Chapter 563: Action
Xu Wuyi didn’t immediately head for the next target. Instead, he sent a reinforcement request to the rear command via his combat terminal.
"A team of Feathered People at the Second King level has appeared in the X-24 Star Domain. Three have been eliminated, but reinforcements may follow."
After sending the message, he continued north. He trusted Lu Wenquan wouldn’t forget, but it was better to be sure.
Using Quicksand Step, Xu Wuyi moved at top speed, disappearing into the northwestern hills within a few breaths.
「The first hour after they split up.」
Xu Wuyi arrived at the area of Alien Insect Nest Number Four.
It was a stone forest of weathered rock pillars. The grayish-brown pillars, twenty to thirty meters high, crisscrossed to form a natural maze.
Subterranean scans showed the Nest was located in the center of the stone forest, forty-five meters deep.
Xu Wuyi didn’t charge in directly.
He stopped at the edge of the stone forest. The dark golden great marsh in his sea of consciousness slowly "breathed," and the Power of his Heart Image spread out like invisible ripples.
A Gravity Perception Field with a radius of three hundred and fifty meters unfurled.
Rock, fissures, subterranean caverns, traces of biological activity... All this information was fed back to his consciousness through subtle changes in Gravity.
’Twelve main tunnels, four exits, and about three hundred guardian alien insects,’ Xu Wuyi quickly calculated. ’The Nest core’s Energy Fluctuation is stable. It hasn’t entered a state of alert yet.’
Excellent.
This meant that information about the battle where he killed Jialou hadn’t been fully transmitted yet.
Or perhaps there was a delay in information transmission between the Nests.
Xu Wuyi raised his right hand, his fingers forming a loose grip.
The Gravity Field began to change.
It wasn’t a large-scale suppression, but a precise "point" manipulation.
At the entrances of several main tunnels in the stone forest, the direction of Gravity silently reversed.
The once-level tunnels became steep, upward-sloping ramps.
The alien insects patrolling inside the tunnels suddenly felt their bodies sliding backward uncontrollably. Their six jointed legs flailed desperately, but they couldn’t resist the formless power.
Chaos began to spread through the swarm.
Xu Wuyi’s figure flitted into the stone forest like a phantom.
He didn’t take the tunnels, instead going directly to the ground above the Alien Insect Nest.
He brought his hands together, and the Returning Ruins Seal took shape.
This time, the Seal Platform’s sides were only a meter long, but the Mental Realm of "Heaviness" was even more condensed.
"Fall."
The Seal Platform slowly descended. The moment it touched the ground, there was no great roar; instead, it silently sank into the rock strata like a water drop soaking into a sponge.
Xu Wuyi closed his eyes, his Power of Heart Image extending downward along the Seal Platform.
Forty meters, forty-two meters, forty-five meters...
The Seal Platform passed through the rock, through the Nest’s outer shell made of a biological membrane, and finally hovered directly above the core of the Alien Insect Nest.
"Suppress."
At his thought, the weight of the Seal Platform instantly increased a hundredfold.
It didn’t smash downward, but uniformly released an intention of suppression in all directions.
Inside the spherical underground Nest, the air suddenly froze.
The movements of all the alien insects froze simultaneously, as if an invisible hand had hit a pause button.
The pulsation frequency of the Nest core dropped sharply, its pale green fluorescence flickering unsteadily.
Xu Wuyi seized the opportunity.
He raised his left hand, and a dark golden Water Drop condensed on his fingertip.
He flicked his finger.
The Water Drop pierced through the rock strata, through the Nest’s outer shell, through the frozen air, and accurately struck the Nest core.
HISS—
A faint piercing sound came from underground.
The fluorescence of the Nest core was completely extinguished.
Xu Wuyi withdrew the Returning Ruins Seal, and the intention of suppression dissipated.
In the underground Nest, over three hundred alien insects collapsed in droves, their life force gone.
The entire process took less than five minutes.
