: Decisive Action

2024-07-31 Author: Gu Zhenren

The Ning family cultivators' emotions began to spiral into chaos.

"Everyone, shut up!" Ning Zhanji decisively shouted. "If Zheng Shuang Gou truly intends to harm us, escaping this place would be impossible."

"But that possibility is too slim. If they really wanted to strike, why target us? To alert the enemy?"

"We wouldn't be the primary target!"

As Ning Zhanji barely stabilized his emotions, he saw a figure wielding dual hooks charge directly through countless demon beasts, heading straight for one of the passages.

"It's Zheng Shuang Gou!"

"I saw his signature weapons, the Sun and Moon Hooks."

"Whew, he's not here for us!"

The relief felt by the Ning family cultivators was short-lived, as their hearts leaped into their throats the next moment.

The demon beasts' assault intensified dramatically, putting immense pressure on the defensive formation. Ning Zhanji had no choice but to order his subordinates to form small teams and fight outside the formation to relieve the pressure.

After all, the formation had been hastily set up and wasn't very sturdy.

The demon beasts were ferocious!

Despite the Ning family cultivators fighting desperately, the first ice wall was quickly breached.

The second spherical barrier didn't hold for long either.

Fortunately, the Ning family cultivators took the opportunity to set up a fourth formation.

Everyone huddled within the light pillar, defending with great difficulty.

Ning Yong's face was pale, his body trembling. "D-don't tell me we're going to die here today?"

Ning Chen also lost his composure, his face a mask of panic and confusion.

Ning Zhuo displayed a similar demeanor, but a faint, elusive glimmer flickered deep within his eyes.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three deafening explosions suddenly rocked the earth and shook the mountains.

Demon beasts fled madly as a black figure crashed through the wall, bursting into the underground plaza.

Close behind, the Zheng family's Golden Core cultivator, Zheng Shuang Gou, gave chase.

"Vermin! How dare you covet the Immortal Palace? Your life ends here!" Zheng Shuang Gou roared.

Zheng Shuang Gou unleashed a full-force sweep, releasing a blade aura five meters long.

The black figure laughed hoarsely, a sinister cackle. "Treasures in the cultivation world belong to those destined for them! Did the major families of Blazing Persimmon Immortal City think they could monopolize the Molten Rock Immortal Palace? Dream on!"

As he spoke, the black figure met the attack head-on, dispersing the blade aura, and used the force to propel himself backward toward the Ning family cultivators.

Ning Zhanji's internal alarms screamed. He dodged into the center of the formation, shouting, "I'll take control of the formation!"

The defensive formation erupted with unprecedented radiance.

The black figure arrived before the formation and casually waved his hand, instantly shattering it.

With another wave, a large group of cultivators collapsed, their bodies unharmed, but their lives extinguished.

"Demonic cultivator! How dare you run rampant!" Zheng Shuang Gou furiously charged forward.

The black-clad demonic cultivator turned and engaged Zheng Shuang Gou in a fierce battle.

"Lord Ning Zhanji!" the Ning family cultivators cried out.

But Ning Zhanji lay on the ground, eyes wide open, dead with unresolved grievances.

Without the protection of the formation and their leader gone, and with demon beasts continuing to attack, the Ning family cultivators could only scatter and flee!

Casualties quickly mounted.

At this critical moment, Ning Zhuo suddenly shouted, "Take the passage the Golden Core cultivator came from! The demon beasts there must be the fewest!"

Reminded, the panicked Ning family cultivators jolted to awareness.

"He's right!"

"That passage was just cleared by two Golden Core cultivators in succession. The demon beasts there must be minimal."

"Let's go that way!!"

Thus, the Ning family members united once more and fought their way toward the passage entrance.

"Ning Yong, Ning Chen, stick close to me!" Ning Zhuo opened his robe, pulling out handfuls of Frost Talismans and scattering them around. These were accumulated from his usual talisman-making studies in the academy, their origin long accounted for.

Ning Yong and Ning Chen, both eyes bloodshot, instinctively followed behind Ning Zhuo in their panic, fighting with all their might for a chance at survival.

The three supported each other, following the main Ning family group "by a hair's breadth" into the passage entrance.

Looking back, the two Golden Core cultivators fought with earth-shattering intensity, frightening the demon beasts into fleeing in all directions.

