Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

However, in the end it still lost.

This was because Ning was just as strong as it was, but was also much faster! Most importantly of all, Ning was wielding six Eternal weapons while the ape had to rely on its two arms… but to actually kill the ape would be incredibly difficult, because Ning was unable to damage its body. Binding it would also be quite difficult. The only thing Ning could do was force it to admit defeat.

The fourth stratum. The ninth battle.

This was an simple, direct battle. Ning easily gained victory.

“I’ve already won nine battles in a row. One more battle. Just one more win and I’ll have made it into the fifth stratum. Things will be much simpler then.” Ning was feeling rather confident. Thus far, he hadn’t encountered any foes that required him to use his Elementum Waterflame Gourd. That was his final trump card which he would only use when absolutely necessary.

“Next challenge.” Ning sent out yet another challenge to a cultivator on the fourth stratum.

……

“He’s won a total of nine victories in a row now.”

One of the twelve astral islands within the fifth stratum.

A skinny, swarthy-skinned child with three eyes dressed with strange silver cape was staring intently at the golden book in his hands. “I hear that the almighty Hegemon personally selected this latest crop of newcomers. It really does seem as though some of them possess tremendous potential. This fellow who won nine battles in a row might not necessarily be powerful, but he definitely has been the fastest mover.”

The golden book only included some basic information regarding the World-level cultivator on each astral island. It didn’t include information such as win-loss totals. Still, it wasn’t too hard to divine such information.

Ji Ning, for example. Ever since he had reached the fourth stratum, he had won every battle he was in. He had gained a number of legacy treasures, while the ones he had defeated had been completely drained of their own legacy treasures! Just by watching the movements of the various legacy treasures, one would easily be able to divine who had won which battles. It was obvious that Ning’s total legacy treasures had increased nine separate times after arriving on the fourth stratum, while there were nine fourth-stratum cultivators who had lost those exact same treasures. Clearly, he had won nine battles in a row.

“Twenty-one of the newcomers have fought their way into the fourth stratum, but eight ended up being pushed back into the third stratum. Some of them managed to fight their way back into the fourth stratum once more. Only five have won every battle they were in. The fastest has won nine battles, while the second fastest has won six.” The skinny, swarthy-skinned child read on. Speed didn’t count for much; the slower ones might just be a bit more cautious.

“It is rare for me to meet a worthy opponent. Mmm… once he wins his tenth battle and makes it into the fifth stratum, I’ll send him a challenge.” A strange smile flashed past the child’s face. “I’ll teach him a thing or two and let him know that there is a heaven beyond the heavens.”

……

“Oh? He’s won nine battles?” A black-robed expert on the fourth stratum was flipping through the golden book as well. Although he was on the fourth stratum, it had been a long, long time since anyone had challenged him. This was because he had once made it to the fifth stratum and thus received the protection of the Astral Islands! Making it to the fifth stratum was a testament to his power. Most of his former opponents now knew how strong he was and wouldn’t challenge him without a good reason. As for the newcomers including Ning, few of them would be so rash as to challenge someone under protection.

“Eheh, he’s about to make it to the fifth stratum and receive protection? It won’t be that easy. Not just everyone is worthy of being protected. You might be just one step away… but I will ruin your hopes.”

“You are just one step away, but I’ll let you die in the grips of despair. Just thinking about it excites me. Seeing a genius perish in despair is such a lovely sight.” The black-robed expert let out a chilling laugh as he issued Ning a challenge.





* * *





Book 26, Chapter 34 - The Black-Robed Expert


A gentle wind was blowing through the Astral Islands.

Ji Ning was in an excellent mood today. He was flipping through his golden book when his face suddenly changed. “A challenge?”

Ever since he had risen to the fourth stratum, this was the first time someone else on the same stratum had sent him a challenge! The fourth stratum was just a single step away from the fifth stratum, causing everyone to be quite cautious and unwilling to casually start a duel against an unknown cultivator on the same level. They would first gather as much intelligence as possible before deciding whether or not to challenge the newcomer.

“He is actually one of the protected cultivators?” Ning frowned. “There are only around twenty protected cultivators in all the Astral Islands! All of them are unfathomably strong. For him to challenge me…”

“Wait. I’ll wait for a short while.” Ning shut his eyes and began to wait calmly.

Each day, a person could only issue a single challenge. Earlier this day, he had already issued a challenge to another member of the fourth stratum, a cultivator who was not under protection. However, that person wouldn’t necessarily accept his challenge. The higher the stratum, the more cautious cultivators were about dueling people on that stratum.

This was especially true for fourth stratum cultivators who hadn’t received protection!

The closer they were to the fifth stratum and receiving protection, the more cautious they would become. They would generally first defeat some cultivators on the second or third strata, but they wouldn’t kill them. Instead, the fourth stratum cultivator would force these weaker cultivators to swear lifeblood oaths that they would accept any challenges from him, with him swearing that he would not take their lives.

That way, once the fourth stratum cultivator received a challenge from someone on his level that he didn’t wish to fight, he could immediately issue a challenge to those cultivators on the second and third strata, allowing him to avoid the challenge.

It was possible to avoid battles in this way, but unexpected things would sometimes happen as time went on. For example, those second and third strata cultivators might already be engaged in a duel, preventing them from accepting the challenge from the fourth stratum cultivator. This wouldn’t be considered a violation of the oath.

Thus, during the past two weeks, Ning had only been able to successfully challenge someone a single time. All his other challenges had been declined.

“I hope this one will go through. Unless absolutely necessary, I’d rather not duel a protected cultivator until I myself receive protection as well,” Ning mused.

If he wasn’t protected while his opponent was, their mental approach to any duel would be completely different.

Time ticked on minute by minute.

Rumble.

The golden book now displayed some new information. The cultivator which Ning challenged had just entered into a battle against a different individual.

“Another one avoiding battle.” Honestly, Ning had expected this outcome. He had only succeeded once in the past half month, after all.

“No choice but to accept the challenge. Time for me to see just how strong these protected individuals are.” Through the golden book, Ning was made aware that this individual was an Aberrant, was under protection, and had quite a few legacy treasures. Other than that, Ning knew nothing at all.

Ning reached out through the golden book and shattered the writ of challenge, accepting the challenge. He then immediately walked towards a room filled with many divine runes. Ning stood there in the center of the room, allowing the formation to be activated and teleport him away.