Chapter 571 - 567: A World of Its Own

Chapter 571: Chapter 567: A World of Its Own

"My bait is him!"

A dark figure suddenly appeared at Hong Yu’s side.

It was none other than Xingtian.

Xingtian’s physical body, at the Fourth-Tribulation Corpse Realm, was incredibly powerful. Even an Unparalleled Genius would find it extremely difficult to destroy him. Hong Yu was certain that the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect couldn’t possibly harm Xingtian in a short period.

He only needed to buy about three breaths of time to seize the opportunity to attack the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect.

While he couldn’t be certain he could kill it, he knew he could at least injure it severely.

This was the very trap Hong Yu had laid with a flash of insight. When Bai Luoxue and the others had pressured him to hand someone over as bait, he had suddenly recalled how the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect ate its victims.

And just like that, he had managed to swindle fifty percent of the benefits from the three factions!

Of course, that had already happened.

Bai Luoxue and the others had seen Xingtian before. They knew how powerful his body was, and they were also aware that he could summon a troop of Execution Corpse Warriors.

For a moment, their expressions flickered as they realized they might have been tricked by Hong Yu.

But on second thought, they figured Hong Yu was just trying to save his own skin, willing to sacrifice Xingtian as bait. The thought made them feel a little better.

"Xingtian, remember to protect yourself!"

Hong Yu patted Xingtian’s shoulder.

With a subtle motion, he hid a pale blue Flying Saber within the clothes on Xingtian’s chest.

Xingtian nodded and rubbed his head. "I know, Big Brother," he said with simple honesty.

"THUD! THUD! THUD!"

Xingtian walked forward step by step.

His body emanated no energy fluctuations whatsoever, causing the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect to lower its guard slightly.

"WHOOSH!"

The purple tongue suddenly shot out, wrapped around Xingtian’s body, and yanked him toward the mother insect.

It was incredibly fast.

It seemed to know how tough Xingtian’s body was. The purple tongue dragged Xingtian through the tunnel, slamming him left, right, up, and down. The thudding impacts were exceptionally heavy, making the tunnel tremble. Boulders came crashing down, kicking up a vast cloud of dust that filled the entire tunnel.

"CRASH!"

Xingtian was slammed viciously onto the ground in front of the mother insect.

"SWISH!"

The scythe-like proboscis appeared once more, stabbing toward Xingtian’s head.

At that critical moment, a blue light suddenly erupted from Hong Yu’s eyes. "Flying Thunder Divine Skill, break!"

"SWISH!"

The Flying Saber hidden on Xingtian’s chest suddenly shot out.

It tore through his clothes and shredded the purple tongue coiled around Xingtian. The mother insect cried out in pain. The severed tongue whipped about like an injured python as a thick, scorching purple blood spurted out.

"SIZZLE!"

Wherever the purple blood fell, even the hard ground was instantly corroded into massive pits. Acrid green smoke billowed out, carrying a sour stench.

This was an extremely potent poison. No wonder the expert who had been captured earlier was powerless to resist.

Xingtian, however, was completely unafraid. Even as the purple blood splashed onto him and tried to corrode his flesh, he remained unharmed. Having undergone the Fourth-Tribulation Execution Corpse Tribulation, his body was tempered by lightning and possessed a powerful resistance to toxins.

"ROAR!"

Shrieking in agony, the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect tried to flee.

But Xingtian, having already regained his mobility and completely unaffected by the poison, had no intention of letting it escape.

"ROAR!"

Xingtian let out a furious roar of his own.

He swung his right arm, his five fingers clenching like five Coiled Dragons, and seized the proboscis in his grasp.

"ROAR! ROAR!"

The Poisonous Locust Mother Insect roared in terror.

On its own, its strength was not great. Its terrifying reputation came from its vast swarm of Earth Flame Poison Locust guards and its horrifyingly potent venom.

