The Demon Slayer Martial Saint Begins with Insect Refining

Chapter 433 Hell Trial
The yellow sand stretched as far as the eye could see. Just by standing amidst the sand, Su Yan could feel his true essence sinking into quicksand, being swallowed up little by little, and it was extremely difficult to mobilize it.

If one wants to restore one's true essence outside, it is simply a matter of circulating one's cultivation technique and absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy into one's body.

Here, Su Yan would need to expend more energy to mobilize spiritual energy, and even this approach would only be a drop in the ocean, not necessarily keeping pace with the rate of energy depletion.

Su Yan observed for a while but did not see anyone else appear around him. The surrounding yellow sand was constantly flying with the strong wind, revealing the white bones hidden under the sand.

Although the skeleton is gone, the aura emanating from it is still powerful enough to give people a sense of hidden threat.

"It seems to be a random teleportation. I wonder what kind of opportunities await us here. Let's explore first."

rustle!

Suddenly, the yellow sand beneath his feet surged, forming a vortex like quicksand, trying to pull Su Yan into it.

Su Yan reacted extremely quickly. With his divine sense probing, he discovered the unusual activity beneath the yellow sand. He leaped away, avoiding the attack coming from beneath the sand.

A flash of white light appeared, revealing skeletal remains. A monster, over ten feet tall, with jagged bones, bull horns on its head, and standing on two legs, appeared where Su Yan had just been standing.

Her dark eyes burned like fire, but when she looked at Su Yan, her gaze was icy and chilling.

"kill"

The white-boned minotaur unleashed the aura of a peak fourth-tier monster, its legs slightly bent, and its body shot towards Su Yan like a cannonball.

Su Yan raised his right arm, and the insect armor instantly covered his entire right arm, with a black and gold light covering it. Then he unleashed a domineering punch.

click
The bone blade of the white-boned minotaur shattered instantly, and its massive body flew backward, sinking into the yellow sand.

Su Yan didn't give the white-boned bull a chance to retaliate at all, and flew directly into the air above it, with the two only five or six meters apart.

He reached out and grabbed, and the Blood Demon Hand instantly materialized in front of him, taking the monster into his grasp. The monster's entire power was being continuously broken down and devoured by the Blood Demon Hand.

"The power of the Nine Netherworlds?!"

Su Yan was startled, but then a look of joy appeared on his face.

Within the monster's marrow, a strand of jet-black energy, as thin as a hair, extended throughout its body, enabling the monster to move continuously.

"The Soul-Devouring Insects have been constantly refining their souls with the Soul-Forging Golden Pill, and their progress is extremely rapid. Now that these monsters possess the power of the Nine Netherworlds, that's even better."

Su Yan immediately summoned the Soul-Devouring Worm. At this moment, the monster was still struggling, but under the Blood Demon's hand, it had no chance to resist.

The Blood Demon Hand continued to disintegrate, and the bones crumbled away like wood chips falling from a plank.

The deeply hidden power of the Nine Netherworlds didn't even have time to disperse into the yellow sand. The moment it was completely exposed, the Soul-Devouring Insect activated its power and directly intercepted this wisp of power from the Nine Netherworlds.

【Soul-Eating Insects: 191/200 (Growth Stage)】

"A strand of Netherworld power, as thin as a hair, can only increase growth value by 10 points? No wonder the Netherworld Sect has been unable to cultivate the Netherworld Soul-Devouring Worm for so many years."

Su Yan could sense that the power of the Nine Netherworlds was not truly absorbed by the Soul-Devouring Insects, but rather accumulated within his body, waiting for its true eruption.

Only when the soul of the Soul-Devouring Insect is tempered to the point where it can transform can it truly absorb and fuse with the power of the Nine Netherworlds during the transformation process.

A thin layer of ice shards quietly appeared on the surface of the Soul-Eating Insect. With a flap of its wings, it shattered the ice shards, but the eroding power within its body might not be so easily resolved.

Su Yan frowned slightly: "If it keeps devouring like this, it's hard to say whether it will be eroded and die first or complete its transformation. Fortunately, we have the Ferocious Insect Cauldron."

He directly sent the Soul-Devouring Insects into the Ferocious Insect Cauldron. With the power of the Ferocious Insect Cauldron, the corrosive damage from the power of the Nine Netherworlds was slowly recovering.

Moreover, the power of the Nine Netherworlds is now showing signs of fusion, gradually integrating into the bloodline of the Soul-Devouring Insect.

"Perhaps we don't need to wait until the soul body reaches the stage of transformation before activating the power of the Nine Netherworlds, which significantly reduces the danger."

This is a good thing for Su Yan. With the success rate increased, he might be able to complete the transformation of the Soul-Devouring Insect amidst the bones and yellow sand.

"Huh? This is it?"

The white-boned minotaur was completely disintegrated by the Blood Demon Hand, and something even fell out from among the bones.

A soft white light covered it, and within the white light was a piece of white jade.

