# 376
Chapter 376 – Primordial Tree Demon
Lin Qiye, An Qingyu, and Baili Pangpang froze in unison, turning toward the spot where the arrow had flown.
Jialan stood quietly in a corner of the palace, draped in an oversized sapphire hanfu, a pale-yellow hardwood bow in her hand. Her fingertips still hovered in the air, aimed at the Ant Queen.
Seeing the trio’s stunned expressions, Jialan blinked, apparently unable to grasp why they were looking at her like that…
Thud—!!
A dull crash came from the Ant Queen’s direction. The ritual interrupted, the queen exploded in fury. Her fore-limbs slammed the palace floor, shattering the writhing red patterns beneath her feet.
Snake-thick antennae coiled around the feathered shaft lodged in her carapace, yanked it free of the chink, and—snarling—she strained to snap the arrow that had ruined her sacrifice!
(Heave!)!!
The arrow didn’t even bend.
The red-armored Ant Queen gawked, then twisted harder with both feelers!
Still the arrow sat immobile.
Gnashing mandibles, she wrenched until her antennae were nearly braided, her massive body quivering—
Yet the plain feather shaft remained untouched… not one barb broken.
Ant Queen: …
She casually tossed the arrow into a corner, glared at the humans, and let out a savage roar.
Baili Pangpang watched, suspicious. “Anyone else get the feeling… she’s just embarrassed?”
“No feeling about it—she is.” A sheet of night began spreading from Lin Qiye’s feet. “Right now she’s peak Sea Realm, not quite Infinity, but worlds above before. Stay sharp.”
“Got it,” An Qingyu answered.
“Heh-heh-heh-heh…”
Madman Cao Yuan said nothing; he simply raised his blade and charged like a rabid hound. Black-saber flashes hacked the queen’s crimson armor, leaving only shallow cuts—no longer the clean cleaves of earlier.
The Ant Queen had long loathed this lunatic. Now healed and stronger—peak “Sea”—she met him head-on without hesitation.
Several scythe-long black blades shot from beneath her shell, easily parrying Cao Yuan’s strikes. His push forced her back a step; then her two whiplike, iridescent antennae lashed out and sent the berserker flying a dozen metres.
“Give me some room,” Lin Qiye said, watching. An Qingyu and Baili Pangpang retreated a few steps, unsure what he planned.
Lin Qiye knelt, palm to the floor. A blinding, gigantic magic circle flared!
Thick roots erupted, driving themselves into the stone. Intertwining brown trunks braided into a single colossal bole four or five metres across.
The trunk shot upward, stopping only when it neared the palace ceiling. Branches sprouted; thorned vines dangled and writhed like serpents.
Baili Pangpang’s jaw dropped. “Th-this is…”
“Primordial Tree Demon.” Lin Qiye patted the rough bark. “New summon.”
Earlier in the primeval forest he had sacrificed fifty-plus “River”-level worker ants for a single dimensional summons. Limited by his own realm, he could still call only River-tier creatures—but River and River were not equal. A contract bought with fifty corpses was naturally top-tier; the tree demon was essentially the ceiling of the River rank.
More importantly, its size and power would scale with his cultivation, potentially reaching Infinity.
Only drawback: the ritual took time, and in cramped spaces the demon could literally burst the walls.
The Ant Queen roared at the sudden wooden titan, but with a whole realm between them she felt no real fear—nor did Lin Qiye expect one summon to beat a peak-Sea queen.
Bang—!!
The floor beneath the queen exploded. Bucket-thick roots burst out like brown pythons, lunging for her body.
Her upgraded antennae sensed the ambush; she flashed aside, a red phantom weaving across the hall while vines and roots erupted to box her in.
As she danced between tendrils, a Straight Blade hidden among them blinked above her head. Lin Qiye materialized in a cloak of night and dropped like lightning!
Clang—!!
Twin blades met the queen’s shoulder-spikes in a spray of sparks. The impact drove her down a fraction, but monstrous strength held the blow at bay.
Two antennae whipped toward Lin Qiye’s ribs.
He never glanced at them. Frost-coated threads lanced from the side, predicting their path and pinning them mid-air.
An Qingyu flicked his fingers; more filaments wrapped the feelers, sheathing them in ice.
“Chariot of thunder, rolling earth and crackling flame!”
Dark lightning burst along Lin Qiye’s blade and surged into the queen’s body. She convulsed, momentarily paralyzed.
At the same instant, vines and trunks coiled tight, forging a primordial wooden prison that locked her in place.
Lin Qiye drew a sharp breath and drove his Straight Blade through the red armor. The metal sank deep; absolute darkness poured into her, devouring flesh and organ.
The agony of Utter Dark Erosion sent the queen into frenzy. Her shriek echoed through the palace as, in a berserk surge, she tore some vines free. Razor limbs spun a storm of blades before her.