Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 473 Defeat the enemy with one move

Upon hearing this, Wei Fan's face immediately became filled with worry, and he looked uneasy: "If it is really as Fellow Daoist Song speculated, the demonic creature in the palace must be at least at the Golden Core level."

Song Xian glanced at him: "I only said it's possible. Fellow Daoist Wei, are you perhaps trying to back out?"

"Having come this far, how could we possibly give up halfway?"

Wei Fan immediately denied it without thinking. He was indeed worried that there was a stronger guard force inside the palace, but he never thought of leaving.

After all, he was the organizer of this secret realm ruins; Song Xian was just someone who got lucky, and Cheng Zongyuan was someone he invited.

Having waited so many years to finally enter this place, how could he possibly give it up so easily?

Cheng Zongyuan looked at Song Xian: "Fellow Daoist Song, do you have a good plan to deal with those insects?"

"No, it's practically impossible for the three of us to fight and eliminate those hundreds of insect monsters head-on. The only way is to take them down one by one."

Cheng Zongyuan frowned: "When we were escaping just now, those insects didn't pursue us, which shows that they are very organized. In addition, with the presence of the insect king, it is probably impossible to lure them in batches and defeat them one by one."

"To catch the thief, first catch the king. Once we take down the insect king, we'll have a chance. If you two can create an opportunity for me to fight the insect king one-on-one, you can hold off most of the insects. I'm confident I can take it down."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zongyuan and Wei Fan exchanged a glance. The Insect King was no weaker than a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Great Perfection stage. Just by looking at its black, steel-like shell, one could tell that its physical body must also be extremely tough.

However, Song Xian was full of confidence and spoke with certainty that he could defeat his opponent as long as he had a chance to fight one-on-one, which showed that he was very confident in his own strength.

Before setting off, they had discussed that once they entered the secret realm, they would join forces to kick Song Xian out of the game when the time was right. Now it seems that they underestimated his strength.

After their eyes met, they immediately looked away, both displaying thoughtful expressions.

“I have a method that might be worth trying.” After a brief silence, Cheng Zongyuan slowly spoke.

"What method?" Wei Fan immediately asked.

"Assuming those insects were raised by the original owner of the palace and their mission is to protect it, if we attack the palace, we might attract the insect king's hatred and lure it away from the vicinity of the palace. As long as it pursues, it will inevitably become separated from the main insect army, thus giving us the opportunity to deal with it alone."

"At that time, we can create an opportunity for Fellow Daoist Song to fight the Insect King alone. However, Fellow Daoist Song must deal with the Insect King as soon as possible, because the Insect Kings behind will catch up soon. Even if we block them for you, we cannot hold them off for too long."

Song Xian nodded solemnly: "No problem. As long as it can separate the Zerg King from most of the Zerg forces, I can give it a try."

“Then it’s settled. I’ll attack that palace and see if I can lure out the Insect King. If the Insect King does lead the Insect Clan to chase us, then proceed as planned. Fellow Daoist Wei and I will be responsible for holding off the Insect Clan from behind. Fellow Daoist Song will deal with the Insect King.”

Cheng Zongyuan took the initiative to seduce her.

Entering the Zerg's encirclement and attacking the palace to lure the Zerg out is an extremely dangerous mission.

Not to mention that once surrounded by the Zerg, it would be difficult to escape, there are also unpredictable potential risks, such as attacking the palace and potentially alerting the powerful guards inside, who would then hunt them down.

There was no better candidate among the three than him, so he was the only one who could carry out this task.

This is because Song Xian is responsible for dealing with the Insect King, so naturally he cannot seduce it.

Wei Fan's performance along the way showed that his strength was simply insufficient, not to mention that his cultivation level was not as good as Cheng Zongyuan's.

That being said, the fact that he was willing to step forward shows that he was very confident that he could escape successfully.

The first thing Song Xian thought of was his innate divine ability, [Water Transformation]. He hadn't seen him use this ability along the way, so he didn't know what it was for.

The True Eye only indicated that it could transform itself into a water form, but without seeing it in person, it was ultimately impossible to be certain what it actually looked like.

Based on his willingness to take on the seduction task, Song Xian guessed that his supernatural ability must be related to escape.

Wei Fan was initially worried that the two would send him to seduce the Insect King, but upon hearing this, he nodded repeatedly in agreement: "Alright, let's do as Fellow Daoist Cheng says."

The three discussed the specific details, and Cheng Zongyuan then headed towards the palace.

The two men hid in their designated locations as instructed.

