The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

“45,000 kilograms!”

The rage-filled voice echoed through the entire Fortune Peaks, reverberating in the air. This caused quite a few guests to look over. From that rage-filled bid…they could tell that the Youngflame clan must have been truly enraged.

“You imbecile.” Atop the cloud. Youngflame Xiushui, upon hearing his son make the bid, couldn’t help but give his son a hard look. He shouted mentally at him, “Can’t you tell that Ji Ning wants to make a name for himself today? He’s dared to come to the imperial capital openly and without any disguises, and even came to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain headquarter to participate in the Treasure Auction and cause trouble for our Youngflame clan during the bidding. This is all because he wants to make a name for himself!”

“In Stillwater Commandery, even the Northmont clan would have to give our Youngflame clan face. But this isn’t Stillwater Commandery; this is the imperial capital. This isn’t a place where we can just do whatever we please. What he wants to do is make a name for himself and make everyone in the imperial capital know about him, Ji Ning! Later on, he will enter an opposing power, which will make it much harder for our Youngflame clan to act against him.”

Youngflame Xiushui looked at his son. “Earlier, we could’ve just ignored him, but now that you are in a bidding war against him…more and more people are going to know about him.”

“But, but I’ve already made a bid…how about, how about we stop bidding?” Youngflame Jun was beginning to panic.

“Since we’ve made a bid, we can’t lower our heads,” Youngflame Xiushui sent. “The more people are watching, the more careful we need to be not to lose face for our Youngflame clan. Don’t say anything else. Let me handle it.”

“Alright.” Youngflame Jun didn’t dare to say anything else.

……

Ning, upon hearing a bid of ’45,000 kilograms!’ be called out, immediately laughed. This was as perfect as someone delivering a pillow to him, just as he was feeling drowsy. He wanted to make his name known!

“45,000 kilograms. Anything higher?” The black-haired maiden atop the cloud called out.

“If someone else was bidding, I’d just say forget about it. But, since it’s the Youngflame clan that’s bidding, then I, Ji Ning, refuse to back down. 47,500 kilograms!” Ji Ning’s voice rang out as well, echoing within the nine peaks.

“So it really is Ji Ning!”

“Who is Ji Ning?”

“Ji Ning, who killed Youngflame Nong, is at the Treasure Auction?”

Although earlier a few guests had noticed Ning, they only made up a small part of the total people present. Now that Ning spoke out so challengingly…more and more people began to pay attention to him.

……..

“I KNEW he was trying to make himself known.” Youngflame Xiushui’s face was like ice. As for his son, Youngflame Jun, he didn’t dare to make a single sound. He knew that his earlier bid had given Ning his opportunity.

“Little fellow from Stillwater Commandery, you actually want to struggle against my Youngflame clan?” Youngflame Xiushui said calmly, “50,000 kilograms.”

“Hmph, if your Youngflame clan wants this formation diagram, then prepare a bit more liquefied elemental essence. 60,000 kilograms!” Ning once more spoke out.

Youngflame Xiushui’s face sank. This was a formation diagram that was clearly only worth forty to fifty thousand kilograms, but the price had been forcibly uplifted. If he continued to bid, regardless of whether or not he ended up acquiring the formation diagram, the Youngflame clan would still have ‘lost’. This was because, even if they acquired it…they would’ve paid an excessive price for it. But if they didn’t acquire it? It would be akin to having let Ning trample all over them.

“62,500 kilograms,” Youngflame Xiushui growled.

“64,000 kilograms.” Ning didn’t increase the price too much this time.

“My Youngflame clan has plenty of formation diagrams like this. I’ll let you have this one.” Youngflame Xiushui felt as though something was wrong, and he immediately stopped bidding. “You have no skill in formations, but actually bid so much out of spite. How amusing.”

“Hahaha, what’s a mere 64,000 kilograms? It’s nothing. Youngflame Nong, of your Youngflame clan, gifted me with millions of kilograms!” Ning’s laugh rang out.

Youngflame Xiushui’s face immediately sank. Actually, he knew very well that as soon as his son called out a bid of 45,000 kilograms, their side was going to suffer a loss no matter what. This was because Ji Ning’s motivation was to make a name for himself! No matter what, Ning would definitely be able to achieve his goal.

