Desolate Era

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was sunset. By now, only the silhouette of half the sun could be seen.

“Today, things will end here. Those who wish to join my Black-White College, please come early tomorrow morning.” The black-haired middle-aged man on the boat within the lake waved his hand as he spoke, and the bronze mirror in the air above him rapidly began to shrink to the size of a palm as it landed towards his hand. After that, the ship automatically began to move towards the other side of the lake.

The man stored away the ship, then disembarked. He looked at the thronging masses of youths, then nodded slightly. “Those who are confident in themselves will generally come on the first day to apply for entry. The majority of those who were accepted by my Black-White College all came on the first day.”

“A total of 962 of you have passed the preliminary selection process on the first day, but the number of which you who will truly be able to join my Black-White College can be counted on one hand. Thus, all of you must be incomparably cautious. You must put forth your full effort.”

“Yes.” The nine hundred plus selectees all responded in unison. The black-haired man nodded. “Mm. Follow me.” Turning, he walked away.

Instantly, this group of young Immortal practitioners all moved to follow him. Ning turned to glance backwards, and he saw that on the other side of the lake, there were quite a few people still waiting quietly. These should most likely be the family, friends, and servants of the selectees. There was also a large Whitewater Hound who stood there, quietly staring towards this side.

……..

The Black-White College, located within Stillwater City, took up an area with a circumference of roughly nine hundred kilometers. Amongst the various Immortal practitioner schools, this was definitely one of the smaller ones. Still, nine hundred kilometers…in his past life on Earth, one of the trillion minor worlds, it would be comparable to a local county. As for Stillwater City, the very heart of Stillwater Commandery and a place where countless powerful experts gathered, it was larger than entire countries back on Earth.

Given that it was roughly comparable to a county in size, strictly speaking, the Black-White College couldn’t be described as ‘small’ per se. And within the Black-White College, there was even a small mountain range.

Ning and the rest of his group, under the guidance of the black-haired man, quickly advanced more than a hundred kilometers, arriving within a gorge. “Halt,” the black-haired man said. The nine hundred plus individuals all came to a halt.

“Arise,” the black-haired man suddenly barked.

Rumble…

This wide, spacious gorge had a perimeter of many kilometers. Suddenly, from far away, a curtain of clear water could be seen, which had formed into an enormous grand sealing formation. This grand sealing formation was extraordinary large; not only did it cover the entire gorge, it even covered several of the nearby mountain peaks. Naturally, the nine hundred plus selectees were trapped within it as well.

“Rumble…” “Rumble…” “Rumble…” Multiple mechanical noises rang out. From within one of the caverns within the region covered by the grand sealing formation, multiple giant shadows suddenly flew out. 810 of these shadows flew out consecutively, halting in midair.

These were 810 dragon heads, all of which had their mouths open wide as they stared down below.

“A grand construct formation.” “A grand formation formed from more than 810 constructs!” Some of the nine hundred plus Immortal cultivators below instantly began to call out, quite a few of their faces ashen.

Swoosh! The black-haired middle-aged man charged into the skies, flying to the top of those 810 dragon heads. At the same time, five additional figures flew out from the cave next to him, each with powerful auras. There were a total of six figures, including the black-haired man; five men, one woman. All of them stared downwards.

“Listen up,” the black-haired man barked. “Afterwards, the grand golem formation will launch attacks…what all of you need to do is endure the attacks and charge into the skies, and to arrive at this cavern by my side. You have as much time as it takes for a stick of incense to finish burning. If you do so, that means you’ve succeeded. But if no one manages to reach this cave before the stick of incense is burnt up, that means none of you are qualified to join my Black-White College!”

Some of the nine hundred plus youths below were confident, while others were nervous. Still others just waited quietly.

“Hiss.” A stick of incense appeared out of nowhere within the black-haired man’s hands, and then it was immediately set alight. At the same time, those 810 dragon head’s simultaneously began to glow with a dazzling azure light, and then, from the mouth of every single dragon head shot out rays of azure lightning. The sound was thunderous! Boom! Boom! Boom! One bolt of lightning after another rained down upon them.

It was as though ten thousand bolts of lightning were descending at the same time!

“It begins now!” The black-haired man barked at them.

……

Given that the dragon heads had begun to vomit lightning, and that the stick of incense had already been lit, everyone knew that it had begun.

“Charging into that cave won’t be easy.” Ning raised his head, giving it a glance. In his heart, he instantly realized that because the 810 dragon heads were next to the side of the cave, if one wished to enter it, one would have to fly directly past those 810 dragon heads…which were constantly raining thunderbolts downwards towards them.

Down below, given how much space there was, each person wouldn’t have to face too many thunderbolts. But the closer one flew towards the cave, the more tightly packed the thunderbolts would be.

“Bang!” Ning, wielding his Darknorth swords, chopped directly towards one of the encroaching thunderbolts. The Darknorth swords were filled with elemental ki, and were capable of blocking lightning.

“So powerful.” Ning felt his hands tremble violently. “The power of this lightning is significant.”

“Up!” “Let’s go!” “Charge!”

Instantly, multiple figures mounted their magic treasures and, in unison, charged towards the sky. But the farther up they went, the more thunderbolts awaited them. They were only able to hold on for a few breaths, making it halfway up, then were knocked downwards by the dense rain of thunderbolts, forced to land again.

…..

The six Primal Daoists of the Black-White College who were above the dragon heads watched on, chatting and laughing amongst themselves. “Everyone, of these youths, how many do you think will enter the caves?” A middle-aged man with a long beard laughed as he asked this question.

