582 Savage Ruin Locusts
On entering the Savage Ruin Ancient Place, everyone could sense the change in the natural environment, as if they had just entered the chaotic ancient era. That savage vibe wrapped them within; that powerful rich qi shook their Zhen yuan, halving its speed of circulation.
The sky here was gloomy, deep, and depressing.
The ground was dark, tough, and solid.
The mountains were narrow, edgy, and dangerous.
The rivers were running at a differently fast pace, overlapping over one another.
If the world outside gave them a feeling of brightness and relaxation, then this ancient place gave them a feeling of firmness and history. There was even a hint of a dangerous killing vibe in the air.
"This is the Savage Ruin Ancient Place…It is indeed different from the outside world, and also from most other forbidden places. If the latter were poisonous snakes, then this place would be a huge evil beast with a rich, pressing aura." It was Ling Tianhao's first time here, so he could not help but compare the place with other forbidden places he had been to before.
Yan Fengfeng said, "Although some of the forbidden places are in surreal spaces that are separated from the land, they were all different and weaker than the Savage Ruin Ancient Place, especially in terms of the aura for sure."
Hai Wuya said, "Actually, there are forbidden places inside the ancient place as well...Hidden places within this hidden place. There are also plenty of unknown things which no one has discovered so far."
It was Hai Wuya and Yan Fengfeng's second time here, so it was not surprising that they knew more about the place than the other three first-timers.
"Such powerful evil qi! It somehow managed to combine with nature completely!"
Ye Chen lifted up his right hand, seeming to sense the invisible existence.
"You have also noticed the evil qi!"
Hai Wuya was slightly surprised—most people knew about the existence of the evil qi, but they could not sense it at all. It was like a slow poison that would invade the warriors' bodies without them noticing at all. By the time one did, one would have been poisoned by it already.
"I can vaguely sense it."
Ye Chen nodded. His Void Shattering Finger Art had contained the space mentality, so the evil qi in the air could not escape his detection. If he managed to train it to sixty percent and comprehended the space profound, he would even be able to tell the intensity of the evil qi.
"Impressive! Judging only on the observation, there will not be many people better than you." Hai Wuya sighed.
Crack!
The protective layer on the side was broken through as Tai Shichong and the group flew in. Noticing the commotion, Ye Chen and the other four looked over.
There were all six of them, the leading one indeed being one of the top three sword master warriors, Tai Shichong; he was in yellow robes and looked skinny, having a sharp pair of eyes. He wore a longsword with shark skin as its scabbard. As he walked, even the natural qi around had been affected by his sword qi and started to become sharp.
Besides the leading Tai Shichong were two other people who caught Ye Chen's attention; they were a pair of twin brothers whose appearances and aura were very similar. However, one had broader shoulders and a rounder waist while the other had longer legs, which made him look taller. While they were looking toward them, they were looking at them as well, vague strange smiles appearing on their faces.
"Let's go!"
Tai Shichong glanced at Yan Fengfeng without looking at the rest of them at all. As he spoke, the rest of them followed him and flew out.
Waiting until they got far away, Ling Tianhao said annoyedly, "What was that! So arrogant!"
Hai Wuya laughed, "Why do you care about other people's attitude? We are here to explore. If we actually run into each other later, then we will see who's more powerful."
"Hai Wuya is right. Brother Ling, you still lack of a bit calmness, which needs a bit more training." Yan Fengfeng said seriously.
Ling Tianhao chuckled, slightly embarrassed.
"It is getting late, let's go!" Ye Chen suggested.
"Yeah, let's find that area on the map first."
With that, the five moved toward the south-east direction of the ancient place.
…
The forbidden place was endless. Under that heavy pressure, the flying ship could only maintain three-four times the speed of sound. Of course, it would not be impossible to increase its speed, but the spirit stone consumption would increase drastically as well, since the faster it got, the more counter force there would be.
"It was the flying lizard back then, right? It is a couple of times more powerful than the ones outside! Even under the continuous attack from the flying ship, it was only slightly wounded."
Soon, everyone had been attacked a couple of times by wild beasts. The one with the biggest threat was a massive lizard beast with bone wings, which was not even at rank 9, but had the power that was even more powerful than Seas of Souls Realm master level warriors. It managed to blow away the flying ship with only one claw attack. If it were not for the tough protective layer of the flying ship, it would have been damaged gravely, since it was not unbreakable after all.
Yan Fengfeng said, "That was not a flying lizard…It was a more powerful kind, the Bone Wing Lizard, which has a more powerful defense and attacking power. They are rather tricky to handle."
Hai Wuya said, "Those pair of bone wings could be trained into bone wing great items, which could ultimately increase one's speed. Unfortunately, we did not manage to stop it."
The wing-kind great items were not easy to get one's hands on. Although it could not increase one's attacking power or defense, a warrior's speed could increase to the next level with them. When in danger, one could escape within seconds.
