Chapter 19: Black Nest
Insect blood dripped from the tip of Dragon-Slaying Flash. The [Soul Lock Lantern] hanging at Su Xiao's waist emitted a faint glow from absorbing soul energy. Though the light wasn't strong, it was barely enough to see the surroundings.
Su Xiao walked in front, with Yueling behind. The tunnel's width was limited; if both attacked at once, they would only hinder each other.
Currently, Su Xiao was in the border region of 'Anlu.' Maps of this area had become invalid years ago. The corrupted insects rarely attacked each other unless driven by extreme hunger. The corrupted remnants of their instincts caused most insects to dig tunnels haphazardly.
For now, Su Xiao just needed to keep descending. First, he had to reach the Black Nest. The Wolf Spider Queen was beneath the Black Nest—this wasn't a secret; many outsiders knew it.
The Wolf Spider Queen advocated opening the seal and fighting the Ancient God to the death. But opening the seal meant she would be the first to die. So she remained beneath the Black Nest. Only those who could fight their way through could meet her and take her life.
Clang, clang, clang...
Pale blue blade auras flashed. Corrupted insects that lunged at Su Xiao shrieked as they were sliced apart. Most of these corrupted insects were from the Worker Ant Tribe, their forms grotesquely altered, covered in uneven spikes.
As the blade cut through carapaces, Su Xiao felt minimal resistance. If Dragon-Slaying Flash could be embedded with three Immortal Rank gems, its lethality would skyrocket, giving him a better chance against that Ancient God.
Su Xiao sprinted forward. The underground tunnels were a labyrinth. Corrupted enemies could burst out from any corner. With his perception domain activated, though its range was only a dozen meters, its sensitivity was high enough to prevent ambushes from enemies in the darkness.
The long blade in Su Xiao's hand slashed repeatedly. Insect blood splattered everywhere. There were more corrupted insects in the tunnels than expected. Each wave that charged out could be surrounded by enemies lurking in side passages.
After advancing for ten minutes, Su Xiao stopped. The air around him reeked of pungent insect blood, a mix of stench and sourness.
He pulled a writhing worm from his sleeve and crushed its head between two fingers with a wet pop, juice splattering.
"Yueling."
...
Silence behind him. Su Xiao turned to look—Yueling had vanished. He had killed too fast and lost her.
Meanwhile, in another tunnel, a spear-blade pierced the head of a giant wasp. Yueling kicked the corpse aside and ran forward. The underground passage ended, and faint light shone from ahead.
"Where is this? Looks familiar."
Yueling stared at the large buildings ahead. A single-carriage train passed in front of her. Seeing this, she was stunned.
"Not good!"
Yueling backtracked. Soon, she found a large scattering of insect carcasses. Following the trail of insect blood, she began tracking Su Xiao.
The more she tracked, the more solemn her expression became. The insect carcasses were so numerous they blocked the path, all blasted apart by blood energy. Carapace fragments were embedded in the walls, covered in shredded flesh and blood. It felt like she was walking through a tunnel of flesh.
Yueling sprinted at full speed for over ten minutes before the flesh tunnel ended. A circular pit appeared in the ground ahead, about two meters wide, plunging straight down.
Yueling held her spear-blade close, crossed her arms, and jumped straight into the pit, descending rapidly.
After falling nearly a hundred meters, she landed on the "ground" with a sharp crack. She had crushed a piece of carapace, sinking waist-deep into something wet, slippery, and disgustingly warm.
Yueling looked down. What reached her waist wasn't anything else—it was a pile of corrupted insect carcasses. Some were chopped into dozens of pieces, others sliced open from the abdomen with cuts as smooth as mirrors.
Yueling thought she had landed on a corpse heap. Using the faint light from glowing vines above, she surveyed her surroundings. What she saw made her eyes widen and pupils contract.
