Chapter 102: Blood Ants
Chapter 102: Blood Ants
Amidst the tense and eerie silence, the Guardian Elder of the Fallen Heaven Blood Sect stood alone on a desolate, lifeless world. Just as he was about to send a warning to the others in the sect about the blood ants he had recently discovered, his voice rang out urgently.
"Kill yourselves!"
Chang Ming, standing beside the Guardian Elder, was startled but followed the command without hesitation. His sword pierced through his own throat immediately, spraying blood everywhere. The other members of the Fallen Heaven Blood Sect who had accompanied him also followed suit, stabbing themselves without question or hesitation, falling silently to the ground.
The Guardian Elder surveyed the lifeless bodies of Chang Ming and the others before raising his hand to obliterate the corpses instantly. In a flash, their bodies were reduced to ash, ensuring that the swarm of blood ants would not be able to devour their corpses and gain power.
Once he had destroyed everything, the Guardian Elder disappeared into the void, leaving the area completely silent and desolate.
Moments later, a massive swarm of millions of blood ants surged toward the planet. They were so numerous that they blocked out the sky, forming a thick blanket that darkened the stars. Among them were over a hundred thousand ants with cultivation power equivalent to Immortal Emperors, their strength almost unimaginable.
As the swarm approached the planet where the Guardian Elder had been, the planet suddenly exploded. A deafening blast echoed across the universe, and debris from the planet scattered far and wide. The bright light from the explosion illuminated the sky for a brief moment before everything was plunged into darkness again, leaving only a void and remnants of destruction.
The Guardian Elder, hidden in the void, watched the explosion with a neutral expression. Suddenly, millions of Void Blades materialized, tearing apart the void itself. In an instant, one of his arms was severed, blood splattering into space. Pain coursed through his body, but the Guardian Elder showed no signs of distress, only a faint smile. He looked ahead and saw a massive blood ant devouring his severed arm.
The blood ant growled softly as it absorbed his blood, its power growing rapidly until it emitted an aura nearly equal to that of a peak-level semi-divine being. Yet the Guardian Elder remained unfazed. He regrew his severed arm instantly, as though nothing had happened.
"Blood ants... a race that should have gone extinct long ago. How have you returned?" he muttered softly, almost as if talking to himself. Then he added, "Not that it matters."
To his surprise, the blood ant spoke back, its voice low and guttural.
"Human...delicious..."
With terrifying speed, the blood ant lunged at the Guardian Elder. His eyes remained calm as he slowly raised his hand, and an invisible confinement formation appeared, freezing the blood ant in mid-air. It could not move. With a single slash of his Void Blade, the Guardian Elder sliced the blood ant in half and obliterated its head with a simple gesture.
He sneered, "Surrounded, aren't I?"
The Guardian Elder sensed something fearsome approaching. His face darkened as millions of blood ants, including many that had survived the planet's explosion, swarmed toward him from the void like a tidal wave. The sound of their wings filled the air, turning the sky a deep red, the color of their blood-hued bodies.
"Roughly one hundred million of them... but where is the queen?" the Guardian Elder murmured.
He had no other choice. Detonating himself to destroy everything was the only way to prevent them from consuming his body. The Guardian Elder began to gather all the power within him. But before he could self-destruct, a searing pain suddenly overwhelmed him.
His voice echoed, "So, here you are..."
His head was severed from his body before he could react. In that instant, his body collapsed into space. A blood ant with the power of a peak-level semi-divine being, the one responsible for killing the Guardian Elder, grabbed his body and began to devour it slowly.
As the blood ant prepared to consume the Guardian Elder's corpse, a Void Blade pierced through its neck. The ant screamed in agony, the sound reverberating through space, and the remaining blood ants rushed to attack the Guardian Elder. However, millions of Void Blades slashed through them, reducing them to pieces. The Guardian Elder calmly walked over to retrieve his severed head and reattached it as though nothing had happened.
"That was close..." he muttered softly, as his power began to radiate once more.
He quickly targeted what he believed to be the blood ant queen, preparing to strike her down. But before he could act, his body was suddenly split in two. Pain shot through him, but even as his body was cleaved apart, he showed no fear. The Guardian Elder smirked.
"I knew it... the legendary queen ant wouldn't be so weak," he said as his severed body began to stitch itself back together.
The queen ant glared at the Guardian Elder with contempt. She spoke in a cold, mocking tone. "You dare to kill so many of my children? Your flesh must be incredibly delicious."
The Guardian Elder chuckled. "A species that should have disappeared from history calls me food? Has your brain rotted away, passed down through too many of your children?"
The queen ant snarled, her voice icy. "Let's see if your skills match your arrogance. Remember my name: Xue Houyi. I will be the one to restore the blood ant race!"
Just as she prepared to attack, the Guardian Elder vanished without a trace. She looked around, puzzled.
"Escaped already...even though I hid them so well, he still found them," she muttered to herself, but quickly dismissed the thought.
"No matter... let's go devour some more planets first," the queen ant said, shooting into the sky with blinding speed. The remaining blood ants followed her without hesitation. Deep down, she knew she could have stopped him, but it would have cost the lives of many of her ants. Besides, she was waiting for the venom in his body to transform him into one of them, but it seemed it had failed. So, she decided to let him go.
Meanwhile, the Guardian Elder fled as fast as he could, sensing the dozens of semi-divine blood ants surrounding him. He muttered quietly to himself, "It seems we'll have to change all our plans."
The Guardian Elder immediately sent a message to Jiang Yun, and upon receiving orders to retreat, he quickly relayed the warning to the others in the sect.