Desolate Era (Book 11 - Book 15)

The reason why they praised him was not just because Ning truly had surprised them; more importantly, there was a huge grudge between Ning and the Youngflame clan! Since the Kindwater clan was mortal enemies against the Youngflame clan, they took a true liking towards Ning. The more impressive he was, the more of a threat he would be to the Youngflame clan, and the more they would like him.

“You praise me too much.” The black-robed Ning shook his head. “The only reason I won was because your combined powers, seniors, was far too strong. You caused the Bloodcoil Heavenlock Formation to nearly break down. Immortal Floatcloud knew that he had no more time left, and so he voluntarily gave up. Only thus could I kill him.”

In terms of power, Ning’s Primaltwin was actually only on par with Immortal Floatcloud. If they had been in a simple one-on-one fight, it would be hard to say who would be the winner.

But this was no simple battle; it was an assassination attempt! An assassination attempt in the Cloudwater Manor of the imperial capital of the Grand Xia! It had to be resolved quickly. As a Deathsworn, Immortal Floatcloud had already been forced to the brink from the very beginning. If he wasn’t able to kill Ning in a short moment, then he would have no choice but to welcome death in his despair.

Swoosh. Swoosh. The Whitewater Hound and Little Qing charged over to the black-robed Ning. Previously, the two had been seated alongside the Golden Imperials, drinking and eating with them. When Ning suffered the attack, not even the Golden Imperials had been able to protect him in time, much less the two of them.

The two had been frantic and nervous, and had been driven nearly to the point of insanity. They didn’t even dare to send soul messages, for fear that Ning would be distracted by them; after all, this was a life-and-death battle. If Ning was distracted and something untoward happened as a result, then it truly would be too late for regrets.

Fortunately! Fortunately, Ning had survived.

“You killed him, that’s all that matters.” Kindwater Sanfan shook his head, then laughed, “Your Primaltwin is at the peak Primal level; it is a full tier lower than Immortal Floatcloud in power. But in the end, Immortal Floatcloud wasn’t able to do anything to you. There’s nothing he can say about his loss, and your victory was a clean and fair one.”

Right at this moment, a powerful aura suddenly spread out from the air above them. This caused all the people present, including the Loose Immortals, Ning, Xiaolou, Songspear, and the others to all raise their heads to look. From the opened ceiling above them, a group of figures flew downwards, with the leader dressed in black armor and the rest dressed in silver armor. These were the Imperial Guards of the Grand Xia!

The leader, a black-armored youth, chortled, appearing to be quite relaxed and at ease. The silver-armored warriors behind him also seemed quite relaxed.

“Xiaolou, what’s going on in your Cloudwater Manor?” The black-armored youth laughed. “Just now, when the watchers of the Imperial Guard headquarters were scanning the entire imperial capital, they realized that thirty-six Loose Immortals had appeared in the air above Cloudwater Manor, and that they had all formed into the Kindwater Godsnake and flew into this building. Something happen?”

The Imperial Guards watched over the entire imperial capital, including the streets, the arenas, and the many Immortal estates. Once powerful ripples of battle were felt, the Imperial Guard would immediately hurry over.

However, places like the Heavenly Treasures Mountain or Cloudwater Manor would often have some gambling duels and battles; these locations had all applied for permission for these events from the Grand Xia Dynasty. That was why they were permitted to hold battles, ‘with conditions’. The so-called ‘battles with conditions’ were almost all gambling battles and duels.

Assassinations, however, were still absolutely forbidden.

When the Imperial Guard had first noticed the powerful ripples coming from Cloudwater Manor, they had thought that it was a fairly powerful betting duel going on. Only after seeing the thirty-six Loose Immortals form into the Kindwater Godsnake did they realize that something was wrong! Still, with so many experts protecting Cloudwater Manor, the Imperial Guard didn’t panic; one of the deputy commanders just grabbed a few people and casually sauntered over.

“It was an assassination,” Xiaolou laughed. “The Loose Immortal Deathsworn assassin should have been Immortal Floatcloud of the Youngflame clan. Brother Hong, although I say that it was Immortal Floatcloud, that’s just a guess.”

“Immortal Floatcloud of the Youngflame clan? Who was he assassinating?” The black-armored youth, Xiamang Hong, exclaimed in surprise.

Xiaolou pointed at Ning. “Look. Him right there.”

Xiamang Hong looked towards Ning with curiosity. “Him?” Xiamang Hong said, “The Youngflame clan sent a Deathsworn to assassinate you, but you remain alive?”

Ning was speechless. This man was excessively impolitic in his words; he actually said to the assassination target, ‘you remain alive’?! How was Ning even supposed to respond to that?

“Ji Ning, let me make the introductions,” Xiaolou said. “This is Deputy Commander Xiamang Hong of the Imperial Guard, and a good friend of mine.”

Ning instantly understood. Xiamang Hong? So he was of the imperial clan of the Grand Xia. Most likely, he was viewed with some degree of importance by the imperial clan; otherwise, Kindwater Xiaolou wouldn’t be so courteous to him.

“Brother Hong, this Ji Ning is a good friend of mine; when Immortal Floatcloud tried to assassinate him, he used the Bloodcoil Heavenlock Formation to seal the region off from outsiders, causing the many Immortals of my Cloudwater Manor to be unable to save Ji Ning in time. Fortunately, Ji Ning had a Primaltwin, and his Primaltwin should have been at the Primal Daoist level… and yet, he was able to actually kill Immortal Floatcloud. You tell me; is he amazing or not?” Xiaolou said.

“He’s that amazing?” Xiamang Hong’s eyes lit up. “Ji Ning? I know about you. You are the little Wanxiang Adept fellow who killed Youngflame Nong, right? I didn’t expect that you’d actually have a Primaltwin. If my memory serves, you’ve only trained for thirty years… and in thirty short years, you produced a Primaltwin that was able to kill Immortal Floatcloud, who was a full tier higher in power? Impressive, impressive. I, Xiamang Hong, deeply admire people of ability. I imagine that after this assassination attempt, you are a bit unsettled; in a few days, I’ll send someone to invite you over. I’ll put on a feast, and we can chat a bit. You have to give me this face, right?”

“I naturally will accept Commander Xiamang’s invitation,” the black-robed Ning said.

“Brother Ji Ning, you truly did scare me silly this time,” Xiaolou said, looking at Ning. “It was a series of frightening events; even I thought that you would find it hard to overcome this tribulation.”

“Brother Ji Ning’s power is truly formidable. In this Conclave of Immortal Destiny, I am certain that brother Ji Ning will shine quite brightly,” Skyfarmer Songspear nodded in praise as well. For Ning to be able to use his true body to survive the attack from the Whitebone Immortal Slaying Needle was enough for Skysong to feel certain that Ning’s true body was incredibly powerful as well.

“I quite admire brother Ji Ning as well,” Fairy Wavecolor said with a laugh while looking towards the nearby Xiao Lang. “But just now, someone was provoking brother Ji Ning repeatedly, insisting on sparring with him and looking down on him… and saying that if brother Ji Ning went to the Conclave, he would just lose face… and advising Ji Ning to go back home and train for three more centuries…”

“The person who said that is quite incredible as well.”

Xiao Lang’s face instantly began to alternate between purple and pale.