Chapter 1218, A Stalemate

Translator: Silavin

 

Ouyang Bai Ge naturally shared this development with everyone.

 

They all knew the Desolate Ancient God was somewhere within the Valley of Life. Though the group had been continuously moving towards it, it kept pulling ahead, maintaining its distance and making it impossible to close it.

 

This was a massive problem. What was certain was that the Desolate Ancient God was well aware of the group’s position at all times, as there was no other explanation for how precisely it kept evading their pursuit.

 

For now, although the two sides had not yet come face to face, both were in fact perfectly clear on each other’s whereabouts. The question was simply who could move faster.

 

The situation between Lu Fan’s group and the Desolate Ancient God was like two runners on the same track, with Lu Fan’s group behind, chasing the Desolate Ancient God ahead of them.

 

At this point, no special technique would help. What mattered was whether they could outpace it and force a direct confrontation to put an end to the Dragon Domain’s crisis once and for all.

 

The problem was that they had already tried. The group had attempted a full-speed charge directly towards the Desolate Ancient God’s position, intending to simply outrun it.

 

They were constantly obstructed by Dragon Carcasses within the Valley of Life, which slowed their progress. However, given the sheer number of powerhouses in the group, and in particular the Bronze Dragon King and the Shadow Dragon King, who could one-shot virtually any Monster that crossed their path, these obstructions had not cost them much time.

 

Yet, even at that full-speed pursuit, the Desolate Ancient God had still kept them at arm’s length, completely out of reach.

 

After chasing fruitlessly for quite some time and confirming that this approach simply wasn’t going to work, the group gave up and stopped to rest, settling in to think through their next move.

 

Lu Fan summoned the Divine Bone Clone, which spread itself flat across the ground like a giant rug, giving everyone somewhere clean to sit and recover.

 

The entire Valley of Life was by now nothing but foul-smelling rotting mud. Travelling through it inevitably meant contact with that stuff, and there was nothing to be done about it.

 

But resting was another matter. No one wanted to sit directly in it.

 

So, the Divine Bone Clone lay sprawled across the ground, providing at least a clean surface for the group to settle on and catch their breath.

 

It was also quite sizable, enough for two Giant Dragons who had not managed to transform into their Human Form to find a place to plant their feet.

 

As the group rested, most kept quiet.

 

There was a general air of frustration. They knew that the enemy was somewhere within this Map. They knew they had the means to track and confirm its position. All that remained was to catch up, force a confrontation, and put an end to this.

 

Yet, they were perpetually short of achieving that. Who could feel at ease with that?

 

Everyone was thinking the same thing: how on earth were they going to find the Desolate Ancient God? The Shadow Dragon King even proposed that since his own speed was the greatest among them, he should simply fly at full speed directly towards the Desolate Ancient God’s location. He simply did not believe the Desolate Ancient God’s fleeing speed could outpace his.

 

Lu Fan dismissed the suggestion though.

 

The conditions within the Valley of Life were too complex, and it was the enemy’s home ground.

 

The Desolate Ancient God could summon Monsters to ambush them at any moment. Splitting up in these circumstances was practically seeking death. Even if the Monsters appearing in the Valley of Life currently do not seem that formidable, who could say the Desolate Ancient God was not concealing its true capabilities?

 

A being that had devoured the entire Valley of Life, driven out the Life Dragon King, and had once held the title of God King was not something Lu Fan was willing to believe had only these Dragon Carcasses to show for itself.

 

If the Shadow Dragon King went alone, there was no guarantee he would even find the Desolate Ancient God. What Lu Fan suspected was far more likely was that he would end up isolated, cornered, and surrounded by the Desolate Ancient God’s abilities.

 

If the Shadow Dragon King were killed and his carcass got absorbed by the Desolate Ancient God, the trouble that would follow would be immense.

 

The Desolate Ancient God would definitely make full use of a Shadow Dragon King Carcass.

 

The two fragments of the Life Dragon King had already been transformed into those two enormously troublesome creatures guarding the valley’s entrance.

 

If the Shadow Dragon King also fell into its control, Lu Fan was no longer confident they could take down something that terrifyingly powerful.

 

The only option left at that point would be to abandon this place, watch helplessly as this rotting land, led by the Shadow Dragon King Carcass, expanded step by step until it swallowed the entire Dragon Domain.

 

The Shadow Dragon King was not arrogant. He had no objections whatsoever to Lu Fan’s reasoning and speculation. After all, he had seen enough of just how troublesome the Desolate Ancient God was through this period to understand that point well enough.

 

At a moment like this, splitting up was simply too dangerous.

 

But if they did not do so, how were they supposed to catch up to the Desolate Ancient God?

 

They could not continue playing hide-and-seek here indefinitely.

 

It was worth remembering that with every battle, the residual force unleashed by their Skills was being absorbed by the Desolate Ancient God, converted into power that raised its degree of awakening.

 

Even if that power was not enough to give the Desolate Ancient God any significant boost, the idea of gaining nothing themselves while their enemy kept benefiting was not something that should be allowed to continue.

 

As for how to break the current deadlock, Lu Fan found himself genuinely at a loss.

 

And so, he kept quiet and began to think.

 

It was at that moment that the Flame Dragon and the Two Headed Dragon nearby appeared to be in the middle of a discussion, and whatever it was, it was getting heated. Their exchange had turned somewhat irritable, rather like two people who had been drinking merrily together and then quarrelled over something trivial.

 

Seeing that the atmosphere between them was off, Lu Fan immediately asked what had happened. They had all been sitting and resting perfectly peacefully. How had those two nearly come to blows?

 

The Two Headed Dragon was the calmer of the two. He waved his claw dismissively. “It’s nothing. The conversation just got a bit heated, that’s all. I told him that the place we just passed through ought to be the Great Summit Mountain. After all, from the entrance of the Valley of Life to here, the distance is roughly three thousand metres. Going by direction and distance, we should indeed have reached Great Summit Mountain by now. But this fellow kept arguing with me. He insists Great Summit Mountain has only one peak, while the high mountain we saw in the distance a moment ago had three peaks altogether, and so it must be Three Linked Mountain instead. When it comes to the Valley of Life, I know it better than anyone. I could walk through it blindfolded and not take a wrong turn. Three Linked Mountains couldn’t possibly appear here. Even if we walked another thousand kilometres, we still wouldn’t run into Three Linked Mountain.”