The Heavens: A Qing, the Yue Girl at the beginning

Chapter 496: Layout, Fierce Battle (6k)

Just as Ronald was about to launch his hang glider to escape from the area that was about to become the center of the storm, the surrounding environment suddenly became more bizarre and tense. The originally quiet night breeze was pulled by the distant sword energy and became manic and restless.

Snow particles and gravel on the ground flew up, forming small tornadoes that raged around the crater. The surface of the Teardrop Pool was no longer calm. The thin ice that originally covered it crackled under the ravages of the strong wind, and cracks spread, eventually shattering.

The lake water was rolling with hot steam. The lake on the top of the mountain was boiling due to geothermal heat, making a "hissing" sound and evaporating a large amount of water vapor. The light of the gold coins was looming under the churning water, as if it had become an insignificant embellishment in this catastrophe.

Ronald looked into the distance and saw that the sword beams were no longer simple light and shadow. They cut through the air like substance. Wherever they passed, the clouds were split in two, revealing the deep night sky behind them. The bright moon became dim and the entire crater was shrouded in a thick shadow.

He could clearly feel that it was not just visual darkness, but also mental oppression, as if an invisible hand was slowly tightening, binding him inescapably. However, it was not aimed at him, but someone else.

"Be careful, there is a lot of CO2 coming out of the lake, we need to go to higher ground." In the headset, the "old immortal" quickly reminded: "As for the rest, the danger is not big, no need to worry. I mentioned to you before that in this era, I have made some new Taoist friends on the Internet..."

"You mean, you know this mighty swordsman?" Thinking of the countdown, Ronald pondered in his heart and asked, "What exactly is going on? Could it be that this sudden rain of swords is intended to strike at the organizer of the expedition?"

"How can a normal exploration competition have such generous rewards and allow or even encourage attacks on each other, regardless of life or death? You should understand the nature behind this."

The old immortal sighed and replied, "Punishing evil and eradicating evil is the duty of practitioners like me. This incident was actually a righteous wrath launched by many hidden masters against those organizers who manipulated the event, gambled with human nature, and were greedy."

"I insisted on letting you participate in this preliminaries. In addition to tempering your will, I also wanted to provide relevant information to fellow Taoists... And the prize money you were originally going to receive for entering the competition will not be reduced by even a single point. It will be given back to you in another form as a reward for your brave participation."

As the old immortal explained, Ronald's doubts gradually became clear, but the scene before him left him no time to think. He quickly ran away from the path he had come from, climbed up the steep mountain wall, and decided to spread his glider as soon as possible and fly to a safe area.

The camp at the foot of the mountain, which was supposed to be the command center of the expedition, now became an isolated island in the eye of the storm. Flames rose from all around the camp. It was the Patriotic Missile System that the organizers had urgently activated to try to intercept the sword energy that fell from the sky and penetrated everywhere.

However, even if the PAC-3 missile was accelerated to the extreme, its speed and maneuverability were far inferior to the attacking sword, let alone a close-range emergency interception where the radar was almost ineffective?

The sword light was seen as a dragon playing in the water, lightly shuttling between the clumsy tracking trajectories of the Patriot missiles. Every intersection was accompanied by a deafening explosion, but it was never truly blocked, but rather unilaterally and absolutely suppressed.

The scene inside the camp was even more horrific. The solid bunkers collapsed in an instant like fragile sand castles under the ravages of the sword energy; the heavy armored vehicles, these steel behemoths on land, were also easily pierced and torn apart, turning into piles of twisted metal wreckage.

Flames shot up into the sky, thick smoke blocked out the sun, and the entire camp was shrouded in a thick layer of black smoke. The air was filled with the smell of burning and destruction, making people suffocate. The camp area between the South Sister Volcano and the Middle Sister Volcano seemed to have turned into a huge furnace.

After the first batch of colorful sword energy with faster speed fell and cleared out a large number of enemies, the next red-gold sword energy spread on the surface, blending with the fire energy accumulated under the volcano, rushing out and turning into a blazing wave, completely imitating the killing power of a lava flow.

