The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals of the Youngflame clan who were hiding behind their formations had previously felt quite relaxed; some of them had already stopped evacuating the mortals in the areas they were responsible for. When they had seen the nine hundred-plus Fiendgods attack, they had been quite worried…but upon seeing only Ji Ning remained, they felt quite relaxed.

But…

“How…how can this be? How could he have broken through a formation of eight Celestial Immortals?”

“Didn’t five of our Celestial Immortals battle Ji Ning within that formation of his? Now that they know exactly how powerful he is…how could they have made a mistake on this level?”

“Good heavens!”

The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals were completely dazed.

Celestial Immortals had incomparably exalted statuses…and two had just died now, all of a sudden. And they were Celestial Immortals who had belonged to the Youngflame clan!

“Quick, hurry up and re-launch the evacuation process,” Old Demon Windraiser sent mentally with a furious roar. “This Ji Ning has a body as tough as a magic treasure; he doesn’t fear the attacks of Celestial Immortals. If the Celestial Immortals of our Youngflame clan are unable to do anything to him…he might start massacring us soon!”

“Right, right, right!”

“Keep evacuation.”

“Quickly!”

The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals who had yet to completely evacuate the mortals and cultivators in their regions once more began to quickly do so.

……

“Woooooooow!” Little Qing’s eyes bulged out. She looked as though she had seen a ghost. “Two Celestial Immortals…Celestial Immortals! Those were Celestial Immortals who had escaped the confines of the Three Realms after overcoming their Celestial Tribulations! They were far, far more precious and venerable than Void-level Fiendgods. Celestial Immortals are so powerful and mighty, but…but two of them just died?!”

Mu Northson was speechless as well.

The nearby Uncle White was even more stunned. A Celestial Immortal! Each served as the foundations for a truly supreme clan. It was rare for a single one to be produced in the Grand Xia Dynasty in a million years…and two of them had just died like that?

……

Ning stared at a distant flying shuttle. The flying shuttle was completely black, and was roughly three hundred meters long. Just now, all six of the surviving Celestial Immortals had flown over and hidden themselves within the flying shuttle; only the horned, golden-robed man remained outside the shuttle, standing atop it and staring towards Ning.

“They ran pretty fast,” Ning mumbled to himself.

He had suddenly killed two Celestial Immortals earlier, causing the remaining six Celestial Immortals to immediately flee into that shuttle. In fact, after they did so, they had completely sealed off all openings to the flying shuttle, giving him no chance to attack them at all.

“How can this be?!” The enraged Ancestor glared coldly at Ning from his position atop the shuttle. He sent an angry mental howl, “Infatuation, didn’t you say earlier that the eight of you combined were more than enough to stop him? Didn’t you say that even though his power suddenly increased significantly after your last ambush, that he’s still just roughly on par with you?”

“We didn’t know either!”

“When we were hiding at Mu Northson’s place and ambushed him…he truly was quite weak, even weaker than Goldclock and Deadwood.”

“Right, right! That really was the case. And just a short while ago…the five of us fought against him within his formations. We were quite surprised at how much his power had increased in merely half a month; he was now close to Infatuation in power. But now, in the blink of an eye, his power has increased even more?! He’s even stronger than Infatuation now!”

“The amount of time that passed since our battle was roughly as much as needed to boil a kettle of tea. How could he have grown so much stronger?!”

“It’s not that we were overconfident; it’s that all of this is simply inconceivable!”

Celestial Immortals Infatuation, Deadwood, and Sunfish all felt quite miserable as well.

They clearly had fought Ning just a short while ago…but after he had released those nine hundred-plus Fiendgods, he had grown even more powerful. This rate of increase in strength was simply too fast! Generally speaking, the higher one’s level was, the slower one would increase in strength. It was one thing for Ning to increase so rapidly in power after being ambushed, but for him to suddenly increase in strength yet again in the blink of an eye?

“Damn, damn!” The horned, golden-robed ground his teeth. Any cultivator who was able to train to the Celestial Immortal level would be extremely cautious; if they couldn’t win a fight, they would flee. But this time, they truly had been overconfident, primarily because they had already fought against Ning and knew exactly how strong he was! This single instance of overconfidence had cost them two lives.

