Desolate Era

by RWX

  Book 10, Chapter 16 - The Wildcore

  Aboard the warship.

  Ji Ning and the others stared at the massive, distant wave, and the savage, sky-filling aura the wave emanated. All of them had heavy feelings in their hearts.

  “These monsters… after I bind the Immortal estate, I am going to enslave all of them. All of them!” Youngflame Nong stared at the distant monsters, his face turning savage. He also gritted his teeth, then produced in his hand a queer contraption that was the size of a person’s head. Extraordinarily powerful ripples emerged from it.

  Ning and the others couldn’t help but look at this item.

  “A Wildcore?” Mu Northson called out in surprise.

  Ning and the others, including Adept Vastriver, Ninelotus, and Xue Hongyi, all had puzzled looks on their faces. Clearly, they had no idea what this was.

  “You actually know about Wildcores?” Youngflame Nong nodded. “Right. This is a Wildcore! An Immortal-grade Wildcore.”

  “But your construct-warship is only at the Heaven-rank. If you put this Immortal-grade Wildcore into this construct-warship, it won’t be able to withstand the power. Even if it looks perfectly fine from the outside, the formation diagrams inside it will begin to crumble. Your construct-warship will be doomed.” Northson couldn’t help but voice his concerns.

  “It will be able to hold for a short period of time, the time needed to boil a kettle of tea,” Youngflame Nong said calmly. He then immediately pressed the head-sized Wildcore towards the planks of the warship.

  Whoosh.

  A dark corridor naturally appeared in the floorboards of the warship, and the Wildcore burrowed within.

  “For at least that period of time, this warship of mine will be able to reach a level that approaches the Immortal-rank. Perhaps it wouldn’t be able to withstand the attacks of Celestial Immortals, but these monstrous Dao-soldiers won’t be able to break my warship,” Youngflame Nong said in a low voice.

  “What’s a Wildcore?”

  “Junior apprentice-brother, what sort of a thing is this Desolate Heart?”

  Ning and the others, puzzled, all sent mental messages to Northson.

  Northson was extremely skilled in the Dao of Constructs, and he also understood Wildcores very well. He immediately sent back, “It’s quite complicated, but to simplify it… Wildcores are, in reality, meant to be used for Immortal-ranked construct-warships, allowing them to temporarily explode with power. Immortal-ranked construct-warships are able to withstand this sort of sudden increase in power… but Immortal-ranked warships are far more valuable than even ordinary Immortal-ranked magic treasures. Even young master Youngflame most likely doesn’t possess this sort of warship.”

  “Thus, Youngflame Nong is placing his Wildcore into the warship he is using. His warship is actually very good as well; it is Heaven-ranked, and a very precious one. But the power of a Wildcore is simply too great, and this Heaven-ranked construct-warship cannot endure it. Even though its own ‘body’, being a magic treasure, won’t be damaged, the formations and diagrams within it will begin to crumble,” Northson said.

  Although Ning and the others understood little of this craft, they understood the importance of formation-diagrams.

  The formation-diagrams of a construct served as their core; they were what made the constructs work properly! It was precisely because of the existence of formation-diagrams that constructs were able to possess sentience and unleash powerful, precise attacks. Once the formation-diagrams crumbled, the entire construct would be finished.

  “One warship, one Wildcore,” Youngflame Nong growled. “We have to enter this palace. We have to!”

  Ning and the others exchanged glances. They could all sense Youngflame Nong’s resolve.

  …….

  The warship steadily moved forward. Immortal Duohe, in command of more than twenty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers, stared coldly as it approached.

  “Kill.’

  “Kill that Fiendgod. Kill those humans.”

  These monstrous Dao-soldiers were all eager and impatient. However, without Immortal Duohe’s order, nobody dared to attack rashly.

  Finally…

  The seemingly placid and calm warship, that had been advancing at an ordinary speed, suddenly began to glow with a dazzlingly brilliant golden light. Its aura vastly increased, and a golden halo suddenly covered the entire warship as it became criss-crossed with lines of power. It seemed to have transformed into a long awl, shuttling through the air at an incomparably astonishing speed towards the massive, sky-filling Seawave Dao-soldier formation.

