The Desolate Era

Book 25, Chapter 27 - The First Mirrorsnow Painting

Ji Ning’s retainer had just become a Chaos Immortal, but he himself had yet to make a breakthrough! Still, Ning was fairly happy. At least he got a powerful assistant out of this event! However, Su Youji was a new Chaos Immortal who didn’t even have a suitable Dao weapon to use. Thus, she was actually weaker than most World-level experts; she could at most be considered to have reached the lowest benchmark of that level.

New Chaos Immortals with no suitable treasures and who hadn’t had the chance to solidify their powers were actually quite weak. Usually, they’d find a private location and spend a few thousand years in solitary cultivation. Only when they increased in power to become comparable to normal World-level experts would they emerge from seclusion.

“Congratulations, Flamefairy. This breakthrough you just made represents a fundamental transformation,” World God Dragonbinder said with a laugh. “From this day forth, you will no longer be the same person you once were.”

Su Youji’s eyes were shining with light and her heart was filled with many emotions.

Countless scenes from the past began to flash through her mind. Thanks to the technique she created, she was a woman of absolutely stunning charm. As a result, quite a few cultivators had desired to become Dao-companions. Some of them acted properly towards her, but others had been stuck at the Elder God or Ancestral Immortal level for so long that they had lost their rationality along with their hopes of making a breakthrough. As a result, they abandoned themselves to vices and would often try to kidnap alluring woman and use them to sate their own lusts. Someone like Su Youji, who was both powerful and mesmerizing, drove these men absolutely wild.

Su Youji’s technique was special. Before becoming a World-level expert, she could not allow herself to lose her virginity. Thus, in many cases her only choice was to flee from those men rather than to submit to them. She lived quite an arduous life as a result.

“Finally...finally...” Su Youji could sense how powerful she had become. The Jindan chaos region inside her body was filled with an enormous amount of World energy, giving her a sense of absolute power and control over herself and her surroundings.

“From this day forth, I am now Chaos Immortal Su Youji.”

A Chaos Immortal would be welcomed with open arms by any of the organizations of the Badlands Court. They would be ranked as one of the most high-level figures and be given tremendous power and authority.

“Since the Flamefairy has completed her breakthrough...brother Ji Ning, let us part ways here.” World God Dragonbinder said, “I’m planning to pay a visit to the Fog Sea.”

“Thank you for everything, senior apprentice-brother Dragonbinder,” Ning said.

“A minor matter.” World God Dragonbinder smiled as he began to walk away.

Only now did Su Youji come back to her senses. She hurriedly said, “Thank you, big brother Dragonbinder.”

“I wager others would have begged for a chance to serve as your protector, little sister!” World God Dragonbinder’s voice rang out from afar as he moved further and further away from them. Soon, only Ning and Su Youji were left.

“Thank you, Master.” Su Youji was filled with gratitude.

“Oh, right.” Ning waved his hand, causing that palm-sized fiery idol to appear once more. When she saw the idol appear, Su Youji’s eyes instantly lit up. The techniques contained within this idol were a perfect fit for her. The idol had a total of eight faces, one of which was related to a charm technique. This was the reason why she was immediately stimulated upon seeing the idol, resulting in her breaking through to become a Chaos Immortal.

Su Youji’s eyes blazed with eagerness as she stared at that idol. This idol would truly be of tremendous use to her.

“Take it.” Ning handed it over to her.

“B-but...” Su Youji didn’t know what to say or do. She had taken part in the treasure auction as well, and thus she knew exactly how valuable a treasure like this was. It would probably start at a reserve price of roughly a thousand cubes!

“I’m giving it to you, so take it,” Ning said.

“But...I...” Su Youji hesitated. In the end, this fiery idol was simply too alluring to her. She said in a low voice, “Master, just let me view it for an hour. I’ll memorize the technique within it then give it back to you.”

Ning shook his head. “What’s the point of just memorizing the technique? This fiery idol has eight different types of conceptual intents radiating from it. It’ll be of tremendous benefit to you in your cultivation. And I’m not giving it to you, I’m just letting you use it. When I want it back, you’ll have to return it to me. So take it.” Ning pressed the fiery idol into Su Youji’s hands.

Su Youji’s heart quivered as Ning took her hand into his own.

Although she had served him for quite some time, this was actually the first time they had touched.

“Alright.” Su Youji nodded obediently.

“Right. I’m planning to go into the Fog Sea as well,” Ning said. “Go ahead and enter the estate-world and focus on solidifying your current foundation. You’ve just broken through, after all.”

“No need, Master.” Su Youji waved her hand, causing the fiery idol to be drawn into her Jindan chaos region. “I only need to spend part of my time working on this idol. With it, I should be able to solidify my foundation in less than a century. Your golem is by my side as well; once I enter it and command it, I’ll be able to unleash tremendous power from within. I won’t be in any danger.”

With such a detailed technique and helpful idol, her path to becoming a master-class Chaos Immortal was clear. It naturally wouldn’t take her much time to solidify her foundation. If she didn’t have the idol and instead had to work on her own, she probably would’ve needed a thousand years in order to succeed.

