Decisive Action

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

"Silence!" Ning Zhanji roared decisively. "If Zheng Shuangou truly intended to harm us, we wouldn't have been able to escape from here."

"But that possibility is too small. If they really wanted to make a move, why would they harm us? To startle the snake?"

"We wouldn't be the primary target!"

Ning Zhanji, having somewhat calmed his emotions, saw a figure holding a pair of hooks, directly breaking through countless demonic beasts and charging into one of the passages.

"It's Zheng Shuangou!"

"I see his signature weapon, the Sun Moon Hooks."

"Phew, he's not here to deal with us!"

Just as the Ning Family cultivators' hearts settled, they were immediately raised again the next moment.

Because the force of the demonic beast onslaught surged, and the pressure on the formation's defense drastically increased. Ning Zhanji had no choice but to order his subordinates to form small teams of several people and kill their way out of the formation to relieve the pressure on it.

After all, the formation was hastily set up and not very sturdy.

The demonic beasts were ferocious!

Even though the Ning Family cultivators fought desperately, the first ice wall was quickly breached.

The second spherical shield didn't last long either.

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

Everyone huddled within the beam of light, defending with difficulty.

Ning Yong's face was pale, and his body trembled: "Are... are we going to die here today?"

Ning Chen was no longer composed, his face filled with panic, completely lost.

Ning Zhuo showed a similar expression, but faint, eerie light flickered in the depths of his eyes.

Boom, boom, boom!

Suddenly, three loud bangs echoed, shaking the ground and mountains.

The demonic beasts scattered wildly, and a black figure directly smashed through the wall and rushed into the underground plaza.

Subsequently, the Zheng Family's Golden Core cultivator, Zheng Shuangou, also pursued.

"Rats, how dare you covet the Immortal Palace! Leave your lives behind!" Zheng Shuangou roared.

Zheng Shuangou swept with all his might, unleashing a five-meter-long blade energy.

The black figure's voice was ancient, and he cackled: "Treasures in the cultivation world are obtained by those with destiny. Do your major clans in Fire Persimmon Immortal City think you can swallow the Magma Immortal Palace privately? Dream on!"

Saying this, the black figure clashed head-on, scattering the blade energy, and taking advantage of the force to fly backward towards the Ning Family cultivators.

A moment later, a frantic alarm bell rang in Ning Zhanji's heart. He dodged into the center of the formation, shouting: "I will preside over the great formation!"

The defensive formation emitted an unprecedented radiance.

The black figure arrived before the formation, gently waved a hand, and instantly shattered the formation.

He waved his hand again, and a large number of cultivators fell. Their bodies were unharmed, but their lives were gone.

"Demonic Cultivator, still so arrogant!" Zheng Shuanggou roared in anger and charged forward.

The Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator turned back and fought fiercely with Zheng Shuanggou.

"Lord Ning Zhanji!" The Ning Family cultivators shouted.

But Ning Zhanji's eyes were wide open, and he fell to the ground, his eyes not closing even in death.

Having lost the protection of the formation and their leader, the subsequent demonic beasts continued to pounce. The Ning Family cultivators could only scatter and flee!

Casualties quickly mounted.

At the critical moment, Ning Zhuo suddenly shouted, "Go through the passage where the Golden Core cultivators charged! There must be the fewest demonic beasts there!!"

Upon being reminded, the bewildered Ning Family cultivators were jolted.

"That's right!"

"That passage was continuously charged through by two Golden Cores. There must be the fewest demonic beasts there."

"Let's go that way!!"

Thus, the Ning Family members united once more and charged towards the passage entrance.

"Ning Yong, Ning Chen, follow me closely!" Ning Zhuo opened his chest and took out Frost Talismans one after another, scattering them everywhere. These were all accumulated from his talisman-making studies in the academy, and their origin was well-known.

Ning Yong and Ning Chen's eyes were bloodshot. In their panic, they subconsciously followed behind Ning Zhuo, fighting with all their might to secure a chance of survival.

The three supported each other and "narrowly and dangerously" kept up with the main Ning Family force, entering the passage entrance.

Looking back, the two Golden Cores were fighting with great momentum, startling the demonic beasts into fleeing in all directions.

