Chapter 312: Burning Bridges
Translator: Pika
Zu An was already ready for this. He pushed off gently with his toes, and his figure flashed away.
The large boulder he had been standing on was instantly burned to ash by the heat of the flames. Zu An gulped. He would have shared the same fate if he had been caught by those same flames.
Before he had time to think, the dragon let loose another torrent of flame.
Zu An immediately employed his Sunflower Phantasm to evade. Even though he dodged it, the heat made his hair curl, and there was the stench of something being scorched.
Fearing that Zheng Dan would be burned, he quickly employed the Snowflake Sword to cover his surroundings in a layer of cold energy. The coolness helped to dissipate most of their discomfort.
The crimson dragon fired off several more gouts of flame, but somehow, his target miraculously evaded every attack. It started to realize that continuing this barrage would be futile, and only tire itself out. It gave up on its long-range fire attacks. With a flicker, its massive body disappeared, arrowing towards Zu An.
“Ah Zu, get out of here!” Zheng Dan said in a panic. “Don’t worry about me anymore!”
There might still be a chance for Zu An to escape with his teleportation-like movement skill, while she did her best to stall this massive monster.
She was already mentally prepared to sacrifice herself. Whether it be her life or her purity, it didn’t matter.
Zu An chuckled and said, “Even though I’ve never considered myself a hero, I have never abandoned my friends.”
When she saw his optimistic smile, Zheng Dan’s eyes grew moist. “Ah Zu!”
She steeled her resolve. At worst, the two of them would die together.
If they couldn’t be together in life, then they’d be together in death.
This made her feel much more blessed than Chu Chuyan.
Right at this time, the crimson dragon roared with laughter. “I’ve caught you!”
He had already figured out the rhythm of Zu An’s strange movements.
No matter how miraculous the Sunflower Phantasm was, the difference in strength was still too great.
Zheng Dan saw a massive claw appear in their path, as if the dragon had somehow foreseen their movement. It was so close she could even see the blood staining that claw!
This blood was clearly from Chen Xuan’s body. Not even Chen Xuan’s powerful metal body could withstand a single hit—what hope did Zu An have, with his weaker cultivation?
Zheng Dan wanted to block this attack in his place, but the arms that held her tightened around her. She herself was completely powerless as well, and there was no way she could have moved to shield him.
She decided to bury herself deeper in his chest. This way, when the claw tore through his chest, it would kill her as well. The two of them would thus truly become one.
Mi Li screamed in Zu An’s head. “You’re mad! Why are you purposely standing still?!!!”
Even though the Sunflower Phantasm couldn’t make up for the difference between their cultivation levels, there was still a chance that it hadn’t yet been compromised.
With her insight, she could tell that Zu An was refusing to dodge on purpose.
Zu An didn’t reply her. He turned his back and used it to take the full force of the dragon’s claw.
The crimson dragon saw that his target had no chance of evading his strike. Truly, humans were nothing more than ants.
However, when it saw him tightly embracing Zheng Dan, it felt a twinge of reluctance. After all, this woman really was pretty.
Soon, it would be able to take human form, and it had planned to celebrate its success with this woman.
Even though the two of them were different species, higher-level dragons could all change into human form. That was why dragons and humans had similar standards of beauty.
This shared perception of beauty wasn’t limited to just the dragon race. Other races with the potential to cultivate to a high level seemed to share it as well.
After all, the human form was the most suitable for cultivation. As such, all other high-level cultivators from these races also desired to evolve towards a more human form.
Of course, there were races who were limited in their cultivation, and had no hopes of ever achieving human form. To them, a human beauty might look no different from a female pig.
Killing such a beauty really was too much of a waste. As such, the red dragon held back at the last moment. Even so, its strength would still be enough to blast open a hole in the man’s body.
Unexpectedly, as the tip of his claw touched the man’s back, it did not penetrate flesh. Instead, it felt as if it had struck an invisible barrier.
A blue scale suddenly appeared on the man’s back, blocking this fatal strike.
“This is the Ocean Race’s...” Before it could finish its sentence, Zu An seized this moment of distraction. There was a flash of black, his dagger cutting through a layer of the dragon’s skin.
The crimson dragon was shocked. “An ant like you has a weapon that can injure me? Ridiculous! However, such a small weapon is only enough to tickle me!”
Zu An smiled. “Are you sure?”
The red dragon didn’t rise to this taunt. It raised its claw to strike him again. “You can die now, ant.”
Suddenly, its entire body trembled. It let out a cry of terror. “What is going on? This... this is a curse.. Ahhh...”
Its voice was full of fear and reluctance. Its sharp and penetrating eyes became dim, and then its massive body seemed to lose all strength, and it smashed into the ground. The whole cavern trembled, as if the earth itself was rupturing.
“It’s really dead!” Zu An gasped for breath. To be honest, he wasn’t a hundred percent confident. He wasn’t sure if the Poisonous Prick would be effective against such a massive dragon.
This was a dragon, after all, and one with a terrifyingly high level of cultivation. It wouldn’t have been all that strange for the Poisonous Prick to fail. After all, the Poisonous Prick hadn’t worked against Zhang Han and the others in the dungeon.
But Zu An had still decided to stake it all on this. He figured that it probably didn’t work on Zhang Han and the others since they were already dead. No matter how ridiculously powerful this dragon was, it was still very much alive.
