Chapter Forty-Five

The old village chief shook his head. "I've never heard of it." Cheng Yuan asked again, "Have you discovered any ruins, like temples?" "No," the chief replied. Cheng Yuan furrowed his brow. At least on the surface, this mountain didn't appear special.

Cheng Yuan fell into thought. The old village chief noticed his frown and couldn't help but ask, "Honored traveler, is there something strange about the mountain lord?" Cheng Yuan nodded. "You all consider the mountain lord an evil deity, but judging by his behavior, he is a god with the authority to kill—and that authority is strong, strong enough to openly resist a provincial-level army without being suppressed.”

Seeing the villagers’ bewildered faces, Cheng Yuan continued, “Gods like mountain spirits or river lords have their own code of conduct. Under normal circumstances, they don’t act beyond their stipulated powers. But the mountain lord here seems different from ordinary mountain gods. Besides the usual abilities, he has the power to kill—which is very unusual.”

He then looked at the old villager. “Either it was a murderous evil spirit from the beginning, and you simply worshipped it as a mountain god, and its ramblings conveniently matched its nature; or, it isn’t a normal mountain god at all—or at least not an ordinary one—and killing is within its true jurisdiction.”

The villagers were taken aback; either way, something felt wrong. Cheng Yuan clapped his hands, then turned to the old village chief. “You said the mountain lord fell into a deep sleep. What happened afterward? Any strange phenomena?”

The old chief thought for a moment. “There were many. First, some wild beasts began prowling and fighting in the mountains. When we went hunting, some even came down to the village for prey. It was quite dangerous, so we simply released our livestock into the wild. Strangely, ever since we did that, it hasn’t been so dangerous.”

Such phenomena weren’t unusual. Mountain gods were naturally protectors, and a mountain lord, once a tiger, was the king of the mountains. Becoming a mountain god gave it a powerful deterrent effect over mature monsters. Likewise, even a murderous evil deity could deter monsters—after all, no fool would trespass in a mountain haunted by a madman. Yet Cheng Yuan was more inclined to believe it was a mountain god, as evil deities didn’t shelter their followers.

Cheng Yuan said, “Next, I want to investigate a few things. If I’m lucky, we’ll understand why the mountain god can kill. But I’ll need a few guides.”

The old chief asked, puzzled, “What’s a guide?” Cheng Yuan waved his hand. “I need a few people to lead me through the mountain.” This, the old chief understood.

Outside the scenario, Wang Ningning stood with hands on her hips, a look of indescribable pride on her face, calling up to the fire dragon in the sky, “Come on, I can fight you for a whole day.” From the other side of the arena, an exasperated voice shouted, “Blaze, Flamethrower!” Wang Ningning gave a soft laugh as a pillar of fire struck the “egg” marked with glowing red lines. The great dragon was already belching black smoke, yet the eggshell remained unbroken.

Gradually, the crimson patterns on the shell grew even more vibrant. Liu Baitian felt his blood pressure rising. He’d always relied on his fire dragon, believing himself nearly invincible at this school. The inherent power of a dragon species meant that even if he did nothing, Blaze would be a champion by the college entrance exams, sweeping all before them.

Thus, he scorned raising other creatures. Relying on Blaze’s flight and fire breath, he had no weaknesses—close combat, ranged attacks, flight, all covered. No one of the same rank could defeat him. Yet he never expected to be upended by Wang Ningning, this imaginative girl. Fire gives birth to earth, halving the damage.

To deal with the problem of the eggshell overheating, Wang Ningning had the Muddy Turtle, with its water gun skill, spray high-temperature water whenever things got too hot, shifting from defense to offense, then refilling the water shield for cooling.

With the temperature issue solved, she used the Blazing Dominator Turtle’s advanced skill, the Molten Sigil Array, to absorb some of the fire’s energy, further reducing damage and storing it—when full, releasing a scorching fire stream.

Combined with the turtle’s high innate physical resistance and the Blazing Dominator’s 80% elemental resistance, it was already excessive—plus the Muddy Turtle’s water attribute cut fire damage by another fifty percent. For the first time, everyone present—from principal down to students—felt sickened. This was the definition of a “toxic” tactic: standing there, enduring your attacks, and what could you do about it?

There were ways to counter the eggshell, but Liu Baitian simply couldn’t manage it. He hadn’t taken the fight seriously at first. As the top student in the school, with his Fire Dragon about to ascend to champion status, he thought there was no way he could lose—a level 39 against two not-yet-level-15 hatchlings? One blast of fire should have finished them. Even if they could endure, for how long?

The Fire Dragon flapped its wings, eyes bloodshot. It was spraying fire until its throat smoked, but nothing worked. Its sharp senses could even hear the bored bubbles from within the shell—an utter humiliation.

After so long, the arena floor was melted through, and the temperature in the auditorium had risen by a degree or two, but it was useless. Wang Ningning kept her word: “I can drag this out all day.” Close combat had been attempted, but after Cheng Yuan’s little tiger had clawed through three defensive barriers in a single swipe, Wang Ningning had reinforced her defenses for just such an eventuality. Against this turtle shell, breaking one layer meant there were two more, and the level-12 Blazing Dominator Turtle could even learn Spirit Fire—a contact skill that inflicted a debilitating status effect.

If that hit, Liu Baitian might as well surrender—a passive burning condition that sapped health relentlessly, and even with fire resistance, it would gradually wear him down.

The match became a complete stalemate. The Blazing Dominator Turtle had no offensive capability, but the Fire Dragon couldn’t inflict any effective damage either. A nearly champion-level dragon fighting two hatchling turtles for an entire day—just saying it was humiliating.

Liu Baitian truly didn’t want to be embarrassed, but faced with such a counter, there was nothing he could do. Watching Wang Ningning’s cheerful face, he clenched his fists. Admit defeat? Impossible. He could outlast her for a whole day too. For the first time, Liu Baitian discovered his own weakness. On the surface, he was an all-rounder, but from another angle, he had no real strengths.

Thinking back on his strategies: when faced with an aerial advantage, he’d fly over and engage in close combat; against ranged suppression, he’d close in for melee; against melee, he’d simply fly and attack from a distance.

If only his close combat or ranged attacks were stronger—if he had the superior Infernal Dragon’s Breath, he could flood the arena with fire and end it in one go. Or, with the advanced Scorching Dragon Claw, he could have ripped those turtles out in a single strike. But everything fell just a bit short. Watching the ever-brightening Molten Sigil Array, he could clearly sense the Blazing Dominator Turtle improving, little by little, with each bout.