The Desolate Era

Chapter 22 – Karmic Virtue, Karmic Sin

The Oldjade mountain range was extremely vast, nearly a million kilometers in length; this was comparable to an entire series of minor worlds. For example, the minor world of ‘Earth’ merely had a circumference of around forty thousand kilometers.

Deep within a mountain.

There were three young individuals walking together. One held a longstaff, the second held an greataxe, while the third was carrying a bow.

“During this trial, we definitely must make it into the top ten of Greatape City.” The greataxe-wielding muscular youth was filled with vigor and energy. “Only if we make it into the top ten will we be able to participate in the main competition that spans the entire clan. If we perform well within the main competition, we’ll be able to receive tutelage and assistance from the clan.”

“If we miss a chance like this, we’d have to wait another ten years. We can’t afford to wait.” The skinny youth who was carrying the bow on his back agreed.

“Although we are at the Xiantian level, we are still mortals…only by establishing our Zifu can we be considered true Immortal cultivators.” The black-robed maiden nodded as well.

The Youngflame clan was far too powerful. Its population was simply enormous, and so the internal struggles within the clan were extremely fierce.

“Look, what’s that?” The burly greataxe-wielding youth suddenly raised his head and stared towards the distance with utter astonishment.

“This is…”

“A huge wave…” The skinny youth and the black-robed maiden both stared in astonishment as well.

An enormous wave that seemed to stretch off to infinity was crashing forward. This wave was ten thousand kilometers long; Xiantian lifeforms naturally wouldn’t be able to see its end. Upon seeing this massive wave that was even higher than the entire mountain come crashing towards them, they were completely stupefied!

In the face of such world-breaking power, these three young Xiantian individuals weren’t able to fight back at all.

Boom boom boom boom…

The towering mountain peaks were completely shattered and blown apart by the giant wave.

“No.”

“I can’t accept this. I haven’t even become famous yet.”

“I haven’t avenged my mother yet. I haven’t killed the governor of Greatape City!”

The three of them all had their own dreams and desires.

They had never even left the Oldjade mountain range. For Xiantian lifeforms like them…the furthest they could travel was within a few tens of thousands of kilometers of Greatape City. Naturally…this meant that the ones they had grudges against were also members of the Youngflame clan! Although the top-level Youngflame clansmen, such as the Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals, were all quite unified, at the low-level there were many internal feuds and grudges.

This was just like China, back during Ning’s previous life on Earth. China was clearly one country, but within that one country, there were countless grudges and debts, loves and hatreds. Thus, once a clan expanded to a certain level, the number of feuds within it would become tremendous.

If a peerless genius was truly produced…then when the peerless genius went to kill his own clansmen for the sake of revenge, the high-level Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals of the clan, and perhaps even the Celestial Immortal Patriarchs, would help that peerless genius become famous! This would ensure the genius’ loyalty.

The Youngflame clan had quite a few evildoers within their ranks, but on the surface, at least, the rules of the entire Youngflame clan were that the members of their clan had to be treated kindly. Every single clansmen, including even the most impoverished of them, would receive at least some basic assistance to help them survive. This was to ensure that the clansmen would understand that the clan was good to them; it was only a few enemy clansmen within the clan who treated them poorly!

“No….”

The three youngsters were unwilling to accept this.

Rumble…

The infinitely mighty torrent of water from the Primordial Nightriver swept forward, roaring past them…but a strand of river water actually snaked out in front of it, completely surrounding the three youngsters.

“We…” The three youngsters were completely amazed.

They stared blankly at their surroundings. They were now completely surrounded by that strand of river water; it was as though they were in a little bubble! This bubble of water was protecting the three of them, but outside of it…the infinite Nightriver was wildly smashing and destroying everything, causing mountains to crumble and the earth to shake.

“What sort of power is this? This is our Youngflame clan’s territory. Who? Who is acting against our Youngflame clan?” The three of them knew very well that the headquarters of their clan was an extremely safe place; there was no way a disaster like this could happen. This sort of disaster…perhaps only the terrifying figures spoken of in legends could cause something like this.

“That’s…” The three of them suddenly saw a short, pudgy man who was standing high up in midair. The figure was standing at the very center of the infinite waves, with the aura of a Fiendgod.

