Chapter 611 - 549: Invader, Die

Chapter 611: Chapter 549: Invader, Die

In that instant, it was as if someone had hit the pause button on the endless, surging Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide.

Even in the heart of the sea of flames, the Sand-tailed Scorpions that had been wounded by the fiery rain—their bodies mangled and writhing—were now frozen in place, utterly motionless.

The Desert Sea was boundless, and yellow sand filled the sky.

A bizarre scene, as if time and space had frozen, manifested across the vast desert.

Then, the unseen threads of Telepathy that pulled and manipulated every single Sand-tailed Scorpion seemed to tremble in unison.

A ripple—its source and mechanics unknown—washed over every Sand-tailed Scorpion in the desert. It was as gentle as a spring breeze, yet as powerful as a tsunami, passing in an instant.

Another moment passed. As the ripple faded, the eerie stillness that had frozen time and space finally dissipated.

The relentless, surging advance was gone, and the suicidal frenzy had vanished without a trace.

Across the vast Desert Sea, every Sand-tailed Scorpion within Chu Mu’s sight seemed to have been relieved of its mission, temporarily freed from its fate as a string puppet.

Their uniform, numb indifference slowly faded, and a visible spark of life returned to the creatures.

Some began to wander aimlessly. Others burrowed into the sand, kicking up waves of grit. A few remained as still as statues. There were even some that let out occasional hisses, showing faint signs of emotion.

Among them, a Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpion lay prone on the sand. Its Tier Three Cultivation aura clearly marked it as a powerful expert, high and mighty within the Sand-tailed Scorpion Race.

As the numbness faded and their natural instincts returned, all the nearby Sand-tailed Scorpions consciously gave this silver-white specimen a wide berth.

An empty space several hundred, even a thousand meters wide formed around the flash of silver.

The Silver-White Sand-tailed Scorpion lay motionless on a dune, as if soulless. Its silver carapace glinted under the blazing sun, releasing an almost blinding sheen. From a distance, it possessed a certain beauty, but a closer look at its ferocious Demon Body was inexplicably terrifying.

Inside the Demon Body, Chu Mu sat cross-legged, his face a bleak, ghastly white.

His eyes were shut tight and his five senses sealed off. He was like the living dead, with no trace of life about him.

Nearly a full quarter of an hour passed before a faint ripple of Magical Power emerged. The self-sealed Chu Mu slowly opened his eyes.

A lingering fear still haunted his eyes, but it vanished in the next moment.

He snapped his head up, as if he could see through the Demon Body to the blazing sun hanging high in the sky.

’His guess was right!’

"I was right... absolutely right..."

Chu Mu muttered to himself, his expression shifting rapidly, a complex mix of emotions.

Doubt, then relief, then confusion, followed by a flicker of understanding...

Just before he enacted his grand deception, he had deliberately detonated the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Array to avoid having his plan discovered.

It was clearly the right move.

Using the terrifying shockwave from the Grand Array’s explosion as cover, he had smoothly evaded the first wave of detection from the entity behind the scenes, completing his deception just as he’d planned.

But this was, without a doubt, only the first hurdle.

The most important part was still the unseen connection.

After all, he didn’t know what the entity behind this connection was, or what methods it would use to recognize the link.

Just as he’d predicted, upon noticing his disappearance, a probing wave originating from the hidden entity swept out, targeting every single Sand-tailed Scorpion.

Having transformed himself into a Sand-tailed Scorpion as part of his deception, he felt this wave of will with perfect clarity.

In that moment, a will as imposing as heavenly might descended abruptly, falling upon his simulated disguise and upon every other Sand-tailed Scorpion present.

This wave of will contained no emotion. Even though he had vanished, rendering days of pursuit utterly futile, there wasn’t the slightest hint of an emotional shift, nor any aura of a living being or of Spiritual Wisdom.

It was exactly like a program following a fixed set of logic: perfectly rational, perfectly rigorous, and absolutely incapable of deviating from its programming in the slightest.

If that point had merely deepened Chu Mu’s suspicion, then what happened after the will’s fruitless search dissipated undoubtedly served as further proof for his theory.

If it were truly the legendary Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother controlling the scorpions, then even if its Spiritual Wisdom was unique—rigorous, rational, and unmoved by external events—it would have reacted differently.

After losing track of him, even if it didn’t fly into a rage, it would have surely made new arrangements to search for him.

But when this wave of will dissipated, not only were no new commands issued, but from his observations, the connection itself had weakened significantly.

It was as if the mission for this particular Sand-tailed Scorpion—him—had temporarily concluded. He had reverted to his own self, just like the countless other scorpions around him, changing from manipulated puppets back into individual, separate living creatures.

’Rational, rigorous, and completely bound by its logic...’

’Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother... a lifeless program...’

Chu Mu surveyed the endless swarm of Sand-tailed Scorpions. If the Sand-tailed Scorpion Mother didn’t exist, then where did this infinite horde come from?

’Could it be as I suspected? Are these endless Sand-tailed Scorpions merely pseudo-lifeforms?’

’Were they created by some ancient Great Divine Power User to serve as a ’trial’?’

As these thoughts churned in his mind, the emotionless wave of will descended once more from the void.

This time, through the connection Chu Mu was simulating, a majestic voice echoed as a converted image suddenly appeared in his mind.

"Intruder, die!"

The voice was grand, yet still utterly devoid of emotion.

The image, in turn, unfolded in an instant.

Beneath a sky of yellow sand, a young woman in a green silk dress flew past. Streaks of emerald light danced at her fingertips. Each mote of green that fell was like an explosion of life, either instantly sprouting towering ancient trees from the sand or transforming into bizarrely shaped Spiritual Plants.

When the relentless waves of Sand-tailed Scorpions approached these Spiritual Plants and ancient trees, it was as if they had entered a forbidden zone. Every leaf and every vine effortlessly devoured the lives of countless scorpions.

The image shifted, and the woman’s aura and appearance became perfectly clear, ultimately becoming seared into Chu Mu’s mind like a Seal.

’Her?’

In that moment, a distant memory seemed to overlap with the image in his mind. Chu Mu’s brow twitched, unable to hide his astonishment.

But he had no time to dwell on it. As the image was branded into his mind, the faint Telepathic connection instantly grew stronger.

Even though his connection was merely a simulated facade, at that moment, his "Sand-tailed Scorpion body" began to move, no longer completely under his control.

Under the influence of the will, he began to charge relentlessly toward the woman’s location, just like the countless other Sand-tailed Scorpions around him who had once again succumbed to the fate of puppets.

Chu Mu didn’t dare make a single unusual move. He could only allow the puppet’s fate to befall him, even actively cooperating with the will’s manipulation to avoid any abnormalities being detected.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before the flash of green came into view. As the turbulent fluctuations of Spiritual Qi from the battle registered in his senses, the rushing Sand-tailed Scorpion Tide slowly came to a halt.

Like a well-trained army, there were main assault forces, support units, and reserves waiting on standby.

Chu Mu’s group of reinforcements was undoubtedly part of the reserves.

An endless sea of Sand-tailed Scorpions surrounded the speck of green. They stood like statues upon the rolling dunes, staring indifferently at the figure in the center, just as they stared indifferently at the countless comrades surging forward to their deaths...

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