The Price of Confirmation

The Wuxiao Celestial Immortal possessed numerous puppeted bodies and could transmit news instantly! The news quickly reached the Lord of All Demons, and soon after came to the attention of the high-level powers such as Daofather Magic Hand and the Blackclad Godking.

“What? He’s not dead?” The Blackclad Godking was the most shocked, the one who found it hardest to accept.

“A clone technique?” Master Stonerule, who had just been gently carving wood with a knife, furrowed his brow and muttered to himself upon receiving the news.

Deep within the fortress on the Ruins of the Ancient Primordial Continent.

The Wuxiao Celestial Immortal said respectfully, “My master says that this Ji Ning is a menace. This time, when the Great Demon God Cixiu deals with Tathagata, Human Sovereign Fuxi, and the others, he might as well take the opportunity to eliminate Ji Ning as well.”

“Oh?” The alien power said, “But from the looks of it now, Ji Ning has a clone technique.”

Wuxiao quickly added, “Even if he has a clone technique, the cost of restoring his true body each time is enormous. Moreover, last time we destroyed his true body, that Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent and the other treasures were all seized by Houyi. If we can kill Ji Ning this time and deprive him of the Nine-Horned Lightning Serpent and his powerful treasures, even if his true body revives… his strength will be greatly diminished.”

“I get the feeling you have a pretty strong murderous intent toward Ji Ning yourself,” the alien power said, looking at Wuxiao with a smile. “Wuxiao, if I kill him, will you pass on the Lord of All Demons’ puppet techniques to me?”

“My old master long ago made me swear a Life Oath not to pass them on,” Wuxiao said.

He was an artifact spirit, similar to the Yellow Bear.

He had long since cultivated to the point where he could exist independently outside the treasure itself, which counted as a true living being. Strictly speaking, he had mastered the puppet techniques even earlier than the Lord of All Demons. The Lord of All Demons had obtained the ‘Wuxiao Godtripod’ by sheer chance, and from it acquired the ancient puppet arts that allowed him to soar to prominence, becoming a renowned expert among Elder Gods. Unfortunately, he met his end in the collision between the Pangu and Seamless Chaosworlds.

“Damn that Lord of All Demons.” The alien power said coldly, “Tell your master that Ji Ning is very likely already at the Fifth Stage of Sword Force.”

“The Fifth Stage of Sword Force? How is that possible? He hasn’t been cultivating that long!” Wuxiao was astonished.

For Ji Ning to master the Five Treasures Sword Art was already a sign of extraordinary talent.

But reaching the Fifth Stage of Sword Force required a deep enough comprehension of the sword — something that demanded time, life-and-death battles with many experts, and exposure to countless sword techniques. Without sufficient experience, it was incredibly difficult to achieve the Fifth Stage of Sword Force.

“He invaded my Ruins of the Ancient Primordial, so I ought to kill him. But this is also doing it for your Seamless Gate… In my clashes with Nuwa’s camp until now, all the deaths have been on my side. The price for dealing with Tathagata, Fuxi, and the others was already settled. But for dealing with Ji Ning, I need twenty Chaos Crystals.”

“Twenty?” The Wuxiao Celestial Immortal hesitated. It was known that the power source of a Myriad Emissary was just five Chaos Crystals, which could sustain a long battle. In this entire great tribulation, the remaining nine Myriad Emissaries would probably use fewer than a hundred Chaos Crystals total.

“My master said, if it is confirmed that Ji Ning truly has reached the Fifth Stage of Sword Force, as long as you kill his true body, my master will send twenty Chaos Crystals,” Wuxiao said.

“Hmph… doing business with the Lord of All Demons is always refreshing.”

The alien power looked down at the Emperor Quietdark below and gave his orders, “Quietdark, send your men to kill Ji Ning first. If they can’t kill him, and it’s confirmed that Ji Ning truly has the Fifth Stage of Sword Force, then lure him into the death zone.”

“Yes, my great master.” Emperor Quietdark replied respectfully, then withdrew.

“Damn it.”

Emperor Quietdark’s face was ugly. He had been a great general under the Lord of All Demons back in the day, one of the four famous Sovereigns of the Ruins of the Ancient Primordial, possessing top-tier Daofather-level strength! Even compared to the six servants under the Great Demon God Cixiu, he was not the least bit inferior. Only the strength of that one-armed man made Emperor Quietdark deeply admire him; the other five… Emperor Quietdark was not afraid of them at all.

But.

Those six servants had followed the Great Demon God Cixiu for far too long. The Great Demon God Cixiu trusted them far more, and treated them — the four conquered Sovereigns — far more harshly.

“The Darknorth Sword Immortal Ji Ning is already at the True God or Daofather level, and he still wants me to first confirm whether Ji Ning has reached the Fifth Stage of Sword Force.” Emperor Quietdark frowned. “To force Ji Ning to display his Sword Force, I’ll have to send out some formidable subordinates. Sigh… these dangerous tasks always fall to the subordinates of us four Sovereigns.”

Still, Emperor Quietdark understood that back then the Great Demon God Cixiu had fled here with only six servants and no other subordinates. So for trivial tasks like cannon fodder, it naturally fell to the original alien races of the Ruins of the Ancient Primordial.

The Quietdark World.

A vast host of alien experts flew through the air. Each of them was at the Empyrean God level; at a glance, there were nearly three hundred of them.

“Elder brother, when you go to deal with the Darknorth Sword Immortal Ji Ning, you must be careful. The Sovereign said that Ji Ning has very likely already reached the Fifth Stage of Sword Force.” Among the group, two silver-robed men who looked strikingly similar were communicating via divine telepathy.

