Chapter 164: Seizing an Opportunity

The flame dragon king——Yan Shan!

This was a famous, well known, and powerful expert of the Sheng Ming Empire.

Like many dukes and earls, there were many statues of it in every major city.

As a result, Zhen Jin and the others recognized it.

Yan Shan was a flame dragon with legend level strength, it was also Great Duke Quan Fa’s mount.

“It seems, not only was War Merchant confronted by a small squad of saints, but also a legend level dragon!”

“Yan Shan is no ordinary dragon, with its great strength, it was named the flame dragon king, it's no wonder War Merchant is in such a state.”

“Hold on, it’s sealed!”

Yan Shan’s weak reflection struggled in the magma. It constantly roared, however whenever it did so, an immense translucent alchemy magic formation appeared on the magma’s surface.

The alchemy formation seemed to be the seal that suppressed Yan Shan in the magma.

Yan Shan’s attempts to break out failed repeatedly, he could only roar and roll in the magma.

Every time the flame dragon king collided with the formation; it would cause immense shaking that vibrated everything underground. Zhen Jin and the others lost their balance while broken rocks fell from the cave walls and ceiling.

Everyone turned pale.

After Zi Di recognized it, she suddenly realized: “This alchemy formation is linked to the entire alchemy factory, in order to seal the flame dragon king, it transmits the force of every collision to the outside.”

“I finally know why there were earthquakes and volcanic eruptions!”

“The flame dragon king wants to break through the seal, this resulted in the island being shaken and destroyed. The volcano and earthquakes were the results of its battle against the seal.”

Everyone’s complexion changed, and Hei Juan was stunned: “If even the flame dragon king can be sealed, how strong is War Merchant?”

“No one knows. The top ten most wanted are those with the highest bounties, if they didn’t have terrifying strength, how could they survive being on that list for so many years?” Cang Xu shook his head and sighed endlessly.

Zong Ge had already calmed down, he muttered to himself: “The flame dragon king is sealed, it seems War Merchant has won this battle. But the volcano eruptions and earthquakes have intensified and become more frequent, this proves War Merchant doesn’t have the strength to clean up this mess.”

“Yes, in order to suppress the flame dragon king, the entire island split open. If this continues, the flame dragon king will escape sooner or later.” Said Tripleblade.

“Can we help it escape?” A guardian templar knight suggested.

“There are so many golems around, yet you want us to destroy the formation?” Hei Juan glared at the one who suggested that.

Jia Sha also shook his head: “Even if these golems were not here, and we were free to move around, we cannot destroy this alchemy formation.”

“This alchemy formation was personally arranged by War Merchant; he must have paid a disastrous price.”

“We cannot contend with the handiwork of a legend level.” Zong Ge also shook his head.

“Then what do we do next?” Que Shan weakly spoke.

Jia Sha, Zhen Jin, and the others were troubled.

The magma battlefield’s defenses were too strong, as far as they were concerned, it was a dead end.

However, withdrawing and attempting to find another path wasn’t necessarily a good choice.

All kinds of signs indicated War Merchant ultimately won, however he paid a tremendous price and was probably recuperating, for the time being, he couldn’t sort out the situation.

If possible, no one wanted to attack this place.

Zhen Jin and the others were forced into a tight spot, they had no choice but to try to find a way to escape.

But they had explored the alchemy factory for so many days, yet they still hadn’t found a feasible path.

Perhaps in the alchemy factory control hub or in a treasury, some method might exist that could aid their escape.

In this situation, time was crucial to Zhen Jin, Jia Sha, and the others.

If they retreated and chose another path, resulting in them wasting valuable time, they would give War Merchant time to rest and recover, that was the path to ruin.

“Let me take a look first.” Jia Sha quietly used the divine spell extreme eye.

His complexion changed, if they chose to return, their future was blackened ash.

“If we go back now, we will die……” Jia Sha’s was heavy.

Everyone was alarmed.

“We cannot retreat, and we cannot advance, what is this?! Everyone was in a deadlock.

“We can first use the alchemy cannon to create chaos, then we can take advantage of the chaos to try to rush through the battlefield. We all know these guardian golems are slow. Under most situations, they rely on the alchemy factory’s formations to slow down enemies. The formation here has already been completely destroyed.” Zong Ge proposed a risky plan.

Hearing this, everyone’s heart jumped. This plan would have a bitter outcome, most of the people would become cannon fodder that attracted the golems, buying time for the last survivors.

Ultimately, there would only be a few survivors.

A complete extermination was also probable.

“Although the priest can see the consequences if we turn back, surely the problems we face aren’t greater than the ones we face if we charge ahead. I don’t believe there are enemies as strong as the ones in front of us, blocking our escape route.” Zhen Jin shook his head and analyzed, “We can turn back first, after comparing the true situation of both choices, we can decide then.”

These words made many slightly nod.

But at that moment, the entire underground fiercely shook, the flame dragon king had roared again, and rays of light burst out of the alchemy formation.

The magma violently rumbled, forming gigantic red waves.

