The thick, Black Armor of the rhinoceros beetle, heavy as refined metal, flowed with a cold metallic sheen in the morning light.
The single horn on its forehead, twisted and menacing like a siege hammer, glimmered with a deep violet-black luster at the tip.
A violent surge of Demonic Energy radiated from its entire body, rising like tangible black flames. The full power of the insect had clearly reached the mid-stage of the Nascent Union Realm.
At this moment, its pair of massive compound eyes, along with the two single eyes on its forehead, swept coldly over the intruders who had stepped into its territory.
Behind it, set into the steep, knife-hewn black mountain wall, dozens of Prism Crystals were embedded, each sparkling like scattered stars and radiating a mesmerizing glow.
Lu Qiancha couldn’t help pursing her lips.
“Another insect, and such a huge one…”
The corners of her mouth subconsciously drooped, and a trace of irritation flashed through her mind.
Lu Qiancha’s gaze quickly swept over the faintly glimmering gaps in the insect’s elytra.
She hoped this bug couldn’t fly.
Hmm…No, wait.
Even if it could fly, it wouldn’t matter; she could use the World Chessboard to pin it down.
Then launch a spear and take it down in one strike.
Just as Lu Qiancha finished plotting her plan, she heard Ping Feng at her side roar, “Form up!”
The four Union-Condensing Realm soldiers behind them sprang into action at his command, their movements swift as the wind. They took up positions in the four cardinal directions, stepping in profound patterns beneath their feet.
“Buzz—!!”
Four streams of condensed spiritual power, as fluid as mercury, gathered in an instant like a flood of cold currents, precisely channeling into the array’s core—Ping Feng’s body.
“Boom—!”
Ping Feng’s aura exploded in a thunderous surge, and even his heavy armor began to hum with the shock of spiritual energy.
A deep, guttural roar rumbled from his throat as he charged with his spear, his whole being transformed into a Northern Ice Wolf leaping from the eternal icy plains.
He moved so fast that afterimages trailed behind him. The pitch-black spear in his grip was wreathed in a chill so intense it could freeze the soul, splitting into a storm of icy spear shadows.
Like a raging blizzard, they swept ferociously toward the entrenched giant insect.
The other four soldiers also moved with flawless coordination.
Arrows, sword qi, ice spikes, venomous darts—
All sorts of ranged attacks shot toward the rhinoceros beetle like a torrential downpour, each strike precise.
Each member fulfilled their role—harassing and restraining the enemy, creating the perfect opening for their captain to deliver a killing blow.
“Hah!”
Enraged, the rhinoceros beetle let out a terrifying howl that made the entire canyon hum.
Its massive body suddenly reared up, and a tsunami of demonic power burst forth. The ground rippled violently as if it were water, and countless shards of stone were shaken high into the air.
“Screech—!”
With a piercing sound, the two thick, shield-like black elytra on its back snapped open to the sides.
Beneath, thin as cicada wings but vibrating at high speed, were its transparent hindwings, which buzzed with an incessant “buzz-buzz” sound.
A wild vortex of air instantly swirled at its feet, and its huge body was about to take flight.
“Not so fast!”
Lu Qiancha shouted lowly. In her claw, the magic cube instantly disassembled and reformed, and a chessboard, swirling with the constellations and intersecting meridians, appeared out of thin air.
“Three Pieces, Sealing the Game!”
With a clear, ringing command, three Stellar Chess Pieces—solid and gleaming with different dao auras—nailed down like heavenly punishment pins, striking with absolute precision at the Heaven, Earth, and Human positions around the rhinoceros beetle.
“Huh…?!”
The insect’s earth-shaking roar was cut off abruptly, as if strangled at the throat.
Its body, just about to leave the ground, along with the frantically vibrating wings and surging demonic power, was, in an instant, locked in place by a binding force.
The entire insect was sealed, like an invisible amber encasing it.
Within those massive compound eyes, wild disbelief and terror flickered frantically.
“Beautiful pin!”
