The Desolate Era (Web Novel)
chapter-19

The dark tunnel was deep and also almost as straight as a pen. It was nearly three hundred meters deep, and the handsome youth, when jumping down, released his Xiantian Ki, allowing himself to descend as lightly as a goose feather, while at the same time, every so often, he would grab onto the sides of the dark tunnel to slow his descent. After a while, he finally stepped on the ground.

“This is so deep. Uh, where is Master’s secret room?” The handsome youth hurriedly looked everywhere while carefully advancing through the winding tunnels. Up ahead, there was a dazzling green light. Soon, he reached an open stone door, behind which was an area filled with green life, as well as ripples which made the heart tremble.

“Master.” The handsome youth called out from outside the stone door.

“Enter.” The shrill voice screeched.

“Yes.” The handsome youth suppressed his terror and walked in. This was a sealed stone room that was ten meters in diameter. In the center of the stone room, there was an enormous boulder, upon which was a man who wore loose black robes, had a skinny, pale face, and long, flowing black hair. The man’s eyes emitted an otherworldly green light, and his entire body seemed to be made out of solidified evil.

In front of this person was an enormous cauldron, and above the cauldron, there was a burning green flame that emitted a freezing aura. Beneath the green flame, there lay hovering an unadorned, blood-red cloth banner, which had a number of either hidden or visible ferocious faces on it. The faces were either screaming soundlessly or bellowing as they tried to swallow each other and battled each other.

The entire cloth banner was surrounded by a layer of black light that was visible to the naked eye.

“Sin!” The handsome youth’s heart was trembling. “A grave sin.”

Those who did good accumulated karmic merit. Those who did evil accumulated sins.

Those who had committed grave sins would naturally emanate a heart-shaking evil aura. But the aura of sin around the cloth banner was actually so strong, it was visible to the naked eye. This was simply astonishing.

“This is a magic treasure which was born from endless amounts of sin.” The handsome youth was both terrified as well as desirous. He knew very well that when one created this sort of magic treasure that was refined from sins, when one underwent the Three Calamities or Nine Tribulations, the power of the trials would be incomparably powerful. But this sort of magic treasure itself was incomparably, astonishingly powerful as well. This was why some evil schools were clearly committing countless grave sins, and yet were still able to continue forward in training to become an Immortal.

It was because these evil paths allowed one to advance more quickly, and to even battle against foes of higher levels.

“No wonder Master said that once his magic treasure is completed, he wouldn’t even fear a Wanxiang Adept.” The handsome youth couldn’t breathe.

“Little Seven.” The long-haired man, seated in the lotus position, spoke in a shrill voice. “My boy Gan was my first disciple. He was like a son to me! This Ji Ning killed my son. How could I, Bei Goodson, possibly forgive him?”

The handsome youth lowered his head.

“I need to refine this magic treasure. I can’t spare any attention.” Bei Goodson’s green eyes stared at the handsome youth. Creating this sort of deeply sinful magic treasure was incomparably dangerous to begin with, and there were constant repercussions from the creation process. There were some people who were themselves bitten to death and had their souls dispersed by the dread wraiths they had created. Of course, if one truly wanted to force a pause, one could, but the price would also be great.

“Little Seven, I bequeath unto you one Hearteater Powder.” A bottle appeared out of nowhere in the palm of Goodson’s right hand, and he casually tossed it towards the handsome youth.

The handsome youth accepted it, then stared at the bottle in terror. “Hearteater Powder?”

He had heard of the famous Hearteater Powder before.

The price of this one bottle of Hearteater Powder was more valuable than even a ranked magic treasure. Countless Zifu Disciples had died to Hearteater Powder, and it was incredibly hard to procure. Even his own master had only been able to acquire this terrifying poison because he had been born into their school and had connections.

“If it wasn’t for the fact that I can’t be distracted, how would I possibly be willing to waste this Hearteater Powder?” Goodson said shrilly. “Remember. Smash the bottle within thirty meters of that Ji Ning, and he will definitely be poisoned. Once the Hearteater Powder enters his body, although it takes effect slowly and will need three days, it is virtually impossible to get rid of it once one has been poisoned. He, a mere Xiantian Fiendgod Body Refiner, will die without question, even if what he is training in is the legendary number one Fiendgod Body Refining, the [Crimsonbright Diagram of the Nine Heavens]!”

The handsome youth nodded

“Remember. You yourself need to be careful. Stay far away. If you are poisoned, come to me. I will give you the antidote.” Goodson said.

“Your disciple is still competent to perform a minor task like releasing poison.” The handsome youth said.

“Go.” Goodson’s gaze fell upon that blood-red cloth banner beneath the swirling green flames. The countless dread wraiths within the cloth banner occasionally appeared, extending their necks out towards Goodson and wildly trying to bite at him, but Goodson’s oily green eyes remained cold and deadly.

The handsome youth bowed respectfully, then left. When leaving this deep, dark tunnel, he jumped at high speed, occasionally clamping onto protruding pieces of rock on the stone walls. Soon afterwards, he left the tunnel.

Kakaka…

The iron boards turned, and the tunnel was shut once more.

—————————–

Within the black mist.

The Waterflame Lotus surrounded him, and Ning’s soul was currently pondering at high speed, with one hypothetical formation after another appearing within his mind, and the construction of the formation changing nonstop. As Ning frantically analyzed these formations, his level of understanding with regards to formations continued to rise.

