Chapter 602 - 541: The Cruel Reality

Chapter 602: Chapter 541: The Cruel Reality

BANG!

With a dull roar, the dozens-of-feet-long Sky-Breaking Flying Boat plunged nose-first into the desert. Several Sand-tailed Scorpions below, unable to dodge in time, were smashed into a mangled, gory mess.

The sudden gore clearly agitated the surrounding Sand-tailed Scorpions. Their ferocious bodies, segmented like drawn bows, waved their two conspicuously large, scythe-like claws. In an instant, they swarmed over the crashed Sky-Breaking Flying Boat.

The hull of the Flying Boat, not known for its Defense, began to visibly chip and break under the relentless assault.

"ROAR!"

Amidst the sharp hisses of the Sand-tailed Scorpions, a savage wolf-like howl erupted. Wangcai shot out from the Flying Boat, its Demon Body rapidly expanding. Its pale golden form looked as if it were cast from metal. As its claws descended, several Sand-tailed Scorpions were instantly crushed, sending mangled limbs flying.

But as Wangcai opened its cavernous maw, a terrifying suction force emerged, pulling all the flying blood and gore into its mouth.

Swallowing the gore seemed to awaken Wangcai’s innate ferocity as a Demon Beast. With roars and snarls, it brandished its claws, wreaking havoc among the Sand-tailed Scorpion Swarm and leaving a visible trail of bloodshed.

Meanwhile, Chu Mu hovered high in the sky. Surrounded by Crimson True Flame, his blazing gaze was locked on the menacing rift in the sea of fire.

The sea of fire was his creation, so even though he had already unleashed it, perceiving the scene within it was naturally an easy task.

But now, his senses were met with chaotic spatial fluctuations that filled the rift, making it as impenetrable as a thick fog.

Combined with the spatial interference from that piercing shriek just now, the answer was obvious.

’The creature within must be a Demon Beast of at least Tier Three, one that possesses Spatial Divine Techniques.’

’To survive in Sand-tailed Scorpion territory, it must also be a Sand-tailed Scorpion.’

As far as he knew, while the entire Sand-tailed Scorpion Race shared the same bloodline, they were much like the fictional "Insect Race" from his past life. Their common ancestry could still produce vastly different types of Sand-tailed Scorpions as they reproduced.

According to the records of the Cultivation Immortal Realm, this evolution among Sand-tailed Scorpions could even be driven by the specific enemies they faced—allowing them to adapt and evolve!

For example, during a great catastrophe in ancient times, many types of Sand-tailed Scorpions evolved specifically to counter the Magic Techniques and Magical Treasures of Cultivators.

This was one of the most fearsome things about the Sand-tailed Scorpions.

And here, in a place isolated from the world for countless years, it was impossible to predict what species and what Divine Techniques the Sand-tailed Scorpions might have evolved.

’Spatial abilities...’

Subconsciously, Chu Mu recalled how restricted he had been back in Bazhou City, and that... that had just been a pseudo-spatial Array!

Chu Mu didn’t hesitate for long. With a flick of his sleeve, a Fire Dragon coiling before him shot into the air, its head held high, before suddenly diving downward.

In just a moment, the several-meter-long Fire Dragon rapidly swelled to dozens of feet in size. Amid a deafening draconic roar, it plunged into the rift in the sea of sand.

Under the Fire Dragon’s influence, the scorching crimson embers still lingering in the sand were instantly absorbed, merging with the dragon.

Finally...

BOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion! A Fireball dozens of feet wide engulfed the yellow sand and violently detonated!

Countless grains of fine sand instantly melted. Everywhere the sea of fire swept past, the ground was vitrified into a crystal-clear, mirror-like surface, glowing a scorching crimson.

Under this attack, the rift in the sand had vanished completely.

The chaotic spatial fluctuations were annihilated in the blast, revealing a ferocious Sand-tailed Scorpion in the void, now visible to Chu Mu.

The Demon Beast was dozens of feet long, but its body wasn’t the sandy yellow of a typical Sand-tailed Scorpion. Instead, it was entirely silver-white—a liquid-like silver, almost like... flowing mercury, only more brilliant.

It shimmered in and out of existence, almost illusory. Before Chu Mu could get a clear look at its full form, space rippled, and the strange Sand-tailed Scorpion vanished without a trace.

Chu Mu’s eyes narrowed. He raised his hand, and the Compass appeared in his palm, its needle spinning rapidly.

In the next instant, Chu Mu violently swung his arm. A brilliant blade of light, blazing with crimson fire—an intertwining of saber and flame—slashed through the empty air not far to his left.

And at that very moment, the silver-white form reappeared with near-perfect timing, colliding squarely with his descending attack.

The massive attack, however, didn’t cause a major disturbance. There was only a dull thud as ripples spread across the silver-white demon body, which had actually managed to absorb the sweeping blade light and True Flame completely.

But soon after, the Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpion shrieked in agony as if in immense pain. The silver ripples across its body grew visibly more chaotic, seemingly spiraling out of control.