“Might as well.” Ning nodded. Although Su Youji didn’t have a Dao weapon, she did have that golem. If danger arose, she could instantly hide herself within that golem. She really wouldn’t be in much danger.

“Come. Let us enter the Fog Sea.”

Ning turned his head to stare off into the distance, where the vast, billowing Fog Sea could be seen. He could sense the ripples emanating from the Mirrorsnow Painting he had bound and its desire to enter the Fog Sea and reunite with the other painting there.

The Fog Sea was part of the ‘inner region’ of the Allgod Estate. It was far more dangerous than the Ten Thousand Mountains.

......

Whoosh. Fog billowed everywhere.

Ning stood atop an earthen hill, staring off into the distance. Even at his level of visual acuity, the fog ensured that he could only see to a distance of a few hundred kilometers.

“It’s up ahead.” Ning pointed straight ahead. Thanks to his Mirrorsnow Painting, Ning could easily determine the location of his target. The toughest part of being in the Fog Sea was that one would be unable to find one’s bearings. Anyone who spent a bit of time within it would quickly discover that they could no longer tell the directions apart. This was true even for World-level experts. But of course, if you walked in one direction for a long enough period of time, sooner or later you’d make it out of the Fog Sea.

“A lake?”

After walking forward for tens of thousands of kilometers, Ning saw a placid, almost mirror-like lake up ahead. The lake was quite wide, so vast that Ning couldn’t see the other side of it. It was so still here that not even any ripples could be seen on the lake’s surface. Ning did, however, get a vague sense of danger emanating from the area.

Su Youji looked towards Ning. “I sense as though this lake...”

“I sensed it as well.” Ning nodded.

“Should we walk on the surface of the lake? Fly over it? Or go around it?” Su Youji waited for Ning to decide.

Ning frowned as he glanced at the great lake before them. Finally, he said, “Let’s go around it.”

“Right.” This was Su Youji’s preference as well.

The two began to circle around the lake. However, the lake truly was quite enormous. Based on how much time they spent walking around it, Ning judged that it had to be more than a hundred thousand kilometers long.

......

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

Ripples suddenly appeared on the surface of the formerly-still lake. Then, a golden head began to silently emerge from the waters beneath. This golden head had a pair of golden wings where a human would have ears. It stared off into the distance towards a place which Ji Ning and Su Youji had walked past just a short while ago. Some time later, the strange creature slowly sank beneath the waves once more.

......

Ning and Su Youji continued their journey after going past the lake, moving with slow caution. Whenever they encountered a place they felt was dangerous, they would avoid it. This was the Fog Sea, after all. This was a terrifying place which spelled death for nearly half the World-level experts who entered it! Even though Ning had the power of a master-class World God, he still didn’t dare to act rashly. In addition, his true goal was merely to find the Mirrorsnow Painting.

“We are almost there. We should be less than fifty thousand kilometers away,” Ning said. He had spent more than a month in here with Su Youji and had walked more than ten million kilometers. The reason why it had taken them this long was because they had to avoid quite a few dangerous areas.

The past month had been fairly safe. They had only engaged in battle a single time when they had encountered a scorpion-shaped bugbeast that had just barely reached the World level of power. Ning had simply taken out his Pentabolt Gourd and effortless killed the bugbeast with a thunderblast.

“It’s up ahead.”

“There it is.”

Ning and Su Youji had just reached a mountain. Halfway up the mountain, there was an elegant-looking palace which had three characters carved onto it: Yi River Palace.

“Yi River Palace?” Ning frowned.

“What’s wrong?” Su Youji glanced at Ning, puzzled.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Ning frowned. The Fog Sea had quite a few dangerous locations within it. Many generations of cultivators had ventured within the Fog Sea, resulting in many of its dangerous locations being marked down. The Yi River Palace was one such location! It held valuable treasures but was also filled with tremendous danger.

According to the intelligence report which Ning had acquired from Daolord Solesky, although the Mirrorsnow Painting was in the Fog Sea it wasn’t located within the Yi River Palace.

“For some reason, the Mirrorsnow Painting must’ve been moved from its original location into the Yi River Palace,” Ning mused to himself.

Boom! Ning gave the gates to the Yi River Palace a hard shove.

Rumble...the gates slowly swung open.

“Let’s go in,” Ning said. “Youji, the deeper parts of the Yi River Palace are filled with tremendous danger. We can’t get in too deep. Let me scout out the outer perimeter of the palace first.”

“Alright.” Youji nodded.

The two carefully stepped into the estate. The Yi River Palace was extremely large and it had a front hall, a main hall, an inner hall, and many side halls. According to the information Ning had, the other halls of the Yi River Palace were fairly safe, but the main hall was filled with tremendous danger. However, the main hall also had the most treasures.

“The Mirrorsnow Painting. It doesn’t seem to be in the main palace...” Ning could sense from his attunement to his own painting that this second one was actually located in a side hall.