Chapter 238 - The Human Resistance
Within the Abyss of Evil, in a corner that had been forsaken by the sun.
Darkness was the one eternal constant here; there was no time nor vitality there, only endless perils and deathly silence.
No one knew how deep the Abyss of Evil was. It had countless branches and crevices, all of which were extremely convoluted. No explorer had ever reached the bottom of the abyss, but there were countless who had died halfway.
However, within the deepest part of the Abyss of Evil, there was suddenly a glimmer of light.
This was an extremely gentle light that seemed to encompass a whole world within. If anyone were to stare directly into the light, they would feel as if they had fallen into a parallel world.
Countless powerful sinister devils and demons were forced into retreat. They did not even dare to face the light head-on.
The existence that had brought light to the bottom of the Abyss of Evil was a man with long silver hair, dressed in a starry robe with a cold expression on his face. He was one of the Heavenly Emperors of the Heavenly Court, known as Heavenly Emperor Zi Wei, the man not only adept in all manners of immortal spells but also controlled the essence of heaven and earth as well as the fate of the universe.
Emperor Ziwei arrived at a certain location in the Abyss of Evil and stood silently with his eyes closed.
Time slowly passed by and deathly silence enveloped the abyss.
“Come out.”
After an unknown length of time, he finally spoke.
His voice pierced through space before him, traveling to a certain point in the darkness.
There was a ripple in the darkness.
A black figure began to appear in front of Heavenly Emperor Ziwei as if it was materializing itself from a dream. It was a figure somewhere between existence and non-existence, with only its eyes, which were bright as stars, providing any hint of substance.
“Night Monarch, retract the bridges,” Emperor Ziwei spoke in a cold voice.
“It’s not time yet.” The existence that was referred to as the Night Monarch replied firmly.
Emperor Ziwei stared at the Night Monarch in silence for a moment before continuing, “If you keep this up, I’ll exterminate the whole of the Ant Tribe!”
“If you exterminate the Ant Tribe, is the Heavenly Court going to guard the Demons of Hell then?” Night Monarch shook his head. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Boom!
Light began to expand violently toward all sides, engulfing and decimating everything in its wake. Rocks, sinister devils, Demons of Hell, the very air itself and everything within the space instantly vanished, creating a barren patch of circular land tens-of-thousands of feet in radius.
In the center of it all, Emperor Ziwei was still facing off against the Night Monarch.
There was not even a trace of emotion on the Night Monarch’s face as he looked at the man in front of him. “The Ant Tribe needs a new monarch and that requires sacrifice, otherwise there will be an even heavier price for the Kingdom of the Nine States to pay in the future.”
Emperor Ziwei humphed coldly. “There’s no need for that. Don’t forget that Her Majesty Nuwa sides with the Heavenly Court.”
“Her Majesty Nuwa does indeed take a fancy to humans and even went as far as to create a new plane for humans to exist on. But she is not human, after all…”
“This epidemic is the backlash from the whole continent. In the face of such a major epidemic, I’m sure you know what Her Majesty’s decision will be.”
“If you can’t even make such a small sacrifice, how do you expect to continue to exist in this world.”
The Night Monarch’s words did not come slowly nor were they rushed, but each and every sentence seemed to drag the listener closer to eternal slumber.
Emperor Ziwei closed his eyes and the all-encompassing light gradually faded away.
He turned in the darkness like any ordinary man and departed.
“I can’t stand by and watch as the flesh and blood of humans is sacrificed to feed the monarch of the Ant Tribe.”
Emperor Ziwei left one final message before his body began to disappear into the darkness.
In the Abyss of Evil, a second wave of the Ant Tribe’s army was swarming violently toward the barricades built by the human cultivators.
Some of the bridges which were not as well defended had already had their defensive lines broken through and the Ant Tribe’s army swarmed in, swallowing everything in their wake and drowning the human cultivators in a sea of ants.
At the Wen Valley Immortal Sect, a huge Energy-Gathering Formation loomed over heaven and earth, encapsulating all the cultivators within.
They stood atop a huge mountain and relentlessly released their immortal spells at the ants below.
The mountain was formed by intermediate rank spirit tools, which made it extremely solid and impenetrable to the giant ants’ teeth.
On the ground below, the dead bodies of the ants had piled up into mountains and blood flowed like a river.