"Interception failed! The target is too fast to be locked! Repeat, interception failed!"

Desperate cries continued to be heard in the communication channel. The commander's voice became hoarse due to tension and anxiety. They watched helplessly as their defense lines were breached one by one, but they were unable to do anything.

The third and fourth groups of missiles were launched one after another, but still failed to achieve any results. Those sword beams were like messengers of death, unstoppable and irresistible.

In this moment of despair and chaos, the organizers did not sit idly by. Among them, there were mixed-bloods with powerful bloodlines who were well versed in the power of words and spirits, and tried to use it to reverse the situation.

"Xuanshui!" After a temporary injection of "evolution medicine", a captain-level figure suddenly opened his blazing golden eyes, shouted loudly, and the power of words burst out instantly.

I saw the water vapor that was originally evaporated by the high temperature quickly condensed and turned into gray mist. Then, bean-sized raindrops poured down with amazing speed and dissolving power, rushing straight towards the raging flames and sword energy, but unfortunately they returned in vain.

Most of the helicopters that were hovering on the mountainside to observe the race had already crashed. Only one hybrid who was trying his best to release the Word Spirit of the Dustless Land was still struggling to hold on, trying to continue to stabilize the posture of the fuselage and rotors. As a result, tiny beads of blood kept overflowing from the corners of his eyes, and he eventually ran out of control.

This was not the organizer's final trump card. Almost at the same time, two long and ancient horn sounds rang out from a side peak of the Middle Sister Volcano, accompanied by an earth-shaking dragon roar, penetrating the noise and chaos, and making the entire battlefield quiet.

Then, the black setting sun suddenly appeared in the sky, and a black and red horse leaped out.

It was clad in heavy cast iron armor, and it carried a knight also wearing an iron armor on its back. The knight carried a scepter with a flag hanging on one shoulder and a forty-meter-long sword on the other. It seemed as if he was going to take all the lives on earth.

The other was a pale green warhorse, wearing rusty bronze armor, and carrying a knight also wearing bronze armor. The knight held a giant sickle in his hand that was no less long than the former. There was a cold gray mist around his body, and there seemed to be countless ghosts wailing inside.

"They also said they would provide information about the remaining members of the Temple. It turns out they have been colluding with each other for a long time..."

Several kilometers away, deep in the clouds, Zhao Qing glanced down at Ronald Tang who had just climbed up the cliff of the crater. He slowly put away his sword and calmly watched the appearance of the two dragon knights. He sensed the sudden elemental turbulence between heaven and earth, but he was not surprised.

……

As mentioned before, the so-called "old immortal" has always been a fake identity that Zhao Qing used to fool Old Tang. In other words, Ronald Tang is the person she thinks can investigate the volcano competition, but this does not mean that she cannot go to the scene in person to cause trouble.

Although she had to let Old Tang blend in with the many contestants, it did not prevent her from taking the initiative to attack. She came over specially to kill a lot of enemies to vent her anger that her previous enemies always escaped in advance. At the same time, through the strategy of strike and run, she created a chaotic situation and obscured the sight of the forces behind the event.

Ronald Tang, also known as Norton, the King of Bronze and Fire, was originally hatched in the Three Gorges, but for some reason he came to Country M and was adopted as a Chinese American. This undoubtedly hides many conspiracies and cannot be without external intervention.
It is basically certain that Old Tang was specially transferred to New York and has been under the surveillance of certain dark forces. Even his "life" was arranged from beginning to end and was full of carefully designed meanings.

Whether it was the adoptive parents who died young, the bullying and exclusion suffered in middle school that led to his inferiority complex and his desire for family and friendship, or his journey as a bounty hunter, where he often encountered dragon relics but never awakened his bloodline, most of them were under the close scrutiny and intervention of thousands of eyes.

Zhao Qing used a purely online method to contact Ronald Tang, guiding him to practice and increase his strength, and used "free air tickets" and other methods to come to this place. She must have already attracted the other party's attention, but no traces of her have been found yet.