At the price of 64,000 kilograms of liquefied elemental essence, the formation diagram left behind by the Crab-Tortoise Immortal Duo was purchased by Ji Ning. And, in turn, Ji Ning attracted the attention of the vast majority of the guests present.

Those final words in particular, about how ‘Youngflame Nong, of your Youngflame clan, gifted me with millions of kilograms’, was simply too vicious and brutal. Virtually all of the guests present began to murmur amongst themselves.

“Millions of kilograms of liquefied elemental essence?”

“Youngflame Nong was one of the Four Dukelings of the imperial capital; he had quite a few magic treasures on him. Now, all of them were taken away by Ji Ning at one go. I imagine he really does have several million kilograms now.”

“I’m starting to wish I was the one who killed Youngflame Nong.”

“Millions of kilograms. That’s enough to buy even an Immortal-ranked magic treasure!”

Actually, although Youngflame Nong did indeed carry astonishingly valuable treasures on him, of his three most precious treasures, he had already used up two of them; the ‘Lock’ scroll and the black-and-white disc. The only one remaining was the Greater Teleportation Dao-seal, which was something that generally wasn’t even available on the market for those who had enough money to purchase it. Ning wasn’t willing to sell it.

Amongst the many guests. Princess Xiyue stared at Ning from afar, a hint of softness in her eyes. This look was the look one had when one looked at a kinsman.

“Xiyue, you are quite well-disposed towards Ji Ning?” Fairy Azurewillow laughed.

“Yes.” Princess Xiyue nodded.

“Want to bring him on as your groom?” Azurewillow teased.

“Don’t speak nonsense.” Princess Xiyue frowned as she snapped back in a soft voice. She viewed Ji Ning purely as a family member, as a little brother. What was this nonsense about marrying him?

“I have to admit though, this Ji Ning really is bold. He actually dares to go completely head-on against the Youngflame clan.” Fairy Azurewillow sighed. “He even said that Youngflame Nong gifted him with millions of kilograms of liquefied elemental essence. I imagine that when the Youngflame clan heard these words…I don’t even know how angry they must be right now.”

…….

Time flowed on. One treasure after another was auctioned off.

Nearly two hours later.

“Everyone.” The black-haired maiden’s voice suddenly went higher. “Don’t just chat with your friends. This next treasure is the most valuable one this particular Treasure Auction has put up so far. This is truly a treasure which normally cannot be purchased. If you miss this chance, who knows if you’ll ever have another one?”

The many guests all immediately turned to look at her, curious.

Ning, curious, looked over as well. The most valuable treasure thus far? The highest bid for a treasure in this auction thus far had gone up to more than 150,000 kilograms.

“This is an ‘intrinsic magic treasure’, left behind by a peacock-type Godbeast from the Heaven Realm after it died,” the black-haired maiden called out loudly. “And this peacock-type Godbeast had an incomparably pure lineage; even after it had reached the Void level, it was still unable to transform.”

“What?!” Ning, hearing this, was shocked. Unable to transform even after becoming a Void-level Earth Immortal? Could it be that it could only transform after becoming a Celestial Immortal? A Godbeast like this…he hadn’t even heard of such a creature in this world of the Grand Xia.

“This peacock-type Diremonster’s ‘intrinsic magic treasure’ consisted of five plumes.” The black-haired maiden waved her hand, and instantly, five peacock feathers appeared out of nowhere. These five peacock plumes hovered there, emanating a natural aura of might and power. One was wreathed by fire, one was wreathed by water, the third seemed to emanate an aura of infinite ponderance, the fourth howled with golden energy, and the fifth emanated a blurry, azure aura.

When the five plumes appeared, the surrounding space seemed to be immediately frozen.

“That is…!”

Instantly, a series of cries rang out from throughout the Treasure Auction area.

Peacocks were born from the Five Elements, and even amongst such creatures, were the favored children of the heavens. Supposedly, the more pure the lineage of a peacock-type Godbeast was, the more dense and pure the Five Elements essence would be in their plumes. Some were capable of manifesting two plumes, others three. Only those with the most exquisite and pure of Godbeast lineages would be capable of forming five plumes!

