Dual Cultivation God Returns - Chapter 915 - 915: Desolation

At last, the preparations were finished for the first expedition into the Great Wilderness.

The expeditionary force, mainly built around General Feng’s War Palace stood in straight rows and columns in the large plaza of the Sect within Fen Baihu’s Mystic Realm.

Behind them were workers and mercenaries who would be responsible for assembling the fortress around the World Stone on the other side.

Wu Long inspected the solemn expressions, gauging their overall readiness, and satisfied., nodded to General Feng.

After all, rallying speeches were not Wu Long’s specialty, so while General Feng was raising the morale of the army with a speech, Wu Long turned his gaze toward the ladies of the Frozen Garden Palace who were to the side from the main expedition forces, since their status was special within the Eternal Duality Valley, and it was not hidden.

A smile from him sent an almost imperceptible wave through them, as light murmurs went through the younger members, and even Elders standing in front slightly blushed.

“Yilao”, Wu Long then turned to the now Vice Palace Master of the Frozen Garden Palace, and Xue Bing’s Master, standing not far from him.

“Yes, Valley Master”, Qiu Yilao answered with a charming smile.

“Naturally, Frozen Garden Palace will be fully under your command as a detached, independent unit. I trust your judgment of where and when to act. Baihu will safeguard everyone’s lives, but it would be best if she didn’t have even a chance to interfere”, he said, prompting her to nod.

“Of course, Valley Master. We will do our best not to let down your expectations”, Qiu Yilao’s eyes filled with determination.

She nodded and turned to go raise the morale of the Frozen Garden Palace, though from the moment they saw Wu Long smiling at them, they hardly needed any more boost to their morale.

“Hehehe, safeguard lives?”, Fen Baihu’s ethereal figure appeared floating near Wu Long’s.

Her lips were near his ear, her breath tickling his skin, as she spoke with mischief in her eyes, “Wasn’t it, to not let them get hurt at all?”

“I did ask you that”, he nodded with a smile, “I don’t want to see any of them hurt after all”

“Hahaha, what blatant favoritism”, she chuckled, since there wasn’t such instructions for the other members of the Sect.

Rather, he said that as long as it wasn’t life-threatening or too severe, to not interfere since healers also needed experience.

“Of course there’s favoritism”, Wu Long shrugged with a shameless grin, looking over the ladies whose attention was now on Qiu Yilao.

Fen Baihu’s amused laughter added a tinge of satisfaction to his gaze.

Seeing that everyone was ready here, he looked toward Fen Baihu with a nod, and she took him back to the Oak Fortress.

There was a giant circular hall within the fortress, carved into the depths of the mountain itself.

Lian Zhiqiu was standing with a group of Symbol Arts Masters, operating the Grand Formation, and establishing a link with the one they created around the World Stone to make this hall a part of the area affected by the World Stone.

His ladies were also here, waiting for him.

Not long after he arrived, a formless wave spread from the center of the hall, and everyone felt the same feeling as if they stood near a World Stone, though it was slightly muted.

“Success!” Lian Zhiqiu exclaimed with excitement, raising both hands with clenched fists up.

“Congratulations, Zhiqiu. I knew you could do it”, Wu Long approached her, both embracing each other at the same time.

“Of course you did. Otherwise you wouldn’t make a plan dependent on me succeeding”, she chuckled, shaking her head.

After all, if she wasn’t able to pull this incredible feat off, they wouldn’t be able to access the Great Wilderness, and the whole plan would collapse.

He chuckled, knowing he put a lot on her shoulders, and gently kissed her.

‘So unfair’, she thought as she felt any lingering stress and frustration that she experienced while not knowing if she could actually succeed melt away just like that.

Wu Long looked at Song Minfu and Zhao Xieren, the two who would be left in charge here, though Ci Han was also here to back them up in case of emergencies.

They nodded to each other, as everything that needed to be discussed was already discussed beforehand, and stepped into the center of the hall with all of his ladies, along with Hong Yue, and Yuanfen.

They were waiting for some time, and then, they felt as the Spiritual Land beneath their feet shuddered.

This feeling was replicated all over the continent, but only Wu Long and his associates knew the meaning of this phenomena, which to others only felt like a slightly unusual earthquake.

