“These guys are tough, what is their skin made of? Can this even be called skin, it looks more like some type of organic rock, could it be this that allows them to stay down in the lava without dying?”

Zhang Dong looked at the various claws trying to slice him apart. The creatures that were previously hidden deep in the lava pools and lakes had decided to engage them in battle. Their forms were humanoid as a base but their arms were a lot longer and ended up with hands that looked more like claws. Then there were their bodies, it looked like they were golems with lizard faces and massive amounts of teeth.

“Some type of dragon offshoot? They do look like overgrown lizards to a point.”

After seeing the cloning technology that this Empire was equipped with, it wouldn’t be strange if they could splice things together. When examining the creatures further he spotted a monster core that was fueling their bodies. It felt slightly off, similar to the one the squid creature possessed. It wouldn’t be strange if this feeling was due to it having been altered as the spirit energy pattern felt off.

“Get in formation!”

“There are just too many of them elder, what should we do!”

“Just follow the Patriarch’s orders!”

Behind him, the group of twenty cultivators had retreated into a battle formation. It took the form of a serpent composed of spiritual energy with a fire aspect. There seemed to be a lot of people from the Huo Clan in this rescue party. While they were good at contending with the flames and the environment, this could not be said for their attacking power. Creatures that could live in lava could not be easily defeated by flame attacks. Even Huo Qiang and his ifrit which could generate even more heat, weren’t doing much to blast through those thick rock-like muscles.

‘Leave it to the Patriarch, huh?’

“Fire attacks won’t do you much good, you must counter the flames with their counter element.”

Zhang Dong proclaimed while pointing out toward one of the lizard-like monsters that lunged itself in his direction. Before it could get to him though he decided to increase the gravity around it which made the beast fall back down. Even though it was slammed into the hard jagged rocks, the thick hide made of organic rock didn’t take much damage. It was clear that these creatures were used to being in extreme conditions. Physical attacks were almost useless, even their organs and the inside of their mouths seemed reinforced for combat.

It was like fighting beings made from metal that didn’t seem to have a weakness. However, there were a few tactics that would work. The easiest one would be to produce some ice, these creatures more than likely needed the hot temperatures to survive. Just like most reptiles, they were probably cold-blooded. There was no need to regulate the temperature inside of their bodies if the environment was this hot. This meant that they would probably not survive extreme cold regions.

‘There are too many natural flame elements around here, with my incomplete knowledge of the Water Dao I won’t be able to perform this task too well…’

He knew a lot of techniques, some were based on the Dao of Water. While he could use them to a degree, his fortitude was lightning and holy attacks. Electrifying these walking monstrosities would probably be slightly better than using flames but it would also be inefficient. It seemed that even their insides had been enhanced to take a lot of damage, perhaps swallowing lava had something to do with it.

While he could brute force the issue against these monsters, this wasn’t the problem. There were many people relying on him here and without the flaming serpent they were forming, they would stand no chance of surviving in this environment. What he needed to do was try to find a way of getting through those reinforced shells without using too much of his power. These monsters were probably just the tip of it so he could not waste all of his power on them.

“Get behind me, we can’t waste time here, if this many creatures appeared here then perhaps the Golden Palace and everyone there could be at risk.”

“Dong’er, do you have a plan?”

“Lowering the temperature would probably work but that won’t be possible with all these active volcanoes around. However, there is a way to disable them for the time being.”

“There is?”

“Yes, just follow my lead, we are going to break through.”

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Zhang Jin nodded while turning toward Huo Qiang and the rest of the sect members that were with them.

“You heard that, get ready we are going to go straight to the palace, follow the Patriarch!”

While there weren’t any external techniques that he could use to stop these monsters, there was an internal one. His Dao of the Souls would be the best way to go against strong-body refiners. While their bodies were reinforced to an extreme degree, it wasn’t the same for their souls. Even though they might have been beasts made through cloning and selective breeding, they still possessed this core to hold themselves together.

‘Their soul energy is quite weak, It’s like a child driving a tank’

There were several ways of utilizing his Soul Dao but he chose to go with the most lenient one. In truth, he wasn’t sure how he felt about attempting to use this technique. Previously he only used the Dao of Souls against evil spirits that attacked him. Tearing souls from bodies was not something he was inclined to; it was also not as easy as it sounded.

