Chapter Eighty-Five: Hell on Earth

Although the whole world had already begun to roar, exalting the so-called steel-god savior to the heavens, Lan Tian, the savior himself, knew full well the bitterness in his own heart.

He was trapped in an awkward predicament. Yan Ze was in relentless pursuit behind him, and the Blood Cang Starfire kept lancing toward him as if it cost nothing at all. Let alone several blasts of it—even one had just seared his skin open and left him in agony. Not wanting to endure that pain again, he could only keep fleeing and had no way to meet the enemy head-on.

He spared a glance over his shoulder and was nearly furious enough to twist his nose askew. After the blasts of flame were fired and failed to strike him, they automatically turned back and returned to Yan Ze. No wonder the Blood Cang Starfire seemed endless; it turned out this thing could actually be reclaimed.

What in the world?

Lan Tian was anxious beyond measure. This could not go on. Though Yan Ze could not catch him, he himself was equally unable to do anything against it because of his wariness toward the Blood Cang Starfire. He could not possibly keep circling forever.

"White, is there any way to deal with it? This is driving me insane. How am I supposed to fight like this?" Lan Tian asked gloomily.

"What way could there be? If your strength were great enough, you could just bear several flames and turn back to kill it directly. Unfortunately... you are not strong enough," White replied.

"...That's just nonsense. If I were strong enough, why would I need to ask you?" Lan Tian grew even more frustrated.

"There is another way: activate the flying mode of the Crimson Metal Divine Armor. With absolute speed and absolute momentum, you could crush Yan Ze in one strike. However, unless it is absolutely necessary, I do not recommend that you do so," White said suddenly.

"Right! Why didn't I think of that? Once the flying mode of the Crimson Metal Divine Armor is engaged and its speed comes up, wouldn't it just be able to smash it to death?" Lan Tian's eyes lit up at once. This seemed like the answer. But White's words seemed to carry some other meaning?

"Why shouldn't I do that? Isn't that a good method?" Lan Tian asked.

"What do you know? Unless there is truly no other choice, you must never switch the Crimson Metal Divine Armor into flying mode. Otherwise, the Earth will be in danger," White said sharply.

"What do you mean?" Lan Tian froze at the words, not understanding what White meant, though a faint sense of foreboding had already risen within him.

Because the Crimson Metal Divine Armor had been registered with the Source Blue Empire. Back then, for the sake of setting an example, my master had proactively implanted the Source Blue Empire's locator. It was fine while in battle mode, but once flying mode was activated, the locator would be triggered instantly...

White stopped there, but Lan Tian already understood completely what it meant.

The War God had died in battle, and the Crimson Metal Divine Armor's whereabouts had become unknown. Once the locator was activated, the Source Blue Empire would certainly investigate the armor's location. In that way, Earth's position would be completely exposed to the eyes of the Source Blue Empire.

"Damn it! Why would this happen?! Can't you block that locator?" Thinking of the consequences of Earth's exposure, Lan Tian's face went pale as he refused to give up.

"No. Weapons of mass destruction like cosmic battle armor are generally only possessed by extremely important figures. The Empire installed locators precisely in order to manage its cosmic battle armor more effectively, so that it would not leak outside and fall into enemy hands," White said calmly. "Therefore, the Empire exercised strict control over the production of locators. Their most important core function was to prevent the signal from being blocked. If it were the me of my prime, I could still block the location signal, but now, I simply cannot."

"Fine then..." Lan Tian was utterly vexed. He abandoned the idea of switching the Crimson Metal Divine Armor into flying mode and fell back into turmoil once more.

As Lan Tian kept fleeing without pause, Yan Ze seemed to grow somewhat impatient, or perhaps simply venting his fury. While chasing him, several bursts of Blood Cang Starfire suddenly changed direction and blasted straight downward.

They happened to be over Osaka in the Island Nation at that moment. Once the Blood Cang Starfire rained down, cries of anguish rose everywhere. Countless people of the Island Nation were instantly vaporized by the horrifying temperature, and countless buildings burst into flame and exploded. In an instant, Osaka was turned into a living hell.

"Damn it! What is it doing?!" Lan Tian's eyes nearly split with rage. He had never expected that while pursuing him, Yan Ze would still have the leisure to wreak havoc.

This could not continue. If he kept fleeing, Yan Ze's pursuit would lose its hold on him and begin taking the chance to destroy things instead!

Lan Tian seized the opportunity. As the Blood Cang Starfire struck downward, he suddenly turned, a sharp sword extending from the fist of the Crimson Metal Divine Armor. With the charm of the first layer of the basic combat art coiling around the sword tip, he stabbed viciously toward Yan Ze!

Caught off guard, half of Yan Ze's wing, covered in hard scales, was pierced through by the sword. Its other wing flapped wildly, smashing into Lan Tian with a thunderous boom.

Clenching his silver teeth as blood seeped out, Lan Tian withstood Yan Ze's furious counterattack. He yanked the sword free, then slashed again, widening the wound from before. With a ripping sound, he tore a gash several meters long open across half of Yan Ze's wing.

At the same time, what delighted Lan Tian beyond measure was that, just now, when he had unleashed all his strength and lost control for a moment, he had actually forced the charm into Yan Ze's wound.

Unexpectedly, after leaving his body, the charm exhibited a strange effect. It vibrated at extremely high speed within Yan Ze's wound, creating tremendous destructive power.

The wound on Yan Ze's wing not only failed to heal, but under that extremely rapid vibration, it actually kept widening, bleeding without end.

"Run! Yan Ze is about to go berserk!" White's urgent voice suddenly rang out.

Sure enough, just as Lan Tian retreated, Yan Ze's body jolted. It threw back its head and roared to the sky, blood surging hot within it, while bursts of Blood Cang Starfire burst forth and kept pounding ahead.

The already scorching temperature around them climbed several more notches. Cracking sounds continued to ring through the air, as if... even the air itself could be scorched by the Blood Cang Starfire.

Lan Tian was becoming more and more adept at using the Crimson Metal Divine Armor. Dodging left and right, he avoided wave after wave of the Blood Cang Starfire's attacks. That, however, made the people of the Island Nation below suffer terribly. Yan Ze seemed truly enraged. When the Blood Cang Starfire missed its target, it no longer drew back as it normally did; instead, it rained downward in torrents. The entire Island Nation instantly turned into an ocean of flames. Countless fish and shrimp in the nearby seas turned belly-up and floated to the surface. Countless citizens of the Island Nation were reduced to ashes. Everywhere resounded the thunder of explosions and the wailing of the dying.

"Tsk, tsk... why is it that I don't feel even the slightest bit of guilt? I clearly have no grudge against the people of the Island Nation." Lan Tian wore a strange expression as he looked at the scene below, like a living hell, and actually felt a trace of... satisfaction?

It seemed that this flicker of pleasure welled up from the very bones.

Perhaps this was the retribution for the invasion of Huaxia back then.

Shaking his head, Lan Tian saw Yan Ze once again pursuing him and was startled. He shot upward into the highest sky at once. One destroyed Island Nation was enough; there could be no more accidents. Otherwise, how would he ever answer to the people of the world in the future...

He had to lure it into the upper sky.