Download App
0.27% The Desolate Era / Chapter 4: Prefecture Lord

Chapter 4: Prefecture Lord

The banquet at Snowfall Palace continued late into the night. Late at night, the sky was covered with stars. Ji Yichuan and his wife took their infant back home.

"Whoah." Ji Ning blearily opened his little eyes and saw the night sky filled with stars.

Ah.

He had fallen asleep. He had actually fallen asleep mid-way.

There had been fascinating performances, with musicians, drummers, and barefoot, fur-clad female dancers filling the hall. This was very different from Earth's performances, but it was still very pleasing to the eye. However, he was still just an infant. Halfway through, he was simply too sleepy and thus he immediately fell asleep.

"Yichuan," Yuchi Snow said with a hint of anger while walking in the snow. "At the banquet, why did you say that you would let our son go seize the golden sword? Don't you know how hard that is?"

"I was able to accomplish it." Yichuan frowned.

"You are the most powerful member of the West Prefecture of the Ji clan. You were able to do it as a youth, but in the thousand year history of the Ji clan's West Prefecture, how many have been like you?" Snow was angry. Normally, she was very gentle, but anything which involved her son made her anxious. "And today, when the Prefecture Lord raised the question of having our son becoming the next Prefecture Lord, five overseers had agreed. Only a single additional overseer was needed. All you had to do was convince a single overseer… with six overseers in agreement, then our son would have easily been able to become the next Prefecture Lord. Why go seize the golden sword?"

Seizing the golden sword was simply too hard.

Yichuan shook his head and sighed. "You don't understand."

"What don't I understand?" Snow said angrily.

"You haven't been at the West Prefecture for a long time yet. You don't understand the intricacies hidden within." Yichuan explained, "The ten overseers of the West Prefecture are divided into the Prefecture Lord's side and Ji Lee's side. There are three centrists. If we were to draw another overseer into our orbit, the price would have been too high."

"So what if the price is high?" Snow said unhappily.

"Yes, if we paid an enormous price, we could let our son become the Prefecture Lord." Yichuan frowned. "But if our son is incapable, even if he is allowed to take the position of Prefecture Lord, he'll just suffer countless miseries, unspeakable miseries. That will be a form of torment!"

Yuchi Snow was stunned.

"I don't want my son to be miserable." Yichuan continued slowly, "Thus, I brought up seizing the golden sword."

"If my son possesses astonishing insight and talent and is able to strengthen rapidly, then naturally, he'll be able to seize the golden sword. No one would say a single word of dissent if he were to take over the Prefecture Lord position after doing so," Yichuan said. "But if my son is unable to seize the golden sword, then he can just live a life of leisure. I, Yichuan, will protect him his entire life and let him live without any cares."

Snow seemed to have understood.

Becoming Prefecture Lord didn't necessarily mean a life of ease. If an expert became the Prefecture Lord, then naturally, his rule would be stable. But if someone incapable took the position… even if he was forcibly installed, he would just be miserable.

"Yichuan, I was wrong to blame you," Snow said softly.

Yichuan just lowered his head and rubbed his son's face. "His eyes are wide open. This kid woke up long ago."

"Right, Yichuan. What name should we give him?" Snow suddenly asked. "I asked you when I was pregnant, but you weren't happy with any of the names. Now that he's been born, we have to come up with a suitable name."

"Let his name come into the world alongside him," Yichuan said. "How could I not be careful about it? I hadn't made up my mind in the past, but just now, I suddenly thought of a name… let's call our son 'Ning', meaning 'calm'. No matter whether his life is normal or exciting, no matter if he is weak or becomes an expert, let him maintain a calm, peaceful heart."

"Ning?" Snow murmured. "Ji Ning. Ji Ning…"

Ji Ning?

The infant in his mother's arms stared with wide eyes. Was this the name which the First Judge, the Lord of Cui Palace, had preordained that he would have in the Book of Life and Death? Or was it a true coincidence?

In this life, he would be named Ji Ning once again?

…..

The most powerful member of the West Prefecture of the Ji clan was the Raindrop Sword, Ji Yichuan.

The second was the 'Tiger Demon', Ji Lee.

Within Lee's Prefecture.

"Congratulations and felicitations, father," a middle-aged man with several dozen braids in his hair said. "That Yichuan was so arrogant and blind that he actually said he would have his son go seize the golden sword… the West Prefecture has been in the hands of our Ji clan for generations. Not a single person has taken the Prefecture Lord position through seizing the golden sword."

