“Golden Cicada, get out here! Golden Cicada, do you know how many people I’ve eaten? Where’s your benevolence? Where’s your repentance? Get out here!”
The locust swarm whistled through the pitch-black underground caves, kicking up fierce howls like the vicious wind over an icy tundra. They did not care if they did not receive a response. They howled and roared endlessly, churning up even the darkness in the deepest depths.
Buzz! The insect swarm poured into a cavern like a flood. The sea of Blue Butterfly flowers that had once bloomed in the darkness for thousands of years all dimmed and withered away, devoured clean. All that remained was a lonely stone platform, sitting in the middle.
A while later, the buzzing travelled away, and two figures emerged from the stone platform.
“Oof, they’re finally gone. These insects seem to have gone crazy!”
The little phoenix Li Fengyuan exhaled. Only now did he sense the pain from his arm. Tigress who was even smaller than him gnawed away at his arm viciously, letting out a furious growl. Her tiger ears pricked up.
“Damned girl, have you bitten me enough? How many times do I have to tell you? I’m your elder brother. Even if we’re not related by blood, we’re even closer than that. If it weren’t for me, you would have been eaten by the insects already. And yet you still bite me!” Li Fengyuan swung his arm around in an attempt to shake her off, but he was also afraid to use too much strength, which would hurt her.
Suddenly, he heard a gentle buzz. A locust flew out from between the stalactites above, staring at them with its cold, compound eyes.
With a flash, Li Fengyuan swung Tiger’s Fang and cut the locust in half.
At this moment, the deafening buzz reappeared in the depths of the caves.
“Oh no, we need to leave here as quickly as possible!”
With a spin, he erupted with flames and illuminated the pitch-black cavern. The flames turned into magnificent wings, assuming the form of a phoenix. He grabbed Tigress with his talons and flew off.
A streak of flowing firelight sped through the dark cavern, except the buzzing appeared from all directions, gradually converging together.
Suddenly, a strange, withered, and yellow face blocked their path, assembled from countless locusts. Its mouth opened and closed, letting out a hoarse voice, “It’s actually a phoenix! It seems very delicious! Come over quick. Let me taste you.” Suddenly, it widened its mouth and lunged over.
“Taste your mother!” Li Fengyuan made up his mind and let out a resonant phoenix’s cry, diving head-first into the face.
With a thump, the face collapsed, and countless locusts were scattered, reduced to ashes in the flames. However, even more locusts swarmed over.
He felt like he was stuck in mud. Whatever he could see, whatever he could hear, whatever he could sense, it was all endless locusts. This was not just a simple gathering of tremendous numbers. Instead, they were all connected, forming a single entity. The strength of millions of locusts stacked together, leading to an intrinsic change in their strength.
Li Fengyuan struggled to advance any further. The flames on him gradually weakened as he protected Tigress carefully in his arms. All he heard was the hoarse voice, “So hot! So hot!” Those were not cries of pain, but more like a greedy, wild beast enjoying some scorching food, chewing away carefully yet also with great enthusiasm.
“Growl! Give me back my blade!!” Tigress put up a fierce struggle.
“You’re going to swing it at me again… Ouch!”
Li Fengyuan felt a slight sting from his arm. A locust had breached the barrier of fire and taken a vicious bite. It had been reduced to ashes immediately, but he felt life-threatening danger. He thought, Looks like I can’t go without asking for help! He took out the jade talisman that Li Qingshan had given to him and crushed it.
Bang! Like the crack of lightning, something ripped through the countless locusts.
“So quick!” Li Fengyuan was surprised.
A long, black whip pierced through the swarm like a venomous dragon, wrapping around them and tugging them out. However, the insects clung on firmly, refusing to give up.
Tigress snatched over the Tiger’s Fang and swung it forward as hard as she could. A blood-red crescent whistled out, slicing through the insects.
Li Fengyuan flapped his wings as hard as he could as well. His view abruptly cleared up. The other end of the whip lay in the hand of a silver woman. She was graceful and voluptuous, except her expression was extremely cold.
“Mother!” Tigress called out.
“So it’s not father, but your mother! Whatever! Let me help you out!”
Li Fengyuan tossed a fiery-red wutong fruit into his mouth, and his flames returned.
Lolth glanced at him and swung her whip as hard as she could. After swinging the blade, Tigress’ face paled, but the frenzy in her eyes grew heavier. Right when she was about to swing it a second time, Lolth snatched the blade over.
Li Fengyuan’s strength was on par with Daemon Kings. When he worked together with a carapaced Daemon King of extraordinary strength like Lolth, they could hold off the vicious attacks of the insects, but they struggled to break out of the encirclement. Surrounded by the insects, they basically could not afford to use any innate abilities, as the only fate awaiting them was being eaten once their daemon qi ran out. However, the insects seemed endless. They gradually entered dire straits again.
Why isn’t father here yet? Li Fengyuan panicked inside, but in the face of danger, the latent power within his body was gradually unleashed.
“Tremors of the Ox Demon!”
In the face of death, an extremely heavy voice suddenly pierced through the earth and rang out from above the cavern, followed by a great rumble.
Boom! The thick, sturdy rock and soil shattered and split open, all pouring down. It buried them with the insects.
“Force Field of the Earth!”
“Father!” Li Fengyuan beamed with joy inside. Abruptly, he felt his body lighten, and he rose up with the earth around him. The brilliant light of day filled his eyes, having left the underground cavern in the blink of an eye. He saw the landscape above ground again, as well as the figure standing in the sky.
“Father, you’re too slow!” Li Fengyuan called out.
“I arrived a long time ago! Otherwise, do you really think you could play hide-and-seek for so long?”
Li Qingshan’s mirror clone had been roaming through the underground caves the entire time. He used his innate abilities several times secretly to help Li Fengyuan and Tigress avoid being discovered by the Soaring Locust King.
“What? Then why didn’t you help out sooner?”
“If I helped out sooner, would you have had an opportunity to perform?”
Li Qingshan stared at the cylindrical hole down below. The insects did not come after them, instead scattering in the underground caves again. He thought, He sure can bide his time! He’s basically too patient!
During the past few days, he had been searching for the Soaring Locust King’s main body the entire time. Otherwise, trying to slaughter all the locusts within such a large cave system would take far too much effort. He would struggle to complete that before the Golden Cicada Spirit King ascended.
As long as the Soaring Locust King’s main body appeared, the Han estate was only a few hundred kilometers from here, so his main body could sense him immediately and carry out the plan of killing him. However, the Soaring Locust King was much more prudent than he had been expecting. Even with so many insects around, his main body never appeared. He did not even give off a hint of his aura.
However, that did make sense upon further thought. The Golden Cicada Spirit King focused on cultivation, preparing for his ascension, but that did not make it impossible for him to take action. Once the Soaring Locust King’s main body appeared, he might not be the Golden Cicada Spirit King’s opponent. Combined with support from Li Qingshan, only defeat would be awaiting the Soaring Locust King. He only had an opportunity at revenge by waiting until the Golden Cicada Spirit King faced the tribulation. He needed to borrow the might of the heavenly tribulation.
Looks like he’ll only appear in the instant when the Golden Cicada Spirit King ascends. Whatever, we’ll deal with him then. If Xiao An and I work together, you’ll have even less of a chance!
