The Desolate Era

The red karmic sinflames were terrifying to behold...but they also had a strange, holy aura about them.

They existed purely for the sake of burning away all sin!

“AHHHH!”

In midair, Ji Ning’s eyes turned completely red. He frantically clutched at his head as he fell down from the skies.

Within the Still Room of the underwater estate.

The black-robed Primaltwin Ning had originally been seated in the lotus position atop the netherwater jade bed, but his body was now blazing with red karmic sinflames as well. The black-robed Primaltwin Ning was now kneeling on the netherwater jade bed, letting out howls of utter agony and misery. He crawled forward in utter pain, falling down from the bed.

“No...no...” The black-robed Primaltwin Ning let out an agonized howl.

......

In the outside world, Ning fell down from the skies. As he fell, he clutched at his head, letting out terrifying, frenzied, throat-tearing howls.

“He didn’t die?” The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan was extremely shocked. The other six Celestial Immortals had joined him outside, atop the flying shuttle. They, too, looked with shock and delight upon this scene. They said in amazement, “He actually didn’t instantly die from burning?”

“Ahahaha...”

The distant Old Demon Windraiser continued to hover in midair. Surrounded by karmic sinflames, he actually let out laughter that caused one’s heart to shudder. His face was utterly contorted, and his eyes were blood-red. Pain wracked every single cell of his body, but he continued to laugh wildly. “It really is...really is...even more fun...than the million-year Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations...ahahaha...ahahahaha!!!”

Old Demon Windraiser was filled with the agony of being burned by karmic sinflames as well.

“Windraiser’s Dao-heart is no weaker than my own,” Celestial Immortal Infatuation said. “For even him to be in such agony...it’s utterly inconceivable for this Ji Ning, who has trained for less than a century, to actually stay alive and not perish instantly from the descent of karmic sinflames.”

“Right. He’s trained for less than a century, but his Dao-heart is actually this strong...”

“When karmic sinflames descend, they shall unleash multiple layers of punishment. This is but the start.” The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan said in a low voice, “I refuse to believe Ji Ning will be able to survive it.”

Karmic sinflames...

They were the holy flames that burned away sin. They represented the umost limits of sin.

These flames were the flames of the void, flames that burned away at the soul, at the heart!

They actually weren’t that harmful to the physical body; after all, the heavens always gave one at least a slight chance for survival. If karmic sinflames were to burn away at the body as well, then Fiendgod sinners would have too much of an unfair advantage compared to Ki Refiner sinners.

But although it didn’t harm the body that much...it was utterly terrifying in turns of the damage it did when burning the soul! Even someone like Ning, who had trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art], had no advantages whatsoever in facing these karmic sinflames...

When facing karmic sinflames, all cultivators were treated absolutely equally. The only test right now was of one’s Dao-heart. Would one’s Dao-heart be able to survive while being incinerated by karmic sinflames?

Once one’s Dao-heart crumbled, the soul would be unprotected and would be instantly burnt to ashes and dissipated.

Luckily enough, Ning had just come up with the tenth stance of the [Three-Foot Sword]. His Dao-heart now contained the resolve that was embodied in the lines, ‘Where the Dao is, though ten million soldiers bar my path, I shall relentlessly advance!’ This allowed Ning’s Dao-heart to survive the first round of punishment unleashed by the karmic sinflames; ‘Agony’.

“He actually...hasn’t...hasn’t died...what a monster!” Old Demon Windraiser’s entire body was wracked by pain as he stared downwards at the fallen Ji Ning.

Old Demon Windraiser’s Dao-heart was extremely strong.

He had already lived for a million years. Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations...every three hundred years, a calamity; every nine hundred years, a tribulation. He had endured countless cycles of the Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations over the past million years. Under this sort of constant pressure, his Dao-heart had actually transformed and grown incredibly powerful, with the result being that he had found even the Three Calamities, Nine Tribulations at the million-year mark to be quite easy to overcome.