The old man with flaming red hair and that scarlet snake in his ears slapped his hands together. "When I was young, I should've become the Prefecture Lord! But at that time, I was simply too much of a show-off and ended up losing to my big brother, Ji Young. That old bastard Young ended up taking the Prefecture Lord position and has been in that position for eighty years!"

"Eighty full years!"

"I've been waiting all this time. Every day has been a crucible." Lee ground his teeth. "I didn't expect that his line of descent would produce someone like Yichuan! He truly is a glorious, outstanding talent. Fortunately, fortunately, Yichuan is only interested in training to become an Immortal and doesn't care about becoming the Prefecture Lord. Yichuan was simply too arrogant today. He actually chose such a path for his son."

"It seems it is the will of Heaven that we take the Prefecture Lord's position," the middle-aged man said excitedly.

"Don't be hasty."

Lee shouted. "When I was young, that loss I suffered taught me… that a person can't be too happy before one has actually succeeded! What we need to do is prepare!"

"Father, do you mean to say…" the man asked.

Lee was frowning in concentration.

Time slowly passed. The middle-aged man sat off to one side, not daring to disturb him. He knew his father was thinking.

"Right!" Ji Lee suddenly said in a soft voice. "That's what we'll do!"

The middle-aged man looked at his father. "Father, what is your plan?"

"In order to seize the golden sword, one must defeat all of the youths of the tribes and the descendants of the Ji clan," Lee said in a low voice. "Although there are few clan members, they are able to acquire a large amount of treasures and secret manuals, while there are many youths in the tribes, very few will get any treasures. But despite that, in the quadrennial Golden Sword Ceremony, out of every five or six ceremonies, only once will a Ji clan member win."

The middle-aged man nodded. "There are simply too many tribe members. There will always be an extremely talented person who emerges. However, no matter how great their talent, we won't teach them the truly powerful arts of the Ji clan. We'll only teach them some of the lesser arts. Although those youths of the tribes might be powerful during the Golden Sword Ceremony, after seventy or eighty years, the most powerful exponents are those of the Ji clan."

"What I mean to do is…" Ji Lee said in a whisper. "Select a few outstanding youths from the tribes and give them a large amount of treasures and resources and train them. Without my training, those tribal youth talents are already so powerful. Once they receive my training, they will definitely skyrocket in power and become even mightier! I refuse to believe that the son of Yichuan will be able to defeat all of them and seize the golden sword."

"Right. Right." The middle-aged man hurriedly nodded.

Usually, the treatment of the tribal youths and of the Ji clan members were totally different.

The Ji clan youths were of one family. Naturally, the Ji clan would treat them much better. But in dealing with the youths of the tribes, they would have to both draw them close and also control them well! But this time… he would use all of his talent to cultivate the most promising youths!

"Father, if you do this, then Ji Yichuan's son will definitely lose," the middle-aged man said confidently.

"Hahaha…" Lee laughed. "Remember. Plant some of our people by Yichuan's side. I want to know how rapidly Yichuan's son grows in power. Only knowing one's own power and one's opponent's power will one gain victory!"

"Yes!" The middle-aged man's eyes were shining.

...

Yuchi Snow gently placed her son down atop the warm bed.

"Ning, be a good boy and sleep tight." Snow gently kissed her son's face, then lay down on the bed as well.

A pained look was on Ning's face.

He wiped the corner of his lips. He had just drank breast milk. What a weird sensation.

The events of the past twenty four hours were simply too shocking, too unbelievable. First, he had passed the Bridge of Despair, but then, just before he was to drink Grandma Meng's Elixir, a great upheaval had occurred in the Netherworld Kingdom. It was as though the world was about to shatter. He had been lucky enough to react in time and jump into the Mortal Realm's tunnel, and had been reincarnated into this world.

A snow white hound who was his 'Uncle White'?

A several hundred-meter giant black python that could raise its head up to the level of a house, and also transform into a black-haired middle-aged man, who was his 'Uncle Black'?

And now, he was supposed to seize some golden sword and become some Prefecture Lord?

Hey guys, did you think about asking me how I feel about all this?

"Bah. Infants have no human rights." Ji Ning licked the milk from the corner of his lips while pondering. Still, a hint of excitement was in his eyes. "Time to train!"

