Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Ji Ning stared at the black, foggy cave entrance in front of him for a moment, hesitating. This clearly was no ordinary cave. Neither his divine sense nor his [Torch-Dragon’s Eye] and other senses were able to discover anything about the cave at all! However…Ning truly wanted to know who it was who was trying to kill him!

“The world of the Grand Xia is currently filled with dangerous undercurrents; it’s best to be cautious. It’s best if I don’t go into unknown places.” The reason why Ning had acted so arrogantly and brashly earlier was because everything was under control…but the depths of this black cave were beyond his understanding.

Whoosh.

Ning instantly departed from this region, but he was still surrounded by layers of formations.

Ning casually chose a mountain peak at random, sitting down in the lotus position atop it, then laughed loudly, “If you have any other abilities, use them to your heart’s content! If you don’t attack me…I’m going to use my Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to leave now.”

His voice echoed within the skies, but no one came to attack him.

“It isn’t the time to leave yet,” Ning mused to himself. “Master is still undergoing his tribulation in that minor world. If the assassins wish to continue to assault me and lose track of me, they’ll probably go back to that minor world. I might as well stay here then!”

……

“Master, he didn’t go in,” the black-robed youngster said.

“Because he’s not an idiot,” the silver-armored youth said, shaking his head. “The Celestial Immortals who went in previously were all overconfident; they felt that their power was more than enough to ensure that they would survive. But how could they have known…that the tunnel leads to one of our true headquarters. Even True Immortals or Empyrean Gods would at most be able to escape with their lives from that place.”

Both the black-robed youth and Big Han nodded. They had both been there before; they naturally knew exactly how terrifying that place was. As their headquarters…it was naturally far more dangerous than this Eastwoods mountain range.

“Master, Ji Ning is in our formation. Shall we attack him?” Big Han asked.

“What’s the point of attacking him?” The silver-armored youth looked towards him.

Big Han laughed awkwardly. “There’s no point to us attacking him, but if you were to attack, Master, wouldn’t you be able to easily capture him?”

“Stop flattering me,” the silver-armored youth snickered. “I, your master, know my own limits. This Ji Ning is quite mysterious; his protective abilities alone are enough to ensure that all of you weren’t able to do anything to him with your many frenzied attacks. Even the Divine Venomflame of the Nine Heavens was unable to injure him. Although I dislike Bloodcloud Hall, they aren’t weak…and yet even squad Earthnine in their Ba-Serpent Formation was unable to harm him in the slightest! I’m not able to kill him.”

Big Han just chortled. He knew that his master tended to be very low-key…but that his master was in truth enormously powerful. More than ten Celestial Immortals had died to his master’s hand!

The silver-armored youth quietly stared at the distant Ning, speculating internally, “This Ji Ning’s background must be significant. If he trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]…then his background must be utterly shocking! I wonder whose disciple he is?”

“When divinities battle, mortals suffer. Compared to those major powers…people like me are like mortals, while they are divinities.”

“Low-key. Stay low-key.” The silver-armored youth had lived for a very long time, and had experienced very many things. Thus, he knew very well…

That Celestial Immortals might seem to be very powerful, but in the context of the entire Three Realms, they were actually nothing more than chess pieces. There were many danger zones that could cause Celestial Immortals to perish. Someone like Ji Ning, who had such a terrifying background…

True, if he killed Ji Ning, any Daofather behind Ji Ning most likely wouldn’t lower himself to act against a Celestial Immortal like the silver-armored man. After all, for a Celestial Immortal to kill someone like Ji Ning wouldn’t be considered a strong person bullying a much weaker person. But there were some madmen in the Three Realms who were wholly unreasonable, and who would fly into a rage and seek vengeance for any slain disciples!

“Although there are very few such madmen…perhaps one of Ji Ning’s uncle-masters or fellow apprentices number such a madman amongst them,” the silver-armored youth mumbled to himself. “It wasn’t easy for me to stay alive for so long; I endured countless dangers before becoming a Celestial Immortal. I plan to survive this storm. Careful. Have to be careful; that’s more important than anything else!”

“Master, then are we going to just let Ji Ning stay in the formation? Should we…?” Big Han looked towards the silver-armored youth.

“Just keep him trapped within the formation. If Bloodcloud Hall wishes to continue their assassination, let them. We won’t participate any further,” the silver-armored man said calmly. “If he wants to use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to leave, there’s nothing we can do about that! As for attacking him? Forget it. Attacking him is a waste of elemental ki.”

“Yes,” Big Han assented respectfully.

Time passed, one day after the other.

The third day after the failure of the assassination attempt. Patriarch Arcanum was once more invited to Bloodcloud Hall. He was brought to that secluded garden once more, and it was still that same silver-robed maiden who welcomed him.

“How’d it go?” Patriarch Arcanum sat down, looking at the silver-robed youth facing him. “Did you kill Ji Ning?”

“No.” The silver-robed maiden shook her head.

“No?!” Patriarch Arcanum was shocked…and then enraged. “I’ve already given you the treasures, so you should go and kill him. If you weren’t able to kill him in your first wave of attacks, you should send out a second wave. In short…you should do what you promised and ensure that you kill him within the year. As for how you accomplish it? I don’t give a damn. But you need to do what you promised! This was a deal! My Youngflame clan has paid the price; you need to hold up to your end of the bargain.”

The silver-robed maiden nodded. “Your words are correct.”

Patriarch Arcanum was startled.

“Per our contract, if Bloodcloud Hall is unable to accomplish the mission, then we are to return your treasures to you.” The silver-robed maiden produced a storage ring. “This is what you gave to me previously; everything is here. Bloodcloud Hall lost money on this deal, but we’re still giving you everything back.”

“You…you…” Patriarch Arcanum couldn’t believe it.

A contract was a contract. If the assassination couldn’t be carried out, then the treasures would have to be repaid! This was something Bloodcloud Hall prided themselves on…but they rarely actually did this.

“Is Ji Ning very hard to kill?” Patriarch Arcanum frowned.

“If we truly had to kill him, Bloodcloud Hall could indeed do it.” The silver-robed maiden nodded.

“Then why don’t you?!” Patriarch Arcanum asked.

“The price isn’t high enough.” The silver-robed maiden looked towards Patriarch Arcanum.

“What’s the needed price?”

“Twenty top-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasures,” the silver-robed maiden said. “If you pay this price in treasures, Bloodcloud Hall will go and kill Ji Ning. We erred in our estimation of his power, and so we set too low a price last time.”

Patriarch Arcanum’s face turned completely crimson with rage. “Why don’t you just go ahead and rob me?! You dare to name a price of twenty top-grade Immortal-ranked treasures? That’s equivalent to two Pure Yang treasures! That’s enough to invite even a True Immortal or Empyrean God to come and help out! How dare you name such a price?!” This price was indeed quite excessive; it would pose an enormous burden towards the Youngflame clan.

“Invite a True Immortal or Empyrean God?” The silver-robed maiden chuckled. “Go ahead and give it a try. Let’s see who would be willing to kill Ji Ning for you.”