“Huh?” Ning suddenly felt a spike of fear.

When a person’s soul was as powerful as his, one would be able to unconsciously sense terrifying dangers approaching. The last time his soul had this feeling was when he was attempting the third trial in the ancient Aquatic Manor. This time, however, the feeling was even stronger than last time, as though no matter how he struggled, he still wouldn’t be able to escape this danger.

“Danger?” Ning opened his eyes to stare around himself.

Suddenly…

The black fog in front of him to the right naturally parted, and in that instant, a large amount of white threads instantly wrapped towards him. In the distance, that handsome youth could be seen wielding a horsetail whisk in one hand and a Dao-seal in the other. The white threads of the horsetail whisk instantly attacked Ning.

“Hmph.” Twin swords appeared in Ning’s hands, and the Waterflame Lotus blocked those white threads.

“Boom!”

In that instant when those thousands of white strands and the Waterflame Lotus collided, it was as though something exploded. Only now did Ning realize that the thousands of white strands of had contained a bottle within it. In the instant their attacks had collided, the bottle had been smashed apart. Seeing the battle smash open, his soul could feeling that incomparably terrifying danger sense intensify, causing Ning’s face to change.

“There had to have been something in the bottle.” Ning was no fool, but he couldn’t see anything. It was odorless and invisible!

The distant, handsome youth had immediately retracted his horsetail whisk in that instant the bottle had smashed open, and had also used his Escape Seal, immediately fleeing and disappearing.

“This…this bottle.” Ning had an uneasy feeling.

“Ah!”

Suddenly, a stabbing pain appeared in his heart. Ning’s face turned ashen, and he held his chest. The Crimsonbright divine power in his body immediately began to search throughout his entire body, but no matter what, it still couldn’t find any hint of poison. However, his heart continued to feel that slow, stabbing pain, and his entire body began to slowly ache. There was no way to stop it at all. Even his head was starting to hurt.

“What should I do? The poison has invaded my entire body, but my Crimsonbright divine power isn’t able to sense it, nor can my divine will.” Ning, at this moment, suddenly remembered the words of that old black bull in the underwater estate. He had been warned not to underestimate any opponent, especially those who trained to become Immortals.

Immortal practitioners had varied techniques. One could simply use poison to kill you. No matter how powerful your ability to fight was, they could simply refuse to fight you.

This was how Immortal practitioners were!

Nobody knew what anyone else was truly capable of….

“Hahaha.” From afar, a delighted sound could be heard. “Ji Ning, no matter how monstrous of a genius you are, you will definitely die.”

Within that great formation, Ning’s face was unsightly. Although neither his divine will nor his Crimsonbright divine power could sense the poisonous elements, he could feel the pain wracking his entire body. This invisible poison was slowly, constantly devouring his entire body. Although the devouring process was slow, it was inexorable in its progress. Even his incomparably powerful Fiendgod lifeforce in his body was unable to remove it.

“What a fierce poison. Odorless, colorless, and undetectable.” Ning was surprised. “Although it isn’t like some other poisons which instantly take effect, it seems to have embedded itself deep in every single cell. There’s no way to remove it at all. If this continues, in most likely just two or three days, my body will be finished.”

“Two or three days?”

Ning’s eyes began wild.

“In the last two or three days, even if I die, I will destroy this formation.” Ning’s heart was beginning to blaze with a heaven-reaching fury. “I will wipe them all out, or if I’m lucky, maybe even find the antidote on their bodies.”

“There’s nowhere to run.”

“I must destroy this formation!”

Ning sat down in the lotus position and closed his eyes. The protective lotus flower swivelled around him as he once more frantically endeavoured to analyze formations.

———————–

Within the mountain.

That handsome youth walked back, then glanced at Blindfish, Ji Jadewich, and the other members of the Ji clan, who had looks of shock and fury on their faces. The other members of the Ji clan of the East Prefecture, North Prefecture, South Prefecture, and Central Prefecture all looked at him angrily as well.

“What are you looking at? Your young master Ji Ning was poisoned. In three days, he will definitely die.” The handsome youth was completely confident. “Forget about him. Even a Zifu Disciple who is poisoned by this poison will definitely die.”

“Our Ji clan’s Patriarch will definitely come.”

“He will definitely exterminate all of you, and he will also rescue young master Ji Ning.”

Blindfish and the others weren’t willing to believe that Ji Ning would die.

“Hahaha, your clan’s Patriarch?” The handsome youth laughed wildly. “How could a small tribe here in your Swallow Mountain possibly have poison of this level? Even in our school, this sort of poison is hard to obtain. Stop looking at me. I won’t tell you what poison it is.”

“Go die.”

“You will all definitely die.”

The members of the Ji clan all cursed at him, and even the other bound Xiantian lifeforms began to curse in their despair.

————————-

Within West Prefecture City of the Ji clan.

Ji Yichuan was currently accompanying his wife, Yuchi Snow. Occasionally, he would look outside towards the door.

Suddenly, through the door, he could see that from afar, an Azure Firebird appeared in the skies, with two people on its back. One was the red-clothed Ji Redflower, while the other was a red-haired, gray-robed elder. At a single glance, Ji Yichuan recognized him…that was the true pillar for the entire Ji clan.

The Ji clan’s clan leader, Ji Ninefire!

“Snow, Snow, the clan leader is here.” Yichuan hurriedly shouted.