Chapter 819: Sacrificing Oneself to Save Others

But at this moment, a slight change occurred on the battlefield.

Zu An was seen to completely release his ice elemental shield, letting the sky full of water arrows shoot at him.

Bi Linglong exclaimed in alarm, but unexpectedly found that Zu An remained motionless. The water arrows did not hit him; instead, they grazed his sides and flew past.

What was happening?

Not only her, but even the Azure Moonflood Dragon was bewildered. Watching its attacks merely outline Zu An's body, it felt a little doubt. Could its aim have been slightly off due to anger?

So it summoned water arrows again, shooting them at Zu An from all directions and angles.

But even though they were clearly aimed quite accurately at first, once they were within three feet of him, the water arrows would inexplicably shift a couple of inches to the side. Although the movement was subtle, it was enough for Zu An to evade them.

At this moment, many people on the other side also noticed this strange phenomenon and began to cheer loudly:

“Lord Zu is truly a divine being!”

“With Lord Zu, life is so easy!”

“Lord Zu, I want to bear your children!”

...

Bi Linglong's eyebrows twitched slightly. These young masters of the noble families were all so unrestrained with their words. "You want to bear Zu An's children? Do you even have the ability? Only I in this entire place could..."

Bah, bah, bah! What am I thinking?

However, seeing Zu An stroll leisurely amidst the countless water arrows, casually dodging all sorts of lethal attacks, she couldn't help but secretly muse, “This guy is quite handsome when he's serious.”

She quickly composed herself and directly joined the battle. By now, all necessary commands had been given, and everyone was coordinating in an orderly fashion. Those several seventh-rank puppets, after all, were already dead, their strength not comparable to when they were alive, and now they were at the end of their tether. Her joining the battle was to end it as quickly as possible and then lead everyone to help Zu An.

“Despicable human, what sorcery are you using?” The Azure Moonflood Dragon's eyes widened, its face filled with disbelief.

“Ugly loach, who are you talking to?” Zu An was speechless for a moment. “You haven't even transformed into a dragon yet; how have you already picked up that arrogant habit of dragons?”

Speaking of which, it's not like I haven't killed a true dragon before. What are you, a mere flood dragon, showing off for?

“Ugly loach?” The Azure Moonflood Dragon was stunned for a moment. When it reacted, it trembled with rage. “I will flay you alive and tear out your tendons, making you understand the consequence of offending me!”

Rage value from the Azure Moonflood Dragon +888 +888 +888...

Seeing that the water arrows could not harm him, it simply gave up summoning more water arrows and instead blew a bubble.

The bubble floated over lightly, moving slowly. Zu An lightly tapped his foot and dodged it.

“This thing might work against low-level cultivators, but it actually thinks it can deal with high-level practitioners.” Zu An was a little confused. Surely this flood dragon wasn't that stupid.

Unfortunately, the Azure Moonflood Dragon didn't give him a chance to think. It swung its tail, and a massive tail swept towards him.

Zu An's heart stirred. This guy was relying on its thick hide and tough flesh. "Let it taste the poisoned dagger."

At this moment, Mi Li's voice echoed in his ear: “Don't always think of taking shortcuts with your dagger. That will limit your improvement. One day you will encounter an enemy who is prepared for your dagger. What will you do then? Your cultivation realm has risen too quickly, and your foundation is unstable. It's rare to have such a good opportunity for you to practice. Fight it head-on!”

Feeling the fierce wind pressure coming at him, Zu An dared not take it head-on. He immediately used Sunflower Phantasm to dodge. The tail swept right into a massive rock by the pond, and the house-sized boulder was instantly shattered by the blow.

The power of a single blow was terrifying.

The young masters from the various noble families in the distance were deeply shaken and admired Zu An even more, that he could fight such a monster.

Zu An, meanwhile, secretly communicated with Mi Li in his mind: “But if I fight it head-on, it will take a lot of time, and many of the noble families' disciples might die.”

“When did you become so saintly?” Mi Li said coldly, “The path of cultivation ultimately relies on oneself. This is a realization every cultivator must have. If they need others to save them every time, what's the point of their arduous cultivation? You can save them this time, but can you save them countless times?”

Zu An disagreed: “I can't control what happens afterward, but at least I can take care of this time.”

Mi Li's tone held a hint of approval: “I didn't expect you, boy, to have such a firm will. But you don't need to worry. Those water-element puppets were just injured by my soul attack, and your Crown Princess is commanding appropriately. They already have victory in their grasp. Those people will at most suffer some injuries; there's no danger to their lives. So you can fight with peace of mind.”

