The Desolate Era

Chapter 16 – The Waiting Parents

Within West Prefecture City.

“Yichuan, I heard Ji Ning has already broken through to the Xiantian level. Congratulations!”

“Yichuan, your son really is formidable.”

“He’s only eleven this year, right? A Xiantian at eleven. He ranks amongst the top three talents of the past thousand years for our Ji clan’s Five Prefectures.”

Ji Yichuan, who had always been like an implacable glacier, had a rare hint of delight on his face. Although he was still stiff-faced, those who were familiar with him could sense how happy Yichuan currently was. Ever since Ning had kicked down the walls of the Riverside Tribe with three kicks, then knocked River Sansi flying with another kick, the news had quickly spread back to the Ji clan.

This news had already spread across all five of the prefectures of the Ji clan. As his father, Ji Yichuan naturally felt very happy in his heart. The past two days, he often heard words of praise and congratulations. By nature, people liked to praise the praiseworthy even further. Now that Ning had already been selected to be the next Prefecture Lord, and also was so monstrous as to become a Xiantian lifeform at age eleven, everyone understood that in the future, the lineage of Ji Yichuan and Ji Ning would be incomparably glorious.

This father-son duo’s status in the Five Prefectures of the Ji clan would undoubtedly be extremely high.

“Look at how happy you are.” Yuchi Snow held a flask of water as she watered the flowers.

“How can I not be jubilant?” Yichuan sat on a nearby stone bench. Flipping his hand, he retrieved a bamboo flask, contentedly drinking fruit wine. “Ning was able to kill the Aquatic Rhino King before reaching the Xiantian level. Now that he has broken through to the Xiantian level…he was able to send that Riverside Sansi flying with one kick. River Sansi reached the Xiantian level long ago, and is an expert Ki Refiner of the middle Xiantian level, yet he couldn’t take a single blow from my son. This means that Ning should have reached the Xiantian level in the Fiendgod Body Refining methods as well!”

According to the news from the black armored guards stationed at the Riverside Tribe, Ning had executed sword flashes to send River He’s shortsword flying.

Clearly, Ning had already reached the Xiantian level as a Ki Refiner.

But Yichuan knew his son very well, and knew the weaknesses in his son’s arteries. Most likely only after the Fiendgod Body Refining technique raised him to be a Xiantian level and remade his body would Ning be able to make a breakthrough as a Ki Refiner.

“[Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].” Yichuan looked at Snow. “This is the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. The legendary number one Fiendgod Body Refining method! Our Ji clan has never had someone break through to the Xiantian level through it, but Ning accomplished it. In the future, he will definitely be even more powerful than me. His name will be spread throughout the countless tribes, and our Ji clan will become greater and greater!”

Yichuan was filled with a heroic vigor right now.

“The Ji clan will become greater?” Snow nodded gently. “Perhaps because of my son, the Ji clan will reach the same heights of glory as my Yuchi clan once had, but sadly, my Yuchi clan…”

“There is no clan that will exist forever without perishing.” Yichuan said. “Even the almighty Grand Xia Dynasty which has existed for countless years, ever since being founded during the Fiendgod Era, exterminated other ancient dynasties before unifying this land. Those ancient dynasties had their own extremely long history as well. Weren’t they destroyed in the end also?”

Yuchi Snow nodded. “I understand. I’ve already made my peace with this. In Ning’s veins also flows the blood of my Yuchi lineage. In the future, when Ning’s name is known throughout the boundless earth, my ancestors of the Yuchi clan will feel very happy as well, no doubt.”

“Right.” Yichuan nodded.

———————-

Just as the husband and wife couple were chatting happily, the face of Ji Yichuan, who had been drinking wine from the bamboo tube, suddenly changed. This was the moment where Ning, at Serpentwing’s lair, had suddenly been transported into that mysterious, ancient underwater estate relic site.

“What is it?” Seated next to him, Yuchi Snow noticed that her man’s mood had dramatically changed. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” Yichuan shook his head. “Only, I just remembered something I have to do.”

Snow frowned. “You want to deceive me? Your face is completely incapable of fakery. Given your mental willpower, normal matters aren’t able to cause you to panic…and for you to panic to this degree, this must be a major event. Speak.”

Looking at his wife, Yichuan sighed, “I originally gave Ning a jade sword. No matter how far away he is, I’ll be able to sense Ning’s location. I had warned him quite strictly that he is not permitted to wander more than ten thousand kilometers away from the West Prefecture City. If he goes beyond it, I will capture him, bring him back, and put him in the prison for three years.”

“What, he went more than ten thousand kilometers away from West Prefecture City?” Snow hurriedly asked.

“That’s not it.” Yichuan’s face was unpleasant. “I can’t sense the jade sword at all.”

“What!” Snow, shocked, suddenly rose to her feet, then began to cough, cough very hard.

“I didn’t want to say it, but you forced me to.” Yichuan hurriedly helped support his wife, rubbing her back. “Feel better?”

Snow said frantically, “How can you not be able to sense the jade sword? Didn’t you say that you can sense it no matter how far away it is? If you can’t sense it…does that mean Ning has encountered danger?!”

“Don’t panic.” Yichuan said hurriedly. “There’s two possible answers for why I can’t sense the jade sword.”

“The first possibility is that Ning has encountered some danger, and then took out the jade sword, but before he was able to break it, the enemy instantly disintegrated the jade sword.”

“The second possibility is that Ning was instantly transported to a very distant location, so distant that even I can’t sense it.”

Snow calmed down.

Snow was very experienced as well, and she nodded. “Even if your jade sword was destroyed and broken into small pieces, you should still be able to sense it. Unless it was completely disintegrated; only then would you be unable to sense it. But right now, Ning is very strong. He was able to send River Sansi flying with one kick. If he encountered such great danger that he had to take out the jade sword…he would be able to break it instantly. How could it be that he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to break it?”

