The Desolate Era

Years ago, Ji Ning had asked King Yan to help him investigate what had happened to his father, Ji Yichuan, and his mother, Yuchi Snow, after they had been reincarnated. However, after he made the request Ning had gone off to battle the Youngflame clan, then been driven into the Nihilum Zone. Thus, King Yan had never had a chance to tell Ning about what he had discovered.

“I’ve found the information.” King Yan nodded.

“Wonderful! This is...this is wonderful!” Ning couldn’t disguise his excitement.

In Ning’s heart...his father, Ji Yichuan, and his mother, Yuchi Snow, had the most important position of all. Not even his Dao-companion, Yu Wei, was as important to him as his parents! In fact, in Ning’s heart, even his parents from his previous life on Earth were slightly inferior in status when compared to Ji Yichuan and Yuchi Snow. In his past life on Earth, his father had always been busy with his careers, after all; Ning was rarely able to see him. His mother, on the other hand, had always worked very hard to take care of him, and Ning had firmly engraved those memories into his heart.

But in this life...

For the sake of giving birth to him, his mother had been willing to sacrifice her own life-force. For the sake of letting him grow up safely, she hadn’t even been willing to tell Ning about their feud with Snowdragon Mountain, or the truth regarding the enemy that had destroyed the Yuchi clan.

Although his father looked cold on the outside, the amount of care and love he had felt for Ji Ning was definitely every bit as much as Yuchi Snow had felt. He had personally taught Ning to use the sword, and had always worked to protect him. In fact, it wasn’t until he was no longer capable of protecting Ning that he had perished to go reunite with Yuchi Snow.

Ning could never forget them!

Those youthful days...those had been the happiest days of his life.

“These are bamboo scrolls.” King Yan produced a pair of bamboo scrolls within his hands. “In the Netherworld, we record the information about the dead in them. All who are judged by the Judges of the Dead will have records regarding them. This bamboo scroll has a great deal of information, including information regarding your mother, Yuchi Snow. This one, in turn, has information regarding your father, Ji Yichuan.”

Ning took a deep breath before accepting the scrolls.

Ning sent his divine sense into the first scroll. Instantly, an enormous amount of information filled his mind. After Ning had strengthened his heartforce, his control over his divine sense had strengthened noticeably as well. Soon, he was able to sort through the sea of information to find the relevant parts regarding his father, Ji Yichuan.

“Ji Yichuan, of the world of the Grand Xia, Stillwater Commandery, Swallow Mountain. Zifu Disciple. No karmic sin, no karmic merits. Adjudicated to be reborn as a human and be reincarnated in the Wusky world, Flowermont Commandery, Willowriver clan. His name shall be Willowriver Chuan, and he shall live for 182 years.”

Ning was no longer a wide-eyed youth; at Mount Innerheart, he had read some books which had given a basic introduction to the Three Realms. He understood what this Judge’s intentions were. Generally speaking, decisions on where one would be sent to, what one would be named, and how long one would live for would be automatically made by the Dao of the Heavens. The Judges of the Dead had to intentionally intervene in order to change things. This sort of intervention would usually have a minor impact on one’s karmic merits, and so generally speaking only someone who had a sufficient degree of status was capable of causing the likes of the Ten Yama-Kings of Hell or the First Judge of the Dead to command their subordinates to make a change to one’s fate.

Long ago, Judge Cui had told Ning that changing one’s lifespan was quite a simple task for him.

But in truth, the ‘lifespan’ was only applicable to mortals. Once one became an Immortal cultivator, one would’ve embarked on a path that went against the will of the Heavens. The Heavens would send down the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations, and it would become very difficult to predict how far one would make it down this path. If one remained a mere mortal, one might only live for a century or so, but if one became an Immortal cultivator and became a Zifu Disciple within twenty or so years...it was possible that one might be killed soon after becoming a Zifu Disciple, resulting in a lifespan that was even shorter than that of an ordinary mortal’s!

The decisions of the Judges of the Netherworld with regard to one’s lifespan were only meaningful for mortals.

“The Wusky world? Flowermont Commandery, Willowriver clan...Willowriver Chuan?” Ning quietly memorized this name.

