by Translator: BornToBe; Author: Ordinary Magician (平凡魔术师); Licensed From: 17k
Long Chen’s heart shook. He suddenly recalled that voice that occasionally appeared in his head that constantly said that the time was almost up. Was it referring to this board?
“Young friend, thank you. Thank you for giving me a chance to return home. I will forever remember you. Hopefully, you can topple this chessboard and survive. I hope we can meet again.”
The elder slowly rose. His body lit up, and he merged into the Yin Yang Immortal Grass.
“I’m going to break the chains. When the chains are broken, the formation will crumble. There is a horde of locusts on a mountain not far from here. They will be woken when the formation crumbles, and those locusts are more difficult to handle than the Magical Beasts. You should be careful.” The Yin Yang Immortal Grass’s voice rang out in their ears. This was its final goodbye.
The Yin Yang Immortal Grass’s whole body began quivering crazily. The chains beneath it were pulled taut, and the earth began shuddering as well.
There was one runic chain amongst those countless chains that was already dim. Cracks began growing all along it. That was the chain that Long Chen had struck.
That chain suddenly shattered due to the Yin Yang Immortal Grass’s power. Then a chain reaction followed. All the chains shuddered, and one by one, they shattered.
“Goodbye. Let me thank you once more.”
The Yin Yang Immortal Grass explosively grew. It broke through the sky.
The formation of the light pillar was shattered, and the entire world trembled fiercely. Mountains crumbled, the earth sank. It was like the world was about to be destroyed.
Those experts on the outside had started panicking when they saw Chu Yao be summoned inside by the Yin Yang Immortal Grass. However, now as the formation broke, they simply stood there in dumb shock. The power of the Yin Yang Immortal Grass made them feel like a mountain was crushing them. Even moving a finger was difficult.
At this moment, whoever still had any intention of snatching the Yin Yang Immortal Grass would really be an idiot. Something on that level wasn’t anything that they could touch. Only now did they find just how foolish their previous thinking was.
The formation exploded, and even the stars in the sky were shaking. After that, a giant hole appeared in the void, and the Yin Yang Immortal Grass slowly entered it.
In the end, it vanished within the hole. The Yin Yang Immortal Grass was gone, and the terrifying pressure had faded. The world was peaceful. However, after that intense shaking, the earth was sundered and the mountains had collapsed.
“Long Chen’s still present! Kill him! He has definitely obtained some treasure!” One sharp-eyed fellow noticed that Long Chen, Chu Yao, and Liu Ruyan were still present.
Although they didn’t know what had just happened, they knew that Long Chen had definitely gained something good. All their eyes turned red with greed.
“Fuck, it’s been a long time since I had a slaughter. Come, my blade has long since grown thirsty.” Long Chen rose into the air, Evilmoon on his shoulder. Did they really think he was so easy to bully?
Seeing Long Chen still standing there, that expert from Pill Valley smiled coldly. Holding his blood-red flame spear, he took the lead in charging at Long Chen.
BOOM!
Just as a great battle was about to erupt, the ground exploded, revealing a giant hole. A group of fist-sized locusts flew out.
Their bodies were golden, but compared to ordinary locusts, they had a pair of pincers on their mouths that flickered with a cold light. While the rest of them looked like they were made of gold, only their pincers were blood-colored.
“Heavens, Phantom Blood Locusts!” shouted someone in a panic.
Phantom Blood Locusts might normally be golden, but when they attacked, blood-colored runes would appear on their wings, making them appear scarlet.
Their golden color was what they looked like normally, but once they changed color, it meant that they were infuriated.
The Phantom Blood Locusts soared out, filling the sky like a giant wave. They charged at the experts present.
“Fuck, I actually forgot.” Long Chen clapped his leg. He had actually forgotten the Yin Yang Immortal Grass’s warning about the locusts. Seeing these Phantom Blood Locusts, his face turned green. These things were even more terrifying than the twelfth rank Magical Beasts.
“Ah!”