Although he didn’t know why this scorpion was so fragile, Chu Mu obviously wasn’t going to give the peculiar creature any time to recover.

The Nine Dragon Prison Suppression Tower rose high into the sky. Nine Dragons spiraled out, transforming into a Grand Array that descended upon the area. Seizing the moment while the Sand-tailed Beast was in pain, he enveloped a radius of several hundred feet, completely sealing its escape routes.

Then, dazzlingly bright blades of light swept forth with the Fire Dragon, raining down on the Sand-tailed Beast from all directions.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

This time, under the immense and ferocious assault, the silver-white Demon Body seemed to have reached its limit, unable to withstand the attack any longer.

In just a brief moment, as a series of roars echoed to the heavens, the area of dozens of feet around the Sand-tailed Beast was completely transformed into a sea of crimson fire. A Fire Dragon coiled and raged within, while blades of light crisscrossed through the flames.

The Tier Three Sand-tailed Beast offered no effective resistance. After a single, desperate screech, its life force was extinguished. The ferocious, silver-white Demon Body, no longer supported by life, crashed heavily into the sea of sand.

The inertia from its fall from the sky was enough to smash a massive crater into the sand.

He had braced for a formidable enemy, yet the threat was eliminated so easily. Chu Mu seemed not to have fully processed it yet.

He raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at the Compass in his hand. He channeled his Magical Power into it, and the needle spun slowly but never settled again, proving that, at least within the Compass’s detection range, this had been the only spatial-type Sand-tailed Scorpion.

Only then did Chu Mu turn his attention to the now-lifeless Silver-White Sand-tailed Beast.

The flowing, ripple-like silver had solidified. The Demon Body lay limp in the crater, looking for all the world like a silver-white sculpture.

His expression wary, he flicked out a probing blade of light. When it struck the Demon Body, this time it collided with the clang of metal on metal, even sending sparks flying, and left a faint slash mark on the silver-white corpse.

Only then did Chu Mu relax slightly. But this was clearly not the time or place to investigate the origins of such a strange creature. With a sweep of his sleeve, he stored the sculpture-like Sand-tailed Scorpion corpse into his Qiankun Bag.

With a leap, he once again stood tall in the sky.

Although the delay had only lasted a dozen breaths, by now, countless glints of cold light had appeared in the churning sea of sand from all directions. Innumerable Sand-tailed Scorpions had completely surrounded his position.

Chu Mu tried to survey his surroundings, but he had fallen into this predicament the moment he arrived. He was still completely in the dark about this place.

’Even if I were to flee, I have no idea which direction to go.’

’If I flee in the wrong direction and run straight into the Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother’s lair, then...’

But now was not the time for Chu Mu to overthink things.

The overwhelming swarm of Sand-tailed Scorpions was enough to erase any distracting thoughts.

Glints of cold light shot toward the sky as a rain of sharp stingers fell. The Sand-tailed Scorpions, some several meters and others dozens of feet long, showed no hint of emotion, moving like Puppets without minds of their own.

They threw their lives away to extinguish the crimson sea of fire that encircled the several-hundred-foot area. Finally, the path was clear for the endless horde of Sand-tailed Scorpions!

Outside the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array, which was centered on the Nine Dragon Prison Suppression Tower, a nearly blinding tide of sandy yellow surged. Endless waves of Sand-tailed Scorpions crashed against the firmly standing array like a relentless tide.

The Crimson True Flame blazed, and a Nine Heavens Fire Dragon coiled within. Any Sand-tailed Scorpion that drew near the array was annihilated without fail.

Yet even so, they showed no fear, only a continuous, suicidal charge.

Just then, behind the Beast Tide, several faint spatial fluctuations suddenly appeared. The Compass floating before Chu Mu reacted at once.

It locked onto their positions one after another, but strangely, after appearing, these spatial fluctuations remained stationary behind the Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide, not moving an inch.

’It seems more like a simple... deterrent?’

Chu Mu scanned the area. The densely packed Sand-tailed Scorpions were not a crude, disorganized Beast Tide. Their formation was extremely disciplined, with units on standby, units charging, and even surveillance and deterrent units, like the newly appeared spatial Sand-tailed Beasts...

At this moment, the seemingly mindless Sand-tailed Scorpions were like a well-trained army.

And he was the target this army had been sent to crush.

A chill ran down Chu Mu’s spine, and his face paled.

Everything pointed to a cruel reality he was unwilling to contemplate.

In the short time since his arrival, he, an outsider, had already attracted the attention of the legendary Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother.

In that same brief span, using the death of a single Tier Three Sand-tailed Scorpion, the legendary Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother had woven an inescapable Heaven and Earth Net, completing her encirclement of him.

At this moment, in this situation, he had no way out, no matter where he turned.

’If I want to survive, my only option is to carve a bloody path out of here before the legendary Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother arrives, or before she summons even more forces that I cannot possibly resist.’

’Other than that, it seems I have no other choice...’