Clearly, his Dao-heart was far more powerful than Immortal Northwalker’s had been. It was comparable to that of many Celestial Immortals...and even amongst Celestial Immortals, he would probably be ranked at the very top.

Although the first round of punishment brought by karmic sinflames, ‘Agony’, was extremely painful...he was still able to maintain consciousness. He was even able to open his mouth and speak, albeit haltingly; clearly, he was far more powerful than Ning in this regard.

......

“What?!”

Within their ten thousand kilometer formation, the Whitewater Hound, Little Qing, and Mu Northson were completely stunned.

They stared at the blood-red skies, as well as the blood-red karmic sinflames that had appeared around Ning’s body. Upon seeing the karmic sinflames appear...they all immediately were able to guess at what had happened. They watched as Ning had let out an agonized, frenzied scream, then collapse from the skies...and their hearts became filled with despair.

“Karmic sinflames...how could Master have caused karmic sinflames to descend?!” Little Qing was utterly horrified.

“How could...senior apprentice-brother...senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning...” Northson was so frantic, he was shaking. “It’s all because of me...because of me...no...don’t...”

The Whitewater Hound stared at Ning, who had fallen down from the skies. Watching the karmic sinflames roast Ning, Uncle White’s tears instantly began to streak down his face. “Ning, son...son...”

Despair!

They were all Immortal cultivators; they knew how terrifying karmic sinflames were, as well as the fact that when they descended, nobody could help out at all. To survive the descent of karmic sinflames was simply far, far too difficult; only truly powerful figures with incomparably mighty Dao-hearts would be able to survive.

But Ning had only trained for less than a century! Although he was publicly acclaimed for having a firm Dao-heart, having a strong sword-heart, and being a born Sword Immortal...he simply hadn’t trained for long enough.

The punishment brought by karmic sinflames would come in repeated waves that only increased in power and terror.

“Ning, son, you have to endure it...you have to.” The Whitewater Hound stared towards Ning. “I promised Big Brother to take care of you, to always protect you.”

......

Atop the flying shuttle. The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan and his six mighty Celestial Immortals were also watching the fallen Ji Ning.

“He actually didn’t die right away from the descent of karmic sinflames.” Patriarch Arcanum said hurriedly, “Ancestor, the punishment brought by karmic sinflames will grow increasingly powerful...but to prevent a miracle from happening which results in this punk surviving, let’s suppress him right away. He’s completely unable to fight back right now; this is the perfect time to trap and suppress him.”

“Right.” Celestial Immortal Infatuation nodded as well. “Although I don’t believe Ji Ning will survive, if by some miracle he does survive...it’s best to suppress him now.”

“Supress him.”

“It’s a shame that Goldclock died, and his divine greatclock was stolen by Ji Ning as well.”

“I naturally have other suppressive treasures. Although they aren’t comparable to the divine greatclock, one is still a middle-grade Pure Yang treasure; there’s no way he can escape.” The Youngflame Ancestor suddenly waved his hands, producing a pair of copper cymbals. He threw them out, and the pair instantly expanded in size, transforming into copper cymbals that were more than three hundred meters long.

The copper cymbals split apart, one flying to be above Ji Ning while the other flew underneath him. Once the pair of copper cymbals came together once more...there would be no way for him to escape.

Ning’s eyes were completely red, and his face was completely distorted with agony. He couldn’t help but let out roars of agony...

...but his Dao-heart hadn’t dissipated yet!

He still maintained a single thread of consciousness. He could see what was going on in the outside world, but everything he saw was twisted and blurry. This was because his eyes were too bloodshot right now; if they were just a bit more bloodshot, he would probably be completely blind! When these two giant copper cymbals came to surround him, Ning immediately struck out with his two arms. Bang! Bang! He instantly knocked the two copper cymbals flying.

“He’s actually still able to pay attention to the outside world?” The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan was surprised.