Zu An finally let out a sigh of relief. At this moment, the Azure Moonflood Dragon's massive claw swatted at him again.

Although it hadn't yet transformed into a dragon, it had already begun to possess the powerful physical abilities of dragons. Its entire body could be used as a weapon.

Zu An dodged while looking for an opportunity. Since he couldn't use the Dagger of Certain Death, injuring it in other random places would be meaningless.

If he didn't strike, when he did, he had to attack its vital point.

Snakes have their 'seven inches,' and dragons have their reverse scales; flood dragons were naturally similar. He quickly noticed a scale on the back of its neck that was lighter in color than the surrounding ones.

Just then, the Azure Moonflood Dragon attacked again. He easily dodged it. He was about to seize the opportunity to move when a sudden warning flared in his heart. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a shimmering object beside him.

It was the bubble the Azure Moonflood Dragon had just blown!

It was too late. He was trapped inside the bubble. This bubble's strength was many times greater than the one that had trapped the warriors earlier. He tried to struggle, but felt as if his entire body was in a quagmire, with no place to get a footing. Breathing also became difficult.

At this moment, he finally understood: the Azure Moonflood Dragon's fierce physical attacks earlier were a feint; constantly blowing these bubbles to lay out a trap around him, luring him into it, was the real goal.

He had just scoffed, wondering how such slow bubbles could trap anyone. But how could he have known these bubbles would keep bouncing and changing direction on the ground?

As if sensing his frustration, Mi Li's mocking voice came through: “Now you know the price of casually underestimating your enemy, don't you?”

Zu An's old face flushed. Without answering, he immediately activated Snowfall Divine Sword. The surrounding bubbles gradually froze into frost flakes, losing their original elasticity. He then broke out of the ice.

Almost instantly, a massive water arrow shot through the spot where the bubble had been. It turned out the Azure Moonflood Dragon had seized the opportunity while he was trapped to launch another fierce attack, but it hadn't expected him to dodge at the last possible moment.

The Azure Moonflood Dragon was greatly annoyed: “Despicable human, can you only dodge?”

“Ugly loach, haven't you been dodging around all this time too? If you're so capable, stand there and let me strike you once!” Zu An scoffed.

The Azure Moonflood Dragon, clearly a water-element fierce beast, was now so enraged that its eyes seemed about to shoot fire: “Vile human, you have utterly infuriated me. You can dodge, but I'll see if your companions can dodge as well as you can.”

Rage value from the Azure Moonflood Dragon +999 +999 +999...

After speaking, it slightly opened its mouth towards the direction of Bi Linglong and the main group. Inside, a water sphere continuously flickered and expanded, and an aura of destruction filled every inch of the air.

“Everyone be careful, it's going to breathe!” Bi Linglong's face paled, and she hurriedly warned everyone. Everyone quickly pulled out small shields and then formed a peculiar formation.

According to their intelligence, the Azure Moonflood Dragon could unleash a violent water-element energy sphere, destroying all living beings around it.

They had prepared special shields for this, and had also trained in new formations these past days to disperse and mitigate such an attack.

Unfortunately, all these preparations were based on the premise that the opponent was seventh-rank. Even if it was eighth-rank, they might have been able to withstand it by combining their efforts with formations. But it was a ninth-rank fierce beast, its power utterly overwhelming them. They simply couldn't withstand it.

A flicker of despair crossed everyone's eyes. Bi Linglong once again touched the crimson floral ornament on her forehead.

At this moment, a figure stepped in front of her. Looking at the colossal flood dragon high in the sky, his figure was so tiny compared to the Azure Moonflood Dragon's massive body. Yet, in that instant, she felt his figure was incredibly grand and towering.

Zu An sighed, his voice full of mockery: “Ugly loach, even true dragons wouldn't dare open their mouths in front of me. Yet you dare to breathe out?”

At this moment, the Azure Moonflood Dragon was feeling triumphant. The intelligence of such high-level fierce beasts was no less than that of humans, and in fact, even smarter than many. It acutely realized that Zu An was difficult to catch, but his companions couldn't escape. So it would take them hostage and see if he would save them.

If he saved them, he would have to face its breath head-on. The violent water element could tear him to shreds.

If he didn't save them, its breath would directly eliminate his companions, saving its own puppets from further damage and completely depriving him of support.

Regardless of the situation, it was a win-win for itself.

Just as it was feeling triumphant, it heard the other party's mocking words.

Anger surged in its heart. "Vile human, trying to deliberately lure me into speaking to cancel this breath attack!"

Rage value from the Azure Moonflood Dragon +379 +379 +379...

"Hmph, how could a high-quality flood dragon like myself fall for such a clumsy trick?