The Phantom Blood Locusts were incredibly quick. A powerful Empyrean was surrounded in an instant, and while he crazily fought, there were too many Phantom Blood Locusts. One of them bit his leg, and with a scream, his entire body stiffened. Then the Phantom Blood Locusts enveloped him, and when they left, he was gone. Not even a bone was left.
“Run!”
Long Chen pulled Chu Yao and Liu Ruyan away, running as fast as he could.
Chapter 1868 Pill Valley’s Huo Lieyun
“Ahh!”
“Fuck, how can they ignore our defenses?!”
“No!”
Startled and frightened cries rang out. The Phantom Blood Locusts were a strange kind of insect. While they were also classified as Magical Beasts, they were oddities, equally as famous as the Heaven Devouring Ants.
Even if a more powerful Magical Beast encountered them, they would flee. The Phantom Blood Locust’s mouth contained powerful runes that could tear through armor. A twelfth rank Magical Beast would instantly turn into a skeleton in the face of millions of Phantom Blood Locusts.
As for human experts, unless they had armor on the level of divine items, they wouldn’t even be left with a skeleton.
Once bitten by their pincers, your entire body would stiffen. Your Yuan Spirit would freeze, and that would spell defeat. The Phantom Blood Locusts were nightmares amongst Magical Beasts.
Magical Beasts like the Phantom Blood Locust normally weren’t called Magical Beasts. They were different from other Magical Beasts like centipedes, scorpions, or spiders. That was because they didn’t have crystal cores, and all their energy was concentrated in their mouths. That was an innate kind of terrifying power.
Some people joked that whatever god had made this world had made a mistake and accidentally created a few things that even they themselves didn’t understand.
These Phantom Blood Locusts were one of those existences. Rumors were that they were viewed as an invasive species back in ancient times and were hunted down.
The Phantom Blood Locusts were capable of devouring all life from a world. They bred quickly, and if they were allowed freedom, a world could meet with catastrophe.
In comparison, the Heaven Devouring Ants were a bit better. They were simply very territorial, but as long as you didn’t step into their territory or kill them, they would only start hunting when they were hungry, and their main prey was underground ores. Flesh was just a portion of their diet.
The Heaven Devouring Ants didn’t randomly increase their territory, and they bred slowly. So the Phantom Blood Locusts were far worse, a plague, a nightmare, an apocalyptic catastrophe for a world. Of course, any knowledge of the Phantom Blood Locusts was only within some ancient murals. They were important enough to include in murals because there were several times in human history when the Phantom Blood Locusts had appeared, causing the human race to pay a great price to exterminate them.
As for now? No one had expected there to be so many Phantom Blood Locusts sleeping underground. Like an overturned ant nest, everyone fled.
However, the ground continued to explode, and Phantom Blood Locusts came from every direction. They were extremely fast, and when they spread their wings, countless afterimages would appear. That was where the ‘phantom’ in their name came from.
Most frightening of all, the people had no idea just how many Phantom Blood Locusts were still hidden underground. The ground was constantly splitting open, revealing large caves which they were flying out of.
“Chu Yao, you and Ruyan go in the direction of the exit,” said Long Chen.
“Then what are you going to do?” asked Chu Yao.
“That idiot from the Bloodkill Hall has set his sights on me. He has some kind of secret art concealing his presence. I can only vaguely sense that he is approaching me, but I can’t narrow down his location. I will find some way to draw him out. He’s too dangerous, so I want to eliminate him now.”
Long Chen had sharp senses toward the Bloodkill Hall’s people, so he was never afraid of them. However, this fellow was actually able to block himself from his senses, meaning that he was definitely a terrifying assassin.
Such a person was too dangerous. He wasn’t worried for himself, but he was worried about the assassin targeting others.
Chu Yao was a wood cultivator and had sharp senses toward assassinations. She also had Liu Ruyan. Perhaps that person was unable to do anything to Chu Yao.
However, in a chaotic fight, such a person was too dangerous. He would definitely choose to target soul cultivators like Meng Qi and Xia Chen. So he was worried.
“Then be careful.” Chu Yao nodded, knowing what he was thinking.
