The Desolate Era (Web Novel)

This Immortal estate was the home of Immortal Witchriver; naturally, he had set up layers of defenses. Although he himself had perished, some of the defenses he had left behind remained usable; for example, his Dao-soldiers!

Immortal Witchriver had used up countless treasures in order to cultivate a powerful army of Dao-soldiers. In their most powerful prime, they were capable of easily killing a Loose Immortal or Earth Immortal! However, the Immortal estate had suffered through countless years of decay. Those oldest monstrous Dao-soldiers had died long ago, leaving behind a large amount of Dao-soldier armors.

Prior to this, Ji Ning and the others had guessed that as Immortal Witchriver was a monster Immortal, it was only logical to expect that he had stationed some of his race within his Immortal estate. This Immortal estate world…although it wasn’t as infinitely vast as the Grand Xia Empire, it still spanned tens of thousands of kilometers, and was comparable in size to Earth. Thus, the monsters had continuously propagated.

The monsters had left behind their training methods to their descendants, while the Immortal estate itself had incomparably dense, nourishing levels of elemental energy. It was only normal for more Diremonsters to be created.

An host of Diremonsters…and a host of monstrous Dao-soldiers…these were two completely different concepts! With precious Dao-armors equipped, their power would explode tenfold or even a hundredfold!

Clans like the Ji clan also had Dao-armor suitable for mortals to use.

Dao-armor usable by Xiantian lifeforms and Zifu Disciples, however, were much more rare. Generally speaking, schools on the level of Snowdragon Mountain would have them.

As for Dao-armor which Wanxiang Adepts and Primal Daoists could use? Even sects like the Skysplitter Sword Sect would have to use all their ability and spend enormous amounts of precious resources to procure such Dao-armors.

And so, right now…Ji Ning’s group was in serious trouble!

……

“Rumble….” A thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers swept forward, having transformed into a vast wave.

“Block them!”

Youngflame Nong, aboard the warship, let out a furious roar. Faced with a thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers, even he had an ugly look on his face now. A watery, rippling layer of black light appeared on the surface of the warship, completely protecting it.

BOOM!!!!

The edges of that vast, surging wave slashed against the warship like blades, causing the entire warship to be flipped over and sent flying backwards, smashing viciously against a nearby mountain peak. The entire mountain rang out from the sound of the collision, while the warship itself plunged deep into it. The black, watery curtain of protective light had completely dispersed.

“Uncle Fang, what should we do?” Youngflame Nong sent mentally.

“Young master, the combined, full-strength attack from those thousand Dao-soldiers was comparable to a Loose Immortal’s might.” The black, middle-aged man next to Youngflame Nong sent mentally, “That merwoman leader…she is definitely a Primal Diremonsters. My priority is definitely going to be staying close to you and protecting you. After all, I’m only skilled at close combat; if I were to charge out, then I would no longer be able to protect you. Let the others go face them. I’ll wait for a good opportunity; once I seize it and kill that leading Primal merwoman…then the other Dao-soldiers will be much less of a threat.”

“Kill!”

“Everyone, it’s up to you.” Youngflame Nong sent a mental message to Ning, Xue Hongyi, Adept Vastriver, and the others.

Ning’s group were all secretly cursing; clearly, this Youngflame Nong wouldn’t willingly risk himself. He was having them face the danger.

“Kill!” Xue Hongyi was the first to attack. With a sweep of his hand, he transformed into a streak of snowy white large, charging towards the thousand invading Dao-soldiers.

“Sword formation!” More than seven hundred flying swords appeared around Ji Ning. His peak Wanxiang-level elemental ki, using the ninth level of the [Lesser Thousand Swords Formation], formed a sword of light before him. This sword of light immediately executed the fifth stance of the [Three-Foot Sword] – Moonlight Hiding the Sword. Instantly, a seemingly soft, gentle beam of moonlight seemed to caress the wave of monstrous Dao-soldiers.

“Seal!” Yu Wei pointed into the distance. Whoosh! An enormous ice phoenix appeared in midair. This giant phoenix, completely formed from frozen ice, spread its wings and flew forward, carrying a heart-shaking, majestic aura.

“Vastwave Breaker!” Adept Vastriver let out a loud cry, but maintained his elegant and graceful poise. An enormous black sword appeared in midair, covered with runes. This giant black sword slashed through the skies, chopping towards the Dao-soldiers.

…….

Ning’s group, including the Zifu Disciples and the Wanxiang-level Deathsworn, all released powerful techniques. Ning and the others on his level were all capable of giving that female Primal Diremonster a good fight! However, she was linked to the thousand Dao-soldiers, and thus was now able to unleash astonishing levels of power, vastly surpassing any single person in Ning’s group.

Rumble….

With an enormous rumbling sound, their sword-light and magic techniques either crumbled, vanished, or were knocked flying back.

The Zifu Disciples all formed into formations, preparing to resist together.

“We have to move fast. Fast, fast, fast! We need to take that key as soon as possible; if we are too slow, then the key will be taken by those old bastards,” the leading merwoman Diremonster sent mentally. “Children, annihilate these humans.”

“Kill.”

“Kill.”

The thousand-plus Dao-soldiers, when joining forces, were capable of unleashing power which no one in Ning’s group was capable of resisting.

That enormous wave once more smashed directly towards them. Ning’s group was quickly forced to retreat, but the weaker Zifu Disciples began to perish. Although they had formed formations…their formations, in the face of the formation of monstrous Dao-soldiers, simply wasn’t able to hold on at all.

Crunch.

Some of the human Zifu Disciples spat up mouthfuls of blood. Some of their bodies crumbled. One after another, they died.

Fortunately, Ning and the others were working to block as well. Otherwise, most likely, in a single breath’s worth of time, all of the Zifu Disciples would have perished.