After I'm done breathing, I'll watch you struggle and wail in agony, then slowly come to mock you!"

It had finished its preparations and was about to unleash its breath when it suddenly heard a peculiar, bewitching voice: “Staring with such big eyes, what are you looking at?”

The Azure Moonflood Dragon was startled. It knew it shouldn't respond at this moment, but an uncontrollable urge surged through its entire body: “What about it?!”

Because it spoke, the destructive water sphere did not get unleashed; instead, it exploded directly inside its mouth. Even with its physical strength, and being a water-element fierce beast itself, it was still rattled so badly that its head buzzed, blood seeped from its ears and eyes, and several teeth in its mouth were knocked out.

Not only was the Azure Moonflood Dragon stunned, but everyone present was bewildered. They truly hadn't expected it to make such a rookie mistake, speaking at such a crucial moment and causing a backlash.

“Fierce beasts are fierce beasts after all; their intelligence is indeed low.”

“If we had known this, we should have provoked it first, instead of engaging it head-on from the start.”

“Are you stupid? Do you think you're Lord Zu? Our strength difference is too great; provoking it would only lead to faster deaths.”

...

Only Bi Linglong fell into deep thought. She recalled that enemies Zu An had faced before seemed to have encountered similar situations. Could this be a skill akin to Dragon Language Spirit?

At this moment, the Azure Moonflood Dragon was writhing and roaring in pain in the air: “#?*@%!”

He didn't know if this was the flood dragon's language; Zu An couldn't make it out clearly. However, it didn't prevent him from understanding its meaning, because the constantly incoming rage values from the system indicated these were most likely national curses.

Rage value from the Azure Moonflood Dragon +999 +999 +999...

He did not waste this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He immediately used Gale Teleportation to appear on its back.

The Azure Moonflood Dragon seemed to sense the danger, and frantically twisted its body, trying to shake him off.

Unfortunately, Zu An clung tightly to its scales and couldn't be shaken off at all.

The Azure Moonflood Dragon grew desperate. It plunged headfirst into the pond, attempting to dislodge him with the immense impact. However, it hadn't expected that Zu An's body, tempered by the Primordial Chaos Scripture, was not inferior to its own.

The Azure Moonflood Dragon itself felt dizzy from the impact. Seeing that it still couldn't shake him off, the other party instead took the opportunity to move closer to its reverse scale, getting ever nearer!

Now it was truly panicked. It hastily descended into the depths of the pond, attempting to drown this hateful human with water, and there was immense water pressure at the bottom!

As if sensing their master's fear, the puppet fierce beasts all changed direction and rushed into the pond, apparently to help in the fight.

“Oh no!” Bi Linglong tried to stop them, but unfortunately, those puppets were formed from water elements, formless and shapeless. There was no way to stop them if they wanted to leave.

She quickly ran to the edge of the pond, but could only see the churning water, unable to see what was happening inside.

“Crown Princess, let's retreat quickly, otherwise, it will be too late to leave.” Meng Pan came to her side and said urgently. The energy shield outside had just dispersed along with those puppet fierce beasts. It seemed the flood dragon didn't want to waste a single bit of energy, so they were now unrestrained and could leave.

Zhao Xi wiped the blood from his face: “Bah, Meng, you're truly despicable! If Lord Zu hadn't intervened, you and I would have already been buried in the flood dragon's belly. Yet now, with Lord Zu still fighting for his life, you want to run away?”

Meng Pan grew anxious: “I'm not heartless, but the Azure Moonflood Dragon just plunged into the water at such immense speed. You saw that enormous splash, right? The sheer power unleashed was enough to shatter any of us. Lord Zu was at the center of that impact; he's probably already…”

Hearing his words, Bi Linglong's face paled slightly: “Lord Zu's cultivation is profound. While we might not withstand it, he might.”

She didn't know if she said this to refute Meng Pan or to console herself.

Meng Pan continued: “Even if Lord Zu could withstand it, he has now been dragged into the deep pond by the Azure Moonflood Dragon. That's its home ground. Humans can't even breathe in that environment, let alone fight a ninth-rank fierce beast.”

Bi Linglong bit her lip. She knew he was speaking the truth. While high-level cultivators could use elemental shields to maintain some air, and also breathe essence for a short time, that was limited to swimming or stealthily moving underwater. If it was such high-intensity combat, they would likely feel suffocated in a very short time.

Seeing her remain silent, Meng Pan grew anxious: “Crown Princess, if we don't leave now, we won't be able to when the Azure Moonflood Dragon comes back up. We can't let Lord Zu sacrifice himself in vain. Furthermore, the Crown Prince's whereabouts are unknown. This mountain is now full of dangers; we must find him as quickly as possible.”

