Chapter 190: Chapter 164: Heaven and Earth Collapse
PLOP~
The faint sound of several heavy objects splashing into the water rang out.
It only caught the attention of a few Burning Fire People.
But soon, their attention was drawn to the commotion in the sky.
The Burning Fire People no longer dared to look at the bizarre, scarlet giant eyes. Instead, they all turned their hopeful gazes toward the massive lava cocoon.
"ROAR!!"
Just then, a clear dragon’s roar echoed from the sky.
Beneath the heavens, the giant cocoon, covered in dark red patterns and fractured cracks, suddenly exploded.
A massive dragon silhouette, a hundred meters tall and made almost entirely of volcanic ash and scorching lava, flew out with a beat of its wings. Its body was covered in sharp bone spikes, and its tail had four sharp, upturned barbs, all burning with a brilliant golden flame!
At that moment, Xiu Lin, who was down below, placed five fresh hearts on a log and handed it to Astha.
Astha said nothing, taking the log and giving a light wave toward the sky with his other hand.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~
On the platform, all the surviving Burning Fire People leaped onto their flying Soul Beasts and approached the Golden Flame Rock Dragon in the sky.
Astha stood on a giant Burning Fire Moth. When he neared the Golden Flame Rock Dragon, he leaped abruptly. The wings on his back, now replaced with draconic membranes, flapped a few times, and he landed lightly on the Golden Flame Rock Dragon’s head.
Next, he took out a Blood Crystal Stone that shimmered with a magnificent glow from within his clothes and instantly crushed the five multicolored hearts.
The thick, multicolored blood plasma bizarrely converged in mid-air and was absorbed by the Blood Crystal Stone.
After absorbing the five hearts, the Crystal Stone emitted a dazzling radiance, projecting a pillar of light toward the distant heavens.
The light flickered a few times but was beaten back by the pairs of scarlet pupils.
「At the same time.」
The Golden Flame Rock Dragon’s brilliant golden Dragon Eyes widened slightly as it looked up at the cold, merciless scarlet pupils in the sky. A blazing, golden-red radiance erupted from its claws. Its broad Dragon Wings suddenly spread to their limit, and with a powerful upward flap, it soared a thousand meters into the air.
Its massive draconic body neared the clouds. It raised its head, aimed at the dense cluster of scarlet giant eyes, and unleashed the terrifying Spiritual Energy it had been gathering in its mouth in a single breath!
BOOM!!
An astonishing torrent of Energy Particles formed a wide, fan-shaped flood of brilliant golden flame, covering tens of kilometers of the sky above.
「In an instant.」
CRACKLE! The sound of a mirror shattering rang out, one after another.
The sky above Trembling Peak suddenly shattered like a mirror, piece by piece, revealing endless black clouds behind it.
RUMBLE—
Far above in the sky, a shocking clap of thunder exploded.
Thick, dark clouds converged on the summit of Trembling Peak from all directions. Leaden clouds roiled and spun within the high dome of the sky, gradually forming a massive, deep, lead-colored vortex. Arcs of lightning surged, and fierce winds howled.
Amidst the surging, fine bolts of electricity, a giant, four-winged butterfly with azure eyes, wreathed in lightning, slowly emerged from the thunder and storm!
To the north, the ground trembled slightly and the earth cracked open. Swarms of ants covered in hard armor, their bodies gleaming with a mysterious luster like obsidian, approached Trembling Peak from all directions.
To the east, a meteor trailing a cyan flame plummeted rapidly toward the summit.
To the south, a sinister, cold wind suddenly began to blow. Within its howls, it was as if tens of millions of vengeful souls were screaming in agony. Pairs of purple pupils filled with venomous hatred materialized within a grayish-white mist.
To the west, a dense barrage of sonic booms suddenly tore through the air. For some reason, magnificent vapor cones appeared one after another in the western sky.
A dozen mantises, brilliant gold all over and with gazes as sharp as the edge of a blade, flashed into existence.
