Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

Stillwater City was the heart and core of the vast Stillwater Commandery. Immortals and devils congregated there. All of the larger clans, schools, and sects would establish a branch in Stillwater City. Many Loose Immortals also enjoyed to gather there in Stillwater City. Because so many Immortals and devils were there, all sorts of treasures were available in the city, which could be traded for.

In addition, the security of Stillwater City was excellent. One could peacefully train there.

“Time to rest.” With but a thought, Ning sent his boat charging downwards, towards the desolate mountain forests below him.

Given Ning’s current power, it was indeed quite hard for him to encounter true danger while he was adventuring. Only Primal Daoists could truly render him helpless, but which of the Primal Daoists wouldn’t be hidden away in their own estates or caves, training? Even if they occasionally came out and wandered, they either travelled about in grand fashion or moved about tracelessly.

Whoosh. The boat charged into the mountain forest, then disappeared. Ning and the Whitewater Hound landed on the ground. “I should rest here, I suppose.” Ning said. With a wave of his hand, he tossed out three formation flags which landed far into the distance, then disappeared without a trace.

From the outside world, one wouldn’t be able to see Ning and the Whitewater Hound within this area at all. Ning sat down in the lotus position, beginning to train quietly, the image of Lady Nuwa floating in his mind.

The Whitewater Hound took out a scroll as well, and it lay there, staring at the dense, complicated array of characters atop the scroll. This was a copy of the [Nine Scrolls on Formations]. Ning had the original [Nine Scrolls on Formations], and so by using a simple technique, ‘Water Seal Technique’, he had printed out two copies of the scrolls. He had left one with his tribe, then gave the other to the Whitewater Hound.

Uncle White was quite knowledgeable regarding formations. In fact, his accomplishments far outstripped Nong Zidao’s; naturally, he surpassed Ning as well. Only, he hadn’t had sufficiently good scrolls on formations to study from. Now that he acquired the [Nine Scrolls on Formations], he naturally spent every day studying it.

The skies slowly grew bright.

Ning rose to his feet. “Uncle White.” Ning looked at the nearby Whitewater Hound, who was still lying there, staring at the scroll. Upon hearing Ning’s shout, he immediately clambered to his feet, collecting the scroll.

“Let’s go.” Ning boarded the ship, with the Whitewater Hound following him. Swoosh! The flying boat immediately and quickly flew into the skies, continuing to head towards Stillwater City.

“Eh?” After flying just a few dozen kilometers, the boat suddenly came to a halt. Ning lowered his head, staring downwards. “What is it?” The Whitewater Hound looked at Ning.

“I sense a disturbance.” Ning lowered his head, looking down at the mountainous forests beneath him. Based on the strengths of the ripples and the general location from which they came, he could tell that it should be Zifu Disciples who were battling. He immediately spread out his divine sense, quickly covering the mountain forest below him with it.

Even when he had first broken through to the level of manifesting his divine sense, Ning had been able to encompass a region of a hundred kilometers. After the passage of half a year, his divine sense’s reach had further expanded.

…..

Within the mountain forest.

“We are the disciples of the Meng clan.” A handsome, pale-skinned youth was roaring in anger. By his side, there was a willowy, extremely beautiful maiden, along with an extremely muscular and sturdy, tiger-backed, bear-waisted youth. The three of them were struggling to defend against their attackers, who were a pair of white-robed men.

The two white-robed men had unleashed their magic treasures and had completely trapped the three of them. “Dregs of Snowdragon Mountain. Once my father learns of this, he will definitely annihilate you two pieces of trash.” The handsome, white-skinned youth roared.

“If the two of you were to leave…our clan won’t come take revenge for a trifling matter such as this. But if we die, our Meng clan will definitely investigate this matter to the very end.” The willowy woman shouted in anger and fear as well.

Only that sturdy, muscular youth remained completely silent.

The three of them truly were disciples of the Meng clan. The Meng clan was one of the highly ranked, extremely large clans within Stillwater Commandery, even more powerful than Snowdragon Mountain. However, as one of the supreme clans…it had quite a bit internal strife as well. Even the Ji clan of the West Prefecture had its own internal struggles, much less a supreme, giant clan like this one. These three were ordinary in terms of talent, and they were born to a fairly low status within the clan. They weren’t viewed as important, and found it hard to even gain a change to learn some top-class techniques. Thus, after making their breakthrough to the early Zifu Disciple stage, they immediately joined forces and set out in the hopes of making it to Stillwatery City and joining a school.

There were quite a few disciples of major clans who would enter a school. Generally, they were all people who were not treated with importance in their own clans.

“Senior apprentice-brother, judging from their clothing, these three truly are of the Meng clan.” The two white-robed men were speaking mentally to each other. “Should we kill them?”

“Clearly, you don’t understand. A truly high-level member of the Meng clan, when setting out on a trip, will have an entire entourage of maids, servants, and guards. These three in front of us might truly be of the Meng clan, but even so, they definitely don’t have any important status within the clan. Kill’m.”

“Alright.”

The two white-robed men came to their decision, then immediately began to launch killing blows.





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Book 7, Chapter 2 - Arrival


Originally, the combined forces of the three members of the Meng clan had been enough to just barely hold on, but when the two disciples of Snowdragon Mountain stopped holding back, the three Meng clan members instantly found fighting back much more taxing.

“If I had known this would happen, I would’ve listened to what Rocky said.” The beautiful, willowy maiden’s face was ashen. She was filled with regret. These three hadn’t dared to continue with their training after becoming Zifu Disciples, because if upon reaching the middle Zifu stage, their foundation would have solidified into a set pattern. Some of the more powerful schools wouldn’t be willing to take them on as disciples.

Thus, all three of them remained at the early Zifu Disciple stage. Prior to heading out, Meng Roch had said: “Little Xin, our power, amongst Zifu Disciples, is at the bottom end of the scale. If we were to fly on magic treasures, then once we are attacked…we will be in danger. I recommend we walk on the ground or ride on mounts, just like ordinary people, and travel slowly. Although it will take more time, it will be far safer. Immortal practitioners can’t be bothered to act against ordinary commoners.”

“You idiot.” The other fellow, Meng Jun, had said with anger, “Ride on a mount and travel slowly on the ground? That’s a distance of a million kilometers. We’ll probably spend a year before we arrive! Hiking up mountains and wading through lakes? Even if you are willing, I’m not. I refuse to believe that if we fly as fast as we can, with the goal of making it in a few days, we will be as unlucky as to encounter someone who attacks us.”

“Rocky, Meng Jun’s words are reasonable. It’s just a few days. There won’t be any problems.” Meng Xin hadn’t wanted to spend a full year, and so they decided to fly to Stillwater City.

Unfortunately…they really did encounter bandits. Some Immortal cultivators kept their heads down and toiled bitterly towards perfection, others relied on battle to grow, while still others relied on on ambushing and slaughtering. Ambushing and slaughtering was the fastest way to acquire treasures. There truly were quite a few who engaged in this line of work.