Desolate Era

“Master, it must be because you made a name for yourself during the Treasure Auction?” The nearby Little Qing immediately added, “That’s why this Princess Xiyue wants to meet you.”

Ning grinned as well. During the Treasure Auction, he had purchased the peacock plumes for 2.5 million kilograms of liquefied elemental essence. Even Youngflame Xiushui had lowered his head and retreated in the end. This news would definitely spread like wildfire, and later on, some of the major clans would come to befriend him and meet him. This was within his realm of expectations. However, for Princess Xiyue to invite him for a meeting while the Treasure Auction was still going on… his ‘fame’ was perhaps just a bit too effective!

“Might I ask who Princess Xiyue is?” Ning asked.

“Princess Xiyue is from King Yan’s Estate,” Yu Qi explained.

“King Yan?” Ning’s eyes lit up. Ning had already purchased intelligence reports regarding some of the major powers and figures within the imperial capital of the Grand Xia. King Yan was one of those major figures. King Yan… was a Celestial Immortal who had just recently succeeded in overcoming his tribulation!

He was a Celestial Immortal! It was simply far, far too difficult to become a Celestial Immortal. Just by looking at the history of the Black-White College, one could tell how hard it was. The Black-White College had existed for countless millions of years, and every ten thousand years or so would produce an Earth Immortal or Loose Immortal. How many had they produced over the countless ages? And yet, they had only produced a single Celestial Immortal!

From this, one could tell what a terrifying barrier the Celestial Tribulation was. Countless geniuses, such as Immortal Northwalker or even Immortal Juhua, who had the benefit of the underwater estate, had failed and perished.

Celestial Immortals were simply too rare! It was rare for the Grand Xia Empire to produce a single Celestial Immortal in a million years!

However, how many Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals did it produce during a million years? This was why there were actually very many Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals; the Youngflame clan alone held more than a thousand of them. Every few tens or hundreds of millennia, there would be a new ‘batch’ of Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals… but the number of Celestial Immortals who had arisen from them over the course of countless years was pitifully low.

Any Celestial Immortal was the foundation of his or her entire clan! Even for the mighty imperial Xiamang clan of the Grand Xia Dynasty, a Celestial Immortal was extremely valuable. For clans like the imperial Xiamang clan, which had unified an entire major world, the number of Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals under their control was an absolutely terrifying figure. Naturally, however, these figures had very ordinary statuses. If, however, one of them were to break through and become a Celestial Immortal… the imperial clan of the Grand Xia would immediately bestow upon them the royal title of ‘King’ and give them an estate, Immortal treasures, etc…

In short, within the imperial clan of the Grand Xia, anyone who became a Celestial Immortal would see his status suddenly and explosively skyrocket!

This often happened less than once in a million years… and yet King Yan was the latest, newest Celestial Immortal!

“Of King Yan’s Estate…” Ning nodded inwardly to himself.

“Princess Xiyue is the only family member King Yan has,” Yu Qi said in a lowered voice. “King Yan absolutely dotes on Princess Xiyue. He even allows Princess Xiyue to command the Golden Imperials which the Emperor bestowed upon him. He even gave Princess Xiyue a pair of azure phoenix Godbeasts, having them pull her carriage for her. Those two azure phoenixes have incomparably exalted lineages; although they are only at the Primal level, each of them have the combat power of a supreme Loose Immortal. As for the Golden Imperials, they are the absolute elites of the Imperial Guards of the imperial capital. Even the weakest amongst them is at least a Primal Daoist!”

Ning, hearing this, was secretly speechless.

Azure phoenixes? Golden Imperials?

“Princess Xiyue usually remains within King Yan’s Estate and rarely comes out, nor does she participate in the various gatherings for nobles,” Yu Qi said in a low voice. “That’s why Princess Xiyue actually isn’t very well-known. However, given how much King Yan dotes on her, if she truly was the spoiled, arrogant throwing type, she probably would be even more famous than Youngflame Nong.”

“Then why does she wish to see me?” Ning asked.

