The Desolate Era

BOOM!

An enormous sound rang out. The great beach seemed to sway, as did the waters of the sea behind it. The light of the ancient formation covering the beach shuddered as well, but it managed to endure the hit.

“It survived the blow.” Solesky and Badlands both revealed looks of delight.

“I refuse to believe this formation can stop me.” Fiendqueen Dustrain was only maddened even further by this, and her crystalline hands glowed with endless dark light as she once more struck out towards the formations with blows of incredible weight. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! She struck out repeatedly like a madwoman, a terrifying look in her eyes as she attacked nonstop.

This spectacle caused the two Daolords by her sides to exchange glances, their faces turning pale.

As for Solesky and Badlands, they were incredibly nervous despite being protected by the formations. Even the most powerful and marvelous of formations could be defeated by a single method – overwhelming power! Once the power of your attacks reached a sufficient level, you’d be able to level any formations in your path! Fiendqueen Dustrain was the seventh most powerful Daolord of the Endless Territories, and she truly was unspeakably powerful! When she struck out repeatedly with power such as this, even most ordinary Eternal Emperors would be smashed to death by her blows!

“Die, die, die, DIE!” The Fiendqueen grew increasingly berserk and her attacks actually grew increasingly powerful. The formations were already shuddering under her assaults. Now, they quickly began to reach the brink of collapse as the outermost formation’s runes began to crumble.

“Let’s move!” Daolord Badlands, seeing the situation, sent his friend a furious mental message. “Do what I planned out earlier. Let’s move, now!”

“Let’s move.” Daolord Solesky waved his hand, putting away Daolord Badlands’ avatar. Just as the formation began to break apart, he transformed into an endless stream of water that quickly fled off into the distance.

“You want to flee?” The Fiendqueen’s gaze turned even colder. She waved her crystalline right hand, sending an unearthly amount of power out with her attack. BOOM! The already-shuddering formation was finally, completely destroyed. Her hand swept towards the fleeing stream of water, and the water touched by that hand was all completely extinguished.

However, the stream of water split up into countless rivulets that furiously fled in every direction.

“Solesky’s life-preserving abilities aren’t bad at all.” The Fiendqueen let out a cold laugh as she flickered through the skies, striking out with both hands in hot pursuit.

Daolord Solesky was famous for his fleeing and life-preserving abilities. He was on the same level as Patriarch Clearwind, but his attacks weren’t that strong! His fleeing abilities, however, vastly surpass Clearwind’s, especially his self-created ‘invulnerable aquaform’. Although it wasn’t as perfect and as powerful as that of the Ninedust Sectlord, it shared some of its mysteries and abilities. To kill Daolord Solesky would be fairly difficult.

It was precisely because she knew how good Solesky was at staying alive that the Fiendqueen dared to attack in such a wild manner. Otherwise, her goal would’ve been to capture him with weaker attacks so that she could force him to hand over his information.

......

Daolord Solesky fled in front of the group of three, which chased after him in hot pursuit.

Whoosh! The endless streams of water suddenly burrowed into a grove of trees.

“Another formation!” The black mist roiled around the Fiendqueen as her face turned grim with rage.

“Come on in, if you dare!” The water within the forest reformed into a humanoid shape. It was Daolord Solesky, but his face was rather ashen and his aura was noticeably weaker than before. However, he still refused to bend the knee. “Fiendqueen Dustrain, come break this formation if you are strong enough!”

Daolord Solesky waved his hand, causing Daolord Badlands’ avatar to appear next to him.

“Are you alright, brother Solesky?” Daolord Badlands hurriedly asked.

“Fiendqueen Dustrain is far too powerful. Normally, Daolords who are one level of power above me are unable to harm me, but she’s overwhelmingly stronger than me. In the end, my ‘invulnerable aquaform’ isn’t perfect enough.” Daolord Solesky shook his head. “Roughly 70% of my divine body was wiped out. I can use chaos jewels to rebuild it, but my soul and truesoul were both heavily wounded. It’ll take me at least a century to recover.”

“A century?” Daolord Badlands frowned as well. Countless Daolords had entered after the Voidsea Jadeseals had announced their presence. Ever since then, they had lived miserable lives, because every single squad of Daolords they ran into would furiously chase after them! Given that the Waveshift Realm was quite dangerous to begin with, even someone as skilled in Numerancy as Daolord Badlands was still unable to ensure that they could avoid all trouble. They had repeatedly fallen into dangerous situations, with this one being the worst thus far.

Daolord Badlands only had his avatar present, and it was very weak. If Daolord Solesky had now been injured so heavily as to need a century to recover, they were in serious trouble.

