Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

The black-robed, black-haired Immortal Diancai was seated in the lotus position atop his jade bed. Suddenly, a hint of amusement appeared at the corner of his lips. “Seems as though this kid was successful in joining the Raindragon Guard. He came back quite quickly.”

At this moment, Ji Ning and Mu Northson had just re-entered the Black-White College, flying through the air.

“Senior apprentice-brother, I’ll go find you tomorrow,” Northson said. “Go back and focus on your training,” Ning said. “After you finish, we’ll go take on more missions.” The two of them had prepared well in advance; after absorbing enough liquefied elemental essence and rising in power sufficiently, they would immediately go and execute those vile, sin-laden cultivators.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Ning moved forward on a small boat, while Northson rode his dragon-headed warship. Each flew to their own little mountains.

In midair.

“Ah, senior apprentice-brother Darknorth.”

“Junior apprentice-brother Darknorth returned? Last time, when I went to visit you, I discovered that you had gone out to go adventuring.”

On the way back to Darknorth Peak, Ning ran into six ordinary retainer-disciples and a single formal disciple.

“There’s Darknorth Peak.” Atop his flying ship, Ning stared downwards towards a mountain peak. It was already sundown, and beneath the glow of the setting sun, Darknorth Peak seemed so dreamlike and illusory. “Little Qing, you are my spirit-beast, but in the Black-White College, there are many forbidden areas which you cannot enter without permission. Today, just be good and quietly train in a secluded room. Don’t go anywhere else and don’t make trouble for me, understood?”

“Don’t worry, Master.” After entering the Black-White College, Qingqing was extraordinarily excited. Ning couldn’t help but laugh, and then he immediately sent his ship flying downwards.

One figure after another emerged from the Darknorth Peak’s estate; it was the six retainers Ning had left behind. Meng Roch, Cloudship, Cloudjade, Forgard, Weifang, and Nethersun.

“Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning,” the six called out, welcoming him in unison.

“Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, you came back already? Were you successful in joining the Raindragon Guard?” Cloudjade looked at Ning, her eyes shining brightly. As a naturally beautiful, alluring maiden, she naturally attracted admirers like moths to the flame. She had many pursuers, and even amongst Ning’s retainers, aside from Meng Roch and her elder brother Cloudship, the other three were all trying to woo her. Naturally, there were other retainers on other mountains who were chasing after as well.

Unfortunately…

After having grown accustomed to the retainers, when she saw Ning, she instantly mused to herself, “Compared to senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, all of them are like clay pidgeons or earthen dogs! Hmph…even if the Dao-companion of myself, Cloudjade, isn’t as good as senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, he should be at least half as good as him. These people aren’t even close to being comparable to him.”

“Right. I joined the Raindragon Guard,” Ning said with a smile. The six all said in unison, “Congratulations, senior apprentice-brother!”

Ning nodded, then pointed towards the azure-robed maiden by his side. “This is my spirit-beast, Qingqing. You should get to know each other.”

“Senior apprentice-sister Qingqing.” Everyone, Cloudjade included, spoke with great respect, because they could sense the powerful, monstrous aura emanating from her. She was definitely a Wanxiang-level Diremonster, while the six of them were all merely Zifu Disciples. In truth, Qingqing had released her aura intentionally, wanting to overawe them.

“Alright, all of you can leave now. Uncle White, arrange a private training room for Qingqing,” Ning said, then went by himself to his own training room.

“As soon as he comes back, he goes into training. No wonder he’s so talented.” Cloudjade looked at Ning, then nodded. “The Dao-companion I find in the future must be as hard-working as senior apprentice-brother.”

Within the private training room. The ceilings glowed with light from the star-like jewels, which bathed the entire room in their glow. Ning sat there quietly in the lotus position, atop the carved jade bed in the center of the room.

“Let’s begin.” Ning waved his hand, and a jade bottle appeared. He placed it in front of himself, then opened the stopper. This jade flask had three thousand kilograms of liquefied elemental essence within, and as soon as he opened the stopper, a thick, nourishing elemental aura drifted out from with it. Just breathing in the air in this room made one feel extremely comfortable.

Ning’s soul was powerful, his talent was tremendous, and his foundation was very deep and stable. His training speed was also astonishingly fast. Normally, Wanxiang Adepts might spend centuries without building up enough elemental ki to break through to the Primal Daoist level, but for Ning, even if he just trained slowly, a few decades would be enough.

Desspite that, however…these three thousand kilograms would be the equivalent of Ning engaging in painstaking training for six to ten years.

“Absorb.” Ning opened his mouth, and the liquefied elemental essence entered his mouth.

Within his Zifu region. At the deepest depths of that sea of elemental ki, the Watersource began to rapidly release large amounts of incomparably pure elemental ki. The entire elemental sea began to swivel slightly, and the surface of the sea naturally began to rise. At the same time, countless grains of refined essence began to emerge within the sea of elemental ki.

Rumble…these countless grains of refined essence rose into the skies. In the skies of the Zifu Region, there were thousands of stars, a sun, and a moon. These incomparably mysterious and profound stellar bodies were beginning to slowly move as well, and as they did, the truly pure ‘Wanxiang-level elemental ki’ began to be generated.

Rumble…the countless grains of refined essence were instantly swept into the orbits of these stellar bodies as they soared into the skies. The countless stellar bodies slowly moved about, grinding the grains and breaking them apart, then absorbing the remains. Naturally, it was the sun and the moon which absorbed the most.

Not seeming tired at all, the stellar bodies moved nonstop, each one exerting their own attractive or repulsive forces. Suddenly, the gravitational forces locked, and they were now unable to move an inch! These locked in stellar bodies continued to absorb more and more grains of refined essence. Upon reaching a certain size, they would undergo a qualitative transformation.

Bang!

The Wanxiang-level elemental ki from these stars was now clearly much more pure than before!

“The middle-stage of the Wanxiang-level,” Ning mused to himself. “After using up nearly a thousand kilograms, I’ve reached the middle of the Wanxiang-level. Let’s continue!”

A long period of time later.

This time, Ning used up more than 1500 kilograms, and the countless stars within Ning’s Zifu region began to undergo yet another qualitative transformation.

“The late Wanxiang-level!” Ning opened his eyes, staring at the jade bottle before him. The jade bottle had less than five hundred kilograms left, but there was no way he could reach the peak with this amount. Based on his previous experiences, from the late Wanxiang-level to the peak Wanxiang-level would probably require 2000 to 2500 kilograms of liquefied elemental essence!

“Actually, the hardest part is stil going to be going from the peak of the Wanxiang stage to the Primal Daoist stage. That step will take tens of thousands of kilograms,” Ning sighed.