Beneath the desolate earth in the northeastern part of Tiger Chasing's new territory.
Numerous slender figures, each over a zhang long, wriggled through the underground soil toward a single direction.
These insect-like creatures had long bodies covered in a thick layer of chitin, with backward-pointing protrusions formed from their atrophied wings on their backs.
Their heads were broad and bore long, narrow thread-like antennae, while their round mouthparts were packed with serrated fangs.
The legs along both sides of their bodies were barbed, and their hind limbs were especially developed, capable of supporting them as they moved through hard soil.
At the center of this swarm of long insects was a King Insect of even greater size.
The King Insect alone stood nearly a zhang tall, while its body stretched more than ten zhang long.
It looked much the same as its smaller kin. The obvious differences were the black patterns on its back and the dark yellow mist it spewed from its mouth as it moved.
Any soil touched by that mist, no matter how hard it had been before, turned into fine sand.
This allowed it to move through the earth despite its immense size without causing much disturbance.
More miraculous still, once the swarm had traveled far away and the mist's taint was gone, most of the fine sand would return to its original state.
This race fed on ores. They had originally lived near a spirit mine within the territory of the Eastern Wilderness's First Prince.
But recently, the First Prince had first gone to war with Tiger Chasing, and was now locked in unceasing conflict with the Third Prince in the Northwest. As a result, mining operations at spirit mines throughout his territory had intensified.
After more than two years of excavation, the spirit mine