The Desolate Era

Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 15 – Adventurers

The day after Ji Ning arrived at the Windsource Chaosworld.

Ning alighted upon an ordinary-looking planet in the midst of the primordial chaos.

“This planet is perfectly ordinary. There are trillions of planets like this one in the primordial chaos.” Ning nodded slowly. “Ordinary is perfect. I’ll put the prisonworld right here.”

Ning waved his hand, causing a stone stele to sink down into an unfathomably deep crevice. It fell tens of thousands of kilometers, then sank deep within a dark underground river that carried it deeper into the earth.

He was going to adventure through the Badlands Territory and perhaps even leave it one day. Something dangerous might happen. He had to have a backup plan that would ensure that he would have the chance to recover! The backup clone for his true bod would remain here. Even if he lost his true body, his clone would be able to eventually recover and rebuild.

“However, according to the legends, there are some terrifyingly powerful secret arts that can simultaneously slay all of a person’s clones at once.” Ning was still quite wary.

The lifeblood oath was one example. If one violated a lifeblood oath, one’s true body, Primaltwin, and clones would all be devoured and killed by it! This was because the true body and the Primaltwin were linked together in a very special manner that the lifeblood oath could access.

In the endless primordial chaos, there were supposedly certain terrifying figures who could use special secret arts to achieve the exact same effect, killing all the clones belonging to one’s true body or Primaltwin! It didn’t matter how many clones you had; you would still die! This, too, was part of the information which World God Northrest had left behind for Ning. However, these powerful secret arts were extremely difficult to train in and also incredibly rare. Less than one in ten thousand World-level experts was capable of such a technique.

As for Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals? The vast majority weren’t even aware that such techniques existed.

“Even though I’ll have a clone here, I still need to be careful,” Ning reminded himself.

Swoosh.

Ning flew away from this planet. This planet was quite far away from the Windsource Chaosworld, and Ning had to spend more than half a day before he could finish teleporting back.

The Windsource Chaosworld. The Eastcalm Mountains. The Sunrise Courtyard.

This was a quiet, peaceful, ordinary-looking little courtyard. This was the place where Ning would live.

Whoosh.

A streak of light flew in from afar, alighting within the courtyard. It was Ji Ning, who had just returned from that distant, desolate planet.

“General.” A voice rang out from outside the courtyard gates.

Ning glanced towards the gates, then smiled. “Come in.”

The gates were pushed open and three goldscale soldiers walked in from outside. These three were all goldscale captains of the Fogstone Army. The leader of the three was Elder God Mountain Eater, who Ning had met the previous day. Next to him was an alluringly beautiful woman who had a bushy, snowy-white tail, and a jade-haired man who emanated a freezing aura.

“General, you headed out early in the morning. These two didn’t have a chance to come pay their respects to you,” Elder God Mountain Eater said with as mile.

“So these are the other two captains?” Ning looked at the other two.

Mountain Eater quickly made the introductions. “This one here is Immortal Soulflight.”

“Greetings, General.” The alluring female goldscale captain who had a bushy white tail spoke out, her voice tinged with mesmerizing charm.

“And this is Elder God Tearwell.” Mountain Eater then introduced the icy-looking jade-haired man next to him.

“Greetings, General.” Elder God Tearwell was quite respectful as well.

“The three hundred-plus Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals stationed here at the Windsource Chaosworld are usually divided up into three squads. The three of us are the captains of the squads, with the Starlord having originally assigned me to be the leader.” Mountain Eater continued, “Now that you are here, General, we will of course obey your commands.”

Ning nodded and smiled. “Soulflight, Tearwell, this is our first time meeting each other. In the future, we’ll often be fighting by each other’s sides. Please sit! Let’s chat while sitting down.”

The four seated themselves around a wooden table within the courtyard. Ning waved his hand, causing some fine wine to appear.

“I’m new here and don’t have a good understanding of the situation between our forces and the forces of the Blacklotus Empire. Tell me a bit about the situation,”Ning said.

“General.” Immortal Soulflight’s voice was very pleasing to the ear. “This is a border world. The closest Blacklotus Empire border world would be the Songbug Chaosworld. Sometimes, they’ll ambush us; sometimes, we’ll ambush them. Generally speaking, the battles are kept fairly small-scale. Large scale battles which involve hundreds of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals are very rare.”

“Oh?” Ning nodded slowly.

“Still, they usually ambush us more than we ambush them.” Soulflight shook her head. “We control the Windsource Chaosworld and its Windsource Ruins. Every single unaffiliated Elder God or Ancestral Immortal has to pay us a bottle of chaos nectar if they wish to test their luck. Over the course of a chaos cycle, we will usually collect a cube of chaos nectar.”

A cube of chaos nectar represented a thousand bottles.

This was a sum that would make any World-level expert turn green with envy.

