Chapter 35

The vast forest suddenly became silent. As a cold wind blew past, the air began filling with a thick stench of blood.

In front of the carriages, the two sides that should have been fighting fiercely could not help stopping one after another. Everyone’s gaze fell on the puddle of blood on the ground. For a moment, their expressions were somewhat stunned.

The remaining rogue cultivators swiftly came back to themselves. They exchanged glances, and after confirming that the scene that had just occurred was not caused by anyone among them, they realized that something was wrong.

In the next moment, without the slightest hesitation, the group of rogue cultivators swiftly turned around, seeming to prepare to give up this plan of robbing the goods. However, in the next breath, two rogue cultivators rapidly collapsed to the ground.

“Ahhhhh!!”

They cried out in pain, their whole bodies becoming especially frantic and ferocious. Just like the guard who had died earlier, in the blink of an eye, they completely lost all signs of life. Their corpses also quickly turned into puddles of blood.

This time, the expressions of everyone present changed unpredictably. Those rogue cultivators immediately seemed to realize something and swiftly drew out their own true essence, completely wrapping themselves in it.

They were also very decisive. Even when their own companions died right beside them, they did not turn back to look again. They swiftly leaped into the depths of the forest and soon vanished without a trace.

The rogue cultivators could turn and leave without any [read the original at bailiantales.com]concerns, but Fu Yan and the others could not. Although they realized danger had arrived, until the final moment, they could not turn and leave.

“Everyone, gather together quickly!”

Han Shangzhi was worthy of being Luanjin Fort’s young master. When something happened, he could still be considered calm. He swiftly directed the guards under him to gather together, then joined hands with Han Shangde and erupted with true essence, forming a true essence barrier in the middle that protected all the guards inside.

Because these guards only had Foundation Establishment cultivation, at a time like this, they naturally had no life-saving methods. If Han Shangzhi did not protect them, they truly could only wait for death.

Such a large true essence barrier naturally could not be supported by Han Shangzhi and Han Shangde alone for too long. So when the disciples from the various sects at the side saw this, they also could not help automatically joining in one after another.

Just as Fu Yan behind them was about to act, she suddenly heard a dense sound coming from the deep forest.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz.”

This sound was…

Everyone paused slightly. When they raised their eyes again and looked toward the forest, a dense black shadow entered their sight. A swarm of creatures the size of honeybees was rapidly attacking in their direction.

Fu Yan: “…”

Fortunately, she did not have trypophobia. Otherwise, looking at the dense black mass before her, Fu Yan felt she might have fainted directly.

Just as Fu Yan stared at the creatures that looked like honeybees, Bai Yueli behind her suddenly flashed to her side. Then she directly raised her hand and grabbed Fu Yan. Without waiting for Fu Yan to react, she pulled her and ran toward the crowd.

When Fu Yan came back to herself again, she had already landed steadily inside an enormous true essence barrier. Bai Yueli at the side also swiftly released her hand. Then she quickly raised her hand and waved. Surging true essence rapidly expanded, and the vast barrier was once again reinforced with another layer.

Fu Yan stared somewhat blankly at Bai Yueli. The fleeting warmth in her palm left her thoughts still drifting.

“What’s wrong?” Bai Yueli asked aloud.

“No…” Fu Yan quickly came back to herself. She somewhat awkwardly withdrew her gaze, then also erupted with true essence and contributed her own share to this true essence barrier.

She could not very well say that she was actually lingering on the warmth she had just touched.

Fu Yan felt that she seemed a little wrong, but the situation before her did not allow her to have any other thoughts. Those honeybee-like creatures had already flown over in an overwhelming wave.

They surged forward one after another, crashing into the true essence barrier gathered by everyone and surrounding the entire barrier from all sides. That scene was as if a transparent glass cover had instan stolen content tly been coated with a layer of lightless black cloth.

It looked especially oppressive.

“Buzz, buzz, buzz!!”

Outside the true essence barrier came dense cries, rising and falling in waves, making people feel somewhat agitated.

“What kind of demon beasts are these?” Lin Qian of the Zilan Sect looked at the scene before him and asked with lingering fear.

However, no one gave an answer.

Fu Yan’s gaze also landed on the nearest “honeybee.” She carefully examined it, but still could not recognize exactly what kind of demon beast these creatures were.

At this moment, Wang Qingyang finally spoke. “Those with late-stage cultivation and above, come out with me and try to kill them. Those with middle-stage cultivation stay behind and properly stabilize this true essence barrier. Remember, if you don’t want to die innocently like those people just now, strengthen your protective true essence properly. You absolutely cannot let these insects get close to your body.”

After saying this, Wang Qingyang was the first to charge out of the true essence barrier with his sword. A flash of cyan light swept past, and he cut down more than a dozen black insects in the sky with one strike.

