Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

The fact that they might lose this Realmwar?

None of these thoughts entered Ning’s mind at all…

He just stared blankly at the spot where his senior apprentice-sister had been sitting. Just now, a moment ago, she had been sitting there. She had prepared Immortal wine for him, had smiled merrily at him, just as she had always done whenever he had returned from those many battles.

But…

It was all gone now!

There was no one seated on that chair. It was empty…as though Yu Wei had never been there, had never existed.

“Her soul’s gone?”

“It’s all gone…”

Ning mumbled to himself, “Gone…she’s gone…gone forever…”

“Why is it…”

“Why did it have to be like this…”

“Father and Mother are gone. Now, she’s gone as well.” Ning just sat there woodenly. It was though he had lost his soul. He just stared blankly at the place where she had sat. Just moments ago, she had sat there. She had smiled at him, a smile that had made Ning feel so warm, so blissful.

BOOM!

A figure appeared out of nowhere. It was the utterly enraged Daofather Crimsonbright.

Ning, however, just continued to sit there, staring at the place where she had sat. Staring at the place where she had been…





* * *





Book 18, Chapter 47 - Shennong and Subhuti


Daofather Crimsonbright stared at the Immortal wine, drinking instruments, and shattered pieces of black jade that were on the table. He then looked towards the numb, unmoving Ji Ning. The look in Ning’s eyes caused Daofather Crimsonbright to shake his head.

“Ugh!” He flourished his sleeves and left.

“Master.”

Just as Daofather Crimsonbright was leaving the room, the Xia Emperor came in.

The Eight Dragons Cloudcity was the Xia Emperor’s treasure. Thus, he was the second to find out about what had happened.

“Master!” The Xia Emperor called out repeatedly.

“We lost…we lost.” Daofather Crimsonbright shook his head and sighed. “Our Crimsonbright Realm has already suffered heavy casualties during this Realmwar. I had thought that with Human Sovereign Shennong’s help, we would be able to win, but…who would’ve thought that Ji Ning’s Dao-companion, Yu Wei, a disciple of Lu Dongbin…was actually a spy for the Seamless Gate as well. All our plans have come to nothing!”

“Don’t we have another bottle of Shennong’s medicine?” The Xia Emperor asked frantically.

“It’s useless.” Daofather Crimsonbright sighed. “Those Empyrean God golems of the Seamless Gate require a hundred Celestial Immortals, but the Daofather golem only requires a single Pure Yang True Immortal. This is because the core formation-diagrams of the Daofather golem can be powered by essence chaostones. The power of the essence chaostones can be converted directly into the power of primordial chaos, giving the Daofather golem endless amounts of power. The Daofather golem, however, is protected by layers of defenses. Even if I were to personally intervene, I wouldn’t be able to penetrate it. Not with a coresense attack, not with any other attacks. Shennong’s medicine is unable to penetrate the Daofather golem as well.”

“Now that Ji Ning’s portion of the medicine is gone, leaving only one portion behind…the Daofather golem of the Seamless Gate will completely focus on the holder of that portion. When it strikes, the rest of us will be completely unable to keep that portion safe.”

Daofather Crimsonbright felt quite resigned.

“Can’t we split up that portion into two smaller portions?” The Xia Emperor asked.

“What do you take it for? It’s a perfect, complete concoction; you can’t just split it up. Its power comes from its perfection and its completeness.” Daofather Crimsonbright shook his head. “If it could be split apart, I would’ve split it into a hundred parts long ago.”

“Is there really nothing left to us?” The Xia Emperor simply couldn’t accept this. He truly could not. The world of the Grand Xia which he had commanded and toiled over for countless years…the homeland of his Xiamang clan…it was now gone, just like that?

“There’s nothing left.” Daofather Crimsonbright shook his head. “Our only choice is to seek out Human Sovereign Shennong once more and see if he has any ideas. However, the Human Sovereign has already done much for us. Alas…”

“The antidote is with Ji Ning. Go and spread it out to the others. Rescue the Pure Yang True Immortals and Celestial Immortals first.”

“Yes.” The Xia Emperor nodded, then hurriedly said, “Master, don’t take your anger out on Ji Ning. I saw him through the door just now. He’s completely dazed by this blow. His Dao-companion was actually a spy that had been inserted by the Seamless Gate. This has been a tremendous mental blow to him. His most beloved Dao-companion was a spy, an enemy…” The Xia Emperor sighed.

“Of course I won’t take it out on him. Yu Wei was a spy, but Ji Ning is one of our warriors.” Daofather Crimsonbright turned his head to stare through the doorway as well, looking at Ji Ning. “I hope that this won’t do too much lasting damage to him. Snowdance was killed by the person she loved. While Ji Ning didn’t die…I imagine the amount of pain he feels right now isn’t much less than the amount which Snowdance felt. Help out and ensure that others don’t come here to berate him either. He’s only trained for a short period of time, after all.”

“Yes,” the Xia Emperor acknowledged respectfully.

……

“What? Yu Wei was a traitor?”

“She actually harmed so many fellow Immortals.”

“Pity our fellow Daoist Darknorth…his most beloved Dao-companion was actually an enemy spy.”

“This Ji Ning character really is an idiot. This was a critical moment, and Shennong’s medicine was so absolutely precious to us…how could he be so careless?”

Soon, all the Empyrean Gods and True Immortals within the Eight Dragons Cloudcity learned of this matter. They all found it hard to accept this outcome, and some even were furious with Ning. Most of them, however, felt pity for him.

“Everyone, it’s best if you don’t bother Ji Ning.” The Xia Emperor prevented many from going in to speak to Ning. Only those who had extremely close relationships with Ning were allowed to go in.

True Immortal Dongyan came as well. He just stood outside the door, looking at Ning.

“For something like this to happen to him…” True Immortal Dongyan let out a soft sigh. “However…based on what I know, generally speaking when the spies of the Seamless Gate reveal themselves, they will go berserk and show no mercy at all. Yu Wei actually didn’t kill Ji Ning…”

“It doesn’t matter. Yu Wei’s dead now.” The Xia Emperor nodded. “Ji Ning is definitely going to hate the Seamless Gate even more now. The Seamless Gate…they truly are willing to make use of anything and anyone. They truly will stoop to nothing at all. They all deserve to die.”

……

Within the skies of the Grand Xia.

An azure-robed figure with an Immortal sword on his back stood there, gazing at the distant Eight Dragons Cloudcity, his eyes filled with grief and pain. He let out a soft sigh. “Foolish child.”

“She always kept everything hidden away. Although I could tell that she was hiding something, I didn’t imagine that she was actually a spy for the Seamless Gate. But…she’s not a bad person by nature.” Grief and pain were apparent in Lu Dongbin’s eyes. “Given how much trust Ning placed in her over the years, she could’ve slain him long ago. And in the end…she only destroyed the black jade bottle. She didn’t hurt Ji Ning at all.”

“She shattered her own soul?”

“She would rather shatter her own soul than let it return to the Seamless Gate?” Lu Dongbin shook his head.