Now that its venom was useless against Xingtian, the Earth Flame Poison Locusts surged forward, attempting to suck him dry.

But no matter how much they bit and tore, they couldn’t break through Xingtian’s defenses.

Instead, as their sharp teeth gnawed on him, a series of `CLANGS` rang out, sending sparks flying.

"’Beast, let’s see you survive this!’ Hong Yu barked."

He instantly pushed the Heaven-Swallowing Divine Technique to its absolute limit, and a blue glow swirled within his eyes.

This time, he didn’t activate the Thunder Emperor’s Divine Eyes.

’It’s always best to keep a trump card in reserve.’

A vast torrent of blue Spiritual Power enveloped the Nine Feather Flying Knives as they shot forward. `SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!` The nine blades whistled through the air.

They were incredibly fast and extremely agile.

They combined and swirled in mid-air, forming what looked like a blue ice lotus. Wherever it passed, swarms of Earth Flame Poison Locusts were mercilessly sliced to pieces.

It broke through the defensive net of Earth Flame Poison Locusts and shot directly into the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect’s gaping mouth.

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"

Under Hong Yu’s control, the Nine Feather Flying Knives went on a near-demonic rampage, madly cutting and tearing apart the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect from the inside.

This went on for a full ten minutes.

The Poisonous Locust Mother Insect’s struggles grew weaker and weaker. All the Earth Flame Poison Locusts were summoned to help their mother deal with Xingtian, leaving few to attack Hong Yu’s group.

Fifteen minutes later...

"BOOM!"

Streaks of blue light shot out from the mother insect’s body, which was now riddled with holes. Purple blood flowed everywhere, corroding the tunnel floor into a giant pit a full fifty meters deep. Even the surrounding rocks stained with the purple blood were not spared.

’Could it be that this thing corroded out the entire tunnel?’ The thought suddenly occurred to Hong Yu.

The others came to the same sudden realization.

They couldn’t help but picture the fat, disgusting insect squirming through the earth, corroding a massive tunnel in its wake.

"SKREEE!"

The death of the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect threw the other Earth Flame Poison Locusts into instant disarray.

Without the Poisonous Locust Mother Insect’s command, they seemed to have lost their anchor, and they all scurried back into the rock walls.

"That’s a relief. With the mother insect dead, these Earth Flame Poison Locusts will have to fight among themselves until a new one is born before they can attack us again. That process should take a few years, at the very least!" Mang Kun said, letting out a long, grateful sigh.

Hearing this, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

A few of them nearly collapsed to the ground in exhaustion.

That last encounter was truly a matter of life and death. A single moment of carelessness could have meant being devoured by the insects.

"Xingtian, come back!"

Hong Yu called out in his mind.

"THUD! THUD! THUD!"

Xingtian climbed back out of the pit. He shook his body; his clothes had been completely corroded away, but his body was perfectly intact.

Hong Yu patted Xingtian’s shoulder. "Nice work!"

"Big Brother, this is for you!"

Xingtian remained expressionless, but his tone was deep and earnest as he spoke.

Hong Yu paused, then took the object from Xingtian’s hand.

It was a strange-looking Crystal Stone.

"*GASP!*"

Mang Kun, who had only glanced at it casually at first, suddenly sucked in a sharp breath.

"What? You recognize this thing?" Hong Yu’s tone was cold.

’This Mang Kun had caused the death of a Hong Alliance expert. If not for the bigger picture, I would have dealt with him long ago.’

Mang Kun looked at Hong Yu with envy. "This is a Soul Stone, and an extremely rare Blood Soul Stone at that. A single piece this size is comparable to ten thousand ordinary Soul Stones. It must have formed inside that mother insect’s body. You’re one lucky kid, getting your hands on a Treasure like this!"

"Soul Stone?"

Hong Yu looked thoughtful as he put it away.

’It seems Soul Stones hold a very special status in the True Dragon Battlefield.’

