by <unknown>
“Ha!”
He stomped heavily on the ground, depressing the giant centipede beneath his feet just right when it was unburrowing from the ground with half of its body still stuck underground.
How incredibly heavy was his stomp? One could only hear a loud burst of sound as the ground of a hundred feet in radius cratered, sinking into a pithole of dozens feet in depth, and the hundred feet of ground centering around the pit was also stomped into stones like metals!
HONG!
Zhong Yue swung his fist, and punched down heavily. His fist broke through the sound barrier and released a loud rumble of thunder. The centipede’s head was instantly pulverized, and the ground was splattered with its yellow blood.
But the centipede’s body still quivered, it roiled underneath the ground, blasting holes up to the surface of the ground. Zhong Yue launched a fierce barrage of punches down towards it, its speed quick enough to leave after-images—Peng Peng Peng— the blunt sounds of each punch resounded together to form a cacophonous symphony.
Right when the centipede quaked out to the surface, he had already launched countless strikes at it in the blink of an eye. The gigantic body was ravaged like a ragged doll, and sent flying only to fall down onto the ground after toppling down a few ancient trees. Its body and legs contorted for a few seconds before finally stopping completely.
“Faking death?”
Zhong Yue pointed his finger at it, and one after another, its body became riddled with perforations from Sword Qi threads that were shot out of his finger. A shrill cry could be heard as it lunged out over at Zhong Yue in a final and desperate gambit. Pak!— all of a sudden, it fell down onto the ground, only twenty feet away from Zhong Yue, Sword Qi flying out from its mouth one after another.
The Sword Qi have essentially pulverized its brain!
“Without any skills, and you still dare to fight with Qi Practitioners?”
Zhong Yue kept his Sword Qi, he glanced around only to be met with a scene of utter devastation that was incongruous with the surrounding forestry. The wasteland extended to a thousand feet in radius, marking the spot of his and the centipede’s gruesome battle.
Gosh, if all the insects are this strong, then it’ll definitely be a disaster to those monster Qi Practitioners that’ve entered! Not only are there insects lurking in this place, there is still the monster god Ming King’s seal, this place is extremely precarious, a misstep would claim countless lives!
Zhong Yue settled his mind, he suddenly thought of something and asked, “Xin Huo, you say that the insect race is a precious existence, so which aspect of them are very precious?”
“The precious part of them is their bodies.”
Xin Huo sat on his soul’s head and said, “The insect race devours the spiritual Qi of the heaven and earth, regardless of whether it is Gold Qi or the Wood Qi, all is comestible to them. These vagrant energies would accumulate inside their bodies and eventually condense into a spiritual pearl. If it’s the Wood Qi then it’ll be the Wood Spiritual Pearl, if it’s the Gold Qi then the Gold Spiritual Pearl. This centipede must’ve been one that favored the Earth Qi, so it should have an Earth Spiritual Pearl in its body. Try and search for it and see!”
“Earth Spiritual Pearl?”
Zhong Yue’s psyche gushed out and entered the centipede’s body, soon, he discovered something, and his psyche left its body; this time, enveloping an earthly yellow colored spiritual pearl.
The Earth Spiritual Pearl was heavy and tiny like a bead and yet it weighed two thousand kilograms. It’s surface was engraved with marvelous looking totem carvings which differed from that of the humans and monsters, it was more reminiscent of the demon’s totem patterns. However, the demonic air on it was not as heavy and thick.
The totem patterns on it, could it be of the insect race’s? But this Earth Spiritual Pearl is really something good. With this spiritual pearl, I can cultivate the Earth Sword Qi, and form the【Fifth Sword Style】, the sword array’s power would be able to increase yet again! However, it’s a pity that the Earth Qi in this Earth Spiritual Pearl is too little, the Earth Sword Qi cultivated from it would likewise not be that strong either, at least not anywhere close to the other Sword Qi. I have to get more of these.