Assuming that the organizer of the "Volcano Exploration Competition" here has some contact with the surveillance party, its top management will certainly conduct multiple tests on Old Tang's changes during this period. Through this channel, Zhao Qing intends to fabricate a shocking illusion:

Norton awakened the Dragon King's memory and took the initiative to break free from his control.

The specific method is to imitate the scene in which the Fire King wakes up and shows his prowess, kills countless enemies on the field, and then escapes and disappears. When the enemy's high-ranking officials learn of this, they will surely be uneasy and send their men to search everywhere, thus exposing their tracks.

As the King of Bronze and Fire, it is only natural for him to awaken and regain his strength in the area of ​​volcanoes.

As long as the enemies still care about the Dragon King's authority and want to seize the Dragon Bone Cross and absorb the power within it, they will be lured out one by one in Zhao Qing's subsequent plans, revealing a lot of information and weaknesses.

Before this, the hidden enemy relied on their advantage of being in the dark, always creating troubles to lead Zhao Qing's side and seize the initiative. But as long as this plan goes smoothly, the situation will be reversed. She will control the current situation, press forward step by step, and suppress them.

As for Old Tang himself, he naturally had to escape, disguise himself and assume another identity, and stay in a safe place; and as for the matter of the volcano exploration competition, he would just have to recruit some individual players to transform themselves and "load" their skills, and that would be about it.

……

While Zhao Qing was thinking and calculating the enemy's subsequent reaction, the elemental turbulence of the entire volcanic group quickly condensed and formed, expanding into two huge areas. The strong wind that was strong enough to uproot trees blew her clothes, but it could not hinder the speed of her sword attacks at all.

High up on the peaks of the Middle Sister Volcano, two giant dragons nearly 20 meters in length flapped their wings and flew high, chanting the grand and long dragon script with the riders on them. The pressure like a mountain covered an area of ​​dozens of kilometers, and wind, rain, thunder and lightning rose and fell in the area.

It seems that these two dragon knights who were left behind because the Temple was stationed outside are not only not weak, but also top-notch, capable of suppressing one side, and they obviously have good coordination with each other, one uses defense as offense, and the other uses offense as defense.

"When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come!' Then another horse came out, a red horse. And power was given to the one sitting on it to take peace from the earth, so that people would kill one another. And he was given a great sword..."

“When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and behold, a green horse. The one sitting on it was called Death, and Hades was following him. He was given power…”

In the ancient and profound chanting of the Book of Revelation, the spiritual word "Saha World" descended quietly with an irresistible force. In an instant, the entire space seemed to be swallowed by a layer of invisible and distorted light and shadow, turning into a mysterious realm full of strange lights and illusions. The sword light and the flame lost their original trajectory in this psychedelic realm. They were either stretched and distorted, like reflections in a mirror, or flickered, as elusive as ghosts.

Around the dragon's body where the war knight sat, the originally hard basalt gradually lost its solid restraints in the thunder and fire, turned into hot magma, and quickly solidified into pieces of black and red, high-temperature flowing molten armor, tightly wrapping them and the knight on their backs.

The Death Knight swung the Grim Reaper's scythe in his hand and released an ultra-high-level word spirit - the Ice Emperor.

Countless ice crystals condensed in his domain, whistling into a whirlwind, forming a sea of ​​death. Like a sharp blade, driven by the wind, it swept towards the sword light and flames.

When the giant dragon in the knight's illusion flew over the towering mountain ridges, the surface of the glacier, which was hundreds of meters thick and weighed millions of tons, suddenly shattered. Ice crystals flew everywhere and re-condensed in mid-air into ice blades with sharp chains. They circled and danced, shuttling back and forth, and burst out with an attack that tore through the air and split the air.

"Well done!"

Seeing the actions of the two dragon knights, Zhao Qing was not in a hurry to show up. He continued to shoot out lava-like red-gold sword energy in the sky. At the same time, he also spread out his sword intent at the moment, rendering a grand scene of a volcanic eruption and doomsday, and took the initiative to connect with the Saha world that could not find its target.

