Chapter 2024 - 2017: The First Great General
Of course, Po Jun knew exactly what Zhang Menglong meant by enforcers; only a Guardian Beast could defeat another Guardian Beast. They didn’t know whether the Wind Thunder Pearl was in the hands of someone from the Ice Demon Race or on the Ice Wing Dragon Bat, but it was without a doubt that Zhang Menglong was going to face the Ice Wing Dragon Bat.
Therefore, he must have enough means to deal with it, at least to delay it.
"I can’t make this decision," Although Zhang Menglong didn’t specifically name anyone as an enforcer, apart from the Azure Dragon, there was no second choice. As the City Lord, he had certain rights to negotiate with the Guardian Beast, but the final decision rested with the Guardian Beast.
"Azure Dragon, you should have heard our conversation; what do you think?" Po Jun shouted towards the sky.
The Azure Dragon did not reveal its body, but its voice sounded in the clouds above, "If you can help me retrieve the Wind Rolling Bead, I will do my utmost to block it for you!"
A cyan beam of light projected from the sky, and then something fell in front of Zhang Menglong; it was a palm-sized scale.
"This is a scale I shed in the past, infused with a portion of my power. When you need me, simply channel your power into it, and I will appear immediately."
"Thank you, Great Azure Dragon, for your help!" Zhang Menglong happily put away the scale. With that Super Divine Cannon and the Azure Dragon’s assistance, his confidence naturally increased significantly.
Zhang Menglong organized his gains from this trip a little, then piloted a spaceship with a speed almost thousands of times faster than the peak of the Dao Realm, heading towards the territory of the Ice Demon Race, Ice King City.
However, on the way, he still had many tasks to attend to, and his first destination was a place called the Rogue Lava Nest, marked on Monqi’s map as having a huge insect clan population.
This insect clan was called Ghost Flame Demon Worm, a type of insect living in magma. Their appearance was like snails magnified countless times, covered in high-temperature mucus, a rarity among insects that were not afraid of flames.
The number of this Ghost Flame Demon Worm species was even two to three times larger than the Blood Demon Ants. According to the map’s description, this nest was discovered 120,000 years ago, at which time the total number of Ghost Flame Demon Worms was around 300 million, with tens of thousands of king-level Ghost Flame Demon Worms alone.
Now, 120,000 years later, if this species has not gone extinct, its numbers could well far exceed the figures calculated back then.
Just entering the Rogue Lava Nest, Zhang Menglong felt the temperature inside the spaceship rapidly rising. He immediately activated the ship’s thermal insulation system; based on the current temperature reading, the external temperature of the ship had reached two million degrees.
This was just the air temperature, making it unimaginable how terrifying the temperature of the lava everywhere must be.
Zhang Menglong put away the spaceship and stepped outside. With Strange Fire protecting his body, the high temperatures couldn’t harm him at all. It was said that those Ghost Flame Demon Worms lived in the high-temperature magma, lying in ambush for passing creatures.
Sure enough, just as Zhang Menglong stepped out, several high-temperature flames shot up from the lava.
But the Strange Fire on him was the nemesis of any flame. Before the fireballs could touch Zhang Menglong’s body, they disappeared into thin air.
Almost simultaneously, a rotund body charged at Zhang Menglong, a tightly coiled Ghost Flame Demon Worm spinning towards him, spewing flames from the gaps in its body. If facing a group of human Martial Artists, these flames alone would be enough to make them wish for death.
"A king-level Ghost Flame Demon Worm," Zhang Menglong murmured. Judging solely by the species, these Ghost Flame Demon Worms seemed to be much stronger than the Blood Demon Ants.
"Ancient Spirit Cold Flame!"
Ice and flame are mutually exclusive, and it’s a test of which is more powerful. Zhang Menglong casually tossed a ball of flame, causing the Ghost Flame Demon Worm to scream. Mid-air, it was frozen into an ice block, unyielding even to the surrounding temperature.
"Bang!" The frozen Ghost Flame Demon Worm became extremely fragile, shattering into pieces upon impact with the ground, leaving scattered debris everywhere.
"These things are much harder to deal with than Blood Demon Ants," Zhang Menglong remarked, "Why hasn’t a Supreme Demon Beast emerged among them?"
[Dean, I estimate that the conditions needed for these Demon Beast species to give birth to a Supreme Demon Beast are too stringent. The Blood Demon Ant population might have simply had a stroke of luck.]
"Jin Kela!" Zhang Menglong called out, "Now it’s up to you!"
Jin Kela crawled out from Zhang Menglong’s clothes and onto his head, but being an insect, the high temperatures around made it somewhat fearful.
Zhang Menglong infused a part of Strange Fire’s seed into its body, and Jin Kela was immediately no longer afraid of the flame.
"Jin Kela, I need your help. Can you control insect clan demon beasts below the supreme level? Can you help me control this entire Ghost Flame Demon Worm?"
Jin Kela tilted its head, seemingly processing Zhang Menglong’s words, then nodded. Before Zhang Menglong could even react, it leapt directly into the lava.
"Wow! Is this little guy going to be okay? I was counting on it to lead thousands of troops for me!"
But Zhang Menglong had left a Soul Seal on Jin Kela, allowing him to monitor its condition at all times. At least for now, Jin Kela was safe and sound.
[Dean, it seems to be going to find the leader of these Ghost Flame Demon Worms.] Gou Dan analyzed.
To control such a massive species, it was absolutely impossible to achieve by controlling all the Ghost Flame Demon Worms. It only needed to control the leader of the entire Ghost Flame Demon Worm, and the army would essentially be under Zhang Menglong’s control.
Nearly half an hour passed, and Zhang Menglong was starting to worry. Although Jin Kela’s life status was still very stable, it had been down there for so long!
Suddenly, a violent tremor came from underground. Zhang Menglong leapt up, and almost at the same time, the entire ground split open, and a gigantic Ghost Flame Demon Worm over 120 meters long drilled out.
Zhang Menglong clearly felt that this Ghost Flame Demon Worm’s strength seemed to have reached the very limit of the Dao Realm!
Just as Zhang Menglong was preparing for battle, he suddenly noticed a familiar figure on its head.
"Jin Kela!" After coming out of the ground, the Ghost Flame Demon Worm did not do anything else but knelt before Zhang Menglong, then lowered its head in front of him.
Jin Kela leaped off its head, returning to the top of Zhang Menglong’s head.
"Is that the leader of the Ghost Flame Demon Worm?" Zhang Menglong asked.
Jin Kela nodded, and suddenly, a stream of information appeared in his consciousness.
The population of Ghost Flame Demon Worms now totaled 700 million. The number of king-levels was around 50,000; hundreds of thousands were at king-levels, tens of millions at lord-levels, and a billion at elite levels!
All these Ghost Flame Demon Worms were controlled by this one leader!
Jin Kela had not fully matured yet and could control at most ten insect clan leaders, and this was its first commander!
"Nicely done!" Zhang Menglong took out some ant royal jelly to reward Jin Kela, "Jin Kela, issue orders for them to follow me to Ice King City!"
Jin Kela seemed to chirp something unintelligible to the Ghost Flame Demon Worm’s leader. The latter emitted a series of electromagnetic waves-like signals, causing the whole ground to shake as Ghost Flame Demon Worms emerged one after another from the lava.
"Tsk tsk tsk..." Zhang Menglong watched with satisfaction as the mighty army of Ghost Flame Demon Worms assembled before him.