High in the sky, the moonlight was bright and the stars were like rain. Song Xian used a concealment talisman to hide his figure among the treetops. The surroundings were deathly silent, without a sound.

His gaze was fixed on the south direction. In less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a streak of light shot out from afar, followed by a dense swarm of black shadows—the insectoid race.

Seeing that his plan had indeed drawn out the Zerg, Song Xian's expression brightened.

As Cheng Zongyuan drew closer, he immediately rose into the air and attacked from below.

First, he unleashed the Flaming City Siege spell.

As several flames appeared around the insect king, they transformed into a wall of flames, trapping it inside.

At this point, most of the Zerg forces had been left behind, and the hundreds of Zerglings were roughly divided into three waves.

The Insect King took the lead, closely following Cheng Zongyuan.

About a thousand feet apart were several large insects whose auras had reached the Foundation Establishment level of humans.

Behind that was a dense swarm of tiny insects, spaced even further apart.

Almost at the same time as Song Xian made his move, Wei Fan, who was lurking below, also took to the air and headed towards the giant insects behind the Insect King. His goal was to attract the attention of those giant insects and delay the arrival of reinforcements, thus buying him time.

After casting the Flame Wall spell, Song Xian's entire body was engulfed in a ghostly blue flame. A ghostly green fireball rose from his palm, and the ghostly blue flames around him seemed to be drawn to it, rushing towards the fireball.

Within the wall of flames, the Insect King shone brightly, roared, and a huge black sphere of light condensed in front of him.

With a loud bang, the black orb struck the wall of flames, and as the firelight and black light intertwined, the flames slowly died down.

The Insect King followed closely behind, and with a charge, the wall of flames gradually crumbled. As the Insect King broke free from its confinement, a huge, eerie green sphere hurtled towards it.

In an instant, the eerie green sphere suddenly transformed into a towering flame, causing visible turbulence in space, with visible ripples spreading outwards like waves on water.

The eerie green flames shot straight into the sky, followed by a continuous, earth-shattering roar like a sonic boom.

The area, spanning over a thousand feet, transformed into a sea of ​​eerie green fire. In the distance, Wei Fan was casting a spell, conjuring massive stone pillars that connected to each other, forming a giant cage that imprisoned the several large insects that were chasing after him.

Suddenly, the eerie green flames spread out in front of him like ripples on water.

Fortunately, he had already cast a defensive spell beforehand, condensing an earth-yellow light barrier to protect himself, thus preventing him from becoming flustered.

The eerie green flames enveloped him in the blink of an eye. Even though they were thousands of feet away, this was just the aftershock of the Yin Netherfire, and its power was mediocre. But even so, the earth-yellow light barrier that he had gathered around his body gradually deformed under the burning eerie green flames.

Wei Fan flashed away and immediately retreated from the area of ​​the eerie green sea of ​​fire. Looking back, he saw the eerie green flames soaring into the sky. From the center of the explosion, muffled buzzing sounds like sonic booms continued to emanate. Ripples spread outwards in circles, and the area within a radius of a thousand feet was already shrouded in eerie green flames.

Wei Fan stared dumbfounded at the flames before him, unconsciously swallowing hard, his heart filled with horror.

Is this power truly a spell cast by a Foundation Establishment cultivator?

He had no doubt that if he were to take a direct hit from this spell, he would be instantly melted.

At this moment, in addition to surprise and shock, he also felt deep fear and worry.

Over the years, he has teamed up with others to explore for treasure more than once, and he has come to deeply understand one thing: it is good if the people he travels with are strong, but it is bad if they are too strong.

The reason he was willing to give up a share of the profits to invite Cheng Zongyuan to join was to deal with Song Xian.

In his original plan, the three of them went to the secret ruins to search for treasure. If there was no treasure inside, then so be it, and everyone would leave peacefully and go home.

However, if they find an important treasure and the timing is right, the two can join forces to kick Song Xian out of the game and divide the treasure inside equally.

Even if things don't go well, with Cheng Zongyuan around, he can always keep Song Xian in check and prevent him from monopolizing the treasures.

In his mind, Cheng Zongyuan was definitely stronger than Song Xian, whether in terms of cultivation, spiritual root aptitude, or background, he was superior in every aspect.

Moreover, he knew Cheng Zongyuan's personal strength. Even if Song Xian was stronger than the average person, he could never be stronger than Cheng Zongyuan.

Even though Song Xian had already demonstrated extraordinary strength along the way, he still believed this in his heart, because he knew that Cheng Zongyuan had not revealed his true strength.

But upon witnessing this immense power firsthand, he immediately overturned his previous thoughts.

