Desolate Era (Book 16 - Book 18)

The imperial capital of the Grand Xia. Within a palace hall inside the Skylight Palace that glowed with a dull red light.

The black-robed Xia Emperor was seated atop his throne. Beneath him were a trio of generals, armored in dazzling golden armor. Their auras were incredibly powerful, no weaker than the aura of the Xia Emperor himself; clearly, they were Empyrean Gods or True Immortals! All three of them sat with backs straight, filled with an aura of desolation and slaughter. For the Primordial Imperial Clan…it was quite simple for them to be able to summon and command Empyrean Gods and True Immortals as they would ordinary soldiers.

Whoooosh.

Many images were projected in midair; these were the battles images that were being transmitted from many locations. The Xia Emperor had incredible control over the world of the Grand Xia. Once there were any ripples at the Celestial Immortal level, he would immediately find out.

“Young master Xiamang, it seems this Seamless Gate really holds our Primordial Imperial Clan in high regard; they’ve sent two thousand forces to launch a simple probing attack. There are far too many places with battles…there’s no way for you to find them all, one by one.” One of the three, an old man with a fiery red beard, let out a loud laugh. Flames appeared to be blazing within his eyes as well.

“I don’t have enough Pure Yang treasures to keep an eye on two thousand different battles at once,” the black-robed Xia Emperor said with a smile. There were only a few hundred images in midair; this was his limit with regards to how many places he could keep watch on at once.

One of the hundreds of images, however…was of the battle at Stillwater City!

After all, Stillwater City had an incredibly powerful figure, Celestial Immortal Unity, and the monstrously talented Ji Ning, who had an awe-inspiring backer!

“What formation are those eighteen Celestial Immortals setting up? A Turtle-Snake Formation?”

“Celestial Immortal Unity is in danger!”

All of them instantly noticed what was happening in this battle. After all, part of those two thousand battles were merely play-fights, while most of the rest were probing attacks; only a very small number were assassination attempts. The assassination attempts naturally drew their attention.

“Hmph.” The Xia Emperor’s face sank, but he continued to watch. He gave no orders for now.

The images showed how Celestial Immortal Unity had become trapped within the Turtle-Snake Formation. Suddenly…the faces of the Xia Emperor and his three golden-armored generals all changed, because they saw a youth use a divine ability to charge forward through the skies.

“Ji Ning?” The Xia Emperor frowned. “Is he crazy?”

“Is this person the ‘Ji Ning’ you’ve been paying attention to, young master xiamang?”

“He’s a bit too unwise, isn’t he?”

The three generals all shook their heads slightly…but suddenly, their facial expressions stiffened.

Within the images, Ji Ning’s sword-fingers suddenly expanded to become three thousand meters long. They lashed through the skies like an enormous divine sword, chopping down upon the Turtle-Snake Formation. The tough and incomparably tenacious Turtle-Snake Formation was actually completely shattered by this terrifying sword-finger attack. Caught completely off guard, six of the eighteen Celestial Immortals perished.

“What?!” The Xia Emperor jumped to his feet, a look of amazement in his eyes.

“Impossible.” The three generals had stood up as well. They all stared unblinkingly at the images.

Within the images, Ji Ning had just used [Three Heads, Six Arms] and was chasing after and massacring the fleeing Celestial Immortals. The Xia Emperor, in front of these three generals, didn’t feel any need to maintain his normal aura of dignified majesty. He said incredulously, “What’s going on? I don’t know if Ji Ning’s Primaltwin has undergone the tribulation yet, but his true body definitely has not.”

“If his true body had succeeded in overcoming the Empyrean Tribulation, he would be an Empyrean God by now. His divine abilities, spells, and other abilities would all be far stronger than they are now.”

“He clearly has not yet overcome his tribulation to become an Empyrean God!”

“But if he isn’t an Empyrean God…how could he be this powerful? Is it really possible for a Void-level Fiendgod to be this powerful?” Countless thoughts were rummaging through the Xia Emperor’s mind.

As for the three generals, they were no less stunned than the Xia Emperor was. The most muscular general actually began to frown. “A Void-level Fiendgod…even if he learned some of the most supreme divine abilities of the Three Realms, allowing him to become close to a Pure Yang True Immortal in power…he should only be roughly equivalent to Celestial Immortal Unity. How could he be this much more powerful than Celestial Immortal Unity? The level of power he’s displayed has completely transcended the gap between the Void-level and Empyrean Gods.”

“What a monster.” The Xia Emperor stared at Ning, stared at him as though he was looking at the most precious treasure that existed in the world. A look of actual greed was in his eyes.

“Congratulations, young master Xiamang.”

The three generals simultaneously spoke these words.

The black-robed Xia Emperor chortled as well.

Indeed, this was something worth celebrating!

He was born a member of the Primordial Imperial Clan…and the greatest strength of the clan was that they were extremely unified. The reason why the Imperial Clan able to become the imperial clan of the Primordial Era was precisely because they had a large number of True Gods and Daofathers within their ranks….but clearly, these True Gods and Daofathers couldn’t have all been born into the Imperial Clan. Why, then, did all of them support the Primordial Imperial Clan?

It was precisely because the Primordial Imperial Clan had provided them with nonstop support prior to them becoming truly powerful. Given that the Primordial Imperial Clan had been so benevolent towards them…how could the True Gods and Daofathers not wish to pay back their kindnesses?

It must be understood that the more powerful one was, the more one cared about one’s Dao-heart, and the less willing one would become to feel indebted.

If someone had treated you with great kindness, but you refused to repay it…you would feel discomfort. This would impact your Dao-heart; in fact, in extremely dire cases, it could even cause you to go down a path of madness! Naturally, there was a very small number of True Gods or Daofathers who walked an extremely vile path; no matter how well you treated them, they would still kill you without blinking, which wouldn’t impact their Dao-heart at all. However, these people were quite rare, after all.

“Ji Ning?” The Xia Emperor’s eyes were shining. He now viewed Ning as a monster who would truly be of benefit to him…and one who hadn’t even undergone his tribulation!

He had the feeling…

That so long as Ji Ning didn’t die, it wouldn’t be hard for him to become an Empyrean God or True Immortal. In fact, he might even become one of the most supreme Empyrean Gods or True Immortals! To be able to make someone like this one of his closest allies…the Xia Emperor felt that this was utterly wonderful! And of course, if by some great stroke of luck Ji Ning became a True God or a Daofather, the Xia Emperor would bow down to thank Heaven and Earth.