Desolate Era (Book 36 - Book 40)

“Waaaaaaa!” An infant was born within a large manor, bawling his lungs out.

The white-robed Ning appeared outside the manor. His body blurred, then transformed into a middle-aged man bearing a flag. On the flag were two simple characters which meant ‘fortune teller’. He walked in front of the manor, then said to the two manor guards, “This young master is connected to me via destiny.”

“A filthy fortune teller like you is connected to him?”

“Beat it! Fuck off!” The two guards immediately shouted at this fortune-teller, shooing him away.

Ning didn’t let himself grow angry. When he was pushed away and sent stumbling back, he called out loudly, “But we really are connected by destiny?”

The child who was born on this day within this manor was the manor-master’s only child. His name was ‘Xuhu’.

……

Three years later. The white-robed Ning once more appeared outside this estate. He stared at the ten-plus children playing in the mud from afar, then smiled slightly. His body blurred as he transformed into a four-year-old child as well dressed in red clothes, then ran barefoot towards the others.

“Where are you from? Why haven’t I ever met you before?” The child who spoke was surnamed Wang, and he was the only son of the lord of the manor. Wang Xuhu had a very high status, and he stared puzzledly at the red-lipped, white-toothed child in front of him.

“None of your business.” The red-clothed child spoke in a very overbearing manner. “Hey, that’s some nice mud art you made. Lemme see!” As he spoke, he reached out to grab the horse-shaped mud sculpture. Plop! The thing completely broke apart.

“Y-you…” The child, Wang Xuhu, stared wide-eyed. Tears were beginning to appear, and he was so angry he gritted his teeth. “Give it back!” As he spoke, he ran forwards to punch the red-clothed child.

“Beat him up!” The other children all joined him in picking on this new, strange child.

“You want to hit me?” The red-clothed child moved like a blur, landing a kick on Xuhu’s butt and sending him sprawling on the ground.

“Waaaaaaaah!” Xuhu was both ashamed and enraged. Still sobbing, he clambered to his feet as he continued to charge towards the red-clothed child.

“What’s going on? Why are you all fighting?” Some of the manor guests had noticed what was going on over here. The red-clothed child immediately began to run, soon charging into the distant forests and disappearing.

Xuhu was the only son of the manor lord. That very night he was struck by a severe fever which drove him delirious. This terrified the manor lord into immediately sending for a physician, but three days later Xuhu miraculously recovered on his own. He began to quickly grow in strength, and his talent for cultivation became increasingly astonishing as well. At just eighteen years of age, he stepped into the ‘master’ stage.

Warriors, masters, grandmasters… the three principle stages of cultivation in this realm. Warriors were ordinary mortals who trained physically, making it slow for them to increase their power. At their peak, they were at most comparable to the Xiantian lifeforms of the Three Realms.

Masters began to accumulate a core within their bodies… they were comparable to the Zifu Disciples and Wanxiang Adepts of the Three Realms.

Grandmasters began to establish a world within their bodies… they were comparable to the Primal Daoists and Void-level Earth Immortals of the Three Realms.

Those who surpassed the grandmaster level were comparable to Celestial Immortals. This realm only occasionally gave birth to a new Celestial Immortal, and thus their numbers were extremely low.

……

Ning continued to watch as Xuhu grew up. When Xuhu turned eighteen, he had already become the number one hero in the surrounding area, with no one his equal in a million kilometer area! He was extremely powerful and ferocious. However, bandits and robbers began to pour into the region. Xuhu led soldiers to attack them, but ended up being defeated in battle. He fled to a mountain village, and there he met the love of his life… ‘Rose’.

“Sir, I’d like to buy two pounds of pork.” The girl led the sickly Xuhu out to purchase some food.

“Wait a bit.” The butcher was a pudgy, white-robed grandpa who was extremely muscular-looking. He picked up his saber, then began to hack through the pig bones and carve apart the meat.

When Xuhu saw this, his eyes began to lit up. “Rose, you can go home first,” Xuhu instructed. The girl did just that with those two pounds of meat.

“Sir, please teach me your saber-arts.” Xuhu immediately fell down to his knees.

“Ahaha! I don’t know any ‘saber-arts’! All I know is how to kill pigs and butcher them,” the elderly butcher said with a loud laugh.

“Then I want to learn how to kill pigs and butcher meat,” Xuhu said hurriedly.

“I’m not gonna pay you a salary.” The old man looked at him.

“I don’t need one,” Xuhu replied.

From that day forth, the old butcher gained an apprentice. Half a year later, the old butcher suddenly vanished. No matter how Xuhu searched for him, he couldn’t find the old man. He had no choice but to bring the girl back to his homeland.

“Ahahaha… I’ve cultivated for many years, but I’ve never been a pig-sticking butcher before. That really was a first.” The old butcher had transformed back into the white-robed Ning and was standing at the peak of a mountain, watching as Xuhu led his wife away.

……

After learning that set of saber-arts, Xuhu began to develop at an unstoppable pace as his level of insight grew deeper and deeper. When he went back home, he slew those bandits with ease. As his insight increased even further, he actually stepped into the ‘grandmaster’ stage. When the emperor of his nation heard the news, the emperor personally sent someone over to confer the title of ‘general’ upon him!

He had established his reputation, bringing glory to clan and ancestors alike. He became one of the pillars of the entire nation, commanding over three hundred thousand soldiers to guard the borderlands. He spent more than eight hundred years serving in this capacity.

He had a total of three sons and one daughter, and a plethora of grandchildren.

……

Finally, the internal situation of the nation took a turn for the worse as they lost battle after battle. Xuhu did his best to hold on, leading his army in an orderly retreat, but the overall situation had already been set in stone. There was simply no way for Xuhu to reverse it. He was ambushed and surrounded by eight enemy grandmasters, causing him to suffer severe injuries. In the end, he didn’t die on the battlefield but was about to perish in bed due to the wounds suffered during that assassination attempt.

Xuhu lay there in bed, surrounded by the aura of death. Within the room stood the emperor, the senior ministers, and Xuhu’s children and grandchildren.

“Your Majesty, your old servant is about to depart.” Xuhu’s voice was hoarse and his face was ashen.

“Old general… my beloved old general… you can’t just go like this!” The young emperor was completely terrified. The old general had been his final source of support, and it was thanks to him that their nation had been able to resist for over two hundred years despite the situation being so grim. Once the old general died, everything really would come to an end. Their enemy nations were quite vicious; they had been willing to sacrifice eight grandmasters, sending them into the capital to engage in an assassination attempt.

“Flowers bloom, then shrivel; the grass grows verdant, then shrivels. This is the cycle of life.” Xuhu turned to look at his sobbing, kneeling children and grandchildren. He was quite relaxed, feeling as though he was on the verge of release.