[Chapter 51]
"Dong Dong Dong Dong Dong!"
Early in the morning, Luo Zheng was awakened by the sound of intense war drums.
When he opened the door, he was immediately infected by the atmosphere in front of him.
A hundred men in a squad of the Imperial Army were leaving the city in batches amidst the war drums.
Afterwards, Lu Xiao found Luo Zheng, organized the team, and also received the mission to go out of the city to hunt blade insects.
The front of the Dragon Castle spanned hundreds of miles, and it was the main battlefield between humans and blade insects.
Along the way, the corpses of blade insects could be seen everywhere. They were thrown on both sides of the road and piled up into a small mountain.
Luo Zheng noticed that there were many people looking for something around the mountain of blade insects' corpses. From time to time, they would stab the blade insects' corpses.
Those people were actually mortals without body refinement.
For these powerless mortals to appear in such a dangerous place, any ordinary blade insect could take their lives.
Seeing this scene, Luo Zheng asked doubtfully, "Those civilians have no ability. They risk their lives to walk out of the Dragon Castle and wander outside. Are they not afraid of death?"
When Lu Xiao heard Luo Zheng's question, he immediately laughed and said, "Death? Of course they are afraid of death. These guys are killed by blade insects every year. Two days ago, a few escaped the net and rushed over, killing more than ten civilians. "
"But why are they risking their lives to leave the city?" Luo Zheng asked, puzzled.
After Lu Xiao heard this, he laughed and said, "This matter is caused by your Blue Cloud Sect."
Seeing Luo Zheng's puzzlement, Meng Changjun explained, "Our Blue Cloud Sect counts the number of blade insects killed. We rely on the crystal core in the blade insect's chest. The crystal cores in these blade insects' corpses have already been dug out, but there are always fish that slip through the net. These people came out to try their luck, hoping to find a crystal core. There are many people in the Dragon Castle who are willing to spend a lot of money to buy it. "
At this point, Luo Zheng came to a sudden realization.
The crystal cores of twenty blade insects could be exchanged for one Blue Cloud Sect point, and one point was equivalent to two square crystals.
Although it was impossible for these commoners to exchange for cube crystals, if they could exchange for real gold and silver, which were like dung to warriors, it would be enough for them to live a comfortable and prosperous life. It was no wonder that they were willing to risk their lives and leave the Dragon Castle to search for those who had escaped.
In the dense tropical rainforest, there was only silence at this moment.
Every year, when the Insect Swarm began, all the other Demonic Beasts would either flee in all directions or hide underground. Just like the humans, those Demonic Beasts could not resist the Insect Swarm Army.
Other than the rustling of the trees, there was no other sound.
Luo Zheng and the others became even more cautious.
The blade insect was emerald green in color and was good at camouflage and surprise attacks. It often gave humans a fatal blow when they were not paying attention.
The moment he pushed aside the bushes, two blades swiftly and violently swung towards Luo Zheng's neck.
Luo Zheng sneered. Purple energy suddenly erupted from all over his body, and he forcibly pinched the edge of one of the blades with his hand.
With a crack, Luo Zheng actually forcibly broke it. At the same time, his other fist smashed the blade insect's head into pieces.
The sudden appearance of a blade insect immediately raised everyone's vigilance to the highest level. Seeing Luo Zheng deal with it so neatly, they did not relax. At the same time, they all thought of a proverb: When you find a blade insect, there are actually at least two thousand blade insects behind it.
Rustle rustle rustle!
The forest in front seemed to come alive. Countless blade insects seemed to appear out of thin air and surrounded everyone.
"Kill!"
At this moment, there was only this thought in Luo Zheng's mind.
In Luo Zheng's eyes, these blade insects were the points, the ticket to Purgatory Mountain.
After entering the Marrow Refining Realm, Luo Zheng's control over the True Qi in his body rose to another level. Although he could not release True Qi like a half-step Xiantian, or use True Essence like in the Xiantian Secret Realm. But in the Marrow Refining Realm, his control over True Qi had reached an extremely mature state.
Streaks of purple energy flowed out from Luo Zheng's body like silk threads. Then, they turned into surging fists and fiercely smashed into the blade insect's head.
"Die for me!"
Two blade insects flew over from the left and right, their sharp blades pointing straight at Luo Zheng's body.
Luo Zheng did not dodge. His two fists punched out at the same time, and the Red Sandalwood Fist's fist intent was displayed to the extreme.
Puff puff!
Two muffled sounds were heard. The abdomens of the two blade insects were directly smashed by Luo Zheng. The Demonic Beast Cores hidden in their chests directly rolled down.
After getting rid of these two blade insects, he did not have time to pick up the cores on the ground. A whooshing sound came from behind him. Luo Zheng almost subconsciously lowered his head to avoid the blade insect's attack. He turned around and punched towards the blade insect's abdomen.
"Red Sandalwood Inch Punch!"
The blade insect's abdomen was their hardest part. Luo Zheng had suffered a loss before.
However, the "Red Sandalwood Inch Punch" had the effect of hitting a cow through a mountain. The power of this punch directly penetrated the thick carapace of the blade insect's abdomen and went deep inside to cause damage.