  It was too fast! The warship’s sudden explosion of speed made it move lightning-fast, catching the Seawave Dao-soldiers off-guard.

  “Kill!” Immortal Duohe’s already-gravelly voice suddenly rang out in the minds of every single Dao-soldier. All of them activated their elemental ki into their Dao-armors, and an enormous, endless amount of elemental ki passed through their armors as more than twenty thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers merged powers.

  As for Immortal Duohe, he was the ‘head’ of this massive Seawave Dao-soldier formation. How to attack and how to defend… it was all up to him.

  “Let’s go,” Immortal Duohe howled. The massive wave came smashing down towards the lightning-fast warship. BOOM! The wave heavily struck the warship head-on.

  The golden aura surrounding the warship, however, just trembled once, then regained it’s perfect stability. However, the collisive power was simply too great, causing the warship to be knocked backwards.

  “We can’t charge them head-on,” Northson shouted hurriedly.

  Ning and the others, standing within the warship, were incomparably stable. All of them had solemn looks on their faces, and they raised their heads to stare at the massive wave which came crashing down upon them once again.

  “Uncle Fang, go,” Youngflame Nong said, gritting his teeth.

  “Alright.” Xiangliu Fang let out a growling response, and each of his hands became filled with a long awl that emanating an astonishing aura. And then… swoosh! He passed straight through the outer layer of golden light surrounding the warship. The golden light didn’t impede him at all, allowing Xiangliu Fang to leave.

  “Monsters, f*ck off.”

  Xiangliu Fang, having transformed into his true form of a three thousand meter tall, nine-headed, serpent-bodied Hydraga, went forward to clash with the massive, sky-filling wave. He began to launch his attack.

  By now, his awls were also three thousand meters long. They struck out like the galloping thunder or the dancing lightning, stabbing directly into the wave.

  “Puny Fiendgod, don’t even think of affecting us.” Immortal Duohe’s voice boomed out, and the massive, savage wave sent out another surge of power, smashing directly against the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang.

  BOOM!

  BOOM!

  Skin tore open, and flesh split apart. Blood flew everywhere. One of the long awls was knocked flying, while Xiangliu Fang himself was sent hurtling through the air as well. Last time, although he was capable of fighting against Immortal Duohe’s monstrous Dao-soldiers, there had only been ten thousand of them. This time, Immortal Duohe had unified all of the other smaller powers, forming a Seawave Dao-soldier formation of more than twenty thousand monsters. The power had increased several times over, causing even Xiangliu Fang to be completely unable to fight back.

  “Come.” Xiangliu Fang’s hands stretched out, transforming into countless giant snakes and latching onto the discarded awl. The injuries on his body rapidly healed, and he once more fearlessly charged forward.

  BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

  The clashes between the Fiendgod and the wave contained enough power to shock the heavens and shake the earth.

  Although the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, was in a position of absolute inferiority, he still managed to divert a large part of the power of the Seawave Dao-soldiers. For a moment, the warship, seeming incomparably tiny in the face of this vast wave, was able to onc
e more advance at high speed, seizing the chance to hurtle forwards.

  “Detestable.” Immortal Duohe was frantic as well. If he had to deal with Xiangliu Fang, it was hard to avoid the warship from advancing through openings in their defense.

  He had no idea how this warship could have suddenly grown so powerful; despite the power of the waves and the collisive force of the blows, they still weren’t able to force the warship back.

  “Zhenbao, you come and lead my tribe,” Immortal Duohe sent mentally. “We will divide into two Seawave Dao-soldier formations.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  Zhenbao was the disciple which Immortal Duohe trusted the most, and was second only to him in power. He was already a peak Primal, and was extremely powerful.

  “Divide!”

  Whoosh! Whoosh!

  The massive wave in the air instantly split apart, dividing into two. The Seawave Dao-soldier formation personally commanded by Immortal Duohe, formed from many merged lesser monstrous tribes, went to block the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang. As for the other ten thousand Dao-soldiers, they were led by Daoist Zhenbao to block the warship.

  ……

  Ning and the others, within the warship, watched as the massive Fiendgod battled with the giant wave. The warship continued to advance forward at high speed.

