Desolate Era (Book 25 - Book 27)

“Yes. He didn’t rest at all.” The Eastsmoke leader was beginning to feel scared.

“He was able to attack at maximum power for that long?” Daolord Batdragon was growing angrier and angrier. “No wonder he’s emanating such a murderous aura! As soon as I arrived here, I could sense his desire to kill. When I offered him that bracelet, he didn’t accept it. Ugh! Ever since I became a Daolord and let you become the Eastsmoke leader, you became completely full of yourself! If you continue to act so rashly… even if you survive this time, you’ll have a very short life ahead of you!”

“I-I… what should I do?” The Eastsmoke leader looked at his big brother.

“My worry is that this Darknorth is a man who holds grudges,” Daolord Batdragon explains. “Swear a lifeblood oath right away that you’ll go to Hydragon Mountain. Hydragon Mountain is an important place to the Hegemon, as that’s where his mines are. No one will dare to attack you there. A hundred chaos cycles from now, this matter will be ancient history. If he still holds a grudge after a hundred chaos cycles, it’ll obviously be a problem with him. I would have an excuse to ask Daolord Bluegrace to intervene and help out.”

The Eastsmoke branch leader now completely understood. He now realized that even his big brother was nothing more than a small pawn in the Twelve Palaces. If this Darknorth was the vengeful type, he really would be in trouble in the future.

“Fellow Daoist Darknorth, I was in the wrong and let greed blacken my heart.” The Eastsmoke leader looked at Ning. He bowed respectfully, then immediately swore a solemn oath. “I swear on my very life itself that I, Mythdragon, will go to Hydragon Mountain within a thousand years. I will spend a hundred chaos cycles there as a miner in order to expiate my sins towards fellow Daoist Darknorth. If I violate this oath, let my truesoul shatter and let my Dao vanish.”

Ning was flabbergasted.

Actually, he wasn’t really worried about Daolord Batdragon as Ning himself already had the power of a black-armored Daolord. The two were already on par with each other, but Ning was merely at the World level.

Still… Ning understood that with Daolord Batdragon here, it would be extremely hard for Ning to do anything to the Eastsmoke leader. For the Daolord to offer a gift and an apology was one thing, but the branch leader was now swearing to spend a hundred chaos cycles mining at Hydragon Mountain? A hundred chaos cycles was an extremely long period of time. There were many cultivators who wouldn’t even live to be that old. Ning could sense that Daolord Batdragon truly did care about this little brother of his.

“Then let this matter come to an end.” Ning accepted the bracelet, in effect accepting the proposed resolution. “I won’t stay here any longer. Farewell.”

Ning immediately left the main palace.

Daolord Batdragon let out a sigh of relief as he watched Ning accept the bracelet and Ning. Finally, this matter had been included.

……

Outside the main palace. Ning looked at Fairy Qingfan.

“Fairy Qingfan.” Ning looked at her, then waved his hand and sent a message-talisman towards her.

Fairy Qingfan stared blankly at the message talisman.

“This matter has been concluded, and I trust Daolord Batdragon won’t pursue this matter any further. Still… if you encounter any problems in the future, you can shatter this talisman and I’ll immediately hasten to your side,” Ning said. Fairy Qingfan truly had helped the Flamefairy out this time.

“Alright.” Fairy Qingfan nodded as she slipped her fingers over the talisman.

Ning soared into the skies, transforming into a streak of light as he flew off into the distance. The grand restrictive formation had long ago been lifted, and Ning soon disappeared into the clouds in the horizon.

Fairy Qingfan watched as Ning left, her fingers unconsciously tightening over the talisman. She murmured to herself, “Just now, if I told him that I wished to become his retainer, he probably would’ve agreed, right? Perhaps my path of cultivation and my destiny would both completely change…”

The path of cultivation was a path which one would have to choose for one’s self. No one else could make these choices for you, and different choices would result in different results.

……

Daolord Batdragon stood at the entrance to the main palace, letting out a second sigh of relief upon seeing Ji Ning disappear. He then turned to stare at his little brother. He immediately said, “Hurry up and make your preparations. I’m going to send you away from this place today. You are going to Hydragon Mountain right now.”

“Today?” The Eastsmoke leader hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Alright. I’ll go make the preparations.” As he spoke, he immediately turned and left to gather his things.

Daolord Batdragon mused to himself, “This Darknorth fellow doesn’t look like the evil, backstabbing type. This matter probably has truly come to an end. Still…” Daolord Batdragon glanced in his little brother’s direction. “It is all for the best. Hydragon Mountain will help to temper his disposition. Still, it is true that the place can be dangerous sometimes. Mm… I’ll go and request to become one of the overseers. I’ll take care of him in secret.”

There were overseers who were charged with overseeing the mining operations in Hydragon Mountain. This sort of boring job was almost always carried out by black-robed Daolords. The stronger Daolords would all be out adventuring. None of them would be willing to do this job.

“But I have to help him out in secret. I can’t let him know.” Daolord Batdragon made his decision.

……

Now that the matter had been resolved, Ning and Su Youji began to advance in their flying vessel. They spent five months flying before finally reaching the Twelve Palaces.

“So beautiful.” Su Youji stared at the surroundings from within the flying vessel.

Ning stared off into the distance as well.

At the edges of the horizon, twelve enormous palaces could be seen hovering there in midair. In their center was a dim black cavern. Those twelve palaces were the actual Twelve Palaces. They looked quite close to each other, but in reality the palaces were all separated by many layers of space. They were actually many trillions of kilometers away from each other, but the almighty Hegemon was so powerful that he was able to make them look as though they were located right next to each other. Together, these Twelve Palaces formed the most supremely powerful formation the Brightshore Kingdom had to offer.

Even Eternal Emperors would not dare to enter the Twelve Palaces without permission.

“To the Sword Palace.” Ning laughed.

Swoosh.

The flying vessel quickly began to move towards the direction of the Palace of the Sword.





* * *





Book 27, Chapter 1 - Swordlord


The Palace of the Sword was incredibly large. It was like an enormous island-continent that hovered in the air, filled with countless buildings and radiating a sword-aura that caused Ji Ning to feel speechless.

The Sword Palace had numerous black-armored Daolords on patrol outside of it.

“Fellow Daoist.” A black-armored Daolord sensed Ning’s medallion and immediately flew towards him, then said in a fairly courteous and modest manner, “Is this your first trip to the Sword Palace?”

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

“My name is Fudan. Let me guide the way for you, fellow Daoist.” This black-armored Daolord was courteous to the point of being obsequious. He glanced at Su Youji. Seeing that Su Youji clearly wasn’t a member of the Sword Palace, he didn’t say much to her.

“I am Darknorth,” Ning said.

“Junior apprentice-brother Darknorth, you come to us with an identity medallion on your very first visit. Are you from the Astral Islands?” The black-armored Daolord asked while leading the way.