The Desolate Era

Lilisoft stood there, not daring to say a word. She knew that the ‘Overseer’ before her was thinking.

Finally, Ji Ning looked towards her. “Excellent. I know that you are running out of spirit-pills. This bottle of spirit-pills should be enough for you to stay alive for a period of time.” As he spoke, he produce a jade bottle in his hand, filled with Pure Yang spirit-pills. These pills instantly caused Lilisoft’s eyes to light up.

“Thank you, True Immortal.” Lilisoft was extremely respectful. This was exactly what she needed right now. In truth, Celestial Immortals used up very, very little energy if they focused on staying alive and didn’t fight against others. However...they simply couldn’t deal with the obscene amount of time they had been imprisoned here. A chaos cycle was an incredibly long period of time, and the total amount of Immortal energy they used up each chaos cycle was quite shocking.

“There’s something I would ask you,” Ning said.

“Pray tell, True Immortal.” Lilisoft was puzzled. The man knew all of her memories; why did he need to ‘ask’ her anything?

“I trust you can tell that my Jindan is the weakest type of Jindan,” Ning said. “I’ve heard that there are ways to use chaos ingredients and special techniques to transform and upgrade the Jindan to the second tier. This prisonworld currently holds many prisoners. What should I do in order to acquire what I need from them and upgrade my Jindan?”

Although he had seen her memories, her thoughts and her ideas remained her own.

“Do you have any assistants, True Immortal?” Lilisoft looked at Ning.

“I’m by myself,” Ning said.

“If that’s the case...” Lilisoft pondered for a moment. “The weakest prisoners here are Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals. The higher level figures are True Gods and True Immortals, while the highest are Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals. The last two are able to draw upon the energy of primordial chaos and are very powerful; I imagine, True Immortal, that you won’t be a match for them.”

“As for the Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals...they were fairly weak members of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom. No matter how ‘special’ they were, and even if they do know of methods to upgrade the Jindan, they would’ve been forced to swear life-oaths to never teach these methods to others. In addition, it’s virtually impossible that they might have valuable chaos ingredients on them.”

“Thus, only the True Gods and True Immortals are left.” Lilisoft looked at Ning. “Only from them might you find the materials that you need, Lord Darknorth.”

“Those True Gods and True Immortals generally haven’t reached the level of being able to draw upon the energy of primordial chaos, and so they are also forced to rely on using spirit-pills to survive. It’s one thing to use spirit-pills to preserve their lifeforce, but quite another to fight in battle.” Lilisoft smiled merrily at Ning. “If you continuously attack the True Gods and True Immortals, forcing them to use up their divine power or Immortal energy...no matter how many spirit-pills they have, they won’t be able to keep fighting for too long. In the end, they’ll end up running out of energy and dying.”

“Milord, you can force them to submit to you! Alternately, you can kill them and take their treasures for yourself.”

“The treasures which True Gods and True Immortals have are all far superior to the treasures which Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals have.” Lilisoft looked at Ning. “The prisonworld is a vast place, and there are many True God and True Immortal prisoners here. Kill them or force them into servitude. If you completely sweep through all of them...I trust, Lord Darknorth, that you’ll be able to find what you need.”

Ning gave Lilisoft a glance.

What a vicious mind she had. She was merciless, even to members of her fellow race. Although Ning had access to her memories, he truly hadn’t come up with an idea like this before.

“Milord, all you need to do is stay outside the formation. You can attack them, but they won’t be able to attack you.” Lilisoft smiled at Ning. “The only outcome will be their defeat. Either they submit...or they perish.”

“I’m far from being a match for True Immortals and True Gods.” Ning let out a sigh.

To kill a True God? Or a True Immortal who was equivalent to a Three Realms Daofather?

In the outside world...Ning wouldn’t even dare imagine such a thing, given his current level of power. But it would indeed be possible, here within the prisonworld.