As for completing the mission to hunt the Azure Moonflood Dragon, he dared not even think about it.

However, since the opponent was ninth-rank, they would have an explanation for both the Emperor and Prince Qi when they returned. It wouldn't count as a complete failure of the grand examination.

Zhao Xi originally wanted to say something, but hearing him bring up the Crown Prince's safety, he swallowed his words. The implications were too significant. What if he proposed staying to help Zu An, and something happened to the Crown Prince as a result? The Liang Royal Manor couldn't bear that responsibility.

Bi Linglong's crimson lips were almost bitten to bleeding: “You all take the others to find the Crown Prince. I'm going down to check the situation!”

Meng Pan and Zhao Xi exchanged glances, both seeing shock in each other's eyes.

The Crown Princess seemed to be excessively kind to Zu An. Considering the rumors about the two of them that had circulated recently, could that matter actually be true?

They all felt a chill down their spines. They dared not think too deeply about such a matter. They quickly collected themselves and urged: “Crown Princess, please reconsider. It's no use for you to stay.”

“Yes, let's leave here first, reunite with the Crown Prince, and then make a long-term plan.”

Losing the Crown Prince was a capital offense, and losing the Crown Princess was equally a capital offense.

“Who says it's useless for me to stay?” Bi Linglong touched the floral ornament on her forehead, revealing a hint of poignant beauty in her smile. Then she resolutely leaped into the pond.

Meng Pan and Zhao Xi had thought she was just putting on a show. Who would have thought she would actually jump? She was also a sixth-rank cultivator, and her action was unexpected. It was too late for the two of them to stop her; they could only watch as she leaped into the pond.

But the next second, the bottomless pond suddenly churned violently. Immediately after, a dazzling streak of blood spread out, gradually dyeing the pond water red.

The warriors from the various noble families near the cold pond were greatly alarmed. Had the Crown Princess met with disaster as soon as she went down?

“The Azure Moonflood Dragon is coming out! Everyone retreat quickly!” Meng Pan cried out in a panic and immediately ran outwards.

Human emotions are contagious. The same group of people, who had just been led by the calm and composed Bi Linglong, were able to fight the Azure Moonflood Dragon fearlessly.

Now, with the frightened Meng Pan leading the way, everyone unconsciously rushed outwards.

The next second, the pond water parted, and a massive body flew out.

Seeing that it was indeed the Azure Moonflood Dragon, everyone's hearts filled with despair.

Just then, a strange voice reached their ears: “What are you all running for?”

“Lord Zu... is that you?” Zhao Xi turned to look, his voice full of uncertainty.

“If not me, then who?” Zu An chuckled.

Only then did Zhao Xi see clearly: the terrifying eyes of the once indomitable Azure Moonflood Dragon were now dim and lifeless. Its massive body hung limply, and there was a huge gash on the back of its neck, from which blood continuously gushed.

And Zu An was right beneath the flood dragon's head. He was the one carrying the Azure Moonflood Dragon's corpse out!

Everyone had been so terrified just moments ago that they hadn't looked closely, thinking it was the Azure Moonflood Dragon coming out.

“It's Lord Zu! Lord Zu killed the Azure Moonflood Dragon!” Zhao Xi shouted, overcome with surprise and joy.

Meng Pan cursed: “Zhao, what are you spouting nonsense for at a time like this? Do you want to get everyone killed?”

However, he suddenly noticed that the others around him had all stopped, and cheers were gradually rising.

He turned his head back, filled with doubt and surprise. He just happened to see Zu An hurl the Azure Moonflood Dragon's corpse onto the ground, where it heavily impacted, creating a large crater.

“He actually killed the ninth-rank Azure Moonflood Dragon?”

Meng Pan was utterly stunned. His feet unconsciously followed the others back.

“Lord Zu is invincible!”

“Long live Lord Zu!”

...

Some even shouted disrespectful words, but at this moment, no one felt anything was amiss. It was as if only such words could fully express their excited emotions.

Zu An, however, looked around. “Huh, where's the Crown Princess?”

Only then did Zhao Xi and Meng Pan snap out of it: “Lord Zu, didn't you see the Crown Princess? She just said she was going to save you and jumped into the pond.”

Zu An's expression changed. This pond was not a calm, harmless ordinary pond. The massive waterfall cascaded down, constantly filling the pond with various whirlpools and undercurrents. Not to mention his recent battle with the Azure Moonflood Dragon, which had churned the pond upside down. The currents within were now comparable to a raging sea.

Without the slightest hesitation, he hurriedly jumped in.