The Desolate Era

Book 9, Chapter 5 - Never Forget

Ji Ning didn’t know that Ninelotus had come to his place shortly after his departure. At this moment in time, he was on a journey with his junior apprentice-brother, Uncle White, and Qingqing to go apprehend some criminals.

Thanks to the intelligence reports provided by the Raindragon Guard, after roughly a month or so wandering through various regions, Ning’s group finally arrived at the location where an evil cultivator known as Adept Blackhorn was hiding. This Adept Blackhorn relied on a ‘Ghostfetus King’ to do battle, and no one had ever been able to overcome him.

Unfortunately, this time, he encountered Ning’s group.

First, Uncle White stealthily set down a formation, making it so that Adept Blackhorn had nowhere to run. Next, Ning’s group revealed themselves. Ning didn’t even fight; he let Mu Northson reveal his ‘Fiendish Skyeater Serpents’ and use his constructs to grind the Ghostfetus King to death. Without the protection of the Ghostfetus King, Adept Blackhorn was instantly thrown into a state of terror and was effortless killed.

“Junior apprentice-brother, your power has clearly increased,” Ning praised. “You were able to kill the infamous Adept Blackhorn with such ease.”

“Heh heh.” Northson scratched his head. “I’m at the peak of the Wanxiang level, after all, and my Fiendish Skyeater Serpents were upgraded considerably after I acquired quite a few materials at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain. Naturally, their power has increased substantially.

Ning understood. The Dao of Constructs...it required significant amounts of resources and precious items. “Let’s go. Let’s go take down the next criminal,” Ning said.

“With us four Wanxiang Adepts working together, taking down this type of criminal is truly effortless.” The nearby Qingqing was quite smug as well. As for the Whitewater Hound, he just stood there quietly, smiling.

Swoosh! The dragon-headed warship once more soared into the skies, and Ning’s group once more embarked on a journey. They would go after the next criminal – Adept Qiandou!

No matter how well they had hidden themselves, they still couldn’t escape the eyes and ears of the Raindragon Guard. Unless, of course, they were like Ning, who could go hiding within his underwater estate. For everyone else, so long as they were in this major world which was controlled by the Grand Xia Dnasty, it would be impossible for them to escape the assault of the Raindragon Guard.

“Adept Qiandou really did hide quite far away. This place is three million kilometers away from Stillwater City, and can be considered one of the most distant backwaters of the entire Stillwater Commandery. If he were to flee any further, he would have left the entire Commandery.

“If he left Stillwater Commandery, then it wouldn’t be for our division of the Raindragon Guard to pursue him.”

Ning’s group was chatting amongst themselves at the Crimson Dragon Mountains’ teleportation array. Whoosh! Within Dongyu City, three million kilometers away, a teleportation array that was more than three hundred meters high suddenly lit up. Ning, Northson, and the others all appeared within it.

“Greetings, milord Raindragon Guards.” An old man nearby bowed respectfully. There were six Zifu Disciples and a group of Xiantian experts present as well, and they all were incomparably respectful. Ning swept them with a glance.

Dongyu City was a commandery city where the Grand Xia Dynasty had armies stationed, much like Swallow Mountain City. The only difference was that within this commandery city was a small teleportation array of the Raindragon Guard! The wild marshes of the Gaol Mountains was a major danger zone and thus it had Primal Daoists and Loose Immortals on guard, but Dongyu City was an extremely ordinary location, and so it only had Zifu Disciples present.

“Mmm.” Ning nodded. “Junior apprentice-brother, let’s go.” Ning didn’t chat with these people; he immediately boarded the dragon-headed warship and soared into the skies. Based on the latest intelligence reports from the Raindragon Guard, Adept Qiandou was within an ancient mountain range that was located a few tens of thousands of kilometers outside of Dongyu City.

Ning’s group searched carefully for him. Soon, it was night. “There he is.” Ning, standing atop the warship in the night sky, had been spreading his divine sense throughout the ground below, to a distance of three hundred kilometers. He suddenly found that within this mountain, there was a truly ferociously guarded city. This city was apparently protected by a vision-impairing formation; one wouldn’t be able to locate it with the naked eye at all. Fortunately, Ning possessed the divine sense; otherwise, they would’ve spent months before being able to find it.