Many demon beasts fled in the same direction as the Ning family members, rushing toward them from behind.

The front of the passage was littered with demon beast corpses, with few survivors, but demon beasts continuously poured in from behind.

Under this pressure, the Ning family cultivators had no choice but to grit their teeth and desperately sprint forward along the passage.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Along the way, they encountered some blocking demon beasts, all of which were ruthlessly annihilated by the crazed, fleeing Ning family cultivators.

"What's that?!"

"The Molten Rock Immortal Palace!"

"To think this passage also leads to the Molten Rock Immortal Palace."

The Ning family cultivators discovered a lake of magma, with a corner of the Immortal Palace's structure barely visible in its center.

"Molten Rock Immortal Palace..." Ning Zhuo murmured, his expression perfectly natural. As an ordinary youth, seeing the Immortal Palace for the first time, his mind was inevitably captivated. But no one noticed the sharp glint that briefly flashed deep within his eyes!

In fact, he had already anticipated this outcome.

Beside him, Ning Chen gasped for breath, exclaiming as he realized, "It's not hard to guess, actually!"

"The two Golden Core cultivators' earlier words already revealed the answer, didn't they?"

"Most likely, the black-clad demonic cultivator wanted to infiltrate this way but was intercepted by Zheng Shuang Gou!"

The Ning family cultivators found themselves in an awkward position.

Ahead lay the molten lake, with a corner of the Immortal Palace exposed, while demon beasts continuously surged from behind.

Left with no choice, the remaining Ning family members could only form defensive formations once more.

They set up two formations, one outer and one inner, nested together. The demon beasts' assault was much weaker than it had been in the underground plaza.

"We can hold them off!!" The Ning family cultivators had just begun to rejoice when violent rumbling explosions erupted.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Zheng Shuang Gou's furious roar grew closer.

The Ning family cultivators' hearts sank into an icy abyss. Judging by the commotion, the black-clad demonic cultivator had clearly fought his way back!

"It seems we are doomed today!" Ning Yong's face was deathly pale.

Ning Chen simply closed his eyes, utterly despaired.

Their newly ignited hope for survival was cruelly crushed. The extreme highs and lows completely shattered the two novice cultivators' fighting spirit.

"So we die! So what?" Ning Zhuo suddenly yelled. "Dying in battle is better than dying like cowards!"

Spurred by his words, Ning Yong's expression changed, courage stirring within him in this desperate situation. He gritted his teeth and stood up.

Ning Chen opened his eyes and looked at Ning Zhuo, secretly admiring his classmate's bravery in the face of death.

He, too, felt his courage rise. "Well said, A Zhuo! Dying at the hands of a Golden Core cultivator, before the Molten Rock Immortal Palace, is a worthy death indeed."

No sooner had he spoken than a vast, thick smoke surged toward them. The smoke was pitch black, containing turbulent dark energy that could block spiritual sense.

In an instant, shadows writhed within the black smoke, coalescing into countless shadowy serpentine pythons that charged toward the Molten Rock Immortal Palace in the magma lake.

But halfway there, the terrifying giant pythons weakened and dissipated powerless.

Zheng Shuang Gou's roar followed, "Attack the Immortal Palace? Don't even think about it!!"

But then, the pythons formed again. This time, however, they didn't attack the Immortal Palace but instead struck the surrounding passage walls.

Under such a frenzied assault, the tunnel walls instantly cracked, on the verge of collapse.

"Madman!" Seeing this, even Zheng Shuang Gou felt a chill.

He had no choice but to switch from offense to defense, channeling his full power, pouring forth his magic energy to cover the passage and protect it.

Within the black smoke, a shadowy python suddenly slammed into the Ning family's formation.

As expected, an attack at the Golden Core level was beyond what the Ning family's formation could withstand. It shattered instantly!

The black smoke blotted out the sky and earth, completely obscuring the vision of the remaining Ning family members.

"Bring it on!" Ning Yong roared, mustering all his courage, resolved to fight to the death.

Rolling black smoke made it impossible to see even an outstretched hand.

In an instant, Ning Zhuo seemed to find himself utterly alone.

He pulled out a token, transforming it into the Cang Iron Man armor. Encased in the iron armor, he instantly possessed the combat power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

(End of )