The Desolate Era

Book 20, Chapter 1 - Undermoon Lake

You win?!

Ji Ning instantly grew excited. When he first came up with this idea to butcher the Seamless Gate’s forces until they lowered their heads, it had been a seemingly crazy, suicidal idea. Even Ning himself knew how dangerous his plan was, and how low the chances of success would be. However, he had no other options left to him; this was the only plan that was possible. Fortunately, thanks to the prisonworld, he had acquired the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasive divine ability, which was why he had finally been able to render the Seamless Gate helpless before him.

“Release my wife.” The Rahu-Ning stared intently at the black-robed Godking.

“Don’t be impatient.” The black-robed Godking looked back at Ning. “Let’s have a chat first.

“Chat?” The Rahu-Ning said coldly, “No need to chat. So long as you release my wife, I’ll immediately withdraw. Otherwise, I’ll keep killing.”

“Oh?” The black-robed Godking’s voice turned cold. “You want to bring your wife back without paying any price at all? You are absolutely dreaming. So if I release Yu Wei, you’ll stop acting against the Seamless Gate?”

The Rahu-Ning replied, “At least I won’t continue attacking in this manner.”

“Hah! Easily said, but once Yu Wei returns to your side, the Seamless Gate will have nothing to threaten you with. And, in the end, you are a member of the Nuwa Alliance. Our alliances are engaged in a war for survival, and both sides are struggling to seize any advantage possible. If your master Subhuti and the other supreme powers on your side ask you to act against us, would you really be able to refuse them?”

The black-robed Godking laughed coldly, “You’ve become powerful, which is why I said ‘you win’; you’ve won a chance to negotiate with us. In the past, my decision was that I would only allow you and Yu Wei to reunite if you joined us. Now, I’ll no longer try to force you to join us. But you want to get her back without paying any price at all? Ahahaha...and once you and Yu Wei reunite and you launch more attacks against us, wouldn’t the Seamless Gate become the laughing stock of the Three Realms?”

“I can swear an oath,” Ning growled.

“Oath?” The black-robed Godking snickered. “True Gods and Daofathers can ignore oaths to the Dao of the Heavens. Given your current level of power, so long as your master is willing to assist you, you can withstand the punishment levied by the Heavenly Daos for violating an oath to them. Those oaths are meaningless.”

Ning was silent.

It was true. Oaths to the Dao of the Heavens were useless against True Gods and Daofathers. The main reason for this was that there was a limit to the punishing power of the Heavenly Daos; the power behind it wasn’t truly limitless.

“Either you pay a price to reunite with your wife, or we keep fighting like this. If worse comes to worse, I’ll simply have all our Empyrean Gods and True Immortals withdraw, then come up with a different method to infiltrate the Three Realms.” The Godking laughed coldly, “Although we spent quite a bit of blood, sweat, and effort building up those bases, we can still afford to lose them.”

“Choose.” The Godking looked at Ji Ning coldly.

Ji Ning looked back at the black-robed Godking. He was silent.

“It seems you aren’t willing to pay any price at all. Very well.” The black-robed Godking’s voice turned even colder.

“Speak.” Finally, Ning responded.

The Godking laughed. “That’s more like it. Everything has to be fair. You were able to force the Seamless Gate to negotiate with you...you should feel proud. But for you to think that you’ll get what you want without paying any price at all is a bit delusional.”

“The Seamless Gate won’t ask too much of you. The evasion technique that you’ve acquire is quite formidable. The Seamless Gate will only ask one thing; that you hand this divine ability over to us. In addition, you have to guarantee that at least one of our major powers is capable of successfully training in it.”

“Impossible.” Ning laughed coldly. “You are dreaming.”

Was this a joke?

Subhuti had become incredibly excited when Ning had offered the Nuwa Alliance the evasion technique and the six bottles of chaos nectar. Clearly, this was something that would have a major impact on the war, far more so than the emergence of a new True God or Daofather. The Godking really was quite greedy; he actually dared to ask for a divine ability like this? In addition, the Godking had to know that training in this sort of divine ability had to be incredibly difficult, and so he insisted that Ning ensure at least one of their major powers could train in it.

“My request is very simple, but you won’t accept...” The Godking shook his head.

“It’s not that I won’t accept. It’s that I don’t have the ability to accept.” Ning shook his head and snarled, “It was my master who discovered this technique and bestowed it upon me. I’m forbidden from teaching it others. I cannot violate Master’s orders; if I do, he’d definitely kill me. What’s the difference between this ultimatum and your previous ultimatum of having me join the Seamless Gate?”

“Don’t even think about it. This divine ability is a supreme technique that belongs to the Nuwa Alliance, and it is extremely hard to train in. Although Master acquired it, not even he has been able to master it; to date, I’m the only one who has succeeded.” Ning laughed coldly. “As for you, you can forget about it. Even if you obtain it, you wouldn’t be able to train in it...and there’s no way you’ll obtain it.”

“You are the only one who has learned it?” The Godking asked.

“Yes.” Ning nodded.

After Subhuti had given the six bottles of chaos nectar to Suiren, he had once more informed Ning that Suiren training in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] was a major secret that absolutely could not be revealed. Given Suiren’s power, he would only begin to truly fight during the Endwar. When he suddenly revealed the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] during the Endwar, he would catch the Seamless Gate offguard. By then, the Seamless Gate would realize that Ji Ning was lying...but it would be too late!

This wasn’t just the story they decided to tell the Seamless Gate. They would tell the same story to the other major powers of the Nuwa Alliance. The only ones who actually knew the truth, that Suiren had trained in the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] evasion technique, were Subhuti, Daoist Three Purities, Shennong, and the other overlord-level Daofathers.