The three of them had the feeling that it was this short, pudgy man who was controlling this infinite river.

“If I had this sort of power…” The three of them stared at the surrounding area, where the mountains were crumbling and the earth was breaking apart. This terrifying scene of utter annihilation…although they felt terror in their hearts, they also felt desire.

……

Greatape City. One of the many cities within the Oldjade mountain range.

This was a place where mortals lived. The Youngflame clan was a tightly stratified place; some places were meant for mortals to live in, while other places only Immortal cultivators could venture to. The entire Greatape City had a population of over ten million, including many Xiantian lifeforms, as well as a few dozen Zifu Disciples and a Wanxiang Adept who managed the city.

“Good heavens…”

“Who is doing this?”

“Who dares do this to our Youngflame clan?” On the streets and in the residences of Greatape City, the numerous denizens were staring in utter terror at the enormous wave that was sweeping towards them from the outside. The wave seemed to be as high as the heavens themselves. All of the mountain ranges outside the city were instantly breaking apart, and the earth itself was shuddering and shaking.

The wave instantly swept over this city.

But…a strand of the water of the Nightriver moved to completely cover it, causing the entire city to be protected with a ‘water globe’.

……

If one viewed things from Ning’s standpoint, a city like Greatape City was as unimportant as a toy. Protected by the bubble, it began to sink down into the Nightriver.

Ever since he was young, Ji Ning had been trained by his father to go and kill others. In his youth, he had adventured in the world and engaged in many battles. He naturally wouldn’t show any mercy or soft-heartedness to his enemies in the Youngflame clan. However…those people before him were merely ordinary mortals. When Immortal cultivators killed mortals, they would incur an enormous amount of sin. His Celestial Tribulation would most likely be quite difficult; if he was to kill so many mortals at a time like this, the amount of sin that would swirl around him would most likely reach and utterly terrifying level.

In addition…no matter how much hatred Ning felt, he had his limits.

For example, when he took revenge for Spring Grass all those years ago, Ning had slaughtered River He, but had spared his son.

It was the same principle.

Ning’s pride forbade him slaughtering the countless ordinary mortals of the Youngflame clan.

Will these mortals eventually become Immortal cultivators? Would they become powerful experts, one day?

Let them come! They can come as they please!

If they are able to kill me, Ji Ning, then I have no one to blame but myself! However…once they act against me, I definitely will show no mercy!

……

“A Fiendgod.”

“An Immortal?”

“Good heavens.”

The countless ordinary mortals of the Youngflame clan had escaped this disaster unscathed. They kept their heads raised, watching everything unfold. Upon seeing the short, pudgy man who was commanding the waters of the river, they were filled with the utmost of terror.

After killing Old Demon Windraiser, Ning had immediately begun to destroy the surrounding area, shattering all of the foundation-bases. When he made his move, he had Uncle White, Little Qing, and Mu Northson go to Old Demon Windraiser’s palace. Although the palace had been badly damaged, Uncle White immediately began to lay down formations here. The first thing he did was instantly set up a trapping formation that was ten thousand kilometers in length…and next, he began to add layers of even more formidable formations!

Ning had spared no expense on this trip. He had bought quite a few unique treasures from the Heavenly Treasures Mountain, and the expense was no less than the amount he had spent to set up formations for Swallow Mountain.

However, because Uncle White wouldn’t have enough time to set up the formation…Uncle White had chosen formations that could be established in a very short period of time.

Although these formations were inferior to those three supremely savage formations of Swallow Mountain, Uncle White’s scheme still involved setting up ninety-two mighty formations, all of which were within the ten thousand kilometer area. If one didn’t include the three supremely savage formations, not even the formations layout of Swallow Mountain was this insane!

“Quick, flee.”

“Quick!”

Ning didn’t kill the mortals.

However…Ning showed no mercy to the Immortal cultivators. After destroying many of the formation-bases, their side was now able to use void blinks to engage in spatial teleportations! Some Immortal cultivators were fleeing in panic, but most were swept up by the Nightriver. Ning certainly didn’t have the inclination to go and protect those Immortal cultivators.

