Chapter 728 - 728: The Swarm

The giant insect.

As it pursued them, it opened a mouth located beneath the front of its body and spat out a huge number of large insects.

As it drew closer, it spat some of the large insects directly in front of the six from the Martial Soul Hall, blocking their path.

"Damn it… Blast them out of the way!"

The six from the Martial Soul Hall had no choice but to unleash their Primordial Power and Martial Soul Power, forcibly blasting the approaching insects to pieces.

But doing so only caused even more smaller insects to burst from the large insects' bodies.

These smaller insects had far weaker attack and defense than the larger ones, but they were faster, throwing the six from the Martial Soul Hall into a frenzy.

One of the Martial Soul Hall envoy's subordinates, a Fourth-level Martial King named Feng Yuan, was careless and got bitten on the leg by a small insect.

The bite slowed his reaction time by a split second, and he was instantly left far behind by the other five.

"Envoy, save me!"

A dozen or so large insects immediately swarmed him from behind, frightening Feng Yuan into screaming for help.

The Martial Soul Hall envoy, however, merely glanced at him and said, "Ignore him. Keep pushing forward. All of you, be careful. If you get bitten, endure it. Whatever you do, don't fall behind!"

"At a time like this, going back means we all die together!"

After surrounding Feng Yuan, the dozen-plus large insects swarmed him, opening their disgusting maws to bite down.

"Get away! Get away from me!"

"True Martial Soul!"

Feng Yuan let out a bloodcurdling scream and immediately unleashed his True Martial Soul.

His body swayed, and in an instant, he transformed into a majestic, eight-meter-long, two-meter-tall, dark cyan leopard. But its pair of grayish-brown eyes revealed a very human despair.

ROAR!

Feng Yuan roared furiously, his claws lashing out. With ease, he tore the three large insects in front of him to shreds.

However, the large insects' pale yellow bodily fluids corroded his claws, leaving them covered in wounds. A horde of smaller insects took the opportunity to leap onto his body, constantly tearing at his True Martial Soul.

From three other directions, more large insects pounced, opening their disgusting maws and biting into him.

The dozen or so large insects fought amongst themselves, even biting into each other's bodies as they tore at and vied for Feng Yuan's True Martial Soul.

But just then, a colossal shadow suddenly fell over them.

The giant insect had arrived. The massive maw hidden beneath its body opened slightly and swallowed them all—large insects, small insects, and True Martial Soul alike.

The group from the Martial Soul Hall fled in a sorry state.

Chu Qingyun, however, was in a much better situation.

Using the recoil from the ten vines, Chu Qingyun had leaped an incredible distance in a single bound, instantly putting space between himself and the giant insect.

Soon, he ran back to where the crystal coffin was.

At this time, the scramble for the Blood Crystals and Crimson Crystals that had flown out of the crystal coffin was not over. Fierce battles were still raging in many places.

Even the Blood Aura suspended in mid-air had been dispersed, causing the crystal coffin to fall to the ground and be flipped upside down.

One could only imagine that if this continued, once the giant insect arrived with its swarm, everyone here would become food for the insects.

Chu Qingyun couldn't be bothered with most of the people here.

However, Qi Hao and Deng Xuan had spoken up for him earlier. Although it hadn't amounted to much, Chu Qingyun wasn't the kind of cold-hearted person who would only look out for himself.

"Qi, Senior Sister Deng, a giant insect is coming this way! We have to go, now!"

Chu Qingyun looked at the two of them and gave them a serious warning.

At that moment, Qi Hao was fighting a Sixth-level Martial King from the Celestial Sword Sect over a Martial Emperor Realm Blood Crystal. Deng Xuan, meanwhile, was still locked in a stalemate with Wan Jianxin and Xiao Qingsheng, vying for the short sword.

Hearing Chu Qingyun's words, they both froze for a moment.

But they immediately chose to believe him. From what they knew of Chu Qingyun, he was not one to make jokes.

Especially not about something so life-or-death.

"Mu Yun, let's go!"

"Xiang Chen, Tian Jie, we're pulling back too!"

Deng Xuan and Qi Hao both called to their respective team members, preparing to retreat.

However, numerous High Tier Blood Crystals and Crimson Crystals were still scattered about. Snatching a single Martial Emperor Realm Blood Crystal was worth over a million Primordial Spirit Liquid.

Grabbing a Crimson Crystal was worth an absolute minimum of several million!

Although Qi Hao and Deng Xuan called for a retreat, only three people immediately gave up fighting for the treasures and came to join them.

A Sixth-level female Martial King disciple from Deng Xuan's team, and two Fifth-level Martial Kings from Qi Hao's team.

Most of their people didn't come over. Naturally, Qi Hao and Deng Xuan didn't want to abandon them, so they continued calling for them to regroup for a retreat.

But in that short delay, Chu Qingyun could already see the glow of Primordial Power from the five remaining members of the Martial Soul Hall getting closer from the depths of the Underground Space.

The ground also began to tremble faintly from the giant insect's rapid movement.

"Qi, Senior Sister Deng, there's no more time! We have to go!"

Without another moment of hesitation, Chu Qingyun turned and dashed toward the exit.

For him, the threat wasn't just those disgusting insects. Besides the insects that wanted to eat him, the people from the Martial Soul Hall probably wanted to skin him alive.

Therefore, Chu Qingyun couldn't afford to linger here for too long.

Otherwise, if the people from the Martial Soul Hall targeted him, escaping would become much more difficult.

Just then, Deng Xuan, Qi Hao, and the other three also saw people frantically running for their lives from the depths of the Underground Space.

This made them believe Chu Qingyun's words even more.

After calling out to their team members one more time and still getting no response, they finally chose to give up. They erupted with speed, quickly caught up to Chu Qingyun, and prepared to charge out with him.

Not ten seconds after Chu Qingyun's group of six left, the Martial Soul Hall envoy and his four remaining subordinates also arrived back at the crystal coffin's location.

'A bunch of fools courting death!'

The five from the Martial Soul Hall all sneered inwardly. They paid no mind to the Blood Crystals and Crimson Crystals, even ignoring the short sword of unknown grade.

The five of them didn't stop for a second, rushing outward at full speed.

Their only target had been the Venerable's remnant Martial Soul. Now that most of it was destroyed and the rest had fallen into Chu Qingyun's hands, they naturally had no reason to linger.

The moment the five figures from the Martial Soul Hall vanished, a dense swarm of large insects poured out from the darkness.