“Do you need my help?” Surprisingly Liu Ruyan took the initiative to ask.
“No. The Phantom Blood Locusts are too powerful, and just one bite can be fatal. I would rather you protect Chu Yao. I will handle the Bloodkill Hall’s braggart,” said Long Chen.
BOOM!
Long Chen slashed Evilmoon, and a fierce Saber Qi slashed a line through the Phantom Blood Locusts.
However, even this attack only created a narrow opening. Other Phantom Blood Locusts away from the center weren’t killed and were only knocked away. The path quickly shrank.
The Phantom Blood Locusts were also tough, and they would normally only die if struck by the core of an attack. Any shockwaves or such were unable to kill them.
“Curious…” Long Chen’s expression changed slightly.
“What is it?” asked Chu Yao.
“Where is Ye Lingshan? She came with me, but we split up after I went to look for you. She’s not here.”
Even after such a long time, there was no sign of her. At first, he had thought that she was hiding, and he had been waiting to receive her at any moment.
However, even when his divine sense swept through the battlefield, he didn’t notice Ye Lingshan. With her power, there were only a handful of individuals capable of threatening her. Her safety shouldn’t be a problem, but she still hadn’t appeared. He didn’t understand.
“Could an accident have befallen her?” asked Chu Yao.
“No, Ye Lingshan is also an expert who killed her way up step by step. She definitely has ways to protect herself. Perhaps she found some kind of special opportunity of her own,” said Long Chen.
He led the two of them through the Phantom Blood Locusts. More and more of them appeared, and Long Chen repeatedly slashed his sword, killing a way through.
Just as Long Chen was attacking, space twisted, and a sword silently pierced toward his back. It was aimed precisely for the most difficult place for Long Chen to block or dodge.
“Hmph, you finally can’t wait any longer?” Long Chen sneered. There was no time to use Evilmoon to block. A golden dragon tooth suddenly appeared in the space beside him.
That Bloodkill Hall’s assassin’s expression changed. He hastily blocked the tooth, but he was blown back. He almost coughed up blood.
While assassinating, his energy was all concentrated within himself to avoid being sensed. Even though he was a powerful Empyrean, he hadn’t unleashed his manifestation, so in a direct clash, assassins were at a disadvantage.
If he summoned his manifestation, then such a huge disturbance was something only a dead person wouldn’t sense. How was he supposed to sneak attack like that?
The Bloodkill Hall had a secret art that allowed their assassins to merge with their manifestations. However, limiting their manifestation’s power like that to keep it hidden meant that they could only use fifty percent of its power.
What the Bloodkill Hall’s experts pursued was assassination arts, not power, and their defensive power was extremely low. So this dragon tooth attack almost made him cough up blood.
“Today, I’ll see if I can beat any piss out of you.” After the dragon tooth attack, Long Chen unleashed a tempest of attacks with Evilmoon.
While Long Chen attacked the Bloodkill Hall’s expert, Liu Ruyan formed hand seals, and willow leaves appeared, wrapping around her and Chu Yao.
Those willow leaves had black and white marks on them. They emitted a sharp aura. When they smashed into the Phantom Blood Locusts, the Phantom Blood Locusts were forced back. It would be difficult to kill them, but forcing a way through them was enough.
Following Long Chen’s directions, they charged out, taking advantage of while the Phantom Blood Locusts had yet to fully fill the surroundings, or they really would be in danger. There were just too many of them.
Some of the Phantom Blood Locusts would manage to latch onto the leaves they smashed into and bite them. Those leaves would immediately wither away into nothingness.
They were practically endless, but fortunately Liu Ruyan also had many leaves to take out. She was entirely able to keep up with this.
Liu Ruyan and Chu Yao charged out, while Long Chen was unleashing waves of Saber Qi to trap the assassin.
That assassin’s expression was icy. With Long Chen sealing his movements, he couldn’t retreat. He could only unleash his manifestation and fight all-out.
What surprised Long Chen was that even without his assassination arts, this Bloodkill Hall expert was still very powerful. His sword arts were sharp and vicious. Even in a head-on battle, Long Chen was unable to suppress him.