Zhong Yue held the Earth Spiritual Pearl in his hand as he extracted the Earth Qi in it with the【Great Boundless Sword Qi】, turning them into a Sword Qi.
One centipede like this is still manageable, two or three is still fine but if they were to swarm in groups, then I wouldn’t be able to withstand them. Just exactly like how that monster Qi Practitioner died in mid-air.
Discreetly, he moved forward, scanning the surroundings with his psyche before he even reached there — in the air, the trees and even the undergrounds. He ensured to take every step with caution, so as to avoid getting beleaguered by the insects.
A few miles away from Zhong Yue, a young monster Qi Practitioner had his body penetrated by a myriad of holes. Blood dripped along the silks that created the holes, flowing into the mouth of a giant spider.
The giant spider was mountainous, and in its mouth were over hundreds of strands of spider silk which were constantly supplying blood to it.
“Zhu Xian’er, you are one of the monster race, why did….” The young monster’s eyes dimmed and so was his voice.
“Monster race?”
The spider monster chuckled in reply, “I’m no monster. My origin is of the insect race, one that is nobler than the monster race. Ages ago, my teacher had escaped from this forsaken land. And as soon my teacher heard that the saint city lord is looking for a closed door disciple, I was sent over to have a look. And indeed, your monster saint city lord does indeed have his own little secrets, sending you all here. Ke-ke, my teacher has nothing with the monster god Ming King’s heritage, what interests my teacher is the reason the monster god Ming King was tasked to cordon this place, the thing he was asked to safeguard ….”
“Your teacher?”
The young monster had lost too much blood, he could only barely open his eyes, his voice was hoarse and dried like a desert, “Zhu Xian’er, who is your teacher?”
“I’ve said so much, yet you still have no clues as to who my teacher is?”
Zhu Xian’er chortled flirtatiously, “The deep hole beneath your saint city ... it’s my teacher’s work. And also the death of your late saint city lord was due to my teacher having killed him. Don’t you know who my teacher is? The world claims that you monsters are smarter than us insects, but I can’t see why.”
Before her voice even faded away, the young monster had his body completely sucked up by the spider silk, only leaving behind a dried and desiccated corpse.
“This is where teacher lives, and the home for innumerable insects.”
The spider monster, Zhu Xian’er, opened her mouth and reclaimed the spider silks, and the desiccated corpse. Its mountainous body started to transmute, shrinking into a vivacious and lively young lady, flirtatious and with an exceptional allure, except for the eight dark and deadly spider legs on her back. She chuckled quietly, “Teacher sent me back to check on what this saint city lord had in mind. But it looks like the saint city lord has yet to discover what teacher has set up … monsters taste delicious. I’ve the urge to eat them all … En, let’s do that then!”
Zhong Yue walked out of the woods and stopped abruptly to gazed forward at the young and beautiful lady. Glancing around, he could see the wreckage and detritus that was strewn around. This should’ve been the scene of a fight. And he frowned in consternation.
“This senior martial brother….”
Zhu Xian’er smiled flirtatiously while suddenly, her heart was in full alert. She quickly leaped into the air —Chi Chi— sounds came from beneath where she stood, one after another, the sword silks shot up from the ground and encircled her in the center, forming into a sword array!
“An insect race who cultivated to the human form!”
Zhong Yue squinted his eyes, the sw
ord array formed into the【Fourth Sword Style】and surrounded Zhu Xian’er in it. He mumbled, “The monsters have been infiltrated by the insect race?”
Zhu Xian’er’s beautiful countenance covertly changed, she chortled, “Senior martial brother, what insect race? I’m from the monster race, my name is Zhu Xian’er, daughter of the Feng Gu City Lord.”
“That said, the Lord of Feng Gu City is also from the insect race?”
Zhong Yue’s voice was filled with curiosity, “Seems like the insect race holds quite a bit of clout in the monster race.”
Chapter 122: You Are Far From Civilized |
“How’d you know about the insect race?”
Zhu Xian’er was heavily shocked. All this time, the insects were viewed as part of the monster race, even the great existences like the saint city lord were unaware of the fact that the spider monsters were actually an insect race!
