The Desolate Era

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Chapter 20 – Trapped

The sideburned man and the leader of the Eastwoods Sect moved as fast as lightning. They soon arrived at the place where the Ba-Serpent was located.

“Uh…”

The sideburned man sighed in amazement at what he saw. The massive, ten thousand kilometer river seemed to be like a living creature. It struck out with wanton abandon; how could the local mountain peaks, gorges, and trees possibly withstand its strikes? They were all instantly shattered and broken apart. As for the Ba-Serpent that was trapped within the massive river, it appeared to be even less restrained; clearly, the river was only able to somewhat bind its power.

“Earthnine, do you need my help?” The sideburned man called out loudly. Filled with elemental ki, his voice echoed within the heavens.

“Activate the formation. Don’t let Ji Ning escape,” the massive Ba-Serpent roared furiously.

“Don’t worry!” The sideburned man chortled merrily, then glanced sideways at the leader of the Eastwoods Sect. “No problem handling a small request like this, right?”

“Rest your mind, milord,” the leader of the Eastwood Sect said respectfully.

The distant Ba-Serpent suddenly opened its giant bloody maw. Rumble…a human-shaped figure was suddenly spat out from within it. It was a three-headed, six-armed youth.

Ji Ning did a somersault in midair, then stood there in the sky, six swords in his six arms. Laughing loudly, he said, “It seems this is all you are capable of. Earlier, you were bragging about how even Celestial Immortal Patriarchs would die when trapped…but didn’t I come out in perfectly fine shape?”

……

As soon as he came out, Ning noticed the formations in the surrounding area. Formations were everywhere, making it difficult for even his divine sense to search the area.

“[Torch-Dragon’s Eye].” Ning’s eyes began to glow with torch-light. He stared at the surrounding area, only to discover that he could still only see to a distance of a thousand kilometers. This was because of the fog in the area blocking much of the light; even the [Torch-Dragon’s Eye] was only able to penetrate to a certain extent through the fog. If he didn’t have this divine ability…he’d probably only be able to see to a distance of one kilometer.

Whoosh…

The Ba-Serpent hung in the air in the distance, its golden eyes focused on Ning. It spoke in the human tongue: “Ji Ning, today you shall most certainly die.”

“You shouldn’t talk so big,” Ning smirked.

“You are trapped within our formations; are you going to be able to escape?” The Ba-Serpent growled, “Even if you have a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal…once we join forces, you can forget about teleporting away.”

Ning stood there in midair, pondering. Dao-seals and magic treasures weren’t absolutely failproof. Lesser Teleportation Dao-seals were precious protective treasures for Xiantian lifeforms and Zifu Disciples, but if combat caused the surrounding space to be disturbed or locked when one attempted to use them, then there would be no way the Lesser Teleportation Dao-seals could be activated.

The same principle applied to Greater Teleportation Dao-seals as well; they, too, had their limits!

Greater Teleportation Dao-seals were indeed powerful, and they even allowed one to teleport from one world to another. However…the process of actually activating the Dao-seal and releasing the power within it involved the person merging with space itself. If one suffered an extremely powerful attack that disrupted the energy of the Dao-seal, then the Greater Teleportation would be disrupted and unable to complete!

A Dao-seal could ignore a weak disruption attempt, such as those from ordinary Primal Daoists or Loose Immortals. Thus, for Primal Daoists and Void-level Earth Immortals and Loose Immortals, these Greater Teleportation Dao-seals were extremely valuable protective treasures.

But a powerful disruption attempt would render Greater Teleportation impossible. At the Celestial Immortal level, their attacks were more than enough to disrupt the energy of a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal.

As for True Immortals and Empyrean Gods, they were able to completely disintegrate a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal!

Daofathers? Such seals were nothing more than a joke in the face of a Daofather’s might.

……

When Ning had been within the Ba-Serpent, he had been suffering attacks nonstop. And the attacks of these foes were all at the Celestial Immortal level! They were more than enough to disrupt a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal.