A peacock Godbeast with such a pure lineage was definitely no weaker than a Fiendgod. A Void-level peacock Godbeast was most likely comparable to a Celestial Immortal!

“These five plumes it had were innately bestowed with the five elements,” the black-haired maiden said with a laugh. “Unfortunately, it was merely a Void-level Diremonster. If it had been a Diremonster at the Celestial Immortal level…the value of these five plumes would be truly high. Most likely, even Celestial Immortals would go mad for it. But of course, if this peacock Godbeast had become a Celestial Immortal, this plume wouldn’t appear in a place like this. In fact, there’s no way we would sell it.”

Everyone nodded. These five plumes were already incredibly precious; if the peacock had undergone the heavenly tribulation and become a Celestial Immortal, the value of its plumes would probably rise by thousands of times. Most likely, even the emperors of the major worlds would feel desire for it. However, a Celestial Immortal peacock Godbeast with such an exalted, rare, and pure bloodline would probably be comparable to an ordinary True Immortal. It wouldn’t easily perish.

“Although it was merely a Void-level Earth Immortal, given how exalted and noble its lineage was, and how its five plumes were divided into the Five Elements…if these plumes are used to forge a magic artifact, when a few other things are mixed in, they can absolutely produce an Immortal-ranked magic treasure. Normally, it would at least be a high-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure, but if you were lucky, you might even be able to produce a top-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure,” the black-haired maiden said.

These five plumes were the ‘intrinsic magic treasures’ of the peacock-type Godbeast. To humans, however, they could only be used for refining artifacts. As for making them into a top-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure? That was just nonsense. Many other materials would be required, and the chances of success were virtually negligible. However, there truly was a very high chance of producing a high-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure.

“A reserve price of a million kilograms of liquefied elemental essence! Each bid has to increase by at least fifty thousand kilograms!” The black-haired maiden called out.

“1,050,000 kilograms. I’m taking these Five Elements Peacock Plumes.” An ancient voice rang out. The speaker was an old man dressed in a long, gaudy robe that was covered with draconic runes. Anyone who looked at the clothes would be able to tell right away that this should be someone from the imperial clan of the Grand Xia.

But…

In the Treasure Auction, no one gave a damn if you were from the imperial clan!

“My master is going to forge an Immortal-ranked magic treasure of the Five Eleemnts. He’s lacking in some primary materials. 1,100,000 kilograms.” A white-whiskered youth said with a laugh.

“1,150,000 kilograms.” Another man called out, his entire body covered with azure light. He was built like a rod of iron.

“1,200,000 kilograms. I need a Five Elements Immortal-ranked magic treasure for my tribulation.” The speaker was Youngflame Xiushui. By now, he paid no attention to Ji Ning at all; he stared directly at the Five Elements plumes. Clearly, he was determined to acquire it.

“1,250,000 kilograms. The Raindragon Godpeak will take this.” A woman with a monstrous aura that filled the skies spoke out in an icy voice.

Every single person had an extraordinary background. However, the imperial capital of the Grand Xia had its laws, and no one was able to take this thing by force. Everyone had to rely on their own ‘abilities’; whoever had more liquefied elemental essence would win! Materials like this, with a perfect set of the Five Elements…they were indeed extremely rare. You truly might only encounter them once; no one could say when such items would appear again. You couldn’t simply purchase them, even if you had enough liquefied elemental essence.

Many people wanted to acquire them. So, too, did Ning.

“Naturally formed by the Five Elements?” Ning’s eyes were shining. “I train the [Six Cycles of the Starseizer]. I need the essence of the Five Elements. These five plumes and the essence within them…based on the legacy of the [Starseizing Hand] which I acquired and the materials mentioned within them, these would definitely be considered absolutely high-grade materials. These are five plumes that were born from a peacock Godbeast with a supremely pure and exalted lineage. The essence of the Five Elements within them…they’d probably be enough to allow me to reach the third Cycle of my [Starseizing Hand]!”

“1,300,000 kilograms!” Ning called out loudly.