  “Hahaha, it is capable of stopping Uncle Fang, but not me.” Youngflame Nong’s eyes were filled with madness. “Keep charging. Charge to the edges of the palace, and I’ll be able to enter.”

  Around them were countless waves, but the warship continued to charge forward with inexorable power.

  “Eh?!”

  The massive wave suddenly split apart, forming into two waves. One completely focused on stopping the Fiendgod, Xiangliu Fang, and completely tied him down. The other, seemingly slightly weaker, was completely focused on guarding against the encroaching warship.

  The advance of the warship instantly grew much more difficult.

  “They separated?” Youngflame Nong ground his teeth. “Charge, charge, charge! Wildcore, blaze for me!”

  BOOM!!!!

  The light on the surface of the warship suddenly skyrocketed in luminosity, and its charging power grew even more ferocious. The ten thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers commanded by Daoist Zhenbao were completely capable of suppressing Loose Immortals or Earth Immortals, but in the face of this explosively powerful warship, they actually weren’t able to tie it down, and the warship continued to advance.

  “Stop it, Zhenbao, stop it, stop it!” Immortal Duohe hurriedly sent a mental message.

  “Don’t worry, master, leave it to me!” Daoist Zhenbao was going crazy as well. His entire wave suddenly grew even more savage, transforming into a bloody color. As for the warship, it too advanced forward at a berserk speed.

  “Faster, faster, faster.” Youngflame Nong gritted his teeth.

  “Dangerous. This is dangerous. This is way too dangerous.” Northson’s eyelids were twitching as he watched. He hurriedly sent a mental message to Ning and the others, “Senior fellow disciples, be careful. Youngflame Nong has gone utterly mad. This Heaven-ranked construct-warship was unable to withstand the Wildcore to begin with, and now he’s burning its power like mad, causing its power to explode even more in a short period of time. The formation-diagrams within this Heaven-ranked warship can collapse at any moment. Once it does, the warship will be finished, and we’ll have to suffer the attacks from these ten thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers head on.”

  Ning, Yu Wei, Adept Vastriver, and the others all began to feel nervous.

  “Charge, charge, charge!” Youngflame Nong’s face was completely red, and madness was in his eyes.

  “Madman. He’s a madman.” Xue Hongyi, seeing this, felt panic in his heart. In front of the warship was that terrifying Seawave Dao-soldier formation; it was capable of splitting the skin and rending the flesh of even a Fiendgod like Xiangliu Fang. If the warship was destroyed and the wave slammed against them, it would probably break them all into tiny pieces.

  Crack…

  Crack crack crack…

  Suddenly, the entire warship began to emanate sounds. Its charging speed began to lessen, and the aura of golden light around it began to grow unstable, starting to shudder.

  “It’s breaking. It’s breaking!” Northson immediately called out, “Young master Youngflame!!!”

  As for Daoist Zhenbao, who was in command of the ten thousand monstrous Dao-soldiers, he naturally noticed that the speed of the warship he was in charge of dealing with was beginning to lessen, and that the golden light surrounding it was weakening. He immediately was overjoyed, and he bellowed out, “Kill them! Kill them all and seize the key!” Instantly, an even more terrifying wave-crest formed, smashing down viciously towards the warship!

  * * *

  Book 10, Chapter 17 - One Instant, A Thousand Years

  Ji Ning, Adept Vastriver, Yu Wei, Ninelotus, Mu Northson, and Xue Hongyi were all incomparably nervous.

  As for Yu Wei, a dim spot of light appeared in her forehead.

  Ning’s elemental ki had already seeped into his storage-type magic treasure. Within it, there was a green leaf that was covered with gray runes, causing it to appear unfathomably mysterious This was one of the two life-saving treasures which Ning had acquired within the underwater estate, the one meant for defense.

  “Hm?” Ninelotus clenched her fist as well, and the skin on her arm began to vaguely emanate with white lotus flowers.

  All of them were preparing to activate their life-saving treasures at a moment’s notice. They stared towards the warship nervously, watching the shuddering, fluctuating golden barrier of light.

  BOOM!