The very first day he had arrived here, he had sensed that his clan was a powerful one. How could a clan capable of commanding countless tribes be ordinary? But clearly, the position of Prefecture Lord had aroused interest from all sides. That old fellow with the red snake in his ear wasn't weak either. He dared to argue against the Prefecture Lord and squabble with Ning's father.

Screw it!

Ning was still just an infant. There was no reason for him to worry about all these things. Right now, the most important thing was to train. Train in the visualization technique – Nuwa Painting.

The Nuwa Painting, according to the Lord of Cui Palace, was something which would allow him to be an outstanding figure, even if he had been born into the Heaven Realm and had joined the Celestial Host, much less here in the Mortal Realm. In the Mortal Realm, it definitely would be the most top tier of visualization techniques. Such a precious technique that had been deeply ingrained into his mind was the most powerful source of support he would have in this world.

In his past life, he had been tormented by illness for eighteen years. He had been exhausted just by strolling for half an hour. He had simply had enough of that powerless sensation! The sensation of being powerless in the face of death! He had enough! Enough! Enough!!! He would take his destiny into his own hands, and that destiny was to follow the path that the Lord of Cui Palace had spoken to him of: Training to become an Immortal!

Training to become an Immortal was the only choice he would make!

Ning closed his eyes and began.

A hint of natural energy slowly began to enter Ji Ning's body. It was being attracted into his consciousness and began to strengthen his soul. But because only a tiny amount of natural energy was being absorbed, neither Yichuan nor Snow noticed at all.

The visualization technique was capable of absorbing natural energy?

This was simply incredible.

The reason was, this wasn't an Immortal training technique, nor was it a Immortal magic technique. If it was an Immortal training technique, it would wildly devour the surrounding natural energy. But the visualization technique, despite absorbing just a bit of natural energy… was already quite incredible.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Tiny threads of elemental energy constantly entered Ning's infant body.

Natural energy repeatedly entered his body and cleansed his body. Infants were born pure. Only after experiencing life would they be sullied by the dirt and grime of the world. But right now, Ning's body had very few impurities within it. With the natural energy repeatedly cleansing him, he quickly became incomparably pure, as pure as a newborn!


Chapter 5: Ji Clan

The rays of the spring sun shone down with lazy warmth.

A red-lipped, pale-faced child was standing with arms stretched out, while a fur-clad young lady was quickly and carefully helping him get dressed in his fur clothes. Another young lady was waiting next to him with a basin of water and a bowl with rough salt.

"In my past life, I was always sick and dressed myself. I didn't expect that in this life, I would not only be perfectly healthy, I would also have servants to take care of me." Ji Ning had been served by people since he was born. When he sometimes automatically began to dress himself out of habit, the two terrified maids, 'Spring Grass' and 'Autumn Leaf', immediately fell to their knees, trembling in absolute terror.

"Give it to me."

Now dressed, Ning took over the black bowl of rock salt and headed outside the room. He walked to a nearby fountain, then began to use those white, tough pieces of rock salt to 'brush his teeth'.

"What a disaster this era is. There are no toothbrushes. I have to use my hands to brush my teeth! And there's no tooth paste, only rock salt!" Ning quickly finished brushing his teeth. Actually, he wasn't sure why, but he was extremely clean ever since he was born, and he didn't have any mouth odor. There was no need for him to brush his teeth, but his mother forced him to do it anyways.

"Gargle." Ji Ning raised his head, then spat out a mouthful of water, then handed the basin to the nearby maid, Spring Grass.

The maid, Autumn Leaf, then offered him a blue stone bowl for washing his face. Ji Ning quickly washed his face, then wiped the water off with a cloth.

"Autumn Leaf." Ning stared at her. "In your tribe, do you also use salt to brush your teeth?"

Although he was already four years old and had read many books of the clan and had learned many things, he actually didn't know much about the situation inside the tribes.

"How could that be possible?" Autumn Leaf had a slightly freckled face. "Even the table salt which we use in the tribes aren't as white and as clean as this salt. How can we use it to brush our teeth? The men and women of the tribe just use water to rinse their teeth. Many will go their entire lives without brushing their teeth. And also, this sort of basin is extremely valuable and is usually used to boil soup. How can we use it to brush our teeth?"

Boil soup?

Ning rubbed his eyes. This basin could be used to boil soup?

"Let's go eat." Ning turned his head and walked away, with the two maids behind him.

