Desolate Era

***Desolate Era*** (莽荒纪), also translated as "The Reckless Desolation Period", is a Xianxia genre web novel written by I Eat Tomatoes, beginning December 16, 2012. The novel has 45 volumes, and follows the protagonist Ji Ning as he re-incarnates into a world of magic, gods, and immortals. Because he was so sickly in his previous life, he begins training his body and qi with the goal of becoming god-like.

The web novel has been translated from Chinese into English by RWX, and can be found here.

"After Ji Ning died, he went to Yincao Difu, and was sentenced to the afterlife by the judge before the trial, and was reborn into the tribe of Ji clan. Here, Kuafu is chasing the sun...Hou Yi shoots the golden crow...There are countless immortal cultivators who have gone through three calamities and nine calamities, and died without regrets.........Jining has also become a cultivator and begins His path to cultivate immortals..."

Associated Names:

* Age of Desolation
* Jade Sword (official English title of drama and anime version)
* Records of Barbarian Ji of the Primeval Era
* Mang Huang Ji
* Mãng Hoang Kỷ (Vietnamese - Tiếng Việt - TV)

## Synopsis

"Fate had never been kind to Ji Ning. Wracked by illnesses and infirm his entire life on Earth, Ning knew early on that he would die as a teenager. What he didn’t know was that there really was such a thing as life after death, and that the universe was a far larger place than he thought. Through a lucky twist of fate (one of the few in Ning’s life), Ning was reborn into a world of Immortals and monsters, of Ki Refiners and powerful Fiendgods, a world where Dynasties lasted for millions of years. A world which is both greater…and yet also smaller…than he ever could imagine. He would have the opportunity to join them, and in this life, Ning swore to himself, he would never let himself be weak again! The Era he was born into was a Desolate one, but Ning would make it his era." -RWX, Wuxiaworld

## Adaptions

*Desolate Era'*s popularity has inspired a number of adaptions and other works:

Desolate Era, Kindle edition
3 book series: *The Warrior of Swallow Mountain*, *Snowdragon's Bane*, *The College of Swords*
Published April 10, 2021 by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi (I Eat Tomatoes) , Ren Woxing (Translator) , Wuxiaworld
*The Origin of Love*
Chinese: 莽荒纪之川落雪 Mang Huang Ji Zhi Chuan Luo Xue [Extra Story]
aka: "Reckless Waste Kinokawa Snow", "Reckless Waste Ji Side Story ", "Snowfall in the River of Reckless Desolation"
Chinese web drama series, premiered November 12, 2020 on Youku (also available on Youtube), with 18 episodes (30 minutes each), Director: Chen Weixiang, Liu Songfeng, Screenwriter: Fang Moqi, Zi Buyu, Producer: Beijing Joy Eastern Media Co. Ltd. (北京天悦东方文化传媒有限公司 Beijing Tianyue Oriental Culture Media Co., Ltd.) This prequel follows protagonist Ji Yichuan (Ji Ning's father). English subtitles are not yet available.
*Desolate Era / Mang Huang Ji* (莽荒纪官方)
Mobile and web video games.
Desolate Era Jumpchains
Solitaire Choose-Your-Own-Adventure games, published 2019. Designer: I Eat Tomatoes.
*The Three Realms*, *The Chaosverse*
*The Legend of Jade Sword* (莽荒纪)
aka "Desolate Era", "The Reckless Desolation Period", "Reckless Waste Ji"
Drama, 65 episodes (45 minutes each), aired April 30, 2018 - July 4, 2018 (on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday) on Tencent Video, Anhui Satellite TV, iQiyi
*The Legend of Jade Sword* (莽荒纪 Mang Huang Ji)
aka: "The Desolate Era", "Age of Desolation", "Records of Barbarian Ji of the Primeval Era"
Animation, 19 episodes (12 minutes each), aired April 4, 2015 to August 8, 2015, rating: PG-13
*Desolate Era* (莽荒纪)
aka Age of Desolation; Mang Huang Ji; Mãng Hoang Kỷ (Vietnamese - Tiếng Việt - TV)
Manhua (comic), serialized by Man King (漫王) magazine  beginning in 2014, and serialized in Tencent Animation  beginning in 2015. Author: I Eat Tomatoes, Mo Wen (illustrator).
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 RWX is licensed by Qidian to translate the works of I Eat Tomatoes. RWX / Ren Wo Xing / Ren Woxing is a translator and the founder of Wuxiaworld. His patreon profile is found here
2. ↑ Qidian is the online literature website for Starting Point Chinese Network (Chinese)
3. ↑ Baidu Encyclopedia (Chinese) page for all that is *Desolate Era*
4. ↑ 3 book series (amazon.com)
5. ↑ *Origin of Love* sources: Wikipedia (Chinese), baike.baidu.com, chinesedrama.info, *Origin of Love* (Youku), *Origin of Love* (YouTube), director, screenwriter, producer
6. ↑ Youku Youku Tudou Inc., business name Youku (优酷), is a video hosting service based in Beijing, China.
7. ↑ Desolate Era Jumpchains: *The Three Realms*, *The Chaosverse*
8. ↑ *The Legend of Jade Sword* TV drama: Wikipedia (Chinese)
9. ↑ *The Legend of Jade Sword* web animation sources: Bilibili channel (Chinese), TVmaze. Unofficial English translation subtitles can be found at animeheaven.pro.
10. ↑ *Desolate Era* manhua (comic) sources: *Desolate Era* manhua (Chinese), Baka-Updates - Manga Division. Unofficial translated manhua can be found at 1stkissmanga.com.
11. ↑ Wuhan Times Manwang Technology Co., Ltd. "Manwang", Man King (漫王) magazine, formerly known as Extreme Man (极漫).
12. ↑ Tencent Animation (腾讯动漫), baike profile (Chinese), established in 2012. It publishes manga and manhua, animation, and light novels on its website ac.qq.com (Chinese)