“Milord, all you need is patience. Each of the True Gods and True Immortals will be defeated by you, one by one. You’ll dominate them and sweep through them, aside from any who might be able to draw upon the energy of primordial chaos,” Lilisoft said. “Perhaps there are some with that power in this prisonworld, but they are definitely in the tiniest of minorities, less than one in a hundred.”

Ning chuckled. “Very good.” He then turned and left.

Time flowed on.

Ning continued to sweep through the Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals, going through six more of them. Two of them, upon learning that the Pangaea chaos-kingdom had fallen, went berserk and tried to kill Ning. However, Ning was protected by the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]; he wasn’t someone they could kill. Those two naturally ended up dying. As for the other four, they were actually delighted by this news, and they willingly allowed Ning to soulscour them.

Their choice, after all, was to serve or to die. They knew what to choose.

Ning had scoured the memories of a total of five Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals, Lilisoft included. He instantly knew far more regarding the Pangaea chaos-kingdom.

“It seems I really do have to turn towards those True Gods and True Immortals.” Ning sat there within the Voidboat. “The idea which Celestial Immortal Lilisoft came up with is the only possible solution.”

True Gods and True Immortals were far more exalted figures than Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals. Just like in the Three Realms, the difference in status was like the difference between Heaven and Earth.

Status...power...treasures...they were on a completely different level. In fact, in the Pangaea chaos-kingdom, some powerful True Gods and True Immortals of certain schools were permitted to transmit the Dao on their own accord, and so they actually carried certain techniques with them.

Whoosh. The Voidboat flew into the air above a lake. The lake was dotted with tiny little islands, one of which had a True Immortal prisoner on it.

Atop the island.

True Immortal Winterpeak was seated in the lotus position, completely absorbed in his own thoughts. Suddenly, he sensed ripples from the outside world and was startled into wakefulness.

“Someone’s coming?” True Immortal Winterpeak opened his eyes. He instantly saw the white-robed figure who was a few hundred kilometers away. He was quite surprised. “A...True Immortal? With such a puny aura? This is a True Immortal of the weakest variety possible.”

For the denizens of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom, True Immortals had a much higher status than Empyrean Gods and Celestial Immortals, who were considered equal to each other. Ning’s true body was both a Fiendgod and a Ki Refiner, and Winterpeak could sense the Fiendgod aura emanating from Ning’s body, but he paid much more attention to Ning’s Pure Yang aura. Except...the Pure Yang aura around Ning was ridiculously weak.

“You are the new Overseer?” The look on True Immortal Winterpeak’s face suddenly changed. “What happened to Pangaea? How could it have sent you here?”

“I imagine you have guessed it already. The Pangaea chaos-kingdom is no more.” Ning stood there in midair as he spoke. “This prisonworld has now fallen into my hands. The previous Overseers probably wouldn’t have dared to assault and kill the prisoners with no cause, but...I dare.”

True Immortal Winterpeak scoffed. “You?”

Naturally, he felt quite arrogant. This sort of puny True Immortal was too weak; Winterpeak would be able to effortlessly dominate him.

“I’ll give you two options.” Ning could sense the aura of danger emanating from the man before him. The aura was so terrifying, it dwarfed even the combined auras of the nearly three hundred Empyrean Gods and True Immortals the Seamless Gate had sent to kill him. This True Immortal of Pangaea definitely was on par with the True Gods and Daofathers of the Three Realms.

“The first choice is to submit to me,” Ning said.

“The second choice is to resist me. I’ll continuously assault you from outside the formation, while you will be unable to attack me at all. Your power is incredible, and you are much more powerful than me...but when you fight against me, you’ll use up your Immortal energy. Once it is all used up, you’ll die.”

“Choose,” Ning said calmly.

True Immortal Winterpeak’s eyes flashed with cold light. In the era of the Pangaea chaos-kingdom, this sort of puny True Immortal would be terrified and quiver in his presence.

