The Desolate Era

Chapter 24 – Invitation

Ji Ning’s eyes stung.

After killing Youngflame Nong, Ning had never hoped for the Black-White College to help him, their disciple. In truth, he felt guilt towards the Black-White College. Because of him…the relationship between the Black-White College and the Youngflame clan had almost assuredly turned quite stiff. Thus, Ning had only planned to rely on his own power to fight against the Youngflame clan.

“Master…Master went out adventuring?” Ning asked, worried.

“Right. Your matter…your master is unable to assist you in resolving it. This had a tremendous impact on your master. In addition, he isn’t certain of his ability to overcome the Celestial Tribulation. Thus, he is going to go out and adventure and temper himself.” Immortal Fivecraze said with a sigh, “However…how can the matters of the world always go as you desire them to go? Your master is too stubborn and fixated.”

Ning didn’t say a word.

“Hurry up and read.” Immortal Fivecraze handed the [Flowing Watersource] to Ning.

“Right.” Ning nodded. No matter how many thoughts he had in his mind, given his power was insufficient, those thoughts were useless.

“In the past life, or in this life…my goal is to have my destiny in my own hands.” That powerful desire filling Ning’s heart continued to cause his Dao-heart to grow firmer. He flipped through the second half of the [Flowing Watersource], memorizing it carefully. After doing so, a flame emerged from Ning’s hand which completely burned the book into ash. Next, Immortal Fivecraze gave him the third scroll for the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens].

The full copy of the [Flowing Watersource]. The third scroll of the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]. The full copy of [Heavenly Transformation]. The full copy of the [Divine Thunderbolt Eye]. The full copy of the [Myriad Hibernating Venoms]. The full copy of [Three Heads, Six Arms]. The full copy of the [Eye of the Luminous Heart]. The full copy of the [Soulshaker Art]. The full copy of the [Soulcharmer Art]. The full copy of the [Soulslayer Art].

This was what Immortal Fivecraze had brought him. Almost all of the most important divine abilities and secret arts of the Black-White College; he had brought them all for Ning.

After each read, Ning would burn the book.

Some of the divine abilities took up ten full books. Immortal cultivators had utterly astonishing memories, but Ning still needed to read all the way to the dawn of the next day before completely memorizing all of the techniques. But of course, halfway through the process, Ning had taken a break and taken the Patriarch to participate in the dinner banquet which Princess Xiyue had prepared for him.

“No need to see me off.”

Ning was at the gates to the royal estate, sending off Immortal Fivecraze.

“Ji Ning…” Immortal Fivecraze looked towards Ning, then said with a laugh, “Last night, I could tell from the banquet that King Yan treats you with great importance. He is a Celestial Immortal Patriarch, and yet he views you so highly; you need to work hard! Every bit of help the Black-White College can possibly give you, we have already! As for myself, I’m just trying to overcome as many tribulations as I can before succumbing. I don’t have much time left to me. I truly hope to be able to see one of the disciples of the Black-White College become a Celestial Immortal. Your master is striving to do this; you need to as well.”

“Right.” Ning nodded.

“In the imperial capital, when you are alone, you need to be careful.” Immortal Fivecraze cracked a smile. “Since you are going to the Conclave of Immortal Destiny, you need to go all out. If you can apprentice yourself to a major power of the Three Realms…by then, the Youngflame clan will be completely stupefied.”

“Right. I’m going to go all out.” Ning nodded.

“Alright. I’m leaving now.” Immortal Fivecraze turned and left. He was holding up his calabash of wine, appearing to be quite relaxed and at ease. Moments later, he disappeared from Ning’s field of vision.

Ning took a deep breath. In this moment…Ning felt an incomparably powerful sense of belonging for the Black-White College.

“No matter how much time passes…I, Ji Ning, shall forever be a disciple of the Black-White College.” These were the words Ning said silently to himself.

And then, Ning turned and returned to the estate.

……

“Senior, Ji Ning came to the entrance of the royal estate.”

“He’s coming out?” Immortal Floatcloud asked frantically.

“He just went back inside again.”

