Translator: Cinder Translations
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Song Wen opened his mouth, and a terrifying scene unfolded.
A swarm of gray insects, flapping their wings, flew out of Song Wen's mouth in a dense cloud, creating a chilling sight.
The appearance of over sixty Black-bellied Beetle Worms instantly relieved Song Wen's pressure, as the number of bone worms around him began to rapidly decrease.
Although the bone worms were not particularly large, they were much bigger compared to the beetle Gu.
The beetle Gu had a significant advantage against the bone worms, which relied solely on physical attacks and had no magical abilities.
The beetle Gu, being small and agile in flight, were hard for the bone worms to hit.
Although the beetle Gu lacked magical abilities, their small size allowed them to easily target the weak spots on the bone worms' abdomens and launch attacks.
To avoid excessive mental exhaustion, Song Wen gave attack orders to the Black-bellied Beetle Gu and then ignored them.
He began focusing on dealing with the more powerful bone worms. The Black-bellied Beetle Gu were still somewhat weak and struggled to kill the bone worms at Qi Refining Sixth Stage.
A blood mist rose around Song Wen.
Secret Blood Art: Blood Sacrifice!
This was the first time he used the Blood Sacrifice Technique in combat.
His aura surged instantly, soon breaking through to the Qi Refining Seventh Stage, with a hint of approaching Qi Refining Eighth Stage.
With the blood-red mist surrounding his bone-picking knife, Song Wen cleaved through a Qi Refining Sixth Stage bone worm.
"Bang!"
The bone worm was sent flying backward, a crack appearing in its hard bone shell. The powerful force penetrated through the crack and crushed its internal organs.
The bone-picking knife also suffered a significant chink, causing Song Wen some heartache.
This knife had been with him for over two years, and he was still quite adept with it during dissection. He hadn't expected it to be damaged today.
Song Wen stowed the bone-picking knife into his storage bag, intending to see if he could find a way to repair it later.
At this moment, he noticed that his corpse puppet had already been incapacitated, its body severely damaged by the bone worms, looking like it could fall apart at any moment. He could only retrieve it into the corpse storage bag.
The burst of blood energy from Song Wen attracted the surrounding bone worms.
Relying on the strong cultivation from the Blood Sacrifice Technique, his formidable physical strength from the Corpse King Blood Refining Technique and the Ten Thousand Poison Body, and using his sharp fingernails as weapons, Song Wen engaged in close combat with the bone worms.
After about fifteen minutes, Song Wen had cleared most of the bone worms around him.
The remaining bone worms surrounding him could no longer limit his movements, allowing him the opportunity to escape.
During the battle, he also noticed a peculiar phenomenon: after killing the bone worms, the Black-bellied Beetle Worms would burrow into the carcasses of the bone worms and consume a tiny transparent crystal inside.
Seeing the beetle Gu actively consuming these crystals, Song Wen speculated that they might be something beneficial for their advancement. He also collected several bone worm corpses for future cultivation of beetle Gu.
Although Song Wen did not know what these transparent crystals were, he was certain they were not monster cores.
A Qi Refining beetle worm could not possibly have a core from a third-tier monster.
After the intense battle, not a single Black-bellied Beetle Worm was left unharmed. Over a dozen had fallen victim to the bone worms' attacks.
Suddenly!
Two Qi Refining Sixth Stage bone worms leaped high and lunged at Song Wen with their bites.
Song Wen's claws extended, channeling all his strength, to grab at the two bone worms.
Two bone worms had five holes punctured in their bodies and died on the spot.
Song Wen's hands trembled slightly, his fingers ached severely as the immense force from the two bone worms caused him to stagger backward.
At that moment, another Qi Refining Sixth Stage bone worm leaped out and charged towards Song Wen's chest.
With no time to retract his hands to defend himself, Song Wen could only activate the Ghost Head Shield to block the bone worm.
Although the Ghost Head Shield managed to block the bone worm's attack, the immense force transmitted through the shield sent Song Wen flying out of the encirclement.
The collision with the bone worm did not injure Song Wen but allowed him to use the opportunity to jump out of the bone worms' encirclement.
His blood aura surged once again.
Secret Blood Art: Blood Escape!
If other disciples of the Corpse Demon Sect knew that someone was simultaneously practicing both the Blood Sacrifice Technique and the Blood Escape Technique, and using them together, they would certainly call him a 'fool' or a 'madman.'
This is reckless, burning through your blood essence like this. After a few breaths, you might exhaust yourself to death.
Song Wen himself felt his blood essence running low. The speed at which his blood essence was consumed during the full-scale battle with the Blood Sacrifice Technique exceeded his expectations.
He took out a jade vial from his storage bag and poured its contents directly into his mouth.
The vial contained the blood essence he had stolen from the corpse cave. For this trip, he had prepared ten vials of blood essence for himself.
After consuming three vials in quick succession, his blood essence was once again replenished.
Song Wen ordered the beetle Gu to block the bone worms with all their might while he found a gap to use the Blood Escape Technique, slipping through the encircling swarm of insects. At the same time, he recalled the beetle Gu.
Beyond the swarm of insects, only a few scattered bone worms remained.
At this time, Song Wen continued to use the Blood Sacrifice Technique, with his cultivation close to the peak of Qi Refining Seventh Stage, making the Blood Escape Technique move at more than double the speed compared to using it alone.
To maximize his speed, he also applied a Haste Talisman to himself.
Using his rapid movement, Song Wen avoided attacks from scattered beetle Gu and did not engage them in combat.
Soon, he saw Xuan Ye ahead, as well as Zi Yi and Lao Chun, who were approaching the cave's fork.
Both Xuan Ye and Zi Yi and Lao Chun still had many bone worms surrounding them.
Song Wen pressed against the cave wall, moving at full speed, and with a terrifying speed comparable to Qi Refining Ninth Stage, he rushed past them.
Occasionally, scattered bone worms attacked Song Wen, but he ignored them, relying on his robust physique and the protective Purple Scale Armor to withstand the blows.
Seeing that Song Wen had exited the fork and was heading towards the direction of the Hollow Cicada Tree, Zi Yi became anxious. With one person escaping, there would be fewer people to share the pressure from the bone worms, leading to an increase in their numbers.
"We must escape as soon as possible, at least catch up with Xuan Ye and escape first," Zi Yi said urgently, controlling the corpse puppet to its maximum capacity.
With her cultivation, controlling a Qi Refining Ninth Stage corpse puppet drained her spiritual energy rapidly. Her internal spiritual energy had already fallen below one-third.
"Senior Sister, why don't you escape alone? I'll stay behind to hold off the bone worms," Lao Chun suddenly suggested.
Zi Yi shook her head firmly and said, "No, we came together, we must leave together!"
Feeling the concern from his senior sister, Lao Chun was invigorated and suddenly full of fighting spirit.
"Alright, Senior Sister, let's break out together."
TL Note: Aww... How cute...
(End of the Chapter)
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