Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

“Rumble…” An incomparably dominating Azure Dragon charged into the heavens, also moving past the dragon head formation. The white-clothed youth atop the Azure Dragon, seeing that Ning had charged out as well, revealed a hint of a friendly smile towards Ning.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Ning immediately flew towards the cave, and the white-clothed youth also flew over, then stored away his construct.

“Bang!” “Clash!” “Boom!” Continuous sounds of explosions could be heard, with furious roars mixed in. Three more figures charged past the saturated field of lightning and into the cave.

The cave was many tens of meters wide. The white-robed youth walked forward alongside Ning. “My name is Mu Northson. I truly am embarrassed for what happened earlier. My mastery over my craft was insufficient, and I ended up harming you, fellow Daoist.”

“My name is Ji Ning.” Ning smiled towards him as well. “You can’t be blamed. You were trying to enter the school, just like me. How could you be careless?” The white-clothed youth hurriedly nodded.

Ning could clearly sense that this white-clothed youth seemed slightly immature. By the looks of him, he was even younger than Ning himself. Most likely, he had reached the Xiantian level even before Ning had. He immediately asked, “Brother Mu, I’m sixteen years of age this year. How old are you?”

“Fourteen.” The white-clothed youth, Mu Northson, gave an honest response. Instantly, the other three youths who had charged into the cave had changed looks on their faces. The three of them looked towards Ning and Northson with incomparably complicated looks on their faces. Monster…monsters! One was sixteen, while the other was fourteen! How young were they? And yet, these two had actually broken through the lightning construct formation before everyone else.

The black-clothed man even had some injuries on his body. He gave Ning a hard look. “This person named Ji Ning is only sixteen, but he’s already at the Zifu level in terms of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. In addition, he was actually able to charge in with ease. I had to make two attempts before succeeding.”

Earlier, he had been the first to try to charge in, but had ended up failing on his first attempt. It was only after seeing him fail did Ji Ning and the others make their charge.

He had immediately charged in behind Ning, and then followed the Azure Dragon construct of the white-robed youth, Northson, in charging past. With the Azure Dragon construct blocking some of the lightning, things had been slightly easier for him. Still, it had only been slightly easier; he still suffered an injury in order to enter.

“It truly was hard.” The white-clothed youth, Northson, glanced downwards, then sighed, “This grand lightning construct formation truly was hard to pass through. The Black-White College really lives up to its reputation.”

Ning looked downwards as well. Below them, the other Immortal cultivators were still continuing to charge upwards, time and time again. “It is hard,” Ning agreed softly. “However, the vast region controlled by the Stillwater Commandery holds many geniuses.”

Swoosh!

Yet another figure passed through the blocking field of lightning. Slashing forward in a lonely arc, it landed at the entrance to the cave. This was a violet-robed maiden whose face was like the frost and the snow. Judging from the look in her eyes…clearly, she had been arrogant since she was a child. Still, every single person who was able to enter the cave was a true talent.

A few moments later. “The time has come to an end.” The black-haired, middle-aged man spoke out in a high voice, and instantly, the 810 dragon heads came to a halt. Those Immortal cultivators who were in midair still wanted to fly upwards, but…

“All of you, go down!” The black-haired man gave a sudden roar, and his eyes instantly became terrifying to behold. A terrifyingly powerful divine sense swept downwards, and instantly, all of the Immortal cultivators who had wanted to fly upwards came to a halt. And then, all of them began to drop downwards.

“Divine sense?” Ning’s eyes lit up as he saw this. “A divine sense attack!” When those Immortal cultivators had been hit by the attack, their gazes had turned dim, and then they had fallen out from the skies. Clearly, their souls had been impacted by the attack.

“So there are attacking techniques for the divine sense as well?” Ning instantly felt an itchiness in his heart. His greatest strength was his divine soul, which was already comparable to a Primal Daoist’s. In addition, by relying on the [Nuwa Painting] visualization technique, his divine soul was continuing to grow stronger by the day. At this point, however, he had only been able to use his divine will to control items to assist himself. He had never heard that there were techniques which could allow one to use one’s divine sense to directly attack someone’s soul!

“A divine sense attack? How would that even work? I’ve never heard of it…it must be an extremely high-level technique. Since that black-haired man is able to use it, then I imagine the Black-White College must have this divine sense technique amongst this records.” Ning instantly made up his mind that no matter what, he had to acquire and learn this technique.

…….

The black-haired man and the rest of the six figures flew into the cave. They all appeared different; one looked graceful, another was short and chubby, a third was cold-faced…but they all possessed shockingly powerful auras.

Ning and the rest of the nine called out respectfully, “Respectful greetings, seniors.” The six Primal Daoists swept Ning and the rest of the nine with their gazes. “Mm.” Quite a few gazes paused for a period of time after landing on Ning.

“You.” The black-haired, middle-aged man pointed to a blue-clothed youth who wore a crown and whose gaze was flashing. The blue-clothed youth’s face changed, and he hurriedly said, “Senior, this junior is Eastriver Lush.”

Ning and the others gave him a glance. Eastriver clan? That was one of the eight major powers.

“Eastriver clan?” The black-haired, middle-aged man laughed coldly. “I don’t care where you came from. Everyone, even a member of the Northmont clan of Stillwater or the imperial clan of the Grand Xia Dynasty, must obey the rules of the Black-White College if they wish to join our Black-White College. You used a Dao-seal. You violated the rules. Hurry up and begone.”

The crowned youth gritted his teeth, then immediately transformed into a ray of light as he flew towards the cave entrance.

“He used a Dao-seal?” Ning stared in astonishment at this disciple of the Eastriver clan. When testing new disciples, there had been, at the gate, a list of the various necessary requirements. Dao-seals and other external sources of support were forbidden. One had to rely on one’s own power to pass the trials. All who used external sources of power would be expelled.

“You are Mu Northson?” The black-haired man turned to look towards the white-robed youth, a smile on his face. “Greetings, senior,” Northson said respectfully. The black-haired, middle-aged man nodded. “Fourteen years. Not bad. Let me take a look at your construct.”

“Alright.” Northson knew the rules; there were restrictions on utilizing constructs. If one was an Immortal practitioner who walked on the Dao of Constructs and golems…if they wished to bring a construct into a trial, it was forbidden for the construct to possess sentience! Nor could there be an elemental energy core within the construct. It had to be completely controlled by their own elemental ki.

Actually, during the earlier trial, the six Primal Daoists could already tell the truth of the matter. This ‘examination’ was just for the sake of following the rules to the letter.