Volcanic Age

Insects that could easily be stomped to death outside grew to extraordinary sizes here. Centipedes, spiders and the like were as large as small children, which shocked them to their core. Some of their companions screamed in fear, but no one could blame them for being cowardly. After all, everyone was barely holding back their own screams.

The nearly thirty people they started with had reduced significantly, but the bigger problem was that not all survivors were in good shape. There were several of them who were exhausted from the consumption of qi, or had been poisoned.

Their initial resolve to follow Duan Hecheng to the ends of the world had disappeared. Some of them were trembling, their eyes darting about frantically.

Their morale had plummeted, while fatigue and poison worsened. The lack of rest meant that their accumulated fatigue was not something they had experienced before.

"Aaack!"

Until now, they had faced only poisonous insects, spiders and centipedes. They hoped that there were no more, but their hopes were dashed when a poisonous creature appeared, splitting apart a bush at waist-level.

It resembled a mantis, but as expected of a creature in the Poisonblood Valley, it looked extraordinary. It was at least two meters long, while the forelegs looked sharper than most swords, scaring them at the mere sight of them. Only its chest, which could be seen between the forelegs, was yellow, while the rest of its body was dark brown.

"Shit!"

They couldn't believe that a mantis about two meters in length could exist, even though there was one right before their very eyes. They had heard that surviving in the extreme conditions of the Poisonblood Valley eventually led to a mutation in the species itself, but the mantis before them defied common sense. It couldn't be classified as an insect anymore.

The giant mantis swung its foreleg. Despite its size, its speed was like the wind.

Instead of dodging, however, Duan Hecheng chose to deflect the attack with his sword.

"What in the world?!" he shouted in disbelief and shock.

Despite clashing with sword qi, the mantis' foreleg was perfectly intact. Although he had heard that some spiritual animals could go toe-to-toe against experts who could utilize sword qi, it was still shocking to meet one in real life.

Hiss!

The giant mantis rubbed its mandibles and let out a strange shriek, trying to strike Duan Hecheng's shoulder.

"Not happening!"

Duan Hecheng quickly dodged to the side. He was using the Shooting Arrow Steps, an advanced footwork art of the Diancang Sect which was known to be the fastest when it came to instantaneous acceleration.

"A mere poisonous creature!"

He aimed for the opening created when the mantis had yet to retract its foreleg after attacking. He momentarily stepped back before digging in to the left. The hand gripping his sword tensed in fury as if he was trying to relieve the resentment of the people that died here.

Sunshooting Sword!

His sword sliced through the air faster than the naked eye could follow.

Psh!

The tip of the sword accurately pierced the giant mantis' mouth, sending unpleasant black blood flying everywhere.

I did it!

Duan Hecheng rejoiced. Attacking the inside of the mouth directly damaged this monster much more effectively. He even checked that he poked a hole in its brain. He drew his sword sideways to make sure it was dead, splitting the head in half. The top of its head dangled before tumbling to the ground.

"Young Master!" A cultivator watching the scene screamed instead of cheering.

"What?!" Duan Hecheng panicked and stepped back. One of the mantis's forelegs lashed out, narrowly missing where Duan Hecheng had stood moments before.

The mantis followed up with several swings of its forelegs, its head still missing. For some reason, it was much fiercer than before.

"What is this, a zombie?"

No, a zombie wouldn't move with its head gone. This wasn't a mantis, but a freakish creature.

Clang, clang, clang!

A foreleg lunged from the upper right. Duan Hecheng deflected it upward, but he was thrown off-balance. The force behind each swing was staggering, having become stronger than before. The frequency of its attacks also increased.

There was a rain of scythe-like silhouettes, but Duan Hecheng managed to counter with the Sunshooter Sword Art. Fortunately, the Sunshooter Sword Art of the Diancang Sect focused on extreme speed, allowing him to deflect the attacks.

"Arrgh!" someone else screamed in pain.

Duan Hecheng glanced over, his heart sinking. A cultivator he had seen in terrible condition had been sliced right in half from head to crotch. The cut was clean like the work of a fine swordsman, but the problem was that what had displayed such talent was a poisonous creature.

"No…" he cried out in despair. What emerged from the bushes was another giant mantis. This time, it seemed to be a mutant with four forelegs.

He didn't want to die here. He wanted to survive and return. However, there was no hope in sight with despair all around. He was unable to recover his spent qi either, so he was getting tired.

No matter how skilled an expert was, they would be doomed if their qi did not last long enough, except for external cultivators.

Someone… please help…

Duan Hecheng knew how ridiculous his wish was. No one other than lunatics would venture this far into the Poisonblood Valley, filled with poison and unsuitable for humans.

Despair enveloped him, weakening his resolve, his grip on his sword slipping in defeat.

The headless giant mantis did not miss that opportunity.

"Oh no!"