  A massive, savage wave viciously struck against the barrier of light. The warship flipped over, but then continued to charge forward.

  Despite the warship flipping over, Ning and the others all stood firmly on the floor of the warship, as though rooted to it. Their eyes couldn’t help but suddenly widen as they all stared at the warship.

  Crack crack rack…

  A series of shuddering cracks rang out from inside the warship, the golden barrier of light began to dim.

  “AAAAARGH! Damn you, damn you, DAMN YOU!” Youngflame Nong let out a throat-rending howl. A rolled paper scroll suddenly appeared within his hand. The scroll seemed quite ordinary; although paper was relatively rare in the Ji clan’s territory, in Stillwater City, it was still quite common.

  This seemingly ordinary scroll, however, had a single, large character written atop it.

  LOCK!

  “Lock!” The gazes of Ning and everyone else were completely captivated by the ‘lock’ character on the paper scroll. It was an extremely simple character, but it emanated with the aura of a vast Dao, far broader and wider than the Dao of Rainwater and the Dao of the Inferno which Ning normally meditated on. In fact, Ning even felt a desire to submit and kowtow towards it.

  Rumble!

  The ‘lock’ character atop the scroll suddenly began to glow with light. It emanated a blurry radiance which spread out to the sourrounding area, and the surrounding Seawave Dao-soldiers were caught by it as well.

  In this moment… the wind halted. The water halted.

  It was as though the world had frozen.

  Ning and the others, however, were completely unaffected. All of them couldn’t help but feel astonished.

  “What, what, what was that?!”

  “Wait. Those Seawave Dao-soldiers are still moving, only… they are moving extremely slow.” Ning’s group immediately realized that the massive, surrounding wave hadn’t actually frozen; it was just advancing at an extremely slow pace.

  Swoosh!

  Without the Seawave Dao-soldiers blocking the way, the warship instantly traversed the final ten kilometers.

  “Open!” The ashen-faced Youngflame Nong activated the key, and an illusory palace door instantly appeared in front of him. The warship immediately flew into the illusory gate, and then the gate swung
shut.

  Whoosh…

  As Youngflame Nong and the others entered the illusory gate, the massive wave, which had seemed to be almost frozen in place, suddenly came crashing down.

  “How can… how can that have happened?” The leader of the Seawave Dao-soldiers, Daoist Zhenbao, stared in disbelief at the distant, already-shut palace door. “Just now, just then…”

  He would never forget that feeling.

  He clearly had already unleashed the full power of the Seawave Dao-soldiers, and had been attacking at high speed, but… how could the enemy warship have suddenly increased in speed by ten thousand times or a hundred thousand times? It was precisely because the enemy’s speed had suddenly increased by an utterly ridiculous amount that he had been unable to control the wave and unleash an attack. Thus, the enemy had passed straight through his Dao-soldiers and entered the illusory palace gate.

  “Master, they… how did they suddenly move so fast? I was completely unable to block them,” Daoist Zhenbao sent mentally.

  The distant Immortal Duohe, who had been dealing with Fiendgod Xiangliu Fang in the distance, had actually been paying attention to the battle over here as well. After all, the humans aboard the warship were what mattered the most.

  Just now, he had been completely stupefied as well.

  “It wasn’t that they were fast; it was that you were slow,” Immortal Duohe sent mentally. “All of the Dao-soldiers, in that instant, seemed to be crawling even slower than a baby turtle.”

  “How can that be? I didn’t feel as though my speed lessened, and none of the Dao-soldiers under my command felt that their speed had lessened,” Daoist Zhenbao said frantically.

  “That’s because… time changed for you. You should have heard the saying, ‘a day in the Deva realm, a year in the mortal realms’, right? This is because time passes at different rates in the Deva realm and in the mortal realms. Perhaps in the Deva realm, you might only feel as though a day had passed, but in the mortal realm, a year might have passed. This is exactly what happened just now. You felt as though just an instant had passed, but in reality, an extremely long period of time had passed, and the enemy warship flew more than ten kilometers away.” A hint of despair was in Immortal Duohe’s eyes. “These humans were actually able to produce such a treasure… can it be that the Heavens themselves wish to destroy those of us in this Immortal estate world?”