The Desolate Era (Web Novel)
chapter-42

“Don’t be in such a rush! Get dressed before you go out!” Yu Wei’s voice could be heard within the room.

“The clothes we prepared…were too small…” Autumn Leaf’’s worried voice rang out as well.

Boom!

The door to the residence was blasted open, and a butt-naked child with tousled hair came flying straight out of it. Ji Ning immediately saw that this child was a little girl. Her skin was so soft and tender, it seemed as though water was about to come out of it. Her eyes were filled with lively intelligence, and she actually had the divine tattoo of a flame in the middle of her forehead.

The area around the little girl was surrounded by flames, as though she was a young fire elemental.

BOOM! The little girl first happily flew out, then gave the wooden door yet another kick, causing it to completely splinter apart. She revealed a look of delight, then turned and swept Ji Ning, Mu Northson, Ji Truekeep, and the Whitewater Hound with her gaze. She said in a clear, crisp voice, “You guys…which one of you is my father?”

Ning, Northson, Uncle White, and the others all stared in amazement.

A long moment passed before they were able to recover.

“Good…heavens.” Northson blinked several times. “This…this is a newborn?”

“According to the legends, the children of Immortals and Fiendgods are quite incredible. This is my first time seeing one. This is too…” Truekeep was somewhat dazed as well.

“So this is the child of my son Ning and Yu Wei?” Uncle White was rather dazed as well. “My son Ning is such an obedient child, while Yu Wei is kind and virtuous. How is it that they’ve given birth to a little girl like this…”

Thanks to his formidable Dao-heart, Ning was the first one to go back to normal. Laughing, he said, “You can’t just run around butt-naked like that. You have to wear clothes in the outside world; otherwise, you’ll be laughed at. Uh…you are the size of a three year old child. They didn’t exactly prepare the appropriately sized clothes for you…but ordinary clothes can’t withstand the flames that you are born with control over.”

Ning pointed towards her. Whoosh! Strands of fire and strands of water began to twist around her body, quickly forming an adorable-looking water-colored undergarment.

“So you are my father?” The girl-child stared at Ning.

Ning felt a very satisfied feeling in his heart as the girl stared at him. The main reason was that this daughter of his was simply too adorable. The heavens must have absolutely doted on her, to have blessed her with such cleverness and cuteness.

“Yes.” Ning smiled and nodded.

“He’s your father.” Yu Wei and Autumn Leaf walked out from the residence. The looks on their faces were absolutely priceless. The look on Yu Wei’s face was particularly complicated. Clearly, the fact that the child was so big, could speak, could run around, and control fire…wasn’t exactly what she had expected. Although it was said that the children of Immortals and Fiendgods would be rather special, most would still be ordinary infants when first born.

“When I was in Mother’s belly, I could hear people chatting outside. I know that my father is named Ji Ning. Is your name Ji Ning?” The girl-child nibbled on her fingers as she stared at Ning.

“Right. I am Ji Ning.” Ji Ning nodded.

“Your child greets you, Father.” With a thudding sound, the girl immediately fell to both knees, kowtowing towards him.

“Father. Mother.” The girl looked at Ji Ning and Yu Wei. Quite excitedly, she asked, “Have you picked a name for me yet?”

Ning and Yu Wei exchanged a glance. This daughter really wasn’t what they had expected…but neither Ning nor Yu Wei were ordinary figures either. Ning laughed. “Senior apprentice-sister, you said that you would pick out a name.”

Yu Wei nodded gently. “Since our child is a daughter…let’s call her Brightmoon.”

“Brightmoon?” Ning was startled.

That year…

Ning had shocked everyone during the Conclave of Immortal Destiny. It was within the Brightmoon Diagram of the Mountains and Riverse that he and Yu Wei had grown close and become Dao-companions.

“From today forth, you shall be named Ji Brightmoon.” Ning looked at the flame-wreathed girl.

“Ji Brightmoon? Ji Brightmoon? Haha…Ji Brightmoon, Ji Brightmoon…” The girl happily ran around the courtyard, calling her name out repeatedly in excitement.

