Chapter 297
Feeling the incredibly dense fire-elemental energy in the sky, Zhou Qi found it somewhat familiar.
“It feels like the spatial rift at the center of Desolate City,” he said.
Tang Yu’an’s eyes lit up. “You mean there’s a spatial rift nearby?”
“It’s very likely,” Zhou Qi replied.
“Then shall we go look for it?”
The Fire Dragon active period might be caused by a spatial rift opening, just like the flood disaster in Desolate City. If there really was a rift nearby, it should be in an open state.
Zhou Qi hesitated for a moment, but seeing how excited Tang Yu’an was, he nodded.
So, under the cover of the shadow umbrella, they released their spiritual sense and carefully sensed the surrounding changes.
It didn’t take long for them to detect something unusual in the sky. Exchanging a glance, they decisively flew upward.
The temperature in the air grew hotter and hotter. Even with the shadow umbrella, it couldn’t completely shield them. Fortunately, Zhou Qi raised a protective barrier just in time.
It was a fire-energy barrier, capable of absorbing fire-elemental energy and converting it into Zhou Qi’s own power.
Despite wearing clothing made of temperature-resistant fabric, the exposed skin still felt the discomfort of the intense heat.
With the barrier cutting off the fire energy, Tang Yu’an finally felt some relief.
They flew higher and higher.
The world around them seemed to become a sea of flames. Even though they were ascending, it felt like they were falling into magma.
No—it didn’t feel like magma…
They were in magma!
Surrounded by bright red, searing light and fluid-like matter that looked almost solid, Tang Yu’an’s eyes widened in shock.
The air seemed to thin out, so he quickly took out a wind-element crystal.
“Brother Qi, can you still hold on?” Tang Yu’an asked worriedly.
Things seemed to be getting worse. Without Zhou Qi’s protective barrier, would they be melted by this magma-like substance?
“If it’s too much, we can go back.”
Though he was curious about whether there really was a spatial rift above them, curiosity could kill the cat—and Tang Yu’an valued his life more.
“I’m fine,” Zhou Qi said. “We’ve come this far. Let’s keep going.”
Besides…
“I think we might’ve already passed through the rift.”
“What?”
Tang Yu’an was surprised. But looking at the blinding, flame-like fluid around them, Zhou Qi’s guess might just be right.
He suddenly remembered something and quickly opened the map. Sure enough—Flame Dragon Home had vanished from the terrain display, and everything was shrouded in mist.
This looked eerily similar to when they first crossed into another dimension through a spatial rift…
Tang Yu’an zoomed the map out, and then—
“We really made it to the Giant Plane!”
To their northeast, a patch of mist had been lifted—it was the interdimensional teleportation point they had previously established!
Shan Feng and Sasa’s location markers also appeared.
Which meant, right now, there was a spatial rift above Flame Dragon Home?
“Don’t tell me we’re actually in magma right now?”
If that was true, and the rift continued to expand, with magma flooding in like the waters in Desolate City… could anything around Flame Dragon Fortress survive?
Just imagining that hellish scene made Tang Yu’an shiver, despite the extreme heat surrounding him.
And based on Gan Lin’s earlier descriptions, there might be multiple spatial rifts above Flame Dragon Fortress.
Because the flames in the sky during the Fire Dragon’s active period didn’t always cover the same area—they moved around randomly.
It couldn’t be that a single spatial rift was jumping between locations, right?
Thinking about this, Tang Yu’an was once again sharply reminded: they were living in a post-apocalyptic world.
Even though their home had been initially established, crises still loomed everywhere—disaster could strike at any time.
“This is terrifying…” he murmured.
Zhou Qi nodded, his expression growing serious. “We need Old Mo to speed up and extend the protective barrier further.”
“Yeah, and we need to finish the road quickly, too. Connect Flame Dragon Settlement with Desolate City.
That way, if the spatial rift ever grows too large and starts flooding magma into this world, the people of Flame Dragon Settlement could still evacuate to Desolate City.
Otherwise, if the land around Flame Dragon Settlement gets buried in lava, they won’t be able to expand at all—they’d be trapped inside the barrier until they died—
Unless he activated the teleportation array.
But their core belief had always been to avoid over-relying on system power. So the land route still had to be built.
Once the thought crossed his mind, Tang Yu’an immediately sent a road construction task to Old Li, asking him to organize a construction team to build a road to Flame Dragon Fortress. Then he sent another task to Old Mo to expand the territory and dedicate it to the God of Commerce.
After issuing the tasks, he looked outside and asked, “Should we keep flying up?”
Just then, Tang Yu’an saw something flash by outside—and the magma around them began to churn.
Zhou Qi instinctively pulled Tang Yu’an into his arms.