Puff puff puff puff …
Following seven muffled sounds, the blade insect's abdomen was blasted open by Luo Zheng's surging fist force. Its vitality was completely extinguished, and it fell to the ground.
One blade insect after another charged over. Luo Zheng was not afraid in the slightest. He fought steadily and surely.
Every time he punched, a blade insect would fall in front of him. Not long after, the corpses of those blade insects were piled up like a small mountain.
While fighting, Luo Zheng noticed that the others were also fighting with all their might.
At this moment, Meng Changjun was holding a treasured sword and strolling leisurely. Every time a blade insect approached, he would unsheathe his longsword and shoot out a black-red sword beam, instantly piercing through a blade insect. As expected of a Xiantian Secret Realm expert. The sword beam condensed from Quintessential Essence was so sharp!
Yang Tai and Zhao Xuyong were also extremely ferocious. The two of them had rich combat experience. This was not their first time participating in a blade insect hunting mission. They were very familiar with the blade insect's habits and weaknesses. Every attack was aimed at the blade insect's weak spot.
Under Lu Xiao's command, the Green Mist Squad lined up in formation to deal with the blade insects' attacks.
"Shield Block!"
"Spear Thrust!"
"Bow Shoot!"
Although the strength of the landowning households in the Green Mist Squad was far inferior to the four from the Blue Cloud Sect, under Lu Xiao's command, they were not afraid of the blade insects' attacks.
"Crack!"
Another blade insect's forelimb was broken by Luo Zheng's powerful strength. Then, Luo Zheng's hand pressed hard on the blade insect's head, causing the fragile insect's head to explode in an instant.
After killing this blade insect, Luo Zheng could no longer see any other living blade insects around him.
Meng Changjun and the others, as well as Lu Xiao, only had a few blade insects scattered around them. They were quickly eliminated by them.
Looking at the blade insects piled up like a small mountain in front of him, Luo Zheng roughly estimated that there were more than sixty blade insects. This way, he could obtain more than sixty demon beast cores, which was only three points.
The Blue Cloud Sect's points were too difficult to earn. He had worked hard for so long, yet he could only exchange them for three points. Luo Zheng could only smile bitterly as he peeled the demon beast cores.
In total, 100 points would require him to kill 20,000 blade insects!
It was only 20,000 blade insects. With his ability, he only needed half a month to complete this mission and gather 100 points!
Spending half a month of effort to be able to see his sister was not a big price to pay! Moreover, Luo Zheng could train in battle and increase his strength!
Thinking of this, Luo Zheng worked even harder to pull out the demon beast cores from the blade insects' bodies.
After killing the first wave of blade insects, everyone continued to advance along the periphery of the forest.
Along the way, Luo Zheng was very active in hunting blade insects, and the number of demon beast cores increased one by one.
"More blade insects are coming!"
After these few waves of hunting, Luo Zheng quickly became familiar with the habits and sounds of blade insects. However, by relying on the sound of the wind blowing from ahead, Luo Zheng could distinguish them.
Seeing the forest not far away shake, a large wave of blade insects pounced on them.
However, this wave of blade insects was different.
Within the wave of blade insects, there were dozens of purple blade insects.
"Blade insect leaders!"
Seeing the blade insect leaders, Luo Zheng's eyes flashed slightly.
Blade insect leaders were much more valuable than blade insects. Every blade insect leader could be exchanged for one point, which was equivalent to killing 20 blade insects.
However, relatively speaking, the difficulty of killing a blade insect leader was much more difficult than killing a blade insect.
"Everyone, be careful. These blade insect leaders are highly toxic. Don't be stung by their poisonous needles!" Lu Xiao couldn't help but remind them. In fact, apart from Luo Zheng, everyone else understood blade insects very well. These words were equivalent to saying it for Luo Zheng to hear.
Every blade insect leader was a level 4 demon beast. Their strength was equivalent to a half-step Xiantian cultivator. Moreover, this purple blade insect leader was highly toxic and covered in spikes. It was very difficult to deal with.
Hearing Lu Xiao's reminder, Luo Zheng's face did not reveal the slightest trace of fear. Instead, he took the lead and rushed forward.
The purple blade insect leaders discovered Luo Zheng at the front. They let out squeaking sounds in the air. These blade insect leaders were actually communicating with each other!
The biggest difference between blade insect leaders and ordinary blade insects was that they all had intelligence and could communicate.
Noticing Luo Zheng rushing out alone, six or seven blade insect leaders, after communicating, actually surrounded Luo Zheng in a fan shape.
"Aiya, Brother Luo Zheng, you're too reckless. You're actually surrounded by blade insect leaders!" Lu Xiao shouted.
"Let's go save him," Yang Tai and Zhao Xuyong said as they rushed forward. After the battle just now, everyone had some understanding of each other and had become temporary battle partners. Of course, they were not willing to let Luo Zheng be killed by the joint efforts of those blade insect leaders.
Only Meng Changjun stood motionless. From his perspective, Luo Zheng was not such a reckless person. If he really was reckless, it was because he had the strength to deal with it.