"Father. Mother." Ning arrived in the main hall and immediately stood there and bowed.

"Mm."

His father, Ji Yichuan, was seated in front, while his mother was seated to the left. His own position was towards the right. In front of him was a black, marble table, with three big bowls on it. One contained steaming, aromatic meat, another had thick yet soft pastries, and the third was a bowl of hot water. This was his breakfast.

If this breakfast for a four year old was placed on Earth, it would probably be enough for three adults to eat. But in this world… every child could eat a tremendous amount of food. Ning was no different.

"Mmm, it tastes so good." Ning grabbed a chunk of meat from the first bowl and ate it. Despite having the taste buds of an Earth human, he still felt the food was delicious. Ning knew… because his body was physically average, ever since he was young, he had been fed special food. The meat he ate wasn't meat from ordinary beasts; it was meat from magical, monstrous beasts. In the tribes, monster meat was extremely rare and precious, but Ning was able to eat it every single day.

It had special effects. It would make Ning stronger!

"I'm done eating!" Ning ate very fast; it could be described as simply 'scarfing the food down'. And then, with a gurgle, he drank all the hot water as well.

"Let's go." Ning ran out, with Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf chasing after him.

Snow watched her son run away and laughed, "Although Ning was rather weak when he was born, that's only because he was injured while in the womb. His potential is still very high. Look, every day, he's able to eat so much monster meat. His body will definitely grow stronger."

Yichuan nodded as well. Monstrous beasts weren't like ordinary animals. Monstrous beasts absorbed the natural elemental energy of the world, and their flesh contained that energy as well. Normally, children wouldn't be hungry for two days if they ate it for breakfast, but Ning ate it for three meals a day. Clearly, he was able to absorb it all.

...........

The two maids were carrying thick books behind Ning. Behind them were eighteen massive guards who wore scarlet red armor. The red armored guards had mysterious runes scrawled onto their armor, which faintly seemed to hum with a strange energy, causing all of them to emanate a powerful aura.

The Crimson Guards were the most powerful soldiers of the Ji clan. The West Prefecture only had a hundred Crimson Guards who listened only to the command of Ji Yichuan.

Yichuan arranged eighteen Crimson Guards to protect Ning at all times. If Ning was to ever be outside the house, the eighteen Crimson Guards would stay right by his side.

"To the training yard." Ning's journey was very smooth.

Nobody dared to block his path!

The city of the West Prefecture was a great and massive city. Within the city was hundreds of thousands of citizens, and there were three major areas. They were the inner city, the military camp, and the training grounds.

The inner city was where the Ji clan members of West Prefecture lived. It was the central administrative area!

The military camp was the place where the soldiers controlled by the Ji clan of West Prefecture were stationed.

The training grounds was where the youths of the Ji clan and of the many tribes controlled by the Ji clan would come to train.

The inner city and the training grounds were connected by a straight line. Ning led his servants and guards directly towards the central training grounds. The vast training plaza currently had thousands on thousands of youths there training.

"Look, it is Ji Ning!"

"The only child of the Raindrop Sword? Ji Ning?"

"Are his female slaves holding books? When those roving merchants came to my clan in the past to sell books, I heard that the cost of each book was a thousand lambskins."

Many of the youths in the training grounds were talking amongst themselves. There were many who had matured quickly, and thus knew that this child was the son of the number one expert of the Ji clan, Ji Yichuan, the 'Raindrop Sword'. Many of the youths actually were quite fond of this child, because although Ji Ning came from a powerful and noble clan, he didn't bully them at all. But no matter how fond of him they were, they wouldn't dare tease him.

"Oof." Ji Ning sat down on the chair, his eyes filled with excitement.

In the previous life, he was often by himself, and so now, in his heart, he really enjoyed crowded, rowdy areas.

"Give me the books." Ning took a thick and heavy book from the hands of Spring Grass. This tome really was thick, roughly twenty centimeters thick, and it was bound by the soft skin of some monstrous beast. In this era where slavery still existed, books were quite precious. Ning, however, could casually flip through the books in their private library and even take a few out.

After being born, Ning had primarily done two things…

The first thing was to train in accordance to the visualization technique – Nuwa's Painting. His soul had become strong and sturdy, to the point where he now had photographic memory. Just half a month ago, he had even been able to reach the level of dividing his mind into two.

