The Desolate Era

His daughter still in his arms, Ji Ning hurriedly rose to his feet. “Everyone, please rise!”

Only then did the seven Empyrean Gods and the giant yellow bear rise to their feet, their eyes still filled with excitement.

“In the future, don’t kneel before me.” Ning shook his head, his daughter still in his arms. “I am nothing more than the heir to my master, Daoist Threelives, which is why I was fortunate enough to become the Manorlord of the Starseizing Manor. In terms of cultivation, all of you have been training for far, far longer than I have. In terms of power, I am just like the rest of you, a mere Empyrean God.”

“The Manorlord is the Manorlord.” The dazzlingly beautiful white-browed woman, Snow Scorpion, revealed a smile. “The Manorlord commands the Starseizing Manor. We are your subordinates. We have to follow the rules.”

“That’s right, Manorlord.” The bald old man, Ninefangs, let out a laugh. “Long ago, countless Fiendgods would prostrate when our Godking gave an order. Ahaha...just thinking about those days makes my blood boil. Back then, I hadn’t even become an Empyrean God.”

“Manorlord, don’t...” Dovesnake was about to say something as well, but Ning swept them all with his gaze. “My rule is...you are not to kneel before me.”

Redsnow and the rest of the seven exchanged glances. They could sense Ning’s resolve, and so they no longer argued against him. They respectfully assented, “Yes.”

At his current level, Ning’s Dao-heart was incomparably pure. He liked what he liked, and he disliked what he disliked! There was no way Ning would allow the old rules of the Starseizing Manor to bind himself. Ji Ning was different from the former Godking, Daoist Threelives; Daoist Threelives liked to dominate and liked to fight for supremacy in the world, but Ning did not. He preferred to focused on increasing his personal power.

If one was powerful enough, one would naturally be able to dominate all those in one’s path.

Mother Nuwa was a good example. She had been the paragon of the Three Realms.

Ning’s goal was to reach Pangu and Nuwa’s level...and then to surpass them! But of course, that was assuming Pangu’s level wasn’t the final stage possible in cultivation.

“Junior apprentice-brother...”

“Senior apprentice-brother Ji Ning...”

The many distant spectators were all completely stunned. Amongst the many disciples of Mount Innerheart, the vast majority of them, aside from the likes of Patriarch Subhuti and Crazy Ji, did not know of the connection between Ji Ning and Daoist Threelives!

Not even Mu Northson or Autumn Leaf knew about it!

“Daoist Threelives? He was a True God who was born from the vast, infinite primordial chaos. According to the legends, the divine ability he created, the [Starseizing Hand], is no less terrifying than [Houyi’s Archery].”

“So senior apprentice-brother is actually the successor to Daoist Threelives?”

All of them were completely stunned.

After Empyrean God Redsnow and the rest of the seven had intervened during the Realmwar, word had long since spread that these were the former followers of Daoist Threelives. This resulted in his name once more being discussed by the many Immortals and Fiendgods of the Three Realms. The likes of Mu Northson and Uncle White had naturally heard of the story of Daoist Threelives as well.

“Right.”

Ning swept the familiar faces of his kinsmen and his fellow disciples with his gaze, then nodded. “Daoist Threelives is my master as well. When I was young, I was fortuitous enough to receive his legacy. From today forward...I shall also be considered a member of the Starseizing Manor. Redsnow and the rest of the seven are also Empyrean Gods of the Starseizing Manor.”

Mount Innerheart was composed of members of many different organizations. For example, it included the Flower-Fruit Mountain lineage, one of the most powerful of Diremonster lineages. Ning had now become the commander of the Starseizing Manor lineage.

“Then does that mean I’m also considered as belonging to the Starseizing Manor lineage?” Northson laughed.

“I guess you could just barely qualify as a member,” Little Qing chortled. “I’m Master’s spirit-beast; I definitely qualify as a member.”

“Junior apprentice-brother Ji Ning, you have suddenly risen to the exalted rank of Manorlord of the Starseizing Manor. In the future, I imagine that there will be many favors I will need to ask of you,” Silvermoon said with a laugh.

