Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

Patriarch Arcanum opened his eyes, glancing at the area. The furrow in his brows grew deeper. Ever since his plan of asking Bloodcloud Hall to assassinate Ji Ning had failed, the Youngflame clan had grown ever-more convinced that Ji Ning was a true danger to them! However…no matter how hard they searched, they couldn’t find an opportunity to act against him.

“If this continues, Ji Ning will continue to grow in strength. Once he explodes forth against us…our Youngflame clan will be in a disastrous situation.” Patriarch Arcanum was beginning to worry. “And according to what our intelligence reports have discovered…Ji Ning is someone who cares deeply about filial piety. There’s no way he’ll forget about the grudge his mother bore for us.”

“In fact, he was even able to endure the fact that we attempted to kill him in the imperial capital of the Grand Xia.”

“This means he is very capable of suppressing himself and biding his time!”

“The reason he has done so is most likely because he feels he is not strong enough yet. Once he feels he is strong enough…our Youngflame clan will probably be in true danger.” Patriarch Arcanum’s heart was filled with worry.

Originally, all he wanted to do was give vent to his anger. But now…he was beginning to truly worry for his clan. It must be understood that supreme clans and major powers rarely got into true, life-and-death fights against each other! This was because supreme powers generally had Celestial Immortals protecting them. Celestial Immortals possessed truly infinite lifespans; even if one annihilated the enemy’s clan, if the enemy Celestial Immortal was to survive, then what in a million years or ten million years, the enemy Celestial Immortal was to launch a sudden sneak attack! After the sneak attack, the Celestial Immortal could vanish for a long time…then launch another one.

If a Celestial Immortal with an infinite lifespan was to devote that entire life to harm a clan…that would be a truly terrifying thing.

Thus…

The more powerful an organization, the more rare it was for them to fight head-on against another such organization! Each would generally prefer to find a path to compromise!

But once they truly were to fight head-on…then they would use their full power to annihilate the enemy completely, or at least wipe out all of the enemy’s top-tier fighters!

To the Youngflame clan, Ji Ning now posed a major threat. He was a monster who even Bloodcloud Hall had failed to assassinate successfully…

“Eh?” Suddenly, all five of the Celestial Immortals present opened their eyes.

They all pulled out a similar bronze talisman.

“It’s the Seamless Gate,” the white-haired, wizened elder said in a low voice.

“The Seamless Gate wishes to meet with our Youngflame clan?” The handsome youth frowned. “What are they going to do? When they previously tried to pull us into their orbit, we refused them. We aren’t willing to become enemies with the Seamless Gate, but even less are we willing to betray the Xia Emperor.”

“Everyone, I’ll make the trip.” Patriarch Arcanum rose to his feet. “I’m going to go see what this Seamless Gate wants, exactly.”

“Fine.”

“We’ll leave it in your hands, Arcanum.”

“Just delay for now. The Seamless Gate is very powerful; we aren’t capable of resisting them.”

“Right.”

Patriarch Arcanum exited from othat ancient tower, traveling alone.

……

Late night. A bright moon was hanging in the skies, bathing the world below with its glow.

A maiden was quietly waiting atop a solitary mountain peak, staring at the bright moon. Behind her were a total of nine golden-robed Celestial Immortals.

“Brother Arcanum, the Exalted Envoy is right there.” A cloud flew towards them, with two figures atop it. One of them was a tall, skinny, narrow-eyed elder; this was Patriarch Arcanum. The other was a golden-robed and seemingly quite amiable elder.

“Eh?”

Patriarch Arcanum stared into the distance, then his pupils contracted. That maiden actually had a total of nine Celestial Immortals with her?

“The Seamless Gate is unreasonably powerful. A single envoy is actually leading a squad of so many Celestial Immortals. I’m afraid that this squad alone is enough to annihilate most supreme clans.” Patriarch Arcanum couldn’t help but feel a surge of cold fear. Although he was quite arrogant and brash in front of others, in front of the Seamless Gate, he still felt nervous.

Patriarch Arcanum landed on the mountain peak, then immediately said, “Arcanum greets you, Envoy.”





* * *





Book 15, Chapter 10 - Lying in Wait


“Mm.” Violetgrass nodded lightly.

Patriarch Arcanum secretly inspected her. This young female envoy before him wore golden clothes that were embroidered with eye-catching violet flowers; clearly, she was an extraordinary figure. The Celestial Immortals behind here were all dressed in more ordinary golden clothes; this clearly reflected their lower status.

“Celestial Immortal Arcanum of the Youngflame clan…do you know why I have come looking for you?” Violetgrass said with a laugh.

“Arcanum is unable to guess at your motives, Envoy.” Patriarch Arcanum’s attitude was quite humble.

Violetgrass laughed. “Hahaha…in recent years, our Seamless Gate has helped your Youngflame clan out quite a few times. I trust that by now, you can sense our sincerity. As for our power…although we’ve only revealed a hint of it, you should have sensed how powerful we are. Our Seamless Gate goes where we please and does as we please within the world of the Grand Xia, and what does the imperial Xiamang clan do about it? Just stare at us and watch.”

“Indeed,” Patriarch Arcanum said.

Given how powerful the Seamless Gate was, they definitely knew how mighty the imperial Xiamang clan was, but they still dared to act with such abandon. Without confidence in themselves, would they dare to act this way? None of the Celestial Immortals under their command were fools; the response, or lack thereof, from the imperial Xia clan reflected how powerful the Seamless Gate truly was.

“I can tell you this. In the world of the Grand Xia, many powers have already thrown their support to our Seamless Gate,” Violetgrass said with a sigh. “Their tribes have only grown more powerful after doing so. I can promise you that so long as your Youngflame clan is willing to throw your support to us as well, your power will instantly increase many times over.”

Patriarch Arcanum simply continued to smile.

What a joke.

The only ones throwing their support were lesser powers like the Eastwoods Sect or the Blood God Church. Most likely, very, very few marquises had turned traitor. After all, upon doing so, that meant one would become true enemies with the imperial Xia clan. Behind the imperial Xia clan was Daofather Raindragon and Daofather Crimsonbright! It wouldn’t be easy to deal with them! The two Daofathers could probably wipe them out with a wave of the hand.

“I trust that you can tell how sincere our Seamless Gate is, given that I’ve come in person,” Violetgrass said, looking at Arcanum.

“Arcanum is indeed grateful that you have come in person, Envoy. However, this is a matter that could involve the annihilation of my clan. Arcanum does not dare to make this decision without consulting others. Upon my return, I shall definitely inform my other clansmen, and we shall discuss this in detail,” Patriarch Arcanum said.

Violetgrass shook her head. “To show our sincerity…I’ll tell you something else.”

“Pray tell.” Patriarch Arcanum’s eyes lit up; the Seamless Gate had indeed helped out the Youngflame clan several times recently.

“I heard that your Youngflame clan has a major headache named Ji Ning,” Violetgrass said.