Chapter 45: Not Leaving A Single Survivor

Qin Yu knew that these things called “fire bugs” were actually different from fireflies, even if they seemed similar. This was because these fire bugs actually had ripples of spiritual power on their bodies.

He was puzzled - how could these little bugs actually emit ripples of spiritual power?

Spiritual power was a type of energy that could be absorbed and refined by cultivators. A portion of it would become the internal strength within a cultivator’s body and the remaining portion would turn into a cultivator’s three energies [1. Energy, qi, and spirit/soul. Uhrm, a bit hard to explain, I recommend googling 精气神 or the keywords above with TCM (traditional Chinese Medicine) if you’re interested] which was essential for all cultivators. Spiritual power primarily existed in spiritual stones and spirit grasses, and absolutely could not exist in an animal's body. Yet, these little bugs were definitely animals, so how could they possess spiritual power?

Qin Yu's head suddenly shook, bringing him out of his thoughts. With a 'swoosh' sound, a black figure zoomed out of his forehead, and a phantom of a black tiger appeared and threw itself on the group of “fireflies”.

The "fireflies" seemed to have sensed the danger and scattered wildly in all directions with a cry. However, the tiger gave a loud howl as it stretched open its jaws. All of the "fireflies" were engulfed and swallowed by the black tiger.

It was actually the Earth Spirit Pearl chasing after them. After it had completely swallowed the bugs, it swiftly vanished back into Qin Yu’s forehead and began to refine them in his sea of consciousness.

While they were in the Underground City, because Qin Yu had forcefully used ‘Heaven Destroying Blade’, the Earth Spirit Pearl had completely used up all of its energy and vitality. Therefore, after sensing the spiritual power emitted from the bugs, there was no way it would let them go and it immediately devoured them without restraint.

“Whew.” Qin Yu saw that there was nothing remaining in the air and was speechless. The pearl was really greedy and did not leave him with anything at all.

“But how can these bugs have spiritual power? Furthermore, that guy said that the deeper color bugs would possess stronger spiritual power, and that red bugs have the highest spiritual power.” Qin Yu continued to ponder this question.

After standing and thinking for a while, he suddenly seemed to remember something and hastily found a clean spot to sit down and meditate. He fell into a state of cultivation and inspected the insides of his body.

There was probably a similar bug inside his own body.

Generally speaking, looking inside your own body by using internal strength was something only Transformation Realm cultivators could do. However, he could do it despite not being one as he had once been Xie Di, who had already long surpassed that realm.

After searching through his body, he finally found the bug in a corner of his dantian, causing his heart to jump.

As a cultivator, the importance of the dantian naturally needn’t be said- even the weakest cultivator would know its significance. It was where internal strength collected and converged as well as the site where the three energies, vitality, qi, and spirit were stored. Cultivators have always regarded it as the ‘essence of life’- if the dantian was destroyed, then even the strongest cultivator would be finished.

These little bugs were actually hiding inside his dantian. What was their purpose? If they decided to launch an attack from within his dantian, the consequences would be too horrible to contemplate.

Qin Yu discovered that the little bugs in his dantian had turned transparent and they were colorless. Could the bugs be suggesting that his own strength was unreasonably weak?

F*ck, was Laozi that bad? Laozi will kill you!

Qin Yu’s heart steamed with rage as he sent out a wave of internal strength to pressure and crush the bugs.

The bug in his dantian detected the threat in an instant and with a ‘buzz’ sound, a hole appeared on the front of its body, and all his internal strength was sucked in. Its transparent body began to change color as it absorbed the internal strength, turning from grey, to white, to green, until it finally reached a dark red color. His internal strength was being unceasingly absorbed and the bug’s color continued to deepen.

The next moment, Qn Yu’s face changed greatly. This was because the steady flow of internal strength flowing through his dantian had been completely cut off. He now finally understood what the bugs were capable of and only had two words to say: too ruthless!

It wasn’t just so simple as hunters hunting people to collect the fire bugs, but rather, the people behind this were scheming to suck up the strength of all the cultivators here. There were a thousand elites inside this slaughter array. If all of their internal strength were to be absorbed, the cumulative amount of spirit power that could be collected would be terrifying.

He couldn’t help but admire the person who managed to cultivate such a strange species of bugs that could actually absorb a person’s internal strength. They absolutely must’ve been a genius. It’s just a pity that they were walking down the wrong path.

Who was that person?

Qin Yu didn’t have time to further think about that question. His top priority was to quickly destroy the vile bug in his dantian. Otherwise, all his internal strength would be sucked dry.

…….

In the northern part of Qiongxi Country, there were seven tall peaks that towered into the clouds.

Of the seven peaks, the middle one was the tallest. All year around, it was hidden by wisps of fog and clouds. Within the fog and clouds, was a grand and imposing temple constructed on the mountain. From afar, it looked just like a bejewelled jade palace from the heavens.

This palace was Qiongxi Country’s renowned Jade Space Temple.

Inside the honored guest hall of Jade Space Temple, there were currently three people sitting across from each other, gracefully sipping tea.

On the left was a fair skinned, slightly plump middle-aged man dressed in magnificent brocade robes. Next to him was a twenty-year-old young man with similarly luxurious clothing.

On the other side was an old Taoist Monk dressed in taoist robes. The mole on his face made him appear somewhat treacherous.

“Monk, it’s been ten days since the Slaughter Array was activated. How are the results?” A faint smile was on the white, plump middle-aged man’s face as he blew softly at his tea and asked.

“Ah…” The Monk smiled and set down his cup of tea: “Prince Qi, thanks to your great blessings, out of the hundred hunters that had entered in these past ten days, ten of them have already finished their missions and returned. So far, we’ve only lost one person.”