“Too vicious,” Northson sent mentally. “Senior apprentice-brother, that Youngflame Nong definitely has many treasures on him, but he’s not even willing to use a single one of them. He just watched as those Zifu Disciples perished.”

“We just entered the Immortal estate moments ago. It’s only natural that he wouldn’t be willing to use his treasures right away,” Ning responded.

Ji Ning, Yu Wei, Ninelotus, and the others all had their own life-saving techniques. But nobody would choose to use them this early. After all…they had only just entered the Immortal estate.

……..

Youngflame Nong stood there watching, with the swarthy, black-skinned man standing by his side, protecting him. The black-skinned, middle-aged man just watched quietly. His facial expressions didn’t change at all when their Zifu Disciples started to die; his gaze was firmly focused on the distant, ferocious wave of elemental power, formed by the monstrous Dao-soldiers. The way in which the elemental ki circulated through their formation was extremely subtle and profound.

Right at this moment…

The black-skinned man, still by Youngflame Nong, suddenly revealed a cold light in his eyes. A pair of sharp awls appeared in his right and left hands. He took a sudden step forward, and his left arm began to elongate. In fact, one long serpent after another began to appear and coil around his arm. His left arm struck out with massive, savage power, sending the awl flying towards the front!

Whoosh!

The long black awl instantly pierced through the skies, leaving behind a brilliant, eye-catching scar in the sky as it pierced directly towards the giant wave formed from monstrous Dao-soldiers.

BOOM!!!

An explosive sound. The massive, ferocious wave actually was blown apart! The giant wave vanished, revealing that more than ten of the Diremonster Dao-soldiers had been completely blasted into chunks of meat. The other monstrous Dao-soldiers were all completely stunned, and they all stared at the black, middle-aged man who had thrown out the long awl.

“What?! He actually discovered the core of our Dao-soldier formation, then shattered it and destroyed the formation?” The merwoman Diremonster was shocked. If the attack hadn’t struck the core, it would’ve passed through the massive wave, not cause it to completely collapse.

The merwoman Diremonster turned her head, staring at the black, middle-aged man who had thrown out the awl. But…

Whoosh!

The long awl in the middle-aged man’s right hand suddenly flashed out as well; his right arm also became covered with long, coiling serpents, and it became incomparably strong and muscular, emanating a terrifying, heart-shaking aura. Once more, that dazzling, eye-catchingly brilliant scar in the skies appeared…as the awl pierced directly through the body of the merwoman Diremonster, who had wanted to dodge, but was completely unable to!

“This, this…” A look of shock and despair appeared on her face. “How can he be so powerful? I was completely unable to dodge. He, he…he’s a human Immortal?” And then, her consciousness faded away. She fell down from the skies, her body pierced through. She was dead!

“The Queen is dead!”

“The Queen died! Quick, flee, flee!”

“Quick, flee!”

Seeing that their leader had been so easily killed, the other merfolk Diremonsters no longer had any appetite for battle. All of them began to flee.

“Swish!”

“Whoosh!”

“Bang!”

Ji Ning, Yu Wei, Adept Vastriver, and the others naturally wouldn’t show mercy at a time like this. It be must understood that these monsters were all wearing Dao-armor, most of which was meant for Zifu Disciples, and some of which were even usable by Wanxiang Adepts. A single set of Dao-armor usable by Wanxiang Diremonsters was far more valuable than an ordinary Earth-ranked magic treasure.

“Two sets. Three sets.” Northson didn’t hold back at all, killing one after another and seizing as many as he could.

Moments later.

The remaining monstrous Dao-soldiers had all fled far away, leaving behind a pile of corpses and a heap of Dao-armors in the hands of Ning’s group.

“We killed more than two hundred monsters, while more than a hundred of our Zifu Disciples died.” Youngflame Nong didn’t reveal a look of happiness on his face at all. Although he knew all along that there would be some danger in this trial, he hadn’t expected that his team would’ve suffered such a thwack as soon as they entered.

“Young master Youngflame.” The black-skinned, middle-aged man retrieved his awls, then said in a low voice, “Let’s hurry and leave. Perhaps even more powerful Diremonsters will come over soon.”

“Right.” Youngflame Nong nodded. “Let’s go.” He looked towards Ning and the others.

Right at this moment…

A deep, powerful surge of divine sense instantly encapsulated this region.

“Humans, now that you have entered the Immortal estate…are you still dreaming of leaving alive?” A deep, sonorous voice rang out.

“What a powerful divine sense.” As soon as Ning’s own divine sense collided against this person’s, he could sense how powerful it was. Although he viewed his divine sense as his strongest attribute, he could tell that this person vastly surpassed him.

“Senior apprentice-brother, look.” Northson stared, wide-eyed, towards the distance.

“This…is big trouble.” Adept Vastriver was staring towards the distance as well.

Ning turned to looked as well.

There, in the distant skies, an enormous, massive wave of water was soaring this way, like a titanic flood that covered the heavens themselves. The size of this massive wave was more than ten times greater than the previous one…and the aura emanating from this massive wave was vastly more powerful than the wave created by the merfolk.

“More than ten thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers!” The black-skinned, awl-wielding man by Youngflame Nong’s side growled out in a low voice.

The hearts of everyone in Ning’s group sank. More than thousand? This was comparable to the entire Snowdragon Mountain sect. The worst thing was, each and every one of these ten thousand Diremonsters were Dao-soldiers! There was no way a school like Snowdragon Mountain could possibly acquire so many Dao-armors, especially the ones which even Primal Diremonsters could use. This level of power…it was enough to cause even an Immortal to feel fear.

“Young master, I won’t be able to block them,” the black-skinned man sent.