When the others saw this, they also could not help raising their swords and killing their way out bailiantales.com one after another. In an instant, amid countless dense black shadows, blade light and sword shadows flashed from time to time, and a scattering of tiny corpses fell to the ground along with them.

Watching Bai Yueli charge out with the Yueyao Sword, Fu Yan could not help feeling somewhat worried. However, she also knew her strength was not suitable for adding trouble to others, so she honestly stayed inside and used all her strength to stabilize the true essence barrier.

Time passed little by little. Although Wang Qingyang and the others had already killed enough insects to cover the ground, the insects remaining in the sky were still only increasing, not decreasing. The dense black mass was completely unaffected.

What was worse was that Bai Yueli and the others’ true essence was not inexhaustible. They also had to divide their attention to reinforce their protective true essence in case these insects suddenly bit them. So wanting to kill all these insects one by one was completely unrealistic.

Just as Fu Yan thought of this, she saw a late-stage Zilan Sect disciple finally unable to hold on. He could only swiftly retreat into the true essence barrier, swallow a pill, and meditate to regulate his breath.

With one beginning, very soon, in less than half an incense stick’s worth of time, the only figures still fighting outside were Wang Qingyang and Bai Yueli.

Outside the true essence barrier, Wang Qingyang, who was surrounded by black insects, could not help transmitting his voice to Bai Yueli at the side. “Junior Sister Bai, continuing to fight like this is not a solution. The only result will be accelerating the exhaustion of our true essence. Let’s retreat first and discuss it further.”

Bai Yueli naturally understood this logic as well. After expressing agreement, the two did not linger in battle. They swiftly withdrew their swords and safely retreated into the true essence barrier again.

“What exactly are these insects? Why can’t we kill them all no matter how many we kill?” Qian Xun felt like he was about to collapse. Looking at the black swarms outside, he immediately wailed powerlessly.

After returning, Bai Yueli quickly took out a true qi pill and swallowed it. While regulating the true essence [unauthorized copy]inside her body, she asked Han Shangzhi, “Young Master Han, have you truly never seen this kind of creature before?”

Logically speaking, Han Shangzhi and the others often entered and exited the Shadow Forest. They should not be unaware of the various demon beasts here.

Hearing this, Han Shangzhi could only smile bitterly and shake his head helplessly as he explained, “We have entered and exited the Shadow Forest so many times, but this is indeed the first time we have encountered this kind of creature.”

After he finished speaking, the group once again fell into deep thought. Since they did not know exactly what kind of demon beast their opponent was, it was difficult for them to think of a way to break out.

“They are Corrosion Bees.”

“They are Corrosion Bees.”

At this moment, two voices suddenly sounded together. Everyone could not help turning their gazes toward Fang Yu and Fu Yan.

After speaking, Fang Yu also seemed somewhat surprised and could not help looking deeply in Fu Yan’s direction.

In truth, Fu Yan was not too certain either. She had only remembered that in the original plot, there had been a description of the male lead training in the Shadow Forest, and the Corrosion Bees had been introduced there.

Corrosion Bees could only be considered ordinary second-level demon stolen content beasts, but they liked to appear in groups. You would not encounter one Corrosion Bee at a time. But when you encountered them, it would definitely be a scene of thousands upon thousands.

The Corrosion Bee’s attack power was not especially high. An ordinary cultivator at middle Illumination stage could easily kill one. But when facing a swarm of Corrosion Bees, any expert who had not reached middle Dao Integration stage could only flee in disgrace.

Even more terrifying was the toxicity of Corrosion Bees. It could completely be considered killing invisibly. As long as one was stung by it, a cultivator below the Dao Integration stage would only have a path to death if they did not receive swift treatment. In the end, they would turn into a puddle of blood.

This was the truly terrifying part of Corrosion Bees.

“How could they be Corrosion Bees?” Han Shangde still seemed unable to believe the situation they were facing. Full of shock, he muttered to himself, “I remember that Corrosion Bees clearly live in the deepest part of the Shadow Forest. How could we suddenly encounter such a huge swarm of Corrosion Bees on the outskirts?”

No one could answer this question.

Zhong Shen of the Zilan Sect was somewhat despairing. “Then what do we do now? We can’t kill them all. If we keep exhausting ourselves like this, every one of us will probably have our true essence depleted.”

Fu Yan also felt somewhat troubled. Facing thousands upon thousands of Corrosion Bees, wanting to kill their way out was almost impossible. Although sect disciples like them could rely on the life-saving trump cards they had held back and break through, the people of Luanjin Fort and these many carriages of Liuli ore would probably be completely wiped out.

Until the final moment of life and death, they could not do that.

