The Desolate Era

Book 24, The Starlord of Fogstone, Chapter 26 – Escaping Alive

A magic treasure that had a quintessence core within it?

Right. Violetjewel had a quintessence core within it as well. Its physical body had suffered incredible damage but the quintessence core inside of it was completely unharmed.

“Don’t you want to leave?” Ji Ning asked.

“Of course I do. I’m bored to death here.” The black-robed child glanced sideways at Ning.

“Aside from breaking the Windforce Formation and swearing a lifeblood oath, is there truly no other way of taking you away?” Ning asked. “If you can tell me a way, I’ll definitely do my best to carry it out.”

“Well, there is.” The black-robed child nodded.

“There is? What?” Ning’s eyes lit up.

“Become a Daolord first,” the black-robed child said.

Ning instantly felt speechless. The only Daolord in the Badlands Territory which Ning was aware of was Daolord Badlands. There might be other Daolords who were in seclusion, but regardless of how many were present, their level of power was a level far beyond Ning’s. If Ning truly did become a Daolord in the future, it wouldn’t be hard for him to acquire treasures such as this. Didn’t Daolord Windsource himself parcel out such treasures to his World God servants?

One could imagine how fabulously wealthy Daolords were!

“How many servants did Daolord Windsource have exactly?” Ning asked curiously.

“Kid, you aren’t even a World God yet.” The black-robed child shook his head, then said in a smug manner, “Let me broaden your horizons a bit, then.”

“Right, right.” Ning’s eyes lit up.

“Daolord Windsource had a rather weird disposition, but he truly was an incredible figure. He roved through the endless primordial chaos and journeyed through many of its territories. He directly enslaved over five hundred World-level experts, with more than a hundred others willingly joining him as retainers…” The black-robed child let out an amazed sigh. “In fact, he even had a Daolord as his retainer.”

“What?!” Ning was shocked.

“Incredible, right?” The black-robed child said smugly, “When Daolord Windsource descended upon this territory, the owner of this territory came out and welcomed him with great ceremony and courtesy.”

“But alas…I heard that Daolord Windsource failed in his attempts to merge his Hundred Streams together down. Before dying, he exiled his eldest disciple, the one who had become a Daolord, as well as some other disciples and retainers. He then led all of his slaves and the rest of his World-level retainers to this place.”

“According to what Daolord Windsource said, this was his ancient homeland. He left this place long, long ago and voyaged through the outside the world. If he was to die, he wished to die at home.”

“However, his ancestral chaosworld had vanished long ago. Thus, Daolord Windsource established the Windsource Chaosworld in the same location where his ancient chaosworld had been. He then established the Windsource Ruins. Supposedly, he did all this to show off all the insights into the Dao he had gained during his life. After leaving his Dao behind…he died.” The black-robed child pointed towards the seated old man. “Look. That’s one of the poor bastards who served him and was forced to join him in death.”

“More than five hundred World-level experts joined him in death?” Ning was speechless.

“Right.” The black-robed child nodded. “Daolords, y’know? Daolord Windsource was actually pretty peaceful. Some of the crazier Daolords will go completely berserk. When they die, they will make their entire territory die along with them, going so far as to slaughter every living being they can find before dying in a sea of corpses.”

Ning truly was unable to say anything.

Make an entire territory die with them, then continuing to slaughter until they themselves perished?

Madmen.

The more powerful a person was, the more terrifying they would be when gripped by madness. It seemed as though Daolord Windsource really was fairly calm by comparison.

“So you are saying that more than five hundred World-level experts died in these ruins?” Ning sighed in amazement.

“A Samsara Daolord, more than five hundred World-level experts, and an enormous number of Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals all died here,” the black-robed child said. “Over the course of countless years, quite a few treasure-seeking cultivators have died here as well, leaving behind many of their own treasures. Thus, this place really is like a giant treasure vault. The only question is…are you strong enough to loot it?”

“You are actually pretty lucky.” The black-robed child let out a sigh. “You actually were able to find this place. The wind is formless and fickle, and thus the internal structure of Daolord Windsource’s estate is also ever-changing. Since you were able to find this place, you now have a chance of being able to escape.”

“A chance of being able to escape?” Ning was surprised and delighted.

“Right. There’s a pavilion over there. Once you go inside of it, it’ll teleport you to the outer regions. The outer regions are much safer than this place,” the black-robed child said. “Alright, that’s all. Hurry up and beat it. You were lucky enough to find this estate this time, but you probably won’t be so lucky next time.”

After speaking, the black-robed youth flew back into the nine-level pagoda.

Ning once more turned his gaze towards the golden-robed old man who was seated in the lotus position within the house. He couldn’t help but shake his head and sigh. This old man was a peak World God; most likely, he was on par with even the likes of World God Northrest or even stronger. And yet…his destiny had been to accompany his master unto death!