“Right now, my Starseizing Manor is still a bit weak. Senior apprentice-brother, why don’t you join our lineage?” Ning said with a laugh.

Subhuti had a total of twenty personal disciples.

The eldest was the woodcutter, while the second was Crazy Ji. Both of them were Daofathers.

The third disciple, Zen-Master Goldlight, had been a Golden Crow that was born from within the Solar Star. He had incredible talent and shocking levels of power, but he roamed the Three Realms and was difficult to locate.

The fourth disciple was Lord Northriver. He had originally belonged to the primordial human clan, but he was now the hegemon of a celestial river located within the Celestial Realm, the ‘Northriver’. He had established the Northriver clan there, and had more than ten Empyrean Gods and True Immortals under his command.

The fifth disciple was Silvermoon. Silvermoon had been born a Terrorbeast, and truly was a demonic figure. He had unleashed a storm of blood and murder during the Primordial Era, but then had calmed down. He had stayed in seclusion in Mount Innerheart ever since, willing to be the guardian of Mount Innerheart’s ‘Divinities Palace’.

The sixth disciple was the leader of the Diremonsters of Flower-Fruit Mountain, Sun Wukong. Long ago, when Mother Nuwa had repaired the damage to the Heavens, she had used five-colored rainbow stones that were created through distilling the essence of the Five Elements. One of the leftover pieces, after having absorbed spiritual energy from Heaven and Earth over the course of countless years, had then given birth to Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong was truly a born genius who had trained even more quickly than Ji Ning himself, almost instantly becoming an Empyrean God! By now, he had even broken through to become a True God, and was an extremely famous figure amongst the Diremonsters.

The first six disciples of Subhuti were all extraordinary, to say nothing of the fact that he had fourteen more!

“Join your Starseizing Manor?” Silvermoon twirled his fan, a hint of indecision on his face. “Y’know, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

“Senior apprentice-brother Silvermoon, if you were to join us, then the two of us would each become the commander of a Three-Eyed God,” Redsnow said with a laugh.

Although Redsnow was very confident in his power, he didn’t dare claim that he was necessarily more powerful than Silvermoon.

“My two junior apprentice-brothers...” After pausing for a moment, Silvermoon smiled as he looked at Ning. “I wasn’t joking just now. The storm has arrived, and my peaceful days are about to come to an end. I’m in no rush right now, but once I decide to rejoin the rest of the world...then I shall do so as a member of your Starseizing Manor.”

Ning and Redsnow were overjoyed! Both of them had just made casual invitations, but they hadn’t actually expected Silvermoon to accept.

......

The space around Ji Ning and the seven Empyrean Gods turned blurry.

“We’ve already entered the Starseizer world.” Redsnow pointed downwards, the eight of them standing in midair. “The vast world beneath is us the Starseizer world, the foundation of our Starseizing Manor.”

“Right.” Ning willed it his coresense to spread out, and it rapidly expanded to cover the entire Starseizer world.

“Our Manorlord has incredibly powerful coresense; he’s actually able to encompass the entire Starseizer world with it.” The beautiful Snow Scorpion gasped in astonishment.

“Completely cover it?” Ninefangs was absolutely shocked as well. “The Manorlord has only trained for a century, but his coresense has actually reached a level like this?”

Coresense’s power came from the soul!

The more powerful one was, the more rapidly one’s soul would gain in power. For example, the Primal level was beneficial to the soul, but the Void level was even more beneficial. Upon becoming a Celestial Immortal, the Jindan would be formed and the soul would be completely merged into it, allowing it to improve at an even more shockingly fast pace. As for the Pure Yang Jindan of a Pure Yang True Immortal, its effects on the soul were even more astonishing.

No matter what though, nurturing the soul was something that required time. Ning’s true body had just become a Pure Yang True Immortal moments ago, after all! If he had been given a thousand years, his soul would naturally be nourished by his Pure Yang Jindan to an extremely powerful level. In that situation, none of them would be shocked by the power of his coresense.

But Ning had literally just overcome his tribulation, and he had trained for merely a century or so!

