noted down the various dangers within the treasure trove.

They wanted to accumulate more experience and penetrate deeper within!

“A treasure trove?” Ning said softly in surprise, “Based on what this book describes, this treasure trove has Ki Refining Techniques, divine abilities, and secret arts…and is the reason why the Qi Empire was able to give birth to dozens of Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals within a short span of just a few tens of thousands of years. This is far more formidable than the Black-White College; I imagine that these techniques also vastly surpass the Black-White College’s.”

“Mm. I need to go take a look.”

While at Mount Innerheart, Ning would often chat with his fellow disciples, and so he naturally knew quite a few things about this Crescent world. For example…he knew about the secrets of Viledragon River. He also knew the secrets of many other places.

Although Patriarch Subhuti had created the Crescent world, in truth, when Pangu’s World had shattered, Patriarch Subhuti had used a powerful divine ability to teleport some of the shattered portions of the Primordial World to his own Crescent world. In addition, when Patriarch Subhuti wanted to test something or create something a new, his experiments would be carried out here on the Crescent world! This was because this world was his territory; the secrets here would never be released to outsiders.

“From what my senior fellow disciples told me…within this Crescent world are some remnant parts of the ancient Pangu’s World, as well as some of the treasures left behind by that cataclysmic war.” Ning instantly felt a hot eagerness rise in his heart. Very few knew this secret, and almost all who did were the personal disciples of the Old Patriarch. Thus, they would often go roving and exploring within the Crescent world.

“But after the Old Patriarch sealed off these places with vestigial powers left behind by the cataclysmic war that ended Pangu’s World…if one doesn’t visit the places in person, it would be very hard to locate the places from afar.”

“Now, it seems…this treasure trove is one of those special places.”

Ning felt quite certain. This was because the book stated that the deepest ripples within the treasure trove caused the Loose Immortals of the Qi Empire to tremble with terror. It must be understood that Loose Immortals were capable of suppressing and binding Immortal-ranked magic treasures, and sometimes even capable of suppressing Pure Yang treasures. A treasure that could cause them to feel terror? Could it be the corpse of a major power from the Primordial Era? A weapon? A grand formation? Or was it some other oddity?

“I need to go take a look.” Ning immediately made up his mind to go take a look. Since destiny had come knocking, why hesitate?

The crown prince and the princess waited for Ning for a long time. Finally, Ning came out.

Ning asked questions them regarding the treasure trove. The second princess knew nothing of this matter, while Crown Prince Qi Rufeng hemmed and hawed, not wanting to reveal the biggest secret of their imperial Qi clan. However, by the time Ning spoke of the Riverfang Mountains…the crown prince felt regret for his hesitation. Only now did he hurriedly reveal everything.

“You can leave now.” This was the last thing Ning said to them.

The crown prince and the princess both fell to their knees, wanting to beg Ning to take them on as disciples. But Ning’s response was very simple; he teleported them outside the Immortal estate, and then caused the entire Immortal estate to vanish into thin air.

The crown prince, the princess, and their servants stood there in a daze, atop the half-shattered mountain peak. The mountain wind blew through their hair, causing them to feel despair.

“The opportunity was right there in front of me. Why didn’t I tell him? It’s just a treasure trove! Senior Darknorth already knew about it; he must’ve been considering taking us on as disciples, and just wanted to give us a test. But I didn’t tell him! Damn me!” Crown Prince Qi Rufeng was utterly tormented by regret.

But he had no idea that even if he had been honest, Ning still wouldn’t have taken him on as a disciple.

How could one accept disciples in such a casual manner?

……