The Desolate Era

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.

The triangle-pupiled cultivator was staring in astonishment at his comrade, who had suddenly used his protective magic treasure. A sense of danger suddenly descended.

“Not good.” As a line of rain drew close to him, the triangle-pupiled cultivator suddenly felt a sharp ripple come towards him. He hurriedly waved the longsword in his hand, wanting to block, but it was too late...

That line of rainwater had come too close!

And his sword techniques were too ordinary. How marvelous were Ning’s sword techniques? With a gentle twist, the rainwater moved past the longsword, then scraped past his head!

“Rumble...” The formerly hazy white light of the Eight Trigrams Formation suddenly grew blindingly bright.

“We are under attack!” Dong Ziqi and the others were all shocked. After suffering an attack, the formation would naturally explode with power.

Bang!

The head of the triangle-pupiled cultivator, his eyes still filled with shock, went flying into the air.

One of the eight Zifu Disciples had died!

“What?!” Dong Ziqi and the others were all terrified and shocked. One of their comrades had been killed while they had been maintaining the formation. How sharp did the enemy’s attack have to be?!

“Assemble the formation!”

“Assemble the formation.”

The remaining Zifu Disciples called out in terror. With one of the eight dead, the earlier formation had already disappeared. For one of them to have been killed after setting up the formation...if they didn’t set it up again, wouldn’t they all be dead for sure?

“Bang!” That line of rainwater, after killing the triangle-pupiled cultivator, had used up most of its power, but the other seven cultivators currently weren’t being protected by the grand formation. Naturally, the line of rainwater flew forward agilely. It swirled past...cutting apart the protection of a set of magic armor, sending yet another head flying, this one of the silver-haired cultivator. Only then did the line of rainwater vanish.

“Rumble...” The white light appeared once more as the six surviving Zifu Disciples reformed the formation.

“Rumble...”

The enormous draconic tail came sweeping over again.

“Kill.”

“Kill him.”

“Kill.”

The six Zifu Disciples, upon seeing the draconic tail, seemed utterly enraged and berserk. Green vines, bolts of lightning, blasts of flame, phoenixes...they threw everything forward towards the draconic tail that was sweeping towards them.

“They really have gone berserk.” Ning was shocked.

“I’m going.” The black wings behind Ning trembled, then sent him flying in a solitary arc, far into the distance. Only the lightning bolt and the fiery phoenix were able to strike him. The strikes from the lightning bolt and the fiery phoenix allowed Dong Ziqi and the others to see Ning’s true appearance...Dong Ziqi was shocked and amazed. He immediately recognized that this was the genius of the Ji clan, ‘Ji Ning’.

Rumble...the powerful attacks sent even Ning hurtling backwards, disappearing into the distant black fog.

Dong Ziqi and the rest of the six Zifu Disciples felt dread in their heart.

“Quick.”

“Assemble the formation.”

“Let’s go all out.”

An enormous Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation suddenly appeared around Dong Ziqi, and the eight blood dragons began to swim about.

That hawk-nosed cultivator, standing outside the formation, hurriedly threw out three flags. The formation flags fluttered, then quickly formed into an enormous hazy aura of light. This white aura of light seemed like a pyramid that enclosed the six.

“Grow.”

Many vines suddenly emerged, wildly sprouting about in the surrounding areas. These vines criss-crossed each other, completely filling the surrounding area.

“Children, go.” A dense cluster of venomous pests began to fly about in the surrounding area, filling the skies and blocking out the sun, completely filling the nearby region.

“Come.”

The gray-robed elder produced an enormous banner that fluttered with a bloody light. One enormous after another phantom flew out from the banner; some were four-legged beasts, while others were flying creatures. Nine enormous phantoms emerged into the surrounding area.

These six Zifu Disciples were all sweating. They brought out all of their best techniques, completely and tightly sealing off the surrounding area...

They looked at each other, their eyes filled with amazement and dread.

“We won’t be able to leave. We have to wait here.”

“We can’t keep walking.”

“We’ll guard here.”

These techniques of theirs were virtually all used for defending a particular location. The long, growing vines, the grand formation, and the other techniques weren’t able to be maintained while moving!

“Who is that person? Who attacked us just now? By his appearance, he should be young.” The gray-robed elder clutched at his bloody banner as he looked at Dong Ziqi.

“Right. Who was that? How could he be so powerful? Before this, we suffered the attacks from the dragon’s claw and the dragon’s head...this should have been the dragon’s tail. Why is it so powerful?” The hawk-nosed cultivator looked at Dong Ziqi as well. The other cultivators also stared at him.

These people felt hatred.

This was supposed to be an easy, relaxed journey. Who would have imagined that they had actually bitten down on such a terrifying, tough bone? First of all, they had even never heard of this ‘Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation’; only Nong Zidao had. The Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation was one thing; after all, the power of a formation depended on its users. They felt no fear towards those other two who had relied on the power of the formation to attack them. But that young, slender youth that had just appeared was truly terrifying. Even while maintaining their formation, he had still killed two of them...

Dong Ziqi said hurriedly, “The Ji clan has in total six fairly powerful figures. They are Ji Ninefire, Granny Shadow, an old servant, Ji Yichuan, Ji Truekeep, and Ji Ning! Ji Ning is the genius of the Ji clan...when he was eleven or twelve years old, he killed junior apprentice-brother Bei Zishan.”

“He killed Bei Zishan when he was twelve?” These people all revealed looks of amazement.

“This year, he should be sixteen.” Dong Ziqi said. “Just now, the person who launched that attack was Ji Ning! However, prior to this, Ji Ning and I exchanged blows; he wasn’t able to do anything to my Eight Trigrams Blood Dragon Formation. His strength is only slightly superior to Ji Ninefire and the others, which is why I didn’t hold him in any regard. I didn’t imagine that with the support of the Netherwyrm Heavenlock Formation, his strength would reach such a terrifying level.”

“If he is only one level higher than Ji Ninefire in strength, how could he explode with such power?”

“A monster who was able to kill junior apprentice-brother Bei Zishan at the age of eleven or twelve...how can we use common reasoning to explain him? Most likely, this Ji Ning made some sort of a breakthrough.” The gray-robed said in a hoarse voice. “This sort of monster...he was able to kill two of our comrades, even when we were in formation. Now, all we can do is stay here and wait.”

.....

Ning was knocked flying backwards a great distance, and he smashed into a region of loose rocks and grass.

“Good heavens.” Ning crawled painfully to his feet. The wounds on his body rapidly healed, leaving behind not even a scar.

“Those Zifu Disciples seemed to have gone berserk. They applied all of those extremely powerful Dao-seals and threw them at me! That fiery phoenix in particular...it even chased after me, and it was also very powerful. It blew a large hole into my chest. I wonder what sort of a Dao-seal that was?” Ning cracked a smile, feeling very confident. “Still, I killed two of them. For me to be able to kill two out of eight of them...only six are left! I’ll keep killing.”

“Ji Ning!” A voice suddenly rang out.

“Patriarch.” Ning was startled.

“Well done, my good fellow! Ji Ning, hahaha, you truly are formidable. You killed two of them at one go. Now only six are remaining. However, don’t be too impatient. Wait for me to finish talking, then attack.” Ninefire sent hurriedly. “Dong Ziqi and the others are terrified by the way you killed them, and so they have set up layers of techniques and are staying on guard. Let me describe these techniques to you. After listening, you can make your decision.”

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