Chen Wentian and Jasmine ran through the forest until they arrived at a set of low-lying mountains. This place served as the border to the Glittering Forest. It ran along almost the entire northern side.
They had passed through these mountains without any issues but now, there was something wrong. It had been a relatively unremarkable place a few days ago. Now it was teeming with insects.
"What are they?" Jasmine asked.
A swarm of them flew towards them. They had large wings and small bodies. There was nothing else notable about them but this didn't mean they were weak. Each insect out of the tens of thousands in the swarm gave off an aura at the Spirit Initiate Realm!
At the same time, a bigger swarm of black insects clattered toward them from ahead like a great wave. They rolled down the mountain range and over the hills, destroying every living thing in its path and stripping the trees bare. They numbered in the millions. It was impossible to count them all.
The first wave of insects on the ground charged at them. Chen Wentian threw out a punch and blue flames blasted apart an area five meters across. This opening was quickly replaced by the teeming insects, each one almost one meter in length. They climbed over each other, sharp mandibles clattering for human flesh.
"They're ants!" He shouted.
"I hate ants!" Jasmine shouted back.
She swept her arm in a horizontal arc. A small ray of moonlight sliced through several dozen of the black ants but even more replaced them. Some even started to eat their fallen brethren. None of them were weak, they were all at the Spirit Initiate Realm too.
Chen Wentian and Jasmine were soon surrounded. Since they were still suppressing their strength to the mortal realm, they couldn't kill the ants fast enough. They could still push ahead but they had slaughtered through a veritable wall of wiggling limbs and snapping jaws. They had to expend spiritual energy with every step.
Under an overcast night sky, bursts of blue flames combined with white beams of light. Two lonely human cultivators surrounded by an endless sea of insects, they seemed to be doomed to certain death. Such a massive army of ants was enough to repel a full attack by the Beast God Sanctum. Even if the entire population of cultivators from several provinces gathered together, they might only be able to fight to draw, losing millions of lives in the process.
"Shit, I get it now. Look at those mountains." Chen Wentian said.
He pointed ahead. The mountain range that blocked their way had been entirely stripped bare. What was left could be clearly seen, hordes of ants streaming out of each mountaintop, swarms of flying ants emerging from the same place and forming up in the sky.
He almost laughed in surprise, "Those aren't mountains… They are ant hills. Ridiculous. How many of these ants are hiding inside those anthills? What a ridiculous defensive line!"
"I don't care! I hate ants!" Jasmine shouted.
She was utterly frustrated. She really did hate ants. It was made infinitely worse that she couldn't utilize her full strength. She would have blown those ant hills to dust if it was up to her. But it would ruin their plan so she had to hold back.
"Die! Go die! Die!"
The two of them continued to fight. It was a never-ending battle and they knew it. They had only moved a few hundred meters in an hour since the ants appeared. But they weren't trying to win, merely waiting for their prey which soon arrived.
Several kilometers away, the hulking figure of Green Giant arrived at a vantage point that overlooked the black ant mountain range. The defensive line had been fully activated. The ground was teeming with millions of black ants while the sky was covered by flying ants.
A particularly large flying ant with wings the size of city gates arrived. A mantis subordinate flew up to meet it. The flying ant buzzed a few times while the mantis chattered in response.
"How long have they been fighting?" Green Giant asked.
"…"
"Mmmm. Mmmhmm." Green Giant nodded, "Keep up the assault. They are a bunch of tough meat bags. Let's see if they are two idiots or immortals in disguise!"
"…"
"That's right, we will know in the next hour or so!"
The big green mantis sat down to wait. It keenly watched the battle from afar. Although it did not specialize in intelligence or mental ability, it wasn't that dumb. It was still a wisdom beast that knew human speech. And in areas it lacked, it had several advisors, smart mantises that the queen had bred specifically for their intelligence.
Chen Wentian knew this too. He knew that the big mantis had arrived from the shadow anchors he had left behind. He also knew that this wouldn't be so easy from the beginning.
Invading a Spirit King's territory was never easy. All immortals were worried about self-preservation. Spirit Kings had several centuries to hone their skills in this area. It was especially true for beasts as they had a natural tendency to eat the weak and obey the strong. A powerful beast immortal could lord over everything in its territory while humans and demons were more rebellious and harder to control.
Chen Wentian killed some more ants and looked at the sky. It was almost time. Dawn was quickly approaching and they had been slaughtering these ants for half the night.
With his and Jasmine's full strength, the battle was nothing and they could continue like this for days on end. But since they were pretending to be mortal cultivators, it was about time to stop. Even the strongest lesser realm cultivator could not keep fighting like this, constantly spending spiritual energy against an endless sea of foes.
It was about time for them to make a run for it.
"Jasmine, let's go!" He called out.
"Finally!" She rushed to his side and hugged his waist.
At the same time, he retrieved a triangular contraption from his spatial bag. It was about three meters wide and looked like a kite. It had a myriad of runes drawn on the blue fabric and emitted a strong aura.
There was a steel handle on the bottom and Chen Wentian grabbed onto it with both hands. With a surge of spiritual energy, they rose into the air. As if carried by a strong gust, the large kite ascended rapidly.
"Here they come!" Chen Wentian shouted over the wind.
Several clouds of flying ants zoomed toward them. Their large wings were a blur and buzzed loudly like a sharp saw cutting through the air.
"Die! Die!" Jasmine yelled as she attacked in all directions.
Dozens of flying ants fell but more flew up. The kite was fast in a straight line but this made it an easy target for the insects to dive towards them. Chen Wentian also joined in, holding on with one hand while shooting out fireballs with the other.
Flashes of blue and white erupted across the sky, working together and cutting a path to freedom.
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