Immortal Floatcloud’s face was filled with indisguisable franticness. He barked, “Keep watching!”

Although he was a Loose Immortal, and although he was extremely patient…he had already sworn an oath to the Dao of the Heavens before Patriarch Arcanum. He had to kill Ji Ning within three days.

“It’s already been a day and a half!” Immortal Floatcloud said frantically to himself, “Ji Ning, oh, Ji Ning…are you going to stay inside the entire time? Then my death will really have been for nothing.”

…….

Within King Yan’s Estate. The underwater estate.

“Ji Ning, that fellow named Fivecraze brought over quite a few divine abilities and secret arts. The secret arts are one thing; you can do as you please. But of the divine abilities, you absolutely cannot train in the [Myriad Hibernating Venoms]. Absolutely not,” the giant yellow bear said.

“Eh?” Ji Ning said, surprised, “This [Myriad Hibernating Venoms] is said to be one of the most powerful divine abilities the Black-White College possesses; the cost in black-white pellets is as high as the [Eye of the Luminous Heart]. They are the most expensive of all. And isn’t it better to have as many divine abilities as possible? There shouldn’t be any issues.”

The giant yellow bear shook his head. “Yes, the more divine abilities the better, but…training in divine abilities will distract you take up your time, won’t it? As for the [Myriad Hibernating Venoms], you will need to use more than ten thousand types of strange venoms in order to train in it. Searching for and acquiring so many venoms will cost you a great deal, and merging those venoms into your body is extremely troublesome. It will cost you a lot of effort, for little gain! In addition, the more pure a divine body is, the better; fusing so many venoms into your body isn’t worth shit. In the future, after you become an Empyrean God, you’d probably have to actually purify your body of those venoms and actively wipe out the traces of this divine ability from it.”

Ning was speechless.

“What about the other divine abilities?” Ning hurriedly asked.

“[Heavenly Transformation] and [Three Heads, Six Arms]; virtually all of the Fiendgods of the Three Realms train in these two divine abilities. Although they are very common, they are still quite useful,” the giant yellow bear said. “You are definitely going to train in them. As for the rest? Didn’t you already acquire the [Pentabolt Vajra]? You can train in both the [Pentabolt Vajra] and the [Divine Thunderbolt Eye], and the two can actually support each other, causing both to grow stronger. In addition, in reality, this [Divine Thunderbolt Eye] is in reality the foundation for one of the supreme divine abilities of the Three Realms, the [Thundergod’s Eye].”

Ning laughed, “So it really is true that having an old man at home is like having a treasure.”

“Yep. So you, you little tyke, need to be more polite to me,” the giant yellow bear said smugly.

“How powerful is that [Thundergod’s Eye] you spoke of, the one you said is a supreme divine ability of the Three Realms?” Ning asked, curious.

“Amongst the countless divine abilities of the Three Realms, it can rank in the top hundred, I suppose. It’s on a lower level than your [Starseizing Hand],” the giant yellow bear said. “But it’s still quite powerful. Anyone who can completely master the [Thundergod’s Eye] will become a major figure of the Three Realms.”

Ning nodded. During the past year, he had already trained the [Pentabolt Vajra], [Soldiers of the Mind], and [Three Heads, Six Arms] to a very high level.

“There’s still more than a year from now until the Conclave of Immortal Destiny. I need to reach a certain level of accomplishment in the [Divine Thunderbolt Eye], the [Soulcharmer Art], and the [Soulslayer Art],” Ning mused to himself.

……

“Open.”

Ning let out a loud shout within the underwater estate’s main hall. His forehead suddenly split apart, revealing a vertical eye-slit. A bolt of thunder snaked out from it, crashing against the ground of the distant hallway.

“Eh? Someone’s coming? It’s not even dark; dinner hasn’t even begun. Why has a servant come?” With a thought, Ning willed the Divine Thunderbolt Eye in his forehead to close. He had just reached a basic level of understanding of this technique, but the power was already quite something.

Ning arrived at the entrance to the Immortal estate, with Uncle White and Little Qing hurriedly following.

“What is it?” Ning asked.