If you want to imitate the image of the full revival of the King of Bronze and Fire, you naturally have to start with the power of the volcano.

Then, when Zhao Qing's sword tip drew a mysterious arc, the South Sister Volcano below seemed to respond to her call. It shook violently, and a column of hot lava gushed out from the teardrop pool at the mountain pass, rushing straight into the sky. The volcanic smoke and dust quickly spread to a height of more than 20 kilometers.

The entire northern hillside was blown to pieces, and a huge cavity appeared within a radius of several thousand meters. A typical Pelée-style volcanic eruption was taking place here, with rocks, lava, and ash and sand bursting everywhere, drawing brilliant tracks in the air and then falling heavily to the ground.

Hundreds of square kilometers of forest were set on fire in an instant, and the raging flames devoured all life. Trees twisted and deformed in the flames, and eventually turned into piles of black ashes. The air was filled with the pungent smell of burning and sulfur, which almost suffocated people.

But this was just the beginning. Soon, the lava mixed with the rainwater melted from the glaciers, forming a hot and sticky mud. Like the tentacles of a devil, it spread across the valley, swallowing up all obstacles that blocked its progress.

More than ten cubic kilometers of lava debris flowed out from the huge breach in the southern hillside, piling up to hundreds of meters thick in the valley. They roared and rolled, drowning all life in the hot magma.

Then, the Middle Sister Volcano joined the feast of destruction, erupting even more violently, flattening the entire mountain, with a gray-white mushroom cloud rising into the sky, rolling and spreading in all directions amidst an earth-shaking roar.

However, this was not the end. Not long after, the Memaza volcano 25 kilometers to the south finally couldn't hold back its inner restlessness and released the energy accumulated for thousands of years, causing the most violent volcanic eruption in North America in more than years.

This eruption not only blew away several huge glaciers and countless rocks, but also caused embers and dust to cover vast areas of land, from eight states in the United States to three provinces in Canada. No one was spared.

The entire sky was dyed red by the flames, and the earth was trembling and wailing in anticipation of this doomsday catastrophe.

This is naturally not a real scene, but a review of history. With the help of the spiritual framework of the "Saha World", Zhao Qing not only reproduced the volcanic eruptions in this area over the past thousands of years in the illusion, but also cleverly integrated these catastrophic forces into his sword intent.

The biggest problem with the Dragon Knight combination is that they lack control over the release of their own Word Spirits, which makes them far inferior to a simple pure-blooded dragon. If they fall into the hands of Zhao Qing, who has already glimpsed the mysteries of many ultra-high-level Word Spirits, they may even lose some of their dominance in the Word Spirit field.

As Zhao Qing's sword power continued to rise, her figure loomed between the roiling lava and the raging ice storm, like a god controlling the end of the world. Every time she swung her sword, it seemed to touch the vein of time, creating an unprecedented impact.

In a blink of an eye, the aura of the two dragon knights became weaker and weaker. They were at an absolute disadvantage. They had the strength to attack but not the ability to fight back. Their own mental thoughts were burned "all over" by the volcanic sword intent, and their defense was also reduced, falling into a vicious circle.

At the same time, Ronald Tang had already landed in a distant indigo evergreen forest. He folded up his hang glider, gasped for breath, and kept thinking about his previous experiences in his mind. Looking at the surrounding environment, he couldn't help feeling a little confused.

I saw the gloomy mountain peaks drawing a broken arc along the horizon, covering the night with a layer of desolation. A waterfall chanted solemnly, flowing from the bottom of the glacier through the lake, and it seemed to have nothing to do with the volcano.

Although he had some vague perception, he could not imagine that the battle inside could reach such an intense level due to the separation of multiple giant word spirit domains, and he did not know his own importance at the moment.

When Zhao Qing's plan had already begun to run quietly, affecting every key gear, Ronald knew nothing about it. He just followed the instructions of the "old immortal" and carried out an efficient and swift transfer and retreat.

……

Not long ago, in a hidden space underground in Rome, Italy, under a starry dome inlaid with dazzling gems, a long conference table ran across the hall. The table top was as smooth as a mirror, reflecting the soft light from the dome.