“What a city.” Ning’s eyes flashed with a killing intent. “Where is it?” Northson hurriedly asked. “Right below us,” Ning growled. “Let’s go. Follow me.”

Ning jumped down, and as he did, a sword flashed and appeared beneath his feet, tearing through the air as it flew downwards. The Whitewater Hound and Northson followed him down as well. While charging down...

“Break.” Ning pointed off into the distance, and a stream of water appeared out of nowhere. It swirled around a distant formation flag, then easily pulled it out. Instantly, the scenery for a region of around ten kilometers began to twist and change. The seemingly ordinary, wild mountains instantly disappeared, transforming into an enormous city that was filled with a large number of slaves. The slaves were all carrying out arduous manual labor, either carrying stones, building walls, or even cutting wood from the surrounding area in order to further reinforce this city.

“This is really...” Upon seeing this city appear out of nowhere, Northson stared, speechless. “Utter wasteful extravagance,” Ning said coldly.

“He’s a cultivator of vile arts. It’s one thing for him to massacre commoners in order to complete his vile techniques, but why must he have them build this city for him? And why must he squeeze them so?” Northson was immediately able to see that these commoners were under such great duress while building the city that many were literally worked to death.

Ning didn’t say a single word. Because his divine sense covered the entire city, he could easily sense the despair, agony, pain, and numbness of the countless people within it! This was a sort of numbness that came from completely and utter despair. In addition, a number of these commoners held a boundless amount of resentment in their hearts. Their hatred so was so strong that Ning’s divine sense could easily sense it.

“This is hell!” Ning suddenly charged into the skies, transforming into a streak of light and moving to stand in the air directly above this city of doom. An enormous Waterflame Lotus swirled around Ning.

The light of the Waterflame Lotus was incomparably eyecatching in the night sky. Instantly, the countless commoners who were engaged in crushing physical night labor all raised their heads. They saw the enormous Waterflame Lotus in the air above them, and saw a seemingly small, frail form.

“Qiandou, you old demon, hurry up and come out to die!” Ning let out an explosive roar, which rang like thunder and echoed throughout this entire city.

“Ah?!”

Boom

BOOM!

The many, incomparably savage and bloodthirsty Xiantian experts who were in charge of overseeing this city all began to howl in agony. Blood poured from each orifice, and they died on the spot. These were the disciples and grand-disciples of Adept Qiandou, and had supported him in his evildoings.

Ning’s divine sense was able to tell that these people were surrounded by the foul aura of sin as well. Ordinary people would neither be surrounded by the clear aura of positive karma or the foul aura of sin. The fact that they were surrounded by sin represented that their vileness had already reached an extremely high level. Against these sin-covered malefactors, Ning had used his [Soulshaker Art]; because the difference in power between them was too great, all of them died right away, blood flowing from their orifices!

“What?”

“How could that old fiend have...?”

Those commoner slaves stared in astonishment. Those terrifying Xiantian lifeforms, who had always appeared to be incomparably savage, all fell over, dead. The slaves simply couldn’t believe it.

Right at this moment...

“Might I ask, which fellow Daoist has come!?” A white-robed, long-bearded man suddenly appeared in midair, locking gazes with the distant Ning. Ning stared at him, not the slightest bit worried that he would flee!

This was because, when he had charged out, Uncle White had already, secretly acted the grand spacelock formation.

“Qiandou, you old fiend, you have a few young fiends with you.” Ning swept the distant palace with a glance. There were quite a few Zifu Disciples standing at the entrance to the palace; clearly, they were the disciples of this old demon.

“Dare I ask, who are you, fellow Daoist?” The old fiend, Qiandou, maintained a smile on his face. Ning, surrounded by the Waterflame Lotus, stared downwards towards the hellish landscape below, then said softly, “After you die and go to the Netherworld Kingdom, you will be tormented in the eighteenth level of the Netherworld. The torment suffered by these commoners you tortured to death will be repaid unto you thousands of times over.”

