Translator: CinderTL
Seeing the four humans who had initially planned to break through and escape suddenly halt, the Ant Queen knew they were drawn to the Teleportation Array.
Through the unique method of communication among the ant colony, the Ant Queen issued a command, and the ants fearlessly charged toward the four.
Simultaneously, the Ant Queen unleashed another Spiritual Sense Attack.
Several transparent spikes materialized out of thin air, shooting toward the four.
With the previous experience of severely injuring Mo Yexue, the Ant Queen no longer fixated on attacking Lan Chen but instead targeted Xue Mei.
As long as she could incapacitate Xue Mei, Song Wen, and Mo Yexue, Lan Chen, even if she was unafraid of Spiritual Sense Attacks, would eventually fall under the relentless assault of the ant colony without support.
Xue Mei saw the transparent spikes pierce through the white light emitted by the Bone Bottle, their power drastically reduced, and then they abruptly changed direction, heading straight for her.
Her expression turned grave, and her hands swiftly formed seals, her fingertips gradually glowing with a faint cyan light.
The cyan light condensed without dispersing, forming a fist-sized barrier.
The barrier radiated intense Spiritual Sense fluctuations.
Xue Mei pointed at her glabella, and the cyan barrier instantly merged into her head, disappearing without a trace.
"A soul defense spell!"
Lan Chen and Mo Yexue glanced at Xue Mei in surprise.
In the entire Immortal Cultivation World, soul defense spells had not been seen for many years.
Many believed that such spells had been completely lost, yet Xue Mei actually knew one.
Song Wen, however, was not surprised. Xue Mei had once mentioned this soul defense spell to him—the "Tranquility Incantation."
She had used this spell to seal the Soul Lock Curse that Tai He had cast in her Sea of Consciousness.
The weakened transparent spikes shot into Xue Mei's glabella.
Instantly, her face contorted in pain.
However, unlike Mo Yexue, her consciousness did not experience a brief moment of confusion.
She remained fully aware.
At that moment, Song Wen suddenly shouted.
"All three of you, get ready to act!"
As he spoke, a thick Blood Mist erupted from Song Wen's body.
The mist completely enveloped his figure, and then his form vanished within it.
Seeing this, Lan Chen said in a deep voice, "Let's go!"
Her Red Silk transformed into a long ribbon, fluttering near the three women, shielding them from the Gold-Eating Ants swarming from all directions.
Xue Mei, meanwhile, summoned the Black Water of Destruction, dividing it into eight black liquid masses that guarded the eight directions outside the Red Silk, protecting it from the Corrosive Poison Liquid spat by the fourth-tier Ant King, preventing the Red Silk from being corroded.
Mo Yexue, still not fully recovered, wielded her flying sword, clearing the low-tier Gold-Eating Ants closing in from all sides.
Under the relentless assault of the Gold-Eating Ants, coupled with the increasingly dense Poison Mist and foul stench, the three women found themselves in a bitter struggle, barely holding their ground.
...
Using the "Breaking Dark Technique," Song Wen accurately located the Ant Queen hidden within the Poison Mist.
Then, with the "Blood Escape Technique," he directly teleported to the Ant Queen's side.
Song Wen, wielding a crimson longsword, thrust it directly at the Ant Queen's head.
This sword had been obtained from Xue Cangqiong's remains. Although Song Wen had not yet had the time to refine it, the sword, being a top-tier Mystic Treasure, carried an inherent sharpness that should be enough to pierce the Ant Queen's flesh.
As for the Ant Queen.
Upon seeing the Blood Mist appear above her head, a sense of foreboding instantly arose within her.
It was well aware that its physical body was weak, and if a cultivator got close, it would certainly be no match.
However, it was not skilled in escape techniques, so fleeing was out of the question. Moreover, the four Ant Kings under its command were all besieging Lan Chen and the other two women, and it was already too late for them to return and assist.
The Ant Queen had no other choice but to revert to her true form—a giant insect ten zhang long—to avoid the vital points on her head.
Because of this, when Song Wen mustered all his strength, gripping his sword with both hands and charging straight for the Ant Queen's head from above, he was shocked to find that the Ant Queen, who had been just over a zhang long, had instantly transformed into a ten-zhang-long giant insect.
The tip of his sword was no longer aimed at the Ant Queen's head but at her tail.
But the arrow was already on the bowstring.
With all his strength poured into the strike, Song Wen couldn't change his move at this critical moment. He could only resolutely continue to thrust the sword.
"Pfft!"
Accompanied by the sound of a sharp blade cutting through tough skin, the long sword pierced the Ant Queen's grayish-white hide.
A stream of pale blue blood gushed out, drenching Song Wen.
The Spiritual Power within Song Wen's body continuously poured into the flying sword.
In an instant, the sword's edge gleamed, and Sword Qi erupted in all directions.
The extremely sharp Sword Qi wreaked havoc inside the Ant Queen's body, instantly severing her tail.
"Screech..."
A piercing, ear-splitting shriek suddenly rang out, so loud that it caused the entire underground cavern to tremble.
The Gold-Eating Ants besieging the three women, upon hearing this, became extremely agitated. They immediately abandoned the women and rushed toward the Ant Queen's location.
The three women, now under much less pressure, quickly activated their movement techniques and dashed toward the Teleportation Array.
After Song Wen severed the Ant Queen's tail with his sword, he flicked his wrist, and the long sword swept horizontally, plunging into the Ant Queen's body through the severed wound.
Along with the Scarlet Flying Sword, the Void Breaking Blade also pierced into the Ant Queen's body.
The Blade Qi and Sword Qi intertwined, wreaking havoc within the Ant Queen's massive and corpulent body.
Flesh flew in all directions, and blue blood splattered everywhere!
The Ant Queen's torso was shredded, leaving only her millstone-sized black head intact.
"Thud!"
The black head slammed heavily onto the ground.
Then, the head suddenly began to transform, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a giant moth with only half of its body remaining.
Phantom Wing Butterfly!
The Ant Queen that Song Wen had killed was actually a Phantom Wing Butterfly in disguise.
Judging from the aura it emitted, this was likely a fourth-tier Phantom Wing Butterfly.
The Phantom Wing Butterfly wasn't dead yet; it still had a breath of life left.
However, Song Wen didn't have time to search for the Ant Queen's true body.
His position was enveloped by the dense Poison Mist released by the Ant Queen. Under the continuous erosion of the Poison Mist, the green illusionary clone on his body was already on the verge of collapse.
Moreover, countless Gold-Eating Ants were swarming in from all directions.
The four fastest Ant Kings were already only a dozen zhang away from him.
Song Wen activated the Breaking Dark Technique, extending his Divine Sense toward the direction of the Teleportation Array.
Lan Chen and the other two women were already close to the Teleportation Array, and they had already placed nine mid-grade Spirit Stones in the grooves at the edge of the array.
As long as they stepped into the range of the Teleportation Array, they could activate it with their spells.
Song Wen moved, intending to dash toward the Teleportation Array.
At that moment, he suddenly received a Divine Sense message from Xue Mei.
"Ji Yin, take the Phantom Wing Butterfly with you. It's very important to me."
Hearing this, Song Wen couldn't help but feel puzzled.
Throughout the journey, Xue Mei had never shown any interest in the Phantom Wing Butterfly.
Even when the Ant Queen presented Lan Chen with a fourth-tier Phantom Wing Butterfly, she showed no signs of abnormality.
At such a critical moment, she asked me to take along that severely injured Phantom Wing Butterfly?
(End of the Chapter)
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