Daolord Windsource had only driven away some of his disciples and retainers. The rest of his retainers, along with his slaves, had all died with him here. Apparently, the retainers who had died were the ones he didn’t like. The ones he did like, he had exiled along with those disciples, sparing them instead of having them die with him.

“The treasures are right there in front of me, but I just can’t get at them.”

“Forget it. Time to go.”

Ning knew that luck and fortune couldn’t be forced. If he really was lucky, he’d be able to find a World God’s corpse that wasn’t protected by any formations or spells at all, allowing him to easily take away any treasures. That would really be a helluva stroke of luck!

And yet, he was still fairly lucky. Although he hadn’t been able to acquire the treasures, he had learned of a safe route out of here.

After leaving the house, he turned to glance one final time at the golden-robed elder’s corpse. Only then did Ning begin to make his way through the courtyard. There were a total of three pavilions within the courtyard, but Ning was in no rush to leave. Instead, he first inspected the other rooms.

“There might be some other treasures left here,” Ning mused to himself.

“Eh?”

Ning really did find something inside one of the rooms.

This was a room with a study. There was a table here, a quill pen having been tossed atop of it. The table was covered with golden paper, but there was plenty of paper scattered on the ground as well.

“Damn. Damn. Damn.”

“Damn me for choosing to serve that old bastard.”

“Damn that old bastard for being unfair and partial.”

“You damn well deserved to lose your Dao and die!”

The words on the paper were filled with hatred. In truth, the retainers didn’t realize what had happened right away. Only after Daolord Windsource had sealed their truesouls did they understand what was happening. Given that it was guaranteed that their souls would soon be shattered, how could these slaves and retainers possibly feel afraid of him any longer? For them to merely vent their rage on a few pieces of paper was nothing!

A pity for them that Daolord Windsource had already went into silent seclusion to wait for death to come. How could he possibly care about the ravings and curses of these ant-like beings?

In the instant of his death, the seals covering the truesouls of his slaves and retainers were all activated, causing all of their truesouls to be destroyed as well.

“This World God must’ve been fond of calligraphy. This pen is actually a Dao weapon.” Ning was amazed. This was the first time he had seen a pen-shaped Dao weapon. He hurriedly picked it up and easily bound it to himself.

The quill of this pen could transform into countless strands of white thread that could entangle one’s foes, while the tip of the pen could be used as an awl or dagger.

It could be used for soft attacks or hard attacks. This truly was a fierce weapon. However, the deceased World God had long ago grown accustomed to using it for calligraphy.

“If I keep searching, perhaps I’ll find more.” Ning thoroughly searched the rest of the rooms but found nothing else. Still, Ning was in an excellent mood. A quick search had resulted in him gaining a pen-shaped Dao weapon which other Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals would go mad over.

“Time to go.” Not hesitating at all, Ning immediately began to move towards the pavilions.

There were three pavilions in total. Ning used his Immortal energy to take control of the nearby grass to test the pavilions out. When he sent the grass into the second pavilion, the grass suddenly disappeared as it was teleported away.

“There it is. It really was teleported away. I wonder if it was teleported to some place safe or some place dangerous.” Ning could sense the ripples from the teleportation. “At least there’s a chance of getting out of here. In I go.”

Ning strode forward, entering the pavilion. As he did so…swoosh! He disappeared into thin air.

Ning re-appeared somewhere else in the middle of the air.

“Where am I?” Ning glanced downwards, a look of delight instantly appearing on his face. “The region I was in previously?”

He had been journeying through this region for more than a year before encountering and battling Hellsword. Only then had he been swept into the Hundred Streams of the Windsource. Now, he had made it back to this dangerous region. However, Ning now knew that compared to the core regions he had just escaped, this ‘dangerous region’ and the swamps were all incredibly safe. Even Elder Gods and Ancestral Immortals were able to wander through this region with ease!

“I managed to come back with quite a haul of treasures. If I died in there, all my treasure-scavenging would’ve been for nothing.” Ning was filled with contentment and happiness.

“Eh?”

Ning suddenly stared off into the distance. His vision was incredibly keen, especially after the azureflower energy began reinforcing every part of his body. He was now able to see to great distances with the naked eye, and he immediately saw a warship drifting through the distant skies next to a chain of mountains. This warship had been resized to be merely a few dozen meters long, and it clung tightly to the chain of mountains.

“Elder God Skysouth?” Ning immediately recognized the warship. He couldn’t help but murmur to himself, “It seems the two of us really are destined to clash.”

Swoosh.

Ning immediately began to fly towards the warship, the Goldstar Beads of the Heavens swirling around him.