But instead of the expected attack, the mantis thrashed around wildly as if it was having intercourse with a female, desperately struggling not to get eaten by it. The moment he let his guard down meant that his life was as good as gone.

"Leave me here everyone and… run?"

He opened his eyes that he had subconsciously clenched shut, his expression filled with confusion. He had heard that when facing death, people's lives flash before their eyes, and that time slows down, but even then, too much time had passed. The lack of pain made him check his body.

And then, he saw a man's back.

"The giant mantis I've only seen in the records, huh?" the man said curiously before tapping on the ground with his sword. The action caused the frenzied mantis to explode into five pieces.

"What in the…"

Duan Hecheng was unable to understand the current situation. He couldn't help but suspect if he was dreaming right now. This was a stranger, his voice and his silhouette were unfamiliar to him. He caught a glimpse of the stranger's face, but even then, he could tell that he had never met this man before.

"When mantises have intercourse, the female eats the male," said the man, casually stomping on the foreleg of the giant mantis that had cornered him just moments before. Blood splattered from the crushed scythe-like foreleg.

"And it is said that the female starts eating from the head, which is easy to grab, but apparently, the intercourse becomes more intense, not less."

The man lunged toward the other mantis. The giant mantis slashed at the man with all four of its forelegs, each aimed at his head, shoulder, thigh and chest, all parts that could lead to fatal injuries.

However, with a few deft steps, he effortlessly dodged each strike.

"That footwork art!"

Duan Hecheng was the direct disciple of the sect master, which meant that he had interacted with the ten major organizations and the five great ancient families. He was familiar with the man's movements, as he had seen the footwork somewhere before.

"A mantis' head supposedly contains nerves that restrains the body from overexerting itself, similar to humans."

Flutter—

Duan Hecheng heard the illusion of plum blossoms fluttering down along with the wind. Those movements even contained a hint of leisure.

"If you blow its head off, those restraining nerves disappear along with it, increasing the mantis' power and speed by multiple times!"

Duan Hecheng could never be so composed facing such a giant mantis, yet, this man listed a bunch of useless trivia while toying with it.

Screeech!

The mantis, with no legs left for balance, propped itself up with two forelegs, the remaining two swinging menacingly to prevent the man from approaching.

"So, if you see a mantis in the future, you must turn its whole body into a pulp or kick it away!"

The man's sword slashed the forelegs. The outer shell of the foreleg, which could even hold against sword qi, was sliced open like tofu.

"Haahp!"

The giant mantis cried out miserably, as if it was asking to be spared. However, the man ignored its plea with a shout and kicked it away. The qi contained at the tip of his foot smashed the chest between its forelegs, obliterating it.

Screee!

The mantis powerlessly fell, and the eyes on its unsevered head dimmed lifelessly.

"To be honest, I did expect a heroic story-like situation where a fair lady shouts for help, and I arrive in the nick of time to save her."

The man uttered some incomprehensible words, channeling qi into his sword.

Duan Hecheng caught a glimpse of bluish qi flowing like water. Its color indicated that the man was from the Orthodox Faction. It seemed he had managed to avoid getting indebted to those from the Evil Faction, the Demon Cult or the Blood Cult.

"But still, there are way too many poisonous insects here, aren't there?" The man's voice contained irritation and pent-up frustration toward the insects.

Duan Hecheng almost voiced his agreement. The man, still looking irritated, swung his sword a few times in front of him, causing sword winds.

Pop, pop, pop…

In the blink of an eye, nearly hundred poisonous insects burst into pieces.

Duan Hecheng could do that too, but he wasn't doing it because the qi consumption was too high. He almost told the other party to conserve their qi, but he ended up staying silent.

The man unleashed a barrage of sword winds without breaking a sweat, massacring the poisonous insects around them.

The other cultivators, who had become sitting ducks, watched this overwhelming display of power in stunned silence.

"A-am I dreaming right now?"

"Is this a hallucination from the poison?"

In their most desperate hour, an expert appeared out of nowhere and practically wiped out the deadly poisonous creatures. The scene was too unbelievable, so it wasn't surprising that they were doubting what they were seeing.

Khiaaaa!

"Shut up!"

A weird poisonous creature rushed toward the man. However, the man just sliced it apart in annoyance. Corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed like rivers, thankfully none of it human.

Some time later, long enough for hot tea to go cold, Duan Hecheng and his subordinates still watched with mouths agape. In front of them, the deadly poisonous creatures were running away from a man in fear.

"Phew!" The man seemed to finally take a breather, placing a hand on his waist. He didn't look that tired though, as not even a drop of sweat could be seen on him.

"Mount Hua…" Duan Hecheng muttered when he spotted the plum blossom patterns on the man's sleeve. His confusion deepened.

"Just who in the world are you?"

The man sheathed his sword instead of answering. Despite the lack of sunlight, his black eyes looked radiant.

"Zhou Xuchuan." The man grinned.