Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

“I acquired it when the Seamless Gate attacked me,” Ning said. “But I only have one.”


“Good, good, good! In their campaigns against the other major worlds, the Seamless Gate lost several Empyrean God golems to our side. I did everything I could, but only managed to procure three of them. Now that you have another one…excellent!” The Xia Emperor said hurriedly. “These Empyrean God golems are incredibly precious. I won’t force you to give it up for free. Ji Ning, if there is anything you want, I will trade it to you, but you have to give me the golem.”

Ning said, “Since I mentioned it, I naturally have the intentions of giving it to you, your Imperial Majesty. As for what I need…Imperial Majesty, you can just give me some Pure Yang Immortal pills or Great Firmament Immortal pills.”

“I’ve prepared a very large number of these pills.” The Xia Emperor let out a sigh. “I don’t know how long this war will go on for. All of our Immortals will need Immortal pills to replenish their energy at critical moments, and so we need many pills. Haha…I’ll give you an entire bottle of them.”

Ning immediately waved his hand, producing a black, palm-sized horned golem within his hand, one which looked identical to the Empyrean God golems they had previously battled against.

Because this was a manufactured treasure, its size could be changed as necessary.

The Empyrean God golem flew towards the Xia Emperor, and a bottle of pills flew towards Ning. Ning knew very well that this golem required many Celestial Immortals working together to control it. It was useless to him, but it was incredibly useful on the field of battle. As for the pills…he desperately needed powerful pills to train in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]. At present, he had only reached the fifth stage of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art].

“Everyone.” The Xia Emperor said, “The battle between us and the Seamless Gate is one in which only one size can survive. There’s nowhere for us to retreat to. In addition, we will be fighting against them for a long period of time; after all, if we can tie down more of their forces here, it will mean that they can’t use those forces to attack other major worlds.”

Ning and the others nodded.

The Grand Xia was just one battlefield in this war. If all the major worlds hid their forces without willing to use them, then the Seamless Gate would be able to focus on them one-by-one and defeat them.

Thus…every single major world had to go all out, to fight as if they were mad! If the Seamless Gate wanted to take them over, they would have to pay enough of a blood price!

“Starting from tomorrow, each time the nine Heaven Punishers go out into battle, Ji Ning will be the leader. None of the Heaven Punishers are to stray too far away from him. I will ensure that the Eight Dragons Cloudcity is close to Ji Ning, so that I can reinforce him immediately,” the Xia Emperor said. “The Empyrean Gods and True Immortals will also reinforce you as needed. At appropriate moments, I’ll also send out the four Empyrean God golems to assist you.”

“This war will most likely last for a very long period of time.”

“Now that you have battled against the Seamless Gate, both you and them are more experienced. It is unlikely that either side will be able to gain easy victories in the future. However…you must not grow too complacent. Over the course of many battles, you will have many chances to slain one of the White-Faced Flood Dragons, and each will represent an enormous victory,” the Xia Emperor said. “Succeed several times, and the foe will no longer have any White-Faced Flood Dragons left. The more of them perish, the greater our chances of success shall be.”

“Life will be tough. We’ll be engaged in a long war, and if you slip up, the result will be death,” the Xia Emperor said. “Thus…my nine fellow Immortals, you must be careful.”

“Yes, your Imperial Majesty.”

Ji Ning, Celestial Immortal Unity, Celestial Immortal Loachwater, Fairy Rainsoar, Celestial Immortal Dustfloat, Celestial Immortal Allbeast, Fairy Thousand Needles, Celestial Immortal Whacko, and Celestial Immortal Rainbow all assented solemnly.

The war would be a cruel, vicious one. Perhaps others amongst them would fall, and each time they fell, it would mean that a thousand Celestial Immortals and a hundred thousand Celestial Immortals had fallen with them. And yet…none of them felt any fear.

In the face of the war before them, there was no way out for anyone!





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Book 18, Chapter 15 - Protection


Ji Ning and the other eight commanders all returned to their own military camps, which were quite spacious. Entering the camp, Ning walked towards his own residence.

“General.”

“General.”

When the Celestial Immortals and Loose Immortals saw Ning, they all called out to him. Ning smiled back to them, even calling out some of their names. “Fellow Daoist Frostlike. Fellow Daoist Dong Zixiu…” He could sense the veneration these Immortal soldiers felt towards him. Back when they were in the imperial palace of the Grand Xia, these Immortals only followed Ning because the Xia Emperor had ordered it. Now, however, Ning’s performance in battle had thoroughly convinced them. If they were to follow a powerful leader, they would have a much greater chance of surviving this terrible storm.

The veneration these people showed Ning caused him to feel full of vigor and energy, but it also made him feel pressure.

He soon reached his residence.

Yu Wei, dressed in white clothes, was waiting for him at the door.

“You are back.” Yu Wei smiled. “I heard the other Immortals talking about you just now. Our Darknorth Army has achieved a great victory; supposedly, we killed hundreds of Celestial Immortals and tens of thousands of Loose Immortals.”

“Yes. However, our losses in the Loachwater Army were very heavy.” Ning strode into the residence, then stared in surprise. “Eh?”

This residence was the general’s residence, and so it was fairly large. Prior to this, however, it had been sparsely decorated and plain-looking. Now, however, there were paintings hanging on the walls, and there were exquisite pieces of furniture laid out throughout the rooms. In fact, there was now even a special study, with a table that was covered in quills, ink, and paper. There was a brush-holder that had three feather brushes within it. When relaxing, Ning usually liked to write calligraphy and paint paintings. At the innermost part of the residence, there was also a private resting room meant for the two to sleep together.

Some exquisitely made delicacies were currently placed atop the black wooden table.

“Senior apprentice-sister, how’d you do this so quickly?” Ning laughed. “I just went out for a short while, but by the time I returned, our entire home has changed. You’ve even prepared a meal for us.”

“This campaign is most likely going to be a very long one. We are most likely going to be living here for a very long period of time; naturally, I have to decorate it a bit and make it look nice. Just now, when I saw the Xia Emperor summoning the nine of you to the main palace, I took the opportunity to cook a few dishes as well,” Yu Wei said with a smile. “You’ve come back with a resounding victory; we have to celebrate it!”

“Yes, we do.” Ning immediately sat down, picking up his chopsticks and picking up a crystalline piece of meat that looked like pineapple in texture, then eating it. This was indeed personally prepared by Yu Wei; he could tell as soon as he tasted it. When the two had lived together in the Black-White College, Yu Wei had often personally prepared food for him.

“Excellent. It’s delicious,” Ning praised. “You should sit and have some as well.”