The nearby Little Qing drew close to Ning. In a low voice, she whispered, “Master, why is it that your daughter seems to be even more energetic and wilder than a boy? She was just born, but she’s already this crazy…I can’t even imagine what she’ll be like in the future.”

Ning laughed and nodded. “Yes, in the future, I’ll have to teach and guide her properly.”

……

His daughter, Brightmoon, truly possessed tremendous innate talent. From the moment of her birth, she possessed a Zifu-level Fiendgod body, and was able to control the power of fire. This was actually quite normal; even the weakest of Fiendgods that were born from the natural world were at least at the Xiantian level of power, while the most powerful ones that were born forth from the primordial chaos were the Empyrean Gods and True Gods of Primordial Chaos!

The nine children of the Ancestor Dragon, for example, were all born at the Empyrean God level.

In the Primordial Era, it was quite common for Immortals and Fiendgods to have children. The Ancestor of the Youngflame clan, Youngflame Freak, for example, was born from the couple of a Youngflame clan member and a Fiendgod, which was why he was so ugly. Many Godbeasts, in turn, were created during the Primordial Era when powerful Fiendgods couple with certain Diremonsters. Their monstrous bodies contained Fiendgod blood in them, and so they were referred to as ‘Godbeasts’; the more pure their bloodline was, the more powerful they would be.

Ji Ning and Yu Wei were both humans, and so their child was naturally a human as well.

Since Ji Ning’s bloodline was a bit weaker, his daughter was ‘merely’ born with a Zifu-level Fiendgod body. However, she had no skills as a Ki Refiner at all. In this regard, she would have to train from scratch.

Any and every Fiendgod, even the most supreme of True Gods of Primordial Chaos, would have to train from scratch if they wished to become Ki Refiners. Daofather Crimsonbright, Patriarch Subhuti, and the other True Gods of Primordial Chaos had to slowly train as Ki Refiners as well, eventually reaching the Daofather of the Great Firmament level.

“Father, Father! Piggyback, piggyback!”

“Father’s the best!”

Ning carried his daughter on his back, wandering Brightheart Island. Although it had been moved to the Violetdawn Pearl’s world, it hadn’t changed all that much.

……

“Father, Fiendgod Body Refining is so boring. Let’s train in ki instead!”

“Brightmoon, do you want a taste of your mother’s crop?”

“Bad Father! You are so bad!”

……

When facing his adorable daughter, Ning simply couldn’t put on a show of being the ‘strict father’, no matter how he tried. Yu Wei, however, was hard-hearted enough to carry a riding crop around with her. Whenever her daughter was disobedient, she would use the crop to teach her daughter a lesson and spank her. This caused Brightmoon to be rather nervous around her. In front of Ning, she would be playful and silly, but in front of Yu Wei, she would be respectful and extremely obedient.

“Honestly, you don’t have to be so strict with her.” Ning had discussed this matter with Yu Wei in private before. “Our daughter is still young. You can tell how talented she is. She’s like a scroll of white parchment right now, waiting to be filled up. We have to teach her patiently. There’s no rush.”

“We are in the middle of a great tribulation, right now. We can’t just slack off.” Yu Wei shook her head.

……

“Demonstrate the [Sixteen Stances of the Firecloud Sword] which your father taught you.” Yu Wei held a willow branch in her hands. Although this was just an ordinary willow branch, there was a layer of Celestial Immortal energy protecting it. When Yu Wei grew angry, she’d grab Brightmoon and then whack Brightmoon on her little bottom with it until Brightmoon began to howl.

As a Celestial Immortal, it was easy for her to control her power so that the spanking hurt but didn’t cause her any actual damage.

“Yes.” Brightmoon’s eyes were slightly red. She bit her little lips, as though she was about to start crying.

“Eh?” Yu Wei frowned.

Terrified, Brightmoon immediately picked up a sword and beagn to train in sword-arts. This was a sword-art technique which Ning had created; it was perfectly suited for someone who needed to build up a solid foundation. The sixteen stances were divided into two parts, the first part ‘hard’ and the other part ‘soft’. Both parts, however, fully encompassed the Dao of the Inferno.

Ning stood off to one side, beaming merrily as he watched. Brightmoon gave Ning a sad look, secretly mumbling to herself, “Bad Father! Both of you are bullying me.”

