Chapter 18: Letting It Escape Again

In the depths of the ocean, there was a thriving region where volcanoes erupted constantly. Besides spewing various mineral substances, these eruptions also provided abundant nutrients.
However, this area, which should have been inhabited by monstrous beasts, was occupied by one such beast.
The Deep Sea Fire Dragon, at the late Golden Core stage, was a fire-type monster. Its body was dark red, over twenty meters long, with a dragon’s physique but no dragon horns. The Deep Sea Fire Dragon inhabiting this underwater volcanic region had only one claw on its dragon body.
Qu Yi, Bai Man, Qing Wu Gui, and Wu Yuan flew together into the volcanic area. They expanded their spiritual senses and immediately locked onto the Deep Sea Fire Dragon.
Undoubtedly, the Deep Sea Fire Dragon had also detected them.
Roar!
The Deep Sea Fire Dragon immediately flew out of a volcanic crater, let out a roar, and appeared before Qu Yi and the others.
“Humans, how dare you come to the seabed to seek death?” The Deep Sea Fire Dragon was by nature fierce and hostile from the moment they met.
Qu Yi and the others were stunned for a moment, not expecting the Deep Sea Fire Dragon to be so direct.
“Hehe, Deep Sea Fire Dragon, we’re not here to seek death—we’re here to kill you,” Qu Yi said calmly.
Since the other party was so straightforward, Qu Yi didn’t bother to be subtle and told the Deep Sea Fire Dragon the purpose of their visit right away.
Sure enough, upon hearing Qu Yi’s words, the Deep Sea Fire Dragon immediately charged out, roaring furiously as it rushed at Qu Yi.
Whoosh!
This time, Wu Yuan wasn’t so relaxed. Provoked by the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s anger, he immediately rushed forward to confront it.
Interestingly, Wu Yuan’s head and the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s head looked quite similar—both had hornless dragon heads. But Wu Yuan’s head was covered in more golden dragon scales, while the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s head was a brighter red.
The two dragon heads collided instantly. If Qu Yi and the others hadn’t known they were in a fight, they might have thought Wu Yuan and the Deep Sea Fire Dragon had fallen in love at first sight and were engaging in affectionate behavior.
Bang!
Wu Yuan immediately engaged in a fierce battle with the Deep Sea Fire Dragon. One sent out golden qi sword light, trying to blind the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s eyes, while the other spewed fierce flames, aiming to roast Wu Yuan alive.
Both had extremely strong defenses. The turtle patterns on Wu Yuan’s back automatically generated a layer of water membrane to block the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s flames, while the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s dragon scales were also very hard, serving to resist Wu Yuan’s golden qi attacks.
Watching Wu Yuan fail to make headway, Qu Yi exchanged a glance with Bai Man, after which the two turtle dragons were released.

“Turtle Wyverns, there’s a Deep Sea Fire Dragon over there. Go kill it; I’ll give you its essence, blood, and flesh,” Qu Yi said with a faint smile.
Upon hearing this, the two Turtle Wyverns immediately rushed towards the Deep Sea Fire Dragon in ecstasy. As both were of the dragon race, they believed that by consuming its essence and blood, their own dragon bloodline would strengthen, raising their strength to the late Golden Core stage.
“We’re coming!” the two Turtle Wyverns shouted as they charged forward.
“Haha, Turtle Wyverns, let’s all three work together to kill it!” Wu Yuan roared angrily, clearly frustrated that his Golden Qi attacks weren’t enough to deal with the Deep Sea Fire Dragon.
The Deep Sea Fire Dragon wasn’t afraid at all. Seeing the two more Turtle Wyverns approaching, it swung its dragon tail, trying to slap them.
The two Turtle Wyverns were furious—this Deep Sea Fire Dragon was being too arrogant! It wanted to slap them right after they arrived on the battlefield. How could they tolerate such humiliation? Reacting swiftly, they ducked their heads just as the dragon tail swung by and wrapped their bodies around it.
With their addition, the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s agile body was immediately trapped, unable to move.
“I’ll fling you all away!”
The Deep Sea Fire Dragon grew enraged. As it was trapped and unable to move, Wu Yuan seized the opportunity to kick one of its eyes out. The dragon’s massive body writhed violently as it tried to shake off the two Turtle Wyverns clinging to it, but to no avail.
The Turtle Wyverns also had strong defenses; even if hit hard by the dragon tail on the seabed, their turtle scales remained unharmed.
Wu Yuan took advantage of this to continuously shoot out golden sword beams, aiming to blind the dragon’s other eye as well.
Although blinding the dragon’s eyes had no real impact on the battle—after all, they fought through spiritual perception—Wu Yuan was fully immersed in the fight and enjoyed it greatly.
Bai Man watched the fierce battle between the four beasts and yawned lazily. “Qu Yi, why not just solve it with one sword? Those four are acting like they’re playing a game.”
She was right. The four beasts were fighting fiercely on the seabed, likely destroying countless underwater volcanoes, yet the scene remained monotonous—the two Turtle Wyverns wrapped around the Deep Sea Fire Dragon, while Wu Yuan launched sneak attacks from the side.
Qu Yi smiled awkwardly and pointed at Qing Wu Gui beside him.

It was only then that Bai Man realized that Qing Wu Gui had been watching the battle between the four monstrous beasts all along, carefully analyzing their energy characteristics. There were earth fire, sky fire, true fire, and also this heart fire from the depths of the sea—each with very different energy traits. It seemed as if Qing Wu Gui could learn and comprehend anything he saw; at that moment, he was particularly interested in sensing the characteristics of the fire energy of the Deep Sea Fire Dragon.