The female soldier-servant at the gate said with a laugh, “The Princess is asking you to meet her, young master.”

“Oh?” Ning nodded. “Uncle White, Little Qing, I’m going to make a short trip.”

Soon, Ning arrived at his cousin’s residence. She was currently within her pavilion, and in her hands she held a leather scroll that was covered with golden light.

“All of you, leave,” Yuchi Xiyue instructed. Soon, the entire courtyard was emptied, save for Ning and Yuchi Xiyue.

“Little brother, after you went to the Heavenly Treasures Mountain and tossed out 2.5 million kilograms of liquefied elemental essence to buy the peacock plumes, word of you spread. Many in the imperial capital now know about you.” Yuchi Xiyue handed the golden leather scroll to Ning. “So, someone has already come to invite you to attend a banquet.”

Ning accepted it and took a glance.

“Kindwater clan?” Ning’s eyes lit up. Ning had already purchased intelligence reports regarding the various major powers of the imperial capital. Although he didn’t know the details, he knew the rough situation.

“The Kindwater clan and the Youngflame clan are mortal enemies! In addition, the Kindwater clan is even more powerful than the Youngflame clan.” Yuchi Xiyue laughed. “According to the stories, back in the Fiendgod Era, the Kindwater clan led a large number of tribes, as did the Xiamang clan. The Xiamang clan and the Kindwater clan fought for a long period of time before the Kindwater clan finally submitted to them.”

Ning sighed in amazement. He didn’t know about the hidden histories such as these.

“Back in the Fiendgod Era, the Kindwater clan even declared themselves as emperors!” Yuchi Xiyue sighed, moved. “Even after submitting, they still remain one of the top three clans of the entire Grand Xia Dynasty.”

Ning knew about this part. As for the leader of the top three clans, that was of course the imperial Xiamang clan! It was they who had unified and controlled the world.

As for the second and the third, they were the Kindwater clan and the Blackgod clan.

“The Kindwater clan and the Youngflame clan have an enormous feud between them. And the first one to invite me really is the Kindwater clan.” Ning laughed. “Right. This invited you as well, cousin; they asked you to accompany me tonight.”

“I won’t go. Although they invited me, that was just to be polite. I’ve never liked to get too involved with them,” Yuchi Xiyue said, shaking her head. “Don’t force me.”

“Then I won’t try and compel you, cousin.” Ning nodded.

……

Ji Ning led the Whitewater Hound and Little Qing to the gates of the royal estate. Outside, fifty Golden Imperials were already congregating.

“Our respects to you, young master.” The leader of the Imperials, Immortal Plumerider, said.

“Sorry to trouble you, fellow Daoist Plumerider,” Ning said.

“This is no trouble. We are at the command of King Yan; naturally, we will strive to do our utmost to protect you, young master,” Immortal Plumerider said.

Ning waved his hand, and instantly, a large ship appeared. This was a large ship that was ancient and unadorned, and yet faintly radiated a threatening presence. This was one of the treasures which Immortal Juhua had left behind; it was a construct-ship, and was quite a bit more valuable than even the black dragon carriage that Youngflame Nong had.

“Let’s go.” Ning, Uncle White, and Little Qing all boarded the large ship.

Whoooooosh. The crowd of Golden Imperials boarded as well. In a very practiced manner, the Golden Imperials quickly assumed positions throughout the ship, all of them vigilant and continuously scanning the area.

The warship immediately released crushing waves of energy as it began to fly towards the place which the Kindwater clan had invited Ning to meet at. This was a place that could be considered one of the most exquisite of entertainment venues; Cloudwater Manor.

Swoosh.

Immortal Floatcloud appeared in midair, staring at the distant, enormous warship flying through the skies. The Golden Imperials standing aboard the warship caused him even more frustration.

“My three day deadline is growing closer and closer. He finally came out, but why…why is he bringing a squad of Golden Imperials with him? How am I supposed to kill him when he is protected by Golden Imperials?” True panic was in the eyes of Immortal Floatcloud now. He truly didn’t want to end up having no chance to attack, and then being punished by the Dao of the Heavens by having his soul shattered.

That would be too unjust!

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