“Don’t forget that Manorlord’s heartforce has reached the fourth stage,” Redsnow reminded.

Ning didn’t say anything to them. In truth, he was capable of encompassing the entire world with his heartforce alone. If he was to use his coresense through his heartforce, he would be able to encompass a much, much greater area. However, that wasn’t particularly impressive; it must be understood that the maximum coresense of a Daofather was capable of encompassing the entire Three Realms. But of course, that would only be possible for a short period of time, as it was incredibly taxing to the soul.

“Eh?” Ning nodded slightly. “The Starseizer world has a total of roughly 16,000 Celestial Immortals, 1,500,000 Loose Immortals, and more than 100,000 Void-level Fiendgods...it really is comparable to the Grand Xia.”

“Those Void-level Fiendgods have all existed since the Primordial Era.” Redsnow shook his head. “In the countless years which have passed since then, the only one who managed to break through was Ninefangs. None of the others have made any breakthroughs. As for the sixteen thousand Celestial Immortals...not a single Pure Yang True Immortal has appeared amongst their ranks.”

Ning said in surprise, “Why is that?”

“Because the world was severed from the rest of the Three Realms,” Primelight said solemnly. “There’s no way for them to undergo any true tempering and testing. Without enough pressure, without enough experience...it is incredibly difficult for any of them to make any breakthroughs. The Celestial Immortals of the Grand Xia are able to roam the entire Three Realms and fight against some of the experts of the three thousand major worlds and the Celestial Realm; naturally, a few will make breakthroughs every so often.”

“The Starseizer world, however, has always remained completely sealed off.” Primelight shook his head.

“We’ve been waiting this entire time for our new Manorlord to be born. If no Manorlord arises, then our Starseizer world would never reappear,” Redsnow agreed.

Ning felt tremendous admiration for Redsnow and the rest of the seven.

Back then, nobody had known if Daoist Threelives was still alive or not, and Threelives hadn’t forced them or required them to remain loyal to him. Many of his subordinates had left, but the seven of them had resolutely clung to their duty to stand guard here.

“Although our Starseizer world doesn’t have that many Celestial Immortals or Loose Immortals, we have more than enough to form a perfect Heaven Punisher Formation.” Redsnow suddenly glanced sideways towards the empty space next to him. The giant yellow bear suddenly appeared, who stared in a pitiable manner towards Ning.

“Big bear.” Ning was stunned.

A look of expectation could be seen in the giant yellow bear’s eyes. “The treasures which Master stored within the Treasure Hall were meant for his various successors to use. Master didn’t know how many successors there would be before an Empyrean God would emerge amongst them and become the new Manorlord of the Starseizing Manor. Ji Ning...now that you have become the Manorlord, you can go collect the three items which Master left behind for you. There is a space which only the new Manorlord can enter; not even I can enter it. For countless eons, I’ve been wondering what the three treasures which Master left behind are. I’ve been absolutely itching to find out! Hurry up and go collect them and let me take a look at them. I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

The giant yellow bear looked eagerly towards Ning.

“Three treasures?” Ning said in surprise, “Didn’t my master, Daoist Threelives, simply leave behind a few Pure Yang treasures for me?”

“Those were all for the various successors, not the new Manorlord. Now that you have become the Manorlord, all the treasures of the manor are yours, along with the most important treasures; those three,” the giant yellow bear hurriedly explained.

“I’ve heard of this. The Godking once spoke to me about this as well.” Redsnow looked towards Ning. “The Godking had already reached the Sixth Cycle of his [Starseizing Hand]; his hand was far more powerful than any Protocosmic spirit-treasures. They had already reached the legendary Chaos treasure level! Thus, the Godking traded away the most precious treasures he had to the other True Gods and Daofathers in order to prepare these three treasures for you. You can say that he did this to help our Starseizing Manor prepare to once more rise to prominence...”

“Manorlord, hurry up and go collect them. My foster father didn’t tell us what the treasures were either. All of us are also quite curious,” Primelight said hurriedly.

“Alright.”

Ning was also quite curious about what Daoist Threelives had left behind. He immediately looked towards the giant yellow bear. “Big bear, lead the way.”

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