"Fourth-Tier High-Grade Soul Jade"

Su Yan's eyes narrowed slightly as he suddenly realized what this pile of bones and yellow sand was all about: "The skeletal monster is both a test and an opportunity."

The true essence of corpses and yellow sand is difficult to replenish; the more one fights, the greater the consumption. However, without fighting, there is no way to obtain opportunities.

Moreover, besides these monsters, there's also the martial artists who came in with them; it truly is a natural breeding ground for venomous creatures.

Su Yan summoned the Nine Fiend Devouring God Insects, releasing countless fiend bees that searched the area amidst the corpses and yellow sand.

Since the Soul-Devouring Insects require a large amount of Netherworld Power to break through, this battle is unavoidable.

As Su Yan continued his search, the closer he got to the depths of the Corpse Desert, the stronger the skeletal monsters buried in those locations became.

Within a hundred miles, the Divine Fiend Bees continued their search and discovered two skeletal monsters.

One was a top-tier fourth-order tiger-bone monster, and the other was a humanoid martial artist whose strength had reached the fifth order.

Although the tiger-bone monster was at the peak of the fourth tier, stronger than the original peak fourth-tier white bone bull, it was still far inferior to Su Yan.

With a single Blood Demon Hand, Su Yan crushed the tiger bone monster, allowing the Soul-Devouring Worm to devour the Netherworld Power hidden within its body.

Although the fifth-tier skeletal monster is dead, it was a powerful martial artist in life. Su Yan might have to put in some effort to fight it.

However, Su Yan had no intention of engaging in a prolonged battle with it. He directly sent out the Nine Fiend Devouring God Insects, overwhelming it with absolute power, and the battle ended in an instant.

The deaths of these two skeletal monsters confirmed for Su Yan that all opportunities were hidden within the bodies of the skeletal monsters.

A top-grade fourth-tier pill, the Tiger Essence Meridian Opening Pill, fell from the tiger-bone monster's body. It opens up the meridians and increases the capacity of true essence, making it an extremely good pill among fourth-tier pills.

However, what surprised Su Yan the most was that the thing that fell from the martial artist's skeleton was actually a fist technique - the fifth-rank, mid-grade martial skill, the Rock-Suppressing Fist.

A punch like a collapsing mountain can suppress a mountain; its power is considerable.

The drop of the skeletal monsters confirmed Su Yan's conjecture. At this time, the Soul-Devouring Worm had also advanced from the growth stage to the mature stage after devouring the hidden Netherworld power of the two skeletal monsters. It was not far from the metamorphosis stage.

Su Yan accelerated his search for monsters, while at the same time, the warriors who had obtained the Yama King's Token also entered the Hellish Secret Realm.

On the yellow sand, three skeletal warriors are fighting against human warriors.

The skeletal warriors were the remains of Golden Body Realm experts. The two people opposite them, one old and one young, were Pei Mu of the Guanshan Sect and Zhou Tianyu of the Fengjian Sect.

The two men were fortunate enough to obtain the Yama's Decree, which they used to enter hell in search of an opportunity.

Unexpectedly, this desert of corpses was so dangerous. His true essence was constantly being eroded, and three Golden Body Realm monsters continued to attack him.

By this time, both of them were already at their limit.

“Zhou Tianyu, I’ll hold off these three monsters. You find a chance to escape. Once you’re out, take good care of the Guanshan Sect for me.”

At this moment, the two were like trapped beasts; if this dragged on any longer, neither of them would be able to escape.

Pei Mu spoke first, wielding his domineering blade in a horizontal slash that subtly forced back several skeletal monsters.

"Okay, thank you, senior."

The long sword in Zhou Tianyu's hand roared like a dragon's cry. At this moment, he mustered a strong breath of true energy, clearly preparing to fight to the death.

A short sword was hidden in his sleeve, ready to be used.

puff
Suddenly, a strange blade of light curved and landed beside him.

Zhou Tianyu instinctively threw his short sword to defend, but in that instant, Pei Mu, who was originally preparing to hold back the skeletal monster, had already unleashed his escape technique and fled hundreds of feet away.

"You old fool, you dare to scheme against me!"

Zhou Tianyu was furious, but Pei Mu didn't even turn his head: "Fellow Daoist Zhou, weren't you also trying to ambush me?"

The skeletal monster paid no attention to the two of them. Now that Pei Mu had escaped, all the attacks fell on Zhou Tianyu.

Zhou Tianyu's face had turned deathly pale.

Just then, Su Yan suddenly appeared on the battlefield.

When Zhou Tianyu saw someone suddenly appear, he no longer cared about anything else and turned his sorrow into joy: "Fellow Daoist, save me."

As he spoke, he charged straight at Su Yan, completely ignoring Su Yan's attitude.

"court death"

Seeing his expression, Su Yan knew perfectly well that his gaze was full of malice.

As expected, as Zhou Tianyu rushed over, one of the skeletal monsters immediately focused its attention on Su Yan.

