Translator: CinderTL
After forcing the four of them back into the cave hall, the Gold-Eating Ants were in no hurry to attack. Instead, they kept their distance, watching the four intently while occasionally spewing Poison Mist in their direction. It was clear that the ants intended to slowly deplete the group's Spiritual Power through the mist.
"Look, there's no Poison Mist over there," Mo Yexue exclaimed, pointing to a corner of the cave hall.
The area she indicated was at the edge of the hall, where the Poison Mist was exceptionally thin—almost negligible for Song Wen and the others. This thin mist wasn't confined to just one corner but extended along a narrow strip, resembling a toxin-free corridor.
Lan Chen glanced in the direction Mo Yexue pointed and said, "That must be the Ant Queen's doing. It's trying to lure us into a trap it has prepared."
"You're not as foolish as I thought, seeing through my plan. But what can you do? You still can't escape my Ant Nest," the Ant Queen's voice echoed through the cave.
"That beast is cunning!" Mo Yexue cursed angrily, then turned to Song Wen and the others. "Do any of you have a way to break out of this?"
"The key to breaking this situation lies with the Ant Queen. Ordinary Gold-Eating Ants, including the fourth-tier ones, aren't very intelligent. If we kill the queen, the ants will be left leaderless, making them much easier to deal with," Song Wen explained.
"Yin Shuo is right," Lan Chen added, his cold gaze sweeping the surroundings. "The Ant Queen shouldn't be too far from us. If we locate and eliminate it, we can escape safely. Who knows? We might even find a Teleportation Array to leave the Dark Orchid Realm within this nest."
After speaking, Lan Chen activated his movement technique and charged into the Poison Mist, with Song Wen and the others following closely behind.
Their lives now depended on whether they could kill the Ant Queen, so all four of them searched with full determination. The cave hall was only a few dozen miles in length and width, and they quickly scoured the area. However, they found no trace of the queen.
"You won't find me, hahaha..." the Ant Queen's mocking laughter rang out. "Just surrender quietly, and I'll make sure my children devour your flesh swiftly, sparing you prolonged suffering."
"Not necessarily," Song Wen retorted.
A continuous stream of Blood Mist surged from Song Wen's body, spreading in all directions. In moments, the mist enveloped a radius of ten miles—the maximum distance Song Wen's Divine Sense could reach within the underground cave hall. The Blood Mist permeated every nook and cranny of the cave, temporarily driving away the yellow Poison Mist.
At the outermost edge of the Blood Mist, the Poison Mist and Blood Mist clashed like opposing waves, colliding repeatedly. The Blood Mist quickly turned black and decayed, losing all its spiritual essence.
Song Wen had initially thought they would need to circle the entire cave hall to locate the Ant Queen. However, his eyes suddenly lit up.
"Found you," he declared.
With that, Song Wen retracted the Blood Mist and flew toward the direction of the stone staircase. The staircase was located at the edge of the cave hall, flanked by the cave walls.
Pointing to the stone wall to the right of the staircase, Song Wen said, "The Ant Queen is behind this wall."
The wall he indicated looked no different from the others, dotted with small holes, none larger than a foot in diameter.
The hole was filled with dense poison mist, making it impossible for Divine Sense to penetrate deeply. After depleting a significant amount of Blood Qi, the Blood Mist conjured by the Blood Sea Seal pushed aside the poison mist and ventured deeper.
Through the Blood Mist, Song Wen perceived the scene behind the stone wall.
Beyond the stone wall was another world.
It was another stone chamber, spanning over a mile in width.
As soon as the Blood Mist entered the chamber, it was corroded by the extremely dense poison mist inside, causing Song Wen to immediately lose his perception of the chamber's interior. However, he noticed that the chamber was densely packed with an astonishing number of Gold-Eating Ant eggs.
Intuition told Song Wen that the area with the densest concentration of ant eggs was likely where the Ant Queen was hiding.
With a thought, Song Wen sent the Void Breaking Blade flying, intending to slash through the stone wall.
However, when the Void Breaking Blade struck the stone wall, it produced a metallic clang, as if it had hit a defensive Mystic Treasure.
Only a three-inch-deep cut was left on the stone wall, with a few small pieces of rubble chipping off.
Song Wen's expression turned momentarily stunned.
The hardness of this stone wall was truly unbelievable.
"It is said that the body of the Gold-Eating Ant Queen can secrete a strange spiritual fluid called 'Celestial Gold Fluid.' When this fluid is fused with a Mystic Treasure, it enhances the treasure's hardness. This wall must have been reinforced by the Ant Queen. It seems Yin Shuo didn't lead us to the wrong place. The Ant Queen is indeed hiding behind this stone wall," Xue Mei said.
"It's good that we're not in the wrong place. Who would have thought it was right under our noses all along?" Mo Yexue said coldly, her black flying sword slashing out like lightning.
The flying sword pierced three feet into the stone wall but could go no further.
The stone wall was a hundred zhang thick, and a mere three feet was like scratching its surface.
"Hahaha... So you've found my hiding place. What can you do about it? You're still helpless against me," the Ant Queen's voice rang out.
"I'd like to see if this turtle shell of yours is truly flawless," Mo Yexue said sharply.
Mo Yexue's hands swiftly formed Sword Incantations, and Sword Qi began to condense in front of her.
The Sword Qi scattered like heavenly flowers, sweeping toward the stone wall in a overwhelming wave.
The area of the stone wall reinforced by the Ant Queen was undoubtedly limited. When the Sword Qi struck the reinforced sections, it was easily shattered; but when it hit the ordinary stone wall, the wall was effortlessly torn apart, turning into dust.
Moments later, an irregular stone sphere nearly two miles in diameter appeared before the four of them.
The stone sphere had many holes, but none were larger than a foot, making them impassable for humans.
Under Mo Yexue's control, the flying sword navigated through the winding holes in the stone sphere, heading toward the chamber inside.
However, as the flying sword ventured deeper, the poison mist inside grew denser, and the suppression on Mo Yexue's Divine Sense became increasingly severe. The connection between her and the flying sword gradually weakened.
By the time the flying sword entered the chamber, the connection between Mo Yexue and the sword was nearly severed, making it difficult for her to fully unleash the sword's power.
Fearing that the flying sword might be lost, Mo Yexue had no choice but to recall it.
"How is this possible? Is this turtle shell truly flawless? Doesn't the Ant Queen need to mate with the Ant King when reproducing?" Mo Yexue said with a grim expression.
The four fourth-tier Ant Kings, which had been guarding nearby and occasionally spraying poison mist at the four of them, were each over a zhang in length, larger than millstones. They were certainly unable to enter this stone sphere.
"Fellow Daoist Mo, don't forget that the first fourth-tier Gold-Eating Ant you and Lan Chen killed was only the size of a bowl. Perhaps it was the one specifically tasked with reproduction," Song Wen reminded.
(End of the Chapter)
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