Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

Dong Ziqi and the rest of the eight advanced carefully, always maintaining their formation. That white glow surrounded the eight trigrams which covered them.

“Fellow apprentices, be careful. This is the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation!” Nong Zidao’s frantic voice rang out from far away.

“Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation?” Dong Ziqi and the others looked at each other, all of them seeming puzzled.

The distant Nong Zidao said in a loud, frantic voice, “We just suffered an attack from a draconic claw as well. Your senior apprentice-brother, Jadechild, forced it to retreat. I could immediately recognize this as being the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation. This Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation is an ancient, powerful formation! There is a complicated version of the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation, and a simplified version of it…according to legend, the Marquis of Stillwater has access to a Heaven-rank Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation. This formation which the Ji clan is using must be a simplified Mortal-rank formation. But even a Mortal-rank formation…is astonishingly powerful. We are in true danger this time. We have to conserve our power; otherwise, we will be in danger of dying.”

“Your senior apprentice-brothers, Jadechild and myself, will focus on breaking the formation. We won’t be able to divide our attention and take care of you for now. Take care of yourselves, the eight of you.” Nong Zidao’s voice echoed.

Dong Ziqi and the rest of the eight looked at each other, their faces unsightly.

For this formation to force Nong Zidao and Jadechild to completely focus their efforts on breaking it…one could imagine how terrifying it was.

“I’ve never even heard of this ‘Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation’. Only someone like senior apprentice-brother Nong Zidao, who has studied many formation manuals in the main sect, would know of it. How could the Ji clan have acquired such a powerful formation?”

“Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation?”

The look on Dong Ziqi’s face was very ugly.

“We will do our best.” Dong Ziqi looked at his seven comrades. “This is a life-and-death battle. Either the Ji clan dies or we die! Everyone, if you have any life-protecting measures, use them. Don’t save them.”

Their attitudes had all changed.

At first, all of them were simply toying around. The sudden deaths of four comrades had shocked them, but they trusted that once Jadechild and Nong Zidao joined them…all the danger would dissipate like smoke, like the clouds. But now, Nong Zidao had said that this game had just turned deadly.

“If I knew that I’d risk my life, I wouldn’t have entered Swallow Mountain.” They all felt misery in their hearts, but with death staring at them, all of them prepared to fight to the death.

Three hundred meters or so away from them.

An enormous draconic tail was coiling there. Ning was in the center of the draconic tail, and the seven hundred flying swords were all hovering around him, prepared to begin the slaughter.

“Ji Ning, attack!” Patriarch Ninefire’s voice rang out within his mind.

“Kill!”

A fierce light flashed through Ji Ning’s eyes.

Swooosh!

Instantly, the entire, enormous Netherwyrm whipped its tail out, and its tail struck forward towards those eight nervous, guarded Zifu Disciples.





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Book 6, Chapter 13 - Terrified By the Slaughter


The black fog swirled about like mist. The eight Zifu Disciples of Snowdragon Mountain were constantly staying in their formation and moving about within it.

“This Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation…even senior apprentice-brother Zidao is unable to break it. What else can we do? Let’s just run around wildly. Senior apprentice-brother Jadechild and Zidao are within this formation as well. Perhaps we might run into them.” The eight Zifu Disciples clung to this hope as they advanced.

They all clenched their various Dao-seals in their hands, prepared to do battle at any moment.

Suddenly…

Rustle…

A gentle sprinkling of rain suddenly began to fall. The rain fell like fine, silken threads that were incomparably soft. Dong Ziqi and the rest of the eight, upon suddenly encountering the rain, were greatly shocked. “Rumble…” A layer of white light appeared on their bodies, which directly blocked those ordinary drops of rain.

“It’s simply rain. Don’t make a fuss over nothing.” The hawk-nosed cultivator said coldly.

“Why is there rainwater within this formation?” Dong Ziqi frowned.

“Perhaps it is currently raining outside. This bewildering formation only has the power to bewilder; it isn’t able to block out the rainwater from the outside world.” A silver-haired cultivator spoke out.

Dong Ziqi and the others all nodded.

They were cultivators. They could clearly sense that this rain was falling naturally; it wasn’t poisonous liquid generated by the formation! For the moment, they didn’t think of the possibility of it being a Dao Domain; generally speaking, someone who had reached the Dao Domain realm could, with a thought, convert the surrounding area into their own Domain. Different Daos would naturally result in different Domains.

Some could, with a thought, transform the surrounding area into boundless flames. Others could transform the surrounding area into a field of lightning. As for Ning, what he generated was the descent of rainfall.

“Let’s be careful nonetheless. Don’t let this rainwater soak us.” A gray-robed elder said.

“Junior apprentice-brother An’s words are reasonable. We are trapped in the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation; we should be careful.”

These Zifu Disciples would rather do too much than to be careless.

……

Whoosh!

An enormous black draconic tail swept towards them as fast as lightning. In the midst of the draconic tail, there was a fur-clad Ji Ning, who stood there silently. The area around him was filled with more than seven hundred flying swords, nine of which were ranked. The nine ranked flying swords served as the nucleus, and the converted energy of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation] was incomparably shocking.

The Rainwater Sword Domain had already been set up!

An elemental energy that was greater than any peak Zifu Disciple’s, activated through the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]…although only nine of these seven hundred-plus flying swords were ranked, this was still the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation]! Sometimes, quantity was a form of quality!

“Die.” Ning’s eyes flashed with a killing light.

Swish!

The sword light in front of him suddenly pierced through the skies, instantly transforming into a line of rainwater. At this moment, Ning was using all his might. The ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], supported by the formation and the Rainwater Sword Domain…all of these things made it so that the power of this sword of Ning’s was at an incredibly high level.

…..

“Let’s keep moving.” Dong Ziqi and the others were continuing to advance while blocking off the descending rain. Just as they were walking forward calmly…

Suddenly…

“Eh?” The face of the hawk-nosed black-robed cultivator changed. In that instant, he vaguely felt a tremendous danger descending. This was something that he gained only after becoming an Immortal practitioner; he could sense when a dire threat was descending. Unfortunately, this danger sense always came quite late; it would only appear when the threat had already drawn very close. Despite that, it had still saved his life a few times.

“Fogswirl Umbrella!” An umbrella suddenly appeared around the hawk-nosed black-robed cultivator. The umbrella spread open, completely protecting the hawk-nosed man’s body.

A seemingly ordinary line of rainwater gently swirled and flew over, lashing out towards the triangle-pupiled cultivator.