A Sword Comes from the North

Boom!

Just when many believed it was all over, an unexpected turn suddenly occurred.

The ground shook violently. A vast stretch of Spirit Fields suddenly bulged high into the air, and countless Earth Rhinoceroses swarmed out from the cracks.

These black beetles gleamed with an eerie light, their numbers seemingly endless. In the blink of an eye, they gathered into a small mountain.

Then spread in all directions at an astonishing speed!

Many cultivators collecting Insect Corpses nearby were caught completely off guard. Some were flung into the air, others knocked to the ground, only to be submerged beneath the Earth Rhinoceroses in the next instant.

Piercing screams abruptly rang out, chilling all who heard them to the bone.

Earth Rhinoceroses were very weak insects. Even demonized Earth Rhinoceroses could be dealt with by low-level cultivators at the first or second level of Qi Condensation.

But when thousands upon thousands of Earth Rhinoceroses pounced upon them, when countless sharp horns pierced through them, when hard Mandible Teeth tore at them, when the insects burrowed into their ears, nostrils, and mouths...

Caught unprepared, more than a dozen unlucky cultivators became sacrifices.

The other cultivators were terrified out of their wits, scrambling and tumbling away in all directions.

But at that moment, the insect mountain formed by countless Earth Rhinoceroses changed again.

It suddenly shot upward, rising to a height of more than thirty zhang.

At the same time, a head, torso, limbs, hands, and feet emerged from it.

It had astonishingly transformed into a savage Insect Giant!

The next moment, the Insect Giant bent down and stretched out a massive hand, seizing a fleeing cultivator.

This cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Condensation did not react slowly. He immediately activated a Protection Talisman.

But the Protection spiritual light was utterly unable to withstand the Insect Giant's crushing grip and shattered in an instant.

The captured cultivator wailed, "Save me..."

His voice was full of despair.

Then he was stuffed into the Insect Giant's gaping mouth.

The crunching sounds of "crack, crack" could be heard clearly even from several li away!

The Insect Giant was clearly not satisfied. Spreading its arms, it grabbed two more cultivators and stuffed them into its mouth.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Yunyang flying ship, which had flown directly in front of the Insect Giant, fired crossbow bolts at the mutated monster.

Every crossbow bolt had been Empowered with spells. Blazing flames ignited along their shafts, streaking crimson trails through the air as they struck the Insect Giant one after another.

Exploding into clusters of devastating flames!

Countless Earth Rhinoceroses were burned to death or blasted into fragments, raining down upon the ground with crackling pops.

In the blink of an eye, the Insect Giant's head and body became riddled with pits.

Yet a vast number of Earth Rhinoceroses swiftly surged from within its body, filling the damage caused by the flaming crossbow bolts in an instant.

The Insect Giant had clearly been enraged.

It swallowed the cultivator it had just caught, straightened up, and threw back its head in a silent roar at the flying ship in the sky.

In the time it took to snap one's fingers, the Insect Giant's right arm stretched into a long black whip.

It lashed fiercely at the Yunyang flying ship!

Bang!

Though the distance between the Insect Giant and the flying ship was considerable, this whip strike carried the force of thunder. It extended several hundred zhang in an instant and struck the hull with tremendous force.

The Yunyang flying ship spun as it was hurled backward, and the light radiating from its hull dimmed considerably.

All the Qi Condensation cultivators who witnessed this scene turned pale with fear.

The Yunyang flying ship was a Heavy Weapon the Yunyang Sect relied upon to suppress all directions. Every flying ship was guarded by at least two superiors, and its Combat Power was strong enough to match three Purple Mansion cultivators of the same rank.

Yet it had actually been driven back by an Evil Creature made of Earth Rhinoceroses.

It was simply unheard of!

The Yunyang Sect superiors controlling the flying ship seemed to have been frightened as well. Before the ship had even stabilized, they retreated backward.

Widening the distance between both sides.

The Yunyang flying ship's retreat was no small matter—it brought disaster upon the Outer Sect cultivators who had come running to watch.

The Insect Giant did not pursue the nimble flying ship.

Instead, it strode forward with heavy steps and began sweeping through the surrounding Spirit Fields.

One cultivator after another was caught by the Insect Giant and reduced to food for its mouth.

Only those who had mastered Evasion Techniques, or who promptly used escape Talismans, managed to escape disaster.

Quite a few cultivators were also stirred to fury and Guts by the Insect Giant's brutality. They attacked it with all their strength using spells, Magic Tools, and Talismans.

Fire Dragon Entanglement, Wind Blades howling, Thunder and Lightning, Ice Arrow Rain...

Yet how could an Insect Giant that even the Yunyang flying ship could do nothing against possibly be harmed by the spells of these Qi Condensation rank cultivators?

The resisters instead became the Insect Giant's priority targets for slaughter.

For a time, cries of misery filled the land. These Outer Sect cultivators, most of them spirit plant farmers, suffered grievous casualties.

Witnessing this scene, Wang Chen, hiding on a distant hill, felt exceedingly conflicted.

He did not feel the slightest bit of schadenfreude.

As the saying went, when the rabbit dies, the fox grieves.

Watching these Qi Condensation cultivators, not much different from himself, be mercilessly trampled and even devoured by the Insect Giant—

Wang Chen felt only sorrow.

Though many of them had brought it upon themselves, neglecting their safety for a few paltry gains.

Their mistake should not have been punished with their lives!

The Purple Mansion cultivator controlling the flying ship clearly intended to use them as cannon fodder, delaying any counterattack.

In the eyes of those exalted cultivators, Outer Sect Bottom Layer cultivators were no different from ants.

To seize control of one's fate, there was only one way: make oneself stronger!

Wang Chen could not help clenching his fists.

Boom!

A thousand zhang away, the Yunyang flying ship's prow fired a beam as thick as a water barrel.

It struck the Insect Giant squarely in the chest!

No one knew how many Earth Rhinoceroses this attack annihilated, but it blasted a massive hole through the Evil Creature's body.

The Insect Giant immediately collapsed, and countless Earth Rhinoceroses, having lost their support, fell to the ground.

But before anyone could rejoice at defeating this terrifying enemy, the ground swelled again, and a new Insect Giant condensed into form!

Was there no end to this?

Just as many cultivators sank into despair, the Sky Dome suddenly erupted with radiance.

A magnificent sword gleam came from the north, crossing the skies in an instant and making even the great sun Golden Crow pale in comparison.

An incomparably powerful aura arrived with the sword, firmly locking onto the newly formed Insect Giant.

The Insect Giant seemed to sense the coming of its doom. It raised both arms in a defensive stance as its body rippled violently.

Time suddenly froze in that instant!

In the next breath, the magnificent sword gleam pierced through the Insect Giant's head and body from above, its peerless Sword Qi grinding millions upon millions of beetles into powder.

Then, with its momentum undiminished, the sword gleam pierced through the earth and plunged deep underground!

The ground violently shook.

Everyone within dozens of li heard, at the same time, a horrifying shriek that made their hair stand on end.

It was over!

Wang Chen realized that this terrifying Evil Creature had been completely extinguished.

Yet that incomparably brilliant Sword Light

remained deeply branded into his Divine Soul.

At this moment, the shock in Wang Chen's heart truly defied description.

Mu Qingqiu!

The Yunyang Sect's Supreme Elder, one of its three Golden Core True Persons.

Though Wang Chen had only heard her name and never met her in person.

His intuition told him that only Mu Qingqiu, hailed as Heavenly Cloud's Number One Sword, could have unleashed that strike!—

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