“I don’t know either,” Yu Qi said, shaking his head. “I heard that today, she came to the Treasure Auction along with Fairy Azurewillow of our Heavenly Treasures Mountain. Perhaps she grew curious upon seeing you, and so she wishes to meet you.”

Ning hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Fine. Lead the way.”

Yu Qi laughed. “Follow me.”

Within Ning’s Zifu region. The underwater estate was located there.

Generally speaking, there was no way to put people within storage treasures, but estate treasures were capable of holding people. Ning’s Primaltwin continued to reside within the underwater estate. There, within the main hall, a black-robed Ning was seated in the lotus position, a jade bottle placed in front of him. Within the jade bottle, there was a total of 60,000 kilograms of liquefied elemental essence. This came from the earlier trade he had engaged in.

Whooosh.

The black-robed Ning opened his mouth. Instantly, the liquefied elemental essence began to flow in a continuous stream towards Ning’s mouth, and his power began to quickly rise. Just a few moments later, he broke through to the peak Primal level.

“Good.” After stabilizing his power base slightly, the black-robed Ning came to a halt. “Mm.” The black-robed Ning looked at the jade bottle. “More than 15,000 kilograms remain. My Primaltwin has broken through to the peak Primal level.”

In the past year after forging his Primaltwin, the divine soul of the Primaltwin had advanced at a frightfully fast pace. This was because of the Primal nurturing effect; thus, his Primaltwin had advanced even more quickly in soul power than his true body had! The Primaltwin’s divine sense could now stretch to a distance of 1600 kilometers, while his main body’s divine sense had only just recovered to the pre-splitting level of power, just barely reaching 1000 kilometers.

A powerful soul! A high level of comprehension! A mighty Dao-heart!

After reaching the peak Primal level, the Primaltwin was virtually instantly able to fully control his elemental ki. Everything was as familiar to him as the back of his hand; there wasn’t the slightest bit of discomfort at all.

“Flying swords.” The black-robed Ning willed it. Whoosh! Instantly, the surrounding area, with a swish swish swish series of sounds, became filled with 405 flying swords, each of which emanated mighty ripples of power. Those nine flying swords in the center, in particular, emanated truly mighty ripples! These 405 flying swords were all Heaven-ranked flying swords, and 396 of them had been purchased just now at the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.

As for those nine other Heaven-ranked flying swords… more than a year ago, by relying on his Primaltwin, Ning had overcome the fifth level of the Wargod Hall, and then chosen from the Heaven-ranked magic items of the Treasure Hall.

These nine Heaven-ranked flying swords were known as the Waterbreaker Godshark Swords. The primary material for the forging of these swords had been the body of a slain, primordial nine-headed Godshark that had existed in the era before the three thousand major worlds had even been born. These nine flying swords were all quasi-sentient. According to the rating of the underwater estate, all nine were high-grade Heaven-ranked flying swords. However, according to the rating system of the Grand Xia Dynasty, they were absolutely top-grade Heaven-ranked, and each of them were probably worth 100,000 to 150,000 kilograms of liquefied elemental essence! And with all nine coming from the same source… the set was probably worth a million kilograms, and could be traded for a low-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasure.

In the past, when Immortal Juhua had owned the underwater estate, he had acquired a top-grade Heaven-ranked magic treasure as well. By relying on the magic treasures of the underwater estate… he could’ve gone and traded them for Immortal-ranked magic treasures..

Unfortunately… he would only have been able to trade them for low-grade or middle-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasures.

To overcome the Celestial Tribulation? One had to at least have high-grade, or even top-grade Immortal-ranked magic treasures in order to have a degree of confidence. It would be best if the magic treasures were also suited to one’s abilities; that would give an even better chance. All of the Immortal-ranked magic treasures of the underwater estate were at least high-grade, and some were even top-grade. Unfortunately, Immortal Juhua hadn’t had the chance to choose from them, as he had only been given the chance to do so after becoming a Loose Immortal and overcoming the seventh level of the Wargod Hall.

“[Lesser Thousand Swords Formation].” The black-robed Ning willed it. With the nine Waterbreaker Godshark Swords serving as the core, all the other flying swords were activated. The exquisitely pure elemental ki of a peak Primal Daoist filled them, and Ning’s powerful soul began to guide them. All of the flying swords began to ripple as Ning tested time and time again the limits of his power.

