Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

Skysouth’s body completely disintegrated. How could someone like him possibly endure a head-on sword-strike by a World-level expert?

His six bodyguards, his two female servants, his hundred Elder God slaves…their eyes instantly turned dim and all signs of life vanished from their bodies. They were slaves. Long ago, their lives had become inextricably linked to the life of their master! This was a way of ensuring that slaves would truly work hard to protect their masters. If their master died, they would not be able to escape death.

“To tell you the truth, you actually had a chance at staying alive.” Ning began glancing through the treasures which Elder God Skysouth had left behind. “If you had kept those hundred Elder Gods around you at all times, I wouldn’t have been able to get you.”

World-level experts were able to move faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos. How, then, would a hundred Elder Gods in a formation be able to fight back against such a foe? All other methods were suicidal; the only method was to defeat motion with stillness.

If Elder God Skysouth had ordered the hundred Elder Gods to stay around him and protect him at all times, there was no way Ning would’ve been able to breach such a turtle-shell defense. However, Skysouth had been so confident in his ability to defeat anyone aside from a World-level figure that he had ordered all hundred Elder Gods to attack instead. This rendered his own defenses vulnerable enough that any World-level expert would be capable of effortlessly dodging past the Elder God formation to slay him!

Skysouth couldn’t really be blamed. How could he have ever imagined that Ji Ning was this strong?

“B-but…” The distant Su Youji was completely dazed by what she saw. “He flies faster than the limits of the Heavenly Daos, his sword-arts are faster than the speed of light, and his blows are so powerful as to destroy an Elder God’s armor-protected body. Seven Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals fought against him, but they weren’t even able to touch his sword…what the hell level is this guy at?!”





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Book 24, Chapter 28 - The First Retainer


“He can break through the limits of the Heavenly Daos as he pleases.”

“Quite a few of Elder God Skysouth’s servants were supreme Elder Gods, but they were still unable to so much as touch him. They were like toddlers facing off against a giant.” Su Youji was truly stunned by what she had just seen.

Prior to mastering the Nine Chaos Seals and manifesting the azureflower seal, even if Ning had Violetjewel on him he would’ve still had to use it to block the enemy’s weapons. This time, however, he had the azureflower energy powering his body, upgrading it considerably and making it much faster in every way. His enhanced body was fast, his sword was fast, and his sword-arts were incredibly profound. This was why his enemies hadn’t even been able to touch him.

“Is he a World-level expert?”

“But he clearly is an Elder God. His Elder God aura is very noticeable. I saw him just a few years ago; he definitely was an Elder God back then. There’s no mistaking it at all.” Su Youji’s heart was shaking.

She had suddenly thought of something.

It was fairly easy for most Elder Gods to become ranked as ‘standard’ Elder Gods or ‘elite’ Elder Gods. ‘Supreme’ Elder Gods would be considered experts. As for ‘transcendent’ Elder Gods, they were truly formidable figures, and the generals of the Fogstone Army were all at that level. When they used certain weapons or certain explosive techniques, they might even be able to temporarily reach the World level of power. When Ning had first gone to Fogstone, he was just barely at the World God level of power when he used Violetjewel. However, if he had battled against a true World God, he probably would’ve been defeated in a single blow.

But according to the legends…

There were some true monsters who could accomplish the impossible!

They were truly invincible amongst Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals…and some of them were so terrifyingly strong as to be able to slay even World Gods and Chaos Immortals! However, less than one in a million Elder Gods would ever reach such a level of power.

“I actually ended up running this one of those legendary monsters.” Su Youji grew excited.

Someone like Ning was capable of fighting against World-level experts despite merely being an Elder God and Ancestral Immortal. Once he became a World God, he would instantly become one of the most elite of World Gods!

“If I miss an opportunity like this, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.” Su Youji quickly came to her decision.

All this seemed to happen in slow motion, but in truth it happened in an instant.

After slaying Skysouth, Ning waved his hand and caused the corpses of thousand Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals to be swept into his storage treasure. After putting them away, he said, “I’ll find a suitable burial ground for some of these corpses in this estate-world. The deceased figures had all died on their own paths of Immortal cultivation; Ning would rather bury them than allow their corpses to remain there in the air. He wanted to build a special graveyard for Immortals and Fiendgods here, so as to constantly remind himself that his path was a perilous one that required the utmost of caution.

“Fellow Daoist!” The distant fiery-robed Flamefairy immediately flew towards him.

Ning turned his head to glance at her, immediately recognizing her. He had encountered her a few years ago when he had first entered this region. He nodded slightly. “It seems we truly do have a bit of fate connecting us.”

“Indeed.” Su Youji said curiously, “Don’t you recognize me?”

“You are…?” Ning looked at her.

Ning had only purchased a single star map, one which primarily explained the various major organizations located within the Badlands Territory. It focused on the World-level experts as well as a few incredibly powerful Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. As for the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who spent most of their time roaming and adventuring, there was very little information regarding them. This was why Ning wasn’t able to immediately recognize figures such as Elder God Skysouth.

Hellsword had belonged to one of the local organization; he was simply out on a brief adventure. This was why Ning recognized him.

“My name is Su Youji. Most people refer to me as the ‘Flamefairy’,” Su Youji said.

“You can simply address me as Sunrise,” Ning said.

“Oh.” Su Youji looked at Ning, her eyes shining. “Fellow Daoist Sunrise, would you be willing to accept me as your retainer?”

“Retainer?” Ning was startled for a moment before understanding that the Flamefairy must have seen him slay Elder God Skysouth. He had long ago heard that some extremely powerful Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals would have other such figures be willing to serve them as retainers. However, it was incredibly rare for someone to voluntarily offer to join someone in such a fashion!

“I’m a Ki Refiner but I an comparable to a supreme Elder God,” Su Youji said hurriedly. “I’ve trained for less than a million years and stand a chance of becoming a World-level expert.”

A retainer who had a chance of becoming a World-level expert was completely different from one who did not.

“Oh?” Ning carefully scrutinized Su Youji.

He did indeed wish to acquire some retainers; in fact, if he wasn’t able to find enough, he would go and purchase some slaves. Although he was now very powerful, even World-level experts had need of an army of cultivators, to say nothing of him. An army of a thousand Elder Gods in a formation could very well slay even a World-level figure! However, this was mostly dependent on the strength of the combination formation as well as sturdy Immortal estates that could resist outside attacks.