“Kill, kill, KILL!” Mu Northson was the most savage of all. He was actually the first to charge out of Uncle White’s formations. Commanding the Winged Immortal golem, he unleashed the Seven Ruinous Thunderwinds to wildly kill all before him.

Primal Daoists? Wanxiang Adepts? Zifu Disciples?

All members of the Youngflame clan were to die!

Seeing this, Ning couldn’t help but secretly sigh to himself…but he didn’t move to stop him. “If Cousin was here, she would also probably act in such a crazed manner. Still…I can’t let junior apprentice-brother kill too many. Sin is already beginning to accumulate around him.” Ning’s divine sense had previously seen that the amount of karmic sin and karmic virtue around Northson was ordinary, but now…a corrosive aura of sin was slowly beginning to manifest.

It must be understood that very, very little sin would accrue from the killing of Immortal cultivators.

However, Northson was simply far too powerful. What he was engaging in was sheer butchery, and so there would still be the accrual of some sin. In addition, given that he was killing so many…the amount of sin surrounding him had increased by quite a bit.

“Junior apprentice-brother is weak. If he accrues too much sin…” Ning willed it, and the waters of the Nightriver became even more ferocious. In fact, they began to intentionally sweep towards the groups of fleeing Immortal cultivators, causing many of them to perish. Ning had always been surrounded by the golden light of karmic virtue, albeit just a little bit. Still, he clearly had reached that level.

Now that Ning was controlling the Nightriver to attack, however…the aura of golden karmic virtue around Ning began to slowly weaken…before eventually transforming into a mere fresh aura of virtue!

The density and range of that fresh aura of virtue was beginning to drop as well.

“Kill, kill, kill…”

Hatred.

Death.

The baleful auras of the slain Immortal cultivators began to swirl around Ning, causing the three Darknorth swords in Ning’s body to absorb them and transform them. When Ning had slaughtered many Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals during his battle at the Eastwoods mountain range, the Darknorth swords had reached a level of power that was comparable to that of top-grade Immortal-ranked flying swords. This time, he killed even more Immortal cultivators! However, they were all very weak, and so the amount of baleful aura Ning absorbed from them was even less than the amount he had absorbed from the bronze-armored Fiendguards.

Still…there was a significant drop in Ning’s karmic virtue as he continued to butcher so many Immortal cultivators.

“Where are they? Where’d they go?!” Northson suddenly discovered that there were no more targets near him. Suddenly…he saw a commandery city in the distance, a city which Ning had protected and spared with the Nightriver. A city with many ordinary mortals.

Northson’s eyes were completely bloodshot. He was in a completely berserk mode; he couldn’t even differentiate between mortals and Immortal cultivators right now.

He immediately flew out, planning to continue the slaughter.

“Junior apprentice-brother, those are mortals! Mortals!”

“So what if they are?! Every member of the Youngflame clan deserves to die!” Northson was utterly berserk.

Ning roared back angrily, “If you kill them, karmic sinflames will descend and you will die as well!”

……

When Ning killed Old Demon Windraiser and destroyed the local formation-bases, the many Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals in the surrounding areas of the Oldjade mountains had noticed it. They had all activated their own formations, at least ensuring that they could protect their parts of the Oldjade mountain range. The hundred thousand kilometer region that had been controlled by Old Demon Windraiser, however, was completely unprotected. They didn’t have a chance to do anything; the formation-bases had all been destroyed, after all.

The Loose Immortals and Earth Immortals were all hovering in midair within the range of their formations, staring at the distant short, pudgy man who was controlling the Nightriver to destroy the world.

“To act with such madness…it must be Ji Ning. As for that person who is releasing the Seven Ruinous Thunderwinds, it must be that ‘Mu Northson’.”

“Attack. Let’s attack!”

“Are we just going to sit here and wait?”

Some of the Loose Immortals were enraged.

“The Patriarchs have already instructed that if Ji Ning comes, we are forbidden from engaging him. We need to protect the clan as best as we can, while everything else will be left to them. I’ve already shattered the talisman; I trust that the Celestial Immortal Patriarchs will soon arrive,” a green-haired Immortal said in a low voice.

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