There was no man-made way to fully sever the connection between Worlds, one could only restrict the area which the World Stone influenced, effectively plugging one end.

This, however, disrupted the flow of Spiritual Qi between the worlds, which, overtime, began to congest and created a sort of “dam” that trapped the Spiritual Qi which tried to get through, and, after the “dam” fully formed, effectively severing the flow of Spiritual Qi through the link, which in turn changed the great currents of Spiritual Qi through the Star Regions, as they adjusted to flow in different directions.

It took some time for the semi-natural semi-artificial “dam” to dissolve, but as it did, the still young Spiritual Land that Wu Long awakened for the Oak Fortress finally connected to some Spiritual Land on the other side, in the Great Wilderness.

“Wait… does this mean…?”, Hua Ziyan looked at Wu Long with widened eyes as he explained this.

“Haha, yeah, our Spiritual Land is about to receive a major upgrade as it will be the connecting link in a major current running between the previously blocked Great Wilderness and the Worlds to the other side, though the whole continent would gradually receive a boost as well”, Wu Long nodded with a grin, “Now, we better hurry, the race against time is on”

The beauties nodded, and the group disappeared in a small storm of Spiritual Qi, traveling to the other side.

“There is so much Spiritual Qi…”, Gong Cui exclaimed as they traveled through the link, amid a chaotic, giant flow of Spiritual Qi rushing with them toward the Great Wilderness.

“The Giant Reaper Ants on the other side have turned several Worlds barren, and then occupied all of the Spiritual Lands, continuously sucking out the Spiritual Qi produced by each one”, Wu Long explained, “When all of Spiritual Lands of a World are constantly sucked dry, they lose a portion of their connection to each other, and as a result become less potent”

He then continued, “When the World Stone was sealed, the current of Spiritual Qi going through those worlds, connecting to the worlds on this side, further weakening all of the Spiritual Lands there. This should have significantly reduced the ability of the ants to gather enough Spiritual Qi for their Queen to produce more offspring, and for each ant to evolve”

“Which means… their entire swarm entered hibernation”, Fen Baihu made a guess.

“Yes”, Wu Long nodded, “When faced with limited resources, the Queen is likely to put most of the colony into stasis, using the Spiritual Qi to simply maintain its, and the colony’s life as well as sending a handful of scout ants to search for more resources”

“But… wouldn’t they simply move in the other direction?”, Feng Yi asked, since there was no one to seal the World Stones in the Great Wilderness.

“The most that a Queen can maintain control of the colony through, is about 3-4 World Stones in any direction, and once it is mature it cannot be moved”, Wu Long shook his head, “And if they do not gather sufficient Spiritual Qi for a Queen to produce a new Queen, which are enormous, that would enlarge the colony in another direction, they are stuck”

“I wonder if when the ants first arrived, they carried the Queen with them from somewhere else?”, Nie Xiwang asked not really hoping for an answer, simply expressing curiosity, but to her surprise, Wu Long shook his head.

“According to Old Yen’s research, they have disturbed a hibernating small colony in a remote Spiritual Land”, he replied.

“Wait… so it was already hibernating there… does that mean…”, Nie Xiwang slightly widened her eyes in realization.

“Mm”, Wu Long nodded, “This is not the first time they conquered the territory they now posses”

Wu Long explained, that the ants already turned the group of worlds they could reach and possibly the Soft Meadow Continent into lifeless and desolate wasteland once, unknown, but very long time ago.

However, unable to produce a new Queen after exhausting all those resources, they were forced to start a deeper hibernation.

The Queen and her guards devoured almost all of the colony and entered stasis. Over enormous time, the worlds gradually recovered, but there likely still wasn’t enough to produce a new Queen, so they remained inactive, until they were disturbed by humans.

At the time he finished explaining, they have arrived, and a desolate, lifeless and discolored wasteland appeared before their eyes, stretching as far as the eyes could see. It somewhat resembled the aftermath of Wu Long’s Great Celestial Whale World Devouring Technique, but even more devastating.

Even the skies were of grayish color, with no wind despite enormous open spaces, and not a single cloud.