The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

There were some grass and flowers within the gorge, but after Ji Ning stepped into it, he felt his heart shudder for some reason.

“Die!”

An ancient, primordial howl of rage smashed against Ning’s soul.

A series of ripples of boundless, terrifying killing intent surged towards Ning. Ning hurriedly visualized the image of Maiden Nuwa, and instantly the divine image of Nuwa appeared within his soul, stabilizing it considerably. After having spent so many years at Mount Innerheart, Ning had learned that the [Nuwa Painting] was a visualization technique passed down by Nuwa’s lineage that possessed boundless life-force. Even if the soul was to be badly wounded, through visualizing the [Nuwa Painting] one could quickly recover. This was one of the most awe-inspiringly famous visualization techniques that existed in Pangu’s World.

On the ninth floor of the Divinities Palace, there was a copy of the [Nuwa Painting] visualization technique, and it was described as one of the most supreme of nurturing and defensive techniques for the soul.

“This place is…?” Ning quickly came to his senses, and he stared at the scene before him in the gorge.

Because of the mist wreathing this place, Ning was only able to see to a distance of one or two kilometers. From far away, he could see a human-shaped creature that was lying on the ground unmoving. Ning could only make out the rough contors of two legs and an abdomen…but the legs alone were like massive blocks of stone that were over three hundred meters long.

“Given how strong the aura of death is here, it should be dead. It seems as though it was many hundreds of meters tall…given its size, it must have been a Fiendgod,” Ning secretly predicted.

This treasure trove region was extremely mysterious; there was no way to investigate it through divine sense, and so Ning had to make guesses for everything.

“Die…”

“Die…”

Boundless amounts of killing intent surged forth in waves from that enormous Fiendgod corpse, smashing against Ning’s soul. The closer Ning moved towards the corpse, the more powerful the killing intent became, forcing Ning to constantly visualize the image of Maiden Nuwa to resist it.

“For the remnant killing intent left behind in a corpse to be capable of forcing me to use the image of Maiden Nuwa to resist it…if he was still alive, he probably would be able to kill me with ease.” Ning’s soul had been split in two long ago; if one counted the soul within the Primaltwin, he actually had three souls!

One soul was within his Primaltwin.

One soul was within his true body’s Primal Turtle-Snake, which had advanced to the Goldlotus.

Another soul had been completely fused with his true body’s very flesh and bones. Every hint of blood and flesh contained a hint of his soul. It was at this level that Fiendgod Body Refiners were capable of creating an entire body from just a bit of flesh and blood.

Anyone who trained as both a Ki Refiner and as a Fiendgod Body Refiner would have to split his soul at the Primal level. One part of the soul would fuse into the body, while the other would enter the Primal Turtle-Snake.

Ning’s Ki Refiner soul was finding it rather difficult to deal with the waves of killing intent, but his Fiendgod Body didn’t fear it at all, because his soul in his Fiendgod body was connected to every bit of his flesh and blood, making it incredibly stable. Now that Ning had also trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], even if the killing intent was hundreds of times more powerful, it wouldn’t be able to do anything to this Fiendgod body of his.

……

Ning moved forward one step at a time, purposefully taking a circular path around the enormous Fiendgod corpse as he slowly advanced.

Finally…Ning was able to see it clearly. The Fiendgod corpse had ashen gray skin that was stone-like in texture. The corpse had an ordinary, plain face. Its body was covered in wounds, and the black armor it wore had been torn apart in many places. By its side were two fiery arrows, as well as a mighty black greatbow with a shattered bowstring.

“I didn’t expect that you would be able to come to this place. For a weak little early Void-stage fellow to possess such ability…admirable, admirable.” The shrill voice rang out once more.

Ning turned to look towards the source of the sound. From afar, at the corner to the entrance of the gorge, he saw the black-robed youth in a seated position.

“Do you know Empyrean God Silvermoon?” Ning suddenly asked. This black-robed youth was most likely a Celestial Immortal, given that he was able to make it here. Most likely, quite a few of the Celestial Immortals of the Crescent world were disciples of Mount Innerheart. If they were fellow disciples, things would probably proceed more smoothly.”

“Empyrean God Silvermoon? Heh heh, an Empyrean God? Not bad. But I’ve never heard of him.” The black-robed youth sat there, staring at Ning. “Kid…it seems your background is significant, given that you know an Empyrean God. However…here in this treasure region, it doesn’t matter who you know. If you want to acquire the treasures…it’ll all be up to your own abilities.”

Ning quietly came to the conclusion that this black-robed youth was most likely not a member of Mount Innerheart. When Ning had traversed the lightning zone, even the outside Patriarch Limitless had been able to guess that Ning was a member of Mount Innerheart…and yet, this black-robed youth didn’t seem to react to that at all.

“There are still quite a few Celestial Immortals in the Crescent world who have not become disciples of Mount Innerheart…and some don’t even know of it,” Ning mused to himself.

“Kid, you’ve already passed through two of the forbidden zones. This is the last one, but let me warn you…the treasures on that Fiendgod’s corpse aren’t so easily acquired.” The black-robed youth sat there lazily, seemingly waiting to mock Ning when he ‘inevitably failed’.

Ning looked back at the black-robed youth. “I’ve come to take the treasure, but you aren’t going to stop me?”

“How would I do that? Even the lightning zone wasn’t able to damage you at all, you freak. Even if I attacked you, I’d be wasting my energy. If I had trap-type treasures, I might try and trap or bind you…but unfortunately, I don’t.” The black-robed youth spoke in a resigned manner.

