Vol 19 16-1
The power didn’t come without cost. The two slashes had inflicted Zheng’s arm with agonizing pain. Magic was in no way like refined Qi. It corroded any part of the body it passed through like strong acid. His meridian network was nearly broken down. The Dragon form could withstand Destruction for several minutes but still became damaged after using two hits with Magic.
“Bonus mission completed. Awarded two rank B rewards.”
While Zheng was shocked by Tiger’s Soul, the familiar voice of God sounded in his mind. He relaxed his arm despite the pain. The short battle had heavily worn his body. He felt like he had fought for days and nights already, exhausting every ability he had. Except that one ability that still only resided in his imagination. If he still couldn’t defeat the god after all this, he would be out of measures.
“What a scary prototype god.” Zheng sighed. He was starting to notice the god’s weakness. It showed almost zero combat techniques. Its attacks were energy blasts at range and smashes when near. The god had a mighty body and endless energy but only utilized thirty percent of its actual power. If it weren’t so limited, team China would have wiped in this movie.
The danger was finally over after all. With the rewards in hand, the mission was completed. Zheng let out a sigh of relief as he massaged his arm. He exited Destruction. When he was about to return to human form, he suddenly noticed the prototype god’s dead body was wiggling. These movements began since the time the crystal was destroyed.
Zheng thought it was a natural reaction of the dead body but as it wiggled, the body began to grow. The twenty meter long body had grown to forty meters and was still growing with increasing speed.
Zheng felt something was off when the ground began to shake. The shaking was becoming more and more intense. The ground started to crack and collapse.
His mind went blank for a second before he turned around and yelled to the rest of the group. “Bring out the Sky Sticks! This land is going to fall! What the heck were the Cultivators doing to let this land fall?” He didn’t get to finish his words as a giant slab of flesh rose behind him. It was the dead body of the prototype god that he killed with two slashes. The body didn’t wither with the lost of the crystal. Or was it that the crystal wasn’t its energy core? The flesh started to grow without limit and its mass was equivalent to an eighty meter humanoid. Zheng was buried inside the flesh.
The others moved hastily. The land they were standing on didn’t collapse but it was sinking along with the other piece of land. Eventually, this land would also fall into the lava below.
Xuan sighed as he watched. The Sky Tower was collapsing just like he had expected. The light enveloping the tower was gone, which meant the Cultivation manuals were waiting for them if they would just walk inside the tower. And perhaps there was also the truth to the secret of the war. However, these hopeful possibilities were popped like the bubbles of a dream with the traps set by the Saints of the West unraveled. It felt as though the Saints of the East were also jealous of the Cultivation manuals being inherited through the ages and didn’t act to protect them. Many people in the group came to realize why Xuan decided to use the Magic Cannon in the beginning. The risk was pointless if they were destined to obtain nothing.
The group stared at the slab of flesh while these thoughts crossed their minds, worrying whether Zheng could break away from it. After they took the Sky Sticks out, it failed to levitate no matter what they did. The Sky Stick appeared broken and became a regular skateboard.
Xuan grabbed his Sky Stick and shouted at Imhotep who was still in whirlwind form. “Imhotep! Take this up to the sky as high as you can! Hurry!” He threw the Sky Stick at Imhotep.
Jonathan and Anck-Su-Namun were inside the whirlwind. The power of faith from the Lambda Driver carried the Sky Stick into this whirlwind as Xuan’s voice reached the people inside. The whirlwind flew upward, drawing people’s attention away from the flesh. Xuan pinched his glasses and focused at the sky.
“700 meters... 800... 900... 1174.” The Sky Stick shot out from the whirlwind and flew away. Xuan shouted. “That’s it, Imhotep! Carry as many people as you can up there each time! At least one person needs to be able to control the Sky Stick. Put them on the Sky Sticks then come to retrieve the others.”
Imhotep replied with a shout. “It’s a sea of fire underneath us! We are almost down into the fire.” The whirlwind swept down.
(A round trip takes twenty four seconds. The falling acceleration is 2.25 m/s2, which means the land hasn’t completely lost its anti-gravity property. The distance from the lava is approximately five thousand meters. If we use this time to enter the Sky Tower...)
Two Gauss pistols slipped into Xuan’s hands. He said to Heng and the others, “Attack the flesh with your most powerful attack before you go. It’s nothing but a growing piece of meat without its central control system.”
He touched his glasses and fired at the flesh. A colorful light blasted from the pistols along with the bullets, penetrating the flesh and destroying the land on its path for another hundred meters before it stopped.
A figure flew out from a hole blasted by the lights. Zheng’s face was covered with blood. He cried, “Fucking Xuan! Are you trying to kill me?”
“Do you still want the Cultivation manuals? If you do...” Xuan yelled at him. “Then don’t die!”
“Don’t die? No~” Zheng saw Xuan aimed the pistols at him. Gorgeous light blasted him in the next instant and pushed him away, toward the Sky Tower which was no longer sealed by the silver light!