Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“Challenge issued.”


Many of the more powerful cultivators were intrigued. The weak ones in their group had been plundered long ago, with some having lost all their magic treasures! These newly arrived cultivators, however, would definitely have quite a few treasures on them.

Life in the Brightshore Kingdom was the same as life anywhere else. If you wanted to live, you’d need treasures.

“I need to issue a challenge right away.” There were some cultivators who were extremely powerful but who had lost their treasures to even more powerful cultivators. These people immediately began to issue challenges, as they were in desperate need of treasures! They naturally chose to go after the newcomers.

“A challenge? A challenge from the third stratum?” Ning was relaxing on his sofa, flipping through the information pertaining to the ninety-nine legacies when he suddenly received a challenge notification.





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Book 26, Chapter 29 - The First Battle


“It seems a lot of people are interested in newcomers like myself.” Ji Ning was in no rush. Instead of answering, he continued to wait patiently as more and more challenges began to accumulate. One… two… three.. four… five…

Apparently, quite a few people were interested in challenging Ning!

In the time needed to boil a kettle of tea, Ning received one challenge from the third stratum, two challenges from the second stratum, and twelve challenges from the bottom stratum!

“A total of fifteen World-level cultivators have challenged me,” Ning mused. Per the rules of this place, each World-level cultivator could only issue one challenge each day! Ning was permitted to challenge a different World-level cultivator as well, but if they didn’t accept… Ning would have to choose from one of the fifteen challengers. He would have to accept at least one challenge.

In truth, to be challenged by so many people at once was actually quite rare. The only reason why there were so many challenges was because everyone knew that Ji Ning and the others had to be carrying many treasures on them.

Normally, it was entirely possible that days would pass between challenges!

“Who should I choose? The Astral Islands are divided up into six strata. The third stratum is neither high nor low… and there are more than three thousand cultivators on that level. I’ll go with this guy.” Ning’s talent made him bold. Weaker new arrivals would most likely choose someone on the first floor as their first opponent.

Through the golden book, Ning willed for his opponent’s message of challenge to be shattered. This represented him accepting the challenge!

There were more than three thousand islands hovering within the third stratum. Within one of those astral islands.

“He accepted? He actually accepted my challenge?” The chubby youth instantly jumped to his feet, a look of wild joy on his face. “Ahahaha, he actually accepted? This is great. It seems that things are finally turning around for me, Pillsaint. Has my luck finally arrived?”

The man known as Pillsaint was the type of person who simply couldn’t hide or disguise his emotions.

“I’m a venerable master of the Dao of Alchemy, but my alchemical prowess is completely useless here. Instead, I have to battle against all these other World-level cultivators.” The chubby youth muttered to himself as he walked towards a room. He pushed the door open, then entered. The walls of this room were covered with many divine runes. Upon entering the room, you would also be entering this powerful formation.

Rumble…

Space began to twist and distort, with World God Pillsaint disappearing into thin air.

……

This island was a beautiful one that was covered with a layer of frost and snow. The entire island was completely silent.

Whoosh.

A pudgy youth suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He glanced at his surroundings, noticing that the entire island was covered with a layer of silvery snow. He was able to see everything quite clearly, and he was quite satisfied. “This battleground is a good one. The scenery is nice, at least. Way better than the last one.”

“It seems my luck really is turning.” World God Pillsaint lay down on the snow, half-closing his eyes as he relaxed. “I don’t have many legacies left, but those damnable cultivators on the fourth level keep on coming to rob me of what I have. I hope my luck takes a turn for the better for once. Hopefully this guy will have at least an Eternal weapon. If I can get an Eternal weapon, I’ll become much more powerful and be capable of giving those fellows on the fourth level a good fight. I might even be able to acquire a complete legacy.”

Previously, he had been trying to collect the ninety-sixth legacy, a legacy which was scattered across a hundred legacy treasures. He had gained a total of ninety-one pieces, but a damnable cultivator on the fourth level had issued him a challenge. Pillsaint had hurriedly issued a challenge of his own to a cultivator on the second stratum. If that cultivator had accepted, then there would’ve been no need for Pillsaint to battle the cultivator from the fourth stratum.

Alas, the cultivator from the second stratum had declined to do battle.

Pillsaint had no other options. He had to accept the challenge from the fourth stratum.

The results of that battle were… he lost. His legacy treasures were stripped from him! He had worked so hard for so long, but it all instantly went up in smoke. He had damn near gone mad.

Whoosh.

Space twisted once more.

Ji Ning appeared atop this icy island. As he glanced at the scenery, Ning couldn’t help but smile very slightly. He also noticed the pudgy youth who was sleeping on the snowy ground not too far away from him.

Swoosh. The chubby youth rose to his feet and stared at Ning, a scorching look in his eyes. “Fellow Daoist, you have an extraordinary demeanor. I imagine you must be carrying valuable treasures.”

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

The chubby youth’s eyes instantly lit up as he grew even more excited. “Eternal treasures?”

“Yes.” Ning laughed and nodded. Hundreds of thousands of World-level cultivators were here, and most likely a good number of them held Eternal weapons. Ning couldn’t bother to hide the fact that he had one of his own. A weak person who had an Eternal weapon might become a target, but Ning was strong enough that he had nothing to fear.

“Ehehe. Treasures belong to the strong, you know. It would be wasted in your hands.” The pudgy youth’s aura suddenly blasted forth as he manifested a total of six arms. He now wielded six black hammers in his hands. “Hurry up and hand it over, and I’ll spare your life if you do.”

For some reason, Ning couldn’t help but have a good feeling about this pudgy youth. He almost felt as though he was looking at an infant. This pudgy youth wore his heart on his sleeve, his emotions on display for anyone to see. He didn’t seem to have any evil intentions at all and appeared to be a valiant man.

However, Ning suddenly felt a twinge of fear.

How could he possibly treat any World-level cultivator as he would a child? For Ning to feel kindly disposed to him without even realizing it… it was possible that this was because this cultivator truly was a good man, but it was also possible that he had trained in some sort of mesmerizing technique.

“Then let’s see what you have.” Ning held a Violetjewel in each of his two hands. Here on the Astral Islands, even a battle against someone weaker had to be taken seriously.

Although two swords wasn’t the full extent of Ning’s power, it was enough for Ning to generate a truly airtight defense.

“Eat a hammer!” The pudgy youth charged forwards, the great warhammer in his hands transforming into a streak of light that caused space to collapse in on itself. The power of this blow was so great that even Ning couldn’t help but feel speechless.