Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

If a somewhat weaker formations expert was present, he could work hard to find some flaws and weaknesses in the formation, then use their most powerful attacks against their weak points. In a situation like that, the chances of victory would naturally be greater.

But if one was too weak in terms of formations… then one would remain trapped within the formation, subject to being trampled upon and incapable of doing anything but using brute force to try and resist. This was the worst case scenario.

“Young master Youngflame, you must have brought a formations expert with you in your investigation of this Immortal estate,” Northson sent.

Youngflame Nong gritted his teeth. A formations expert? Of course he had brought one! But his formations expert was in the outside world of the Immortal estate! It was the Fiendgod – Xiangliu Fang.

Fiendgods were born from the natural world. The Fiendgod Xiangliu Fang had been born during the Fiendgod Era, and he had survived from then until now; from this, one could imagine how long a life he had lived. However, Fiendgods were different from other races; Fiendgods were truly the favored children of the heavens, the beloved scions of the universe. They were born with the innate ability to train and with innate divine abilities. In fact, some Primordial Fiendgods were even born with mastery over a Dao Path, or even an entire Grand Dao Path.

Thus, Fiendgods did not need to suffer the Three Calamities and Nine Tribulations! Their lives were infinite and unlimited! However…

Their training speed, in turn, was incomparably slow. In fact, upon reaching a certain level, they would be unable to improve any further! For example, this Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, had reached the Primal level countless hundreds of millions of years ago, but he remained at the Primal level. Most likely, his potential had been exhausted, and in the future, he would forever remain a Primal.

However, their extremely long lives led them to begin to analyze and train in other areas, such as the Dao of Constructs or Formations, which required a tremendous amount of time to research. Thus, although he was a bit weaker in terms of his comprehensive abilities, due to his extremely long life, Xiangliu Fang was a true formations master!

Per their original plan, Xiangliu Fang was to stay right next to Youngflame Nong and protect him. They shouldn’t have been separated at all! But earlier… when faced with attacks from so many monstrous Dao-soldiers, someone had to go delay them. Thus, Xiangliu Fang had been separated from the group.

“Uncle Fang!” Youngflame Nong was both frantic and filled with regret. “If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have left Uncle Fang leave me. After we overcome this tribulation and once he returns, I won’t let him leave me again. Absolutely not!”

“Uncle Fang is skilled in formations,” Youngflame Nong sent back hurriedly, “But he’s completely unable to come inside. Everyone… are any of you skilled in formations?”

“What kind of a sick joke is this?!” Northson was both angry and frantic.

“The Fiendgod is skilled in formations?” Ning and the others were all speechless. The one who was skilled in formations was trapped outside, unable to enter the palace. As for the rest of them, who amongst them was skilled in formations? Although they were all true geniuses, they had all spent all of their energy on their own Daos; even Ji Ning, who was talented in terms of formations, he still primarily spent his time and energy on the Dao of the Sword. He would only occasionally flip through formation scrolls to relieve boredom.

“Adept Vastriver, Rainbowflame Fairy, the two of you are both reincarnated Immortals. In your past lives, I imagine that you must have researched formations before. Can you remember anything about them?” Youngflame Nong sent.

“We are only at the Wanxiang level; we occasionally gain just a few fragments of our memories. The Dao of Formations is an extremely vast and broad one; only after completely awakening our former memories will we be able to master our previous insights regarding formations,” Adept Vastriver sent back helplessly.

……

Youngflame Nong, Ji Ning, and the others were chatting mentally at an extremely high speed. However, these arrows of ice that were being created and shot out by the formation were also moving at extremely high speed. The two weakest spots in the protective array, Xue Hongyi and Adept Bu You, were even beginning to suffer wounds.

“Young master Youngflame, we aren’t able to hold,” Xue Hongyi said, left arm stained red with blood.

“Can’t hold.” Adept Bu You sent hurriedly as well.

“Hurry up and come in.” Youngflame Nong had no choice but to give this order. “Ji Ning, Adept Vastriver… the five of you, you’ll have to cover the locations which Xue Hongyi and Bu You were previously covering.”

Ning’s group had no choice but to grind their teeth and expand the scope of their formation to cover a wider range. But in doing so, the number of ice shard attacks they suffered increased as well!

“Whew.”

“We were almost finished.”

Upon entering the center, Xue Hongyi and Adept Bu You couldn’t help but let out sighs of relief. They hurriedly swallowed spirit-pills, replenishing their power and healing.

“What should I do? What should I do?” Youngflame Nong began to ponder frantically. Although he had quite a few protective treasures on him, there was no way for him to break through this ancient, giant formation which a Celestial Immortal had set down. But of course, he could give up on this trial and use a ‘greater teleportation’ to immediately leave.

But upon doing so… that meant that he would have failed his trial. Youngflame Nong absolutely would not permit this to happen.

“I have to break this formation, but how? For now, those five disciples of the Black-White College and those ten Wanxiang Deathsworn are able to hold on, but as time goes on, their elemental ki will begin to deplete, at which point, death will be the result.” Youngflame Nong was frantic.

Right at this moment…

Within the chaotic void of the formation, an enormous, grayish-black, winged, ox-bodied, spiked, tiger-headed golem appeared. It was a Qiongqi Manticore golem! This Qiongqi Manticore suddenly appeared within the formation, and then, with a flutter of its wings, swooped out in an arc, avoiding the ten Wanxiang Deathsworn and clawing towards young master Youngflame at the center.

“Protect young master Youngflame,” Xue Hongyi immediately called out.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

One Qiongqi Manticore golem after another came howling forth. In almost a single instant, eighteen of them appeared in the surrounding area. For the moment, Ji Ning and the others were all being held down by these other Qiongqi Manticore golems, and were completely unable to protect young master Youngflame.

“Break.”

A sword struck out like a gleam of moonlight, chopping against the head of one of the Qiongqi golems. The Qiongqi golem was knocked backwards by thirty meters, came to halt, then threw itself forward once more.

Ji Ning was surrounded by seven hundred-plus flying swords. Seeing the situation, his face changed. Right now, the five of them were in a formation, and so his own elemental ki naturally had strengthened significantly… and yet, despite using the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], he was still only able to knock the Qiongqi golem back a short distance?

“Careful.”

“These Qiongqi golems all have the combat capability of a Primal Daoist, and their bodies are nigh impenetrable, as hard as magic treasures. They are far more difficult to deal with than ordinary Primal Daoists.” Northson was a genius of the Dao of Constructs; upon seeing these Qiongqi golems, he immediately knew that they were in serious trouble.