Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

The Dao of the Heavens were without compassion.

It judged karmic virtue and karmic sin according to its own rules. Even if one killed by accident, one still had to shoulder an appropriate amount of the karmic blame…and the amount of sin generated by killing that many mortals was utterly terrifying to even think about.

“His sin towered to the skies, causing karmic sinflames to descend,” Patriarch Lu continued. “The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan, Immortal Venomfreak, used the Protocosmic spirit-treasure, ‘Worldhold Pagoda’, to teleport the still-burning Ji Ning outside of the world of the Grand Xia, to an undoubtedly dangerous location. The seven days have long since passed; Ji Ning was able to successfully endure the karmic sinflames, but he still hasn’t returned to the world of the Grand Xia. This means he should be trapped in some extremely dangerous place which he cannot return from.”

Yu Wei’s heart shook, falling and rising and falling again.

Upon hearing that Ning had survived the karmic sinflames, she had let out a sigh of relief…but upon hearing that he had yet to return, she grew nervous again.

“Master…is there anything you can do?” Yu Wei immediately asked.

“Nothing.” Patriarch Lu shook his head. “The Worldhold Pagoda is a Protocosmic spirit-treasure with unfathomable power; it is even capable of sending someone to the infinite Void outside of the Three Realms. The Void outside the Three Realms contains many danger zones, and Greater Teleportation is useless within many of those danger zones. In fact…there are some places where even I would die if I were trapped there. Since Ji Ning has not yet returned, he definitely must be trapped there. The longer he stays there, the more dangerous it will be…and perhaps one day, he shall die.”

Yu Wei’s body shook.

“There’s nothing I can do. There’s nothing you can do either.” Patriarch Lu shook his head. “The danger zones of the infinite Void…most likely, only True Gods or Daofathers would dare to enter those places. However…those danger zones are far too vast! Even if a Daofather was to personally go out and investigate them, some danger zones would take tens of thousands of years, or even millions of years, to search through.”

The Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld, for example, surrounded and covered the entire Primordial Ruinworld. If a Daofather wanted to search it…he would have to spend an extremely long period of time.

“Then…then…” Yu Wei found it hard to accept this.

“You can only wait.” Patriarch Lu continued, “Ji Ning has trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]; his master is definitely a Daofather. Only a Daofather has even a hint of a chance of finding him within the infinite Void. However…it’s hard to say how long that would take. I hope that his master will find him while he is still alive.”

Yu Wei bit her lips.

“What are your plans now?” Patriarch Lu looked at Yu Wei.

“I wish to return to the Grand Xia,” Yu Wei said softly.

“Mm.” Patriarch Lu nodded slightly.

……

The world of the Grand Xia. Black clouds filled the skies above Stillwater City. Thunder and lightning were flashing within the dark clouds, occasionally striking downwards. Thunderclaps rang out incessantly, and an enormous amount of rain was falling.

Within the lightning and the rain, a black-robed woman exited from a spatial tear that she had created above Stillwater city.

“Junior apprentice-brother, I’ve returned…so why aren’t you here?” The black-robed woman looked downwards at Stillwater City, but only felt pulses of sadness and worry. In her past life, her heart had been encased in ice; after her parents died in this life, her heart had only grown even colder. The only person she truly cared about in her heart was Ji Ning; for Ning’s sake, she would even be willing to annihilate the heavens themselves without any hesitation.

In fact…when she had faced the demonheart tribulation of the Celestial Tribulation, she had relied on the love and affection she felt for Ning to help her endure that extremely long tribulation. This had caused the love she bore for Ning to grow even deeper. Within the illusions of the demonheart tribulation, she and Ning had experienced three thousand years of life together.

Whoosh.

Yu Wei flew downwards into Stillwater City, into the Black-White College.

She scanned the Black-White College with her coresense.

Rumble…

Another strand of coresense touched hers.

Whoosh.

Immortal Diancai instantly appeared in the air above his residence. Raising his head, he saw the distant black-robed maiden who was flying in his direction. He couldn’t help but call out with surprise and delight, “Yu Wei, you overcame the Celestial Tribulation?”

Immortal Diancai could hardly believe it; he wouldn’t have been surprised by Ning overcome the Celestial Tribulation, but Yu Wei?

Yu Wei had failed at the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, during the trials within the Brightmoon Diagram of the Mountains and Rivers. There was no way her talent compared in any way to Ning’s. It had only been a few short decades; Ning hadn’t undergone his tribulation yet, so how was it that she had overcome hers? Could it be that Yu Wei’s Celestial Tribulation had been extremely weak? Or perhaps that Patriarch Lu was so formidable at teaching disciples that Yu Wei had been successful in overcoming her tribulation?

“Yes.” Yu Wei nodded gently.

Immortal Diancai nodded repeatedly in excitement. “Good. This is a chaotic era; for our Black-White College to now give birth to another Celestial Immortal is wonderful. Wonderful!” But suddenly, Immortal Diancai thought of Ji Ning, and the fact that he had become Dao-companions with Yu Wei. His smile instantly vanished; in fact, a hesitant look appeared on his face.

Should he tell her?

“Uncle-master Diancai…” Yu Wei said.

“No need to call me ‘uncle-master’,” Immortal Diancai immediately said. Given Yu Wei’s current level of power, the two could converse as equals; after all, for Immortal cultivators, age didn’t really matter. For example, Yu Wei had reawakened her former memories, and if one counted her past life, she was much older than Immortal Diancai.

“You are Ji Ning’s master; I naturally need to address you as ‘uncle-master’,” Yu Wei said. “Are you about to tell me about Ji Ning?”

Immortal Diancai was startled. “You…you already know?”

“Before I returned to the Grand Xia, my master informed me,” Yu Wei said.

“Will Patriarch Lu be able to do anything?” Immortal Diancai asked frantically, “Does he know where Ji Ning was exiled to?”

“He doesn’t know.” Yu Wei shook her head.

“Then we should…?” Immortal Diancai had been worrying about Ning this entire time.

“Wait,” Yu Wei replied.

Immortal Diancai suddenly thought of something. He hurriedly instructed, “Ji Ning killed two of the Youngflame clan’s Celestial Immortals; they are utterly enraged by this. Although they’ve exiled Ji Ning, they aren’t going to let it rest! Any members of the Ji clan who dared to leave Swallow Mountain have all been killed by the Youngflame clan. You are Ji Ning’s Dao-companion; once they learn that you are back, they’ll probably act against you. You just became a Celestial Immortal; it’s unwise for you to fight against the Youngflame clan head-on for now.”

“Act against me?” A hint of a cold, murderous look flashed past Yu Wei’s eyes.

……

The Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld.

Ning was knocked flying backwards. After stabilizing himself, he looked at his surroundings, then suddenly began to laugh. His laughter was filled with madness, but it was also filled with a hint of longing and apology; longing for his loved ones, and an apology for leaving them.

“I won’t be able to accompany you any further,” Ning murmured to himself. His divine power had been almost completely used up.