“In addition, if an enemy wanted to kill Ning, but was capable of instantly destroying the jade sword in Ning’s hands before Ning had a chance to break it, then he would have the power to easily kill Ning. Why bother with breaking the jade sword?”

Snow’s train of thought helped her calm down slightly.

Logically speaking, her son shouldn’t have died yet!

“So it’s the other possibility.” Yichuan said. “Ning was instantly transported to an incomparably distant location. I can sense my jade sword no matter where it is…although this is a slight exaggeration, within an area of a million kilometers, at least, I should still be able to sense it. To instantly be transported more than a million kilometers is rather inconceivable as well. I think the more likely answer is that Ning should have been transported to another dimension. He stumbled into a relic site.”

“Stumbled into a relic site?” Snow nodded as well.

The two of them had adventured in the outside world, and had significant experience. They knew that this vast, boundless world was incomparably marvelous. The relic sites that were left behind from the Fiendgod era alone were uncountable in number. Some of those greater powers were capable of opening their own small dimension or small world.

“Where was the last place you sensed Ning’s at?” Snow asked hurriedly.

“Serpentwing Lake!” Yichuan said.

“Let’s go to Serpentwing…cough!” Snow started to cough again.

Yichuan said hurriedly, “I’ll go. You can’t go out yet.”

“Ning is in danger. How can I not go?” Yuchi shook her head. “You know this stems from the illness that I had when I was pregnant with Ning. It’s fine.”

Seeing the look in his wife’s eyes, Yichuan could only nod. “Fine. We’ll go find Aunty Flower and borrow her Azure Firebird. We’ll head to Serpentwing Lake at full speed.”

—————————

The vast Serpentwing Lake was very calm.

A godlike husband and wife couple were currently standing atop the back of an enormous Azure Firebird, flying at high speed in the air towards Serpentwing Lake.

“Hurry up and report to the great King that Ji Yichuan has come again. He brought a woman as well.”

“Ji Yichuan.”

“And sitting on that Azure Firebird.”

Some of the lesser aquatic monsters glanced into the sky, then, terrified, hurriedly went to make their report.

On the back of that Azure Firebird, Yichuan and his wife exchanged glances. Soon, Yichuan pointed at a nearby shoreline. “There are black armored guards there. Azure Firebird, go there!” The Azure Firebird hurriedly flew towards that direction, and the two black armored guards that had been keeping watch on the shores of Serpentwing Lake stared in astonishment at the male and female atop the back of the distant Azure Firebird.

“Our respects to you, Commander!” The two black armored guards hurriedly fell to one knee in terror. They all recognized Yichuan.

“I ask you, have you seen my son, Ning?” Yichuan asked directly.

“We saw him.” One of them, the taller black armored guard, immediately replied. “Just now, young master Ji Ning was walking atop the surface of the lake, calling out for Serpentwing to come and do battle with him.”

“Serpentwing?”

Yichuan and Snow both had the same thought. However, they didn’t believe that their son, at his current level of power, wouldn’t even have the chance to break the jade sword when fighting against the Diremonster, Serpentwing. In fact, they even believed that Ning was fully capable of staying alive in the face of Serpentwing’s attacks.

“But this time, the Diremonster, Serpentwing, wasn’t willing to come out.” The black armored guard said. “Young master Ji Ning called him out to do battle multiple times. His voice echoed across the entire lake, and most likely the black armored guards in the other areas all heard it as well. But because Serpentwing still refused to come out, nothing happened. We were too far away, so as to where young master Ji Ning went afterwards while walking on water, we don’t know.”

The island was located in the center of Serpentwing Lake.

The distance from the shore to the island was tens of kilometers. At the distance of tens of kilometers, the black armored guards were not able to see Ning at all.

“Oh? You are certain they didn’t do battle?” Yichuan quickly asked.

“They didn’t. We didn’t hear anything at all.” The two black armored guards were absolutely certain.

—————–

Yichuan went to the other black armored guards to ask them these questions, and even sought out Autumn Leaf and Mowu, who were waiting at the designated meeting point. From these two, Yichuan understood that Ning had come in anger, intending to execute Serpentwing, but Serpentwing had remained in hiding and hadn’t come out…Ning had remained standing atop the water, and then walked off and disappeared!

“Where did he go?” Standing by the lakeside, Yichuan and Snow stared towards the vast lake, frowning in concern.

“Wife, what do you think?” Yichuan looked at his wife.

Snow said pensively, “There wasn’t any disturbance at all. It shouldn’t have been a battle. It’s very possible that it really was an ancient relic site! These relic sites might be in the middle of an empty area, only sealed off from us by a thin barrier, but we can’t see them or sense them at all.”

“Perhaps our son is within a world that is hidden within a single speck of sand at the bottom of Serpentwing Lake.”

“Or perhaps he is within an ancient, hidden formation.”

“Only, the two of us aren’t capable of dealing with any of these possibilities.” Snow shook her head. “All we can do is wait. Wait for our son to come back to us, alive.”

“Right. Wait.” Yichuan looked at the immeasurably vast lake as well. “I believe our son will come from afar, walking across the water back to us.”

Snow nodded gently, leaning against her man.

They were still waiting. Waiting for their son’s return.

——————–

Within the corridor of the aquatic estate, it was very dark. It felt that even the passage of time was slow here.

Ning, his divine power fully recovered, finally stood up. Staring at the other corner of the corridor and its corpses, he understood that he had nowhere to retreat to. If he wanted to leave, he had to go forward!

“I have to live.” Ning stared at those distant corpses, then walked over.