No large-scale destruction, no energy explosions, only a point-kill executed with the utmost precision.
This was a testament to the increased control Xu Wuyi had over his power since achieving Great Success in Heavy Water.
"Fourth one." He synced the information to his terminal.
Xu Wuyi retracted the Power of his Heart Image and turned to leave the stone forest.
...
「At the same time, in the area Tie Zhan was responsible for.」
It was a wide valley, its ground covered in pits of various sizes—marks left by alien insects burrowing to the surface.
Tie Zhan didn’t have Xu Wuyi’s fine control.
His fighting style had always been simple and brutal.
"Found you."
Tie Zhan grinned, striding toward the largest pit in the center of the valley.
The pit was over five meters in diameter and bottomless, emitting a thick, foul stench.
Tie Zhan stopped at the edge of the hole, gripping his warhammer with both hands.
A dark red True Intention of Martial Arts erupted from his body, and scorching hot patterns appeared on the surface of his warhammer.
"Get your asses out here!"
He raised the warhammer high over his head and then slammed it viciously into the ground.
BOOM!!!
A terrifying force penetrated deep into the earth.
The ground rippled like a wave, and the rock strata within a hundred-meter radius of Tie Zhan shattered simultaneously.
The dense sounds of cracking carapaces and hissing screeches came from underground.
That single strike directly collapsed three of the underground Nest’s main tunnels, burying dozens of alien insects alive.
But more insects poured out from the other tunnels.
Tie Zhan laughed heartily, swinging his warhammer like a whirlwind.
One strike smashed three of them.
A single sweep cleared an entire area.
He had neither Xu Wuyi’s precision nor Lu Wenquan’s strategy—only the purest form of overwhelming power.
In the face of absolute power, superior numbers were meaningless.
Ten minutes later, the valley floor was piled high with the corpses of alien insects.
Tie Zhan shouldered his warhammer and jumped into the pit.
In the underground Nest, the core was pulsating frantically, mobilizing all remaining alien insects to launch a suicidal charge.
Tie Zhan couldn’t be bothered with them.
He charged straight for the Nest core, a blinding red light gathering on his warhammer.
"Rock Shatter: Collapse!"
The warhammer smashed into the Nest core.
The biological tissue on the core’s surface caved in, then burst open like a watermelon struck with great force.
Viscous green fluid splattered everywhere.
Tie Zhan was prepared. His True Intention of Martial Arts formed a barrier in front of him, blocking the fluid.
"Fifth one."
He wiped the sweat from his face and turned to leave.
...
「In the area Lu Wenquan was responsible for, the fighting style was different yet again.」
This was a system of subterranean limestone caves with complex terrain and intersecting passages.
Lu Wenquan didn’t go deep inside.
He stopped at the entrance to the caves and took out thirty-six silvery-white rune stones from his tactical pouch.
He formed a hand seal, and the rune stones flew up automatically, inserting themselves into the ground in specific positions.
"Seal: Geomantic Interception."
The runes lit up, connecting with each other to form a complex geometric network.
An invisible Energy Field seeped into the ground and began to interfere with the flow of geomantic energy.
The Alien Insect Nest relied on this geomantic energy to sustain its operations and reproduction. Once the energy supply was cut off, the core would rapidly weaken.
A sharp screech echoed from deep within the caves.
The Nest sensed the danger and mobilized its swarm to charge out of the ground.
But Lu Wenquan had already set up a second layer of defense.
Twelve purple rune stones hovered in mid-air, forming a thunder barrier.
The alien insects that rushed out crashed into the barrier and were instantly struck by high-voltage currents. Their exoskeletons were charred black as they collapsed to the ground, twitching.
Lu Wenquan pushed up his glasses. The energy readings were displayed on his tactical tablet.
"Geomantic Interception efficiency at eighty-seven percent. Nest core energy level has dropped below the warning threshold. Complete failure estimated in three minutes."