The Desolate Era

Chapter 1 – Entering the City

In a connected area surrounded by large, tall fences. These fences were six meters tall and linked together tightly. Beast swarms definitely wouldn’t be able to charge inside past them. Within the massive wooden fences, there were stone houses, wooden houses, and large numbers of fur-clad men, women, children, and elderly people living their lives here.

This was a very ordinary tribe with several thousand tribesmen.

“My child was captured within these few dozen kilometers!” The black-robed man walked within a mountain forest, heading towards the massive tribal gate. “And this is the tribe nearest the place he was taken from.”

“Halt.”

“Halt.”

The main gate to the tribe was shut, and on each side there were two archer towers. Each archer tower had five powerful, beast-clad warriors within. All of them had their bows drawn and nocked, and they aimed at the distant, black-clothed man who was drawing near.

“Outsider, state your intentions.” A warrior atop the archer tower said angrily.

The black-robed man glanced at him sideways, as though looking at an ant. His footsteps didn’t stop, and he continued towards the gate.

The ten warriors on the archer tower all grew angry…

“Kill him!” Instantly, ten greatbows shot out at the same time! Beng! Beng! Beng! One arrow after another screamed through the air at the black-clothed man, each of them containing enough force to shatter boulders or make large trees collapse. But when these ten arrows drew near the black-clothed men, they all went, zizizi….

The shafts of the arrows cracked, then disintegrated.

The man continued to walk forward.

“Not good.” The ten warriors on the archer tower were alarmed, and one of them grabbed his oxhorn and gave it a mighty blow!

“Wu, wu, wu!” The deep sound from the horn was powerful and penetrative. It quickly spread to the entire tribe, and the men, women, children, and elders of the tribe all grabbed their weapons while assembling. In order to survive in this world…men, women, children, and elders all had to act as battle-hardened warriors.

When the tribesmen assembled and began to roar and charge towards the door….

Shua!

That incomparably thick black ironwood gate suddenly exploded, transforming into countless pieces of splinters that flew away. Every single splinter was more terrifying than the arrows of the tribe’s archers, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of warriors located close to the door all died or were maimed. Blood stained the ground, but the warriors weren’t afraid at all. Instead, they charged forward with even more furious howls.

“Hold!” A shout rang out.

A white haired old man dressed in beast fur transformed into a blur as he charged towards the empty ground in front of the door.

The enraged tribal warriors came to a halt as they looked at the white-haired old man who wore a grey beast pelt. This old man was the leader of the tribe.

“Mighty hero, might I ask, what can our Goldblade Tribe do to assist you?” The white-haired old man bowed respectfully. Someone capable of shattering their gate just through releasing his internal energy was, without a question, a Xiantian lifeform, and Xiantian lifeforms, even amongst the local hegemon, the Ji clan, were people with extremely exalted statuses.

At this moment, the black-clothed man leisurely strolled in.

“I ask you.” The black-clothed man looked at the white-haired elder. “Have there been any serpent monsters in the area recently?”

“Serpent monsters?” The white-haired old man paused, then hurriedly nodded. “There are. Recently, a serpent monster appeared, and many small tribes were devastated by it. The week following that, the tribes sent the news to the Ji clan…and the Ji clan sent their black armored riders to resolve with that calamitous snake monster.”

The black-clothed man’s narrow eyes flashed with cold light.

So it was indeed the Ji clan!

The Ji clan was a powerful organization in this area. Even an ancient monster like him didn’t want to go bother it. He had previously guessed that it must have been the Ji clan which had captured his son Redtip, and now it seemed this was indeed the case.

“Killed or captured?” The black-clothed man continued to ask.

“Taken alive.” The white-haired old man said. “The Ji clan sent their black armored riders, who captured the snake monster alive, then went back. Most likely, it is currently in West Prefecture City!”

“West Prefecture City?” The black-clothed man’s eyes had a hint of fire hidden within them. The fire of rage.

West Prefecture City, to Diremonsters, was the most dangerous place possible.

That was where the experts of the Ji clan of the Western Prefecture gathered! Diremonsters didn’t dare go there. If his child was there…the chance of him being able to rescue his child and bring him back was very, very low.

“Human.” The black-clothed man looked at the white-haired elder. His voice was cold. “Do you know who I am?”

When the white-haired elder heard himself be addressed as ‘human’, his face instantly changed.

Monster!

And it was a terrifying Diremonster who could take human form!

“Huhuhu…” The temperature suddenly dropped, and a vast layer of frost began to appear. Even plumes of snow began to drift down. The terrifying low temperature began to spread, and the surrounding tribal warriors quickly were frozen into ice, then shattered into small pieces.

“Quick, leave!” The white-haired old man’s hair and eyebrows had a layer of ice form over them, and the tribesmen behind him roared, “A Diremonster! Flee, flee!”

“Quick.”

“Flee.”

All of the tribesmen gritted their teeth, enduring their pain and rage as they began to flee. Many other tribal warriors shouted heroically as they charged towards the black-clothed man like maddened demons, but when they got near him…the layer of frost on their bodies grew thicker, and then they quickly turned into ice statues.

The old man’s internal energy was valiantly fighting. He howled out stutteringly, “You dare provoke the mighty Ji clan?”

“Provoke?” The black-clothed man’s pitch-black long hair fluttered in the air. His eyes flashed with a scarlet red light. “The snake monster was my child, my most beloved child. I’m not only going to provoke them, I’m also going to break into the West Prefecture City!”

