Chapter 438 - 294: Silent and Soundless (Part 2)

Chapter 438: Chapter 294: Silent and Soundless (Part 2)

Where the swarm passed, nothing survived!

"Maintain this speed and sweep the entire central and southern regions. I refuse to believe that fellow Qing Dou can evade our search."

Standing tall atop the River Basin Shattered Gold Mantis, the Insect Master snorted, his voice like the clang of steel on steel.

"I heard the Second Elder of the Cyan God Family defected to the Dragon Blood Race three hours ago. That bunch of useless trash. When Cang God gets back this time, he’ll probably be the first to return to our Mother Queen’s embrace," the aged Insect Master leaning against a bone spur of the Sky-Splitting Instant Butterfly sneered from nearby, his robes a milky white silk.

If the Second Elder were here, he would have cried out in shock, because the two men conversing were none other than the founding Ancestors of the Sky-Splitting Instant Butterfly and the River Basin Shattered Gold Mantis races—two of the Five Great Ancestors renowned throughout the Insect Continent.

"There’s nothing wrong with being the first to go back. It’s been so long since I’ve seen Mother..."

As the River Basin Shattered Gold Mantis Ancestor was speaking, his blade-like eyebrows suddenly furrowed. He shot his head up and looked toward the heavens.

The Sky-Splitting Instant Butterfly Ancestor reacted as well, raising his head.

With perfect coordination, they both commanded the Soul Beasts beneath them to shoot into the sky.

But as they ascended from the 300-meter Sky Domain all the way to an altitude of 3,300 meters, they found nothing out of the ordinary.

’Was it just my imagination?’ the Sky-Splitting Instant Butterfly Ancestor wondered, his powerful Spiritual Power sweeping through the dark surroundings of the Sky Domain.

"No, it’s impossible for both of us to be mistaken at the same time. Something is wrong!" The River Basin Shattered Gold Mantis Ancestor’s face was tense. He took a blood-red worm from his robes and sent a pulse of Spiritual Power into it.

"This is the southern search team. A minute ago, we detected a strange fluctuation in our current Sky Domain. I suspect an Abyss Beastmaster or a Dragon Blood Beastmaster used some sort of stealth technique to pass over us. I need the ground surveillance units to monitor the Abyss entrance and the Sky Domain above it from all angles."

...

「In the command room of the Gray Demon Whale.」

Everyone in the command room watched the massive sea of insects rapidly recede into the distance and collectively breathed a sigh of relief.

In just over ten seconds, the scene behind them had vanished from sight, thanks to Grey’s high-speed flight.

"I can’t believe we just brushed past two of the Great Ancestors. What’s even more shocking is that they didn’t discover our presence," the Second Elder said, his face a mask of astonishment.

Moments ago, the closest the Gray Demon Whale had been to the two Ancestors was about fifteen kilometers. To Monarch Soul Beasts, whose speeds easily exceeded the sound barrier, fifteen kilometers was practically close enough to graze each other as they passed.

"We can’t let our guard down. Although they didn’t pinpoint our exact movements, they seem to have sensed something. The defenses ahead might be strengthened. Be ready for battle at any moment," Leon said, shaking his head, his expression not relaxing in the slightest.

The words had barely left his lips when Han Ning, who was sitting in a chair, had a sudden change of expression.

"Just now, all the puppets I had stationed at the entrance to the Abyss were destroyed. Before they died, they transmitted one last image."

"There’s a massive Barrier shrouding the sky above the Abyss rift. If we want to enter that Sky Domain, we’ll have to break through it."

Without any hesitation, Leon issued a command: "Begin preheating the Dark Particle Penetrating Cannon. All Monarch-level and above Soul Beasts, please proceed to the Spiritual Ability Weapon Control Room and release high-compression, Divine Will Level Spiritual Energy."

The Dark Particle Penetrating Cannon was a strategic-grade weapon aboard Grey.

It was composed of 128 offensive Dark Spiritual Energy Arrays and could be loaded with high-compression, Divine Will Level Spiritual Energy. It also had multiple modes to switch between.

There was a lower-damage, high-frequency beam mode.

There was also a high-damage mode, powerful enough to sink a continent, which required multiple Monarch Soul Beasts to release their Spiritual Energy in concert, amplified layer by layer through the Arrays.