They had gone all out to fight against the nine hundred-plus Fiendgods. They had survived.

Against Ji Ning, they had been overconfident…and ended up losing two of their ranks.

“All of you are wounded; you are not to interfere in this fight against Ji Ning. Leave it all to me,” the horned, golden-robed man sent.

“Yes, Master.”

“Yes, Patriarch.”

They all acknowledged the command.

The horned, golden-robed man stared towards the distant Ning, then roared angrily, “Ji Ning, you’ve slain two Celestial Immortals of my Youngflame clan. I shall not live under the same skies with you! I shall kill you. KILL YOU!”

“…Earlier, when I was pulling out the copper pillar, didn’t you already swear an oath that you were going to wipe me out, along with my clan and my friends? You know, you only need to say nasty words like these a single time. I’ve already memorized them quite firmly. Don’t worry…killing two of your Celestial Immortals was just the start. I’m going to wipe out all of the Celestial Immortals of your Youngflame clan, as well as all of your Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals. As for your other cultivators and mortals…I trust I won’t even need to act against them. There will be plenty of other major clans that will come to annihilate you,” Ning said.

As the saying goes, a wall falls when many hands push on it. There were many others who had feuds with the Youngflame clan, such as the Kindwater clan, which was even stronger than the Youngflame clan.

And even for those who didn’t have a feud with the Youngflame clan…given that the Youngflame clan took up three major commanderies, each of which was far larger than Stillwater Commandery…there were naturally many others who were envious of their territory. Once all their Celestial Immortals died, the cultivators and commoners of the Youngflame clan would be doomed! They would be effortlessly sweeped aside.

“All by yourself? I, Youngflame Freak, have roamed the universe since the Primordial Era, but no one has ever dared to claim they can kill me.” A savage light flashed through the eyes of the horned, golden-robed man. “Have a taste of what my children can do, first!”

The three enormous insectoid aberrations flew towards Ning, blotting out the sun with their size. Their auras were extraordinary in power as they came rushing towards Ning.

Ning stood there in midair, a tiny little dot by comparison, but one with three heads and six arms. His arms swept through the air as his golden fingers formed into sword-fingers, transforming into divine black swords that were more than three thousand meters in length…

His terrifying sword-intent radiated outwards. Anyone could sense the resolve contained within it, and just by looking at it, one could feel as though no one could possibly withstand his sword.

Slash! A large wound appeared on the body of the black viper aberration, but the wound quickly began to recover, completely healing in the blink of an eye.

Crunch! The winged rhinoceros-aberration had incomparably tough skin, but Ning was still able to punch a hole through it. Still, the winged rhinoceros kicked Ning’s palm aside, and the hole in its flank quickly regenerated.

The armored insectoid aberration had even more powerful defense, and Ning was just barely able to leave a wound behind on its body.

“What a nasty little pest.” Ning was secretly startled by this first exchange of blows. “All three of these aberrations are this powerful?”

In terms of their comprehension of the Dao, the three insectoid aberrations were vastly inferior to him.

But their physical strength and close combat power was simply too great.

Each of them had extremely durable physical forms; even their thick skin and armored carapaces were comparable to Heaven-ranked magic treasures. The flesh within their body was extremely sturdy as well, and for every inch of flesh Ning penetrated, he felt an extremely powerful force resisting him. And even if he did manage to injure them…they would be able to heal in a very short period of time! They were also enormously strong; the black viper and the armored insect were nearly half as strong as Ning when Ning used the Fourth Cycle of the [Starseizing Hand] and [Three Heads, Six Arms], while the winged rhinoceros was comparable to Ning’s full power!

“Activate!” The distant horned, golden-robed man watched coldly, then let out a soft bark. Instantly, the back of the armored insect began to release large numbers of divine tattoos. These divine tattoos flickered and flashed, causing the armored insect to rapidly shrink in size, while beginning to split apart. By the time it shrank to three thousand meters, it completely split apart to become a pair of the armored insects. By the time it shrank down to three hundred meters, it had split apart to become four armored insects. And by the time it shrank down to thirty meters…there were eight of those armored insects.

