In the Silver Beetle nest.
Numerous Silver Beetles that had fled into the nest were gathered inside a very spacious cave, letting out ear-piercing screeches.
Countless dark holes could be seen in the cave that stretched down towards the depths of the earth.
A fat Silver Beetle that was almost two meters long and as thick as a man’s waist was crouching at the mouth of a large hole, its shiny silver shell emanating dazzling light.
The amount of silver light it emanated seemed to be greater than the amount of light emanated by all of the other Silver Beetles combined.
Even the whole cave was lit up by its light.
The other Silver Beetles were letting out sharp screeches, which seemed to be them reporting to the mother beetle in their own language.
SHEW! SHEW! SHEW!
Nie Tian and the others flew into the spacious cave through the hole they had found.
The Silver Beetles’ screeches grew even more resounding and ear-piercing, even causing cracks to appear in the cave walls.
Upon arrival, Nie Tian caught sight of the mother Silver Beetle.
He also discovered that it was surrounded by a large number of small, slimy eggs, most of which were still unhatched.
Many stone protrusions that resembled stalactites stretched down from the ceiling, each and every one shining with silver light.
Even though they all looked very large and thick, they gave Nie Tian a feeling that they were actually weightless.
Fine tentacles grew out of the mother Silver Beetle’s head, piercing into the tips of the hanging stone protrusions.
Bright silver spots could be seen flowing through its tentacles, as if they were streaming into the mother beetle’s fat body.
Yin Yanan’s eyes lit up. Surprised and overjoyed, she exclaimed, “Nie Tian! Those stone protrusions are Silicon Silver!
“It usually takes a very long time for Silicon Silver to form naturally. I wonder how such a large amount of Silicon Silver came to form in these stone protrusions within the heart of this mountain peak. The amount of Silicon Silver here is simply incredible.”
Fang Yingying’s soft exclamation echoed out from behind. “There are seven of them!”
In the next moment, Nie Tian found her and Luo Hui also standing in the cave.
As soon as they arrived, the Silver Beetles’ screeches grew even more ear-piercing.
Nie Tian looked around with rapt attention, and discovered that the beady eyes of the Silver Beetles that were now gathered around the mother beetle were shining with the light of hate and anger. However, those small, angry eyes weren’t fixed on him, Yin Yanan, or Mu Biqiong, but on Fang Yingying and Luo Hui.
Looking surprised, Luo Hui said, “The speed at which Silicon Silver forms is indeed higher when a mother beetle is around. It’s only been a few decades, yet seven Silicon Silver protrusions have already come to form.”
Taken aback, Yin Yanan asked, “You’ve… been here before?”
Fang Yingying smiled and said, “Our sect was the first to discover and explore these four Silver Beetle nests. And we’ve been holding on to them over the past centuries, both the Silver Beetles and the Silicon Silver they helped form. Every once in a while, we’d send disciples here to harvest them.”
Yin Yanan’s face grew icy as soon as she heard these words. “If that’s the case, then why did you invite us to come explore it?”
“Didn’t I tell you already?” Fang Yingying said plainly. “Since you happened to meet us here, we’re willing to share our gains with you, instead of having everything to ourselves.”
Yin Yanan then gave a cold harrumph. “If that’s true, now that we’re here, isn’t it time for you to get out?”
“We’re only here to take a look,” Fang Yingying said.
“There’s nothing to see,” Yin Yanan said with a tough tone.
Luo Hui’s eyebrows furrowed as he was slightly angered.
Surprisingly, the large number of Silver Beetles and the mother beetle didn’t attack them as they talked to each other.
However, the mother beetle’s icy gaze swept across the Frost Blood Python that was coiled by Yin Yanan’s feet from time to time.
Clearly, it possessed extraordinary intelligence.
From the information it had obtained from the Silver Beetles, it had already learned about the strange things that had happened when they had attacked Nie Tian. Now, all of the low-grade Silver Beetles considered Nie Tian as their natural enemy, feeling insecure and uneasy when facing him.
After examing Nie Tian’s aura itself, the mother beetle felt the same way about him.
Besides, it had also sensed the Frost Blood Python’s actual grade, which made it even more apprehensive.
Meanwhile, it seemed to hate Fang Yingying and Luo Hui to the guts, as if it knew that, over the past centuries, people wearing similar garments had disturbed its life, killed its subjects, and stolen the Silicon Silver they had made great efforts to form using their bloodline talent.
After a moment of hesitation, it suddenly let out a piercing screech.
It instantly drowned the sharp screeches of all of the other Silver Beetles.
At the same time, more cracks appeared on the solid cave walls, as if its screech could pierce through rocks and even metal.
Nie Tian and the others all experienced stabbing pain in their eardrums. As strong as Nie Tian was, he felt lightheaded and disoriented for a short period.
He naturally summoned flesh power and spiritual power to form protective wards to ward off the piercing screech and recover a clear mind.
Then, as he looked over his shoulder, he discovered that Yin Yanan’s face had turned very pale. At this moment, she was covering her ears with her hands, and had an agonized expression on her face.
Mu Biqiong was in even worse shape, as blood was coming through her fingers while she was also covering her ears with her hands.
Nie Tian turned his face the other way, and discovered that Fang Yingying and Luo Hui had covered their ears with some sort of leather cover.
The two of them were as calm as ever, and completely unharmed by the mother beetle’s piercing screech.
Obviously, they had long since prepared for this.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The countless Silver Beetles rapidly streamed into the holes in the cave walls, and soon vanished from the cave.