It was an undisclosed secret that the spider monsters belonged to the insect race, one that was concealed and guarded away from the outsiders. And yet, this young man of the dragon race seemed to be very familiar with the insect race!
Truth be told, the insect race was a term that was long lost in the history. Word of the insect race eventually turned into legends and stories. But this young dragon knew so much, and so well about the monster race, he even knew that the spider monsters were part of the insect race, how could this possibly not cause her heart to tremble in shock!
She was celebrated among the monsters, the precious pearl cherished by the Feng Gu City Lord, a glamorous lady with countless admirers. The young monster from before that ended up in her mouth was one of such admirers. He was first enticed by her beauty, then met with her deadly assault and in the end, was swallowed into her mouth.
She was planning to use the same tactic on Zhong Yue, but it seemed like he had seen through her cover, hence, he would surely not fall for the same trick she used to ensnare her previous victim. Even more so, he had managed to launch a direct sneak attack on her, leaving her with no chance to react!
The array formed by the【Fourth Sword Style】was strong, even an expert like Xiao Chuqing of the Xiang Mang Celestial Race had two of her heads sliced off as she takes on the blow fully!
Chi chi chi—— Sword Qi flitted around, the thread-like sword silks sliced about. Instantly, the young lady was soon inflicted with injuries by the Sword Qi and her smooth skin became littered with wounds one after another!
Zhu Xian’er chanted, her movement speed increased greatly, spider silks emerged beneath her feed and weaved into a spider web, eventually forming an array formation. She launched her counterattack against the【Fourth Sword Style】!
But how strong was the Sword Cocoons sword silk array formation created by Elder Shui Zian? The two arrays clashed and collided with one another, the result of which was her spider silks incessantly getting torn apart, rendering all her efforts an exercise in futility.
The spider silk array formation evidently stood no chance against the intricate sword silks. This left Zhu Xian’er with no other choice but to visualize the shield totem patterns. The patterns were peculiar and strange, as there were deadly insects— toads, centipedes, venomous snakes, spiders and all the other bugs, emerging out from the shields to ward off the sword silks.
However, the Sword Cocoons sword silks array formation was known for its fineness and delicate dexterity. Despite her mustering all her energy to manipulate the Hundred Poison Shields, it was unable to completely stop the sword silks from penetrating her defense to add additional wounds to her body!
Zhong Yue stood outside of the sword array and thought to himself as the sword silks were still pelting towards Zhu Xian’er, The Lord of Feng Gu City is an insect Qi Practitioner. While the ones that could ascend to the positions of the lord of cities are all incredibly strong experts, none of them were simple and conventional. To plant such a strong expert in the monster race requires a very strong entity supporting from behind, one that must be a powerful magnate of the insect race. But the insect race was long unheard of. Other than this underground world, there was no other news about the insect race in every other place. However, the incident that happened two hundred over years ago might be relatable to the insect race….
He had fully unleashed the power of the【Fourth Sword Style】, adding more and more wounds onto Zhu Xian’er’s body. Suddenly, a loud cry came from the young lady as she abruptly took out a banner of half a foot tall. She brandished it gently whereupon it soon became a dozen feet high in the blink of an eye!
On the banner, the Hundred Poison totem patterns emerged and a hundred poisonous livings lurked in the banner – it struck an eerie and frightening scene!
Hu——
The big banner danced in the air, the poisonous insects sallied forth from the banner. The poisonous bees, snakes, toads, dragons, spiders, centipedes and all the others flooded out of the banner and rushed manically over at Zhong Yue!
The poisonous creatures clashed with the sword silk array, and one after another, the sword silks flashed across the sky and the poisonous livings were beheaded. But they were non-physical entities with the only shape, tempered by the Poisonous Qi. Even if they were cleaved by the Sword Qi, they could condense back together quickly and restart their attack on Zhong Yue once again!