“Everyone…”

At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded again inside the quiet true essence barrier. Everyone paused slightly and could not help looking toward the source of the voice.

They saw Shui Liuqing of the Shuiling Sect suddenly step forward. She looked at everyone and said, “Everyone, I have a kind of fragrant honey here. It should be able to lure away these Corrosion Bees.”

As soon as these words fell, the people who had originally looked dim and dispirited suddenly regained their spirits. They stared at Shui Liuqing with burning gazes, as if treating her as the final life-saving straw.

“If Fairy Shui truly has such fragrant honey, I hope you can take it out for emergency use. All losses will be compensated by our Luanjin Fort,” Han Shangzhi said. Although he was somewhat pleasantly surprised, as a merchant, he naturally understood that the fragrant honey was the other party’s private property. If they wanted her to take it out, they definitely had to pay some price.

At this dangerous moment, they naturally had no other choice.

Fu Yan quietly looked at Shui Liuqing, who had stepped forward. She had not expected the other party to be so generous as to take out her private treasure. However, Shui Liuqing liked using poison to begin with, so it was not strange for her to have this kind of fragrant honey.

After hearing Han Shangzhi’s words, Shui Liuqing still shook her head. Under everyone’s puzzled gazes, she continued explaining, “Although I can take out the fragrant honey, who will lure away these Corrosion Bees is a very big problem.”

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Indeed, if this fragrant honey that could attract Corrosion Bees was taken out, that person would ​stolen content​definitely become the target of everyone. When the time came, all the Corrosion Bees would chase after them. One careless mistake could cost them their life.

Although everyone present had life-saving trump cards in hand, people were selfish. No one was willing to easily expose their trump card.

After silence lasted for quite a while, Han Shangzhi finally stepped forward. He looked at Shui Liuqing and said quietly, “Then let me lure these Corrosion Bees away.”

As the person in charge of this team and the young master of Luanjin Fort, at a time like this, Han Shangzhi could only step forward.

“Is Young Master Han’s lightness skill impressive?” Shui Liuqing asked again.

Han Shangzhi paused slightly. After thinking for a moment, he answered somewhat ashamedly, “Although I have late Illumination-stage cultivation, my lightness skill is indeed very ordinary.”

“Then that definitely won’t do. If your lightness skill isn’t good, I’m afraid you’ll be very easily caught by this swarm of Corrosion Bees. At that time, we won’t have much time to flee with the carriages either.” Shui Liuqing seemed to analyze very seriously. At the end, she added, “So it can only be someone with very good lightness skill who can lure the Corrosion Bees far away.”

Hearing this, everyone’s gazes could not help falling on Bai Yueli one after another.

Everyone knew that Bai Yueli’s lightness skill was first-class. Even Wang Qingyang, who was at great perfection of Illumination stage, could not confidently say his speed could compare to Bai Yueli’s. So when speaking of lightness skill, the first person everyone thought of was Bai Yueli.

But Bai Yueli and Wang Qingyang were the main pillars of this team. If either of them left, their strength would directly be weakened by half. ​unauthorized copy​This was something no one wanted to see.

Looking at everyone’s complicated expressions, Bai Yueli still spoke. “Give the fragrant honey to me.”

“No.” Wang Qingyang was the first to speak and stop her.

Looking at Bai Yueli, Shui Liuqing still did not make any movement. Instead, her gaze suddenly fell on Fu Yan at the side, and she smiled as she said, “I remember that in the last ranking competition, Junior Sister Fu’s lightness skill was also quite good. Although it is not as good as Senior Sister Bai’s, her speed is still not something ordinary people can compare to.”

Fu Yan immediately had the urge to roll her eyes. From the moment Shui Liuqing said she would take out her fragrant honey, Fu Yan had guessed that the other party did not harbor any good intentions. Now it seemed that she was indeed deliberately targeting Fu Yan again.

Normally speaking, with her middle Illumination-stage cultivation, taking the fragrant honey to lure away the Corrosion Bees was completely an act of seeking death.

However, under everyone’s eyes, no matter whether Fu Yan’s lightness skill was good or not, as long as she refused, she would easily offend everyone.

“All right. I also think Senior Sister Shui’s suggestion is quite good. Then I’ll be the one to lure away these Corrosion Bees.”

Fu Yan looked at Shui Liuqing and suddenly smiled.

She suddenly had a very bold idea.

Author’s Note:

I saw that some little angels still didn’t understand the cultivation level divisions, so I’ll explain them all together in detail:

Foundation Establishment has nine levels. Then comes Illumination stage, Dao Integration stage, Huaxu stage… The later stages will be updated as the plot progresses.

Each stage is also divided into early, middle, late, and great perfection.