Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

“Don’t go into the lava. You in particular, Little Qing. Don’t charge into it rashly,” Ning instructed. “Don’t enter the lava?” Qingqing looked at Ning.

Ning nodded. “There should be a spatial distortion or rift below. Be careful. Right; I’m probably going to take much longer for the harvesting of earthfire, because my body already has dire-ice in it. I need to be even more careful in harvesting earthfire. I imagine that I’ll need anywhere from three to six days.” Ning then sat down in the lotus position next to the goldflame earthfire.

“Leave it to us,” Qingqing said. Northson added, “Don’t worry at all; relax. I’ll go set up the formation right away.” The two of them had already set up an alarm formation outside the mountain, and then within a few kilometers of the goldflame earthfire vein, they set up a second bewildering formation.

Ning was seated in the lotus position. He opened his mouth, and with ‘pincers’ of elemental ki, he guided the goldflame earthfire directly into his mouth and into his body.

Earthfire and dire-ice were polar opposites. Because Ning already had dire-ice in his body, he had to be incomparably careful when absorbing earthfire into his body…if any of it leaked out and if the earthfire and dire-ice interacted with each other, there would be an explosion. Even if Ning was able to survive, thanks to his Fiendgod body, his Zifu region would still probably be completely ruined. Even if he was lucky and it wasn’t destroyed, it would still be badly damaged to the point where he would be like his father, never able to advance at all as a Ki Refiner.

However, Ning couldn’t possibly give up this opportunity because of such a minute risk. The path of Immortals was always one in which one would fight for any chance to become an Immortal.

…..

In the blink of an eye, three days passed. The Xiantian monster had painstakingly run back to report, and then the Zifu monster had personally gone to Dragonwhale Peak to make the report. “King Dragonwhale, this is the map.. Three days ago, those humans you are chasing after, your Majesty, appeared in this area.” A black-furred bear monster was speaking with great respect.

“Over here?” The Dragonwhale sat on his throne, staring at the map in his hands. He quickly understood the location. “Very good. Go back and tell old Wolf that he helped me this time, and I’ll remember it.” The Dragonwhale’s voice boomed out.

“Yes.” The black-furred bear monster bowed respectfully, then immediately departed.

The Dragonwhale’s shadowy green eyes were filled with a murderous intent, and the aura from his body was more than ten times as violent as it was in the past. After becoming a Primal Diremonster…his power had naturally increased dramatically.

“Big Brother.” The two bison-type Diremonsters standing nearby both looked towards their king. “I’m going to kill that human brat. My two brothers, for now, look after Dragonwhale Peak,” the Dragonwhale instructed.

“Don’t worry, Big Brother. Leave everything here to us,” the two bison-type Diremonsters replied. “Then just wait for me to return and drink celebratory wine.” The Dragonwhale let out a savage laugh, and then its body disappeared from the cavern estate with a flash. Soon, an azure streak of light appeared in the skies, streaking towards and disappearing into the horizons.

……….

Atop a green leaf, there were three Wanxiang Adepts who were soaring through the clouds.

“Fellow Daoist Dong One, have we reached that place where you said you found the earthfire vein?” A bald, black-robed woman was speaking in a pressing manner. Her face was covered with red tattoos, and she looked quite devilish.

“The two of you, don’t worry. I’ve sworn an oath to the Dao of the Heavens. What have you to fear?” The golden-robed Dong One smiled as he spoke. “The earthfire vein is in an extremely secretive place…even that cave within the mountain is extremely remote and hard to find. I only encountered it through luck; I trust that within such a short period of time, no one else should have been able to find it.”

Dong One was in a splendid mood, because he had traded the location of this earthfire vein for quite a few treasures. But of course, this was just an agreement; both sides had sworn an oath to the Dao of the Heavens. Only when they actually reached the earthfire vein would they give him the items.

“Here we are. It’s that short mountain below us.” Dong One pointed downwards through the clouds, where a short, squat mountain could vaguely be seen. “That desolate, short mountain over there. Not even monsters can be bothered with taking over that place. It’s quite unremarkable.”

The eyes of the two Wanxiang Adepts next to him, one male and one female, were filled with excitement.

“Follow me,” Dong One said confidently, and then he controlled the flying treasure to descend rapidly.





* * *





Book 8, Chapter 30 - Hunted


Deep within the subterranean region.

Ji Ning was seated in the lotus position. Wisps of earthfire were unceasingly being absorbed into his Zifu region. The glow of the goldflame earthfire within the crack in the ground was now much weaker than before.

“Eh?” Northson’s face suddenly changed. “What is it?” Qingqing hurriedly looked towards him. “A person has arrived!” Northson’s face was now quite solemn. “It could also be a monster. Either way, some form of lifeform has barged into the mountain.”

Earlier, they had set down an alarm formation within the mountain. Since alarm formations were meant to warn the user, they naturally were hidden extremely well, to the point where they didn’t cause any elemental ki ripples at all. Anyone who barged into the region would unconsciously activate the alarm formation. However, there was no way for Northson to know exactly who had arrived.

“Activate the bewildering formation,” Northson instructed. “Even if it is a Wanxiang Adept or Diremonster who has come…even if they enter the underground river region, from a distance, they will be baffled and affected by the bewildering formation.”

“Alright.” Qingqing hurriedly activated the formation which Ning had given her.

………

The Wanxiang Adept of Snowdragon Mountain, Dong One, was currently in an excellent mood, and he led these two other Adepts down towards the underground river in a very practiced manner.

“This really is quite hidden,” the nearby, bald, black-robed woman laughed. The bald, white-robed man by her side nodded. “One can only enter this mountain through movement arts…if one didn’t have a divine sense, one really wouldn’t be able to find this place and enter. Fellow Daoist Dong, how did you enter this place?”

“You are mistaken.” Dong One shook his head. “There is an extremely well-hidden entrance to the insides of this mountain from the outside world. I found it by accident, but I’ve already destroyed that entrance.”

“Ah, so that’s the situation.” The two bald Adepts both nodded. Soon, the three of them reached the river. “Look.” Dong One pointed towards the distance. If we follow that river and constantly advance, we will shortly be able to see the earthfire vein.”

“After we discover the earthfire vein, we two fellow disciples will carry out our promise.” The bald, white-robed man smiled. “Good.” Dong One nodded.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The three advanced at high speed along the river. A short while later, Dong One suddenly stretched his hand out and barked, “Halt.” The man and woman looked towards him. “What is it?”

“Something’s wrong.” Dong One frowned as he stared forward. “Logically speaking, by now, we should be able to see the earthfire in the distance. But I can’t see it.”