The Desolate Era

Chapter 2 – The Fifth Master

Thousands of magic treasures shot out like rays of sword light, blade light, spear light, and more. They were like thousands of Xiantian Ki Refiners attacking in unison! But Ji Ning did this all by himself. If Ning hadn’t reached the ‘divine will’ level of the soul, there would have been no way for him to control so many magic treasures so accurately.

If Ning hadn’t gained such astonishing regenerative abilities at the Xiantian level as a Fiendgod Body Refiner, he wouldn’t have been able to so wildly have all of his ki explode outwards; the only thing that would have happened was that his arteries and meridians would completely shatter, resulting in him becoming a cripple.

“Swish….”

The black-furred creature didn’t block at all, nor did he dodge at all. He held his arms wide and closed his eyes. He was waiting…hoping…

The corridor was a cacophony of sound.

The black-furred creature was like a mountain collapsing. With a rumbling sound, he fell over!

“Did I wound him?” Ning stared with incomparable hope.

Right now, his body was ravaged, his meridians and arteries were ripped, and not a single drop of his Xiantian ki was remaining.

“I must have…I must have…” Ning stared hopefully. From afar, the fallen black-furred creature suddenly sat up, lowering his head to look at his chest. At his chest, his black fur had been torn apart, revealing faintly red flesh and deep green-colored blood. A thin line of blood oozed out from the wound, and then the wound rapidly healed, leaving behind only that line of deep green blood.

Ning’s eyes instantly turned round, and he stared at the traces of deep green blood on the chest of that black-furred creature.

Success!

He had succeeded!

He would live!

“Father. Mother. I’ve survived.” Ning’s Fiendgod-like body was quickly recovering. Although he was unable to move, Ning forgot his pain; rather, he felt wild joy at having overcome that tribulation.

“Wounded me. You wounded me.” From afar, the black-furred creature was first stunned, and then he raised his head, letting out a wild, heroic howl. “Aoooooooooooooooooo!”

This heroic howl contained incomparable madness, sadness, and a sense of release.

Ning managed to sit up as well now, and he stared at the distant, howling black-furred creature….the loneliness and torment which could be heard in this great howl, which had been suppressed for trillions of years, caused even Ning’s heart to feel a sour bitterness.

After a long time, the sound ceased.

The black-furred creature stood up and look at Ning. In his hoarse voice, he said, “Thank you, my new master! Hurry up and bind this Immortal mansion. We will meet again.”

Hua!

Immediately afterwards, the black-furred creature disappeared into thin air.

—————————–

Ning quickly was able to stand up as well. The previous wounds to his meridians had been completely healed now, and he collected the thousands of magic treasures that lay scattered on the floor, storing them into his storage treasure.

“I didn’t expect that in the end, I would rely on these unranked magic treasures to pass the third trial.” Ning let out a long sigh. A Fiendgod Body Refiner at the Xiantian level was able to use thousands of magic treasures in a single combined strike…he had never even heard of such a thing, so prior to this, he hadn’t even considered the possibility.

This was because this sort of action would only be possible for a freakishly talented person like Ning, who clearly was only a Xiantian level, and yet whose soul was already on the level of having ‘divine will’.

Ning had been visualizing the [Nuwa Painting] since he was an infant. The [Nuwa Painting] was one of the best visualization techniques even in the Celestial Realm or the Netherworld Kingdom, much less in the mortal realms… the likes of the Ji clan had never even heard of ‘visualization techniques’. In fact, Ning believed that even in the entire vast area controlled by the Grand Xia Dynasty, the best visualization techniques couldn’t necessarily compare to the [Nuwa Painting].

“Success.”

“I successfully passed this tribulation.” Ning stared at his surroundings. He saw the corpses and skeletons in the distance on the ground, and felt all the more emotional. “The dead became these skeletons. The survivor, according to what the black-furred creature said…I should be the new master.”

Ning was in no hurry to advance. Instead, he sat down in the lotus position and rested.

It took a full day for the Xiantian ki in his body to return to normal. Only then did Ning rise and continue to advance. When walking through the twisting corridors, Ning didn’t move very quickly. Instead, he carefully inspected this ancient Immortal estate.

After a long time…

“Um?” Ning saw that not far away, there was an exit, outside of which a pillar could faintly be seen.

“I’ve arrived?” Ning quickly walked out of the exit, and as he did, he had to suck in a cold breath. This was an incomparably vast palace, at least thousands of meters high. Compared to this vast palace, the nearby hundreds of meters tall corridors appeared to be extremely small.

In the front of the palace, there was an enormous praying mat, which was also three hundred meters in diameter.

And in the back of the palace…

There were also hundreds of enormous prayer mats scattered about as well.

“Such an enormous prayer mat?” Ning’s heart was filled with many questions. “Prayer mats are meant to be sat on, but this three hundred meter long prayer mat…what sort of a giant would sit atop this? And it seems that in addition to the giant who would sit at the top of the hall, there would also be hundreds of other giants sitting in front of him.

“The Immortal estate of Immortal Juhua?” Ning shook his head.

If the Immortal was a human, his body should be sized like a normal humans.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Ning hurriedly walked about, carefully inspecting this palace. The entire palace was very old and plain. Aside from those hundreds of prayer mats, there were no other decorations at all. One plain stone pillar after another supported the palace hall, and on each of the two sides of the palace hall were corridors, some three hundred meters tall, others three thousand meters tall.

There were three of the corridors that were three thousand meters tall, while only two of the corridors that were three hundred meters tall.