What did dividing his mind into two meant? For example, he could simultaneously use his left hand to write an essay while using his right hand to paint a painting. It was as though his consciousness had been divided into two parts which didn't interfere with each other.

Actually, this wasn't particularly miraculous. According to the books, those who trained in the path to become an Immortal could all use their minds to accomplish multiple things at once. They would be able to use several treasures to attack at the same time. The true brilliance of the Nuwa Painting was that Ji Ning was able to divide his mind in two after visualizing it for just two years.

The second thing he had done was to read!

Half a year after his birth, when Ning was able to form some words, he had hugged a book and pointed at what looked lke some words in it and said, "This, this, this…" Spring Grass and Autumn Leaf, being personal maids, all knew how to read. Naturally, they didn't dare to not reply. With their help and with guesswork, he soon learned how to recognize the words.

And then, his reading began!

As the saying goes, 'spending time sharpening the knife makes the cutting go faster'. Although he was fully devoted to the idea of training to become an Immortal, Ning understood that sometimes, haste made for ineffectiveness. Reading was a way of 'sharpening the knife' to become an Immortal. First of all, he needed to understand what this world was like. He would also learn more about what it meant to become an Immortal, and what types of Immortals there were, and so on and so forth.

Only after learning about this would he know what the best choice for himself would be!

After reading many books, Ning came to know that the Ji clan of West Prefecture was a small power located within the vast expanse of land ruled over by the Grand Xia Dynasty!

The territory ruled over by the Ji clan of West Prefecture stretched for three thousand kilometers from north to south and five thousand kilometers from east to west. There were countless tribes who lived on this land, and all of them were ruled by the Ji clan!

What's more, this was nothing more than the Ji clan of West Prefecture.

The Ji clan was an ancient clan. It was divided into the Central Prefecture, the East Prefecture, the West Prefecture, the North Prefecture, and the South Prefecture. All five Prefectures combined made up the entirety of the Ji clan!

However… the Grand Xia Dynasty was simply too large. Its territory was nearly limitless, and it was an ancient dynasty which was born during the 'Fiendgod Era'. Over a trillion years had passed since the terrifying Fiendgod Era. For a dynasty to be able to last a trillion years was something which Ning found to be inconceivable.

The Ji clan was nothing more than a small power within the borders of the Grand Xia Dynasty, but to the countless local surrounding tribes, the Ji clan was definitely their absolute rulers!

"This truly is a world where Immortals and Devils abound." Ji Ning sighed mentally. "Ordinary mortal realms find it hard for an Empire to sustain for even a thousand years, but in this ancient world, an ancient, large empire is something which is beyond my imagination.

"Right. It has been over two year since I was born, and I know very little about training to become an Immortal. It is time I begin."

He had spent a year in the womb, and when he was born, it was winter, while a new year had come soon after that. Thus, he had lived in this world for over two years now.

….

That very night.

Both sides of the main hall were filled with lit lamps, and the entire hall was extremely bright. His father continued to sit where he usually sat, with his mother on the left and Ning on the right. The table was still covered with meat as well as plates of vegetables and grains.

"Nom nom nom." Ning blew through the meat on the table like a twister, and then raised his head up. "Father, mother!"

"Hrm, what is it?" Yichuan looked at his son, and Snow did as well.

Although their son's intelligence caused them boundless joy, it didn't startle them too much, because in this vast world, there were plenty of people who were devilishly clever.

"I want to train!" Ning said seriously. "I wish to train to become an Immortal!"

Seeing the serious look on her son's face, Snow began to laugh. "Train to become an Immortal? Yichuan, our son wishes to train to become an Immortal!"

"Immortal?" Yichuan looked at his son coolly. "Do you know what training to become an Immortal means?"


Load failed, please RETRY

Gifts

Gift -- Gift received

    Weekly Power Status

    Batch unlock chapters

    Table of Contents

    Display Options

    Background

    Font

    Size

    Chapter comments

    Write a review Reading Status: C4
    Fail to post. Please try again
    • Translation Quality
    • Stability of Updates
    • Story Development
    • Character Design
    • World Background

    The total score 0.0

    Review posted successfully! Read more reviews
    Vote with Power Stone
    Rank 200+ Power Ranking
    Stone 0 Power Stone
    Report inappropriate content
    error Tip

    Report abuse

    Paragraph comments

    Login

    tip Paragraph comment

    Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.

    Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.

    GOT IT