“You overestimate your abilities, you crawling insect,” True Immortal Winterpeak said coldly. “None of the trillions of living creatures under my domain would have dared to disobey my commands. An inferior True Immortal like you who was born to a lowly caste...I can stand here and allow you to attack me, and you still won’t be able to injure me.”

His pride and his arrogance, as well as the status he had enjoyed for so long, prevented him from lowering his head before such a weak True Immortal.

It must be understood that even though he had committed a major offense, the exalted King of Pangaea had only elected to imprison him here.

“Is that so? Then permit a lowly, crawling insect such as myself to see your power.” Ning waved his hand.

Whoosh.

Instantly, a total of 729 Pure Yang flying swords appeared around him. 720 of them had come from the slain Goodhill. All of them were imprinted with the runes of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation]. With Ning’s fourth-stage heartforce aiding his soul, he was able to activate and command all 729 flying swords at the same time.

Ning’s current soul was capable of controlling even the perfect Heaven Punisher, to say nothing of a few flying swords.

Instantly, a jade sword took form in front of Ning.

[Greater Thousand Swords Formation], level nine!

“Oh, so you have a bit of ability.” True Immortal Winterpeak sat there in the lotus position, a cold smile on his face. This crawling vermin...if it wasn’t for this formation, Winterpeak would be able to easily annihilate him.

Swish.

A streak of light appeared in the skies as the jade sword stabbed straight towards True Immortal Winterpeak.

“Hmph.” Winterpeak just let out a cold snort. A streak of golden light shot out from his eyes, and with a boom, the jade sword formed by Ning’s ninth-level [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] was instantly blasted apart. It was as though Ning’s sword-light was an egg smashing against a rock. Naturally, it had been a completely one-sided ‘fight’.

The difference in power was too great.

“He really does have the power of a True God or Daofather of the Three Realms.” Ning began to feel even more desire for the chance to upgrade his Jindan, even if it was ‘only’ to the second tier. At least the difference in power wouldn’t be this ridiculously huge.

“Go, go, go!” Ning formed one jade sword after another in front of him. The light of the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] flashed repeatedly as the swords chopped towards True Immortal Winterpeak.

True Immortal Winterpeak blocked three successive attacks. Finally, he began to frown.

“I’m using up my energy too quickly. If this continues...” True Immortal Winterpeak didn’t want to admit it, but the truth was that controlling magic treasures to fight in this manner used up his energy far too quickly, even though it was simple.

“Go!” A look of anger and embarrassment appeared on his face as he let out this angry roar.

Instantly, a thirty meter tall bowl-shaped treasure appeared. It covered the area where True Immortal Winterpeak was located, protecting him.

For Winterpeak, cowering like a turtle in this fashion was a source of humiliation. But by hiding under a magic treasure, he was able to use up much less of his energy.

Boom! Boom! Boom! One flash of sword-light after another came chopping down upon the bowl-shaped magic treasure, but they were unable to break through.

“Eh?” Ning frowned. “The [Greater Thousand Swords Formation] uses up energy too quickly. If I rely on just absorbing natural energy from the outside world, it’ll take me forever to kill him. If I use spirit-pills to replenish my energy...I’ll end up using too many pills. It seems I have to come up with a low-energy tactic. Ah...right!”

Ning suddenly was struck by a thought. He was reminded of a treasure he had...the Eight Fires Qiankun World! The Eight Fires Qiankun World held eight different types of truefire within it, and their blazing power was quite terrifying. All Ning had to do was use a bit of his own energy to activate and maintain the Eight Fires Qiankun World. In addition, his foe was trapped within a region of a thousand kilometers; he wouldn’t be able to attack the Eight Fires Qiankun World at all. His only option would be to sit there and be roasted.

This was indeed a perfect method. The burning power of the Eight Fires Qiankun World wasn’t one whit weaker than Ning’s sword-chops with the [Greater Thousand Swords Formation], but it used up far less energy.