The Desolate Era

Ji Ning looked at the two prostrating figures, his heart clenching. “It seems my blunder has resulted in them believing me to be the ‘Overseer’. I have to be very careful. The first thing I should do is get a sense as to what an ‘Overseer’ does. I can’t let them see through me; that’ll put me in grave danger.” That exalted aura he had sensed earlier told him that he was a very weak figure, compared to the power of the stone stele.

“It seems they are very respectful to me; their status should be lower than mine.” Ning pondered for a moment, then said, “The two of you, report your names.”

“This humble one is Eastcricket.” The taller man was the first to respond respectfully. His voice was low and deep, and seemed quite honest.

“This humble one is Westbat,” the pudgier one said. “The two of us have been awaiting you, Lord Overseer, for three full chaos cycles. Ever since we were created, we’ve been diligently working here at Prisonworld 17. Without you here, Lord Overseer, we’ve been quite nervous and restless. We were worried that something unexpected had happened to this prisonworld.”

Ning’s heart clenched. Three chaos cycles? A ‘chaos cycle’ had to be a unit of time...and from the sound of it, it was a very long period of time.

After being created? Were not they living creatures?

Prisonworld 17? As the ‘Overseer’...was he supposed to be in charge of this prison?

“Has anything unexpected happened in this Prisonworld?” Ning casually followed their line of conversation. He needed to ask as many questions as he could and learn more information from them.

“We were blessed by your good fortune, and so nothing has happened during the past three chaos cycles. It won’t be so easy for the imprisoned criminals to cause any problems!” The pudgy Westbat hurriedly added, “I knew that you have to be busy, milord. The various duties of the Prisonworld can be left to the two of us for handling. If there really is a major event, we’ll immediately notify you. All you need to do is then report it to His Majesty. You can spend your time touring the Prisonworld, or you can quietly train by yourself. If there’s anything you need, just inform us.”

“Right. Report it to His Majesty...” Ning nodded slowly.

His Majesty?

Of which kingdom? Could it be that this stone stele belonged to a particular nation?

“Tell me about the various matters, great and small, that have occurred during the past three chaos cycles,” Ning said.

The tall Eastcricket blinked at Ning, them mused to himself, “How long would it take to describe all the events that occurred over the course of three chaos cycles? How bored is he?”

In contrast, chubby Westbat grew excited. “Milord, allow me. Uh...shall I start from the time when the last Lord Overseer left, or...?”

“Tell me a bit about the previous Lord Overseer, then speak about the past three chaos cycles.” Ning wanted to learn more, but he was afraid of exposing himself. Thus, he was very careful with his words. These two jailors seemed to be very respectful to him, but Ning still had a strange feeling about them.

In truth, ever since his Pure Yang energy filled the divine runes, he had gained a strange sort of control over this chaotic region. In fact, he could easily leave it if he chose. And yet...he didn’t have any direct control over these two jailors. Clearly, they had to have been produced by this mysterious ‘Dominion’ and only answered to the dictates of the Dominion. If they were to discover that Ning was a foe, they would probably attack him.

“Ah...well, the previous Lord Overseer would chat with us when he was bored. Now, it could just be that he was bragging for the sake of bragging, but he claimed to be the son of an Elder God, and that the only reason he had been punished to serve as an Overseer for a chaos cycle was because he had run afoul of the law.” Westbat mused to himself, “I don’t know if he was just bragging or not, but based on my own judgement, I think he was telling the truth.”

“Generally speaking, Overseers are all core members of our Pangaea chaos-kingdom. After all, even though being forced to stay here in solitude for a full chaos cycle is technically a form of punishment, it also allows the offender to learn those seven supreme techniques. In addition, the offender is even allowed to enjoy one of the bottles of chaos nectar which Prisonworld 17 is able to refine from the primordial chaos around us. This is actually a great benefit! Ordinary Immortals would be willing to spend a full chaos cycle in solitude to gain a bottle of chaos nectar or to learn the seven supreme techniques, but they wouldn’t even have a chance!”

“Chaos nectar?” Ning’s eyes lit up.

[Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods] was divided into three stages. The first stage was very easy to learn, but the second stage was thousands of times more difficult, because it required one to be able to transform into eighteen mighty clones, each of which was as powerful as the original body. Even the soul had to be identical in power. It was easy to train in divine power or Immortal energy, but to duplicate the soul eighteen times while maintaining the same level of power was incredibly difficult. It required the assistance of precious supportive treasures.

Chaos nectar was incomparably precious. If he had chaos nectar, he would be able to master the second stage of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods].

“Right. Chaos nectar.” Jailor Westbad said hurriedly, “A bottle of chaos nectar, based on the experiences of the past Lord Overseers, is generally enough to allow mastery of the second stage of the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods].”

“Where is the chaos nectar?” Ning asked.

“The previous Lord Overseer took the chaos nectar back with him to offer it to His Majesty. However, during the past three chaos cycles, Prison-World 17 has continued to distill primordial chaos, accumulating quite a bit. The two of us have been working hard on this task. Given that it’s been three chaos cycles since we’ve been contacted...we have a total of eighteen bottles. The nineteenth bottle isn’t full yet; we still need to spend some time and fill it up,” Westbat said.

“Give them to me,” Ning instructed.

The chubby Jailor Westbat was startled. He hesitated momentarily, then waved his hand.

Whoosh.