“ROAAAAR!” The winged rhinoceros let out a furious roar, its four powerful leg-trunks beginning to merge with its main body. From the center of its body, a single leg-trunk that was even thicker and longer began to rapidly grow out.

The four-legged winged rhinoceros had actually transformed into a single-legged rhinoceros.

“Hissssss.” The black viper’s serpentine head suddenly bit down upon its tail. Instantly, its entire body began to glow with divine tattoos. Its scales were rapidly changing, becoming even finer and longer while also beginning to glow with a golden light.

“Die.” The horned, golden-robed man had just revealed one of his favorite, consummate tricks.

Ning suddenly transformed into the [Obscuring Wind of the Nine Heavens], surging straight towards the winged rhinoceros.

“KILL!” Ning was charging forward like a brutish Fiendgod, his six massive arms wildly assaulting the winged rhinoceros in close combat!

Clang clang clang…the eight armored insects all struck towards Ning, but Ning completely ignored them. The only result was a series of clanging sounds that could be heard from Ning’s body.

Whoosh! The black viper, now in circular form, swirled towards Ning, seeking to entangle him.

Ning swept out with two of his palms, which struck out like two streaks of sword-light. In terms of the Dao, how could the viper possibly compare to Ning? He was struck head-on and knocked flying away by Ning’s sword-light.

“This brat…” The horned, golden-robed man’s eyes flashed with cold light.

His armored insect had been completely nullified by Ning. He had been hoping that Ning would be too arrogant and allow the viper to coil around him. Once it did…no matter how strong he was, he would find it difficult to escape. But Ning didn’t give the viper any chance at all to draw near him!

“Kill!”

“Die for me!”

Ning and the winged rhinoceros were battling wildly against each other. Ning was completely unwounded, while large amounts of flesh and blood were being sheared off from the winged rhinoceros, under the repeated blows of Ning’s knife-sharp palms. Finally, with a furious roar from Ning, the head of the winged rhinoceros was chopped off.

“What should I do? What should I do? What the hell should I do?” The horned, golden-robed man felt a sense of powerlessness in his heart, as well as…hesitation!

“Should I have other clones come over here as well?”

He had other insectoid aberrations!

If all of the insectoid aberrations he commanded were all to gather here, he would be able to completely overwhelm and crush Ji Ning.

“No. I can’t let all of my clones appear in one place; that will cause me to risk true death.” The horned, golden-robed man knew very well that due to his insidiousness and viciousness, he had many enemies spread throughout the Three Realms. For example, the Empyrean God of the Kindwater clan had a very powerful desire to kill him. However, because his many clones were all scattered throughout the realms, the Empyrean God was hesitant to make a move, and so had not truly acted to launch a war to wipe out the Youngflame clan.

……

Ning, by relying on the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], was even more berserk in his attacks than the three insectoid aberrations. After he forcibly ripped off the head of the winged rhinoceros, the skeleton of the winged rhinoceros flew back towards the horned, golden-robed man. It transformed back into a winged rhinoceros, but one which was only three thousand meters in length, then flew back into the mouth of the horned, golden-robed man.

“TEAR APART!” Ning’s six arms now began to wildly assault the black viper. Two of his arms moved to chop a wound in the body of the black viper, while the other four arms grabbed onto it and gave a vicious tug in two opposite directions.

Riiiiiiiip.

The black viper was forcibly torn apart, its black, foul-smelling bloody spraying everywhere.

Ning was fighting even more savagely than he usually did. The three insectoid aberrations, in the face of his fury, were at a complete disadvantage.

……

“What should we do?”

“Can it be that our Youngflame clan cannot resist this Ji Ning?”

“This Ji Ning is too terrifying!”

The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals who were hiding behind their formations were filled with terror at what they were seeing.

“Windraiser, all of the mortals within the protective formations have been evacuated. Even if Ji Ning breaks the formations, he can forget about harming our clansmen.” The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals viewed Old Demon Windraiser as their leader; in the Oldjade mountain range, Old Demon Windraiser had an extremely high status.