The Godking felt rather suspicious. Could it be that Ji Ning truly was the only one who had mastered it? Still, he also knew that it was true that a divine ability like this had to be extremely hard to train in. The number of people who could learn it in the entire Three Realms could probably be counted on one hand. It was possible that what Ji Ning said was the truth. The Godking still clung on to a sliver of hope...but he also knew that it was very likely that there was no hope for him to acquire this technique from the Nuwa Alliance.

In truth, his request for the [Ninehorn Lightning Serpent] was a bargaining tactic; he had never expected it to succeed.

“Fine. I won’t try to force things with the evasion technique.” The black-robed Godking looked at Ning. “I need three treasures.”

“Speak.” Ning looked at him.

“The first treasure is known as the ‘Seven Treasures Azure Sunfiend’. I don’t need too much of it, just five kilograms!” The black-robed Godking looked at Ning. “The second treasure is known as the ‘Bloodflower Pith’; I only need five kilograms of this as well.”

Ning just listened silently.

Three treasures?

Although these two treasures were rare and costly, the Nuwa Alliance had them. He could use treasures to trade for them. Although five kilograms of each would be quite costly, it wouldn’t be too burdensome to Ning. However, based on what Ning knew of the Seamless Gate’s Godking, he knew that matters wouldn’t be that simple.

“The third treasure...is an Iceheart Leaf.” The black-robed Godking stared intently at Ning.

“Iceheart Leaf?” The Rahu-Ning growled, “Are you referring to the Iceheart Leaves of Undermoon Lake?”

“Yes.” The black-robed Godking looked at Ning.

The Rahu-Ning bellowed, “Are you trying to get me to commit suicide?”

The vast, infinite primordial chaos contained many unexplored, marvelous places.

In previous eras, when everything was peaceful, the major powers loved to wander through the primordial chaos and explore it. Many treasures and ingredients could only be found within the primordial chaos, and it also contained some truly lethal areas. Daofather Fuju had silently, soundlessly died within the primordial chaos, while Daoist Three Purities had discovered the nine chaos seals. In short, the primordial chaos was filled with both great danger and great opportunity.

As for ‘Undermoon Lake’, this was an extremely dangerous location.

Undermoon Lake was a deep lake that existed within the primordial chaos. It was adjacent to an enormous star, and the surface of the lake just so happened to face the star. The star was reflected off the lake, much like the image of a moon being reflected in water. It was extraordinarily beautiful, and thus it was named Undermoon Lake. However, Undermoon Lake was an incredibly mysterious place. Only Empyrean Gods could enter it! During the Primordial Era, Empyrean Gods would often enter it, as they felt certain that there had to be a tremendous karmic fortune waiting for them within it. For the sake of acquiring that fortune, the Empyrean Gods were willing to take the risk. But...upon entering, none of them ever returned.

It wasn’t until the era of the Three Realms that an Empyrean God known as Bodhisattva Jueming managed to return alive. He had entered during the Primordial Era, but only managed to leave during the era of the Three Realms.

After he came out, his only explanation was that the lake contained tremendous danger, as well as many precious chaos items. He returned with a total of three treasures, one of them being the Iceheart Leaf. He had always been tremendously powerful, and when he returned to the Three Realms he had already been at the peak of power possible for an Empyrean God. By now, after so many years of cultivation, he had broken through to become one of the Buddhas of the Buddhist Sangha.

“I only need a single Iceheart Leaf.” The black-robed Godking looked at Ning. “Jueming brought back a total of twelve of those leaves.”

“But Buddha Jueming has been the only one to return in countless years,” Ning said angrily. “An enormous number of Empyrean Gods have entered, including quite a few who belong to your Seamless Gate. Which one has ever come out again? If I was to die inside, you would be quite happy, wouldn’t you? Alternately, if I was to be trapped inside for countless years before emerging, this entire storm might have already passed, right?”

“Right.” The Godking stared steadily at Ning. “You are quite clever. I know you have a Primaltwin. When your true body goes into the lake, your Primaltwin can continue to remain in the Three Realms, and so you won’t truly die. In addition, it’s always possible that you’ll successfully leave from Undermoon Lake. In terms of power, you are after all far stronger than Jueming was at the time.”

“I’m only asking you to send your true body inside, and there’s a chance you’ll be able to come back. This, in exchange for Yu Wei being returned to you. You should feel satisfied.” The Godking looked towards Ning. “The Seamless Gate insists on acquiring these three treasures.”

Ning looked back at the Godking. In his heart, however, he was laughing coldly.

The Seamless Gate’s scheme was really something. If his true body entered Undermoon Lake, the Seamless Gate would no longer be worried about Ning launching more ambushes. What the Seamless Gate didn’t realize...was that Ning had a total of eighteen ‘true bodies’!

“The Buddhist Sangha has long ago used up those twelve Iceheart Leaves.” The black-robed Godking looked at Ning. “You’ll only be able to acquire more within Undermoon Lake. If you accept, I’ll immediately release Yu Wei from the Infinity Hells, and I’ll even let you meet with her. Once you bring me all three treasures, you can take your wife back.”

Ning was silent for a moment. Finally, he answered. “Fine.”

The Godking laughed.

Given how much Ji Ning cared for Yu Wei, the Godking knew that he would accept. He was only asking Ji Ning to take on some danger, after all, not to join their side. Even when Ji Ning had been weak, he had been willing to risk his life to ambush and attack the Seamless Gate; clearly, he was willing to take on risks for Yu Wei’s sake.

And it was true that the Seamless Gate was in urgent need of these three treasures. They would either be able to acquire the treasures or perpetually trap Ji Ning within Undermoon Lake.

“Hahaha...I’ll immediately make the arrangements for you to meet with your wife.” The Godking laughed.