He immediately picked up the other bamboo scroll, sweeping it with his divine sense.

A short while later, he found the information regarding his mother, Yuchi Snow.

“Yuchi Snow, of the world of the Grand Xia, Eastisle Commandery, Yuchi clan. Slightly positive karma. Adjudicated to be reborn as a human and be reincarnated to the Wusky world, Flowermont Commandery, Eastflow clan. Her name shall be Eastflow Snow, and she shall live for 200 years.”

Ning was delighted by what he just saw.

They had both been sent to the Flowermont Commandery of the Wusky world?

The nearby King Yan said, “The adjudications of the Judges are usually generated naturally in accordance with the Dao of the Heavens. Clearly, your mother and your father have been tied together by karmic love across many lifetimes, and so the Dao of the Heavens invisibly worked to place them together once more.”

“Karmic love across many lifetimes?” Ning nodded gently, then immediately said, “King Yan, senior, are you saying that my parents are together once more?”

“I went and helped you investigate what happened after they were reincarnated. I made a trip all the way to the Flowermont Commandery of the Wusky world to look into this matter, but...your parents have already died. The information I found is within this book.” King Yan gave Ning a glance, then a book appeared within his hands that he offered to Ning.

Ning was stunned. “Already dead? That means they should be reincarnated again. Why haven’t they...?” But then, Ning suddenly thought of a possibility. His face turned ashen, and he immediately accepted the book and swept it with his divine sense.

“No.”

“No...”

Ning clenched at the book, shaking his head, his eyes filled with shock, anger, and agony. He didn’t want to accept this result.

His parents had indeed been linked by karmic love; although they had experienced some problems in their new life, they had still ended up together. Together, they had embarked upon the path of Immortal cultivation...

“How could...how could this have happened?” Ning shook his head, mumbling as he did, “Why did these things have to happen to them? Why didn’t they happen to me instead? Although they embarked on the Immortal path once more, they were just minor figures. Why did things have to end so bitterly for them...why...”

“I don’t believe it...I don’t believe it!”

“This is all a lie. All a lie!”

Ning’s eyes began to turned crazed. The truth was beyond what his mind could accept; he instinctually refused to believe this, especially when this was nothing more than information record in a book!

“Little brother!”

“Junior apprentice-brother!” Yu Wwei and Princess Xiyue were both worried.

Ning immediately said, “I’m going to go to the miniature Netherworld Kingdom. I’m going right now! Senior apprentice-sister...although Stillwater City is in a dangerous situation right now, I have to go right away. If it really does encounter a crisis, shatter this talisman and I’ll immediately come back through Greater Teleportation.”

“Alright.” Yu Wei immediately nodded. “Let me go with you.” She could sense how frantic Ning was feeling right now.

“No need. I’ll go alone.” Ning turned to look at the nearby King Yan. “King Yan, senior, I’m going to go to the miniature Netherworld Kingdom. I need a temporal inversion to see the scene of the Judge adjudicating my parents’ fates.”

Right now, Ning even doubted the information he had seen within the bamboo scrolls regarding the adjudication of his parents. He had to personally see a temporal inversion, personally see the Judge adjudicate his parents, before he would believe it.

“Alright.” King Yan nodded. He still remembered the Xia Emperor’s instructions to him. The Xia Emperor viewed quite a few people with favor and wanted to befriend them, but the most important amongst them was this Ji Ning, even though he hadn’t even undergone his tribulation. King Yan naturally wouldn’t refuse Ji Ning’s requests.

“Let’s go.” Ning didn’t want to wait at all.

“Let me lead the way.” King Yan immediately led Ning out, flying away from the estate, then undergoing a spatial teleport in midair. Both men immediately vanished.

Yuchi Xiyue and Yu Wei raised their heads, watching as Ning and King Yan left.

“My grandpa actually didn’t tell me any of this...” Xiyue had a somewhat frantic look on her face as well.

“I hope everything is fine,” Yu Wei said softly.

......

A gloomy, deathly aura pervaded this place.

