Chapter 146: Coral Land Plateau.
Even if the ocean dries up and they adapt to terrestrial life, the land corals stretching their bodies in the sky still retain a moist nature.
This dampness, together with the rock crevices of coral and the repeated sedimentation of life, forms the soil where plants can grow.
A group of female coral birds surround a male coral bird to build families in the grass, their butterfly-like wings fluttering to leave afterimages as they fly about during this warm breeding season.
It’s truly a bit chaotic.
Jie Jie awakens, lying on the ground, wide-eyed at this spectacle of chaos.
But some individuals merely passing by disrupt this polygamous party.
The air begins to fill with tangible electric charges, causing any friction to lead to spasms interrupting activities.
That majestic figure merely walks by, and the coral birds can only fall from the sky, hiding in the grass.
The sunny weather darkens slightly, Jie Jie curiously raises his head, seeing flashes of lightning among the clouds.
Compared to storms, tsunamis, and skies full of miasma, the distant storm clouds seem harmless like the walking figure.
What virtue does he possess? Just climbing out of the Valley of Miasma, he encounters an Ancient Dragon again.
The raised cactus clusters catch the attention of that majestic figure, locking eyes with Jie Jie.
There’s no need for battle upon meeting gazes; all Jie Jie feels is peace and harmony.
Compared to other ancient dragons seen before, this one isn’t much larger than a Scratcher Bird, quite small.
But this small size doesn’t signify weakness—it represents the containment of calamitous power under this calm and harmonious exterior.
Perhaps.
Recalling how thunder couldn’t harm the Golden Lion, and the foolish colt engaging in close combat had its horn broken by the Golden Lion, Jie Jie places a “?” on it.
The ancient dragon before him appears to have the body of a steed, blue-white with a streak of black running across, silver-white fur flowing from the edges of its cheeks, visible currents flashing through it, extremely dignified.
On its forehead stands a spiraling jade-like horn, seemingly connected to the thunderclouds in the sky.
This monster has a noble name.
Qí Lín.
Indeed, he himself is aloof and pure, disliking conflict, feeding solely on morning dew.
Jie Jie rises with battle intent.
Having heard tales of the delicious horns of Qí Lín, seeing them now, why should I not desire what the Golden Lion enjoys?
However, a bolt of blue lightning accompanied by a flash strikes down, instinctively making him close his eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the Qí Lín before him disappears.
He vaguely remembers the trajectory of the lightning, not towards him, but towards itself.
Simultaneously, another azure thunderbolt falls above the plateau, the storm clouds moving away with the sound of galloping hooves.
“H? Instantaneous movement?”
Isn’t instantaneous movement used by the Qí Lín whose horn was broken by the Golden Lion to escape? Why use it upon our first encounter?
Jie Jie leaps from the ground, chasing after the direction the Qí Lín left.
He thought, with the storm clouds as markers, it would be easy to find. But the clouds disappeared into the layers of the sky instantly.
Apparently, stupid colts fight underground and against super monsters in close combat, while smart ones know how to strategically retreat and continue their leisurely lives.
Jie Jie looks around the sky without seeing the Qí Lín, finally choosing to fly towards the higher parts of the plateau.
Itching for a fight, the energy within the Spiny Dragon needs digestion.
Breaking through the clouds in the middle layer of the Coral Land Plateau, he reaches the upper part.
Compared to the lower layer, the sunlight here, under the high-altitude airflow, seems cooler, and the monsters capable of residing here far surpass those below.
The dark green figure is obviously a huge target in the air, and the slender Wind Drift Dragon directly rushes towards Jie Jie with freezing winds from its chest.
Its pair of wings carries powerful claws, clearly aiming to ride onto his back and knock him down.
Angrily flapping his wings, carrying wind pressure, he collides upwards, sending the Wind Drift Dragon flying out of the air, leaving many toxic blood spots on its body.
With its balance disrupted, the Wind Drift Dragon plummets downward, trying to regroup, but the toxin already spreads through its delicate glands via the bloodstream, making it unable to rise again.
Jie Jie chooses not to use breath weapons but instead folds his wings and dives heavily downwards.
The destructive weight of the Spiny Dragon ends the Wind Drift Dragon’s life instantly.
“Grunt!”
“Grunt!”
In the sky, multiple Wind Drift Dragons approach, emitting sharp roars towards Jie Jie in succession.
Wind Drift Dragons have strong territorial awareness but do not target their own kind. On the contrary, they tend to band together to exclude outsiders.
This tendency allows them to suppress the stronger Cherry Fire Dragons of the same species, becoming the true ecological dominators of the Coral Land Plateau.
This tendency also reminds him of the Fire Dragons he keeps, wondering how they are doing now.
“Roar!”
The Lord of the Tree Sea responds to the roars of the Coral Land Plateau’s dominators, his emerald body tinged with angry reddish-brown.
The high-altitude air flows beneath his wings, breaking through the cold winds to bring warmth to these exclusive Wind Drift Dragons.
Although Wind Drift Dragons possess Ice Bags organs, they lack breath weapon abilities. These ice bags connect to numerous glands in their bodies, secreting highly freezing fluids that solidify on their surfaces.
These icicles dance with the wind when they flap their wings, forming biting cold winds with considerable killing power.
But due to these delicate glands, Wind Drift Dragons are extremely fragile against toxins.
If Jie Jie’s Intense Poison Breath hits, it will surely cause a Wind Drift Dragon to scream and plummet from the sky.
Too easy cannot effectively digest energy. Upon discovering the vulnerability of Wind Drift Dragons to poison besides storms, Jie Jie stops using breath weapons altogether and opts for melee combat against the cold winds.
Under the Steel Dragon宝玉’s wind control, his Strong and Powerful wings harmonize perfectly with gentle winds, allowing the Spiny Dragon to rampage in the sky as if standing on the ground.
The slender bodies of Wind Drift Dragons can’t withstand a collision, and their delicate glands cannot resist the toxic spines of the Spiny Dragon.
Wind Drift Dragons scatter and fall from the sky, roaring bravely but cowardly inside, leaving behind several corpses before fleeing.
Without the obstruction of Wind Drift Dragon groups, Jie Jie sees the dead sea of land corals in the clear sky.
Through continuous growth, nutrients rising from the Valley of Miasma can hardly reach here anymore. Most land corals are restricted in height, dying corals turn to ash, becoming snow-like powder over years of high-altitude winds blowing.
Old land corals are shattered by the wind, lower-level corals grow unclearly, life constantly pushing towards the death line, attempting to break through.
Death and rebirth intertwine at this boundary, rolling endlessly, scattering ashes of countless failures and eggs of new corals, creating a turbulent sea of death.
Falling coral ash becomes food for peculiar aerial creatures here—those floating on air currents, such as Flying Hat Ghosts, Devil Rays, and rare Cloud Moon Skies.
Eggs land in coral crevices, expanding coral territory horizontally.
Nutrients supplied by the Valley of Miasma vary greatly, leading to diverse land coral species. In this sea of death, there float isolated islands and even mountain ranges continuing to pile upward from the ashes.
This is the upper level of the Coral Land Plateau.
~~~~~
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