Old Demon Windraiser nodded. “Give me your Qiankun pearls.”

“Alright.” The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals all handed over their Qiankun pearls.

Qiankun pearls were residence-type magic treasures! Generally speaking, Celestial Immortals who had a very solid grasp of the Dao of Qiankun would be able to establish a small dimension within a Qiankun pearl. In truth, these were very common treasures, similar to sacks and bags that had private dimensions within them, except these were used to collect and hold people! The space within a Qiankun pearl wasn’t that small, being over ten thousand kilometers, but there were no resources within them; there was no way life could be supported within them long-term. They could only be used to temporarily hold living creatures.

And so, they were perfectly suited for moving or evacuating populations.

“Right.” Old Demon Windraiser accepted all of the Qiankun pearls.

……

“Damn.” The horned, golden-robed man was utterly enraged by what he saw, but he was unable to do anything to Ning.

Ning wildly assaulted the black viper, but even after ripping it apart, the black viper merely transformed into two smaller vipers. Still…its aura had noticeably weakened, and Ning continued his assault against it.

Suddenly…a spatial ripple appeared. It was Greater Teleportation.

“Eh?!” Ning turned, only to see that Old Demon Windraiser had appeared in the distance.

“Old Demon Windraiser didn’t die?” Ning was startled.

“Windraiser, don’t go crazy!”

“Windraiser, go back!”

Celestial Immortals Arcanum, Infatuation, and the others were using their coresense to watch the battle. Upon seeing Old Demon Windraiser appear, they all hurriedly sent mental messages, calling out to him.

“He killed my disciple and destroyed my true body. I cannot live under the same heavens as him!” Old Demon Windraiser suddenly waved his hand, causing a dense cluster of hundreds of spots of starlight to appear. The air above him was also filled with the enormous illusion of the Solar Star, and all these things flew straight towards Ning.

Ning was cold and uncaring. “You, Old Demon, had a Primaltwin? I didn’t go kill you, but you came to throw your life away.”

How could Ning possibly hold Old Demon Windraiser in any regard? He immediately swept out with his own palm to attack. His golden palm smashed apart everything that came before him. Bang! Bang! Bang! The hundreds of miniature stars were instantly knocked flying away.

Crack!

A very peculiar sound rang out.

It was like…an egg cracking.

But those hundreds of star-grains were a set of Immortal-ranked magic treasures; how could Ning have shattered Immortal-ranked magic treasures with a single palm?

“AHHHHHH!!!”

“NOOO!”

“NOOOOO!”

Countless miserable screams rang out.

Within a special region. Countless mortals and cultivators were all squeezed together. These were the evacuated cultivators and mortals…but this region was beginning to crumble and break apart. Although this was merely a small pocket dimension…with the dimensional walls crumbling, how could mortals possibly survive? All of them were ground apart and killed. Only some of the more powerful cultivators were able to survive.

A few people suddenly appeared in the region before Ning’s giant golden palm. These were the Immortal cultivators who had survived the collapse of that pocket dimension…but the power of Ning’s earlier blow was simply too great. Even the mere aftershock from his blow was enough to cause these newly emerged Immortal cultivators to be instantly blown into dust.

Infinite despair…despair that filled the skies…it all swept towards Ning.

Infinite resentment!

Infinite hate!

“No…I don’t want to die!”

“Oh gods…”

“Who…who…”

“Who killed us?!”

Countless voices rang out in Ning’s mind, assailing his heart.

“Ahahahaha!” The distant Old Demon Windraiser was absolutely berserk in his laughter. “You’ve killed ten billion mortals…what a sinner…what a tremendous sinner!!!”

Rumble…

Rumble…

The skies instantly turned blood red, so red that it was utterly terrifying to behold, so densely red that it caused everyone’s heart to tremble. The terrifying redness appeared out of nowhere, and it appeared simultaneously in the skies above Ji Ning and Old Demon Windraiser. These were the legendary…karmic sinflames!

The two clouds of bloody red karmic sinflames reflected and resonated with each other.

The karmic sinflames…descended!