“Her potential truly is exceptional. She’s only trained for three days, but she’s already broken through to the Xiantian level as a Ki Refiner.” Ning sighed with feeling. “And from the many sword-arts that I’ve taught her, it seems as though her talent in fire is particularly high, far higher than in metal, wood, water, or earth. Senior apprentice-sister was referred to as the ‘Rainbowflame Fairy’, but she was quite talented in water as well. I myself am talented in all five of the Five Elements. Why, then, is this daughter of mine so very different?”

Of the five elements, her talent in the other four elements could be considered as ordinary for a cultivator. Her talent in fire, however, was at an absolutely monstrous level.

Still, Ji Ning and Yu Wei didn’t think about it too much. Both of them were very talented. Yu Wei had become a Celestial Immortal; how could she not be? As for Ji Ning, his Primaltwin had become a Pure Yang True Immortal! Thus, for his daughter to be so incredibly talented in the element of fire wasn’t that surprising.

……

Rumble…

A series of thundering sounds rang out unabated as dark clouds covered the earth. The Eight Dragons Cloudcity and the Seamless City, these two massive cities, remained in their original positions, levitating high in the sky.

“Ink Bamboo.” A thought-strand suddenly reached out from across the Void.

“Crimsonbright.” Another thought-strand replied.

“Your Seamless Gate really is quite lavish. You actually created a Daofather golem for this Realmwar. Is it worth it? Even if you win, and even if you take over the entire Crimsonbright Realm…in the future, we’ll still counter-attack and take it back.” Daofather Crimsonbright’s thought-strand was filled with absolute furious.

“Oh? Your Nuwa Alliance intelligence reports are quite timely,” Daofather Ink Bamboo replied. He had just received the Daofather golem moments ago. Who would’ve thought that the Nuwa Alliance would find out right away?

There had been nothing Daofather Ink Bamboo could do. If it wasn’t for the fact that they held absolute advantages over the Nuwa Alliance in terms of intelligence and the Dao of Constructs, they wouldn’t be a match for the Nuwa Alliance at all. The Nuwa Alliance had controlled the Three Realms ever since the Primordial Era, after all! The Daoist Path, the Buddhist Sangha, and even the Primordial Imperial Clan…all of them belonged to the Nuwa Alliance.

In the Nuwa Alliance, experts were as common as the clouds, and they had quite a few top-tier major powers as well. The three most powerful emperors of the Primordial Imperial Clan…the two leaders of the Daoist Path and the Buddhist Sangha…some True Gods who had been born from the Primordial Chaos…

Thus, the Nuwa Alliance had formidable tools available to them as well.

In terms of intelligence, they were only inferior because they couldn’t match the Seamless Gate’s ‘king’, who had become one with the Dao of the Heavens itself. However, 1,080,000 Celestial Immortals had been dispatched to work on the creation of the Daofather golem, and an enormous amount of resources had been diverted. This was a huge affair, and the Nuwa Alliance had learned of it long ago. Although they weren’t able to break their way into the Allfiend world, they had never ceased their infiltration attempts or their surveillance.

“Ink Bamboo, you should know that although this Realmwar is important, the struggle for karmic luck has just begun. You are acting rather excessively in your attempts to conquer my Crimsonbright Realm.” Daofather Crimsonbright was extremely dissatisfied.

The Three Realms were incredibly vast. Up till now, there had only been a few Realmwar, and the struggle for karmic luck had just started. For them to start using Daofather golems right away meant that if the Nuwa Alliance wished to win, they would have to use enormous amounts of resources as well. If this was how the game was going to be played each time…even Daofathers and True Gods would feel heartache at the cost. The cost would be utterly ruinous, be more than what either side could endure.

The Three Realms only had so many treasures in them, after all, and the Seamless Gate only had so many manufacturing materials. This was why Blackheaven’s Daofather golem project had resulted in the Lord of All Fiends having made a personal inquiry. The only reason why the Lord of All Fiends didn’t pursue the matter any further was because of Blackheaven’s special status.

“This time, our Seamless Gate is definitely going to win,” Daofather Ink Bamboo said. “Since you know we have a Daofather golem…you should spend some time thinking about how you are going to deal with it.”