“Die?” Adept Qiandou shook his head. “So long as I can become an Earth Immortal, when the time comes, I’ll send a hint of my truesoul into the Netherworld Kingdom. Given my prowess as an Immortal, I will willingly become a Ghost Immortal. Why should I fear torment?”

“Earth Immortal?” Ning stared at him coldly. “Wait to suffer in agony in the eighteenth level of the Netherworld. Given how many sins you have committed, I imagine that you won’t be able to endure for many years before you are tormented to the point of your soul collapsing.”

The amount of sin he had committed vastly surpassed Bei Zishan’s. Adept Qiandou’s body was not surrounded by a foul aura, but by a bloody light! An eye-piercing bloody light! A bloody light that caused one’s heart to quail! This amount of sin was utterly astonishing.

As soon as Ning’s words came out, Adept Qiandou roared in fury, “I think you’ll be the one to die instead!”

Whoosh. An enormous pupil of blood suddenly appeared above his head. This enormous bloody eye, filled with boundless sin and evil, stared directly towards Ning. And as it did so....boom! An incomparably powerful, bloody, baleful light shot straight towards Ning’s soul.

“An ant who wishes to shake a tree.” Within Ning’s mind appeared the divine visage of Mother Nuwa. Nuwa stood there in midair, radiating an endless aura of light. As soon as the bloody aura touched it, it instantly melted away like snow in the face of the sun, transforming into nothingness.

“Not good.” Adept Qiandou’s face changed, and he hurriedly turned, meaning to flee. But right at this moment, Ning let out an icy roar. “DIE!”

His powerful divine sense swept out in an incomparably savage wave, crushing down upon Adept Qiandou’s soul. Adept Qiandou instantly felt dizzy and dazed. Ning pointed towards him with a single finger, and around Adept Qiandou’s body, a Waterflame Lotus appeared out of nowhere. Adept Qiandou was completely dazed and unable to fight back; as a result, as soon as the Waterflame Lotus began to swivel...he was instantly transformed into meat paste!

“What?!”

“Flee!”

Those five Zifu Disciples before the palace were incomparably terrified. The five of them had followed Adept Qiandou in doing countless evil deeds, and the tainted aura of sin had surrounded them long ago. Ning pointed to them from far away, and one Waterflame Lotus after another began to bloom, glowing with holy light as they crushed these five into meat paste.

All of them were taken care of at one go.

As for Northson and the Whitewater Hound, they flew over as well. They displayed no joy; as they stared down at the countless oppressed commoners, they couldn’t muster any joy at all. “How could he do such a thing?” Northson let out a sigh.

This opponent possessed the ‘Hellblood Demon Eye’, and was extremely hard to deal with. Ning had a powerful soul, and also possessed a divine will attack; he was the perfect counter to this person. Thus, they had planned all along for Ning to be the one to fight him alone.

“There is kindness in the world, but there naturally is evil as well,” Ning said calmly. “Senior apprentice-brother,” Northson looked at Ning, “Now that we’ve both completed our missions, what shall we do next?”

Ning was startled. Next? Instantly, three blood-soaked names suddenly emerged from the deepest recesses of Ning’s mind. Dong Seven! Yu Dong! Shui Yi! Ning had never forgotten these three names. These three names were like blazing irons that had been imprinted onto his very soul. The most important people in his life, his mother and father, had died...because of these three!

Suddenly, a surge of emotion filled Ning’s breast. Kill! Kill! Kill! When Ning unburied this matter from where it had lain deep within his heart, he became filled with hatred and a desire to kill. These three were the three he hated most in the world!

“Next...” Ning said softly, “I’ll get revenge!”

“Get revenge?” Northson was puzzled. “On who?”

“Those who slew my parents!” Ning said slowly. Hearing this, Northson’s face instantly changed. Qingqing lowered her serpents head, pressing it against Ning’s arm, as though to console Ning. As for the nearby Whitewater Hound, he just stared quietly at Ning, his eyes also filled with the same desire. After all...he had personally witnessed that nightmarish day.

“I cannot share the same heavens with those who slew my parents!” Ning said.