Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

Xiangliu Fang laughed. He knew exactly what his master was thinking about.

“Young master, when the time comes, you just need to give a few subtle hints, and Yu Wei will know how she should act. She’s merely a reincarnated Immortal; to Immortal cultivators, the most important thing is their cultivation paths. The pleasures of the flesh are, by comparison, a minor matter. For the sake of being able to proceed to greater heights on her path, she will yield to you, young master.” Xiangliu Fang spoke in a soft voice; his young master, in the imperial capital, was quite a lavish, generous spender.

He was the future Godplume Duke! Given his status, the types of pleasures he enjoyed were quite extravagant as well. It was actually quite common for reincarnated female Immortals to submit to being maidservants for him.

“Not the same. This Yu Wei isn’t like the others; she’s even better than those I had in the imperial capital.” Youngflame Nong licked his lower lip. “But as for that Ninelotus, heh heh… her demeanor and aura is quite extraordinary as well. People from large, top-tier clans like her know how to judge a situation. I imagine that it would be a bit easier to convince her to play with me a few times. Yu Wei will probably be harder.”

“How about…” Xiangliu Fang’s voice grew even softer.

“No need. I still need them.” Youngflame Nong shook his head. “Some matters are more important than others.”

“Right.” Xiangliu Fang nodded.





* * *





Book 10, Chapter 13 - The Humble Xue Hongyi


Within the private room. Ji Ning, Mu Northson, Yu Wei, Ninelotus, Adept Vastriver, the Whitewater Hound, and Little Qing were all staring towards Xue Hongyi.

The allure of an Immortal-ranked magic artifact was incomparably great. Although Adept Vastriver had been a Loose Immortal in his past life, he had never acquired an Immortal-ranked magic treasure… for the sake of such a treasure, even the annihilation of entire clans and sects was not uncommon.

“Why don’t we kill them, then take the Immortal-ranked magic treasure to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain and trade it for liquefied elemental essence? We can split it evenly,” Adept Vastriver sent mentally, a hint of coldness in his eyes.

“Kill?”

“Should we kill?”

They were all hesitating, but the most determined one was Adept Vastriver.

Ning and Xue Hongyi weren’t exactly on good terms; in the past, Xue Hongyi had even intended to try and capture Ning. Fortunately, Northmont Baiwei had stopped him. Ning didn’t feel any compunctions against killing Xue Hongyi… but they had entered this Immortal estate together. And, when they had done so, Youngflame Nong had already given them a strongly worded warning.

“What are you planning on doing?” Xue Hongyi shouted, “Previously, when we arrived at this Witchriver Immortal Estate, young master Youngflame said on the warship that we were forbidden from fighting against each other!”

Xue Hongyi was mentally panicking as well. Although Youngflame Nong had issued this warning, the reality was that at this point in time, these five disciples of the Black-White College were definitely more important to Youngflame Nong than Xue Hongyi was. If they really were to kill Xue Hongyi, most likely Youngflame Nong wouldn’t be too upset about it.

Ning and the others all exchanged glances.

Previously, Youngflame Nong had said these words: “After we enter the Witchriver Immortal Estate, we have to be of one mind and work together. We cannot fight internally. If anyone causes chaos inside, then don’t blame me, Youngflame Nong, for becoming cruel and unfeeling.”

“What is there to fear? We five disciples of the Black-White College are more important to Youngflame Nong,” Adept Vastriver sent mentally. “After we kill Xue Hongyi, Youngflame Nong definitely wouldn’t act against us; that would be like breaking his own arms.”

“He won’t act against us now, but after he binds this Immortal estate, we won’t be of use to him and he’ll be able to act against us,” Ninelotus sent.

“Act against us? We aren’t so easily dealt with. What’s more, you, Ninelotus, are the next leader of the Dongyan clan. Youngflame Nong won’t dare to act too rashly; after all, he’s currently just an ordinary disciple of the Youngflame clan who has a high chance of becoming the next Godplume Duke; he’s not the actual Godplume Duke yet. If he dares to act against you… his inheritance might actually be seized and stolen by another,” Adept Vastriver said.

“He won’t act against senior apprentice-sister Ninelotus, but he would act against us,” Yu Wei sent mentally. “If we don’t kill Xue Hongyi, then he won’t have an excuse to attack us, because he previously gave us a promise. But once we actually kill Xue Hongyi, then we’ll have given him an excuse.”

Whether or not an excuse was created was of great importance.

In all matters, one needed to occupy the moral high ground. After all, behind Ning and the others were powerful forces such as the Black-White College and the Dongyan clan. If Ning and the others were extremely weak and without much influence, then simply killing them might not matter. But because they did have backgrounds… in all matters , there was a need to occupy the moral high ground before dealing with them!

“We cannot give him an excuse. After all, that Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, is far more powerful than us,” Yu Wei said. “As for Xue Hongyi… after we leave, we can find another chance to get rid of him.”

“I agree with senior apprentice-sister Yu Wei.” Ning expressed his opinion mentally as well.

Adept Vastriver frowned. Of the five of them, himself, Ning, and Yu Wei were the most powerful. With Ning and Yu Wei disagreeing… while Vastriver was capable of defeating Xue Hongyi, he wasn’t certain of being able to kill him.

“Hmph.” Adept Vastriver turned his head and left. Ning and the others exchanged a glance, then all left as well. The only one left in the room was Xue Hongyi, who finally let out a sigh of relief.

“In the end, I was able to rely on Youngflame Nong to scare them off,” Xue Hongyi mused to himself. “After we leave the Witchriver Immortal Estate, I need to immediately stick very close to young master Youngflame, and then find a chance to use a Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal and flee.”

He understood that successfully escaping might be difficult. But he had to take the risk; for the sake of this Immortal-ranked magic treasure, he had to!

In fact, he didn’t even dare trust the three Primal Daoists of Snowdragon Mountain. In the Immortal path, it was not rare for disciples to kill their masters and ancestors, and it was even more common for masters to kill disciples. For the sake of acquiring an Immortal-ranked magic treasure… anything might happen.

Ning and the others all spread out, once more continuing to search through the palace for treasures. After all, this was the Vault of Treasures of a Celestial Immortal; any random treasure would be worth more than the entire holdings of an ordinary Wanxiang Adept.

They carefully searched for another hour. Each of them had completely searched the entire palace. They all believed that it might be possible that the others might have missed searching a spot.

“I’m finished. Master, I don’t have anything, not even a single magic treasure.” The distant Little Qing was chatting mentally with Ning.

“Not a single magic treasure? That’s so sad!” Ning teased.

“Ask Uncle White and see if he found any treasures,” Little Qing sent back through their spirit-link.