The Desolate Era

Book 1, Chapter 3 - Birth

Ji Ning opened his eyes and saw that he was being held by a giant who wore a set of white fur clothes. Ji Ning instantly understood that this person was a ‘giant’, only because right now, he was an infant being held by this man.

“You can leave now,” the man said.

“Yes,” the three maids said respectfully.

The man holding Ji Ning in his arms should be his father. Although he had just gotten a son, he still seemed like a piece of glacial ice, very hard to get close to. He wore a set of beautiful fur clothes, while those three maids also were dressed in animal fur. Clearly, they were of much poorer quality.

The room was quite empty. The wall, the dresser, the seats, the bed, all of them were carved from marble. The carvings were quite exquisite and gave off an ancient, beautiful nobility. Atop the bed was a six or seven meter long enormous beast fur, with the fur hanging down to the floor. At a glance, one could tell that this fur was no doubt extremely expensive. Atop that bed, there was a red-faced young woman.<!--more-->

“Even the chairs and the dressers were carved from marble. The room itself should be made from marble as well. Father and those three women are all dressed in animal fur. It seems this world doesn’t have a high level of civilization,” Ji Ning secretly said to himself.

“Son.” Despite holding his infant son in his arms, that man still seemed very cold, without a hint of a smile on his face. Only, his eyes betrayed his excitement.

Ji Ning suddenly had the feeling that a mysterious cold energy entered his body. It was very comfortable, and then, quickly, it passed away.

“Yichuan, how is my son doing?” the woman on the bed hurriedly asked.

“As expected, his body’s quality is ordinary,” Ji Yichuan said softly.

The woman on the bed had faint tears in her eyes. “Let me hold him.”

The man carried the child over in his arms.

“Be good.” The young woman looked at the infant, her eyes filled with love. “Yichuan, our child was injured in the womb. Although he ate those natural treasures, it only repaired some of the damage. We haven’t done right by our child.”

He had been injured in the womb?

Natural treasures?

It seemed as though his parents in this world weren’t ordinary people.

......

Despite having just given birth to a child, his mother had easily been able to get off the bed. She was also dressed in a white fur, and was in her husband’s arms as they walked out of the room.

“You can clean up in here,” his father, Ji Yichuan, said to those three maids.

“Yes,” the three maids said respectfully.

Outside the door, on the hallway, there was a big, snow white dog. Its fur was as long as cotton, and it appeared very docile. When its gaze fell upon Ji Ning, it was filled with excitement and love.

In the wide courtyard outside the room was a giant, pitch-black coiling python which was lining the outside of the courtyard. It had circled around in multiple loops, and its head was raise to a height of dozens of meters. Its body was covered with dark, heart-stoppingly cold scales. The giant python slowly lowered its head and drew near.

“Good God!” Ji Ning was frightened. That snow white dog was fine. He had seen plenty of dogs in the past. That snow white one was just a bit bigger.

But this coiled, enormous monstrosity? Was it even a snake?

Coiled around in endless circles, and its raised head alone was dozens of meters high. The entire thing had to be two or three hundred meters long. Such an awe-inspiring beast was actually in front of his own family’s house? This... this was simply...

“Son.” Ji Yichuan didn’t pay any attention to his son’s feelings, or perhaps in this world, people were used to these things already and didn’t feel they were strange. Ji Yichuan pointed at the snow white massive dog in front of them. “This is your Uncle White. He is your father’s lifelong friend, and he’s saved your life. You must treat him as you would treat me.”

The snow white hound looked lovingly at Ji Ning. Ji Ning could almost physically feel the deep love which the snow white hound bore him.

However...

He had to call a dog, ‘Uncle White’?

“Yichuan, the child was just born and doesn’t understand anything yet. Is there a point to telling him these things?” the young woman said while holding the child.

“Even if he doesn’t understand, this is his first time meeting with Little White.” Ji Yichuan raised his head to stare at the massive python. “Brother Black!”

Hiss...

This enormous black python which definitely would’ve made countless nations go insane suddenly transformed into a black mist, and then reformed into a black-haired middle-aged man. The black-haired man smiled towards the infant. “Yichuan, I still remember how when you first showed your budding talent, I agreed to follow you. I didn’t expect that in the blink of an eye, you would have a son. Child, don’t be afraid. I am your Uncle Black.”

“Let’s go outside,” Ji Yichuan said. “Grandpa and the others are outside waiting as well. Brother Black, it’s best if you return to your regular form. I know it is very uncomfortable for you to be in human form.”

Hiss...

The black-haired man nodded, and then he once more transformed into a black fog which quickly returned to that massive, coiled black python. The massive black python immediately slithered towards the outside. Its enormous body moved very quickly. Slither, slither, slither. It easily passed the walls and disappeared.

Ji Ning felt that he was still in a state of shock.

Although this might be normal to the people of this world, to Ji Ning, a man from the Earth, this was simply too stunning. A 200-300 meter long black python had suddenly transformed into a black-haired man, and had said that he was his ‘Uncle Black’?

Monster!

“Can it be that the snow white hound is also a monster?” Ji Ning had the feeling that this world was more amazing than he could imagine.

Husband and wife held the child together as they walked out into the corridor, while by their side was the snow white dog. Once they reached the end of the corridor, they walked onto a stone paved road which led to a garden. Within the garden, there was a thick layer of snow. Many black armored guards were standing there unmoving, while in the center, there were several dozen people standing. These several dozen people all possessed all sorts of miraculous bizarre beasts, venomous pests, and flying beasts.

