Desolate Era (Book 1 - Book 5)

“Bang!” Suddenly, an explosive sound.

Ning came to a sudden halt, causing Ninefire and the other four behind Ning to come to a startled halt as well.

“What is it?” Ninefire asked hurriedly.

“In front of me, there is a very tough, unyielding stone. My Waterflame Lotus is actually unable to drill through.” Ning said, puzzled. The power of his Waterflame Lotus was now tremendous, and generally speaking, even forged weapons would be shattered by it, to say nothing of rocks. “It really is strange.”

Rumblerumblerumble…

The Waterflame Lotus quickly swept away the nearby stones, allowing Ning to get a good luck at what was in front of him; a very flat, rocky surface.

“This is…?” Ning was puzzled. Ninefire, Yichuan, and the others were puzzled as well.

Ning continued to control his Waterflame Lotus to scatter aside the surrounding elemental stones…and soon, what appeared before their eyes was part of an enormous stone room, with a door in front of it.

“This…this…”

“This is a stone room! Manmade! Even Ji Ning’s Waterflame Lotus is unable to break through it. This is no ordinary stone room; it must have been left behind by an Immortal.”

The members of the Ji clan all revealed looks of wild joy on their faces.

Deep within the ground, more than a hundred kilometers down, in the heart of this elemental ore mine, they had discovered a stone room. Who amongst them would believe that it was a common room?

“Ji Ning, don’t go too close. Beware of restrictive spells.” Ninefire said. “Keep away from it, and control your magic treasures to open the stone door at a distance.”

“Right.” Ning nodded.

All of them hurriedly retreated, while Ning directly controlled a sword-type magic treasure, sending it flying outwards and pushing at the stone door. Rumble…the stone door slowly turned, revealing an entrance. Instantly, an incomparably thick surge of elemental essence spurted out from within that stone room, causing Ning and the rest of them to feel incredibly comfortable.

“There must be Immortal treasures within.” Ninefire called out frantically.





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Book 5, Chapter 25 - Establishing the Zifu


The dense elemental aura caused Ning to take a deep breath. He could feel the Xiantian ki in his dantian rumble as it continuously grew. “What pure, dense elemental energy. The elemental energy released just by opening the door to this stone room is already so dense…then what about inside the room?”

“Don’t go in rashly. There might be danger within.” Ji Ninefire hurriedly warned. “I’ll release a bug to go investigate inside.”

Ninefire opened his mouth, and a black wasp immediately flew out, quickly flying through the stone door and darting into the stone room. After a span of time of ten breaths, the black wasp flew back out, and Ninefire swallowed it once more into his body.

“How is it?”

Each of them looked at Patriarch Ninefire, who just laughed. “I’ve finished my investigation. There’s no danger at all within. Come, let’s go take a look! You follow behind me. Even if there are dangers hidden within the stone room that I could not detect, I will be the first to die. Ji Ning, you walk in the very back!”

“Right. Ji Ning needs to stay in the back.” Each of them looked towards Ning.

There was nothing Ning could do. He didn’t argue, instead just docilely following from behind. Ninefire and Granny Shadow were in the very front, and as soon as they entered, the sound of their delighted, amazed cries rang out. “What a treasure! What a treasure!” “This place definitely was a place where an Immortal trained. Definitely!”

Ning, hearing this, had an itchy feeling in his heart. What exactly was inside?

“You can all come in. I’ve swept it with my Ki. There’s no danger.” Ninefire said.

Immediately, everyone entered, and even Ning hurriedly followed them inside.

“What thick elemental energy.” This was the first thing Ning sensed when he entered; that there was an incomparably dense, natural elemental energy in this place, causing all of the pores of his body to swell open and welcome it, absorbing as much of it as they could. The entire room seemed to be filled with a visible, verdant aura off life energy. This was a natural color which would appear once natural elemental energy reached a certain density.

“Ji Ning, shut the stone door. Don’t let this elemental energy leak out. This stone room is rather special. Once the door is shut, the elemental energy won’t leak out.” Ninefire said.

“Yes.” Ning understood this as well. Prior to this, it was only when he had pushed the stone door open that the elemental energy had leaked out. Rumble…the stone door shut.

Ning looked curiously in detail at his surroundings.

This room was thirty meters in diameter. There was even a door nearby; there should be other rooms within as well.

“Look.” Ninefire pointed at a large pool, which was filled with a layer of thin green liquid. The green liquid was slowly swirling, filled with boundless life energy. The reason why the air here was emanating that incomparably dense elemental energy was because the liquid was releasing it into the air.

“I am absolutely certain.” Ninefire said confidently. “That it definitely was an Immortal in training who caused this elemental ore mine to be formed. He intentionally set down a formation to summon a boundless amount of natural elemental energy from the surrounding area. After many years of accumulated energy, the elemental ore mine was formed. But to an Immortal, what is necessary isn’t elemental stones, but rather, this…”

Ninefire pointed at the water pool filled with the layer of green liquid, incomparably certain. “Liquefied elemental essence! This is the true essence of natural elemental energy, extremely pure liquefied elemental essence!”

Ning and the others held their breaths.

Liquefied elemental essence?

If one described the elemental energy contained within high-grade elemental stones as ‘very pure’ and as being not very burdensome to the body, and capable of increasing training speed tenfold, then liquefied elemental essence…was the purest form of elemental essence, which place no strain on the body whatsoever. One could completely absorb and convert it within a short period of time.

For example, some Immortals, after being reincarnated, would lose their memories and become ordinary mortals. Once they regained their memories, however, based on the insights they had gained into the heavenly Dao, as well as the power of their souls, they could for example obtain and make use of a legendary ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’, which contained an ocean’s worth of elemental energy, and which also placed no burden on the body, allowing one to quickly absorb it all within a short period of time.

Once a reincarnated Immortal regained his memory and swallowed a ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’, then just by relying on the natural elemental energy contained within the pill…he would be able to once again become an Immortal within a single day!

To improve in one’s training?

Strengthen one’s soul! One’s level of understanding! One’s techniques! Elemental energy! Not a single one of these four could be lacking! As for reincarnated Immortals, it was because they possessed the first three already, which was why they could rely on a single ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’ to instantly become an Immortal. If they didn’t have the Nine Cycles Golden Pill, even reincarnated Immortals would have to slowly, step by step train and rise in power. As for ordinary mortals, if they swallowed a ‘Nine Cycles Golden Pill’, they would be instantly exploded by the sea of elemental energy the pill contained!

The Nine Cycles Golden Pill…was the stuff of legends.