Chapter 539

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Protagonist:

Xu Zhangqing

Xu Zhangqing's words had just fallen when, before the crowd could even react, the insect swarm — perhaps unable to endure the flames' assault — shrank backward while simultaneously clustering together.

At the same time, the whole emitted an even more bone-chilling aura.

In the blink of an eye, everything in the surroundings was covered in a layer of crystalline frost.

The fire tongues within the fire wall froze the moment they drew near.

If not for Spirit Rong Night fanning the flames from behind with wind, it would likely have been successfully countered for real.

Su Jinli, looking thoughtful: "When these bugs gather together the chill intensifies; if we attack together and forcibly separate them, we can easily settle this."

With her having said so, and the surrounding people having no other method, they could only follow suit.

Immediately, Yu Shi, Lu Wu, Zhao Ziyue, Hu Bugui, and even Miao Huayu and Xu Linshan — two "newcomers" with little combat experience — all made their moves.

Yu Shi flicked his sleeve casually; his right cuff shook violently, and in an instant palm-sized spirit tools emerged one after another — dagger-like at the front, with a sphere at the rear.

They let out "whoosh" sounds as they tore through the air, closing on the insect swarm at extreme speed, then detonating abruptly.

With a deafening "boom," the terrifying explosion released a powerful shock force.

This caused the originally clustered insect swarm to split at once into several smaller groups.

Lu Wu's eyes brightened; the long spear left his hand, and his whole person became a streak of flowing light weaving among the various insect groups.

Such speed, such power.

A single sweep could wipe out a heap of Ice Erosion Insects.

Miao Huayu and Xu Linshan each tossed out a large batch of seeds, which, catalyzed by wood spirit power, rapidly turned into vine after vine like venomous snakes; relying on the sharp thorns covering them, they bored in and out of the insect swarms.

Zhao Ziyue's gaze condensed; his Earth Grade Golden Core's spiritual light circulated, and in an instant he replicated Spirit Rong Night's wind-element technique.

He saw clearly that wind aiding fire was the best solution right now; there was no need to waste mana copying others' attacks.

Two strong winds howled "wu wu," injecting precisely into the fire wall.

Instantly, the fire wall — originally several dozen zhang long — surged to over a hundred zhang, releasing wave after wave of scorching heat.

This time, what emerged from within were not fire tongues, but true fire snakes.

One after another they darted out of the fire wall, their bodies wrapped in searing airflow; as they swept past the insect swarms they ignited prairie fire, enveloping whole patches of Ice Erosion Insects.

Moreover, the temperature inside the fire snakes far surpassed the fire wall; the Ice Erosion Insects were burned to black ash the moment they were caught up, without even a chance to resist.

Under the combined efforts of everyone, they quickly dried up more of the bugs.

Originally a huge swarm, now only a small portion remained.

Hu Bugui looked at the patches of insect corpses, grinned and laughed: "Haha!

Our cooperation was too good; we killed more than half this fast."

Zhao Ziyue deeply agreed: "This is our first time cooperating; didn't expect such tacit understanding."

Spirit Rong Night raised his brows, asking with slight surprise: "If I'm not mistaken, you just used my technique?"

Zhao Ziyue countered: "Earth Grade Golden Cores all have divine abilities; you don't?"

Spirit Rong Night's mouth corner twitched at those words: "I naturally do, only..."

He didn't finish, glancing at Su Jinli with a hesitant look.

It appeared he was unwilling to display it in front of the other party.

Unknown whether he was concealing his skill or had some unspeakable difficulty.

Miao Huayu set down her still-trembling hands, thinking secretly: "So this is the feeling of combat?"

Xu Linshan mused: "Only pity, my attack methods are too singular.

A bug cultivator like Senior Brother Changqing must be powerful; pity I can't learn it — still need to find chances to practice more wood-element techniques."

Among everyone, only Xu Zhangqing did not act.

First, it wasn't needed; this side had several Golden Core stage cultivators, plus Su Jinli at Golden Core Perfection holding the line — dealing with cannon-fodder insect swarms was more than sufficient.

Second, his mind was entirely on probing the controller; as the team's only bug cultivator, finding the mastermind behind the scenes was far more effective than killing a few bugs.

"Lao Xu, we've killed seven or eight out of ten; are you sure this swarm has a master?"

"Raising this quantity should take a long time, right?"

"Or did you misjudge?"

Not only Hu Bugui was doubtful; the other few were also a bit surprised.

When it comes down to it, although these bugs are rare, they... are too weak.

Xu Zhangqing replied: "Quite clearly, the controller behind this swarm is probing our reactions, thereby scouting out your techniques and divine abilities.

Incidentally, also consuming a wave of mana in advance."

Su Jinli nodded slightly: "Correct; I just thought of that too, so I didn't act further."

To control an insect swarm of this scale, the mastermind's strength has absolutely reached Golden Core stage.

As for whether it's a Qin Hua Golden Core or an Earth Grade Golden Core, currently still unclear.

Therefore, she instead concealed her clumsiness.

Aside from having the Red Umbrella release flames, she made no further moves whatsoever.

Just at this time, the remaining Ice Erosion Insects that had still been stubbornly resisting all ceased their movements, their wing-vibration frequency suddenly becoming uniform.

A buzzing sound rang out continuously, growing clearer and clearer.

Spirit Rong Night's expression changed; his Wind Spirit Root made him extremely sensitive to this kind of resonance — he only felt the airflow around his body fall into chaos, and hurriedly said: "This sound... is wrong!"

Just then, the insect swarm underwent an even greater change; the rice-grain-sized Ice Erosion Insects rapidly gathered together — not huddling for warmth as before, but gnawing at each other instead.

Such a scene left everyone speechless.

Hu Bugui asked in puzzlement, "Lao Xu, what are they doing?"

Xu Zhangqing answered immediately: "They are offering a sacrifice."

The Ten Thousand Insects Secret Record contains a detailed record of this.

Once Ice Erosion Insects encounter an opponent they cannot beat, or a more powerful opponent, they will gnaw at each other.

What they gnaw is not flesh and blood, but the cold crystals condensed inside their bodies.

Each Ice Erosion Insect can condense only one cold crystal in its lifetime; mutual devouring allows the cold crystals to fuse, becoming bait to summon the Mother Worm.

Sure enough, at the center of the swarm's mutual devouring, those fused cold crystals gathered into a fist-sized ice-blue sphere, its surface flowing with fine ice patterns.

It pulsed like a heart.

With each beat, it released a cluster of frost mist spreading outward.

At the same time, the ground shook, as if some colossal thing were turning over; even the Broken Moon Flowing Frost floating in midair was affected, swaying slightly.

Immediately after, the ground cracked open at a speed visible to the naked eye, yet what sprayed from the fissures was not cold qi, but an endless cold wave.

Where it passed, exposed black rock was instantly covered in half a chi of solid ice.

Even the scorched earth previously burned by the fire snakes froze into an ice shell in the blink of an eye.

The cold wave surged ever more vigorously, covering an ever wider range.

Seeing this scene, the faces of everyone on the Broken Moon Flowing Frost all changed.

If the mist-like insect swarm before had only brought a visual shock,

then this thing underground, even before it has appeared, already lets everyone feel a terrifying aura!

(PS: Recently my mother has been hospitalized, so I have to run between two places, and updates will be unstable; hope everyone understands!)