Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

Flamewing lowered his head and started to mumble to itself.

“The Sourcewalkers might be a bit weaker than you, but they’ve lived in the Icewind Sea for an extremely long period of time and understand it much better than us. They might use the local environment against us. If Azurefiend and I aren’t careful, they might end up ambushing and killing us before you can do anything,” Ning explained.

“I’ll make sure to protect you and keep you safe, Master,” Flamewing said hurriedly.

“Also keep in mind that Realmslord Windgrace and the others only explored a small part of the Icewind Sea. There might be other unknown dangers here,” Ning said seriously. “That’s why you have to obey my orders.”

“Oh.” When Flamewing saw the serious look on Ning’s face, he nodded obediently. “I’ll do exactly what you tell me to do. If you tell me to fly, I definitely won’t walk on the ground. If you tell me to walk on the ground, I definitely won’t fly.”

Ning secretly let out a sigh of relief. Without Flamewing, he and Azurefiend would never dare to enter a place like the Icewind Sea. That’s why he had to make sure that Flamewing obeyed all of his orders; if they weren’t careful, they could very well die.

“Come, let’s keep going,” Ning said.

“The Icewind Sea!” Azurefiend was quite excited as well.

By now, the realmship had already landed upon the infinitely vast continent of ice. Ning and the other three flew out, then scanned their surroundings.

As far as they could see, the vast icy world around them seemed quiet and calm. However, a few vortexes rising into the skies could occasionally be seen. Given their ocular prowess, they were able to see to a distance of a trillion kilometers. Even there, they saw over ten thousand vortexes spiraling into the skies and merging into the tempest layer above.

“Scout the area out and find all treasures that are hidden here. Remember, stay close to each other and don’t run around,” Ning said. The four began to scout the place carefully by themselves…

……

This vast continent of ice had gorges, canyons, mountains, and more. However, everything was completely made out of ice!

The ice continent was almost as large as an entire territory in size. As a result, it had its own systemized ‘laws’, to the point where it had its own prime essences! Much like how the (much-smaller) everworlds had their own laws and essences, this vast continent did as well. Although it was merely the size of the Badlands Territory or Vastheaven Territory, its total energy levels surpassed that of entire otherverses!

It had its own laws and its own prime essences. Once a cultivator took control over the prime essences of an otherverse, that cultivator would become known as an ‘Otherverse Lord’. However, there was no way for anyone to take control over the prime essences of the Icewind Sea. Not even the Sourcewalkers who had lived in here since time immemorial were capable of it! The Sourcewalkers had merely been blessed by the prime essences of the Chaosverse, who had been enraged by the manner in which the Sithe had invaded and looted so many sacred sites. As a result, the Sourcewalkers were able to borrow some of the power from the sacred sites, causing the Sithe to suffer great losses as a result.

“If a Sourcewalker was able to take control over the entire Icewind Sea, then even Flamewing would be of no use. It might be able to stay alive, but the rest of us would probably be wiped out instantaneously.” After wandering the Icewind Sea for just a single year, Azurefiend found enough treasures to rival an ordinary Hegemon’s networth. This caused him to feel stunned as to how marvelous the Icewind Sea was.

“The Sithe were too proud and too ravenous, causing even the prime essences of the Chaosverse to feel enraged. That’s why the Sourcewalkers were granted power from these sacred places.” Ning smiled. “Ever since the Sithe were destroyed, there have been no further tales of Sourcewalkers being able to control such power.”

Suddenly, Ning’s Immortal energy flared out. Swish! It grabbed the other three, then brought them with Ning as he warped to the edges of a distant gorge.

Even ice planets had their own chaotic gravitational fields, preventing Ning and the others from warping through spacetime. The great ice continent, however, was extremely stable and had its own system of laws. The only places where things were chaotic were those vast vortexes which rose into the skies; there, warping through spacetime was impossible. Thus, Ning and the others engaged in fairly short warp teleports, ensuring that they were able to avoid those places. This process was still far faster than flying normally.

“Hm?” When the four arrived in the air above the canyon, they all peered downwards into it.

“I don’t see a Daomerge Firecloud Flower.” Azurefiend shook his head.

“I don’t sense any Fire-type energy at all,” Flamewing agreed.

This gorge was the place where Realmslord Windgrace and the others had discovered that Daomerge Firecloud Flower. Ning and the others had been making haste towards it, although of course they would’ve been pleased to find another flower midway.

One years… two years… three years. Ning and his team continued to advance through the Icewind Sea, searching for the flower Ning needed. They encountered and picked up a number of valuable fruits, but most were unripe. In addition, they were afraid to harvest too much, for fear of being discovered by the Sourcewalkers.





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Book 38, Chapter 34 - Sourcewalkers


Another 129 years went by in the blink of an eye.

Whoooosh. A vortex could be seen rising into the skies in the distance, causing spacetime to be twisted and distorted. Ji Ning and the other three were in a cave close to the margins of the vortex, peering towards it.

Azurefiend murmured softly, “According to what Realmslord Windgrace said, the most precious materials are all located deep inside the vortexes, which connect to the very deepest underground tunnels. Darknorth, shall we go in and take a look?”

“No need. Our target is the Daomerge Firecloud Flower! There’s no need for us to enter the depths of those vortexes,” Ning said. “If we do go in, we would be easily discovered by the Sourcewalkers.”

“Alright.” Azurefiend didn’t argue, even though he really did want to go in and give it a try. They hadn’t picked up many treasures in the past few years, as they were afraid that scouring too much would result in them being discovered, but even so the few treasures Azurefiend had picked up were worth two or three times more than his previous networth. Thus, he wanted to go into the depths of the abyss and search for even rarer treasures… but the only way he could do that was if he relied on Ning’s Flamewing God.

“The other valley Realmslord Windgrace mentioned isn’t too far away. We should be able to reach it in around thirty years,” Ning said. “Let us continue.”

Daomerge Firecloud Flowers were simply too rare. They had searched for many years but found nothing at all. They did find another Incense Spirit-Fruit, but unfortunately it was yet another unripened one.

Ning and the others had only walked for the time needed to boil a kettle of tea when suddenly… boom! A blurry black light suddenly appeared beneath their feet, oozing out of the icy ground and forming into curved lines that stretched out trillions of kilometers.

“Not good. That’s a formation.” Ning’s face tightened. “An alarm formation.”

“We’ve been discovered.” Hegemon Azurefiend was shocked as well.