Crisis, The Bug King!!

Beneath the surging sea of insects, only Li Guanqi and Han Feng remained. Dense swarms of Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs enveloped the two. Back to back, Li Guanqi wielded his swords with both hands, yet he still felt immense, crushing pressure. There were simply too many bugs... Blotting out the sky and earth, obscuring every speck of fluorescence, they were beyond counting. "Fellow Daoist... I'll hold them off for a breath. You... go." Han Feng swung his sword with all his might, already at the end of his tether. Yet his expression remained remarkably calm, a faint smile in his eyes. With one hand he shielded the residual soul within the candlestick, while with the other he frantically swung his sword, every stroke razor-sharp. Immortal primal energy surged, and the man's aura began to climb at an astonishing rate. He intended to use his final strength to send Li Guanqi out... How could Li Guanqi accept this? A roar echoed in his heart. *Damn it!! Pengluo! Think of something!* Pengluo burst out abruptly, its scalp tingling with numbness at the sight of the pitch-black mass of Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs before them. Yet without the slightest hesitation, it closed its eyes and transformed into a streak of flowing light, merging instantly with Li Guanqi. *Boom!!!* Li Guanqi's aura climbed in an instant straight to the peak of the fifth-tier Heavenly Immortal realm! Such a terrifying boost shook even Han Feng to his core. The ferocious, red-and-black ghost mask on Li Guanqi's face underwent a subtle transformation as well. At the center of its brow, a mysterious violet pattern slowly spread. A tremendously powerful spatial fluctuation rippled around Li Guanqi's body. Violet radiance quickly enveloped them both. *Buzz—!* *Riiip!* A three-foot spatial rift tore open out of thin air before them, and in the next breath... Both figures vanished into the rift! *Plop! Splash!!!* The two plunged into a cold pool, plunged into total darkness, having no idea where they were. The icy pool water carried a peculiar power, chilling them to the bone. A shudder ran through Li Guanqi, and his eyes snapped open. Pengluo had also passed out from overexertion. Li Guanqi grabbed the green leaf atop Pengluo's head and hauled him up. Who would have thought that pulling too hard would pluck off an entire leaf... Li Guanqi tucked it away with an awkward grimace, then immediately spotted Han Feng sinking toward the pitch-black depths. Kicking his legs and stroking with both arms, he grabbed the man and shot upward at full speed. *Splash!* Li Guanqi tossed Han Feng aside, only to find the man's body completely riddled with poison! Looking at the green leaf in his hand, and taking advantage of Pengluo still being unconscious, Li Guanqi stuffed the emerald leaf straight into the man's mouth. Circulating his immortal primal energy, he dispersed the lingering moisture and then produced a healing pill, shoving it into Han Feng's mouth. From start to finish, the man's hands had remained locked tightly around that single candlestick. Li Guanqi looked at him and let out a soft sigh, not regretting the risk he had taken to save him. After sending Pengluo into the sword coffin, he finally turned to survey his surroundings. The pitch-black cavern was damp and chilly. He stood up and ran his hand along the stone walls, discovering that they were riddled with pitted hollows and indentations. A faint luminescence shimmered across the pool's surface, and only then did Li Guanqi notice numerous Soul-Guiding Butterflies perched along the stone walls surrounding the water. Suddenly! Swarms of Soul-Guiding Butterflies flew back in from outside the cave. Seeing the dense masses of butterflies surging forward like an ocean of wings, Li Guanqi's heart leaped. Without hesitation, he dragged Han Feng back beneath the surface of the cold pool! The pool spanned a full hundred zhang across, vast and deep. Hiding underwater, Li Guanqi watched the dense cluster of Soul-Guiding Butterflies wheeling above the pool. The swarm spiraled upward like a blue tempest, the wind howling so fiercely that it whipped the pool's surface into violent ripples. Yet right at that moment, Li Guanqi noticed that the fluctuations inside the cavern were growing increasingly intense. A buzzing sound immediately followed, and his face changed drastically! *Damn it, the Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs are back!