After all, the sword silk array was not invincible, especially when faced with soul weapons of the Poison Qi affinity as its abilities were relatively ineffectual against Qi of that nature. The forte of this sword array or others of its kind was to obliterate their enemies with their manifold forms and its sharpness. When faced with skills such as the Poisonous Qi or the radiant rays, it would be rendered useless.
Zhong Yue stood still where he was, along with the sudden emergence of the scorching sun behind him, there appeared the three-legged Golden Crows. One after another, innumerable three-legged Golden Crows flew out from the sun and pounced on the poisonous creatures. They slashed their claws on the poisonous snakes, pythons, toads, bees and then devoured them, fending them off of Zhong Yue.
“This whole thing was because of the colossal being that crawled out from the underground of the Black Mountain as when it crawled out, it must have exposed the Black Mountain Secret Realm hidden deep in the black mountain. This underground world is filled with the insects, this colossal being that escaped from this place must also be of the insect race.”
Zhong Yue pondered deeply, “If it is of the insect race, then it would be an incredibly strong cultivator. How could such an existence disappear into thin air without anyone’s notice? It must be that the insect race is deemed the common enemy of all races, forcing it to slip under the radar for its safety, disguising itself with a different face and appearance ... a different identity.”
The sword wounds on her body grew increasingly numerous, she heard the words that Zhong Yue was mumbling to himself, which made her heart shiver. She released a fierce cry and fell back, the eight spider legs behind her touched the ground and she transmuted back to her true form, an eight-legged gigantic spider.
While she lifted up her upper body, she still had the alluring body of a beautiful lady, but her lower half was of the spider’s; it painted a grotesque juxtaposition between the beautiful and macabre; the graceful and the repulsive!
And in the next second, her body started to expand, bigger and larger. In a trice, she had already turned into a mountainous giant creature, pushing the【Fourth Sword Style】over its breaking point and liberating herself from it. Her thick and sturdy legs were engraved with different kinds of totem patterns as if her legs were totem pillars themselves!
Humans held a common misconception about the monsters; when they saw a monster morph into a human form, they would often think it was for the human form.
But in actual fact, when the monsters morphed themselves into seemingly human forms, it was never intended to be in the form of the humans, but instead, that of the gods. The roots of the human form was never the human race its
elf, rather, its origins traced back to the gods.
During the ancient times and the primeval era, the gods existed in a form that many would liken to the humans of the current era, but it was not referred to as the human body back then. Instead, it was known as the divine body – the bodies of the gods.
Zhu Xian’er’s upper half body was of the human form, because the insect race was created by the demon gods and the demon gods also existed in human forms. That was why the insect race would also morph in accordance with the blueprints of their demon progenitors!
As she morphed back into her true form, her body immediately turned incredibly strong, the sword silks would now just feebly slash onto her body to be deflected with a small spark of collision, failing to inflict any more severe damage to her.
Krong krong krong—— Zhu Xian’er channeled her strength onto her legs and stormed over to Zhong Yue. All of a sudden, the【Fourth Sword Style】changed its attacking style, the sword silks now aimed at her eyes and thrust at them endlessly.
Zhu Xian’er was greatly shocked, she quickly raised her hands and defended her eyes. Right at this moment, the sword silks flashed over like lightning and took a sharp turn aiming straight into her ears and noses!
Zhu Xian’er panicked, she released a shrill howl and spurted out spider silks at Zhong Yue that shot out like nocked arrows finally let loose, it was as if she had practiced this maneuver forever for this moment.
Revolving around Zhong Yue was the three-legged Golden Crows, one after another, their wings flared out their wings as they fluttered in the air while clawing and pouncing towards the poisonous living creatures. They were thus, preoccupied and was unable to spare any effort to rush over to Zhong Yue’s defense. Zhu Xian’er was thrilled as she watched the spider silks on the verge of piercing through Zhong Yue’s unprotected body. Even if only one spider silk managed to pierce through him, it would still be capable of sucking away all the blood inside to turn him into a desiccated corpse!