“Hm, not bad, not bad indeed.” A smile spread across the middle-aged man’s face. “That group of orphans that this Prince had put his heart and soul into cultivating for the past few years wasn’t in vain. It’s just a bit of a pity that amongst those thousand orphans, only a hundred of them remained.”

“Your Royal Highness doesn’t need to feel pity. Those that stayed alive are all elites and once they fully mature, they’ll be able to face a thousand or even ten thousand of those so-called ‘geniuses’. They’ll be enough to let Your Royal Highness succeed! Hehe…” The old Monk chuckled as he flattered him.

“Then I’ll continue to rely on you for this. If it weren’t for you training them with such care for these past few years, it’d be impossible for This Prince to breed so many geniuses. This Prince will surely remember your great merits.” The middle-aged man’s words were filled with praise towards the old Monk.

“Ah…Your Royal Highness is flattering me.” The old Monk’s words were modest but his heart was filled with pride and a sly smile blossomed across his face.

“It’s you who is being modest. This Prince isn’t flattering you at all.” The middle-aged man set down his tea and emphasized, “Nevermind the rest, just speaking about the Slaughter Array that you have set up this time is already something that nobody else but you could probably accomplish.”

“This is all due to Your Royal Highness’s honor and good blessings. This poor Monk just knows some simple arrays.” The old Taoist Monk continued to flatter.

“Hehehe…” The middle-aged man laughed loudly, smiling happily. “I didn’t think that such a great Taoist Monk like you would be such a modest person. You are truly admirable. If This Prince’s plan succeeds, I’ll pay respects to you as the State Scholar. When the time comes, Jade Space Temple will be the number one temple of Qiongxi Country.”

“Many thanks, Your Royal Highness.” The Old Taoist Monk hastily got up and gave a deep bow to the middle-aged man, his smile so wide that even his nose was slightly askew.

“You don’t have to be so polite. Please sit.”

“Your Royal Highness, I give you my thanks.”

The Old Taoist Monk sat down again and took a big sip of tea before continuing to ask, “Your Royal Highness, after three months, if somebody passes the Martial Exam inside the Slaughter Array, how do you intend to deal with them?”

“Hmph.” The middle-aged man revealed a cold smile, “There’s no way anyone will be able to pass. All of them will be slaughtered, and there will not be a single survivor!” His voice was filled with ruthless killing intent.

The Old Taoist Monk’s heart trembled, “Your Royal Highness, the youths inside consist of all of Qiongxi Country’s elites. If all of them are killed, the future strength of Qiongxi Country will be weakened.”

“It doesn’t matter, the elites that you cultivated for me will be enough.” The middle-aged man spoke uncaringly and suddenly snorted coldly, “My dumb Royal Brother wants to take a group of the top talents amongst the elites from those who pass the Martial Examination to form a loyal force for his incompetent son. This Prince will not allow his wish to come true and will slaughter them all. Qiongxi Country is mine and nobody can stop that from happening, including my Royal Brother, who is on his deathbed.” After speaking, a sinister smile appeared on the middle aged man’s face.

“Ahh——！”

All of a sudden, a piercing pained scream came from outside the hall. The talk was interrupted as the three inside the hall jumped with fright.

“What happened?” The middle-aged man suddenly raised his head and stared outside.

“Your Royal Highness, please be at ease. In Jade Space Temple, nothing big can happen. This poor Taoist Monk will go and take a look.” After speaking, the old Taoist Monk stood up.

“This Prince will go with you.” The middle-aged man also stood up, “Rui’er, come with us.”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness.” The youth bowed immediately before he jumped up and followed along.

“This… Second Prince, I fear it’ll be dangerous.” The old Taoist Monk said with some awkwardness.

“What is there to fear? This Prince and Rui’er aren’t just some weaklings. Let’s go.” The middle aged man’s tone was firm.

“Alright, then please follow me, Second Prince.” The Old Taoist Monk didn’t insist and the three left the room.

The three had just exited the room and walked half way through the corridor when a man hastily ran over from the other end. When he saw that the Taoist and the others had already come out, he dashed forward and bowed: “Prince, Teacher, another two people died this time.”

“Huh?” The Old Taoist Monk and the middle-aged man were both startled.

This time, two hunters had died. This wasn’t a trifling matter.

However, them dying shouldn’t have caused such a pained scream just now, right? Furthermore, they could still hear pained screams echoing out. Could it be that the ones who had come back weren’t completely dead yet? Impossible! If they hadn’t died, they wouldn’t have been able to fall back here.

“Who is screaming?” The old Taoist Monk’s face was calm as he asked.

“I-it’s……” The man did not know how to explain and could only clench his teeth: “Master, you’ll understand when you reach the martial arts platform.”

“Trash, get lost!” The old Taoist Priest shouted furiously as he strode forward. The man behind him had to run to catch up to him.

Two cold corpses were currently lying on the martial arts platform, crowded by many people. Located at the front of the crowd was a Taoist Monk whose hand was being continuously corroded by a black fog as he screamed in fear.

The same black fog also lingered on both of the corpses on the ground. The difference however, was that the corpses were completely covered by the fog, and ⅔ of their bodies were corroded, leaving behind a pool of black blood. Everyone in the crowd were filled with terror - such a death was simply too horrifying.

“Everyone, scram!” A loud shout sounded from behind them, causing everyone to move out of the way.

“Teacher, Your Royal Highness.” The crowd prostrated.

The old Taoist Monk didn’t pay them any attention as he stepped forward. His face turned ashen when he saw the corpses on the ground.

“Master, save me, save me!” Somebody cried for help when he saw the old Taoist Priest, screaming as if he had just seen his last hope. He rushed forward, his body covered in surging black qi.

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