If the members of the Mara Sect, such as Death Shadow, had worms growing inside their bodies, then the guy who rushed out of the coffin was a person made of worms. As he ran, worms fell off his body, and they were white beetles, about the size of ants, which made people's scalp tingle.
To Yang Zhen's utter bewilderment, this thing ignored Ding Chun and Wen Yuning, who were running slowly, and roared as it chased after him, as if it had a blood feud with him and wanted to devour Yang Zhen alive.
Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow were also dumbfounded, and even stopped to watch as the swarm of white insects chased Yang Zhen around in all directions.
"Hey, what are you two standing there for? Let's get him!"
Yang Zhen let out a strange cry. It wasn't that he was afraid of the thing; it was just that Yang Zhen had been afraid of insects since he was a child. The thought of fighting this guy and accidentally getting a bunch of insects on his body made his scalp tingle and made him feel extremely disgusted.
Upon hearing Yang Zhen's words, Gong Sanhe and Death Shadow rushed forward, unleashing various Method Formula at the group.
roar--!
The insects hissed and roared, and countless white insects surged in all directions, making a buzzing sound, and in the blink of an eye, they covered the sky.
Yang Zhen hurriedly summoned the Golden Lotus Heavenly Fire as well, wielding karmic fire in his left hand and Heavenly Fire in his right, and swung it around to burn all the white insects around him to death.
The Death Shadow also unleashed bursts of black fire, rushing into the white insects, and emerged covered in soot in the blink of an eye.
"Damn it, this is a monster in the Spirit Transformation Realm!"
Yang Zhen naturally knew that this was a monster in the Spirit Transformation Realm; otherwise, he would have slapped it to death long ago—no, he would have used a Great Deficiency Sword to kill it.
During the battle between the two and the white insect, Gong Sanhe suddenly shuddered for some reason and stopped, staring intently at the white figure chasing Yang Zhen around, his expression uncertain.
Suddenly, a look of horror flashed across Gong Sanhe's face, and he exclaimed in alarm, "Young friend Yang, be careful! This is a kind of Insect Witchcraft Technique from the Southern Frontier. This person must have been a Great Saint in life, otherwise he wouldn't still be at the Spirit Transformation Realm stage after death."
"What?!" Yang Zhen staggered upon hearing this, almost falling to the ground and being devoured by insects. "Senior Gong, are you serious? This guy is actually a Great Saint?"
"No mistake, he's dead. These insects are now controlling this corpse," Gong Sanhe said hastily.
"Stop with this nonsense! How do we kill all these bugs?" Yang Zhen yelled, quickly leaping up to dodge the corpse's slap.
That hand was way too long, stretching out over two meters! It was completely unpredictable and almost slapped Yang Zhen on the butt.
Yang Zhen casually unleashed a burst of flames, burning the two-meter-long 'hand' to ashes. However, this posed no threat whatsoever to the insect puppet before him. In less than two breaths, a new hand regenerated, and with a series of roars, it charged at Yang Zhen once more.
"Give... me back..."
A deep, Nine Netherworlds, reached Yang Zhen Yang Zhen's ears. He almost thought he'd misheard, and turned to look at the white insects with a bewildered expression. "Damn, the insects are talking?"
"This is the Great Saint's will before his death, which has been absorbed by these insects. The Insect Witchcraft Technique of the Southern Frontier is indeed miraculous." Gong Sanhe said with a shocked expression, but he dared not slack off at all. If he was even a little slow, Yang Zhen might be covered by insects all over his body.
Yang Zhen slashed back with his Great Deficiency Sword, annoyed, and said, "At a time like this, you old codger are still thinking about Southern Frontier Insect Witchcraft Technique! Hurry up and think of something! Oh dear, too fast! These insects are too fast!"
The Death Shadow stood to the side, eyes wide, looking utterly bewildered, and said, "What did you steal? Just give it back!"
Yang Zhen was stunned for a moment, then burst into curses. "I didn't steal anything! This godforsaken place has nothing but a coffin, not even a hair on the ground. This Sage of Saunter stole... wait, damn it, could it be this?"
