The Armored Corpse Bug loved to be in eerie and damp environments, and it hunted living beings. Each one had a foul stench and an extremely powerful biting ability that not even ordinary cosmic artifacts could withstand.
An Armored Corpse Bug by itself wasn’t dangerous, but Armored Corpse Bugs never traveled alone. They would always appear in a swarm that ranged from tens of thousands to tens of millions.
In ancient times, there was a classification of demonic cultivators that controlled creatures like snakes, rats, and bugs. Such cultivators were known as Bugmasters. The strongest Bugmaster could put hundreds of millions of creatures under their control.
The Bugmaster’s legacy was long lost, so Lei Yunzi probably found the Armored Corpse Bugs when he was still alive. Armored Corpse Bugs were also classified into different ranks. The strongest Armored Corpse Bug had a golden armor that flickered with astral lights that even an empyrean would have trouble facing.
But the Armored Corpse Bugs in front of them had grey armor, which meant that they were of the lowest rank. But even so, the sheer number of them was extremely terrifying.
“There’s no water in this river. The sound of flowing water is just the Armored Corpse Bugs flapping their wings…” Chief Leng said this with a grave expression. “Only those in the Yin-Yang stage can be confident about crossing the bridge. Even those in the pinnacle Yang stage would be in danger facing the bugs.”
“Chief, doesn’t that mean that we’re going to die?” The Three-Eagle Stronghold’s elites asked this as their faces paled. It was very difficult for them to get here, so they couldn’t accept being told that their journey had come to an end.
Chief Leng spoke indifferently, “The two chiefs and I can each ensure one person’s safety. As for the rest, you guys can only leave it up to fate or you can stand guard and wait for us to return. You guys are already lucky. If you don’t believe me, just look at the Bloodwolf Clan’s situation.”
Everyone’s faces changed when they raised their heads. The Bloodwolf Clan’s party was engulfed by the Armored Corpse Bug and they could occasionally hear screams coming out.
A few moments later, a few piles of skeletons belonging to several greater Yang stage experts had appeared on the ground. Although everyone who came here had already been prepared to die, this way of dying was still a little too brutal.
Suddenly, a pillar of fire burst out of the swarm of Armored Corpse Bugs before taking the shape of a flame dragon. The Armored Corpse Bugs were instantly incinerated. Bloodwolf finally made his move, bringing out the power of the Flamedragon Armor. However, the number of the Armored Corpse Bugs was simply too great and Bloodwolf couldn’t protect everyone. In the end, he could only slaughter his way out with an eerie expression.
“Haha, the pressure is less with that old dog leading the way for us. Xiangyun, come with me!” said Chief Leng.
“Father, what about Big Brother Lin?” Leng Xiangyun instantly thought about Lin Yun when she heard that even someone in the greater Yang stage would die.
“Young Master Lin isn’t even injured. You should spend more time worrying about whether I can protect you,” said Chief Leng with an amicable smile. But despite his words, he didn’t believe that Lin Yun was strong enough to get through. So far, Lin Yun had relied on little tricks as a spiritualist to come this far.
Those tricks were useless against the swarm, so he didn’t believe that Lin Yun could make it out alive. Anyhow, they had already milked most of Lin Yun’s worth, so it would be best for him to die now. Otherwise, Lin Yun would be troublesome in the treasury. After all, he naturally didn’t wish to share Lei Yunzi’s treasures with Lin Yun. If Lin Yun could die here, then he wouldn’t have to waste energy killing Lin Yun himself.
“Let’s go!” Before Lin Yun could reply, Chief Leng grabbed onto Leng Xiangyun forcibly and charged towards the swarm with the Three-Eagle Stronghold’s men. The others weren’t concerned with Lin Yun’s life and death either. Although they relied on Lin Yun several times along the way to survive, they weren’t thankful towards him.
Only Leng Xiangyun would occasionally look back with concern in her eyes.
In the blink of an eye, the group had left Lin Yun behind. Lin Yun stood still as he watched the group leave without any changes to his expression. But when he looked at Leng Xiangyun, he couldn’t help having suspicion in his eyes.
This place was dangerous and many people had died. Which father would endanger his daughter like this? He thought it was weird, so he suspected that Chief Leng had some secrets of his own. It seemed like the Three-Eagle Stronghold had some secrets.
