The Desolate Era

It was at the cusp of summer, with spring coming to an end. The morning was rather cool.

Swallow Mountain, Serpentwing Lake, Brightheart Island. Ji Ning walked out of his room by himself, with Yu Wei still asleep. At the Celestial Immortal level, one usually did not need to rise early or engage in an austere lifestyle. What really mattered was understanding the Dao. Once one reached a sufficiently high level in the Dao, such as mastering of a Grand Dao, then ki would manifest within the chest, causing one to immediately become a Pure Yang True Immortal.

However, the mastery of a Grand Dao was simply far too difficult. Many Celestial Immortals were trapped in front of the final bottleneck before mastery, unable to take that last step no matter how they tried.

Thus, Yu Wei’s life was quite relaxed; she wouldn’t even get out of bed until the Golden Crow had risen high into the sky.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.. As Ning walked towards the waters of the lake, he could make out the rustling sound of the waves of Serpentwing Lake striking against the shore. Even when there was no wind, this massive lake would have three-foot tall waves, and so the sound of the waves striking striking against the shore was heard quite often.

Ning held a Darknorth sword in his hand, resting it over a shoulder as he strode past many buildings.

“Young master.”

“Young master.”

Many of the servants and maids of Brightheart Island called out to him as he walked past.

Ning quickly arrived at the island’s shore.

Snick. Snick. Not too far away, there was a gray-haired old man who was holding a giant pair of shears with both hands, trimming away at the flowers and vegetation. Brightheart Island was kept in pristine condition, like a true paradise, and the efforts of these gardeners were a crucial part. Clearly, this old gardener was completely absorbed in his trimming, as he didn’t even notice that the master of the Brightheart Island, Ji Ning, had arrived.

Ning gave the old gardener a glance. He chuckled, then began to train with his sword.

Sword-light began to flash.

Ning’s sword-arts had become even more pure. They didn’t seem very dazzling, but they seemed to carry a thoroughly penetrating power to them. Anyone who watched would feel as though the tip of the sword was always aimed straight at their eyes. This sort of sharpness, this sort of penetrative power...ordinary Immortal cultivators who saw it would only feel that it was strange. Only when Celestial Immortals saw it would they understand how truly formidable it was.

Slowly...

The Golden Crow rose into the skies. The temperature began to rise. It was no longer cool, and as the rays of the Golden Crow shone down, they brought warmth to the world.

By now, the old gardener had noticed Ning. However, he didn’t dare to disturb him; he just sat down to one side, watching with curiosity. As he watched...he slowly began to feel drowsy, due to how warm and comfortable it was. Bit by bit, he drifted off into sleep.

A short while later.

A tall, willowy, white-robed woman walked over; it was Yu Wei.

She normally always dressed in black clothes, but ever since she became pregnant, she would often change into new outfits.

“Let’s watch your daddy train with the sword.” Yu Wei waved her arm, and a crystalline, jade-like table and chair appeared out of nowhere. With a second wave, she caused some Immortal nectars and spirit-fruit to appear. As she sat down, she noticed the old gardener snoozing off in the distance. She couldn’t help but smile, then turned her head to watch Ning train with the sword.

The waters of the lake washed up against the shore repeatedly. The warm morning sun shone down upon then. The old gardener snoozed contentedly, while her Dao-companion trained with the sword.

Yu Wei stroked her stomach. What a beautiful scene!

“You woke up.”

Ning came to a halt and walked over to her.

“You are about to go for your Celestial Tribulation. Of course I had to come watch you train,” Yu Wei laughed. “How do you feel?”

“Superb.” Ning smiled. “My heart feels very peaceful, and my insights into the Dao of the Sword continue to rise. To be honest...I can sense that I am very close to the final bottleneck in the Dao of the Sword. In perhaps another half year or year, I’ll be able to reach that bottleneck.”

It wasn’t too hard to reach the bottleneck. Breaking through it to gain full mastery of the Dao of the Sword, however, was incredibly hard. Still...Ning had once experienced the [Thousand Year Dream], which his master, Patriarch Subhuti, had provided to him so as to help him get a taste in advance of what it would be like to have full mastery of the Dao of the Sword. Given that he also was in control of a hint of a swordforce...he felt confident that it would be much easier for him to break through this bottleneck than it was for ordinary Celestial Immortals.