Astha ignored these insect swarms that had suddenly appeared, his eyes locked on the direction from which the red light was projected.
The scarlet pillar of light stabbed deep into the sky.
The swarms drew near, yet the scene he had imagined still hadn’t appeared.
Veins bulged on Astha’s forehead. He shot a hateful glare at Xiu Lin’s face and finally couldn’t stop himself from cursing, "Tainted blood! Of these five great vermin families, at least one of their bloodlines is impure! They’re not pure-blooded vermin!"
At these words, the expressions of all the Burning Fire People present changed drastically.
...
「Inside the volcano.」
A purple, spike-covered arm smashed a crater into the hard rock wall.
Han Ning’s figure flashed, and like a gecko, he pressed himself into the crater.
Then, he raised his powerful arm and began relentlessly smashing it against the rock wall.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The Blood Qi of the All-encompassing Spiritual Silkworm burned fiercely as Han Ning tirelessly and frantically carved out a passage.
By repeating this process, he managed to forcefully carve out a rock tunnel just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Just as he had ventured a few meters into the tunnel, he suddenly felt the entire mountain peak begin to tremble.
From the sky above, a terrifying pressure of Spiritual Energy bore down.
Behind him, the lava flowing a few meters below inexplicably grew violent, showing faint signs of erupting.
"Dammit!"
Han Ning glanced back at the sporadically splashing red lava and cursed under his breath. With a flex of his Spiritual Power, he summoned both Yin Yi and Egg Pancake.
"Yin Yi, Egg Pancake, put your backs into it!"
"Ling!" "Jiji!"
With the help of his two Soul Beasts, the speed of carving the tunnel increased significantly.
Meanwhile, the lava behind them and the tremors of the great mountain grew even more intense.
The mountain was shaking. The rock walls were suddenly covered in dense cracks, and huge boulders fell continuously.
’What kind of destructive power is this? It’s making the whole mountain tremble and even show signs of collapsing.’
At this moment, Han Ning felt like a feeble mortal struggling to survive in a battle between Immortals, desperately searching for a path to safety.
Under the weight of such world-shaking power, even Yin Yi, who was brimming with Spiritual Energy comparable to a rocket, and Egg Pancake, with its burly, muscular build, were nothing more than slightly stronger ants.
It wasn’t just above; fine cracks began to appear on the once-solid mountain floor as well.
These cracks grew larger and larger. Endless boulders, carrying with them great swathes of lava, rained down from all directions with a deafening clamor.
"Jiji!"
Even though Egg Pancake continuously formed stone shields for protection, when rock fragments weighing hundreds or thousands of tons—practically parts of the mountain itself—came crashing down, even the stone shields could hardly resist.
The mountain was collapsing, and the earth was trembling.
"HISS!!" "ROAR!!!"
Far above, the massive roars of powerful Soul Beasts echoed.
At this very moment, Han Ning and his Soul Beasts stood on a constantly shaking boulder. He felt that no matter which way he ran, it was a dead end.
’If I try to fly, the space above is filled with giant rocks and dangerous beams of Spiritual Energy.’
’Below, volatile lava is already starting to flow.’
"Charge! Keep pushing forward! We have to escape before the mountain collapses!" Han Ning exited his Demonization state. The All-encompassing Spiritual Silkworm within his body had grown extremely weak from burning too much Blood Qi.
"Ling~" "Ji!"
Just as they were carefully dodging the massive boulders and advancing.
A deafening boom suddenly echoed from the sky.
Immediately after, a towering chunk of the mountain, so large it filled Han Ning’s entire field of vision, came crashing down.
In that hair-raising instant, all he could do was have Egg Pancake condense the surrounding rock into a sphere, reinforcing the inside with layer after layer of thick vines. At the very core was a sturdy Frost Crystal Shield.
The next moment, the immense, surging power crashing down from above jolted Han Ning so violently his eyes rolled back. He couldn’t help but spit out a mouthful of blood as his vision went dark and he passed out.