“Can’t do it.”

“I’ll drop it by one level. [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], level four!” The black-robed Ning was striving to test his might, but Heaven-ranked magic treasures were on a completely different level than Earth-ranked magic treasures. Controlling a single Heaven-ranked magic treasure was at least as hard as controlling more than ten Earth-ranked magic treasures! Even though Ning was relying on formation techniques to lessen the difficulty… it was still extremely hard for him to execute the fourth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation].

“[Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], level three!”

Whoosh! Instantly, more than two hundred Heaven-ranked flying swords all began to flutter in the air, emanating an incomparably powerful ripple of power. Immediately afterwards, a flying sword appeared in front of Ning’s chest as well. This flying sword, which managed to completely manifest, flashed repeatedly with a golden metallic light. Swords were sharp weapons; for metallic light to flash off a sword was a testament to the quality of the sharp aura of the sword.

The flying sword, flashing with golden light, held power within it that caused even Ning to feel astonished.

“Such power.” Although he was only using a bit more than 200 Heaven-ranked magic treasures, the effect was far more powerful than when he used 700+ Earth-ranked magic treasures. It was a huge increase in power, an increase of more than just one level.

Generally speaking, it was incredible for Primal Daoists to be able to control even a few dozen magic treasures. Ning, however, was able to control more than two hundred, and amongst them were incomparably precious flying swords such as the Waterbreaker Godshark Swords. It could be said that Ning’s soul was at the Earth Immortal level. He controlled a Grand Dao Domain, and was quite skilled in formations. The [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] itself was quite special to begin with. The combination of these factors was why he was able to control more than two hundred Heaven-ranked magic treasures.

“By relying on my sword formation… my Primaltwin is strong enough to compare to supreme Loose Immortals!” Ning felt a boundless heroic feeling within his heart.

……

Within a quiet, secluded residence. The windows were all closed, and even the servants had departed. Within the residence was only Princess Xiyue. Outside the door, however, there were some servants, and a group of Golden Imperials remained on constant guard.

“Ji Ning.” Princess Xiyue held a cup of warm wine in her hands, unable to suppress the excitement and nervousness in her heart. “We are finally going to meet.”

“My cousin. My one and only little brother.”

Princess Xiyue’s heart was nervous, excited, and tense.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from outside. “Go report to the Princess. Ji Ning has already arrived.”

“Wait a moment. I’ll make the report,” a servant said.

“He’s here!” Princess Xiyue took a deep breath. This was as nervous as she had ever been during the past thirty years; she was even more nervous than when she had met Grandpa for the first time.

……

Ji Ning and Yu Qi were both standing outside the door to the courtyard.

The Heavenly Treasures Mountain was simply too vast. It had taken them quite a while to go from Ning’s previous location to this place. Ning’s Primaltwin had reached the peak Primal level long ago, and had already begun to test the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] when they arrived.

“The Princess is instructing Ji Ning to enter,” an armored female soldier said.

“Fellow Daoist Ji Ning, I’ll leave now. If there’s anything you need, you can find any staff member of the Heavenly Treasures Mountain and ask them to send a word to me,” Yu Qi laughed.

“Thank you for your help this time, fellow Daoist Yu Qi. If I have any business in the future, I’ll definitely seek you out again,” Ning said.

After the exchange of farewells, Yu Qi left. As for Ning, he said to the nearby Little Qing and Whitewater Hound, “Little Qing, Uncle White, wait here a while for me.”

“Right.” Uncle White and Little Qing both believed that there shouldn’t be any danger, here within the Heavenly Treasures Mountain.

Ning immediately entered the courtyard by himself. After entering the courtyard, Ning felt a surge of mental pressure, due to the troop of Golden Imperials who were watching him carefully. Moments later, the female guard led him to a stand-alone residence, then pushed at the door. “The Princess is inside.”

The door opened.

Ning saw a green-robed woman seated inside. Right at this moment, the green-robed woman turned to look at him as well.

Their gazes intersected.