Meanwhile, the ants were gaining territory up to the mountain with each passing wave.
The cultivators knew that if the black wave reached the summit, aside from cultivators of Spirit Nurturing Stage and above, everyone else would die to this epidemic.
Liu Susu held the golden glazed sword in her hand and slashed out small sword projections toward the ants below. She was only fifth stage Dao Body, and even with the assistance of the Energy-Gathering Formation, her sword projections could only create small scratches on the exoskeletons of the giant ants instead of dealing any substantial damage.
Even so, she still gritted her teeth and continued to swing the longsword in her hands.
When she thought of her family members who had fallen to the ants, and the Senior An Lin who had gifted her with the longsword, she knew she couldn’t disappoint them and that she had to fight as hard as she could.
The waves black rose higher and higher, and before long, she was probably going to fall to the ants.
A hint of regret appeared on Liu Susu’s delicate features. It was just a pity that Senior An Lin’s sword would go to waste…
At the largest Black Mist Bridge was where the ant waves surged most violently.
Not only were there huge masses of black ants crawling along the ground, but there were also flying ants in the sky that appeared as dense as an invasion of locusts.
The location for the Heavenly Court’s defense was like a huge rock amidst a sea of black waves, resisting against the army of countless huge ants.
Countless dazzling immortal spells rained down on the ants, and the golden wall shook under the collective attacks of the ant army. The flying ants in the sky flew down on the cultivators with no regard for their own lives and they would tear apart any cultivators they could sink their fangs into if they penetrated the defensive line.
In this type of battle, even Soul Formation Stage teachers were at risk of being overrun and injured. There were simply too many ants! They were like a relentless force, but cultivators can’t just constantly release immortal spells forever.
The thousands of students at the scene felt as if their formation was about to collapse at any time.
They had never encountered this type of battle before. Dead bodies piled up like mountains and blood flowed like the sea, painting the very ground below them a different color. Death constantly hung above their heads. If they were to lose focus for even just a moment, they could be torn apart by the flying ants in the sky.
They couldn’t stop, and they didn’t dare to stop. They consumed Energy Restoring Pill and washed it down with energy drinks, all in a bid to stay conscious and continue battling. Perhaps they would undergo an evolution during this battle, or perhaps they would enter an eternal slumber here…
Wen Valley Immortal Sect’s defensive barricades.
The Ant Tribe had already successfully reached the peak of the mountain, and with their mouths wide open, they charged at any humans they could find.
Liu Hu kept Liu Susu behind him, but even he was trembling uncontrollably.
However, right at this moment, the rampant Ant Tribe’s army suddenly stopped cold in their actions.
Their eyes lost focus and became vacant as their bodies faltered like inanimate statues.
Boom…
The cultivators did not stop attacking until all the ants on the mountain had been completely decimated.
Before they had even figured out why the ants had all ceased in their motions, the Ant Tribe’s army began to move again.
The cultivators all became anxious again and began to hurl immortal spells down on the ants as if their lives depended on it.
It was also at this moment that the Ant Tribe’s army formation completely collapsed. Their ranks were previously organized and orderly, with a collective direction and purpose that they were striving toward. But the Ant Tribe’s army had suddenly become chaotic and disorderly. They began to crawl around aimlessly with no sense of direction, and there were even some ants who were swallowing members of their own species…
All the cultivators stared with their mouths agape at the crumbling Ant Tribe’s army.
“What the hell’s going on, have they all gone crazy?”
Liu Susu stared with her bright eyes wide open in disbelief.
The Ant Tribe were indeed very violent and gluttonous, but this was the first time she had ever seen them cannibalizing one another.
Although the ants were no longer targeting the cultivators on the mountain, the cultivators did not cease their attacks in fear that the Ant Tribe’s army would suddenly rediscover their groove.
On top of the city wall in the Heavenly Court’s defensive line, raucous cheers erupted as everyone saw the Ant Tribe’s army fall into disarray.
The Ant Queen was the mastermind behind the entirety of the Ant Tribe’s army. As such, there could only be one reason why the ants had fallen in disarray, and that was that the Ant Queen had already died! The mission to kill the Ant Queen had succeeded!
At the same time, they began to eliminate the Ant Tribe’s army in hordes.