Desolate Era (Book 6 - Book 10)

“Just relying on the Netherwyrm won’t do.” Ninefire shook his head. “Adept Xu, by himself, is enough to cause the Netherwyrm to disperse. There’s no way to impact Nong Zidao. We still have to rely on everyone going all out.”


The Netherwyrm was just an energy construct, after all. As for monsters and humans, they were living creatures; they could use certain tricks, such as releasing Dao-seals, etc…

“Landwyrm!”

Ninefire sent mentally. “Go!”

……..

The Landwyrm, in the shape of that azure-armored man, glanced at the corridor that had appeared in the nether fog before him. A hint of bitterness was in his eyes.

“Alas, alas…”

When he thought back to what he had experienced in his life, his heart was filled with grief.

Upon becoming tamed as a spirit-beast, one’s only hope was to encounter a kind owner. Otherwise, life would be miserable. For example, after Jadechild died, he had been forced to submit yet again, and now he was being forced to go to his death.

But even though he was being sent to his death, he didn’t dare to resist at all. This was because, if he died here, he would still go to the Netherworld Kingdom. Given the power of his soul, as a Zifu-level Diremonster, he would definitely be a powerful ghost that would find it easy to join the army of ghosts. But if he were to resist…his soul would be destroyed.

“How hateful!”

The azure-armored man immediately transformed into his true form, an enormous, clawed Landwyrm. The enormous body of the Landwyrm moved across the mountain, rapidly passing through the corridor within the nether fog and moving towards Adept Xu.

Moments later.

The Landwyrm could vaguely see, through the corridor, the faint contours of a snowy white Flood Dragon, as well as the figures within the Flood Dragon’s body.

“Swoosh!”

The Landwyrm suddenly flew forwards.

Whoosh!

He instantly charged forward. Nong Zidao was within the snowy white Flood Dragon, analyzing the formation. The other Zifu Disciples were staring at the surrounding areas, while Adept Xu was riding atop his magic treasure, prepared to attack at any moment.

“The Landwyrm.”

“Landwyrm?”

The Zifu Disciples all immediately recognized it.

“Roaaaaaar!” The Landwyrm charged forward, but before Adept Xu even had a chance to attack with his magic treasure, it raised its head, letting out a grieving, furious howl which shook the heavens.

And immediately afterwards, a terrifyingly powerful energy blast exploded forth from the body of the Landwyrm, causing Adept Xu’s face to change.

“Careful!”

Rumble…

As a peak Zifu-level Godbeast, its Zifu lake was far vaster than the Zifu lake of a human Zifu-level practitioner. The amount of elemental ki it contained was also boundless and deep. In terms of amount of elemental ki, this Godbeast’s Zifu lake was not inferior to an early Wanxiang Adept’s.

All of the elemental ki that it had accumulated over so many years suddenly exploded, causing an incomparably powerful blast to instantly ripped out, tearing the Landwyrm’s body to pieces and wildly shooting in every direction.

“Block.” Adept Xu hurriedly controlled that grand seal to serve like a rampart, blocking in front of him.

Rumble…

The terrifying explosion blasted out in every direction, blowing aside that Earth-ranked magic treasure, ‘Earth Garrison Seal’. But after it sent the seal flying, the remaining amount that struck against the ‘body’ of the snowy white Flood Dragon was greatly reduced, causing the snowy white dragon to roll over a few times, but be completely undamaged.

“What’s going on?” Nong Zidao opened his eyes.

“Self-explosion.”

“It was a Landwyrm which blew itself up.” The Zifu Disciples said.

Nong Zidao said, astonished, “Landwyrm? That was senior apprentice-brother Jadechild’s Landwyrm.”

Adept Xu’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the enormous crater in the ground. HE said in a low voice, “This Landwyrm was a Godbeast amongst monsters. The amount of elemental ki in its Zifu lake was incomparably vast. This self-detonation…truly was astonishingly powerful.”

…….

Halfway up the mountain. Ninefire looked at the Fairy Crane, currently in the form of a white-robed maiden. “The Landwyrm is dead. Fairy Crane, your turn.”

“Yes.”

The Fairy Crane didn’t hesitate at all, immediately departing towards the tunnel through the nether fog that had appeared in front of her.

But just a few moments after she had left…

BOOM!

A rumbling explosion which they seemed to be able to feel.

“That fast?” Yichuan frowned.

“She didn’t go to Adept Xu.” Ninefire growled. “That Fairy Crane…she was formerly the mount for Nong Zidao. Most likely, she had a deep relationship with Nong Zidao. I forced her to go blow herself up, and so she blew herself up midway, not disturbing Nong Zidao in the slightest.”

Ning shook his head gently.

Upon accepting an owner…

In the spirit-beast’s heart, it would naturally feel very obedient to it’s owner. For the Fairy Crane to act in such a way was a testament to how deep the affection she bore for Nong Zidao was.

“Nong Zidao.” Ninefire bellowed loudly. “Your former spirit-beast mount, the Fairy Crane. I ordered her to go attack you, but she actually blew herself up midway, before she had even reached out. It seems as though the relationship between you and the spirit-beast was quite close.”

……

His voice transmitted far away.

Adept Xu and the others all fell silent. They looked towards Nong Zidao, who opened his eyes, staring into the distance with a pained look. “Crane…child…Crane…”

Previously, when he chose to flee, he had only a single Lesser Teleportation Dao-seal, and so he hadn’t taken his Fairy Crane.

He had released her from his bond, in the hopes that the Fairy Crane would be able to continue to live…but now, his Crane had actually blown herself up in the distance, for the sake of not disturbing him.

“Crane…”

“Crane.” Nong Zidao wanted to forget about her, but images from the past welled up, causing his mind to be unable to calm down.

“Apprentice-nephew Zidao.” Adept Xu barked. “This is a psychological ploy of the Ji clan. You cannot be affected by it. Hurry up and focus on breaking the formation; that’s what matters.”

Nong Zidao nodded. “Right.”

Although he understood this principle, how could he so easily discard and forget about the hundreds of years of friendship between him and the Fairy Crane? How could he truly calm down? The impact the Fairy Crane’s self-detonation had on him was far greater than the impact which Ji Ning had when he had attacked earlier.

………..

Halfway up Oxhorn Mountain.

Ning was incomparably nervous. He stared at his father. Based on the Patriarch’s original plan, after the Landwyrm and the Fairy Crane perished, it would be his father who would go!

“The amount of time needed to brew a pot of tea has passed.” Ninefire suddenly said. “The Fairy Crane’s self-detonation had a major impact on Nong Zidao. But now that some time has passed, I imagine that Nong Zidao has calmed down. Yichuan…your turn now.”

Yichuan nodded.

“You need to come up with a way to disturb Nong Zidao and prevent him from concentrating on analyzing of the formation.” Ninefire said. “The Landwyrm and the Fairy Crane were only recently tamed, after all; they weren’t fully loyal to our Ji clan. Thus, both of them were used to self-detonate, the simplest, fastest method to disturb the enemy. There was a limit to how long those two were able to delay. In the end, we mainly have to rely on our own people, of the Ji clan.”

“I know.” Yichuan nodded. “Leave it to me. But before this. Ji Ning!”

Yichuan looked at his son.

Ning raised his head, looking at his father.

“You can leave now.” Yichuan looked at his son, then said, “You are useless here. If you wait too long, more variables might come into place. Leave, now.”

“I should leave now?” Ning stared, wide-eyed. His father was about to go risk his life in battle. He was supposed to leave now?