However, even though it might be easier, not even Ning knew how long it would be before he would actually make the breakthrough.

Only when he mastered the Dao of the Sword would he have his true body undergo its tribulation. If he succeeded and became an Empyrean God...then his life would have truly changed!

But all of it was dependent upon him mastering the Dao of the Sword.

“Why don’t you train for a bit longer? First reach the bottleneck, then have your Primaltwin undergo the tribulation,” Yu Wei said.

“My Primaltwin is in control of heartforce; it’s more than strong enough by now. Even if I do improve slightly in the Dao of the Sword, it won’t be of that much help to me,” Ning said. Their words were naturally sealed off from the surrounding area, preventing anyone else on the island from listening in.

Ning’s words were correct.

With his full mastery over his third level heartforce...his natural level of power was already that of a supreme Celestial Immortal’s.

Even if a mere Primal Daoist was somehow so monstrously talented as to be able to take perfect control over the third stage of heartforce, that Primal Daoist’s power would also rise to that of a supreme Celestial Immortal’s. Heartforce was an extremely mysterious form of power; generally speaking, only Empyrean Gods and True Immortals could slowly begin to grasp it, while a number of True Gods and Daofathers had some degree of skill in it.

It was far too rare, however, for anyone at the Void-level to have gained insights into it. As for Primal Daoists doing the same, this had never before happened!

Ning’s Primaltwin was now in perfect control of his third-stage heartforce; its power had similarly skyrocketed to the supreme Celestial Immortal level. For a Ki Refiner...this sort of power was absolutely enough to overcome the thunder tribulation, while the wind tribulation and fire tribulation were even less dangerous. Only the most unfathomable tribulation, the demonheart tribulation, remained a threat.

Insights into the Dao of the Sword wouldn’t be of much help to fighting the demonheart tribulation.

“And...my subconscious is whispering to me that the next few days are the best period of time for undergoing my tribulation,” Ning said.

“Oh?” Yu Wei nodded.

......

Just as Ning and Yu Wei, this loving pair of Dao-companions, were chatting together...

In the skies above a location deep within the southern seas of the Grand Xia, a spatial rift suddenly appeared. An awe-inspiring group flew into the world, each member of the group possessing powerful auras. The leaders were True Immortal Gaudy, Fairy Deadgrass, Empyrean God Beastleave, and Empyrean God Threesuns.

Although these were merely their incarnations or clones, in possession of just a tenth of their full power, they were still definitely at the Empyrean God or True Immortal level of power. They were significantly more powerful than Ji Ning, who could be considered to have just barely reached the minimum threshold of that level of power.

Celestial Immortal Blackheaven and Immortal Venomfreak were also present, and behind them were a group of black-robed figures. Every single black-robed figure had an astonishing aura that was filled with savagery and brutality. The first time Immortal Venomfreak had seen this group, he couldn’t help but feel nervousness. “The Hellsworn of Bloodcloud Hall...they are legendary Deathsworn who came forth from the Infinity Hells. What are these ‘Infinity Hells’? The eighteen hells of the Netherworld shouldn’t be able to produce terrifying figures.”

Immortal Venomfreak had just recently joined, after all; there were many secrets which he did not know, and he didn’t dare to ask too many questions either.

“We’ve arrived at the Grand Xia.” True Immortal Gaudy said, “Venomfreak, you weren’t confident in being able to teleport from the Fifth World to Serpentwing Lake, but now that we are at the Grand Xia, it shouldn’t be a problem, yes?”

“Yes, it will be easy. Forget about Serpentwing Lake; I can teleport us straight to Brightheart Island.” Immortal Venomfreak smiled, confidence in his eyes. “For the sake of killing Ji Ning, I gained a thorough understanding of Brightheart Island of Serpentwing Lake; I know its layout intimately.”

“Good.” True Immortal Gaudy nodded. “Then use a Greater Teleport.”

A blood-red pearl appeared in the skies.

Whoosh.

