Chapter 458 - 456: Ant King

Chapter 458: Chapter 456: Ant King

"Careful!"

Seeing Shen Changchuan give chase, Gu Xuanqing’s expression suddenly changed. A look of horror and anxiety filled his eyes as he shouted a warning.

At the same time, as Shen Changchuan was in hot pursuit of Li Changzun, a sudden sense of danger washed over him!

With no time to think, in a flash, Shen Changchuan came to a sudden halt.

Arcs of lightning flickered around his body as his figure abruptly teleported through the void, shifting to the side!

In the split second he sensed the danger, Shen Changchuan burst with power, instantly unleashing a Tier Two Body Technique!

He teleported out of the way!

But at almost the exact same moment,

SWISH!

The faint sound of tearing cloth echoed as an invisible blade brushed past his ear.

A lock of Shen Changchuan’s long hair, which had been drifting in the wind, was sliced off by the invisible blade and floated down through the air!

At the same time, several hundred meters behind Shen Changchuan, a huge hole suddenly appeared in the chest of an Ancient Sword Sect Cultivator at the Soul Emergence Realm Seventh Layer who was following in pursuit.

It pierced straight through him, front to back, revealing his mangled, still-beating organs within!

"This..."

The man’s eyes widened as he stared blankly down at his chest, most of which was now gone.

He didn’t understand.

’What on earth just happened? Where did that attack come from? Am I going to die just like this?’

Countless thoughts flooded his mind, but in the next instant, he plunged into an endless Dark Abyss.

His body fell limply from the sky.

"Qin Chuan!"

Not far away, Gu Xuanqing witnessed the scene, his eyes practically splitting with rage!

This disciple, Qin Chuan, was clearly one of the genius disciples of the Ancient Sword Sect.

But tragically, he now lay dead.

Gu Xuanqing hadn’t even been able to clearly see the method used to kill him; one moment he was there, the next he was dead!

In contrast to Gu Xuanqing’s fury, Shen Changchuan was breaking out in a cold sweat.

’Was that... an attack containing the Power of Space?!’

That attack had been utterly silent. There were no fluctuations.

It was like a gentle breeze passing by, without any trace of flash or fanfare!

However, it was precisely this kind of technique that made Shen Changchuan once again feel that overwhelming terror—the feeling of being utterly powerless, as if he could face death at any second!

Shen Changchuan was certain of it.

If his Spiritual Sense hadn’t been sharp enough to perceive the impending danger, allowing him to use a Tier Two Body Technique to dodge in advance, then he would have been the one with a hole through his chest.

’He actually dodged it?!’

At the same time, up ahead, Li Changzun turned back to watch. When he saw what happened, his pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks.

’The power of this technique was effective even against experts at the Divine Travel Realm Early Stage. It’s one of the strongest trump cards the Li Family has accumulated over its eight-hundred-year history!’

’But now, that little brat actually dodged it!’

’Damn it!’

’How does that brat have so many techniques up his sleeve?!’

Li Changzun’s expression turned incredibly foul.

He had never imagined that Shen Changchuan could predict danger and still have the ability to dodge an instant before the attack arrived!

This had completely ruined his plan!

’Damn it, retreating is my only option!’

Seeing that the trap he had set at great cost had been completely useless, Li Changzun felt helpless.

He could only call out to his fellow Li Clan Members, and they all disappeared into the thick clouds and mist shrouding Heaven’s End Valley.

This time, their retreat was absolute!

As he watched the figures of the Li Family’s Demon Cultivators vanish into Heaven’s End Valley, Shen Changchuan did not continue the pursuit.

He appeared beside Qin Chuan, the Ancient Sword Sect disciple with the pierced chest.

He was already completely lifeless.

Blood dripped from the large hole in his chest, but the edges of the wound were faintly visible—as smooth as a mirror!

’Is this the attack of the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant?’

Shen Changchuan’s brow furrowed.

An attack like this undoubtedly possessed a wisp of the Power of Space.

And that power, the domain of a Profound Pill Realm Zhenren, was something Shen Changchuan could not hope to withstand, not even a single wisp of it.

At this moment, Shen Changchuan felt deeply conflicted.

He was now almost certain that the Li Family possessed the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants needed to refine the Void Escape Gu.

But at the same time, this technique, which could threaten even a Cultivator in the Divine Travel Realm, presented an extreme danger!

At the very least, while he was capable of sensing the attack and evading it ahead of time, he had absolutely no way to block it!

If he were ever hit by such a technique, the fate of this Ancient Sword Sect disciple, Qin Chuan, would be his own!

’This is going to be a problem...’

Shen Changchuan’s heart sank.

After killing their Soul Emergence Eighth Layer Realm reinforcements and turning the tide of battle, he had thought his goal was within reach and that this venture would soon be over.

But what just happened was like a bucket of cold water, shocking him back to reality.

How could a clan that had survived for over a thousand years in a place like Nanyue, where Demon Cultivators ran rampant, be so easily wiped out?

"No, that wasn’t an ordinary Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant. It was a Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ant King!"

Just then, a hoarse, aged voice tinged with sadness sounded from behind him.

Gu Xuanqing had come to Shen Changchuan’s side.

Looking at the Sect’s rising star lying on the ground, a flash of sorrow crossed his eyes.

Although Qin Chuan’s talent couldn’t compare to Jian Wuheng’s, his aptitude and strength were still among the very best in the Ancient Sword Sect.

Even if he couldn’t have advanced to the Divine Travel Realm in the future, he could have at least reached the Soul Emergence Ninth Level and become a pillar of the Sect.

But now, he had died here just like that.

"Ant King?"

A hint of confusion appeared on Shen Changchuan’s face.

Gu Xuanqing had never mentioned this to him.

"That’s right, the Ant King of the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants!"

Gu Xuanqing suppressed some of the sorrow on his face and said in a low voice,

"Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants do have Ant Kings!" ℴ

"But they’re different from the queens of mundane ants. This type of being isn’t just a breeding machine for producing more ants."

"It is the king among the Flying Heaven-Splitting Spirit Ants!"

"It’s said that such a being has awakened a trace of an ancient, primordial beast’s bloodline, giving it a sliver of the power to manipulate space. They are incredibly rare, and just as terrifying!"

"According to legend, not even a Cultivator at the Divine Travel Realm Early Stage can withstand a single strike from an Ant King!"

"However, according to the information we got from the Soul Search we performed on those Li Clan Members we captured, the last time the Li Family managed to nurture an Ant King was three hundred years ago."