She was in an underground space of over a thousand square meters. The ceiling was covered in glowing vines. Below, the floor was littered with all kinds of corrupted insect corpses—not just a single layer, but piled half a meter deep at the edges, rising higher toward the center, forming a massive mound of remains.
"Yueling, you're not just dim-witted, you're also directionally challenged. Keep up next time."
Baha emerged from alternate space, snapping Yueling back to reality.
"Did you... kill all these?!"
"No, the boss did it himself. He's already on the eighth floor below."
"Uh..."
Yueling scratched her head. Before this, she had always thought she could fight Su Xiao to a standstill. Now, it seemed that wasn't the case.
"How much farther to the Black Nest?"
"Stop daydreaming. This is the first floor of the Black Nest. Let's go."
Baha flew to the inner side of the first floor, signaling Yueling to jump into another pit—the entrance to the second floor.
Yueling leaped. After a few seconds of falling, she landed with a splash into another pile of corpses. The second floor was even more brutal than the first.
The walls were covered in slash marks. A mantis over three meters tall stood atop the central corpse heap. Its two blade-like forelimbs were folded behind its back, now having a metallic sheen. Its four hind legs were bent in a kneeling position, its head severed.
Seeing this, Yueling imagined a scene: a man with red glints in his eyes, holding a single blade, standing atop the corpse pile. The mantis warrior, mortally wounded and knowing defeat, sheathed its blade limbs, knelt on one knee, lowered its head, and with its last shred of reason, welcomed a warrior's death.
Drip, drip...
Insect blood from the floor above dripped through the hole in the ceiling. Yueling steadied herself and approached the pit to the third floor, jumping in.
After falling a few seconds, her feet touched ground. A slippery sensation met her soles. If not for her agility, she might have landed on her rear.
This floor had fewer insect carcasses, but all were mantis warriors. Yueling wondered how these corrupted mantises had gathered here.
In reality, each floor of the Black Nest had side passages that could be opened. Someone had deliberately set up layers of obstacles.
Yueling descended floor by floor. The fourth floor was also full of mantis warrior remains, but in greater numbers. The fifth floor held wolf spiders covered in carapace, each over four meters long. Some areas were crisscrossed with spider silk—finer than hair and razor-sharp.
Soon, Yueling reached the seventh floor. No insect carcasses remained. Instead, there were humanoid monsters with exoskeletons on their heads and pitch-black bodies. Some had wings on their backs, others had mantis-like blade arms.
Yueling recognized these—highly corrupted insect warriors that had evolved. They shared a similar form: exoskeleton heads, black bodies, humanoid shape. The only difference was that each retained its strongest attack or defense method.
A rumble came from below, mixed with the roars of insect warriors. A battle was raging on the eighth floor. Realizing this, Yueling hurried to the pit. Just as she was about to jump, she noticed Bubu Wang and Baha nearby.
"Aren't you going to help?"
"Woof?"
"I don't want to die."
Hearing Baha's words, Yueling felt indignant. How could one be afraid of death in battle? She had misjudged this bird.
"Then I'll go."
Yueling unstrapped her spear-blade and leaped down. A few seconds later, she landed on solid ground. In that instant, she understood what Baha meant by "I don't want to die." It wasn't cowardice—it was fear of being caught in the crossfire.
Clang!
A pale blue ring of slashing energy expanded. Insect warriors were forced back, but more charged fearlessly toward the center.
With a metallic ring, Yueling's spear-blade crossed in front of her. She barely blocked in time. But as her feet skidded backward across the ground, pale blue arcs of electricity exploded from the center, surging outward. Worse, crystal-formed blades spread out like a chain of swords.
'Blade Path Sword: Super Ring Sever.'
Clang!
The sharp sound of the slash spread. Over a dozen insect warriors that couldn't dodge were cut in half. Even so, their upper bodies lunged toward the center.
As the ring of slashing energy ended, the surrounding blade chains began converging inward. Yueling stood in a corner, spear-blade in hand, stunned. She couldn't figure out why she had come down here.