The Bloodwolf Clan and Three-Eagle Stronghold’s men ascended the bridge and ran towards the shore with their lives on the line. The journey was only a hundred feet, but many people lost their lives in the process.
After half a teacup’s time had passed, only Bloodwolf and Master Fu had crossed the bridge. However, the three chiefs from the Three-Eagle Stronghold were close behind and each of them were protecting one person. The remaining ones who made it over were experts in the pinnacle Yang stage, but their faces were ugly as they were constantly being assaulted by the Armored Corpse Bugs.
“It hurts!”
“I’m dying…” Screams could be heard as several elites in the pinnacle Yang stage fell close to the exit as their corpses were being eaten.
In the end, the Bloodwolf Clan only had six people left, while the Three-Eagle Stronghold only had seven. The journey was brutal because they started with almost fifty people, but now there were so few of them left.
Bloodwolf glared at Chief Leng because he wasn’t happy with how he was used to clear the way. Up until this point, the Bloodwolf Clan’s losses were small because of Master Fu. But now, they had lost just as much as the Three-Eagle Stronghold.
“We’ll see!” Fearing that the Armored Corpse Bugs might catch up to them, Bloodwolf cursed before entering the gate with everyone else.
“You think I'm afraid of you?” Chief Leng sneered before he followed behind.
Leng Xiangyun looked behind several times with disappointment written on her face. She was tempted to return and see how Lin Yun was, but she was forcibly escorted away by the two chiefs before she could even put her thoughts into action. Both parties left in a hurry, so they didn’t notice that there were also two statues in front of this gate.
A long time later, an azure-clothed figure slowly walked over from the jade bridge with countless Armored Corpse Bugs pouncing at him. But those Armored Corpse Bugs were struck flying by lightning the moment they came in contact with Lin Yun’s body. Just like that, Lin Yun casually walked through the bridge.
“Looks like this armor is more useful than I’d imagined.” Lin Yun had relied on this unique armor to save his life several times throughout the journey. His Azure Dragon Enneaform hadn’t even reached the third stage. He had a feeling that when he reached the third stage, his armor would be even more powerful.
Lin Yun swept his glance at the two statues. This time, the two statues were two dragons. When Lin Yun turned around, he realized that the Armored Corpse Bugs seemed to be afraid of the two statues as they didn’t dare to get close.
There was nothing he could tell from the statues with just a glance. Then, Lin Yun began to recall the statue that Chief Leng touched at the beginning.
At the same time, Feng Wuhen and Master Gu arrived at the second gate. As the strongest spiritualist in the Flagscythe County, Master Gu’s eyes were glued to the two statues at the gate. A long time later, he said, “There’s truly something special. The two statues should be linked to the treasury as they both have a spiritual seal. The spiritual seal seems to be a unique symbol to enter somewhere, so it won’t be possible to open it without the seals.”
Feng Wuhen glanced at the statues and said, “Two statues. So you’re saying there’s a real and a fake seal? What happens if we touch the fake one?”
“Something terrible, probably. Those ahead might’ve already experienced it,” smiled Master Gu.
“How long will it take for you to determine the real from the fake?”
“Two hours,” said Master Gu with confidence.
“We don’t have that much time. We’ll touch both the statues together, you take the left and I’ll take the right,” said Feng Wuhen as he walked towards the statue on the right.
Master Gu’s expression became stiff and he spoke after a brief hesitation, “No, you left and me right.”
“As you wish,” said Feng Wuhen casually.
They came into contact with the statues and two spiritual seals flowed from the tortoises to their palms. In the next second, Master Gu’s right arm exploded and his face turned pale from pain.
“My arm! My arm!” Master Gu yelled out in pain as he looked at his missing arm.
Looking at Master Gu’s condition, Feng Wuhen glanced at the seal on his palm and felt fortunate. With a smile on his face, he said, “Master Gu, don’t waste anymore time. Deal with it quickly and let’s get going. Lei Yunzi has a treasure called the Bloodhawk Arm and if I remember correctly, it’s a prosthetic arm. It’s definitely better than your original arm, so you’re in luck.”
Master Gu stared at Feng Yunzi and wanted to vomit blood. But he said nothing as he would also choose to put on that prosthetic arm if he had a choice.