Chapter 730 - 730: Flame Shield

"Go!"

Chu Qingyun let out a sharp cry.

He pushed both palms forward, and the Martial Soul Fire in his hands surged out like two giant flaming serpents, lunging toward the four large insects ahead, whose mouths were wide open.

As the flaming serpents reached the large insects, with a thought from Chu Qingyun, the Martial Soul Fire instantly split, turning from two streams into four.

Each stream shot with pinpoint accuracy into the gaping maw of one of the large insects.

The Martial Soul Fire was incredibly hot and devastatingly destructive.

A moment later, a crimson ball of fire could be seen raging within each of the insects, faintly visible through their deathly white bodies.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Four dull thuds echoed as the Martial Soul Fire erupted completely. It burst through the top of the four large insects' bodies, sending flames more than five meters high before quickly dissipating.

The four large insects were now nothing but four burning husks, everything inside them incinerated.

As for the smaller insects, not a single one escaped; all of them were burned to death.

The large mouths of these insects possessed immense attack power, but their defenses were sorely lacking. Even the Primordial Power of a Level Two Martial King could easily injure them.

Meanwhile, Qi Hao and Deng Xuan took care of the large insects on their flanks.

The group of six earned a brief moment of peace and seized the opportunity to rush forward.

But they didn't get far before more large insects swarmed in from the front and sides, cutting them off once again.

It wasn't just the six of them.

Further behind, Cao Zhixin and the other four from the Martial Soul Hall had run into the same trouble.

Large insects were constantly pouring out from all directions—front, back, left, and right. It seemed that no matter how many they killed, their numbers were endless.

As for the group of more than ten people even further back, including Wan Jianxin, Xiao Qingsheng, and Ban Xing'an, their situation was even more dire.

Not only were they being swarmed by large insects from the front and sides, but they were also being pursued by an even larger swarm and a colossal, approaching insect from behind.

It turned out that when they entered, both Chu Qingyun's group and the people from the Martial Soul Hall had been advancing through the center of the Underground Space.

What they didn't know was that in the deepest, darkest recesses on either side of the Underground Space, there were countless more large insects.

However, almost all of them had been in a state of slumber.

The ones they had encountered along the way were merely a small few that had woken up by chance and been drawn to them.

The rhythmic roar from the colossal insect earlier had awakened the sleeping insects on both sides of the Underground Space. Now, all of them were swarming toward the center, intending to trap everyone inside!

The number of large insects pouring out from the front and sides grew larger and larger.

Meanwhile, the pursuing swarm from behind was also swelling in size.

Chu Qingyun and his group of six were already locked in a bitter struggle.

Being surrounded by the large insects put them in an awkward and difficult predicament.

If they stopped, they would be completely encircled by insects from all four sides—insects that seemed endless and impossible to kill.

Getting trapped meant certain death, so that was clearly not an option.

But if they didn't stop, they would have to push through the large insects blocking their path ahead while constantly fending off attacks from the sides.

Chu Qingyun was only a Level Two Martial King.

Although he had ample Primordial Power, the force of his Martial Soul Fire was limited. He simply couldn't incinerate all the insects blocking their way quickly enough.

But if he didn't use the Martial Soul Fire to burn them, and just blasted them apart, it would cause many of the smaller insects to swarm their group of six, throwing them into chaos and peril.

"Chu, we can't go on like this! We'll be eaten by these damn insects sooner or later!"

"Chu Qingyun, can you use your Martial Soul Fire on the insects up ahead like you did before?"

Qi Hao and Deng Xuan's faces were etched with anxiety.

They could barely handle the threat of the large insects, but the swarms of small ones were just too troublesome.

In this short time, two people had already been bitten by the small insects. They didn't even have time to stop the bleeding or take elixirs; they could only grit their teeth and push forward.

"I'm only a Level Two Martial King. My Martial Soul Fire is too limited to deal with so many large insects... Hmm? Wait a second!"

Chu Qingyun said with a wry smile, but an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.

'Flame Martial Soul!'

'Iron Wire Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul!'

With a silent cry in his heart, Chu Qingyun instantly unleashed both Martial Souls at once, faking the Mutated Martial Soul—the Flame Iron Wire Ten-Star Vine Soul.

A Martial Soul Illusion of the Iron Wire Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul, wreathed in flames, immediately materialized behind him.

The surrounding Heaven and Earth Primordial Power, as well as Chu Qingyun's own Primordial Power, immediately poured into the Martial Soul Illusion.

This time, however, he activated the Flame Martial Soul, not the Iron Wire Ten-Star Vine Martial Soul.

Infused with a massive amount of Primordial Power, a huge torrent of flames erupted from the Martial Soul Illusion, surging outward like a sea of fire.

Under Chu Qingyun's precise control, the Martial Soul Fire he unleashed avoided Qi Hao, Deng Xuan, and the other three. It then formed a blazing Flame Protection Shield around the six of them.

As the Flame Protection Shield formed, it incinerated all the small insects between the six of them, clearing them out completely.

"Qi, Senior Sister Deng, maintaining this Flame Protection Shield is the absolute limit of my control! I can't afford any distractions!"

"This Flame Protection Shield can quickly burn away the smaller insects, but it's not powerful enough to stop the large ones. I'm leaving the ones that charge at us to you!"

After speaking, Chu Qingyun focused all his concentration on maintaining the Flame Protection Shield.

Using Martial Soul Fire to form a Flame Protection Shield might sound as simple as forming a flaming hand or a flaming fist.

In reality, however, it was extraordinarily difficult.

Things like flaming hands and fists were just simple transformations. To put it bluntly, they weren't much different from a regular ball of Martial Soul Fire.

But a Flame Protection Shield was a different matter entirely.

First, it was hollow, just a thin layer. Controlling the fire to maintain such a shape was something not everyone could do.

Second, the Flame Protection Shield wasn't a one-off burst of Martial Soul Fire. It required constantly maintaining a shield-like structure, which was even more difficult.

Of course, the greatest difficulty was that the Flame Protection Shield also had to be mobile. It had to move at high speed along with Chu Qingyun and the others!