Desolate Era (Book 19 - Book 21)

A large number of major powers had appeared in the air above the imperial palace, but none of them dared to make a sound; all of them were strictly conversing through quiet mental messages to each other.

As for Ning, still within the Envoy of All Things, he raised his head to stare at the midair woodcutter, astonishment in his heart. “Eldest disciple? Woodcutter? Houyi?”





* * *





Book 21, Chapter 28 - Negotiations


The eldest disciple of their league, the low-key woodcutter who always spent his time chopping down trees at Mount Innerheart…was actually Houyi?

When Ji Ning had first started to train in [Houyi’s Archery], the woodcutter had walked past him a few times, hatchet over his shoulders. He had even given Ning a few critical words of enlightenment when Ning was at a bottleneck. Ning hadn’t thought much of it back then, as he thought it was normal for someone as powerful as the eldest apprentice-brother to be able to provide him with some guidance. Who would’ve thought that the man was actually the creator of [Houyi’s Archery], Houyi himself!

“Junior apprentice-brother.” Crazy Ji fanned himself, smiling as he called out.

“Junior apprentice-brother.” A streak of light flew towards him from far away, landing on the ground next to him. It was the Monkey King, dressed in dazzling golden armor.

“Second apprentice-brother. Sixth apprentice-brother.” Ning hurriedly called out to the two of them. As he did so, he couldn’t help but take a close look at his sixth apprentice-brother. There were many legends of the Primordial Era that circulated amongst the nations of Earth. Although some of them weren’t quite accurate, his sixth apprentice-brother Sun Wukong was a tremendously famous figure on Earth. But of course, by now Ning had met with many major powers.

Lu Dongbin, Daoist Three Purities, Patriarch Subhuti, Lord Tathagata the Buddha…he had met them all. Thus, Ning was quite calm when meeting with his sixth apprentice-brother for the first time. He was just a bit curious about the man.

“Heh heh…I didn’t expect my eldest apprentice-brother to actually be Houyi.” Sun Wukong chortled merrily. “When I first went to apprentice myself to Master, he actually gave me directions. I had thought him to be an ordinary woodcutter. Only later did I realize that he was actually our eldest apprentice-brother! Even back then, I mumbled to ourself that he was really good at hiding his abilities…but only today do I know he is actually the great divinity Houyi of the Primordial Era. His level of subterfuge is quite extraordinary!”

Houyi had become famous very, very early on. When he had slain the Golden Crows, Sun Wukong hadn’t even been born into the world!

“I became apprenticed to Master very early on, but even I didn’t know of his true history.” Crazy Ji chortled merrily, “When I became apprenticed to Master, our eldest apprentice-brother was already there by his side. However, even back then he spent his days as a woodcutter chopping trees. Honestly, I was quite puzzled back then; he was clearly Master’s disciple, but why was it that I never saw him asking Master for guidance? But Master told me that our eldest apprentice-brother already had the power of a True God and Daofather, and that there was no way to ‘teach’ him; he needed to gain his own insights. Thus, I didn’t think too much on it.”

“I heard that long ago, because of Chang’e, our eldest apprentice-brother actually slaughtered a path to the Lunar Star, planning to chop down the osmanthus tree on the Lunar Star. However, whenever he struck at the tree, it would immediately reheal. No matter what he did, he couldn’t chop the tree down. At Mount Innerheart, our eldest apprentice-brother spends all his days chopping down trees…is it because he plans to once more pay a visit to the Moon Palace of the Lunar Star?” The Monkey King lowered his voice and even went so far as to block out sound from the surrounding area.

“Damned monkey, do you think that our eldest apprentice-brother’s affairs are something for you to pry into?” Crazy Ji hurriedly reprimanded him. “You can’t talk about this matter.”

“Eldest apprentice-brother can’t hear me. I’d only ever discuss it behind his back.” Sun Wukong blinked a few times.

Even Ji Ning knew that the affair between Houyi and Chang’e had been a scarring one for Houyi! Picking at another’s scars and scabs was not a good idea.

“Let’s go. Buddha, Three Purities, and the others are negotiating with those of the Seamless Chaosworld. Let’s take a break for now.” Crazy Ji gave Sun Wukong a hard stare. “Don’t cause trouble, you monkey. If you piss off our eldest apprentice-brother, none of us would be able to save you.”

“Right.” The Monkey King shivered slightly, nodding repeatedly. “During the Primordial Era, he roamed the world with his archery skills. Now, even his hatchet skills have become so incredibly powerful. Daomother Devilhand is an awe-inspiringly famous figure on the level of the leaders of Buddhism and Daoism, but our eldest apprentice-brother was actually able to sever her arm with a single blow of his hatchet.”

“That was because Daomother Devilhand was too proud and overconfident,” Crazy Ji said. “Our eldest apprentice-brother was incredibly powerful even during the Primordial Era; even the leaders of Buddhism and Daoism were forced to use all their might when facing him. For Daomother Devilhand to actually try to face him with a single arm…hmph, it would’ve been shocking if she didn’t suffer for it.”

Ning laughed. He was about to put away the Envoy of All Things, but he suddenly then thought of how Daomother Devilhand had struck him with a blow, causing him to uncontrollably fall to the ground. Ning took a careful look at the Envoy.

“Eh?” Ning’s face changed. “What’s this?” Ning immediately noticed that the energy core of the Envoy, located at its waist, had actually cracked open.

Ning hurriedly tried to use the Envoy’s power, only to discover that it was now completely inoperable. It was as though the cracks here had severed the Envoy’s ability to send energy around its body. The Envoy had suddenly become useless.

“It’s been made useless? How?!” Ning was stunned.

The Envoy of All Things.

B-but…this was the most powerful tool he had at his disposal! When using it, he would be able to unleash a level of power close to that of the overlord Daofathers, on the same level as Subhuti and Daofather Shadowless. Just like that, the Envoy had suddenly been rendered useless?! It must be understood that even full-force blows from the leaders of Buddhism and Daoism would barely be able to damage the thing!

Daomother Devilhand had landed a gentle blow on the Envoy’s waist…and just like that, the Envoy had been ruined? Still, it had been quite strange; a single blow had been all it took to cause the Envoy-Ning to collapse.

“Second apprentice-brother, sixth apprentice-brother.” Ning said in a low voice, “The Envoy of All Things has been ruined.”

“What?” Crazy Ji and the Monkey King were both shocked.

Ning nodded solemnly. “It should’ve been ruined by Daomother Devilhand. I don’t know how she accomplished it.”

The Monkey King gnashed his teeth. As for Crazy Ji, he frowned and said in a soft voice, “Mm…this Envoy golem was created by the Seamless Gate. They probably put in certain mechanisms to prevent us from being able to take them over, such as a self-destruct mechanism that would cripple it. However, activating such mechanisms probably isn’t easy. During the war for karmic luck, your opponents have all been Empyrean Gods and True Immortals; they wouldn’t have the ability to ruin your Envoy. Daomother Devilhand, however, is an overlord-class major power. Given that she knows exactly how the Envoy is structurally composed and where its weaknesses are, it makes sense that she would be able to easily destroy it.”