Bai Man understood Qu Yi’s intention—he wanted to wait until Qing Wu Gui finished understanding before taking action to deal with the Deep Sea Fire Dragon.

“The Deep Sea Fire Dragon is about to cast a spell!” Suddenly, Qing Wu Gui, who was still in the process of comprehension, spoke up.

Indeed, amid the struggle between Wu Yuan and the two turtle dragons, the Deep Sea Fire Dragon became utterly enraged.

“With one roar, it ignites thousands of mountains in fire!”

The Deep Sea Fire Dragon opened its mouth wide and emitted ten streams of fire energy, which plunged directly into ten nearby underwater volcanoes.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In just a short while, all the surrounding underwater volcanoes were awakened simultaneously. Waves of hot bubbles emerged from their craters, and one after another, the volcanoes erupted.

“This spell is interesting!” Qing Wu Gui exclaimed, seemingly unfazed by the danger and instead filled with admiration.

While using his own energy barrier to protect himself and Bai Man, Qu Yi was deeply impressed by Qing Wu Gui’s dedication to mastering energy—making the most of every moment to train was truly admirable.

The endless red-hot magma gushed out, covering the Deep Sea Fire Dragon, Wu Yuan, and the two turtle dragons.

It took some time before the eruptions stopped, and the seabed where the battle had taken place had now formed a huge flat surface, with all the volcanoes leveled off.

“Oh, Qu Yi, what should we do? Will the turtle dragons be buried alive?” Bai Man was worried about her pet turtle dragons.

“Sister, don’t worry. Your spiritual connection with the turtle dragons should let you know if they’re dead,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Bai Man’s face immediately turned red. It turned out that between a master and their pet, there was a spiritual bond—if the pet died, that bond would vanish. In her panic, Bai Man had forgotten about this bond and said something quite ignorant.

“They’re coming out!” Qing Wu Gui said calmly once again.

Sure enough, a large section of the newly formed surface suddenly rose, and the Deep Sea Fire Dragon rushed out first, followed by Wu Yuan and the two turtle dragons, who emerged in a rather disheveled manner.

Within this volcano, the Deep Sea Fire Dragon, which practiced fire-based martial arts, found it easy to resist the volcanic forces. Wuyuan, the Phoenix Tail, also possessed fire energy to protect itself, but as it had to protect the two turtle dragons, its energy was consumed heavily, leaving it somewhat exhausted.

Ugh!

Wuyuan let out a somewhat aggrieved cry at Qu Yi, seemingly hoping he would help eliminate this Deep Sea Fire Dragon right away.

Qu Yi looked at Qing Wu Gui and smiled, “Do you still need to gain insight?”

Qing Wu Gui replied calmly, “This Deep Sea Fire Dragon has practiced for too short a time. It hasn’t mastered any powerful spells, and its fire energy isn’t well-concentrated. There’s no need to further explore its energy.”

After hearing this, Qu Yi took out his jade sword and suddenly flew in front of the Deep Sea Fire Dragon.

“Deep Sea Fire Dragon, I’m sorry for what’s about to happen. Please rest in peace,” Qu Yi said gently.

Before killing it, Qu Yi even remembered to give a warning—this was indeed a bit cruel toward the Deep Sea Fire Dragon.

“Human, you, who are only at the early stage of the Golden Core realm, dare to tell me to rest in peace? You’re so impatient! Watch me swallow you whole!” the Deep Sea Fire Dragon roared.

Immediately afterward, it rushed at Qu Yi with its mouth wide open—wide enough to swallow two Qu Yis.

But!

Suddenly, a beam of light pierced through the Deep Sea Fire Dragon’s body. With its mouth still open, it lost all life force. As it tried to reach Qu Yi, it fell to the seabed the moment its mouth touched him.

The jade sword appeared, and the Deep Sea Fire Dragon died.

……

Ling Huo Shangren, Wan Chang, and Yong Shan descended into the sea, carefully scanning for any movements.

“Hmm, there’s a volcanic eruption ahead,” Ling Huo Shangren’s spiritual sense detected movement in the sea.

Yong Shan was momentarily stunned before saying, “Lord, volcanic eruptions usually have some precursors. Isn’t this one a bit sudden?”

Hearing this, Ling Huo Shangren laughed heartily, immediately took off, and shouted, “Wan Chang, Yong Shan! It seems we’ve found Qu Yi and the others.”

Undoubtedly, Ling Huo Shangren had deduced that Qu Yi and the rest were nearby, and the recent volcanic eruption was likely caused by them.

Wan Chang and Yong Shan eagerly followed.

……

The two turtle dragons were devouring the Deep Sea Fire Dragon, while Wuyuan watched anxiously from the side. Though Qu Yi held him back, he could only watch enviously as the two turtle dragons ate.

Qu Yi smiled as he watched the two turtle dragons, feeling pity for them at the way they devoured the sea creatures—how many years must it have been since they last ate a monstrous beast to eat in such a manner?
“Qu Yi, Elder Ling Huo has arrived,” the Voice of the Divine Tool suddenly rang out.
Undoubtedly, the arrival of Elder Ling Huo could not escape the detection of the Voice of the Divine Tool, and he was immediately spotted.
Without hesitation, Qu Yi pulled Bai Man, Qing Wu Gui, and Wu Yuan into the Dimensional Sphere, then rushed to the side of the two turtle dragons and forced them into the sphere as well.
A moment later, Elder Ling Huo arrived beside the Deep Sea Fire Dragon, unleashing his spiritual awareness to the fullest, his face taking on a fierce expression.
“He escaped again!”
Elder Ling Huo shouted in fury.