It was extremely fast, and with a swing of its bone knife, it was about to decapitate Su Yan.

puff
However, the Nine Fiend Devouring God Worm appeared beside Su Yan first, and then its sharp claws condensed fiendish energy into blades, instantly severing the skeletal monster in front of it in half.

Zhou Tianyu's eyes widened. How could that be? That was a fifth-tier monster. Even if he had the strength of the Golden Body Realm, he shouldn't have been able to defeat it so easily.

Su Yan didn't give him much time to be shocked. Eight malevolent aura tornadoes rose from the ground, like greedy giant pythons, eroding and devouring the surrounding yellow sand. They didn't even spare the two skeletal monsters, directly engulfing them in the center of the malevolent aura tornadoes.

As the physical body collapsed, the Netherworld power hidden deep within the bones was immediately unleashed by the Soul-Devouring Insects and completely devoured.

When Zhou Tianyu saw this scene, he was so frightened that his legs trembled.

Even though he was a Golden Body Realm martial artist, Su Yan, judging from his aura, didn't seem to be even a Golden Body Realm martial artist.

But he felt that if he didn't come up with a reasonable explanation now, he wouldn't be long before he was finished.

"Give me a reason not to kill you."

Su Yan's tone was calm, but when he spoke to Zhou Tianyu, it felt as if a large hand had suddenly gripped his heart, and could crush it at any moment.

"I am desperate to live, please forgive me, fellow Daoist. I will exchange a piece of information for my chance to live."

Su Yan did not give a direct answer, but simply asked, "What news?"

He devoured the Soul-Eating Worms along the way, and it seemed that after swallowing the skeletal monsters, the Soul-Eating Worms were gradually approaching the 400 mark of maturity.

Although there is still a considerable distance to go, the changes are extremely obvious, especially after consuming two Soul Extreme Golden Pills and several Soul Forging Golden Pills.

“We have discovered the guardian of the Corpse Desert. Pei Mu and I are no match for it, which is why we were preparing to gather people to fight, but we didn’t want to get stuck here. I’m willing to tell you the location.”

"guard?"

Su Yan narrowed his eyes slightly: "What is that?"

A look of surprise flashed in Zhou Tianyu's eyes. Although Zhou Tianyu looked only slightly older than Su Yan, the two were actually probably three or four hundred years apart in age.

Zhou Tianyu never imagined that the person in front of him seemed to know absolutely nothing about hell.

He immediately explained to Su Yan, fearing that if he was too slow, he would lose his usefulness.

"The monsters in the Corpse Desert are an opportunity. All the martial artists who enter this desert are here to kill the monsters. Of course, if you are such a prodigy, you might also be thinking of going through the northernmost part of the desert to walk the road to the underworld."

"However, to get out of the Desert of Corpses, one must either survive for a month, or the King of Hell will order all surviving warriors to be kicked out of the secret realm."

"What do the Guardians have to do with you?"

Besides the generous reward, Zhou Tianyu and his group certainly cared about more than just that.

"The guardian is a powerful monster or individual in life, whose strength reached the late stage of the fifth rank, and whose combat power is no less than that of the aura. Only by defeating the puppet can one obtain the opportunity to go to the Yellow Springs."

Upon hearing this, Su Yan already understood what Zhou Tianyu wanted to do.

His words were nothing more than an attempt to lure Su Yan with benefits.

He can't walk the road to the underworld, so does that mean a genius like Su Yan can't either?
The Nine Fiends Devouring God Insect suddenly flew in front of Zhou Tianyu, and before he could resist, its fiendish energy rushed into his body.

The malevolent energy formed chains, directly sealing Zhou Tianyu's soul, demonstrating Su Yan's domineering nature.

Zhou Tianyu's face was ashen. With such murderous aura entering his body, even if he was incredibly powerful, he couldn't possibly break free from these shackles.

"Where are you guarding? How many of you have gathered?"

Su Yan asked directly, and since their lives were at stake, Zhou Tianyu dared not hide anything: "Five hundred miles north of here, there is a rocky area where the Bone Guardian is located, and it has not yet awakened. Countless bones are buried around it, and the white bones are like a tide. I don't know how many skeletal monsters are hiding there."

"Pei Mu and I discovered this almost at the same time, but we didn't dare to act on our own, so we planned to join forces with some independent cultivators to take action and split the benefits among ourselves. Now, before we could gather more people, this unexpected incident has already occurred."

Su Yan's eyes lit up after hearing this. He was worried that he was still far from having enough Netherworld Power for the Soul-Devouring Insect. The sudden appearance of a guardian would undoubtedly accelerate its growth.

Su Yan didn't hesitate much, and simply said coldly, "Lead the way."

Zhou Tianyu breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately struggled to his feet and said respectfully, "My lord, please come with me."

The two of them, one in front of the other, headed straight for the direction Zhou Tianyu had mentioned earlier.

(End of this chapter)