“If they push me too far, I’ll just go hide inside my Immortal estate. Although the defensive power of the mobile one I carry with me isn’t that strong, it’s still enough to withstand their attacks for a brief moment. That will be more than enough for me to use a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal to escape! However…that’s as good as throwing away my mobile Immortal estate.” Ning felt his heart ache.

This Immortal estate had been given to him as a gift by the giant yellow bear! It was used to hide his underwater estate. In terms of price, it was on a slightly higher level than even the Goldlight Immortal Estate which he had given his cousin. It was most likely worth five million kilograms of liquefied elemental essence or more!

In order to flee, Ning would have to sacrifice both a Greater Teleportation Dao-seal and his mobile estate. Unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t choose to do this.

“Old Han, why haven’t you activated the formation to attack Ji Ning yet?” The Ba-Serpent roared angrily. “He has a protective treasure on him, but after its energy is used up…I want to see how much longer he’ll be able to hold on after that!”

“Hahaha, fine.”

Big Han, who had been watching from afar, laughed and assented. He instructed the nearby Eastwoods sect leader, “Go ahead. Bring out everything you have; broaden the horizons of those useless pieces of crap from Bloodcloud Hall.”

“Yes,” the Eastwoods sect leader said respectfully.

This mountain range was the headquarters of the Eastwoods Sect; it naturally was protected by many layers of powerful formations. As the sect leader, he was capable of actively unleashing their power! However, he didn’t know anything about the even more powerful formations which the silver-armored general, that Celestial Immortal, had laid down.

Generally speaking, the original formations of the Eastwoods Sect were more than enough.

“Divine Ashfire!” The Eastwoods sect leader immediately brought out one of the most powerful techniques of his sect.

Instantly, a grand formation that was tens of thousands of kilometers in size began to activate the natural energy of the world. A large amount of fire elemental energy began to gather, circulating through the formation and becoming transformed in midair to dull red tendrils of flame that seemed ready to go out at any moment. The dull red tendrils of flame began to appear everywhere, quickly forming an enormous firebird.

Whoosh!

The three hundred meter tall dull red firebird flew straight towards Ning. “Roaaaar!” The Ba-Serpent charged once more towards Ning as well, howling madly. The power of its tail was quite astonishing, and multiple Immortal-ranked magic treasures came flying out as well as some powerful techniques, all of which were aimed towards Ning.

“Ji Ning, the power of this Divine Ashfire is quite formidable; not even Celestial Immortals dare to take it head-on. Even if you have a protective treasure on you…how long will you be able to hold on for? After its energy is used up, you will die.” The Ba-Serpent continued to attack while spitting out words in the human tongue, seeking to disturb Ning’s concentration.

“Bring everything you have. Do you think this ‘Divine Ashfire’ will be able to do anything to me?” Ning stood there in midair, not caring at all.

When the dull red firebird drew near, a large amount of fire quickly swept forward to envelop Ning.

The Divine Ashfire technique was mainly dangerous for Ki Refiners. It might pose a threat to some Fiendgods that had weak defenses, and might be able to burn apart Earth-ranked magic treasures…but upon encountering Heaven-ranked magic treasures, it would begin to find breaking through to be onerous. At most, it would be able to damage an ordinary low-grade Heaven-ranked magic treasure. As for higher quality Heaven-ranked treasures, they were able to ignore the power of the Ashfire. As for a Fiendgod Body Refiner like Ning?

“Hahaha…” Ning laughed, his body once more emanating with that hazy golden light.

In truth, Ning was intentionally releasing that golden light from his body. He wanted the foe to think that he had some sort of protective treasure on him, so as to conceal the fact that he had trained in the [Eight-Nine Arcane Art]. Although it would definitely be revealed at some point as they continued to fight…if the enemy was to misjudge his true strength, then he would have an opportunity to take advantage of that and perhaps wipe them out at one go!

……

The Divine Ashfire blazed against him, and the massive Ba-Serpent struck at him repeatedly. Multiple Immortal-ranked magic treasures came crashing down upon him with the weight of mountains, and techniques in the shape of dragonsnakes, massive trees, and more also came hammering towards him. There was even skyfire and other techniques aimed his way! All of these attacks came flying towards Ning.