Ye Chen said, "It would be hard to capture it, since it seemed to know a bit of the space profound. Flapping its wing bones, it could flash within a short distance."
It was not rare for a beast to comprehend the profound; some of the talented ones were born with the understanding of a profound, and as time went by, their achievements in it would not necessarily be weaker than a human's. Of course, generally speaking, it was the humans who had more of an advantage.
Soon, it was already afternoon. A burning sun was hanging in the sky with the raw heat. On the deck of the ship, the five sat relaxedly as they exchanged their martial experiences.
"Ye Chen, I did not know that you had such a rich life experience. I have heard about the foggy forbidden place near the Star Regional Lake…But according to the rumors, even Sea of Souls Realm powerful warriors who could make it in would face difficulties while coming out, and you were only at the Astral Reaching Realm back then! It is indeed impressive." Hearing Ye Chen talk about this past, Hai Wuya said emotionally.
Ye Chen responded, "There was quite some luck involved, of course."
"Without actual power, luck would be useless as well."
"Yeah!" Yan Fengfeng nodded, "Luck is only for people with power. Even if normal people had luck, they would not be able to utilize it."
The ship was still flying when the sky dimmed slightly, causing everyone to look up while frowning. In their sight was a huge swath of black mist that was traveling toward them. It looked like the darkness was devouring all of the light from the surroundings.
"Such a big dark cloud." Guan Qin was a bit scared.
"I am afraid it is not a dark cloud!"
As they talked, Ye Chen spread out his soul power, which reached five hundred miles away. Once it made contact with that black color in the air, he said with a low voice, "Those are locusts."
"What! Are those the Savage Ruin Locusts?"
Hai Wuya and Yan Fengfeng stood up immediately, their expression extremely serious. They did not think of asking how Ye Chen knew about it in the first place.
Soon, the endless black "mist" was already a hundred miles away.
"Indeed it is! Millions of them…"
In Yan Fengfeng's sight, the countless locusts were rushing toward them swiftly. They were all dozen times bigger than normal ones, reaching the size of fists. Black qi surrounded their bodies, and their eyes were blood red, their limps sharp like blades.
"Let's back out!"
Guan Qin and Ling Tianhao had both stood up as well.
"We cannot just back out. We can only try to make a breakthrough from the left or the right. If we travel along with their route, it would be useless no matter how far we run." Ye Chen said.
"Ye Chen is right. Everyone, be prepared. Right now, we will try to make a breakthrough from the left. Do not let the locusts get close…otherwise, we will be drowned within."
A light shone from in between her eyes and three silver colored smaller boats rose up from the middle of the ship. With the movement of the sails, the traveling route of the ship shifted, starting to fly toward the left at an extreme speed. Meanwhile, the four had all stood on the right side of the ship, in case the locusts would attack them and blow the ship away.
Shoo!
The speed of the ship slowly increased, reaching beyond four times the speed of sound. Although everyone could definitely travel way faster if they stepped out of the ship and flew on their own, they would then have to face endless locusts as well, which would be much more dangerous. They could be killed at any second.
One hundred miles was too short a distance, only worth dozens of breaths' time. The countless locusts had reached over, covering the sun and turning the area pitch dark.
"Ocean Limitless!"
Hai Wuya was the first one to attack. He threw out a palm attack, causing a huge swath of the locusts to be blown away and not be able to attack the ship.
"Flood Godly Fist!"
"Mysterious Sky Hammer!"
Guan Qin and Ling Tianhao would not dare to slack off. They performed their best martial arts immediately, attacking along with Hai Wuya toward the locusts who were attacking from the right.
But, there were too many of them after all. It was also impossible to tell how many were there exactly, since it was impossible to see the end of the locust group. Even if the three were already trying their best, they still could not stop the locusts from moving forward, only slow them down a bit temporarily.
"Zhen yuan string formation!"
Ye Chen was the last one to attack, but he made the biggest impact—his body shook once as countless blue colored Zhen yuan strings shot out with him as the center of the attack. With that, those endless insects started to fall down at the touch of the attack like raindrops.
With Ye Chen's help, Hai Wuya and the other two felt slightly less pressured, but the situation was still not everted, because it was still pitch black in front and behind them. If the ship's direction was slightly off, then they would be very likely to get lost in that endless swarm of insects.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
After rerouting the ship, Yan Fengfeng controlled the cannon to attack automatically, each attack was worth a master level full power attack. And the fire bullet from the cannon also had the effect of explosion which would quickly burn down countless locusts.
Yan Fengfeng continued to attack while a blue flame surrounded her body. The pattern in between her eyebrows started to burn as she took a deep breath and waved her right hand in the air. A blue Phoenix was formed from the flame; wherever it went, the locusts started to die off rapidly. As it kept going and circling in front of everyone, it blocked the locusts away from the ship.
"Hm? There is someone in front!"
As they attacked, Ye Chen could see there was a dot of light coming through the gap between the locusts. It was obviously someone trying to fight off the locusts.