Many demonic beasts fled in the same direction as the Ning Family members, pouncing from behind them.

The front of the passage was filled with demonic beast corpses, with very few survivors, but demonic beasts were continuously surging in from behind.

Under this pressure, the Ning Family cultivators could only grit their teeth and desperately rush forward along the passage.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Along the way, they encountered some demonic beasts blocking their path, all of which were killed with full force by the Ning Family cultivators who were fleeing for their lives like madmen.

"What is that?!"

"Magma Immortal Palace!"

"I didn't expect this passage could also lead to the Magma Immortal Palace."

The Ning Family cultivators discovered a lake of magma, with a corner of the Immortal Palace building exposed in the middle of the lake.

"Magma Immortal Palace..." Ning Zhuo whispered, his expression quite natural. As an ordinary young man, it was his first time seeing an Immortal Palace, and his mind was inevitably captivated. However, no one saw the flash of brilliance that appeared in his eyes!

In fact, he had already anticipated this outcome.

Ning Chen, who was beside him, gasped for breath, reacted, and shouted, "This isn't actually hard to guess!"

"Didn't the words spoken by the two Golden Cores during their previous battle already reveal the answer?"

"It's very likely that the Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator wanted to sneak in this way, but was intercepted by Zheng Shuanggou!"

The Ning Family cultivators were in an awkward situation.

In front was the magma lake, revealing a corner of the Immortal Palace building, and behind them, demonic beasts were constantly surging in.

Forced into a corner, the remaining Ning Family members could only form a defensive formation again.

They formed two formations, one outer and one inner, nested within each other. The force of the demonic beasts' attacks was much weaker than in the underground plaza.

"We can block them!!" Just as the Ning Family cultivators rejoiced, a violent roar and explosion followed.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Zheng Shuanggou's angry roar grew closer.

The Ning Family cultivators instantly felt as if they had fallen into an ice cave. Judging by the commotion, it was clear that the Black Shadow Demonic Cultivator had returned!

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

Ning Chen simply closed his eyes, completely despairing.

Just as the hope of survival had ignited, it was ruthlessly crushed again. With such ups and downs, the two new cultivators lost all fighting spirit.

"So what if we die?!" Ning Zhuo suddenly shouted, "It's better to die fighting like this than to die a cowardly death!"

Provoked by this, Ning Yong's expression changed. In the face of despair, courage was ignited, and he gritted his teeth and stood up.

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

He was also spurred on by courage: "A Zhuo, well said! To die under the hands of a Golden Core, to die before the Magma Immortal Palace, can be considered a worthy death."

As soon as he finished speaking, a vast cloud of thick smoke surged in. The smoke was extremely black, containing surging dark energy that could block divine sense.

In an instant, shadows flickered within the black smoke, condensing into countless dark shadow snakes and pythons, crashing towards the Magma Immortal Palace in the magma lake.

But only halfway through the collision, the terrifying giant snakes and pythons dissipated powerlessly.

Zheng Shuanggou's roar came: "Attacking the Immortal Palace? Dream on!!"

But immediately after, the snakes and pythons reappeared. This time, they did not attack the Immortal Palace, but directly attacked the surrounding passages.

Under such fierce attacks, the walls of the passages instantly cracked and were on the verge of collapsing.

"Madman!" Seeing this scene, Zheng Shuanggou also felt a chill in his heart.

He had no choice but to switch from offense to defense, using all his strength and surging magic power to cover and protect the passages.

In the black smoke, a long dark shadow snake suddenly crashed into the Ning Family formation.

Without any surprise, the Golden Core level attack was something the Ning Family formation could not withstand, and it disintegrated in an instant!

The black smoke surged in, covering the sky and earth, completely obscuring the vision of the remaining Ning Family members.

"Come on!" Ning Yong shouted, erupting with all his courage, determined to fight to the death.

The rolling black smoke was so thick that one could not see their hand in front of their face.

Ning Zhuo felt as if he was alone in an instant.

He took out his token and transformed into the Azure Iron Han Armor. The iron armor covered his body, instantly giving him Foundation Establishment level combat power!