Desolate Era (Book 22 - Book 24)

Ning appeared out of nowhere. He stared at the distant Solar Star, blazing with seemingly infinite heat, then gave the icy Lunar Star a glance as well.

“The Three Realms.” Ning murmured softly to himself, then took out a message talisman and filled it with his Immortal energy, notifying his master of his arrival.

“Disciple.” Subhuti’s voice echoed within the empty space around him.

“Master, I wish to return to the Crescent world,” Ning said.

“Very well.” Instantly, a spatial whirlpool appeared in the empty space around him. Ning gave the spatial whirlpool a hard look. He could now vaguely sense that aside from changing space, this whirlpool also made slight alterations to time. The Crescent world didn’t exist in the same temporal dimension as the rest of the major worlds of the Three Realms, which was why the other major powers had no way of finding it at all.

Ning stepped into the spatial vortex and disappeared from the Void.

Blue skies and white clouds greeted his arrival.

Ning appeared in the middle of the air. “Eh?” Ning glanced downwards with surprise, seeing a beautiful island off in the distance.

“Master actually led me here?” Ning was quite surprised, as he thought that the whirlpool would’ve led straight to Mount Innerheart.

“Eh? Uncle White. Little Qing. And…my daughter Brightmoon? All of them are on the island?” Ning became even more surprised. His ‘spare’ Primaltwin clone was still by his daughter’s side, albeit quietly hidden. It wouldn’t make an appearance unless his daughter was in grave danger. Upon arriving, Ning could sense that his Primaltwin was right at that island. Clearly, his daughter, Little Qing, and Uncle White were there as well.

“She’s already a Celestial Immortal. Why is she staying on this island?”

“In the past, Master always brought me directly to Mount Innerheart. Why has he brought me here, this time?” Ning felt quite curious, but he still flew downwards. As he moved closer to the island, he could sense his heart clench involuntarily. Ning gave the beautiful island a closer look, and as he did his face blanched as though he had seen something terrifying.

“This formation…it’s so mysterious, but even the tiny bit of it that I can sense is utterly terrifying.” Ning felt dread in his heart. He was already an overlord-class figure, but he could still feel a vague sense of danger emanating from this island.

“Disciple, come in.” Subhuti’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Yes.” Ning quickly landed. Although this island held a terrifying formation within it, the formation didn’t act to impede him at all. Ning was able to easily and safely land on the sandy beaches, and as he did he immediately saw a distant group of Immortals flying around in the skies above the island. He also saw a number of linked palaces that radiated mighty auras.

“Isn’t that the Carefree Immortal Palace of Exalted Celestial Carefree? That’s a top-grade Protocosmic estate-treasure.”

“And…that’s the Three Realms Dragonrover Ark of Daofather Snowdragon?”





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Book 22, Chapter 5 - A Change in the Three Realms


As a half-step Elder God, Ji Ning possessed incredibly sharp vision. When he swept the island with his gaze, he saw many Immortal palaces, flying arks, and mazes that were extremely famous in the Three Realms. Many were treasures belonging to True Gods and Daofathers, and all of them possessed extremely powerful defenses.

“Junior apprentice-sister, look, that’s Sword Immortal Darknorth.”

“So he is Ji Ning?”

“I heard Father say that Sword Immortal Darknorth’s sword-arts are absolutely astonishing. In fact, his sword-arts are the best sword-arts of the Three Realms, and he’s just as powerful as Father is.”

“Best in the Three Realms? That’s a bit exaggerated, isn’t it? He’s simply mastered the [Five Treasures]; his swordforce is still merely at the fourth stage. His true body has been wiped out by the Seamless Gate as well. When he was using the Envoy, he was perhaps comparable to Master, but I heard that the Envoy’s been ruined. With his true body lost as well…he surely is much weaker than Master now. He was born at the wrong time. If he was given another ten thousand years, he would probably be far more powerful than he is now.”

“Look. That’s Ji Ning over there.”

“Sword Immortal Darknorth?”

“Such a pity. I heard that he was ambushed by the Seamless Gate.”

“The killer was Swordfather Darklight…supposedly, he was killed by Houyi afterwards. Houyi truly is incredible. He didn’t even use his arrows; he just used a single blow from his hatchet to kill Swordfather Darklight.”

“My senior apprentice-sister told me that Ji Ning’s talent is absolutely incredible. He’s no less talented than Houyi.”

“Perhaps. But for now, there’s no way that Ji Ning can be compared to Houyi; the difference in power is simply too great. If his true body was still alive, then after a few million years he would perhaps be a match for Houyi. Now, however…there’s no hope of it happening.”

“A pity.”

The island wasn’t that large, just a few hundred thousand kilometers in size. Given how many Immortals were present, quite a few noticed as soon as Ning arrived on the island. All of them felt pity for Ning. They all felt that Ning had been born at the wrong time! He was born with utterly astonishing talent, but alas he had been born just a little too late.

“What’s going on? So many treasures have appeared here, and the secret formation protecting this island is utterly terrifying…” Ning’s heart was filled with questions. “And these Immortals…there are even Empyrean Gods and True Immortals here, many of whom are the descendants and progency of major powers.”

“Come over here.” A mental message was sent to him.

Ning turned to look in towards the direction from which the message had come. His eyes were filled with torch-light, and he was able to see a seemingly ordinary Daoist monastery looked far off in the distance.

“Master?” Ning was truly stunned now. This was the monastery which Patriarch Subhuti lived in. It had been located on Mount Innerheart for countless years. Why did it now appear atop this island?

Swoosh. Ning immediately flew a hundred thousand kilometers before landing before the monastery.

“Uncle-master.” Standing at the entrance of the monastery were the two Dao-novices, Clearwater and Whiteriver. Both of them called out quite respectfully, and their eyes were filled with curiosity and admiration as they stared at Ning.

Ning relaxed slightly upon seeing these two ‘children’. Their presence meant that everything should be fine. Ning immediately strode into the monastery.

Soon, he saw the white-haired Patriarch Subhuti seated on the ground in the distance.

“Master.” Ning immediately walked towards him, then respectfully knelt on the ground.

“Sit.” Subhuti smiled as he looked at Ning.

Ning sat down in the lotus position as he looked at his master.

“Aren’t you curious?” Subhuti looked at Ning.

“Of course I am.” Ning nodded. “The Crescent world…in the past, this island didn’t exist. Now, it suddenly has appeared out of nowhere, and has such a terrifying formation protecting it! The estate-treasures, palaces, and flying arks of many major powers are here as well, as well as many of their disciples and progeny. And you, Master…you actually moved your own monastery here as well!”

“Master, can it be that the major powers of the Three Realms are using this place as their refuge?” Ning frowned.

Subhuti nodded. “This place has indeed become a place of refuge.”

Ning felt an uneasy feeling in his heart.

“Master, Lord Tathagata the Buddha, Daoist Three Purities, the Primordial Imperial Clan…they each have their own abilities. It shouldn’t be hard for them to protect their disciples and progeny. Why is it that they’ve all been moved over to the Crescent world?” Ning hurriedly asked, “Has the war taken a turn for the worse?”