This was an extremely large world. Within it, lines of white-robed figures could be seen walking forward, stretching forth as far as the eye could see. Next to them were many minotaur demon soldiers and other demon soldiers who were striking them with lashes.

Some of the white-robed figures glanced curiously out of the corner of their eyes, paying attention to the two figures who had just appeared in the sky.

The two figures that had appeared were Ji Ning and King Yan.

“This miniature Netherworld isn’t that different from the real Netherworld Kingdom, to be honest. There are plenty of deceased spirits here as well,” King Yan said. Daofather Crimsonbright controlled dozens of major worlds, after all, as well as countless minor worlds, all of which came under this miniature Netherworld’s jurisdiction. It made up for roughly 1% of the entire territory of the Three Realms.

Ning didn’t say a word. He wasn’t in the mood for chit-chat.

King Yan, after saying a few more things, realized Ning wasn’t in the mood. He led Ning directly to a giant city, within which were numerous buildings and many demonic soldiers. King Yan quickly arrived at a courtyard.

“This is the courtyard where your mother was sentenced.” King Yan led Ning straight inside.

The demonic soldiers didn’t dare restrict them from entering.

The judge on his judge’s seat, upon seeing who had entered, was badly shocked. He was just one of countless judges; there was no way he could possibly compare with one of the exalted Yama-Kings.

“Your underling greets you, Yama-King.” The judge hurriedly fell to his knees, and the surrounding demonic soldiers all knelt down as well. As for the ghost who was waiting to be sentenced, he was completely terrified.

“Hurry up and sentence this one,” King Yan instructed.

“Yes, yes!” The judge hurriedly said, “Hurry up and send him to the eighteenth level of Hell.”

Two demonic soldiers immediately dragged the ghost away. The ghost screamed in terror, but was still pulled out of the palace.

“You can leave now. Don’t use this court for anything else today,” King Yan instructed.

“Yes.” Neither the judges nor the demonic soldiers dared say a thing. Although they had many tasks to accomplish, there were many other courts in operation; for one to be paused for a day didn’t mean anything. They gave the youth behind King Yan a curious glance; they could sense that even King Yan wanted to ensure that this youth was taken care of.

This youth most likely had an incredible background! They all obediently retreated.

Soon, only Ning and King Yan were left in the court.

“King Yan, senior, I haven’t overcome my tribulation to become a Celestial Immortal yet. I’ll have to trouble you, senior, to use temporal inversion for me,” Ning said.

“A minor matter,” King Yan said. Although this sort of Immortal technique used up a considerable amount of his energy, in the long run it didn’t matter.

King Yan immediately used the temporal inversion technique.

Whooosh.

The scene before them changed. The departed judges and demonic soldiers quickly returned to the hall, once more beginning to judge the souls of the dead, then the souls before them...

Time continued to flow backwards, faster and faster. In fact, everything turned into a blur. Ning and King Yan just stood there within the court, waiting silently.

The images of the temporal inversion were illusory ones. Even if the figures of the judges or demonic soldiers touched with them, it wouldn’t make any difference at all.

One year. Two years. Three years...

Time continued to flow backwards at high speed.

“This is the day,” King Yan said.

There had been an order to the procession of souls judged that had been recorded within the bamboo scroll. It included information on which judge did the adjudication, when the record was made, and in what order the decision was made. Thus, King Yan knew exactly which court and roughly which day the judgement was made.

The reversed flow of time began to slow down, and the ghosts could be seen clearly once more.

Ning looked carefully at the ghosts; one of them should’ve been his mother.

Suddenly...

King Yan controlled the temporal version, making it come to a sudden halt, because a white-robed woman had just been escorted in by the demonic soldiers...and it was Ning’s mother, Yuchi Snow!

“Mother.” Ning’s eyes stung. He actually wanted to throw himself forward to hug her.

It had been far, far too long...

But Ning knew that these were merely the illusions rendered by a temporal inversion; these were events that had already happened in the past. These were nothing more than illusions; there was no way he could possibly touch his mother.

“Faster, faster!” The two demonic soldiers that brought Yuchi Snow in actually gave her a shove.

Yuchi Snow looked at her surroundings. Not panicking at all, she immediately knelt down. “My respects to you, judge.”