Ning knew what the weakness of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] was. Training to the Third Cycle of the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art] resulted in an extraordinarily powerful body, but if he encountered restrictive items like magic ropes or monster-sealing pagodas, he might be wrapped up or drawn into the magic treasures. Still…Ning was no fool. He would use his sword to block; to actually trap and bind him would be an extremely difficult matter. And even if he was trapped…he wouldn’t die from that, in and of itself.

“Then I’m going to go take the treasure.” As Ning spoke, he moved closer towards the Fiendgod body.

When Ning reached a distance of roughly three hundred meters from the body, suddenly…

The black greatbow next to the Fiendgod suddenly lit up. The bowstring of the black greatbow was shattered, but an utterly enormous flood of natural energy was gathering around the black greatblow. It actually created a second bowstring that was completely composed of natural energy, as well as a fiery arrow that was similarly composed of natural energy.

Swish! No one was controlling the black greatbow, but it shot the arrow straight out towards Ning.

The arrow shot through the air, moving lightning-fast and almost instantly appearing in front of Ning.

“Block!” Ning waved his arm, allowing the arrow to strike directly on his upper arm.

BOOM. The powerful collisive force sent Ning flying back hundreds of meters, smashing against the distant canyon walls. The canyon walls cracked apart with a rumbling sound as many rocks came crashing down…but with a backflip, Ning emerged from a large crater that had been created in the wall.

“What a treasure.” Ning wasn’t worried; to the contrary, he was delighted.

“You freak, you could even take that?” The distant black-robed youth was amazed.

Ning was incomparably excited. He stared at the black greatbow, surrounded by the natural energy of Heaven and Earth. “For it to be able to gather such natural energy without any elemental ki guiding it…clearly, the spirit of the treasure of this black greatbow has activated it. For it to have such power without even a person controlling it…this is inconceivable.”

Long ago, Xue Hongyi had been able to forcibly subdue the Azuresilk Godfire Lamp. At the Wanxiang level, Ning had been able to use the [Starseizing Hand] to forcibly hold the Thousandbull Sword. And now, Ning’s power was unfathomably greater than it had been before…but he had just been sent flying back by the natural energy gathered by an ownerless treasure!

“The Thousandbull Sword is top-grade amongst top-grade Immortal-ranked artifacts, close to Pure Yang treasures in power. Then this greatbow…it has to at least be a Pure Yang treasure, and if it is, it has to be either a high-grade or even a top-grade Pure Yang treasure. Or it might even be a Protocosmic spirit-treasure!” Ning instantly came to this conclusion.

The magic treasure, without anyone controlling it, already had the offensive power of a Celestial Immortal!

“It makes sense. This Fiendgod must have died countless years ago, but his remnant killing intent is still so terrifyingly strong. Given how powerful he was, how could his bow be poor?” Ning frowned. “However…the bowstring to this black greatbow is broken, and tears have appeared on his armor. I wonder what sort of a battle he must have encountered for even magic treasures on this level to have been damaged. Even the Fiendgod himself perished…and strangest of all, the Fiendgod’s body remained, even after he himself died!”

It must be understood that a Fiendgod’s soul was completely intertwined with his blood and flesh. If so much as a single drop of flesh or blood remained, he could be reborn! Unless…

A supremely mighty power had been able to annihilate every single scrap of the soul that was within the Fiendgod’s flesh and blood! Without any soul left in the body at all, the flesh would be useless.

“How massive a battle was this?” Ning thought back to the great tribulation that had resulted in the destruction of Pangu’s World. That had definitely been an incomparably terrifying battle, one which even Patriarch Subhuti had been afraid to participate in. Daoist Threelives had killed multiple Fiendgod Daofathers in it before even he himself had perished.

“No matter what…although the black greatbow and the armor are both damaged, given how powerful they are without any owner, they must be incredible treasures.”

Ning waved his hand, causing the Thousandbull Sword to appear. Ning then quickly advanced, once more pressing closer.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The black greatblow shot out more fiery arrows towards Ning, both the arrows and the bowstring formed from natural energy.

Ning, however, used his swordplay to block. His sword-light flowed out like water, deflecting the arrows of natural energy to the side. Ning was using one of the sword-arts from the ninth floor of the Divinities Palace known as [Water Filling the Heavens]; this was his most defensively suited sword-art technique.

Swish swish swish…

Suddenly, a large number of arrows shot out; in fact, up to ten arrows were shot out simultaneously, causing tens of arrows to instantly fly out within a short period of time. However, despite the arrows coming faster, the power of each arrow had naturally dropped.

Ning used either the Thousandbull Sword to block or his body to take the blows head on.

“Kid, although your divine body is like a magic treasure, this is just the attacks of a divine bow without a master; it’s not that impressive for you to be able to withstand it. Let me tell you this; once you reach thirty meters of the corpse, you’ll have entered the third forbidden zone. Passing it has nothing to do with the strength of your body, and the fact that it is as unbreakable as a magic treasure won’t help you.” The black-robed youth sat there, watching Ning advance and fight forward.

Ning forced his way forward, charging through the hail of arrows. When he reached a distance of thirty meters from the Fiendgod corpse, the natural energy surrounding the black greatbow dissipated, no longer attacking Ning.

“Whew.” Ning took a deep breath. At such a close distance to the Fiendgod body, the invisible aura of majesty surrounding it caused even his heart to shudder.

“The third forbidden zone?”

“No matter what I have to acquire this treasure.” Ning stared at the treasures on the corpse of the Fiendgod…but what drew his attention most was still that black greatbow.