A short, chubby, bald man chortled. “Perhaps not even a single one.” “It shouldn’t be that bad,” a white-robed woman said with a laugh. “There should at least be three or four who can enter the cave. Look, there’s someone charging upwards. She shouldn’t be too weak.”

Instantly, the other Primal Daoists turned to look carefully. A black-clothed woman was charging into the skies, her body surrounded by multiple tendrils. When the lightning bolts struck against her, the tendrils and vines would actively go block the lightning, defending against one bolt after another.

Soon, she made it to the halfway point, and moved closer and closer towards the formation of dragon heads. “Half of the grand golem formation.” The black-haired, middle-aged man suddenly spoke softly, and instantly, of the 810 dragon heads, 405 of them focused on that black-clothed woman.

Instantly, thousands of bolts of lightning wildly, completely focused on that black-clothed woman. Although those tendrils and vines struggled ferociously, they weren’t able to do anything. BOOM! Vines and tendrils exploded, and the black-clothed woman fell down from the skies.

“She couldn’t even withstand half.” The black-clothed, middle-aged man shook his head. The white-robed woman shook her head as well. “She can’t be considered a true genius.”

……

Ning was in no rush to charge forward. He watched for a period of time first. He watched as that black-clothed youth who also trained in the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens] charged upwards. As that youth moved extremely close to the formation of dragon heads, he suddenly suffered the attack of every single dragon head. As the youth slammed to the ground, Ning understood everything.

“At the very bottom, you only have to meet an occasional bolt of lightning. The higher up you to, the more bolts will strike you. If you pass the halfway point, you will suffer an attack from half of the dragon heads. And, when you are extremely close, you will suffer mass attacks from all the dragon heads.”

“You have to be able to withstand the full might of all of the dragon heads in order to enter the cavern. At such short range…even if two or three people joined forces, upon suffering the full bront of the attacks of the dragon heads, whether or not they work together becomes of little importance.” Ning understood this principle. When they were extremely close to the dragon heads, the amount of space for maneuvering was too small. The myriad thunderbolts would form a nearly complete, solid attack. A web of lightning would completely surround that entire region, and to pass, one would have to charge through. There were no shortcuts around it!

“Charge!” After making sure that there were no other oddities, Ning’s body instantly became surrounded by six full layers of Waterflame Lotuses. At the same time, a flying sword appeared beneath his feet, and he immediately controlled the sword to soar into the skies.

“Let’s go!” “Charge!” At virtually the same instant Ning flew upwards, eight other figures charged upwards as well. These had all been watching silently. After seeing how the black-clothed man had, in the end, suffered attacks from all the dragon heads…they all realized that there were no shortcuts to be taken, and so had decided to charge.

“Charge!” The black-clothed man, who had fallen down halfway, gritted his teeth upon seeing the others charge upwards. He, too, flew upwards yet again.

……

The 810 dragon heads were clustered in one location, quite close to the cave. To enter this cave, one would have to pass through the center of them…which ensured that one would have to face all 810 attacks.

The Six Primal Daoists stared downwards, watching. “This fellows are all quite spirited. None of them are holding back now.” The black-haired, middle-aged man laughed. “Everyone, who do you think will pass?”

“That fellow controlling the Azure Dragon construct.” The white-clothed woman’s eyes lit up as she stared at a white-clothed youth who stood atop an Azure Dragon. This white-robed youth was clearly quite young; there was still a hint of youthful shyness on his face, but the Azure Dragon construct under his control was incomparably nimble, occasionally dodging while knocking aside the bolts of lightning at other times.

“Within this grand sealing formation of ours, one can only use a golem or construct which one personally made.” The white-clothed woman continued, “Look at how he controls that construct. He’s at the level where it is like controlling part of his body; he is the construct, and the construct is him. He is absolutely a genius of the Dao of Constructs.”

“Mm.” “Right.” “Formidable.” The others all nodded and assented. These Primal Daoists were no ordinary Primal Daoists; they were the Primal Daoists of Black-White College. All of them were naturally extraordinary figures, and their judgement was impeccable. They could instantly tell that this white-clothed youth had astonishing talent in the Dao of Constructs.

“What do you think of the others?” The black-haired, middle-aged man laughed.

“The others?” “I don’t see anyone particularly outstanding.” “They are average.”

These Primal Daoists all had extremely high standards; although all of the others, Ning included, had displayed formidable abilities, there was nothing which could make these Primal Daoists feel surprised.

“Hahaha.” The black-haired, middle-aged man instantly began to laugh loudly. “All of you bury yourselves in training. We’ve asked you to come this time to organize the acceptance of new disciples, but you aren’t aware of many things. As for this old Daoist…I collect news from everywhere, and know that there is a true genius in this group. Look over there; that fur-clad youth whose body is surrounded by those blooming lotuses of fire and water.”

“Him?” The other five Primal Daoists looked over. The white-clothed woman said, “Although his lotuses of fire and water is quite marvelous, it can’t be described as astonishing. What about him?” And indeed, the other Primal Daoists didn’t understand either.action

The black-haired man laughed. “He is dressed in furs, can create lotus flowers of fire and water, and uses a sword…nine out of ten says that he is that youth, Ji Ning, of the Carefree Caverns. A young, early stage Zifu Disciple who has already gained insight into a Dao Domain.”

“Gained insight into a Dao Domain?” The other five Primal Daoists were all shocked, and they all lowered their heads, looking towards Ning, who had seemed so ordinary and unremarkable.