Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

“Those soldiers belong to my Marquisate of Stillwater,” Baiwei said. “They’ve been sent here to help guard this place. That lion and that divine dragon? They are the true gate guards for the Black-White College.”


“Them? Guards?” Ning was astonished. Even with his vision, he hadn’t been able to tell that the stone lion and the stone dragon were guardians.

“These are two constructs which the Black-White College purchased from the Bluewood clan at enormous cost,” Baiwei explained. “Supposedly, these two constructs have close to an Immortal’s power, and they have intelligence no lower than an ordinary person’s. They have already stood guard here for countless years.”

Ning was speechless. Constructs? That were close to Immortals in power?

“Blackcurrent!” Baiwei suddenly called out in a high voice. “Baiwei!” From within the Black-White College, a white-robed youth who was leading a group of followers laughed in surprise.

Baiwei immediately sent mentally to the nearby Ning, “This person is named Northmont Blackcurrent. He, too, is a member of our Northmont clan of Stillwater. However, he’s from an extremely distant branch of the family. Although his talent was exceptional, he wasn’t viewed as being very important. Afterwards, however, he actually was able to successfully enter the Black-White College. His status within our Northmont clan instantly rose dramatically.”

“Oh?” Ning looked at the white-clothed youth with surprise.

“Still, be careful of this person. This person is extremely good at putting on false pretenses. My father once said…this Northmont Blackcurrent is a viper dressed in a sheepskin. You cannot let yourself grow too close to this sort of person, but there’s no need to create any grudges between you either.” This was what Baiwei sent to Ning.

Ning nodded. A viper dressed in a sheepskin?

The Northmont clan of Stillwater had managed to last from the Fiendgod era to the modern era. One could imagine how many members it had. Some of the more distant branches…probably wouldn’t have statuses that were much higher than that of the Ji clan’s. Only if they produced a supreme genius would the Marquisate of Stillwater value them.

“This person had probably been stifled terribly in the past, and so his personality became distorted.” This was what Ning guessed.

“Baiwei, why have you come?” Blackcurrent laughed. “I brought my good friend, Ji Ning, to come take a look,” Baiwei replied. “Brother Ji Ning also wishes to enter this Black-White College.”

Ning spoke out: “It is extremely hard to enter the Black-White College. I just want to give it a try.”

Northmont Blackcurrent glanced at Ning. He instantly felt a hint of dislike towards him! His experiences in his youth had caused him to view all of the members of the primary lineage of the Northmont clan, all those exalted young masters, with extreme jealousy and dislike! Thus, he now easily began to view Ning as being on Northmont Baiwei’s side.

“Oh. Even though you might fail, you should still make an attempt,” Blackcurrent said with a laugh. He looked at Ning…but a hint of pity was in his gaze. “You might be lucky. You might get in. By then, we will be fellow disciples.”

Ning could sense that this Blackcurrent had an arrogant, lofty demeanor about him. Clearly, as Blackcurrent saw it, he himself was an unparalleled genius. As for this Ji Ning? Since he had come alongside Baiwei, Ji Ning’s status was extraordinary, but what of it? What the Black-White College cared about was a person’s innate talent and comprehension ability.

“Baiwei, I can’t stay here for too long. I have business. Let’s have a good chat, sometime in the future.” Blackcurrent clasped his hands, then led his group away. Every member of this group had an extraordinary demeanor. Based on what Ning could sense, it seemed as though all of these followers were Immortal cultivators.

“What’s going on with those followers?” Ning asked. “Didn’t you say that he is an ordinary member of a distant branch of your Northmont clan? Why are there so many Immortal practitioners following him?”

Baiwei shook his head. “Every single disciple of the Black-White College is an unparalleled genius. You can’t expect them to all do everything for themselves, can you? Thus, the Black-White College will permit every single formal disciple to accept ten retainers. Thus, although the Black-White College only has a few hundred disciples, it has thousands of retainers.”

“These thousands of retainers will act on behalf of the Black-White College, and they can also go listen to the Primal Daoists, or perhaps even the Immortals, expound on the Dao. They can also be gifted with Ki Refining techniques. If there is a particularly talented person amongst them, they might even be promoted to the rank of full disciple. But of course, it’s rare for even a single retainer to be promoted to full disciple, even after a hundred years. The Black-White College’s requirements for its full disciples are quite strict, after all. Still, no matter what, to be a retainer in the Black-White College is better than going to be an ordinary disciple in an ordinary school,” Baiwei said. “Thus, many Immortal practitioners are willing to go be retainers.”

Ning nodded. Formidable. By accepting retainers, these genius disciples essentially formed their own coteries! This helped make the Black-White College more stable as well.

“However, this fellow clansman of mine, Blackcurrent, seems to not hold you in particularly high regard, Brother Ji Ning,” Baiwei said. “When the time comes, after you enter the Black-White College, the look on his face will be priceless.”

Ning laughed. “My mind is settled!” Baiwei was startled. “Are you saying…?”

“At the twelth lunar month, I will enter this Black-White College.” Ning raised his head, staring towards the words left behind by that Celestial Immortal.

Black-White College…this was the place where he would begin his sudden rise to prominence!





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Book 7, Chapter 16 - The Twelfth Lunar Month, Entering a School


Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, the twelth lunar month arrived. The first to the third days of the twelfth lunar month were the days which many of the schools located in Stillwater City would accept disciples.

“Wow.” Meng Xin, Meng Jun, and Meng Roch walked out of an alley, arriving at the main street. “There are so many people here,” Meng Xin breathed in amazement. Meng Jun said, his expression exuberant, “That goes without saying. Today is the first day of the twelfth lunar month, the very first day in which one can join a school. There are countless people in Stillwater City who will join a school today. There are ordinary mortals, Xiantian lifeforms, and also Zifu Disciples like us! However, those top-tier schools generally will only accept early Zifu stage experts! We are all early Zifu stage experts; it should be much easier for us to join a school.”

Meng Xin secretly gave the neaby Meng Roch a sideways glance. Previously, when the Snowdragon Mountain experts had ambushed them, Roch had executed a forbidden technique in order to save her. This had resulted in damage to his cultivation base, and it would now be much harder for him to join a school.

“Little Sister Xin, let’s go,” Jun said. Suddenly, he gave the nearby Roch a sidelong glance, and then a look of amusement appear on his face. “Rocky, although your cultivation foundation was damaged, you are still an early stage Zifu Disciple. If you are lucky, perhaps you’ll encounter some schools that didn’t investigate too carefully, and you’ll still be able to join them.”

Roch found it hard to hide the anger from his face. What did Jun mean by ‘didn’t investigate too carefully’? Accepting new disciples was something which determined a school’s future. Which school was careless in doing this?