Immortal Venomfreak waved his hand again. None of them resisted as they were drawn into that blood-red pearl. This pearl was merely a Heaven-ranked magic treasure that contained a holding space within it; the likes of True Immortal Gaudy and the others could easily destroy it from the inside and emerge as needed. In addition, they could see what was going on in the outside world, so they weren’t worry about Immortal Venomfreak playing any tricks on them. And...if he really did, the Seamless Gate would never spare him. The Seamless Gate was able to keep track of everything they were doing, after all.

“Let’s go.” Pearl in hand, Immortal Venomfreak immediately used a Greater Teleport.

Whoosh.

......

Serpentwing Lake. Brightheart Island.

This place was as beautiful and paradise-like as ever. Many servants and maids had already risen from bed and started on a few simple tasks.

Ning and Yu Wei were seated together, drinking some warm wine.

“Come here and feel it. Can you feel the movement?” Yu Wei placed Ning’s hand on her stomach.

Ning carefully pressed his palm down, sensing the pulses coming from her belly. The pulses were very minute, very fine.

These little pulsing movements caused Ning to feel a very strange, unique feeling in his heart. This feeling was a powerful, protective urge, the urge an eagle might feel to protect its chicks. Ning was filled with a desire to ensure that nothing would happen to this little soul.

Yu Wei looked at Ning, looked at the expressions on his face.

Rumble...

This was a soundless, formless spatial ripple...but this ripple, the ripple of Greater Teleportation, caused more shock and alarm to Ning and Yu Wei than the collapse of the ground below them.

“Not good. That’s Greater Teleportation!” Ning immediately turned around. “I can’t let them harm senior apprentice-sister.”

When Ning had sensed the pulses, he had immediately understood that even if he had to die, he would ensure the safety of the two of them.

“Senior bear, senior Redsnow, something bad has just happened.” As Ning turned, he immediately called out to the seven Empyrean Gods. As he did...he instantly saw the ugly, horned man who had just appeared far away.

“Youngflame Freak?” Ning instantly recognized this man, the Ancestor of the Youngflame clan.

The horned man grinned savagely, and his hoarse, ear-piercing voice that sounded like a jagged knife sawing through a table instantly rang out throughout Brightheart Island. “Ji Ning. What a coincidence!” His power, filled with a Celestial Immortal’s energy, echoed throughout the island.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!

A large number of people suddenly appeared next to Youngflame Freak. The leaders of the group caused Ning’s eyelids to twitch. He instantly recognized True Immortal Gaudy; if it hadn’t been for the Xia Emperor, he probably would’ve been forced to ask senior Redsnow and the others to intervene. And this time...Gaudy wasn’t alone. Next to him were three figures whose auras were no weaker than his!

“Four Empyrean Gods or True Immortals?” Ning felt tremendous shock. “Even if I immediately asked the Xia Emperor for assistance, if he doesn’t bring enough people, it will probably be very hard for him to stop them.”

“Senior Redsnow!” Ning frantically called out to them.

The seven Empyrean Gods had been located within the Starseizing world; they only began to emerge once the giant yellow bear notified them, which naturally needed a bit of time.

“What a perfect opportunity. Kill Ji Ning.”

Fifty-five figures had emerged within the skies. Celestial Immortal Blackheaven immediately let out a furious roar, while the eyes of the four leaders became filled with murderous intents. The wave of murderous intents swept down towards Ning, causing him to feel a greater sense of danger than he had ever felt before. He had the feeling that if he tried to fight back by himself, he would probably die in a single clash!

“I’M...TRYING...TO SLEEP!!!!!” An utterly enraged roar suddenly rang out.

The old gardener who had dozed off nearby suddenly rose to his feet, a frown on his face. He actually coughed twice as he stared at the fifty-five figures in midair. “That damned duck that squawked just now had a horrible-sounding voice! Do you guys want to die?!”

Everyone was stunned.

Ji Ning and Yu Wei stared in shock at the old gardener. Only an instant had passed, but the old gardener had actually slowly risen to his feet, coughed twice, then said a few things. It was as though time was passing at completely different speeds for them and the old gardener.

As for the fifty-five figures in midair, they were even more stunned and amazed.

This was because they suddenly realized something...

“Why can’t we move?!”