Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

……

Far away, there was a youth dressed in tattered clothes who was seated in the lotus position. The youth had a pair of black shackles around his feet. The chains attached to the black shackles stretched off into the distance, disappearing into an empty region as though they had emerged from it. The black shackles were absolutely terrifying; once they were attached, there was no way to remove them at all. Not even Elder Gods could do it.

Although the black shackles looked like they were attached to the legs, in truth they bound the soul and the truesoul.

Suddenly, faint footsteps could be heard off in the distance.

“Eh?” The youth dressed in tattered clothes blurrily opened his eyes.

It had been far too long. He had been here far, far too long, so long that even the magic treasure clothes he wore had been reduced to a tattered state. In truth, all he had to do was use a bit of energy and he would be able to instantly repair them, but there was no way to absorb any energy whatsoever within the prisonworld. All any of them could do was rely on the original amount they had to sustain themselves.

He had committed a grave crime, so great that not even his school could save him. His master had given him many spirit-pills, so that he might live longer within this prisonworld. His master had said to him, “Goodhill, I’m unable to save you. Be sparing with these spirit-pills. You’ll only be able to survive within the prisonworld by relying on your own Immortal energy, but once it is used up, once the spirit-pills are used up, you will die! Only if you manage to stay alive will you be able to escape. I’ll definitely help you and come up with a way to save you, so you have to hold on. No matter what, don’t kill yourself. Hold on!”

“Someone’s finally come. It’s been far, far too long.” A look of hope was in the youth’s eyes. “Am I going to be released?”

It was this hope which had sustained him for three chaos cycles, which kept him going even now. He had been extremely sparing with every drop of energy, and fortunately his master had provided him with many spirit-pills. However, by now he had already used up the majority of them; most likely, he would only be able to hold on for another chaos cycle, at which point he would succumb.

“Eh?” The youth looked at the white-robed figure. “His aura…True Immortal? Wait…why is he…so weak?”

……

Ning stared at the skeletal-looking youth. This youth had a human-like appearance, but he was too skinny. Still, Ning’s heartforce had discovered that every single prisoner seemed to be extremely gaunt, as though they were ordinary mortals that were starved to the brink of death. No…not even starving mortals would be as ridiculously gaunt as them.

The Elder God in the shape of a wild dog, for example…he had been starved so badly that his very skin had broken apart, revealing his black bones.

“You must be the new Overseer.” The youth looked at him. “I am a Celestial Immortal, but an Overseer has actually come to visit me…are you going to release me?”

“Release you?” Ning was startled.

“Why didn’t you bring the talisman of command? Without it, you won’t be able to open these shackles.” The youth shook his head.

Ning shook his own head as well. “I don’t have it. I have no way to release you.” Not even Elder Gods could break these shackles, to say nothing of Ning.

The youth was stunned. He stared at Ning in amazement. “Y-you…you aren’t of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom! Who are you? How did you enter this prisonworld? What happened to the Pangaea chaos-kingdom?”

“I’m the Overseer which His Majesty sent,” Ning said, looking at the youth.

“Don’t deny it.” The youth shook his head. “If you came from our Pangaea chaos-kingdom, if you were sent by His Majesty, then you would definitely know that His Majesty would personally send an Elder God or Ancestral Immortal to open the shackles. Even if you did have the command talisman, you still wouldn’t be able to open the shackles. But just now, when I asked you about opening the shackles with the command talisman, you didn’t express any puzzlement at all.”

Ning was stunned.

He hadn’t revealed anything in front of those two golems…but as soon as he interacted with an actual intelligent being, a Celestial Immortal, he had immediately revealed himself.

Still, Ning didn’t panic at all. When he had first entered, he had been worried about his true identity being revealed, but after chatting with Westbat for so long, Ning realized that this stone stele was a very special treasure, much like his Starseizing Manor. It contained many formations and restrictions within it, but he now truly was the master of the stone stele. As for the two golems, they were nothing more than laborers. Perhaps they weren’t weak, but they would never, ever be able to leave the stone stele.

Ning, however, could leave the stone stele world whenever he so chose. And so, he was no longer worried about any danger.

“Why did you suspect my identity? Why did you test me?” Ning asked.

“Tell me, what has happened to the Pangaea chaos-kingdom?!” The youth asked frantically.





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Book 19, Chapter 28 - Celestial Immortal Goodhill


The youth stared at Ji Ning, his eyes filled with hope.

“It was destroyed,” Ning replied. Even if it wasn’t destroyed, the thirty-six stone steles had been split up. Given how long this one had been within the Three Realms, there was likely no way the Pangaea chaos-kingdom would ever find it again.

“Destroyed? Destroyed. But…how…? Princess…Master…n-no…” The youth finally broke down. He had resolutely stood firm for three full chaos cycles because of that unyielding desire in his heart. Three full chaos cycles! There had been many True Gods who had felt despair due to solitude and killed themselves, but he, a mere Celestial Immortal, had been able to persevere for so many years.

“It was your people. You wiped out our Pangaea chaos-kingdom…you destroyed everything…took everything from me…n-no…” The youth went crazy.

“Go DIEEEEEEE!” Hundreds of streaks of light suddenly exploded forth from the youth’s body. The streaks of light swirled around him, and then an enormous, jade-green sword-shadow suddenly appeared, chopping down towards Ning.

Ning had been fairly calm, because all of this was as he had expected, and the person before him was merely a Celestial Immortal. Upon seeing the attack, however, Ning was truly stunned. The enormous jade-green sword-shadow carried so much power that his heart clenched. This wasn’t an attack which Celestial Immortals were capable of. In fact, not even every Pure Yang True Immortal was as powerful as this!

“Impossible! [Starseizing Hand]!!!”

Ning didn’t dare to hesitate at all. He immediately executed the [Starseizing Hand] ability.

Whoosh!

An enormous palm, glowing with blurry light, smashed downwards towards the giant jade-green sword-shadow.

BOOM! The two collided. Shockwaves spread outwards from the collision, causing the earth to tremble and crack.

Ning couldn’t help but be knocked several steps backwards by the collision. As for the youth, he still stood there, eyes completely bloodshot as he stared crazily at Ning.

“How can this be? You are merely a Celestial Immortal. How can you be this powerful? This is impossible.” Ning was completely stunned. This outcome had completely turned his world upside-down. After using the [Starseizing Hand], he could be considered a supreme Empyrean God. Why, then, was he put at a disadvantage when colliding against that sword?

“Die, die, DIE! GO DIE!!!” The youth had gone completely mad.