Chapter 189: What Is a Natural Disaster

Based on what he had learned before, a true dragon should still fall within the category of living beings, and since the living being was in a state of severely depleted vital energy, it would naturally be impossible for it to experience a massive increase in power during this period of Time.

On the contrary, it would be impressive enough if its power didn't decrease — how could it possibly undergo a frenzied increase?

Since that was the case, now that he knew the true dragon was injured, the current scene naturally made sense!

Perhaps it was precisely because its injuries had become so severe that it could no longer control the leakage of power within its body, and the leaked power had inadvertently caused this.

If this were truly the case, then the true dragon's situation might be even more serious than he had guessed!

Of course, there was another possibility.

That the environmental changes before him were not caused by its inability to control the dissipation of power within its body, but rather a harsh environment it had deliberately created for its own safety.

However, even this speculation likewise indicated that the true dragon's situation was far more serious than he had imagined.

Having suddenly figured this out, Zhang Rang no longer wore an expression of immense heaviness regarding the environmental changes before him.

He turned around and smilingly shared his speculation with the soldiers before him.

"So that's how it is…"

"Truly worthy of Your Majesty, Your Majesty is sagely!"

"Heaven bless our Great Qin!"

"This battle of our Great Qin is sure to succeed!"

"Hahaha, our Great Qin's chances of victory have increased by another measure!"

……

Such a well-reasoned inference naturally caused countless soldiers to be suddenly enlightened, and one after another they began to praise Zhang Rang.

Throughout the entire process, Zhang Rang did not stop the soldiers' quiet exchanges, merely watching them with a smile.

Because with a great battle imminent, this kind of beneficial change could be said to strengthen military morale and fighting spirit.

After a while, when nearly everyone had finished speaking, Zhang Rang spoke again:

"Since we have already understood why the surrounding environment is so abnormal, in order to preserve our fighting strength for the fierce battle ahead—"

"From now on, we shall assume our second form and begin to resist the increasingly harsh surrounding temperatures in order to preserve our stamina."

As his words fell, Zhang Rang, right before the eyes of the many soldiers, was the first to assume the Ancient Dragon Human's second form — that is, a partial dragonification phenomenon.

In an instant, his flesh and blood began to swell and transform continuously, and countless streams of white, scalding mist gushed out around his body.

Within just a few breaths, his hands and feet transformed into somewhat ferocious claws within the mist, and the ears atop his head began to lengthen and sharpen.

As he began to transform, the countless soldiers before him also began to follow suit with their dragonification.

Immediately, dense mist billowed up from this location, slowly drifting upward and condensing into thick clouds.

And within this dense, scalding mist, nearly five hundred human soldiers completely assumed half-human, half-dragon forms, one after another lighting up with brilliant dragon-like pupils within the fog.

After this, Zhang Rang once again led the dragonified soldiers forward.

At this moment, the high temperatures permeating the surrounding air could no longer pose the slightest obstacle to them.

At this, Zhang Rang and the others' marching pace quickened once again.

In less than an hour, they could already see the gates of the Heavenly Capital Inner City in the distance.

"Whoosh—!"

Just then, a violent gust of hot wind blew directly from the direction of the Inner City onto the face of Zhang Rang, who had just emerged from a narrow passageway.

In that instant, Zhang Rang froze outright, his pupils rapidly dilating, his eyes filled with shock.

At this moment, not only was he stunned, but the countless soldiers behind him were equally stunned.

Countless people simply stood there, dumbly staring at the boundless sea of fire ahead, their gaze filled entirely with a crimson hue, with endless liquid flowing across the ground.

That was lava!

Lava formed by the scorching high temperatures permeating the surrounding air melting the ground overnight!

At this moment, looking out from where Zhang Rang stood, all the former building remnants of the entire Inner City had completely vanished.

Everything around was submerged within an ocean of lava, leaving behind only the gate of Tiandu Neicheng slowly melting and sinking within the lava — that was the Inner City gate that Zhang Rang and the others had seen in the distance earlier.

Yet unexpectedly, today's Tiandu Feixu had now been reduced to nothing but a single gate; everything else had merged with the lava into one.

It was hard to imagine, but at this moment Zhang Rang seemed to still remember the environment here from when he had once come.

That was when he had come to pay a visit to the true dragon; this place was still visible at a glance, with many intact buildings still existing outside, and only the very center was a stretch of pitch-black ruins along with the dilapidated Da Zhou Huang Gong.

But now, it seemed less than ten years had passed, right?

Yet the entire terrain had completely transformed — buildings and palace no longer existed, only rolling seas of lava and fire!

Is this the power of a true dragon?

Or is it a change inadvertently created by an injured true dragon?

Every move and gesture causes heaven and earth to change!

A natural disaster is nothing more than this, is it?!

At this moment, countless people stared dumbly at this sea of lava and fire, unable to speak for a long time.

Because before this magnificent landscape, all words seemed somewhat pale and powerless.

After a while, the people who had slowly come back to their senses exchanged glances, because at this moment a difficult problem had appeared before their group—

There was no road ahead!

Yes, there was no road to continue forward, because the ground was entirely a sea of lava and fire.

Among those standing here, even the king-class giant beast that Zhang Rang had transformed into — the Red-Scaled Dragon, which was most adept at the power of fire — would probably not be able to walk within this lava.

Perhaps only a true king-class giant beast, the Red-Scaled Dragon, coming here could barely walk within the lava.

So then, how should they currently face this difficult problem?

Zhang Rang deliberated for a moment. Since they had already come this far, there was no need to get too close to the inside — let the plan begin in full.

Thinking of this, he decisively ordered some Ancient Dragon Humans who were skilled at Flight but not very skilled at combat to assume their third form — that is, complete dragonification into enormous giant beasts.

Then, on the spot, he began assembling those large aerial weapons and mounting them on its back, while also having some Ancient Dragon Human soldiers who could not take to Flight stand on its broad back.

These were all part of the subsequent diversionary force.

Of course, during this process, soldiers were once again left behind on the spot to begin crafting all manner of traps.

Because at this moment, even a fool would know that to fight a true dragon, one absolutely could not do so within this sea of lava and fire; only by luring it out was there a chance.

At this point, the force Zhang Rang carried split once again; these barely five hundred soldiers once more set aside some fifty Dragon Human soldiers to remain on the spot.

Then, a great number of fully armed colossal beasts took to the sky, carrying large numbers of Ancient Dragon Humans—either unable to fly or conserving their strength—toward the deepest part of Tiandu.

Behind them towered a massive humanoid weapon, a Dragon Machine Soldier.

For a time, a tremendous howling sound slowly rose from the heavens, pressing toward the deepest part of Tiandu.

……

(End of Chapter)