Of course, no matter how extraordinary the Poisonous Prick was, it still had its weaknesses. He might not be strong enough to wound the enemy with it.
In a normal fight, it would have been hard for him to even stab someone like Chen Xuan, let alone such a massive dragon who was much stronger.
That was why he decided to stand his ground, and try to kill this crimson dragon by taking its blow full on and surprising him in one hit.
His body had already experienced several instances of the Primordial Origin Sutra’s refinement, and his ability to recover was also astonishing. He had been willing to gamble that the dragon’s attack wouldn’t kill him.
He hadn’t expected Shang Liuyu’s jade pendant to activate.
When he recalled Shang Liuyu’s words regarding this pendant, a lingering fear welled up in him. The jade pendant had deduced that the strike would have been enough to take his life, which was why it had blocked the blow.
Mi Li’s furious roars echoed in his mind. “Do you know that you almost died just now? If it wasn’t for that treasure you had, my life would have been thrown away too...”
You have successfully trolled Mi Li for 444... 444... 444...
She was well and truly angry.
“But I’m still okay...” Zu An said shakily.
Mi Li’s soul body appeared. She looked at him, her face clouded over with anger.
Zu An tried to appease her, his voice tinged with embarrassment. “Come on, big sis empress, don’t be so mad, okay? I went a little too hard this time, but I’ll definitely be more careful next time...”
“As if there’ll be a next time! Do you think lives are meant to be toyed with like this? Do you still have another life saving treasure?” Mi Li scoffed.
“No...” Zu An replied weakly.
Despite it all, the jade pendant that Shang Liuyu had given him really was amazing. It could even block the strike of a massive dragon!
“Where did you get that thing anyway?” Mi Li asked curiously.
“A friend gave it to me.” Zu An roughly explained the situation with Shang Liuyu to her.
“Next time, ask her for a few more,” Mi Li ordered, as if this was something completely normal.
Zu An was utterly confused.
“This sort of treasure is incredibly precious! How can I be so shameless as to ask for more?”
Isn’t big sis empress a little too thick-skinned?
“So, the word ‘shame’ actually exists in your dictionary?” Mi Li grunted. “If you really feel too embarrassed, then make her your woman. Wouldn’t it be easier to get your hands on more of these then? Either way, I can already tell that you’re a complete womanizer.”
Zu An had no words.
Big sis empress, your words make so much sense that I can’t even argue with you.
Mi Li continued, “Hurry up and extract that red dragon’s inner core. That core is sure to be something extraordinary.”
Zu An walked up to the dragon. “This world has such a thing as inner cores?” he asked curiously.
In his encounter with those assrip wolves, he had tried searching them for some sort of inner core or magic stone, but he'd found nothing of that sort.
As if she had read his puzzlement, Mi Li explained, “Low level beasts don’t have any, but a dragon will definitely have one. This dragon should have already reached the master level.”
“Master level?” Zu An was stupefied. This is probably the first master-level cultivator I’ve ever met, right? I wonder what level Mi Li was when she was at her peak.
“It’s common knowledge that a beast is often stronger than a human of the same level,” Mi Li said. “That is why you shouldn’t underestimate it. A dragon with master-level strength might be something not even several grandmasters could deal with. I really didn’t expect it to fall under your treachery.”
Zu An’s eyes brightened. “This means I can tell others that I’ve killed a grandmaster level expert before! Ahem, ahem, no—I should say equivalent to a grandmaster. Doesn’t this mean that everyone else just sucks?”
“Can you please not?” Mi Li rolled her eyes. “Everyone will just think that you’re crazy, and if they don’t, you will only invite more trouble upon yourself. It will be a disaster.”
“I’m just happy, okay? Can’t you just let me run my mouth a little...” Zu An said resentfully. As he spoke, he followed Mi Li’s instructions and fished out the inner core.
The dragon was incredibly tough, and even its corpse wasn’t something an ordinary blade could cut through. Fortunately, he had this incredible Poisonous Prick.
The inner core was rose-colored, and even gave off a bit of heat.
“A master level inner core! This really is a rare and incredible treasure!” Mi Li said with a sigh of admiration.
It could be used to awaken a fire element, smelt weapons, or prepare medicine... This was definitely a top level item.
Mi Li glanced at the dragon’s corpse. “This dragon’s entire body is also a treasure. Alas, it’s too big, so we can’t bring it with us. It would be great if we had a spatial ring.”
But she shook her head right away. There were no spatial rings that could hold such a massive body.
They were interrupted by a sweet and seductive moan. Zu An smacked his head. “I almost forgot about her.”
The effects of the drug in Zheng Dan’s body had probably reached a peak. There was little chance that she hold out much longer.
He rushed over to support her. Zheng Dan’s body was boiling hot. He quickly sent a wave of cold energy into her body.
Zheng Dan mind cleared slightly. When she saw Zu An, she immediately pushed him away. “Don’t touch me!”
Zu An was left speechless.
Ma’am, what the hell?
“Ah Zu is already dead, so I have no desire to live anymore.” Zheng Dan said in distress. She reached out her hand and prepared to strike her own head.
Zu An jumped in alarm, and hurriedly stopped her. “Are you all right? I’m right here! Is your fever messing with your head?”
Zheng Dan stared hatefully at him. “Evil dragon, do not think that I will be deceived and obey you just because you assumed Ah Zu’s appearance after killing him!”
Zu An had never been struck so dumb in his life.