Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

“Not good.” Youngflame Nong’s face changed as well, and the void-tunnel that had been in front of him disappeared as well.

“A restrictive formation!” Adept Vastriver hurriedly sent mentally, “This palace has a restrictive spell formation which was left behind by Immortal Witchriver. Just now, the restrictive spell formation became activated, and the spell formation covered that hall that we were in just now. Although we are still within the hall, we’ve already become trapped by the formation!”

“The surrounding space has been locked and distorted. Even though I have the key to the Immortal estate, I’m not able to open a tunnel to the outside world either,” Youngflame Nong sent frantically. “Rainbowflame Fairy, Adept Vastriver, Ji Ning… if I’m unable to open a corridor to the outside world, there’s no way for Uncle Fang to come in. It’s up to us now.”

Ning and the others felt their hearts sink. Right. If they were unable to open a corridor to the outside world, then there would be no way for the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, to enter. They had lost their strongest ally.

“Eh?” Ning had a sudden thought. He immediately released his divine sense… but he sensed nothing but a blur. The power of the surrounding restrictive spell had already completely smothered Ning’s divine sense. He couldn’t even sense Mu Northson and the others who were right next to him.

“I have one more bit of news to tell you all. In this formation… divine sense is of no use,” Ning sent mentally.

“What?” Adept Vastriver and the others were shocked. They gave it a try as well, and as they did, their faces changed. “Even divine sense is unable to see through this formation… then this means that this is definitely no ordinary formation.”

Ning’s group began to unconsciously move closer to each other. As for the ten Wanxiang Deathsworn, they immediately joined together into a formation.

“Is there anyone here skilled in breaking formations? Hurry up and break it,” Youngflame Nong sent.

“Uncle White?” Ning sent to the nearby Whitewater Hound. In recent years, he had spent almost all of his energy on the Dao of formations, and he was definitely superior to Ning in this regard.

“This is a very terrifying formation.” The Whitewater Hound shook his head, continuing to analye it. But right at this moment…

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Out of nowhere, a throng of icy arrows suddenly shot out, each containing awe-inspiring power as they sprang towards Ning’s group, trapped within the formation.

They were too close, and they were too fast.

“BOOM.” A Waterflame Lotus appeared around Ning, but upon being struck by three attacking arrows, it instantly began to shatter and collapse.

“Careful.” Ning’s face completely changed. These arrows were simply far too powerful; just three arrows contained power great enough to shatter his lotus…

Ning now had a premonition. With their group of Wanxiang Adepts being trapped within this terrifying restrictive formation, most likely, a number of them would truly perish.





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Book 10, Chapter 8 - Casualties


“A single ice shard is capable of killing an ordinary peak Wanxiang Adept.” Adept Vastriver immediately sent urgently, “Everyone, quick, assemble into formation!”

“Assemble into formation; a five-elements pentagonal formation,” Ji Ning sent.

“Right.”

“This is too terrifying,” Mu Northson said loudly.

Rumble… Ning, Northson, Yu Wei, Ninelotus, and Adept Vastriver were of the same school; naturally, they instinctively elected to use a five-elements pentagonal formation of the Black-White College. Combination formations did not need to be purchased with black-white pellets; on the contrary, the disciples of the school were required to learn them.

Their five figures began to move, and instantly, their bodies began to glow with light. Metallic light, red light, watery blue light, yellow light, and azure light.

“Whoosh.” Once their formation was joined, Ning calmed down slightly. “The power of these ice shards is too astonishing; when I fought against Daoist Snowplume, he sent out those drops of skywater against me… but although they were capable of damaging my Waterflame Lotus, they weren’t able to break through it. Those three ice shards, however, were able to break my Waterflame Lotus. This means every single shard contained power comparable to a drop of skywater.”

Daoist Snowplume had only used, in total, 108 drops of skywater… in contrast, these ice shards came in a tightly clustered, endlessly streaming series of attacks.

Most likely, even a Primal Daoist would be killed by this cluster attack!

“Ji Ning, the five of you, stand in front of me,” Youngflame Nong barked mentally. “The other ten of you, stay behind me. Xue Hongyi, Adept Bu You, stay to my sides.”

Ning’s group of five was the strongest; after all, three of them were somewhat stronger than ordinary Primal Daoists. After joining forces… they would be the most powerful force present. Naturally, they would have to block in front of Youngflame Nong and help screen him from the ambushing arrows.

As for the ten Wanxiang Deathsworn, although they were somewhat weak, there was still ten of them; when in formation, they were also quite powerful, and thus they could help Youngflame Nong block ice shards from behind.

The remaining gaps would naturally be filled and covered by Xue Hongyi and Adept Bu You. The two of them both joined together into the most common of formations, the ‘Liangyi Duality Formation’. This formation was one which virtually all Immortal cultivators were capable of, but in turn, it wasn’t very effective; there was a limit to how much it could raise one’s power. Still, it was still able to increase one’s power slightly, and so the two would naturally execute it.

“This is going to be trouble,” Xue Hongyi cursed secretly.

“This is going to be very dangerous.” Adept Bu You grew frantic as well; the two of them were weaker than Ji Ning to begin with. Ning was now in a five-man formation, while they were only in a two-man formation!

It must be understood that these ice shards were capable of easily killing Primal Daoists.

Swish.

Boom.

Xue Hongyi and Adept Bu You were in an extremely dangerous situation.

“Young master Youngflame, we’re almost unable to hold on,” Xue Hongyi sent frantically.

“I’m unable to hold on for much longer as well,” Adept Bu You was similarly frantic.

“How useless,” Youngflame Nong cursed mentally. He was frantic too. “In the end, it’s still those five from the Black-White College who are formidable.”

“Hold for as long as you can… the longer you can hold, the better our chances,” Youngflame Nong sent mentally.

Adept Vastriver sent hurriedly back, “Young master Youngflame, this formation must have been left behind by Immortal Witchriver. If Immortal Witchriver was present and personally controlling it, this formation would perhaps be even more powerful, capable of causing even Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals to perish. Now that he’s gone, the power of it has been lessened a bit, but we won’t be able to resist it for too long. There is a limit to how much elemental ki we have, but the formation utilizes the elemental energy of the natural world… it can persist indefinitely! It can exhaust us to death. The most important thing for us to do right now is to have a formations expert locate a flaw in this formation and break it.”

When trapped within a formation, if a true formations expert was present, he could guide the party through and out from the formation.