At Skyvault Mountain in northern Liangzhou, countless swarms of crimson flying ants blotted out the sky and sun.
Towering crimson flames also filled the heavens here, burning straight through the Ninefold Clouds and forming an enormous wall of fire in the sky to stop the swarms from moving south.
The flames had been unleashed by the spellcasters of the Dutian Divine Palace.
The Dutian Divine Palace was the Divine Sect closest to Liangzhou. Thus, when the Great Luo Ant Clan began breaking through the seals on a massive scale, it had been the first to react, immediately reinforcing Skyvault Mountain in an attempt to block the ants' southward advance.
But while these towering flames worked against ordinary Great Luo Ants, they could not stop the powerful High-Rank Soldier Ants.
Streaks of red light could now be seen constantly breaking through the wall of fire to fight the Dutian Divine Palace's martial cultivators.
These High-Rank Soldier Ants had physiques comparable to Second- and Third-Rank martial cultivators, and their numbers were immense. The exceptionally powerful individuals among them could even rival First-Rank martial cultivators.
The only consolation was that, after spending long ages sealed away, these High-Rank Soldier Ants had all lost their imitative bodies and could currently fight only in their original forms. Their combat capabilities were generally inferior to martial cultivators of the same rank. Like many Giant Spirits, they possessed strength they could neither control nor knew how to use.
Even so, despite mobilizing more than three hundred elders from the entire sect, the Dutian Divine Palace could barely hold its defensive line.
Atop Skyvault Mountain, the red-robed Divine Finger Dutian, Chen Nailuo, whose exquisite looks bordered on the uncanny, was gazing coldly toward the northern sky.
He appeared to be doing nothing and took no part in directing