A massive force swept them up, rolling them around like when they’d once fallen into the deep sea. They tumbled helplessly through the searing magma.
Thankfully, Zhou Qi held the fire-energy shield firmly.
And Tang Yu’an quickly cast a Blessing of Light on both of them, a skill that could block one fatal injury.
Fortunately, before long, they stabilized and stopped spinning—but now they were completely lost.
“Brother Qi, can you still sense where the spatial rift is?” Tang Yu’an asked.
Zhou Qi shook his head.
In this scorching magma, the fire-elemental energy had reached its peak—so intense that it was impossible to tell which direction had slightly thinner energy. Moreover…
“We need to figure out a way to get out of here—fast.”
Although Zhou Qi could absorb and convert fire energy, his body had a limit to how much power it could contain. If this continued, his dantian might explode from the overload.
“Let’s fly upward!”
Even though they were surrounded by magma, gravity was still working, so they could still tell which way was up.
“Okay!”
Tang Yu’an retracted the shadow umbrella and said, “Brother Qi, get on my back!”
His flying skill was stronger than Zhou Qi’s, and since Zhou Qi needed to maintain the protective barrier, it was better not to split his focus.
But Zhou Qi shook his head. “I’ll just hold onto you.”
Given how dangerous things were, Tang Yu’an didn’t argue. “Then don’t cast your flying spell.”
“Mm.”
So Tang Yu’an wrapped his arms around Zhou Qi’s waist, then summoned the power of wind and shot upward at high speed.
They clung tightly together, like a small projectile zipping through magma.
But midway up, that turbulent force struck again!
They were hit by a powerful impact, tumbling through the magma several times before they finally came to a stop.
Tang Yu’an looked up and saw Zhou Qi’s forehead drenched in sweat, his face flushed red—clearly, he was nearing his limit.
This couldn’t go on.
Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in Tang Yu’an’s mind.
“Brother Qi, I want to try the Thousand-Faced Cloak!”
“What?”
“I want to transform into a giant with it!” Tang Yu’an said excitedly. “Giants have anti-magic constitutions—they can’t be burned alive in magma!”
During their travels with Shan Feng, they’d seen this firsthand.
Not only were magical attacks ineffective against him, but he was fireproof, couldn’t drown in water, and even mutated metals couldn’t cut his skin. (Though they later found out refined artificial metals could still hurt him.)
In any case, giants weren’t afraid of fire!
Especially this magma, which was made of condensed fire-elemental energy. In theory, it shouldn’t be able to harm a giant.
Zhou Qi frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Even if the magma can’t hurt a giant, it might damage the Thousand-Faced Cloak.”
And the risk was too high—what if the transformation didn’t include the giant’s anti-magic constitution?
While the cloak allowed temporary use of a target’s abilities, their strength was greatly reduced.
Zhou Qi wasn’t willing to take that gamble.
Seeing that he couldn’t convince him, Tang Yu’an had to give up. He kept holding onto Zhou Qi and continued flying upward. But suddenly, they collided with something solid.
A rock in the magma?
Tang Yu’an recalled catching a glimpse of something earlier—but what else, aside from a giant, could survive in magma without melting?
He was about to retreat with Zhou Qi when—suddenly—an eye opened in the blazing magma right in front of him!
It startled him so much he almost yelped.
Fighting his fear, he instinctively tried to pull Zhou Qi away—but in the next moment, the magma around them began churning again.
They were once again thrown into chaos, spinning wildly from the impact.
But this time was different. When they finally stopped tumbling, they realized something was holding them up.
Their bodies were rapidly rising upward.
Eventually, the surface carrying them broke free from the magma, the red-hot liquid sliding off in sheets.
Zhou Qi exhaled slightly in relief.
Though he didn’t dare lower the fire shield yet, the pressure on it had decreased significantly.
But before they could even breathe easy, their hearts suddenly leapt into their throats—because they saw…
The “platform” lifting them was actually a gigantic hand!
The reason they hadn’t recognized it at first—
Was because this wasn’t a giant’s hand.
This “hand” was covered in dense scales. In front of them were several finger-like columns, ridged and grooved, each tipped with long, sharp claws slightly curled inward.
Rather than a hand, it was more like… a claw.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi both swallowed hard.
They slowly turned their heads—and saw a pair of enormous eyes studying them. The eyes had crimson vertical pupils—definitely not human.
Fortunately, although the eyes were terrifying, the gaze they gave was filled with clear curiosity.
Tang Yu’an and Zhou Qi cautiously extended their spiritual senses—and finally saw the full form of the massive creature.
They were stunned, because it seemed to be…
“A dragon?” Tang Yu’an murmured.
He was just so shocked he blurted it out—but right as he spoke, a deep, unfamiliar voice echoed around him.
“Oh? You can speak Draconic?”