Most of the waves were stopped by the alchemy formation, however a few penetrated the formation and splashed onto the other half of the battlefield.

After the magma hit the ground, they condensed and formed into something.

In a flash, a hundred fire element creatures were born.

Each of these fire elementals had huge builds, they were almost as big as the giant. Their robust and stocky upper bodies were humanoid shaped, and they had thick arms.

Possibility due to the flame dragon king creating these lifeforms, each of them had a dragon head.

Their lower body was shaped like a flame elemental tornado.

Because they were condensed from fire elements, they were a bright red-yellow. Their minds were simple, and their only action was to attack the alchemy formation.

Like a stinging nest of hornets, all of them crazily attacked the guardian golems as well as the immense dragon head-pig body golem.

Extremely hot fireballs exploded, and multi-colored rays shot in all directions, for a moment, the situation was extremely chaotic.

The survivors were stupefied.

Divine spell: extreme eye!

Immediately after, Jia Sha began to foresee the future.

“Wait five seconds, then run there!” Jia Sha revealed a cheerful look.

“Five.”

“Four.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One, follow me!”

With an opportunity present, the survivors ran as if their life depended on it.

After leaving from the corner, they entered from, they attracted the attention of the golems, fire elementals, and everything else in the battlefield.

Including the flame dragon king in the magma, who blankly stared for a bit.

Soon after, its boorish voice resonated through the entire battlefield: “A Heavenly Emperor Sheng Ming priest? You’ve arrived just in time, attack quickly, help me escape. I promise you generous spoils of war, your contribution will promote you all to nobles!”

“Move now!” But Jia Sha didn’t seem to hear the loud roars.

The flame dragon king was indignant: “Small priest, you unexpectedly disobeyed Yan Shan’s command openly! Roar!

Everyone ran faster.

“Come back here you reptiles!” The flame dragon king roared angrily.

It viciously rammed the alchemy formation, however the earthquake it created wasn’t as fierce as the prior one.

It was tired.

Its recent attack consumed the strength it had saved.

“Get back here! You dare steal Yan Shan’s contribution? You base reptiles, even if you are successfully promoted to nobles, I won’t let any of you off!!” Yan Shan madly bellowed.

Zhen Jin and the others slowed down.

Not because of Yan Shan, but because of intercepting golems appearing before them.

Three guardian golems!

“I already used the extreme eye spell to foresee it, we are not their match, and we cannot stay here.” Jia Sha roared, “Scatter and retreat, we will assemble on the other side of the battlefield!”

Everyone scattered at once.

The effects were instant!

There were only three guardian golems, while the survivors were numerous.

Many people smoothly moved around, watching their unlucky compatriots quickly die under the golems’ hands.

“Abominable!” Zhen Jin grinded his teeth, he could only watch his comrades be sacrificed.

He looked after Zi Di, Cang Xu, and a few others while the giant was running behind him, encumbering his speed.

Just as they were about to break away from the battlefield, a man suddenly had his head cut off. Before his body slowly fell, blood bubbled from his neck like a fountain.

“Dammit, it's those invisible exterminators!” Zhen Jin’s heart sank.

Bang bang bang……

The ground shook, the gigantic dragon head-pig body golem also charged at the youngster Zhen Jin.

“Run father, this giant will protect father!” The giant shouted as he suddenly stopped and snarled at the gigantic golem.

It was clear he wanted to stay behind and use his life to give Zhen Jin more time.

“No, enough of our comrades have already been sacrificed. Be obedient, come to me now!” Zhen Jin roared. As he spoke, his body expanded, and his skin grew dark scorpion carapace. With Zi Di and Cang Xu in his arms, his speed increased dramatically.

The giant hesitated for a moment, but he still listened to Zhen Jin and followed.

His immense build and large steps allowed him to quickly overtake Zhen Jin.

However, the gigantic golem was faster, and the distance between the two was quickly closing!

Pop.

With a light noise, the sailor in front of Zhen Jin was suddenly cut into two!

Upon seeing this, Zhen Jin’s pupils shrank, while Zi Di and Cang Xu had shocked faces.

Zhen Jin couldn’t see the invisible exterminators, regardless of whether he used ultrasound or the green lizard eyes. The exterminators’ invisibility was almost as strong as Jia Sha’s invisibility divine spell, they could hide from sight, hide their heat signature, couldn’t be felt, and more.

Suddenly, a massive warning rose in his heart, causing him to subconsciously tilt his body.

Soon after, a ray of blood shot out, his left shoulder was wounded. The exterminator was extremely sharp, if Zhen Jin didn’t have that layer of protection, his body would have been cut in half! 

Notes

Sure, I guess he’s just transforming in front of the two most intelligent people in the story so far. TLDR, it's all dragon’s fault the ship died because it was banging on the door to the magma bath. Now everyone has to run an insane death gauntlet because someone refuses to use his flight abilities. Then again, carrying Zi Di and Cang Xu through deadly situations is the first 100 chapters summed up nicely.