Chapter 1670: Incredible Insect Swarm Numbers! Now This Is More Like It!

The division of labor was clear and highly reasonable.

Kora and Elin had no objections and dispersed separately.

Xu Jingming and Lin Qianxue fell behind the team.

Golden and blue lightning flickered faintly over their bodies, ready to strike at any moment.

Ronan took a deep breath, a faint red aura of flame essence glowing around him.

He slowly descended to the rim of the basin, cautiously approaching the central rise.

One step, two steps, three steps...

Just as he stepped into the basin's perimeter, a sudden anomaly erupted!

"Hummm—!!!"

The entire basin's ground violently shook!

Countless dark red runes ignited from the honeycomb-like holes.

Instantly weaving into a vast luminous net covering the whole basin!

The net surged upward, forming a semi-spherical dark red barrier that completely sealed off the basin!

"Damn! It's a trap!" Kora's face turned pale, his voice sharp with alarm.

Elin's expression changed instantly.

Her silver battle armor blazed with light; a longbow forged from ice materialized in her hand.

"Big Brother Ronan!" Kora turned toward Ronan ahead.

But Ronan's previously cautious back suddenly froze, then slowly turned around.

The warm, hearty smile on his face had vanished entirely.

In its place was a strange expression of numbness and coldness intertwined.

"Big Brother Ronan? You..."

A strong sense of dread rose in Kora's heart.

"I'm sorry, Kora, Elin."

Ronan spoke, his voice flat and utterly devoid of emotion, "And Brother Su Chen—you're not leaving."

"What do you mean?!"

Elin had already drawn her bowstring taut, an ice arrow locked onto Ronan, her voice icy.

"It means..." Ronan's lips twisted into a stiff smile, "Welcome to the hunting ground."

"Roar—!!!"

Before he finished speaking, the surrounding rock walls of the basin exploded apart!

Eight elegant yet formidable figures, radiating overwhelming insectoid pressure, burst from the rock layers and hovered in midair!

The two leaders were queens, each over ten meters tall.

Clad in ornate purple-gold carapaces, their compound eyes deep as abysses, their aura pulsing with the terrifying presence of Eternal Sixth Stage!

The three on the left were slightly weaker, yet still at Eternal Fifth Stage.

Their insect limbs were grotesque; the flapping of their membranous wings stirred violent energy storms.

The two on the right were Eternal Fourth Stage, their cruel gazes fixed on those below.

Behind them, Hali transformed into Xi, silently hovering, her three pairs of transparent wings fluttering gently.

"These... eight insect queens?!" Kora's pupils shrank sharply, his face turning as white as paper.

Elin's slender frame trembled slightly, her fingers gripping the ice bow so tightly they turned white.

This was not the three insect queens reported in the intel!

This was eight! Two of them Eternal Sixth Stage!

This was a meticulously planned ambush!

"Ronan! You've betrayed humanity!"

Kora's eyes bulged with rage as he roared.

"Betrayal?"

Ronan shook his head blankly, "I never betrayed you—I was never on your side to begin with."

Luo Nan shook his head blankly, "I have never betrayed you, because I was never one of you."

"Inside here, I've long belonged to my master."

"Soul enslavement..."

Elin gritted her teeth and spat out four words, her eyes filled with despair.

Insect soul enslavement, once inflicted, was nearly impossible to reverse.

The Ronan before them was already a puppet devoid of self-awareness.

"Su Chen! Where's your senior?!"

"Where is he?! Hasn't he arrived yet?"

Kora whirled toward Xu Jingming and Lin Qianxue, his voice hoarse with fear and fury.

In his mind, the only hope lay in the Eternal Sixth Stage senior Xu Jingming had mentioned.

And his three Eternal Fifth Stage comrades!

Only if they arrived would there be a sliver of hope!

Yet Xu Jingming, meeting Kora's desperate, hopeful gaze, gently shook his head.

Only if they arrive is there a glimmer of hope!

Yet Xu Jingming gently shook his head, meeting Kola's desperate yet hopeful gaze.

"There is no elder."

His voice was calm, clear even in the deathly silent basin.

"What?!" Kola froze, stunned as if struck by lightning.

Aileen's slender frame trembled as she stared at Xu Jingming in disbelief.

"You... you lied to us?!" Kola's voice shook, thick with endless fury and regret.

"If I hadn't lied, how would they have come?"

Xu Jingming remained calm, even a faint smile curling at his lips.

"What do you mean?"

Only then did Aileen realize that neither Su Chen nor Zhang Xue.

Faced with these eight Queen Larvae, their expressions showed no change.

As if these were not eight Immortal-stage beings, but eight Cosmic-stage ones.

"Literal meaning."

Without further explanation, Xu Jingming gazed at the eight Immortal-stage Queen Larvae in the sky:

"Summon your insect hordes—or I fear you won't get the chance."

As his words fell, a Tier-T1 Sun Divine Thunder exploded outward from him with a roar!

Blinding gold-green lightning instantly swallowed the entire basin.

Like a blazing sun rising from the ground.

Then, Xu Jingming's body rose steadily higher.

Deep, dark purple scales surfaced across his skin; grotesque demonic horns burst forth from his brow.

Purple Nightmare Demon Body—activated in sync!

"What kind of lightning is this?!"

"Such immense energy fluctuations! This pressure isn't possible for an Immortal Stage One!"

Kola and Aileen's pupils shrank sharply, their spirits trembling under the crushing wave of destruction.

In the center of the lightning, Xu Jingming had transformed into a demonic form three point six meters tall.

Every muscle was cast like metal, carved with explosive power.

Gold-green lightning coiled around him like wild dragons, crackling and snapping.

Making him appear as the Thunder God wielding heavenly retribution—merely the natural overflow of his aura.

Was enough to choke Kola and Aileen's breath, making their divine bodies tremble instinctively!

Lin Qianxue's aura, beside him, was not as formidable as Xu Jingming's.

But it was still far beyond ordinary Immortal Stage One!

"Hm? This aura?"

In the sky, the lead Immortal Stage Six Queen Larva's compound eyes flashed with sharp light.

Sensing the terrifying primordial force within the lightning, she shrieked:

"Faking divinity! Insect Horde!"

Whoosh—!!

The void tore open; twenty Immortal-stage Insect Warriors crashed down!

Five of them reached Immortal Stage Four; the rest were Immortal Stage Three, their malevolent aura rising like a storm!

Behind them, four million Cosmic-stage Insect Warriors surged forth like a black tide, the clashing of their carapaces deafening!

They were all uniformly Cosmic Peak—no low-tier Cosmic beings among them.

"Sisters, this human is strange—attack together!"

The other seven Queen Larvae opened their respective insect portals.

In an instant, the entire basin spanning thousands of kilometers was nearly filled with insects.

A total of one hundred and twenty-three Immortal-stage Insect Warriors.

And nearly twenty-five million Cosmic Peak Insects, blotting out the sky, roaring like thunder!

"We're done!!" Kola's face turned ashen. Aileen's hand gripping her bow trembled slightly.

Yet Xu Jingming, standing at the heart of the insect horde, grinned—a fierce, monstrous smile.

"Hahaha, good! Good! Good!"

Xu Jingming did not fear—he rejoiced, his laughter shaking the heavens, "Now this is more like it!"