Ji Ning instantly understood. It wasn’t that his father was special. It was that the people of this world all raised strange beasts. Taming them was a common habit.

“It seems in the future, I’ll have to get used to making friends with monsters.” Ji Ning quickly adjusted to this new reality and began to observe those several dozen people. These several dozen people all seemed ferocious as tigers or panthers. Virtually all of them were dressed in beautifully cut animal furs. Only the three women were dressed in silk or cloth garments.

This secretly startled Ji Ning.

It seemed that not everyone in this world wore animal furs. Silk and cloth already existed here. Judging from the location where the three women were standing, they were of fairly common rank within those dozens of people. Clearly, the quality of those silk or cloth clothes weren’t any higher than the lavish, exquisitely cut animal furs.

The silver-haired old man standing in front walked over. “Come, Yichuan. Let me hold the child.”

“Grandfather.” Ji Yichuan nodded, then took the child over from his wife’s arms and delivered him to the old man.

“This child truly is beautiful.” The silver-haired old man’s face was filled with joy. He said in praise, “Yichuan, now that you have a son, I will no longer worry as much. I’ve been the lord of our prefecture for already eighty years. According to the rules of our clan, a person can only be a Prefecture Lord for no more than a century. I only have twenty years left as Prefecture Lord. Previously, I wanted you to succeed me in the position of the Prefecture Lord of the West Prefecture of our Ji clan, but you insisted on focusing on walking the path of the Immortals. Now that you have a son, as I see it, in the future, he can be the next Prefecture Lord.”

The next Prefecture Lord?

Ji Ning was surprised. It seemed as though his status was quite high, and this clan should be a special one as well. Those extremely obedient female servants and those unmoving, black armored guards all were a testament to his clan’s power.

“Big brother!” A sudden angry shout.

Who would dare to be so disrespectful to the Prefecture Lord?

Ji Ning looked in the direction of the noise. He saw a red-haired old man who emanated heat walk over. The man had an eye-catching red earring in his right ear. Wait. It wasn’t a red earring. It was a little red snake the size of a finger. He was actually wearing a snake in his ear?

The old man with the snake in his ear walked forward, growling, “The matter of the succession to the position of Prefecture Lord can’t be so casual as this. In addition, who knows what sort of ability that little fellow would have?”

“Yichuan’s son’s ability would naturally...” The silver-haired old man was extremely confident. At the same time, a sudden surge of heat entered Ji Ning’s body, then quickly dissipated.

“Yichuan!” The silver-haired old man stared in astonishment towards the grandson he was so proud of.

How could he not be shocked.

This was the son of Ji Yichuan, famed as the ‘Raindrop Sword’. The majestic Raindrop Sword, all by himself, had exterminated countless monsters hidden in deep lakes and high mountains. The countless tribes under the control of their West Prefecture of the Ji clan all knew of the Raindrop Sword. In fact, more people knew of him than knew who the Prefecture Lord was.

As long as his child ate some precious treasures while in the womb, the infant would naturally have the finest possible growth conditions.

“Big brother.” The snake elder laughed. “It seems Yichuan’s son is quite average. How can the West Prefecture of our Ji clan, which commands so many tribes, have a weak little fellow take over the important position of Prefecture Lord? How can the people of the Ji clan possibly submit to him? How can the countless tribes be willing to submit to him?”

“Prefecture Lord. This little fellow, it seems, isn’t suited to the position of being the next Prefecture Lord.”

“The important position of Prefecture Lord cannot be so casually given away.”

Those few dozen people present were all high level members of the West Prefecture of the Ji clan. Many began to speak.

“Shut your mouth.” Ji Yichuan frowned. As he swept the area with his icy gaze, instantly, many of the clan members fell silent.

But the snake elder said angrily, “What a huge temper. This is the West Prefecture of the Ji clan! What, we can’t even talk here? Your son as the Prefecture Lord... if your son was qualified, then given the great merits you yourself have rendered to the West Prefecture of the Ji clan, we definitely wouldn’t say anything. But your son is so very average. You still wish him to be Prefecture Lord? The countless tribes under the banner of the West Prefecture of the Ji clan must fight together in territorial battles, and also must struggle against the Diremonsters in the deep mountains and the lakes. How can a weak Prefecture Lord make the clan members willingly submit? How can he make those tribes submit? If the West Prefecture isn’t awe-inspiring, then how will we struggle for power against the surrounding organizations, and how will we go to the mountains and the lakes to slay the Diremonsters?”

“I will naturally be the one to kill the Diremonsters of the lakes and the mountains!” Ji Yichuan’s voice was cold as ice.

“You sure are tough. You live up to your reputation, Ji Yichuan. So you’ll go kill all of the Diremonsters hiding in all of the mountains and lakes by yourself? Then I, Ji Lee, will say this to you. If you can kill a hundred Diremonsters, then I will no longer dispute with you over who will become the next Prefecture Lord of the Ji clan’s West Prefecture. I’ll let your son take it over.” The snake elder sneered.

Ji Yichuan stared at him.

Every single Diremonster was extremely sly and powerful. How could they be so easily killed? Even killing ten of them would be a miracle, much less a hundred.

“Enough. The child was just born and can’t take all this stress.” The silver-haired elder stared at them, then ordered, “Tonight, we’ll hold a celebratory banquet at the Snowfall Hall. For now, everyone can leave.”

“Alright.”

The serpent elder was the first to respond, and he did so loudly. He immediately led more than half the people away with him, with the rest quickly returning to their own places as well, leaving this garden.