The connection between a body and its soul wasn’t that easily broken. Yet it also wasn’t that hard to affect this strange energy that resided on another plane of existence. It was something that kept everything together. All living creatures in this world had souls, even the ones created through nefarious methods. A corrupted demonic soul was still a soul and could be affected by his Dao.

“Protect me for a second, I need to concentrate.”

Thus when everything was ready he clapped his hands together and began to concentrate. A pale almost transparent aura washed over his body as he gathered his energies. There were a lot of these volcanic beasts everywhere so it would take some force to knock them out at the same time. Even more, if he actually intended to rip away the connection their bodies had with their souls.

The art that he was preparing needed to be on a certain frequency. Luckily these creatures were quite similar to each other which probably had something to do with how they came to be. Suddenly as they approached the group of cultivators and their white-haired leader a colorless burst of energy flew in all directions. It was hard to see and wasn’t even followed by a gust of wind but the moment it enveloped the bodies of the approaching beasts, they crumbled down to the ground.

“Now!”

After giving the signal the group of cultivators turned into a flaming meteor. They flew up into the sky while the monsters that were keeping them in check started to pass out. The group could barely believe it, how could the bloodthirsty swarm of volcanic creatures just drop down?

“Are they all dead?”

“No, I just damaged the connection their souls have to their bodies, it will naturally mend itself in time but for now, they will be passed out for a while.”

Tearing this connection to shreds was also possible but after battling with the squid monster and assembling the teleportation array, Zhang Dong needed some rest. His Qi reserves had been drained by even this wide area stunning technique. There were just too many enemies here, it was better to retreat to the golden palace where everyone else was. With their help, he intended to finally start the counter-offensive and perhaps even take over this pocket dimension.

“Connection to their soul, that’s fascinating.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, soul arts aren’t easily attained, you should teach me some of them if you have the time.”

“What, do you want to inhabit a new body after the old one is unable to have its fun?”

“What? That’s not it!”

Zhang Jin shouted out in protest while trying to concentrate. All of them were using their spiritual energy to produce a shield around themselves. Even the core formation experts were adding with their battle formation that allowed them to fly at an increased pace. With the initial ambush resolved the lava pits and pools remained calm. Without them keeping to the ground they didn’t trigger any new encounters.

“That should do it, relax and gather your energies.”

Soon he gave the order to lower the pace. If they continued for too long they would just burn through all of their Qi and render themselves useless for any further battles that were waiting for them. Returning to the Golden Palace was important but considering that it was a flying fortress, they didn’t really need to worry about the safety of the people there as much.

At a slower pace and with everyone alive they flew forward. Now with some time to organize his thoughts, Zhang Dong could look this place over. The volcanic region was quite a desolate desert of flames. Similar creatures that they just got away from roamed the lands and there were even some capable of flight. Luckily even at the reduced pace they were just too fast.

The flier types looked to have a similar lizardly origin point like the volcanic creatures below. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the toxic fumes escaping from the volcanoes. Their similarity to flying dinosaurs was uncanny but luckily they weren’t quite nimble enough to pose a threat.

‘What do these creatures even eat here? Do they just hunt each other? Doesn’t seem like there is anything that is weak for them to eat…’

There were no volcanic fish that could be eaten, just the unending flames and fumes that shouldn’t be able to support any life. It was as if these monsters were just dumped here to act as a source of spirit points for whenever a person with the system arrived.

‘I still can’t seem to connect with the faction system.’

Soon his attention went away from the mobs living around this place. His system window wasn’t showing his wife or the Golden Palace that she was supposed to be in. It didn’t seem that he would be able to teleport to their location. He could only hope that nothing bad happened before he arrived.

“Gramps, I think everyone rested enough, we need to pick up the pace, I have a bad feeling about this…”

He called out to his grandfather, there was no time to waste, they needed to rendezvous with the others before something like that tentacle monster appeared again. Even if the Golden Palace was resistant it would not survive forever in this type of environment that would eat away at its energy and shields. Sooner or later it would fall and be opened up to a full push by these ferocious beasts.