Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

“Many of the estates are empty.” Northmont Baiwei very calmly discussed these rather secretive matters. “In the vast, endless lands of the Grand Xia Dynasty, there are some extremely mighty powers. If they pay a visit to our Stillwater City, our Northmont clan will gift them with a private estate. Although they will come visit only very occasionally, we will always keep these estates in good condition.”


“And so…West Stillwater City is truly a place where fish and dragons swim together. The more mysterious and unknown the owners of an estate are, the less you can afford to offend them,” Baiwei said. “As for North Stillwater City, many of the estates there have been taken over by the Raindragon Guard.”

“Raindragon Guard?” Ning said in surprise, “I heard that the Raindragon Guard’s headquarters in Stillwater Commandery is atop an incomparably towering mountain.”

“Right. It isn’t too far away; its name is the Crimson Dragon Mountains.” Baiwei shook his head and laughed. “The full members of the Raindragon Guard are all quite free and unrestrained; who would be willing to remain atop that desolate mountain? Given how bustling and lively Stillwater City is, and how they also have responsibility for maintaining oversight over the various major powers within Stillwater City, the Raindragon Guards naturally have occupied quite a large amount of land.” Ning nodded.

“Most of the north city is occupied by the Raindragon Guard. In the south city, most of the residences are occupied by the Immortal practitioners that make up the soldiers of our army.” Baiwei laughed. “This is something of an open secret, but naturally, this won’t be recorded in those simple information pamphlets given to everyone who enters the city.”

“Only the east city has many major trading unions and guilds, along with Loose Immortals, who gather there.”

……..

As they continued to advance forward, Baiwei told Ning about some secrets, but only those which many people would learn upon reaching a certain leve. This truly broadened Ning’s horizons.

As for the east city, there were many places for entertainment present. The most famous of those places was the Mountain of Heavenly Treasures! “The Mountain of Heavenly Treasures takes up an area of six hundred kilometers. It is a mountain located within the city itself, and the entire mountain is hollow. There are countless treasures within, along with merchants selling spirit-beasts and slaves, and all sorts of gambles and battles…in short, any sort of entertainment you can think of, the Mountain of Heavenly Treasures has it.”

Baiwei shook his head and said resignedly, “However, this Heavenly Treasures Mountain has the imperial clan of the Grand Xia Dynasty standing behind it! In this vast world, every single commandery city has a Heavenly Treasures Mountain within it. I can’t even imagine how much wealth they have accumulated for the Grand Xia Dynasty.”

“The place I’m taking you to, right now, is named ‘Carefree Cave’.” Baiwei winked towards Ning. “The two most exquisite entertainment venues in the entire Stillwater City are the Heavenly Treasures Mountain and the Carefree Cave.”

“The Heavenly Treasures Mountain is something that can be seen throughout the Grand Xia Dynasty. But the Carefree Cave is unique to our Stillwater City, and it was established by three Celestial Fox Immortals.” Baiwei chortled, “But of course, it also has the support of our Northmont clan of Stillwater. After all, we can’t let the Heavenly Treasures Mountain make all the money, right?” Ning laughed as well.

“Young master. We are here.” The voice came from outside. As it did, the speed of the Ninestar Immortal Carriage quickly dropped as well. Baiwei led Ning out of the carriage, then pointed to an incomparably vast edifice in front of them. “This is the Carefree Cavern.”

Ning instantly grew rather stunned. He saw, far away, an enormous, incomparably beautiful, dreamlike edifice. It was shaped into the form of a titanic fox; this was a giant building that appeared like a fox that was hundreds of kilometers long. Its entrance was the mouth of the fox, which had its head resting against the ground. The dense natural elemental energy in the surrounding area made Ning feel incomparably comfortable.

The Whitewater Hound leapt out of the carriage as well. Staring at this alongside Ning, it too had a look of shock in its eyes.

“Young master Baiwei, please, come, come.” Instantly, a tall, muscular, ox-horned man ran over. His aura rolled out in waves, startling Ning; this monster clearly wasn’t hiding its aura at all, which allowed Ning to verify that it should be at the Wanxiang Adept level.

“Mmm.” Northmont Baiwei nodded casually. “And this one is…?” The Diremonster looked towards Ning. “This is my good friend, young master Ji Ning.” Baiwei explained. The Diremonster hurriedly nodded. “Is this your first time, young master Ji Ning?” Appearing quite courteously, he led the way forward.

Ning swept his gaze forward. He quickly discovered that there were many people who had entered the Carefree Caverns to enjoy themselves; however, most didn’t have any attendants come welcome them. Although some occasionally did, most of the attendants were at the Xiantian lifeform level, or at most at the Zifu Disciple level. Only Northmont Baiwei had a Wanxiang-level Diremonster welcome him.

Ning and the Whitewater Hound followed Northmont Baiwei forward. The wide, spacious corridor was beautiful and almost dreamlike. Soon, they exited it and arrived at an enormous hall. At the left side of the main hall was a row of individuals who were either monsters or beautiful female Immortal practitioners. To the right, there was a row of individuals who were either monsters or handsome male Immortal practitioners.

“We respectfully welcome young master Northmont and young master Ji.” In unison, the individuals all bowed with respect, their sleeves drooping to the ground.

Upon being welcomed so respectfully by so many monsters and Immortal practitioners, and especially upon hearing them all call out loudly, Ning was instantly stunned. Fortunately, his soul was very strong, and so he quickly came to his senses.

“How incredible. The Carefree Caverns really live up to their reputation as a place established by three Celestial Fox Immortals and the Marquisate of Stillwater.” Ning sighed in amazement.

There were currently many guests seated within the main hall, and amongst them were four people Ning knew quite well.

……

Meng Jun, Meng Roch, and Meng Xin had been led by the uncle of their clan into the Carefree Caverns as well. That balding, middle-aged man had said, “The Carefree Caverns are the most top tier of top tier entertainment sights. In terms of sheer pleasure, it is actually superior to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain. There are delicacies here which those of you back in the clan would never be able to even imagine. You will soon enter various schools, and so today, I’ll show you around here and broaden your horizons.”

“Is this the silverpike of Jimin?” Meng Jun ate while sighing in praise. As for Xin and Roch, they were clearly also eating quite happy.

Next to them was a Xiantian monster who had transformed into a beautiful woman, who was dancing about gracefully. There were also human Xiantian maidens who were playing the zither…

“Eh?” The balding, middle-aged man suddenly turned his head. Through another corridor of the main hall, a group of beautiful women suddenly appeared, either emanating a monstrous aura or an Immortal practitioner’s aura. A similar group of men appeared as well. They divided up into two rows, as though respectfully awaiting someone’s arrival.

“A major figure has arrived.” The balding, middle-aged man said hurriedly. “What’s that?” Roch turned to look, puzzled. Xin called out in surprise, “All of them are releasing their auras. It seems they are all Zifu-level Diremonsters or Immortal practitioners.”