Instantly, a total of eighteen black bottles appeared before him, hovering in the air. The ancient surfaces of the bottles were covered with divine runes. They were clearly extraordinary items.

“Milord,” Westbat said hurriedly, “Milord, you’ll be here for at least a full chaos cycle. You are only permitted to use a single bottle; no matter what, don’t use more than that. His Majesty knows exactly how much we are able to harvest. If you use too much, you’ll probably run into trouble. Chaos nectar is extremely valuable...generally, we only give it to the Lord Overseer when he finishes his tour of duty.”

“Relax. I’m not suicidal,” Ning chuckled. He waved his arm, collecting the eighteen bottles.

Westbat hurriedly laughed ingratiatingly. “Right, right, right. You have an exalted status, milord; naturally, you won’t act rashly.”

“Eheh. Are there any other treasures here in Prisonworld 17?” Ning’s eyes seemed to be shining right now.

“Nothing.” The chubby Jailor Westbat shook his head repeatedly. He had served quite a few Overseers, and he knew that all of them had special statuses. All of them were core members of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom, which was why they were sent to such an important location as this. Although it was nominally a punishment, it was also a great boon. There were many of them who acquired chaos nectar, then greedily desired other things as well.

“There really is nothing else. This is just a Prisonworld with many prisoners,” the chubby jailor said. “If you are talented enough to get something out of the prisoners, that’s entirely your business. However, all of the prisoners are filled with hatred, and many of them are incredibly powerful; I imagine that not only will they not give you anything, they’ll try to kill you. If you really want to interact with the prisoners, milord, I urge you to hurry up and master the [Taowu Eighteen Fiendgods]. That way, with eighteen clones, you at least won’t be at any risk of death.”

“Right.” Ning nodded.

Prisoners?

“Continue telling me about Overseer duties, as well as the various events that have occurred during the past three chaos cycles. I’m actually quite bored right now. Ugh...a full chaos cycle! It’ll feel like forever,” Ning sighed.

“Please permit me to elaborate,” the chubby Jailor Westbat said excitedly. He loved to talk, but Eastcricket was a stuffy gourd who was always silent. This caused Westbat quite a bit of irritation, and he would often go chatting with some of the prisoners. Many of the prisoners wanted to kill him, but fortunately for him he always stayed outside of the protective formations, preventing them from injuring him.

More than half of the prisoners of Prisonworld 17 absolutely hated this chattering, prattering jailor.

“The last Lord Overseer had a rather foul attitude. In my opinion, he had indeed been spoiled rotten by an Elder God. As soon as he arrived...” The chubby Jailor Westbat began to narrate nonstop.

As for Ning, he just smiled and listened in a very ‘relaxed’ way.

Relaxed? He wasn’t relaxed at all! But he knew very well that his acquisition of the stone stele was a stroke of tremendous karmic fortune. The greater a stroke of karmic fortune, the more careful one had to be. Otherwise, one might end up with nothing, or worse!

As Ning continued to listen, he began to understand more and more. An entire world had indeed been placed within this stone stele, and from the sound of it the world was extremely vast! This was a place where many of the criminals of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom were located.

The Pangaea chaos-kingdom was an extremely powerful kingdom. The most powerful figure was the King of Pangaea, an exceptionally formidable and powerful figure. The stone stele which held this prisonworld had been created by the King of Pangaea, and there were a total of thirty-six of them. The thirty-six stone stele prisonworlds would naturally join together into the shockingly powerful ‘Nine-Layered Heaven Chaining Formation’, making it incredibly hard for enemies to enter. Only members of their own kingdom could enter.

Each of the thirty-six stone steles had seven mighty techniques engraved upon them, for a total of 252 techniques. These techniques had all been left behind by the King of Pangaea. Although these weren’t the supreme techniques which the King of Pangaea had used to dominate his opponents, they were still some of the best techniques he had to offer. Every single Overseer would have the opportunity to learn the seven techniques on their respective stone steles, but they wouldn’t be permitted to learn from any of the others.

“Hmm...hmm...Pangaea chaos-kingdom? From its name, it has to be a kingdom located within the primordial chaos,” Ning mused to himself. “The primordial chaos truly is an absolutely amazing place. In the past, there have been quite a few incursions by alien Outsiders into our Three Realms. The primordial chaos is vast and infinite, capable of giving birth to many True Gods, Elder Gods, and even figures like Pangu. It makes sense that a nation like the Pangaea chaos-kingdom would exist.”

“However...judging from what these jailors said, the ‘Nine-Layered Heaven Chaining Formation’ which these thirty-six stone steles are a part of is nothing more than a joke.”

“This stone stele ended up in Youngflame Freak’s hands during the Primordial Era, and now it is in my hands. Its always been by itself for these countless years. I imagine that the formation was long ago destroyed, resulting in the stone steles being scattered apart. I wonder what this stone stele experienced, for it to have ended up here in the Three Realms.”

Although Ning was surprised and delighted, he was still cautious. The Three Realms had often battled against alien Outsiders such as Rahu or the even-more-powerful Lord of All Things, but had killed all of them. Most likely, many in the Three Realms hac acquired some of the treasures or supreme techniques of the alien Outsiders. Ning had merely acquired a single such treasure...albeit, his seemed to be quite impressive.

Ning continued to listen ‘relaxedly’ for some time, then said with a laugh, “Alright, you can stop for now.”