“That’s why the Blacklotus Empire deeply desires to take over our Windsource Chaosworld and why they launch repeated ambushes against us. However, we’ve long ago set up many layers of formations around the Eastcalm Mountains. This chaosworld is our territory. When they try to ambush us, they usually end up suffering more losses than we do.” Soulflight continued, “When all of our Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals join forces, we can hold off even an enemy World God. Thus, the Blacklotus Empire has never been able to do anything to us.”

“Mm.” Ning understood.

The Blacklotus Empire lusted after the Windsource Chaosworld, but they would most likely need to mobilize their World Gods if they wanted to actually take it over. But once their World-level experts made a move, the war would instantly escalate to a dramatically different level.

Fogstone had a long history, deep roots, and more World-level experts.

The Blacklotus Empire didn’t dare to launch a large-scale war against such a powerful organization without a very good reason. That’s why the conflicts between the two were usually contained to the Elder God and Ancestral Immortal level. In truth, these ‘conflicts’ were primarily meant to help train and temper their subordinates, as only through engaging in life-and-death battles would they be able to grow and improve. Almost none of the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals stationed here had been alive for more than a chaos cycle. But of course, the Blacklotus Empire probably also hoped that they might eventually get lucky and successfully take over the Windsource Chaosworld.

Ning chatted with three captains for a long period of time, gaining a general understanding of the disposition of the three.

Elder God Mountain Eater looked like a violent hulking brute, but he was actually a very steady figure. This was probably the reason why the Starlord of Fogstone had ordered the others to follow his lead.

Ancestral Immortal Soulflight was a very excitable individual. Each time the conversation turned to warfare and combat, her eyes would gleam with excitement. She was most likely the type that loved to fight.

As for Elder God Tearwell, he was a taciturn man.

Time continued to flow on. More than a hundred years had passed since Ning had arrived at the Windsource Chaosworld.

“Why have you come to the Windsource Chaosworld?” The black-robed Ancestral Immortal appeared within the skies, staring towards a golden-robed man that was sitting within a giant warship.

“Cut the crap. I’m here for the ruins.” The golden-robed man said lazily, “Take your bottle of chaos nectar.”

He tossed out a bottle of chaos nectar. The black-robed Ancestral Immortal caught the bottle and frowned, but remained silent. These cultivators were willing to pay the fee of a bottle of chaos nectar in order to avoid offending Fogstone, but they wouldn’t necessarily be polite about it.

Whoosh.

Space rippled like a curtain. Moments later, Ji Ning appeared.

“Eh?” Ning glanced at the golden-robed man within the large warship.

“Greetings, Sentinel. He’s an adventurer,” the black-robed Ancestral Immortal said.

“Oh.” Ning nodded. This was his first time encountering an outsider during the century he had spent here.

The golden-robed man on the warship glanced sideways at Ning, then muttered softly to himself, “Sentinel? Hmph.” He waved his hand, causing an entire host of Immortals and Fiendgods to appear next to him, all of whom had the auras of either Elder Gods or Ancestral Immortals. There had to be over a hundred of them, and all of them were extremely respectful, addressing the golden-robed man as ‘master’.

“Let’s go.” The golden-robed man seemed quite relaxed.

The great warship flew off into the distance, disappearing in the horizons as it flew towards the ruins.

“He actually has that many retainers?” Ning was surprised.

“He’s a rather famous figure amongst the Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals who go out adventuring. His name is Elder God Skysouth. He’s a supreme Elder God, but during one of his adventures he lucked into a large trove of treasures. He used those treasures to purchase over a hundred Elder God and Ancestral Immortal slaves.” The black-robed Ancestral Immortal explained, “After buying all those slaves, he then purchased an Elder God Formation! With that formation and with those Elder Gods, he’s able to use his slaves to defend against even a World-level expert for a brief period of time. That’s why he is so arrogant and brash.”

Ning nodded.

Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals enjoyed very long lives. They knew that if they didn’t reach the World-level during their first chaos cycle, they essentially would have no hope of ever reaching that level. Upon realizing that they wouldn’t be able to make any more breakthroughs, many of them would decide to go out ‘adventuring’ and exploring the ruins left behind by ancient powers.

They loved to court death, loved the feeling of adventure. A single successful expedition could result in enormous rewards.

Elder God Skysouth was a classic example. Because of one enormously successful trip, he had ended up being able to purchased over a hundred Elder Gods as well as an Elder God Formation, becoming an often-discussed figure amongst the adventuring cultivators.

“It’s time I pay a visit to the Windsource Ruins myself,” Ning mused to himself. On the first day he had arrived, Ning had acquired a detailed report regarding the Windsource Ruins from the black-robed Ancestral Immortal. The Three Realms was a place that was somewhat lacking in opportunities, but the Badlands Territory was a place with many legacies left behind by ancient powers.

It had been countless years, but the Windsource Ruins still had yet to be fully investigated. Even World-level experts had died within it. Clearly, the ancient power who had left behind the Windsource Ruins was someone who surpassed World Gods in power.

Given that Ning had a clone located in the prisonworld, Ning definitely had to give this place a good look.