’For instance, the Soul Crystal Cannon requires Soul Stones for its energy supply. And judging by the fervent look in Mang Kun’s eyes, this Blood Soul Stone must be an exceptionally rare Treasure.’

At this thought, Hong Yu decided he would be sure to hunt for enough Soul Stones the next time he visited the Ancient Hall of the Great Wilderness.

"TAP, TAP!"

The group continued onward.

This time, their journey was uneventful, and they walked all the way to the location where the Blazing Flame Pure Gold had been discovered.

The tunnel had reached its end.

They could already see scattered deposits of Blazing Flame Pure Gold in the surrounding walls. However, these deposits were clearly impure and full of contaminants. Even if they were mined, they would require a great deal of effort to refine.

Moreover, the potential yield was small.

’It’s better to press on than to waste time here.’

"’If we want to go on, we’ll have to dig our way through,’ Hong Yu murmured."

Mang Kun spoke up. "I can handle that."

"Hm?"

The others looked at him doubtfully, a trace of wariness in their eyes.

Clearly, no one had forgotten that this cunning old fox had nearly gotten them all killed.

Mang Kun gave a wry smile and rubbed his nose. "His name is Tuso, an expert from the Earth Tiger Race of the War Race. The Earth Tiger Race’s greatest skill is digging through mountains and clearing paths. This tunnel won’t be a problem for him!"

Despite being called the Earth Tiger Race, they had no relation to actual tigers.

They were short, only about 1.5 meters tall.

Their other features were no different from a human’s, but their hands were tipped with sharp claws that glinted with a cold, metallic sheen.

"’Alright, let’s see what you can do,’ Hong Yu nodded."

"KR-R-RUMBLE!"

The Earth Tiger expert, Tuso, walked forward. He waddled with a twisting gait, like a roly-poly toy, which looked rather comical.

Someone wanted to laugh but held it back, afraid of offending the War Race.

But soon, they weren’t laughing anymore.

Tuso walked up to the blocked passage, took a deep breath, and crossed his arms over his chest. His ten sharp claws scraped against each other with a `CLANG! CLANG!`, the friction creating a shower of oppressive sparks.

"BOOM!"

Tuso thrust both hands forward violently.

They slammed hard against the rock wall blocking the tunnel, and a `SHKREEE` of sparks immediately flashed.

The rock wall was unexpectedly hard.

Even with Tuso’s sharp claws, the digging was extremely difficult, though the wall was visibly denting inward.

Someone tried to help by launching an attack.

This was an expert ranked eighteenth among the Unparalleled True Dragons. Confident in his Primordial Weapon, he launched a full-power strike, but it only managed to leave a tiny white mark on the rock wall.

Looking back at Tuso, his digging speed now seemed astonishingly fast by comparison!

"BOOM!"

「Three hours later.」

Tuso was drenched in sweat from exhaustion, but the massive rock blocking the tunnel had finally been breached. A sliver of light shone through from the other side.

Hong Yu and the Hong Alliance experts stood to one side; none of them entered.

He was still wary of Mang Kun, certain that the man was hiding something.

Sure enough, the moment the rock was breached, Hong Yu saw a look on Mang Kun’s face—a mixture of relief and intense longing.

It was the look of someone whose long-held wish was finally being fulfilled.

"’That old fox really is hiding more than he’s letting on. I just wonder what’s back there,’ Hong Yu muttered to himself."

By now, some people had already ventured inside.

Hong Yu led the members of the Hong Alliance in last. When he saw the scene before him, he too was stunned.

"’This is...’"

[Author’s Note: I’ve been updating so late every day. I’m tired, and I know it’s hard for everyone to wait. That’s because I, Qiye, am not a full-time author; I have a day job. I can only try my best to post updates earlier in the future. Thank you all for your support of me and Immortal Martial Emperor! If you’re interested, feel free to join the fan group. I occasionally pick names from my readers to use for characters in the book! Group number: 215631503]