Now he knew that the name of the Bloodkill Hall’s three divine emissaries was not for nothing. They were powerful whether in terms of a head-on battle or a hidden assassination.
The thing that gave him the biggest headache was that he couldn’t unleash any stronger moves because those moves took time to cast. The assassin might take advantage of that opening to flee.
To kill a powerful assassin required one to unleash a tempest of attacks that didn’t give them any breathing room. Hence, Long Chen couldn’t let up even the slightest bit, or the assassin would slip away. Next time, it would be even more difficult to catch him.
Saber-light and sword-images repeatedly clashed, unleashing qi waves that blew back the Phantom Blood Locusts.
The surging qi waves shocked the fleeing experts. These two were true experts. They actually dared to ignore the Phantom Blood Locusts filling this space.
It had to be known that for them, just blocking the locusts was already done nervously. They were afraid of being bitten by one and losing their life as a result.
However, Long Chen and this expert of the Bloodkill Hall were fighting intensely while ignoring the Phantom Blood Locusts. Just from that, it was possible to see the difference between them.
Suddenly, a mass of Phantom blood Locusts blew apart. A flame spear pierced through the air at Long Chen.
“Long Chen, I, Huo Lieyun, will make you die a miserable death today for insulting Pill Valley.” That expert from Pill Valley’s Flame Divine Palace suddenly killed his way over, unleashing a frightening attack.
Chapter 1869 A Great Battle Begins
The raging flame spear pierced toward Long Chen. Its terrifying heat roasted the air and caused space to twist. Even the Phantom Blood Locusts were blown apart.
Huo Lieyun was surrounded by flames. His manifestation was active behind him, and within it was a person sitting cross-legged. That figure was like a god, and its divine might shook the sky.
BOOM!
Black flames surged out of Evilmoon, and Long Chen slashed the flame spear. It was like a sun had exploded, and the surrounding Phantom Blood Locusts were incinerated.
The instant Long Chen faced Huo Lieyun’s spear, the Bloodkill Hall’s Man Killer vanished. His aura was completely gone.
Long Chen’s expression was slightly grave. Enemies he could face openly weren’t frightening
. However, to have an assassin lying in wait as he fought all-out against someone else was definitely dangerous. That had the possibility of killing him.
“Good. The Black Illusion Dragon Flame will be changing masters today.”
Huo Lieyun pointed his flame spear at Long Chen. His eyes were shining greedily. After all, Long Chen’s Black Illusion Dragon Flame was something any flame cultivator would long for.
“If you have the ability, then come and take it,” said Long Chen indifferently. He might be a terrifying expert, but Long Chen wasn’t afraid of him.
From the previous exchange, Long Chen had confirmed that Huo Lieyun was an expert on the same level as Xie Luo and the others.
He hadn’t expected Pill Valley to be hiding such a terrifying expert. It seemed that he had underestimated them.
However, even facing Huo Lieyun and the Bloodkill Hall’s divine emissary together, all he felt was soaring battle intent. His soul began to heat up, and the warlike blood flowing through his bones was activating.
“Having such a nice place as your burial grounds is your luck,” shouted Huo Lieyun.
“My bones aren’t so easy to bury. Of course, if you have the ability, you can try. Speaking of which, I have a question. Has the Pill Fairy come?” probed Long Chen.
“Shut up. The Pill Fairy isn’t someone an idiot like you can touch.”
As soon as Long Chen mentioned the Pill Fairy, Huo Lieyun seemed to become an angry lion. With a furious roar, his flame spear pierced toward Long Chen.
“She’s also not someone an idiot like you can touch.” Long Chen instantly understood. Black flames erupted out of Evilmoon, transforming it into a giant black flame blade.
BOOM!
When Evilmoon and the flame spear collided, the earth crumbled beneath them. Black and red flames surged out in every direction.
This place instantly became a sea of flames that incinerated the Phantom Blood Locusts. Long Chen’s flame was ranked second on the Earth Flame Rankings, and its power was enough to burn the sky and vaporize seas.