There was no one at the table, only eight mysterious beams of light descended vertically from the dome. In each beam of light was condensed an exquisite World Tree emblem. They slowly rotated in the air, emitting a faint blue light, as if containing the power of wisdom and life.

They are symbols of the status of elders of the Holy Palace Medical Society. Every decision they make may affect the direction of the entire world. The numbers engraved on the bottom range from 01 to 09, but badge No. 07 is currently absent and did not participate in this important meeting.

"I've been thinking about something lately."

World Tree No. 03 turned around, and the light stayed at No. 07 for a moment. It spoke first: "By sacrificing a Temple, relying on assets that are difficult to transfer, tying the other party to a fixed place, and by the way, finding out her bottom line, in order to evaluate her comprehensive ability, is it worth it?"

"It's not worth talking about. The Medical Association only cares about how to minimize losses and maximize profits." World Tree No. 01 replied indifferently, his voice old and majestic: "Technology and equipment that can be copied are nothing... Didn't we discuss this last time?"

"As for the recent incident regarding Ronald Tang, I think we all need to be more cautious. The elders who are not very aware of this should also learn more about it. After all, this matter involves a lot of people and concerns the interests of each of us."

"Ronald Tang?" World Tree No. 04 asked in confusion, "Who is this? Is he a young talent newly discovered by a mixed-blood organization? Could he be a direct descendant of the Black and White King who is above S-level?"

"He is the current human form of Fire Lord Norton. He has been sleeping for two thousand years and then resurrected in a cocoon form, but his bloodline and memory have not yet fully awakened." World Tree No. 1 briefly introduced: "But this is only a greater possibility of Ronald Tang's identity. Another less favorable hypothesis cannot be ruled out."

"To be specific, perhaps this seemingly amnesiac dragon king is just a scam carefully arranged by Norton. He uses a loyal dragon servant to disguise himself as him to attract the attention of outsiders, while he himself lurks in the dark, waiting for the opportunity."

"With Norton's wisdom, it is not impossible to do so."

"There is such a thing?" World Tree No. 04 was quite surprised: "But with Norton's alchemy attainments, he can definitely do this... So, how is our tracking and monitoring of Ronald Tang going?"

"In fact, he has always been under our sight." The badge of World Tree No. 05 lit up and replied: "However, Ronald's recent behavior has become increasingly unpredictable, which forces us to re-examine our strategy."

"From New York to San Francisco, and then to the Oregon Adventure Competition, every move he made seemed to challenge our carefully arranged defenses... At the beginning, we took great pains to transfer him out and put him under the surveillance of Country M. We made relevant arrangements and thought it was foolproof. Now it seems that we may have been too optimistic."

"I have also noticed these intelligence trends." World Tree No. 08's voice was a little worried. "If that is really Norton Dragon, why is he so high-profile here and now? Could it be that he has recovered his memory and his strength is recovering rapidly?"

"Impossible," the image of badge No. 05 quickly refuted: "If Norton has really recovered and realized the various doubts in the process of his transfer to Country M, he would never expose himself so easily. This is more like a fog he has laid to confuse us."

"But we can't rule out another possibility," the voice in badge No. 06 analyzed calmly, "He might really be in a cocooned state as we saw, but some unknown factor recently triggered his subconscious, causing abnormal behavior."

"No matter what the situation is," the image of the World Tree Badge No. 08 flickered, "we cannot let our guard down. We must be prepared for the worst-case scenario, estimate the possible impact of this incident, and come up with a series of optimal solutions."

"This is no small matter! The Bronze and Fire Kings are in good condition, holding the Seven Deadly Sins, following the clues and suddenly launching an attack. How many of us here can handle it?"

……

　Increased to 6.5K
　　-

　　The eruption of Mazama about 64 years ago was the largest known Holocene volcanic eruption, the largest in North America in hundreds of thousands of years, second only to the last eruption of Yellowstone years ago.

　　In fact, the volcanic groups in these states were formed by the movement of the same mantle hotspot.
　　(End of this chapter)