A gleam burst in Ping Feng’s eyes as he shouted his praise. His hands never stopped, and the momentum he’d been building up for the spear attack was now unhindered.
“Break—!”
With a thunderous roar, Ping Feng’s pitch-black spear lunged forward like an ice wolf on the hunt, ripping through the air.
“Thud—!!!”
The spear tip drove ruthlessly into the rhinoceros beetle’s raised, fully exposed, soft underbelly.
At the same time, the frigid spiritual power contained in the spear erupted violently inside the giant insect.
“Crack, crack, crack—!”
A string of bone-chilling crystalline shatters echoed out.
Countless savage, towering, glacier-blue ice spikes burst violently from the beetle’s armored seams, mouthparts, and compound eyes, impaling outwards from within its massive body.
They pinned the beast to the ground, nailing it in place.
The foul, viscous bug blood, mixed with shards of broken icy organs, stained the cold, hard mountain rock beneath black.
Just as everyone exhaled in relief—
Suddenly, disaster struck. A black shadow, fast as a blur, sliced through with a flash of icy light from the team’s blind spot.
“Thud! Thud—!!”
Two muffled, short impacts.
So quick, no one even had time to cry out.
Within the squad, the two Union-Condensing Realm soldiers who had, just moments before, fought side by side with Lu Qiancha, sharing jokes and blood, were struck.
Smiles still frozen on their faces, a thin, glass-smooth line of blood appeared on each of their necks.
Then, with a pair of heavy “thunk! thunk!” sounds, two heads, expressions still locked in disbelief, tumbled to the ground.
The warm blood from the severed necks instantly stained the icy stone a glaring scarlet.
“Who is it?!”
Ping Feng’s eyes bulged with terror and rage as he roared with all his might.
Pure instinct moved him—he swung his spear across to shield the remaining few behind him.
But after two deaths, their formation was broken.
Without the support of the battle array, the power in his body faded rapidly, like a receding tide.
Facing the ghostly, murderous black shadow that lunged again, he felt a despair and helplessness he had never known before.
A surge of aura erupted from the attacker, charging forth with the peak power of the Nascent Union Realm.
Ping Feng futilely thrust his spear, but he could not even catch the wind stirred by the enemy, let alone the shadow itself.
“Urgh—!”
“No—!”
Two more screams, abruptly cut off. The remaining two soldiers were cut down like wheat, dead in an instant.
Their corpses, still frozen in defensive postures, crashed to the ground.
In the instant the disaster unfolded, Lu Qiancha’s pupils shrank.
Without hesitation, she grabbed a bottle of Speed Potion and poured it down her throat. The cold liquid slid down, and her thoughts and actions sped up by nearly forty percent.
Thanks to the potion, Lu Qiancha finally caught a clear glimpse of her opponent—the very same thief who had stolen her storage pouch earlier.
In his hands, he held a pair of bizarrely shaped Yin-Yang Axes, attacking Ping Feng.
Four tips, nine blades, thirteen edges—a flash of cold light, and it was the Vermilion Mark from the Life-and-Death Score.
The overwhelming difference in power, combined with the sinister blade pressed so close, left Ping Feng doomed—his attempt to block with his spear was destined to fail.
The vicious cold gleam slashed at an impossible angle. With a chilling “shrrk—”, it swept across his unguarded throat.
Warm blood splattered over the cold armor.
Ling Feng’s tall body, with its last look of shock and unwillingness, toppled backward with a heavy thud.
Lu Qiancha’s face turned deathly pale. Was this man here for revenge?
All she did was knock him out with anesthetic for two days—was this necessary?
In her claw, a bottle of Black-Colored Potion appeared in an instant. Muscles tensed, she prepared to hurl it at her foe.
“Whoosh—!”
But at that moment, Mu Feng’s figure, ghostly as a shadow, lunged at her—the image of the last throat-cut still not faded, his real body seemed to have teleported, bringing a bone-chilling killing intent straight for Lu Qiancha’s face.
He was so fast, she didn’t even have time to throw the potion.