Such powerful magic is something even a Golden Core cultivator might not be able to achieve. Even if Cheng Zongyuan used all his skills, he probably wouldn't be able to contend with this technique.

He was somewhat relieved, for at least Song Xian had shown his true strength when dealing with the insects.

If he were to use this technique after obtaining the treasure and just as the two were about to attack him, they would likely both perish.

Whether Cheng Zongyuan could withstand it or not, he certainly had no chance of surviving.

Now, his concern is not whether there are treasures inside the palace, but whether Song Xian will turn against him after he obtains the treasures.

As Wei Fan stared blankly at the eerie green sea of ​​fire, Cheng Zongyuan, on the other side, also showed surprise for the first time. His eyes were filled with apprehension, and the muscles around his eyes twitched slightly involuntarily.

As for the Insect King, apart from letting out a sharp hiss the moment it was attacked by the Yin Netherfire, it remained silent.

Its tough outer shell was instantly melted, and its flesh was burned into a pile of minced meat in the eerie green flames.

Song Xian remained expressionless. This was all within his expectations. He was a cautious person, and he wouldn't have proposed this plan if he wasn't confident.

Although the Insect King is powerful, it is still far inferior to the Taiyin Netherfire.

The power of the Taiyin Netherfire is as high as 30000. You should know that when Xu Zhuoxuan used a magic weapon to attack with all his might, the attack power was only 10000.

It would be abnormal if the Insect King could survive the attack of the Yin Netherfire unscathed.

Seeing the Insect King melted by the flames, Song Xian once again used the Profound Heaven Fusion Fire Technique. The huge, dark green sphere, along with the countless dark green flames, surged into his body like a dragon sucking water.

Soon, the raging, eerie green flames in the world vanished completely.

Seemingly sensing the disappearance of the Insect King's aura, the insect leaders whose strength had reached the Foundation Establishment Realm immediately panicked. Some of them rushed towards Song Xian, some circled around in place, and some attacked Wei Fan to the side.

After Song Xian absorbed the Taiyin Netherfire back into his body, he saw several insect leaders buzzing towards him. Instead of engaging in a prolonged battle, he fled into the distance.

Seeing him flee, Cheng Zongyuan and Wei Fan followed him away.

All three were late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, so their flight speed was naturally faster than that of the insect leaders.

Before long, they had left the pursuing insects far behind.

In fact, the insects did not pursue relentlessly. When they arrived at the place where the insect king died, they all buzzed around the insect king, who had been burned to minced meat. Only a very few were still chasing after it, but they quickly returned to the insect king.

These insects are not very intelligent; they only know how to obey the insect king's orders. But once the insect king dies, they immediately become like headless flies, running around in a chaotic mess, not knowing what to do.

Because of his experience raising golden-armored ants, Song Xian had learned about the characteristics of these kinds of monsters. All social monsters, such as ants, bees, and insects, have a king who gives orders.

Once the king of a population dies, the population either falls apart or a new king is produced.

The emergence of a new king will be a brutal process, involving constant battles to determine the strongest.

"Although the Insect King is dead, the other insects are safe and sound. What should we do next?" Cheng Zongyuan looked at Song Xian, his tone as if he were asking for instructions.

After the battle, both of them were shocked. Although they did not express their opinions explicitly, their attitudes were now aligned with his.

“The Insect King is dead, the Insect Clan is leaderless, and they have all been lured out of their lair. Now is the perfect opportunity. Let’s go to that palace immediately. If the Insect Clan has returned and is trying to stop us, lure them away and then defeat them one by one. If the Insect Clan has not returned, then let’s search the main hall and leave immediately.” Song Xian made the decision without the slightest hesitation.

The three of them rose into the air, bypassed the place where the Insect King had died, and circled around to arrive at the palace.

The once intact cylindrical palace now had a corner collapsed, caused by Cheng Zongyuan's attack. After the three of them landed, no insects emerged from the underground cave.

Wei Fan eagerly pushed open the heavy stone door on the outer wall of the palace. With a loud creak, the stone door slowly slid open, revealing a lush green courtyard with thick tree roots intertwined and branches spreading along the stone walls. The ground was covered with decaying leaves, as if he had entered a jungle.

Song Xian had not expected the palace to be in such a state. He wondered if it was because the palace had been deserted for so long that the trees had taken root inside, or if the palace was originally built around a giant tree. He looked around and saw nothing but black stone walls and huge tree roots protruding from the ground. He had already explored the inner room with his divine sense and found no signs of life.

(End of this chapter)