BOOM! The enraged Fiendqueen began to once more launch attacks upon the formation from outside.

“Badlands, are you sure she cannot break this formation?” Daolord Solesky was rather worried.

“Don’t worry, this formation uses this forest as its foundation and is far more stable than the previous one.” Daolord Badlands was quite confident.

“Break! Break for me!” The Fiendqueen launched repeated palm attacks. Her hands were as beautiful and as pale as jewels, but they contained terrifying amounts of power. Each time she attacked the forest, runes would appear and flicker above it as the forest resisted her attack. Although the formations were shaking slightly, they still remained quite stable.

“Fiendqueen, it’ll probably be quite difficult if you wish to destroy this formation through raw power,” the nearby Daolord Incense Dragon said hurriedly.

“Yes, it is much tougher to deal with than the previous one.” A layer of frost seemed to be on the Fiendqueen’s face. “They clearly know much more about the Waveshift Realm than we do.”

Some formations could be destroyed through raw force, but some were too strong and could not be! For example, the one that had trapped Ning and Ninedust was too strong. It had taken them three years before they worked out the formation and managed to escape it.

“Incense Dragon, can you unlock it?” the Fiendqueen asked.

“Same tricks as always. I’ll try to find some of its critical points, then you’ll use force to power through,” Daolord Incense Dragon said. If one struck a formation at its critical points, you would be able to achieve ten times the normal effect, giving you a chance to break through it with raw power. “This formation is fairly complicated. It should take me quite some time.”

“Work quickly.” The Fiendqueen nodded, then waved her hand. Whoosh! Dark mist spread out to cover the entire forest. That way, any Daolords passing by would be unable to discover that Solesky and Badlands were hiding here.

“Very well.” Daolord Incense Dragon waved his hand, causing a wooden cottage to descend. He sat down in the lotus position within the wooden cottage, then stared at the formation in front of him and began to carefully analyze it.

......

Time slowly flowed onwards. One year, two years, three years...

The Fiendqueen and the other two Daolords continued to wait outside. Two other squads of Daolords passed by during this period of time, but when they saw the baleful aura of Fiendqueen Dustrain they kept a safe distance away from her. She had earned her deadly reputation, and very few were willing to offend her.

“Fiendqueen, these are three of the critical points of the formation. You need to strike all three at the same time.” Daolord Incense Dragon suddenly emerged from the wooden house and pointed at three of the critical junctions. As the critical points continued to shift positions, the Daolord’s markers continuously shifted with them.

“Mm.” The Fiendqueen’s body blurred as she suddenly manifested six arms. She struck out with three of them, launching three crystalline palm-strikes at those three critical points simultaneously with overwhelming power. With a single massive boom, the runes of the formation immediately began to crack apart.

“What?!” The two ashen-faced Daolords inside the formation began to panic.

“Break apart and disappear.” Fiendqueen Dustrain dismissed her secret art, leaving just two arms behind. It was now time for her to unleash her most powerful attacks, and she continuously rained down strikes upon the remaining formations. The formations trembled and shook, causing the entire forest to sway, but they continued to endure her strikes.

“This grand formation was formed through seven linked formations. We’ve already defeated two layers of formations.” Daolord Incense Dragon said hurriedly, “I think if we can defeat the third one, the remaining four would be unable to resist your power, Fiendqueen.”

“Then hurry up!” The Fiendqueen was clearly growing rather impatient.

“Right.” Daolord Incense Dragon entered the wood room once more. Time flowed a hundred times faster than normal in here, and he continued his research from within. While he did his research, the other two sat in the lotus position outside the forest and kept a quiet watch. Suddenly, two figures appeared off in the distance.

“Eh?” Fiendqueen Dustrain and Daolord Feiting both turned to look, only to see a white-robed youth carrying a golden sword on his back alongside a grim-faced silver-robed man.

“Daolord Darknorth?” Daolord Feiting’s face turned grim. He sent mentally, “Fiendqueen, that’s Daolord Darknorth. He also belongs to Vastheaven Palace!”

“The puny Darknorth wouldn’t dare to fight with me.” The Fiendqueen didn’t hold Ning in any regard at all. She stood amongst the most supreme Daolords of the Endless Territories, after all.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Ning and the Ninedust Sectlord flew close to them. “Fuck off,” the Fiendqueen barked. “Otherwise, don’t blame me for taking your lives!”

“You and what army?” A cold light flashed through Ning’s eyes.

“Don’t waste words with her. Let’s do this!” A longstaff appeared in the Ninedust Sectlord’s hands, and he charged forwards with a mighty roar.

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