“I can’t go in?” Ning discovered that he wasn’t able to enter any of the corridors, including the one he had just come from. It was as though there was an invisible wall blocking them.

“The palace door!” Ning turned to look at the imposing palace door. Outside the palace door…there was an area completely enveloped in mist that one couldn’t see through at all.

Ning stood there, in this incomparably vast palace. He was as small as an ant. He then walked over to one of the prayer mats and sat down. He himself was only 1.7 meters in height, but he was seated on a three hundred meter long prayer mat. Ning felt that this was quite amusing.

“It really is comfortable.”

While sitting on the prayer mat, Ning could feel his mind growing more alert, and even his thoughts became much more rapid and nimble.

“How strange. I clearly have made it past the three trials and arrived at this palace hall. But right now, I’m not able to enter any of the corridors of the palace halls. I’m trapped here.” Ning said to himself. “The original master of this Aquatic Manor, having left behind those three trials, should have made some preparations for the successor who passed those trials, right?”

For example, the black-furred creature was teleported to him, then teleported away.

He himself had been teleported here as well…clearly, someone should be controlling this Aquatic Manor.

—————————-

Right at this moment, as Ning was sitting on the prayer mat and pondering, suddenly, from one of the three thousand meter tall corridors off to the side of the palace hall, an old black bull walked over.

As though sensing it, Ning turned his head to look. As he did, he saw an old black bull that was many meters in length slowly walk in. The old bull’s eyes were filled with curiosity and liveliness as it carefully inspected Ning.

“Senior, might I ask who you are?” Ning immediately spoke out.

Most likely every single creature which appeared within this Aquatic Manor was extraordinary.

“Me?” The old black bull shook its head. “Don’t call me ‘Senior’. I’m nothing more than the spirit of a magic treasure.”

“Spirit of a magic treasure?” Ning was astonished. “Magic treasures have spirits?”

He’d never heard of such a thing.

“I’m the magic treasure which Immortal Juhua always kept by his side.” The old black bull sighed. “Child, don’t think too much about it. Even if I brought my ‘body’ in front of you, given your power, there is no way you would be able to bind me.”

Ning nodded. He understood this. As a Xiantian, he was only capable of binding some unranked magic treasures. Even ranked treasures had high and low level ones. The more powerful the magic treasure, the more difficult binding it was!

“Might I ask about the status of the master of this Immortal estate?” Ning hurriedly asked.

“Dead. All dead.” The old black bull shook its head. “Dead for I don’t even know how many years.”

Ning nodded to himself. It was as he had thought.

“It has been too long, far too long. Over these slow, countless ages, I’ve teleported in quite a few Xiantian-level Fiendgod Body Refiners, as well as Zifu Disciples.” The old black bull sighed. “Unfortunately, not a single one was able to succeed. At most, they would make it to the third trial, where they would all die. I didn’t expect that you, child, who clearly don’t have sufficiently dense divine power, would be able to succeed. This can be considered a miracle.”

“That third trial in particular.”

“Your soul has actually reached such a stage of power. However, the technique which you used is completely impractical.” The old black bull said disdainfully. “Thousands of magic treasures, aimed in a single direction. All the enemy has to do is dodge, and then you would have to immediately control thousands of magic treasures to change direction and aim at him again…it will be very hard for you to actually strike your enemy.”

Ning nodded. “True.”

“However, that golem was driven to nearly the point of insanity by the torment of countless years of loneliness, and so he actively welcomed the attack.” The old black bull said. “And so, you succeeded.”

“Golem?” Ning said in surprise. “It was a golem?”

He had seen golems before. When he had been training with a sword, his father had procured a training golem for him. But that black-furred creature just now…it had blood, had flesh, and was even capable of speech. How could it be a golem?

“Child, how much do you know? There are many different types of golems. That one just now was just a golem which had a soul inserted into it.” The old black bull said. “After implanting a soul into it, it gains intelligence and is even capable of displaying the ‘one with the world’ sage, or even more profound sword techniques, saber techniques, boxing techniques, etc. Naturally, its power would multiply manifold.”

Ning now understood.

“As the soul trapped within the golem who is forever incapable of being reincarnated, it will be endlessly tormented.” The old black bull said. “However, your own level of enlightenment is not low. That lotus flower you created earlier was based on the fact that your body has the Divine Solar Tattoo and the Divine Lunar Tattoo. For you to have these two great divine tattoos means that you most likely are training in the most powerful Fiendgod Body Refining technique of the Fiendgod era, the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. Given your density of divine power, I expect you have only reached the fourth stage!”

Ning hurriedly said, “Senior, your judgment is wise.”

“The [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] is a very powerful technique.” The old black bull sighed. “You were able to break through to the Xiantian level, but you are only at the fourth stage. Most likely, you broke through just recently. You should be only ten or so years old as well.”

“Eleven.” Ning didn’t try to hide it.

“An eleven year old Xiantian who trains in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. And at such a young age, you were able to reach the ‘True Meaning of the Dao’ in swordplay.” The old black bull shook its head. “A genius like this is someone whom even the Grand Xia Dynasty would expend countless efforts in cultivating and training. There’s no way they would be willing to let someone like you take tutelage under the auspices of Immortal Juhua.”

Ning lifted an eyebrows.

“Actually, just by reaching the sixth stage, given the amount of divine power you would have, and your understanding of the ‘True Meaning of the Dao’, you would have been able to succeed in the third trial. However, for you to succeed in the way you have is still quite impressive. Your soul is powerful, and your level of enlightenment is high. Your future accomplishments will be limitless.” The old black bull sighed. “I still have to congratulate you. You have become the fifth master of this place.”