Translator: CinderTL
Song Wen extended his Divine Sense towards both ends of the cavern.
Instantly, the scene within the cavern appeared in his mind.
To the right, after several miles, the cavern gradually began to narrow, and after about a mile, it reached its end—a stone wall.
To the left, the cavern stretched endlessly, with no end in sight.
After ten miles, his Divine Sense could no longer perceive anything.
This cavern exerted a certain suppression on Divine Sense, primarily due to the excessively dense spiritual energy here, the likes of which Song Wen had never encountered before.
When spiritual energy becomes too concentrated, it can interfere with the perception of Divine Sense, though not as severely as Corpse Qi or Ghost Qi.
Thus, Xue Mei's claim that this place was the 'Dark Orchid Realm,' a site where the Divine Blood Gate cultivated rare treasures, seemed somewhat credible and not entirely baseless.
The two of them did not abandon their search of the right side of the cavern solely based on Divine Sense perception. Some rare treasures emitted unique spiritual energy fluctuations that could render Divine Sense ineffective, making them undetectable, much like a concealment array.
Therefore, they decided to search the right side of the cavern first.
Finding nothing on the right, they returned to the starting point and began searching to the left.
After searching for over ten miles without discovering any treasures, they suddenly sensed intense spiritual energy fluctuations ahead.
Clearly, there was a battle taking place ahead—either between people or beasts.
"Are there others here? Or are there beasts? Is this the spiritual energy fluctuation caused by a battle between beasts?"
The two exchanged glances, their expressions growing more cautious.
They continued forward, doing their best to conceal their presence.
After advancing a few more miles, Song Wen suddenly stopped, his expression turning grave.
"What is it?" Xue Mei asked.
"Lan Chen and Mo Yexue are ahead, surrounded by a swarm of black ants," Song Wen replied.
"What kind of black ants?" Xue Mei inquired.
Song Wen explained, "The larger ones are as big as calves, while the smaller ones are only the size of fists..."
The black ants were hidden within the rocks beneath the cavern floor.
They could burrow quickly and silently, making them undetectable by Divine Sense.
The ants emerged from various locations, breaking through the rocks and relentlessly attacking Lan Chen and Mo Yexue.
Faced with the elusive ants, the two women had no better strategy than to kill each one as it appeared.
Among the ants, the strongest were only at the peak of the third stage, no match for the two women.
However, the ants were numerous, fearless, and continuously charged at their defensive perimeter.
These ants could spray a foul-smelling, pale yellow liquid from their mouths.
The liquid was highly corrosive, and wherever it landed, the rocks were rapidly eaten away, emitting a noxious black smoke.
Concerned about being discovered by Lan Chen and Mo Yexue, Song Wen retracted his Divine Sense, not daring to observe further.
"They might be in serious trouble," Xue Mei said after hearing Song Wen's description, her tone tinged with a hint of schadenfreude.
"Why do you say that?" Song Wen asked, puzzled.
The strongest of these ants were only at the peak of the third stage—how could they pose a threat to two Nascent Soul late-stage cultivators?
Moreover, Song Wen even suspected that Lan Chen was at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage.
Xue Mei said, "You underestimate these black ants. They are called Gold-Eating Ants, and they have a penchant for consuming metallic minerals. Their bodies are as hard as metal, and they are adept at concealing their presence. When they hide underground, it is difficult to detect them. With so many Gold-Eating Ants besieging the two of them, there must be a fourth-tier Ant Queen commanding them. And each Ant Queen has at least several Ant Kings of the same level under her command."
As if to confirm Xue Mei's words, as soon as she finished speaking, a different change occurred on the battlefield ten miles away.
"Lan Chen, why are these black ants increasing in number the more we kill them?" Mo Yexue asked, frowning as she looked at the ground littered with black ant corpses.
Under her control, a jet-black flying sword, neither metallic nor wooden, streaked through the cavern like a meteor. The black ants that emerged from the shattered rocks fell to the ground one after another.
Even the peak third-tier black ants couldn't withstand Mo Yexue's full-powered strike, each being gutted upon impact.
"Behind these Gold-Eating Ants, there must be a higher-tier existence. I have a feeling that they are deliberately consuming our Spiritual Power under some kind of command. This place is not safe for us to stay long; we should leave as soon as possible," Lan Chen said with a worried expression.
Mo Yexue replied, "According to the ancient text you obtained, the Dark Orchid Realm contains Phantom Wing Butterflies and Violet-Gold Spirit Wood. The Phantom Wing Butterflies can help you enhance your Divine Sense and further improve your cultivation strength."
"And the Violet-Gold Spirit Wood is the primary spiritual material for crafting top-tier flying swords. If I can obtain it and refine it into my Natal Magic Treasure flying sword, it might help me break through the bottleneck that has trapped me at the late Nascent Soul stage for many years."
"We've finally entered the Dark Orchid Realm. If we flee in panic because of a few Gold-Eating Ants and miss the chance to obtain the Phantom Wing Butterflies and Violet-Gold Spirit Wood, wouldn't that be a lifelong regret?"
Lan Chen's brows furrowed tightly as she looked around, seemingly trying to find some clues among the Gold-Eating Ants continuously emerging from the ground.
"But... I can't shake this uneasy feeling," Lan Chen said.
Mo Yexue said, "Lan Chen, you're being too cautious. With the two of us working together, there are few opponents we need to fear within the Divine Blood Hall. Why worry about mere Gold-Eating Ants?"
As she spoke, her flying sword slashed toward a Gold-Eating Ant the size of a bowl.
Mo Yexue didn't pay much attention to this particular ant.
She had already killed hundreds of Gold-Eating Ants of similar size.
Based on her experience, ants of this size were likely at the mid to peak second-tier level.
She didn't even need to expend much Spiritual Power; the sharpness of the flying sword alone was enough to kill ants of this strength.
Thus, this strike was somewhat careless.
The amount of Spiritual Power Mo Yexue infused into the flying sword was pitifully small.
However, just as the flying sword was about to strike, the Gold-Eating Ant suddenly made a sharp turn in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the sword's edge.
Then, the ant suddenly accelerated, its speed instantly surpassing that of a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator's escape speed.
A fierce aura erupted from the ant.
The distance between the ant and the two women was not far, only a hundred zhang.
Its sudden burst of speed caught the two women off guard, and in the blink of an eye, it closed the distance to within ten zhang.
Mo Yexue's eyes narrowed slightly as she subtly changed her Sword Incantation. The flying sword arced through the air, coming from behind to slash at the Gold-Eating Ant.
The Gold-Eating Ant paid no heed to the flying sword with its shimmering blade trailing behind it, continuing its charge toward the two women.
"Clang!"
Mo Yexue's full-strength slash landed on the Gold-Eating Ant's back, but the expected scene of the ant being cleaved in two did not occur. Instead, a metallic clang rang out.
A straight sword mark appeared on the ant's pitch-black back, but it ultimately failed to penetrate its hard exoskeleton.
Although unharmed, the immense force transmitted from the flying sword caused the Gold-Eating Ant to lose its balance.
As a result, the ant accelerated toward the two women.
The Gold-Eating Ant opened its mouth and spat out a stream of foul-smelling, pale yellow liquid, which shot like an arrow straight toward Mo Yexue's face.
(End of the Chapter)
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