“My group is going to kill Ji Ning, but if he really has the Fifth Stage of Sword Force, we only need to flee; there’s no need to fight to the death. Once Ji Ning’s Fifth Stage of Sword Force is confirmed… it will be up to your group to lead him to the Dreamshadow Forest,” the taller silver-robed man sent.

The Dreamshadow Forest was a bizarre place in the Quietdark World.

Once you entered it, you would be trapped in one illusion after another, as if in a dream! And it was endless; even a True God or Daofather would find it very difficult to break free. They would be forever trapped in the Dreamshadow Forest until the illusions killed them!

The most terrifying thing was—

Even the natives of the Quietdark World could not be certain where the Dreamshadow Forest was, because its location constantly shifted. An ordinary-looking forest might actually be the dreadful Dreamshadow Forest. Emperor Quietdark, who ruled this terrifying world, naturally had a way to confirm the Dreamshadow Forest’s position.

“Fuxi, Tathagata… where are they?”

Ji Ning stood in midair, his surroundings a mess of distorted spacetime. He had lost all sense of direction.

He could no longer find any traces of Lord Buddha Tathagata and the others having passed through, and in a place where spacetime was so twisted, he could not use the art of retrocognition.

“My master said that Lord Buddha Tathagata and the others should still be in the Quietdark World. Never mind, I’ll just pick a direction and fly straight ahead.” Ji Ning quickly flew off in one direction. He didn’t dare fly too fast, afraid of charging into some enemy trap.

Having been in the Ruins of the Ancient Primordial for only a short time…

Ji Ning had already understood that the hardest part of conquering the Ruins of the Ancient Primordial was not the alien races, but the harsh environment here! No wonder the alien races living in the Ruins of the Ancient Primordial longed to invade the Three Realms — they didn’t want to live in constant fear, either.

“Hmm?” Ji Ning’s heart stirred. He faintly sensed the approach of an aura.

As a Half-step Elder God, his soul was far more powerful!

Guiding his soul with Heartforce made Ji Ning’s perception exceptionally sharp. Even a True God or Daofather who drew close to Ji Ning within a certain distance would be detected by him, let alone weaker Empyrean Gods or True Immortals.

“The Darknorth Sword Immortal should be somewhere ahead in that area.” A towering eight-armed Fiendgod was flying cautiously. This eight-armed Fiendgod was formed by a formation of one hundred and ninety-nine alien Empyrean Gods called the ‘Eight-Armed Warfiend Formation’, which had been passed down by the Lord of All Demons. Even Emperor Quietdark felt pained to dispatch so many Empyrean Gods.

This formation was very similar to the Seven Radiance Empyrean God Formation.

The Seven Radiance Formation only required seven Empyrean Gods, but this one used one hundred and ninety-nine Empyrean Gods, and could unleash power approaching that of a top-tier True God. Such a formation… was also a secret transmission; the core secrets of the formation required Life Oaths not to be leaked. The one serving as the formation’s core right now… was a warrior who had once followed the Lord of All Demons.

“I see him.” The eight-armed Fiendgod was searching for Ji Ning when it suddenly spotted a white-robed youth standing calmly in the distant sky.

“You’ve come.” A sword appeared in the white-robed youth’s hand. “Since you’ve come, there’s no need to leave.”

“Kill!” The eight-armed Fiendgod’s aura surged skyward.

Ji Ning, however, stepped forward as if strolling through a garden.

The Quietdark World, ancestral grounds.

“Reporting to the Sovereign, all one hundred and ninety-nine tribesmen have been killed in battle.” A gold-robed old man’s face was filled with grief.

“Not a single one escaped?” Emperor Quietdark could hardly believe it. He barked, “Show me the battle scene!”

“We were unable to transmit the battle scene back,” the gold-robed old man said.

“What.” Emperor Quietdark was stunned. How fast must the killing speed have been for none of these tribesmen to have had time to transmit the battle scene back?

“However, one of the tribesmen cultivated a separate body, and that split-body is still on another mission. We should summon that split-body back immediately and ask what actually happened in the fight with Ji Ning,” the gold-robed old man said urgently. “We must be quick — if that split-body also dies, we’ll never know the details of that battle.”

(The remaining words are free)

Recently, some readers have told Tomato, “Tomato, you’re such a troll. I spent so much money playing the Desolate Era game.”

Let me say this: the game developers are making a game to make money, so of course they put in some settings where “paying players are a bit stronger.” It’s normal for people who spend real money to be stronger… I had some requirements for the game back then, like the character designs, the looks of the characters, and that the game levels must strictly follow the plot. All of those eventually met my requirements.

During the closed beta, I played for half a month without spending any money. When I encountered some bosses, it was really tough, and I had to try all sorts of methods to clear the stages. But once I succeeded, the sense of accomplishment was huge!

In other words…

You can still play without spending money. If you spend money, you just level faster.

And they run events quite often now. I think there’s another event today — First Blood in the PvP match gives a ton of silver coins… You can’t expect non-paying players to be as strong as paying players, can you? This game is meant to be a casual game. Just relax, kill some bosses from Desolate Era, experience the story stages. I play it every day too — it really is a good way to unwind. Everything… just for fun.

Also, some readers said they couldn’t find it on Baidu. Don’t search there. I said before, only the game address I published is real. If you download a fake game, there’s nothing I can do. The game address is: mujxiazai, or add my WeChat to get some detailed game info. In WeChat, search for the contact “我吃西红柿” (I Eat Tomatoes).