Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

Immortal Skyfox nodded.

“Still…Ji Ning’s potential truly is remarkable. Even before undergoing his Celestial Tribulation, he was able to kill two Celestial Immortals. Despite having trained for less than a century, he was capable of enduring karmic sinflames. I imagine that he will soon be undergoing his tribulation. He…is going to be an important chess piece,” the Xia Emperor said. “And, based on what my master said…Ji Ning is definitely on our side.”

The Xia Emperor viewed Ning with great importance.

After all…Ji Ning’s accomplishments to date had all been simply too unearthly. At the Void-level, he had slaughtered two Celestial Immortals, then withstood karmic sinflames. Once a monster like this broke through to the Celestial Immortal level after overcoming the tribulation…he would most likely become one of the most supreme Celestial Immortals right away, perhaps even possessing the combat power of a Pure Yang True Immortal! Most importantly of all…Ji Ning had an incredible background. To befriend Ji Ning was equivalent to befriending a mysterious Daofather. How could the Xia Emperor not view this as being extremely important?

“Right. Go and tell King Yan that Ji Ning has returned,” the Xia Emperor said.

“Alright,” Immortal Skyfox said respectfully.

……

The imperial capital. King Yan’s Estate.

King Yan had arrived in a flower garden. He stared at Yuchi Xiyue, seated within a distant pavilion. He couldn’t help but secretly shake his head. When Ji Ning had gone to act against the Youngflame clan, he had told Yuchi Xiyue in advance. Xiyue had been filled with both hope as well as worry for Ning…but in the end, Ning had been covered by karmic sinflames and driven out of the world of the Grand Xia. Xiyue had always paid close attention to information regarding Ning, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t find out anything regarding his return from that battle. She had gone to ask King Yan, and thus learned what had happened.

Ever since that day she had learned that Ning’s chances of survival were slim…Xiyue had never smiled again.

“Little brother…” Xiyue always felt as though something was missing from her heart. She was incapable of smiling, now.

“Xiyue.” A voice rang out.

Xiyue turned her head, then hurriedly rose her feet to greet the man. “Grandpa.”

“Let me tell you some good news,” King Yan said with a chuckle.

“Good news?” Xiyue was puzzled.

“Ji Ning…has returned.” King Ya laughed.

Xiyue trembled, then revealed a look of wild joy and excitement. She hurriedly grabbed King Yan by the hand. “Grandpa, is this true? My little brother has really come back? He’s returned from that danger zone? You aren’t lying to me, are you?”

“Mm. It was the Xia Emperor who told me…and Ji Ning is currently in the Black-White College of Stillwater City right now,” King Yan said.

“He’s at the Black-White College?” Xiyue felt more alive than she had in a long time. She immediately said, “I’m going to Stillwater City right away!”

“Let’s go together. I want to see Ji Ning as well,” King Yan said.

“Alright. Let’s go right now!” Xiyue didn’t want to wait for even a single moment; she had to see Ning with her own eyes before she would believe it all.

……

Even before the Xia Emperor had learned of Ji Ning’s return…the marvelously capable Seamless Gate had learned of it as well.

Whoooosh.

A cold wind blew. A golden-robed Celestial Immortal was standing at the top of a mountain peak. This golden-robed Celestial Immortal was quite bulky, and in fact was slightly chubby. He had a stubbly beard, and his eyes shone like copper. The golden robes he bore looked just like a set of golden armor. He simply waited there, bored and restless, at the top of that mountain peak.

Swoosh. A streak of light flew towards him from far away, alighting on the mountain peak; it was Celestial Immortal Arcanum.

“Arcanum,” the golden-robed envoy said calmly.

“Envoy.” Celestial Immortal immediately smiled, not showing any of his customary arrogance for fear of offending this envoy. “Might I ask why you wish to speak with our Youngflame clan, Envoy?”

“Our Seamless Gate has never shown your Youngflame clan any malice. We’ve always been helping you…and now, I’m going to help you again.” The golden-robed envoy laughed, but even when laughing, his savage, ferocious face remained terrifying to behold. “A while ago, you had a rather nasty battle with that Ji Ning, right? In fact, two of your Celestial Immortals died, and in the end, you used the Worldhold Pagoda to exile Ji Ning away into the Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld, yes?”

“Right, right. That’s exactly right,” Celestial Immortal Arcanum said hurriedly.

Although he had a smile on his face, in his heart Arcanum was cursing loudly.

How had this secret slipped out?

Very, very few people knew that the Youngflame clan had used the Worldhold Pagoda to deal with Ji Ning. Only the Xia Emperor and Ji Ning’s friends knew. However, logically speaking, neither Ji Ning’s friends nor the Xia Emperor would go tell the Seamless Gate about this…and yet, somehow, the Seamless Gate had still found out. They had even come to ask the Youngflame clan about this, at which point the Youngflame clan had been forced to admit that they had indeed exiled Ji Ning to the Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld.

In truth, the Youngflame clan wasn’t worried about this being made public knowledge. The Nihilum Zone was incredibly vast, after all; even a True God or Daofather who went there to investigate would have to spend countless years before completely searching the place. In addition, True Gods and Daofathers were generally unwilling to spend much time there; after all, as the saying went, if one often walked by the riverside, one’s shoes would eventually get wet. If they stayed in the Nihilum Zone too long, they might run into some powerful foes from the Primordial Ruinworld.

“The Seamless Gate truly seems to be able to penetrate through any seam,” Arcanum mused silently to himself. “Not even the Heavenly Treasures Mountain of the Xia Emperor comes close to the Seamless Gate in terms of intelligence reports.”

“I’ve come to notify your Youngflame clan…that your hated foe, Ji Ning, is still alive. And…he’s already back.” The golden-robed envoy smiled merrily as he looked at Celestial Immortal Arcanum.

Arcanum’s face instantly changed. “Impossible!!!” He couldn’t help but blurt out these words.

“Impossible?” The golden-robed envoy lifted an eyebrow.

“We sent him to the Nihilum Zone of the Primordial Ruinworld! Not even an Empyrean God could escape from that place; only a True God or Daofather has a chance! Even if an exalted True God or Daofather was to go search for him…how could they be so lucky as to find Ji Ning within the infinitely vast Nihilum Zone in just eighteen short years?” Arcanum shook his head. “Even if he was apprenticed to a True God or a Daofather…I refuse to believe a True God or a Daofather would be willing to commit himself to such a painstaking search, or be able to find him so quickly. There’s no way Ji Ning could be that lucky!”

“Yes, I didn’t believe it either.” The golden-robed envoy shook his head and sighed. “But alas, Ji Ning is within Stillwater City right now. At this very moment, he is flirting and cuddling with that Dao-companion of his, Yu Wei, within the Black-White College.”

“He’s at Stillwater City right now?” Arcanum was now truly stunned.

“Yes.” The golden-robed envoy nodded.

Arcanum had an extremely ugly look on his face right now, and his thoughts were jumbled.