“Roaaaar!”

A world-shaking furious howl.

The black-clothed man transformed into a coiled serpent, an enormous black serpent which howevered in mid-air. The enormous scaled wings of the coiled serpent fully extended, like a massive net which blocked the sun off from the tribesmen. The tribesmen who had scattered in each direction raised their head and saw this terrifying sight, and all of them were filled with utter terror.

“It’s Serpentwing!”

“It’s the Diremonster of Serpentwing Lake!”

Not a single tribal warrior now had the thought of fighting back. Ever since they were born, they had heard the ancient legends of the ‘Diremonster of Serpentwing Lake’. They knew how terrifying Serpentwing was. There was no way their Goldblade Clan could fight against this sort of terrifying Diremonster!

“All die!”

“All of you must die!”

The enormous Serpentwing enveloped the area below with its massive wings, bloodlust in its scarlet red eyes. It suddenly opened its massive maw and breathed. Huuuuuu. An endless, freezing black wind arose, so strong that even a layer of the ground was stripped off, and some stone houses collapsed. The large amount of black wind quickly surrounded the entire area for nearly ten kilometers around.

“Cough, cough.” The tribesmen all held their throats, their bodies quickly turning pitch black.

“No.” A woman held her child, tears running down her face like a river.

“Diremonster, the Ji clan will definitely avenge us!” A powerful warrior who had reached the peak of power in internal energy stopped his own breathing, but the poisonous gas stilled penetrated through his skin. In the last moment of his life, all he could do was let out this bitter shout.

Soon….

The territory of the Goldblade Tribe turned into a desolate, silent wasteland. Not a hint of life or sound. All of the tribesmen of the Goldblade Tribe had been turned to ice statues, shattered into pieces, or poisoned to death. The entire area for ten kilometers around…had turned into a charnel house. Even poisonous bug-type creatures had been poisoned to death.

The enormous Serpentwing gently flapped its wings as it stared below. After sensing that all life was gone, it casually flew away at high speed, disappearing into the sky.

…..

Night descended. A cold wind blew drearily. The distant, massive West Prefecture City stretched off into the distance.

“Swoosh!” A black shadow easily flashed past the walls, avoiding the patrolling black armored riders and stealthily entering the city.

“My child, where are you?”

The black-clothed man began to search within West Prefecture City.

This was the first time the Diremonster, Serpentwing, had entered West Prefecture City. After investigating for a long time, he discovered, to his pain, “Monsters that are taken alive are all delivered to the inner city. And the inner city is the place where the Ji clan lives. It is guarded very tightly. There are many Xiantian lifeforms living there…there is no way I can sneak in.”

Sneaking into West Prefecture City was fairly easy.

Sneaking into the inner city?

That was the place where the clan members of the Ji clan lived. How exceedingly tight did the security of such a place have to be?

“Hu!”

A moment later.

In the air above the West Prefecture City, Serpentwing flew high into the sky while at the same time, using its natural-born ability to control water, it quickly created a large amount of fog and clouds with the moisture in the air. The fog surrounded the nearby area, and he secretly stared down below from the skies, carefully watching every single place.

Past midnight.

Ning was by himself in Dragon Castle. Today was the day for his once every three days cage battle.

“Young master.”

“Young master.”

The black armored riders and some servants of Dragon castle were all extremely respectful to him.

Ning’s father was the number one expert of the Ji clan! And Ning himself was extremely talented, so many people had already begun to believe…Ning would be the next Prefecture Lord. One could imagine how exalted his status was.

“Prepare the most formidable monster.” Ning laughed and called out.

“Recently, we had a powerful monster delivered here. It was brought to us by Commander Blindfish. It has the lineage of the Fiendgods.” A one-armed old man called out loudly.

“A monster with Fiendgod lineage?” Ning revealed a hint of delight on his face. “Excellent. Today I’ll be able to have a fun fight then. Quick, arrange for it to be sent to the cage.”

“Alright.”

The one-armed old man went to make the arrangements.

Dragon Castle was divided into the cage and the beast tunnels. Naturally, the beast tunnels was where the monsters lived, all of which were kept in captivity here.

“Roaaar!” The massive red serpent wrapped up in chains, upon seeing the human in the massive cage outside, let out a deep, angry growl.

“Keep shouting.” The one-armed old man sneered coldly. “You ate so many humans. Today is the day of your death. Go. Open the door, and then release the chains…let it enter the cage.”

“Yes.”

The servants who had been installed here for the purposes of taking care of the monsters went to make the arrangements.

“Rumble.” After opening the gate between the cage and the beast tunnels, a faint, glimmering light could be seen from afar. The giant red snake instantly looked over and began to let out a growling sound.

“Release the chains.” The one-armed elder ordered.

“Clank.”

“Clank.”

One chain after another was released. Feeling the layers of chains on its body quickly loosen, the giant red snake couldn’t help but begin to wriggle, making the chains rattle against each other. After the last one was released…with a clanking sound, the entire chain apparatus fell to the floor with a loud sound.

The giant red snake stared coldly at the one-armed elder, and then slithered its way at high speed out of the tunnel towards the place which had just been opened to it. It quickly arrived in the cage outside.

Within the enormous cage…

A red-lipped, white-toothed, fur-clad young man was staring at it from afar. The giant red snake’s saliva instantly began to drool out. Given the extensive man-eating experience it had, it had the sudden knowledge…that this sort of human youngster’s flesh was definitely the most tender and most delicious of them all.