Ning caused the waters of the Nightriver to billow in every direction, suppressing and slowing down everything. At the same time, he sent his sword-light flying everywhere, knocking aside each attacking treasure in a truly valiant manner.

“Strange.”

“I’ve nearly exhausted my elemental ki twice, and I’ve eaten quite a few spirit-pills. How is this Ji Ning still able to hold on?”

“How is it that he’s been able to keep his protective treasure active this entire time? The energy of protective treasures generally come from True Immortals or Empyrean Gods filling the treasure with their own power; once the power is gone, the treasure is useless. How is it able to hold on for so long?”

……

Big Han, watching the battle from far away, began to frown. “I believe your Eastwoods Sect has a ‘Seven Supreme Thunders’ formation, yes? Hurry up and activate it.”

The Eastwoods sect leader hurriedly said, “Yes.”

Instantly, a dark cloud appeared in the skies above the grand formation. Lightning appeared within the dark clouds, and bolts of lightning came hammering down, all striking towards Ning.

“Hahaha, these lightning bolts aren’t even enough to tickle me.” The three-headed, six-armed Ning stood there in midair, the waters of the mighty Nightriver surrounding him, the dull red flames blazing against him, bolts of lightning crashing down up him, the Ba-Serpent striking at him, and magic treasures swirling around him…but like Lord Buddha himself, Ning just stood there, his entire body glowing with golden light. His sword-light flashed everywhere, easily deflecting all of the oncoming attacks.

Seeing this, Big Han frowned. “This is trouble.”

“Is that all you have? Aren’t you guys always quite cocky in front of us, in front of Bloodcloud Hall? Why is it that you are completely useless right now?” The distant Ba-Serpent, growing frustrated, shouted angrily in the human tongue.

“Hmph.” Big Han gritted his teeth, then waved his arm. A strange golem appeared next to him, a golem that looked like a cat. Its body was feline, but it had three tails and just a single eye. This golem had a total of four legs, was thirty meters long, and there was actually an opening on its back. The sideburned ‘Big Han’ flew straight into the golem, and then with a clanking sound, the opening on the back became completely sealed.

This construct was similar to a ship, but it could be used to attack as well as defense. It was an incomparably precious golem.

“I refuse to believe a little brat that’s trained for less than a century can really be this tough.” The ‘Threetailed Thundergod’ construct let out a furious roar, then transformed into a streak of lightning that flew straight towards the distant Ning.

……

Ning noticed the jagged bolt of lightning that was flying towards him from afar. His eyes were filled with blazing torch-light, and he instantly could tell that this was a strange construct of some sort. “It seems quite powerful; a construct of such power is rarely seen even in the Black-White College. I didn’t expect to encounter such a formidable construct in a place like this.”

“Still…although it’s powerful, it’s not a match for me.” To ‘greet’ this new opponent, Ning used the most powerful of his six swords, the Thousandbull Sword, to ‘welcome’ it to the fray.

“Die!” The Threetailed Thundergod construct slashed out with its sharp claws, its blow seeming to carry enormous power. Its knife-sharp claws moved lightning-fast as he clawed towards Ning. Where the claws passed, space itself split apart.

A streak of sword-light in the shape of a divine black dragon howled forth to meet the sharp claws.

Rumble…

The Threetailed Thundergod was knocked flying backwards. Only a few moments later did he manage to come to a halt. Then, with an enraged roar, it once more charged forward to attack.

No matter how wildly they all attacked, and despite the fact that Ning had only six arms to counter their tens of hands, resulting in an occasional attack striking him…his Fiendgod body, covered by that blurry golden light, was able to easily withstand all assaults without being damaged in the slightest. This caused the enemies to feel that Ning’s protective treasure was truly something remarkable.

“Big Han, stop fighting so madly. This Ji Ning has plenty of tricks up his sleeve; there’s nothing we can do to him at all. Hurry up and find your master! Let him come up with a solution. If even if he has nothing, then Bloodcloud Hall will be forced to resort to our final option, regardless of whether or not it succeeds,” the scarred white-robed leader within the Ba-Serpent sent mentally.

“Fine. I’ll notify my master,” Big Han immediately sent back.

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