This system could operate without drawing Spiritual Energy from Grey; it was a Spiritual Power Weapon that could be both integrated with and detached from him.

Upon hearing the order, the Second Elder immediately followed Leon’s instructions and headed for the Spiritual Ability Weapon Control Room.

Grey flew at an incredible speed. It wouldn’t be long before they reached the entrance to the Abyss.

"Reduce cruising speed appropriately to avoid colliding with the unknown Barrier during flight," Leon continued to command.

After silently passing through the two Great Ancestors’ joint search party, the rest of the journey was relatively smooth.

Before long, Grey had made a small loop within the Abyss’s Sky Domain and arrived beneath the southern entrance.

By now, its flight speed had decayed to Mach 3.

They were only 100 kilometers from the surface.

At such a close distance, the Spiritual Energy Detection Array could already pick up the Spiritual Energy leaking from above.

"Analysis of the Spiritual Energy concentrations ahead indicates a dense stream of high-energy particles covering the area 200 meters from the southern entrance."

"Just as expected, there’s a Barrier. To my colleagues in the weapon control room, is the Dark Particle Penetrating Cannon ready?"

"Ready. We can fire at any time!"

"Continue the approach. Maintain a state of continuous deceleration. When we are within 20 kilometers of the Barrier, fire the particle cannon and reduce speed to subsonic to avoid being affected by the Spiritual Energy turbulence."

"Roger!"

"Dark Particle Penetrating Cannon ready. Awaiting optimal range."

"60 kilometers..."

"40 kilometers..."

"25 kilometers..."

As Grey progressively slowed its flight, a terrifying fluctuation of Spiritual Energy began to brew within the thin mist.

A deep purple, almost black, circular vortex rapidly converged at the tip of the long, thick horn on Grey’s head.

"20 kilometers..."

"Fire!"

BOOM!!

In an instant, a black pillar of light over 300 meters in diameter erupted from the tip of Grey’s horn.

Traveling at over twenty times the speed of sound, it expanded rapidly. In less than five seconds, its diameter swelled from 300 meters to ten kilometers. Then... the terrifying black pillar of light slammed violently into a deep red, wave-like Barrier at the entrance to the Grudge Abyss.

RUMBLE!

An earth-shattering roar echoed between heaven and earth.

Dense Subspace rifts emerged from the site of the Spiritual Energy explosion, unleashing violent spatial storms.

"The Barrier is destabilizing! It’s been breached! Activate the Defense Array to nullify the Spiritual Energy aftershock and spatial turbulence. Continue forward at full speed!"

Amidst the potent Spiritual Energy explosion capable of destroying the very land, a streak of ethereal blue Flowing Light shot past like a fish swimming against the current.

As it flew, Grey was like a reef being battered by the ocean. No matter how fierce the winds and waves, it only accelerated, forcefully breaking through the blast’s influence... until it burst through the surface!

SWOOSH!

The ethereal blue Flowing Light shot straight into the sky, and the gloomy cloud cover of the Insect Continent once again appeared in everyone’s vision.

Below, the Spiritual Energy explosion was still raging. A desperate, dark light of Spiritual Energy spread madly in all directions. The mountain ranges on either side of the entrance vanished in the blast, and the earth was swallowed, leaving behind only a patch of hopeless black.

"Go, go! Don’t slow down. Push the speed to maximum! Our position has been exposed. We’re under the surveillance of the Queen’s Divine Hall," Leon said grimly, staring ahead.

Through the transparent observation deck, long, shuttle-shaped black rifts had appeared in the Sky Domain ahead at some unknown point.

In the center of the rifts, crimson eyeballs wreathed in black rings rolled incessantly, casting their cold, merciless gazes upon the stealthed form of Grey.

The crimson eyes filled the heavens, wrapping the entire sky so densely there wasn’t a single gap. It was an utterly bizarre sight.

Han Ning had seen this scene once before, when the Burning Fire Race had attempted to break through the Gray Mist Barrier.

Later, through explanations from Insect Masters of different Ancestor Families, he learned that this was the Queen’s Divine Hall’s surveillance method—a strange Spiritual Array known as the "Crimson Mirror Surface."

Under the watch of the crimson eyes, the Queen’s Divine Hall could track their position in real time.