“Even if he is...the amount of intellect he’s able to use right now must be very, very low,” Celestial Immortal Infatuation said. “He’s like a beast, right now; all he knows to do is to knock away anything dangerous. He doesn’t even know to flee! He could’ve just used his evasive techniques to dodge, but he didn’t move at all; from this, one can tell that his intellect has dropped to a very, very low level right now.”

“Let’s all act together. Perhaps we can trap him.”

“Let’s give it a shot.”

The six Celestial Immortals all moved.

Black chains flew out. Thousands of tendrils and vines whipped out. The strands of an enormous horsetail flywhisk that was thirty thousand meters long flew forth.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Everything in front of Ning was blurry, but he did see many vines swinging towards him. He struggled to wave his arms about, using the [Starseizing Hand] to knock all the magic treasures flying and away from his body. The tendrils all completely snapped apart, unable to even draw near him. After all, these Celestial Immortals were all heavily wounded; when controlling magic treasures from afar, how could their power possibly compare to the power of Ning’s twin arms?

Even if the six Celestial Immortals were to use a formation, given how badly injured they were, they still wouldn’t be able to withstand Ning’s [Starseizing Hand].

“Mmm...he really does seem like a wild beast. Anything that gets close to him, he’ll wildly lash out at and knock away.” The Youngflame Ancestor nodded lightly. “I have an idea...one that will ensure his death.”

“Oh?” They all looked towards the Ancestor, save for Celestial Immortal Infatuation, who suddenly said, “Can it be...the Worldhold Pagoda?”

“Infatuation read my mind.” The Youngflame Ancestor nodded lightly. “Fortunately, when I came out of seclusion this time, Arcanum and the others came over as well. There was no one left to guard the pagoda, and so I brought it over here as well.”

Whoosh.

A small pagoda suddenly appeared within the Youngflame Ancestor’s hands. This was the ancient pagoda which Celestial Immortal Arcanum and the others had been guarding previously. This pagoda...it was truly the most important of all treasures which the Youngflame clan had. To the Youngflame clan, the most important person was naturally the Youngflame Ancestor, Immortal Venomfreak, who had countless clones spread everywhere. Only second to him in importance was this Worldhold Pagoda.

This was a Protocosmic spirit-treasure, the greatest treasure which Immortal Venomfreak had acquired over the course of countless ages.

Whoosh. The small pagoda within the Youngflame Ancestor’s hand flew out, transforming into a pagoda that was thirty thousand meters tall. The pagoda hung high in the air, hovering roughly three thousand meters above him. The Youngflame Ancestor and the others had noticed earlier than three thousand meters seemed to be a limit; once one went beyond that range and moved closer to Ji Ning, Ji Ning would instantly begn to strike and knock things flying.

“Ji Ning...I’ll send you on your way,” the Youngflame Patriarch said softly.

Whoosh. The entire surface of the pagoda suddenly lit up, especially at the base where a giant black vortex suddenly formed. The vortex began to quickly spread outwards, soon covering a region of a hundred kilometers. Naturally, this completely covered the area where Ning was located as well.

Everything within the area was completely drawn in by the whirlpool.

Normally, the quick-witted Ning would’ve immediately noticed that something was wrong. He would’ve immediately departed from this region...but Ning was currently clutching his head in utter agony, the karmic sinflames blazing around his body gradually increasing in power. In fact...the second round of punishments was about to descend. The single thought in his mind was to prevent any magic treasures or spells from drawing near his body; how could he possibly have the presence of mind to notice anything else that was amiss?

Rumble...

The pagoda began to glow brighter and brighter.

And then....whoosh!

The very tip of the pagoda suddenly grew blindingly bright. Swish! A streak of light shot from it into the skies, as though piercing through the walls of reality itself...then vanished.

As for the vortex region of a hundred kilometers...it had become completely empty. Ji Ning had completely vanished. He had vanished from the world of the Grand Xia...and in fact, he had even vanished from the Three Realms themselves. He was now outside the Three Realms...