As he spoke, Yang Zhen took out the transparent glass egg from his arms, and the Spirit Transformation Realm puppet immediately roared repeatedly.
"Damn, it really is something like this. Here, here, just stop chasing me, okay?"
Once Yang Zhen was certain that the thing wanted the glass egg, he immediately threw it away, and it vanished without a trace with a whoosh.
The insect puppet let out a strange cry, abandoned Yang Zhen, and chased after the glass egg.
Yang Zhen breathed a sigh of relief, then exchanged bewildered glances with Gong Sanhe and the three Death Shadow, saying, "What Sage of Saunter was holding just now was... an insect egg?"
"Where did you get this?" Death Shadow looked at Yang Zhen with curiosity. They had been together the whole time, but Yang Zhen had never gone near the coffin. Death Shadow couldn't figure out why the things inside the coffin were on Yang Zhen.
Gong Sanhe also looked at Yang Zhen with a puzzled expression, his eyes flashing with disbelief. "Whatever that thing is, let's go quickly. This insect puppet has just been resurrected and absorbed the True Essence of two Peak Mahayana Realm. It is far from returning to its peak strength. If that thing is related to the insect puppet's recovery... wait, why do I have a strange feeling about that thing? That... that is the Qi of One Purity?"
"What?"
Yang Zhen and Death Shadow were both startled upon hearing this. After exchanging bewildered glances, Death Shadow suddenly let out a strange cry and chased after the insect puppet.
"Damn it, are you crazy?!"
Yang Zhen hurriedly chased after it. This was not the time to risk his life for money. If the insect puppet could really absorb the Qi of One Purity and break through to the Spirit Transformation Realm stage, his three roots wouldn't even be able to withstand a slap from the insect puppet.
Up to now, Yang Zhen has never seen a powerful being at the Heavenly Cycle Realm. Legend has it that a Heavenly Cycle Realm expert can travel through the Zhou Tian realm and absorb the True Essence of heaven and earth for their own use, making them a truly terrifying being capable of moving mountains and filling seas.
Just as Yang Zhen set off to charge forward, a terrifying roar that pierced the heavens and the earth suddenly came from not far away.
Immediately afterwards, a tremendous boom resounded, and a towering wave of air shot into the sky, piercing through heaven and earth; it was likely visible to everyone in the entire High Antiquity Ruins.
A series of painful screams rang out. Yang Zhen and Gong Sanhe looked at each other in disbelief. Who would have thought that absorbing the Qi of One Purity would cause such heart-wrenching screams?
Gong Sanhe's eyes suddenly lit up, and he laughed loudly, saying, "Insect puppets are now almost demonic, but demons are inherently defying the heavens, beings that the Heaven and Earth Rejection cannot tolerate. Therefore, they must bear Heavenly Punishment for absorbing the Qi of One Purity!"
Upon hearing the words "Heavenly Punishment," Yang Zhen trembled violently.
Holy crap, Heavenly Punishment... it can't be some kind of black lightning bolt, can it?
Yang Zhen had personally witnessed the black lightning descend upon the world, wiping out an entire race. Everything in the surrounding world vanished without a trace, leaving behind a desolate wasteland.
If it were some kind of Heavenly Punishment, Yang Zhen wouldn't even want to look at it.
Just then, a deafening roar rang out, followed by a sonic boom that pierced the air. Yang Zhen stared blankly at the Qi of One Purity glass ball, which was charging towards him with a long tail.
"Dried pear is refreshing!"
Yang Zhen cursed angrily. Seeing the insect puppet, whose arrogance was growing and which was almost at the Ninth Heaven of the Spirit Transformation Realm, roaring and charging towards him, he hurriedly turned and ran.
That good-for-nothing, if he can't absorb it, he can't absorb it. Why throw him here of all places? His heart is wicked, utterly wicked.
However, just as Yang Zhen turned around, the glass bead hit him on the head with a snap.
"Is this never going to end? What did I, this Sage of Saunter, do to deserve this?" Yang Zhen roared, turned around, grabbed the glass bead, and with a furious shout, a terrifying shockwave suddenly erupted from beneath his feet, shooting off into the distance.