Chapter 354: When the Flame Rekindles in the Eyes of the Snake King Dragon—
”Crack—Crack—Crack—”
The ancient skull of the Snake King Dragon emitted crisp yet prolonged cracking sounds, like a countdown.
The long-decayed overgrowth was being crushed under the weight of its upper jaw, as if a watermelon crushing sesame seeds.
”Boom!”
The sesame seeds were quickly crushed, and the Snake King Dragon seemed to awaken. Its massive jaws unhinged from their locked position, rapidly closing down on the creature still inside.
The upper and lower teeth sealed shut again, like an insurmountable chasm dividing the Flame King Dragon inside the skull from the Extinction Dragon outside.
”Bang!”
The Flame King Dragon slammed into the Snake King Dragon’s teeth, falling onto the shaking lower jawbone. Unable to suppress his explosive power, flames erupted with a blast, sweeping through all directions.
But these directions were confined within the Snake King Dragon’s mouth, and the Flame King Dragon’s supernova only served to clean away the accumulated detritus of ages past.
However, the gaps between the teeth and the eye sockets became the few exits for the supernova.
The Extinction Dragon, who was also outside, pressed against the skull’s eye socket, sensing the intense impact transmitted through the cranium. Feeling uneasy, she hastily retreated.
Just then, flames ferociously flowed out from the Snake King Dragon’s eye sockets, accompanied by fiery light escaping through the gaps in its teeth, as if determined to punish any monster daring to covet its bones.
The Flame King Dragon’s supernova fire became the resurrection fire of the Snake King Dragon.
”Truly spectacular!”
And Jié Jié, the instigator of all this, was now outside, marveling at the wrathful undead spectacle.
Releasing a supernova in such a confined space could potentially injure even the Flame King Dragon trapped within. Had he stayed inside, no matter what form he took, he’d surely be hit hard.
Thus, after tugging on the Snake King Dragon’s skull, he swiftly leaped out through its eye socket.
”Hoooowwwl!”
Jié Jié turned his head and saw the Extinction Dragon growling at the Snake King Dragon’s skull, seemingly scared but unwilling to leave.
Upon closer inspection, the eye sockets of the Snake King Dragon’s skull were large enough for a Queen Mantis to enter and exit, but far too small for any large flying dragon.
This meant that perhaps the Flame King Dragon would finally meet a truly peaceful death, imprisoned within the Snake King Dragon’s skull, no longer affecting the Valley of Miasma.
Indeed, the Snake King Dragon’s skull was a natural trap, and it wasn’t even the largest one in the Valley of Miasma.
The largest Snake King Dragon skeleton was entwined around the base pillar of the Coral Land Plateau, almost completely fused with the decaying coral corpses, making it both unusable and utterly unwise to use.
Only when the fire in the Snake King Dragon’s eye sockets faded did Jié Jié dare to approach the edge of the eye socket, deftly dodging the Flame King Dragon’s claw swiping toward him.
He saw the Flame King Dragon crouching near the inner edge of the eye socket, clearly peering out of the only window of its prison, contemplating how to escape.
New tissue structures had fallen off during the previous explosion, swirling around the eye socket in a dusty state.
”Boom!”
Amidst the violent explosion, the Snake King Dragon’s eye sockets lit up with light once more.
How could the light of the eyes harm the eye sockets? The sockets remained intact, not shattered like ordinary bones.
Even after so much time, the whorled bones of the Snake King Dragon remained as hard as ever, showing no signs of decay.
This material seemed even harder than steel.
Jié Jié grew increasingly excited, planning to follow the Snake King Dragon’s spine downward to see which bones could be removed.
After taking a few steps, he was blocked by the Extinction Dragon, her suspicious gaze meeting his. She obviously recognized him.
It was clear that recalling her many defeats at his hands, she wanted to fight him.
But due to those experiences, she knew she couldn’t win, yet still approached him begrudgingly, knowing full well she couldn’t beat him.
Such behavior made her look downright annoying.
Jié Jié glared at her as he strode forward.
”Hoooowwwl!”
The Extinction Dragon roared, unable to restrain herself as Jié Jié drew nearer, leaping aside to let him pass.
Growing increasingly frustrated, the Extinction Dragon decided to chase him… just for a couple of steps!
When Jié Jié looked back, the Extinction Dragon had already stopped chasing and was instead studying how to open the Snake King Dragon’s skull, lying prone at the eye socket and glaring intensely at the Flame King Dragon inside.
One dragon wanting to go in, another wanting to come out—tsk tsk tsk.
He stopped at the fan-like blades on the Snake King Dragon’s back, tapping the mantis arms, pulling silk threads until that section of the skeleton began to shake. He then tore off a piece of moderate size following the texture of the years.
This wouldn’t do; if the Snake King Dragon’s skeleton were to be used for constructing the Ruin City, it could only be done by drastically modifying the entire skeleton?
It sounded cool, but the workload would be enormous.
Still, a road connecting the Valley of Miasma and the Golden Land could be opened first.
Recalling his current form capable of quickly carving out roads underground, the Old Mountain Dragon might be worth trying.
Building a road from the Valley of Miasma to the Golden Land was difficult, but doing it the other way around was easy, due to the difference in scale between the two.
Flying out of the Valley of Miasma and back to the Golden Land, Jié Jié transformed into the colossal Old Mountain Dragon amidst the astonished gazes of Iron Pot and Nana.
Iron Pot hovered above his head, while Nana jumped onto the Old Mountain Dragon’s back, curiously stomping around and marking territory using the scent glands on her claws.
Jié Jié glanced back briefly before charging towards the direction of the Valley of Miasma.
Rock layers were pulverized and splashed backward, being pushed outward as he advanced further, causing them to press against each other.
Iron Pot and Nana returned to the Golden Land, as getting too close to the epicenter would significantly affect them.
The underground rock layers weren’t solid; they contained numerous fissures that would be flattened as the Old Mountain Dragon advanced.
The fissures didn’t disappear; they merely shifted, merging into a path wide enough for the Old Mountain Dragon to proceed.
Crushing rocks to create openings, then slowly drilling in to expand the space, he thus became the epicenter of an earthquake.
Fortunately, the wasteland’s underground terrain was filled with folds, and this purpose-driven earthquake primarily smoothed out these underground folds without causing catastrophic effects on the surface.
Even if it did cause some impact, it was limited to the northern wasteland’s rocky zones and the Grand Canyon area—minor issues.
Today, he advanced two kilometers. Time to rest. This was a long-term project; whenever he felt inspired, he’d work on it a bit. No rush.
…
On the surface, the Dragon People Tribe hunter and the Master of the Plains staggered as they regrouped.
”The earthquakes in this area are strange. Every day at this time, there’s an earthquake lasting about three hours.”
The Dragon People Tribe hunter documented his experiences, hoping future investigation teams would explore this region.
”It should have been over ten years now. If nothing unexpected happens, reinforcements should arrive soon. When do you plan to return?”
The Master of the Plains dodged a rolling boulder and asked for his thoughts.
”Your keen perception is valued by everyone. You should occasionally return to update our equipment, providing us with greater convenience for long-term exploration.”
”Let’s wait a bit longer. There’ve been too many problems in this area recently.”
The Dragon People Tribe hunter hesitated and shook his head.
”The Flame King Dragon flew overhead, and then there was that unknown Ancient Dragon. I remember in one past sighting record, I saw an abnormally sized Male Fire Dragon transform into him.”
”This area suddenly started experiencing regular earthquakes, and there’s also…”
His perception.
”Alright, then I’ll accompany you a bit further. At least we’ll reach the scenery below the Grand Canyon this time.”