At the same time, as the fat mother beetle flew into the largest hole, the eggs around it were also pushed into the hole by a mysterious force, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
It was as if all of the Silver Beetles had received the meaning of the mother beetle’s screech, and thus left as quickly as possible under the cover of her piercing screech.
All of the Silver Beetles, the mother beetle, and the eggs vanished while the mother beetle’s sharp screech still lingered in the air.
Nie Tian then unleashed a wisp of flesh aura and sensed around with it, and realized that the Silver Beetles had already fled kilometers deep following the holes that led to the depths of the earth.
The deeper they fled, the harder it was for him to capture their auras.
“It went so smoothly this time that it’s even a bit weird,” Fang Yingying said with a confused look in her eyes. “Since when did the mother beetle become so submissive? It’s so not like it.”
The four Silver Beetle nests here were indeed the Heavenly Witchcraft Sect’s secret farm in the Shatter Battlefield.
Ever since they had discovered this place, they had turned it into a trial for their juniors. Every once in a while, they would send young disciples here to capture Silver Beetles, which they would bring back and turn into their spirit vermin, and harvest the Silicon Silver that had formed here.
During the first few times they had sent juniors here, fierce battles had broken out between their juniors and the mother beetle, vesting the trials with hardships and dangers.
However, every time, they had spared the mother beetle’s life.
That was because they knew that as long as the mother beetle was alive, it would give birth to more Silver Beetles, and more Silicon Silver would come to form in their nests.
Once the mother beetle died, the Silver Beetles in the four nests would soon die out, and they wouldn’t have any Silicon Silver to gather.
The reason why they hadn’t captured the mother beetle and brought it back was because none of the Heavenly Witchcraft Sect’s realms were fit for Silver Beetles to inhabit and reproduce, and there weren’t any special mountain peaks like these ones here, where the Silver Beetles would be able to form precious Silicon Silver with their unique bloodline talent.
Luo Hui shook his head, as if he found this trial somewhat disappointing and boring. “Yeah, it went a bit too smoothly this time.”
Eyebrows furrowed, he turned to Nie Tian and the girls, all of whom had sustained injuries to different extents from the mother beetle’s sharp screech, and said impatiently, “You three may leave now. Nothing here concerns you anymore.”
“Junior martial brother!” Fang Yingying shouted with a stern face.
She had never thought of letting Nie Tian and the girls live since the moment they had come to the four Silver Beetle nests.
If she let Nie Tian and the girls leave alive, they would leave with the knowledge of Silver Beetles gathering here, and Silicon Silver forming here every few decades.
The Heavenly Witchcraft Sect would suffer great losses if they were to return in a few decades and beat them to harvest the spoils from here.
“We may leave now?” Yin Yanan laughed coldly. “Are you mistaken? You should be the ones to leave.”
Not only did Fang Yingying not seem angered by her revolt, but she actually chuckled while slapping her soft left hand towards the back of Mu Biqiong, who was standing the closest to her.
Even at this moment, the mother beetle’s screech was still lingering in the air.
Thus, Mu Biqiong was still covering her ears with her hands. Agony filled her veiled face as blood kept oozing through her fingers.
She didn’t even notice Fang Yingying’s action.
Yin Yanan saw it, but she didn’t move at all, as if she didn’t care about Mu Biqiong’s life in the slightest.
Nie Tian snorted disdainfully as he shot over like a bolt of lightning, and appeared behind her in the blink of an eye.
As Fang Yingying’s palm burst forth with dazzling spiritual light, a small lifelike centipede appeared in her jade-like palm. From the look of it, it was hoping to drill into Mu Biqiong’s back to gnaw at her heart.
However, Nie Tian’s fist suddenly seemed to expand countless times before Fang Yingying, filling her entire view.
BOOM!
Nie Tian’s fist slammed into Fang Yingying’s palm with great force. Its devastating momentum scared the small centipede back to her core.
Fang Yingying felt as if she had slapped a huge, solid rock that was ten thousand years old, the strong impact sending her trudging backwards.
After a few steps, her back slammed hard into the cave wall, shattering the rocks.
Blood spilled from the corner of her mouth as she threw Nie Tian a shocked look.
“But… But you’re only at the middle Worldly realm!” Her exclamation finally caught Mu Biqiong’s ears. She instantly sprang around to glare at her.
Nie Tian then shot Yin Yanan a glance. “You take that guy. I’ll finish this woman off.”
With these words, the Flame Star flew whooshing out of his ring of holding and swooped down on Fang Yingying like a fierce flame dragon.
Nie Tian could tell that Mu Biqiong hadn’t recovered from the influence of the mother beetle’s screech yet, and was still in an unfavorable condition.
Her battle prowess would remain low for some time.
Meanwhile, he had long since seen that Luo Hui was only at the early Profound realm. Yin Yanan would be able to take him out as easily as turning her hand, even without seeking help from the Frost Blood Python.
The middle Profound realm Fang Yingying had only suffered a heavy blow from him because she had underestimated him. Since her cultivation base was actually much higher than his, in order to win, he had to pursue her while she retreated.
Furthermore, as spacious as the cave was, the Bone Blood Demon was still too large to fight in it.
If he unleashed the Bone Blood Demon anyways, the cave might collapse, and everyone might end up buried in rocks. Therefore, he gave up on the thought.
Fang Yingying rapidly stabilized herself and calmed down. Eyes filled with disdain, she said, “I can’t believe a Worldly realm guy actually dares to say that he’ll kill me!”