* Sure enough, tens of thousands of Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs came swarming home. Li Guanqi cursed under his breath. That little Pengluo... had teleported them straight into the pests' nest! Left with no other choice, Li Guanqi was even prepared to pull Han Feng with him into the Sumeru Treasure Hall. Yet he still wanted to watch a moment longer... Strange things never happened without a cause. For every Soul-Guiding Butterfly in the valley to gather here, something was definitely amiss. And sure enough! As the Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs returned, Li Guanqi swallowed hard. He finally understood what the hollows on the cavern walls were. Their size and shape matched the Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs perfectly! The bugs slumbering along the cavern roof awakened, and combined with the returning swarm, their sheer numbers were enough to make anyone's skin crawl. Yet what happened next left Li Guanqi utterly bewildered. The bug swarm encircled the Soul-Guiding Butterflies from the outside, and then began a massacre of gluttony! The bugs gnawed frenziedly at the bodies of the butterflies. In the blink of an eye, the creatures shimmering with blue luminescence were devoured completely. The buzzing and hissing of the insects echoed ceaselessly throughout the cave, accompanied by the ripples formed as severed wings and limbs of the butterflies tumbled onto the water's surface. Once all the Soul-Guiding Butterflies had been devoured, Li Guanqi saw a transparent layer of carapaces fall before his eyes. Then came a pitter-patter of drops, as countless bug shells shed like molted skin, raining down upon the lake. The cavern was bathed in an eerie white fluorescence. Li Guanqi's heart pounded violently, strung taut with tension. In their current predicament, if he mobilized even a shred of immortal primal energy, he would likely be discovered! He could only hold his breath and still his mind. Suppressing his inner breath until his blood ceased flowing, he dared not make the slightest movement. Yet right then, every single Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bug released a wisp of spiritual light. These lights gathered together, coalescing into an ethereal, mysterious mist. The mist hovered between the physical and the intangible, displaying a profound, deep azure, as though gathering the glow of the most dazzling stars in the night sky. Within the mist, countless tiny motes of light leaped and danced, as if every droplet contained an indescribable power. Li Guanqi's eyes widened, though he dared not let his emotions ripple in the slightest! *Soul-Nourishing Nectar!!!* *Clack!* *Clack! Clatter-clatter! Pat-pat-pat!* One Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bug after another fell dead into the cold pool. The dense swarm dropped like heavy rain, their corpses plummeting into the water. By a rough estimate alone, there were easily more than a hundred thousand bugs. The dead insects floated on the surface, practically blanketing and piling atop the entire pool. Just as Li Guanqi prepared to make his move and snatch the Soul-Nourishing Nectar, an unexpected turn of events occurred! Great slabs of rock peeled away from the cavern ceiling. Shattered stone tumbled into the pool. The Soul-Nourishing Nectar, formed after the death of all the Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bugs, now spanned a full zhang across. Beneath Li Guanqi's utterly shocked gaze, the peeling stone on the ceiling revealed a pale-golden Black Armor Bone-Eroding Bug! The insect was the size of a human palm, two full sizes larger than the previous black bugs. Upon its back carapace grew a bone-white jade disc that gave off a soft glow, looking less like bone and more like pure white jade. The bug shook its head and slowly opened its eyes, its pale-golden pupils scanning its surroundings with sharp vigilance. The oppressive pressure radiating from its body was comparable to that of a cultivator in the seventh-tier Heavenly Immortal realm! Yet Li Guanqi could sense that this creature was currently extremely weak. Li Guanqi narrowed his eyes, feeling his throat go dry. *The Bug King?* *Buzz—!* Four pairs of translucent, pale-golden wings unfurled from the bug's back, and its mouthparts were as sharp as giant pincers. Teetering slightly, it flew toward the Soul-Nourishing Nectar suspended in midair. Seeing this, Li Guanqi shoved Han Feng into the Sumeru Treasure Hall, then erupted into motion in an instant!