Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

……

Youngflame Nong rose to his feet. He had already bound the core of this palace, but there wasn’t a hint of joy on his face. Ning and the others weren’t smiling either.

This was because… they had now completely bound three of the palaces; the Vault of Treasures, the Immortal Grass Palace, and the Dao Soldier Palace. Two more palaces remained… and one was under heavy guard by the Yaksha Dao-soldiers, while the other was under heavy guard by the Seawave Dao-soldiers. If they wanted to enter, they would have to fight. There would be no way to avoid them!

Those terrifying monstrous Dao-soldiers were so powerful that they had beaten even a Fiendgod like Xiangliu Fang into a constant retreat. If Ning and the others were to engage them in battle, they would probably be effortlessly slaughtered!

Compared to Xiangliu Fang, they were in a position of extreme weakness, to say nothing of those Dao-soldiers.

The threat of imminent death… it caused all of them to have ugly looks on their faces.

“Everyone.” Youngflame Nong swept Ning and the others with his gaze. “I have the key to the estate, and can open a corridor to leave from any location within this Immortal estate. If we truly encounter a great danger that we simply cannot withstand… I’ll lead you all in fleeing this Immortal estate. Don’t worry; I’m still confident in my abilities to escape.”

“However, everyone, you need to be very careful; I don’t wish for any of you to end up being killed by the monsters,” Youngflame Nong said.

Ning and the others all understood that there was no way out now.

However, none of them had thought that challenging a Celestial Immortal’s estate would be an easy task. Danger was expected and normal. Ning and the others all had their own life-saving measures, none of which had been used yet.

“Very good. Let’s head out,” Youngflame Nong ordered.

……

All of the monsters of this Immortal estate world had been divided into two forces. One was the Witchriver clan’s Yaksha Dao-soldiers, while the other was the Seawave Dao-soldiers. They were each guarding one of the palaces.

In air, far away, a large warship suddenly appeared. Waves of energy rippled out from it as it cruised forward, flying through the air at high speed and heading directly towards the Seawave Dao-soldiers, led by Immortal Duohe.

“They are coming.”

“That Fiendgod and those humans are coming.”

“Duohe, it’s up to you,” Immortal Witchsui sent mentally from far away.

Immortal Duohe had more than twenty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers under his command. They formed into an incomparably titanic wave that covered the skies, and all of them stared coldly towards the large warship flying towards them.





* * *





Book 10, Chapter 16 - The Wildcore


Aboard the warship.

Ji Ning and the others stared at the massive, distant wave, and the savage, sky-filling aura the wave emanated. All of them had heavy feelings in their hearts.

“These monsters… after I bind the Immortal estate, I am going to enslave all of them. All of them!” Youngflame Nong stared at the distant monsters, his face turning savage. He also gritted his teeth, then produced in his hand a queer contraption that was the size of a person’s head. Extraordinarily powerful ripples emerged from it.

Ning and the others couldn’t help but look at this item.

“A Wildcore?” Mu Northson called out in surprise.

Ning and the others, including Adept Vastriver, Ninelotus, and Xue Hongyi, all had puzzled looks on their faces. Clearly, they had no idea what this was.

“You actually know about Wildcores?” Youngflame Nong nodded. “Right. This is a Wildcore! An Immortal-grade Wildcore.”

“But your construct-warship is only at the Heaven-rank. If you put this Immortal-grade Wildcore into this construct-warship, it won’t be able to withstand the power. Even if it looks perfectly fine from the outside, the formation diagrams inside it will begin to crumble. Your construct-warship will be doomed.” Northson couldn’t help but voice his concerns.

“It will be able to hold for a short period of time, the time needed to boil a kettle of tea,” Youngflame Nong said calmly. He then immediately pressed the head-sized Wildcore towards the planks of the warship.

Whoosh.

A dark corridor naturally appeared in the floorboards of the warship, and the Wildcore burrowed within.

“For at least that period of time, this warship of mine will be able to reach a level that approaches the Immortal-rank. Perhaps it wouldn’t be able to withstand the attacks of Celestial Immortals, but these monstrous Dao-soldiers won’t be able to break my warship,” Youngflame Nong said in a low voice.

“What’s a Wildcore?”

“Junior apprentice-brother, what sort of a thing is this Desolate Heart?”

Ning and the others, puzzled, all sent mental messages to Northson.

Northson was extremely skilled in the Dao of Constructs, and he also understood Wildcores very well. He immediately sent back, “It’s quite complicated, but to simplify it… Wildcores are, in reality, meant to be used for Immortal-ranked construct-warships, allowing them to temporarily explode with power. Immortal-ranked construct-warships are able to withstand this sort of sudden increase in power… but Immortal-ranked warships are far more valuable than even ordinary Immortal-ranked magic treasures. Even young master Youngflame most likely doesn’t possess this sort of warship.”

“Thus, Youngflame Nong is placing his Wildcore into the warship he is using. His warship is actually very good as well; it is Heaven-ranked, and a very precious one. But the power of a Wildcore is simply too great, and this Heaven-ranked construct-warship cannot endure it. Even though its own ‘body’, being a magic treasure, won’t be damaged, the formations and diagrams within it will begin to crumble,” Northson said.

Although Ning and the others understood little of this craft, they understood the importance of formation-diagrams.

The formation-diagrams of a construct served as their core; they were what made the constructs work properly! It was precisely because of the existence of formation-diagrams that constructs were able to possess sentience and unleash powerful, precise attacks. Once the formation-diagrams crumbled, the entire construct would be finished.

“One warship, one Wildcore,” Youngflame Nong growled. “We have to enter this palace. We have to!”

Ning and the others exchanged glances. They could all sense Youngflame Nong’s resolve.

…….

The warship steadily moved forward. Immortal Duohe, in command of more than twenty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers, stared coldly as it approached.

“Kill.’

“Kill that Fiendgod. Kill those humans.”

These monstrous Dao-soldiers were all eager and impatient. However, without Immortal Duohe’s order, nobody dared to attack rashly.

Finally…

The seemingly placid and calm warship, that had been advancing at an ordinary speed, suddenly began to glow with a dazzlingly brilliant golden light. Its aura vastly increased, and a golden halo suddenly covered the entire warship as it became criss-crossed with lines of power. It seemed to have transformed into a long awl, shuttling through the air at an incomparably astonishing speed towards the massive, sky-filling Seawave Dao-soldier formation.

It was too fast! The warship’s sudden explosion of speed made it move lightning-fast, catching the Seawave Dao-soldiers off-guard.

“Kill!” Immortal Duohe’s already-gravelly voice suddenly rang out in the minds of every single Dao-soldier. All of them activated their elemental ki into their Dao-armors, and an enormous, endless amount of elemental ki passed through their armors as more than twenty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers merged powers.