Chapter 30 - 29: Steady Advance, Disturbance in Snake Valley

Chapter 30: Chapter 29: Steady Advance, Disturbance in Snake Valley

RUMBLE—

The Profound Armor Barbarian Bear sprinted through the jungle like an ancient fierce beast. It didn’t even bother dodging the smaller trees along its path, simply smashing right through them and crushing everything in its wake.

Behind it, dozens of Rapid Insects followed closely, swarming in from all directions.

ROAR—

A furious roar echoed as a massive creature covered in black fur bellowed within the mountain forest.

This was actually a bear-type demon fiend as well. Moreover, it was a rather famous Golden Bear, its body as huge as a small mountain. It was only one size smaller than the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear.

Deep within the ancient mountains and forests, there were extremely numerous types of demon fiends. However, the mainstream ones were still inherently powerful wild beasts. Being physically strong, their chances of survival were higher, and thus their chances of unlocking spiritual intelligence were greater.

In the past, when encountering such a large Bone Forging Realm demon fiend, the Rapid Insects would either have to swarm it regardless of casualties or resort to hit-and-run tactics to slowly wear it down. But this time, led by the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear, they charged straight in.

The Golden Bear roared, standing on its hind legs and swinging its massive paws. When it saw the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear charging over under the moonlight, a flash of fear passed through its huge eyes, but it was already too late to dodge.

BOOM!

Under the terrifying collision, the Golden Bear was sent flying. In mid-air, the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear caught up, brutally pinning it to the ground and knocking down a large swath of trees. Its maw full of fangs immediately bit down on the Golden Bear.

Stung by the pain, the viciousness in the Golden Bear’s bloodline was provoked. Its eyes turned completely red, its body radiating a dark light, and its millstone-sized paws slammed down fiercely.

CLANG!

The sound of clashing metal rang out. When the Golden Bear’s sharp claws struck the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear’s body, sparks even flew, and the Golden Bear’s claws broke. It was stunned and bewildered, but the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear gave it no further chance. It clamped its jaws onto the Golden Bear’s throat and forcefully tore out its blood vessels.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

A large group of Rapid Insects swarmed around, joining the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear to instantly dismember and devour the Golden Bear’s corpse on the spot before continuing forward. ℯ

This fierce scene made Qin Yu, who was watching from afar, nod in satisfaction.

"It seems that these 1,000 Energy Points were worth it. With the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear, the Insect Swarm’s frontal combat capability will significantly improve. Our certainty in breaching a demon’s nest has greatly increased."

Through several consecutive real battles, the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear had proven its strength. Its exoskeleton, infused with Profound Iron Essence, boasted terrifyingly powerful defense. Coupled with the weight advantage of its enormous body, its charge was simply unrivaled. Even if it encountered the Blazing Flame Tiger Demon, the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear could hold its ground head-on without falling at a disadvantage.

"I’ll spawn two more Profound Armor Barbarian Bears!"

With a shift of his mind, Qin Yu looked toward another location.

In the sky, a Black Thorn Eagle silently dove down from the clouds. Thrusting its sharp talons out, it snatched up a colorful python nearly thirty feet long from a mountain ridge. With a forceful pull, it tore the python in two.

A Snake Demon comparable to the Bone Forging Realm, its body as tough as Profound Iron, was easily slain. The Black Thorn Eagle gobbled it up as casually as if it were eating a spicy snack, then soared back into the sky to circle.

Not far below was an expansive lake. Many wild beasts and demon fiends would go there to drink and hunt, and among them, the most numerous were various types of venomous snakes and pythons!

"The sheer number of snake-type demon fiends in this Snake Valley is somewhat astonishing, even more than I expected," Qin Yu murmured, his brows furrowing slightly.

After a day of observation, the Black Thorn Eagles had discovered nine Great Demons that were at least at the Qi and Blood Realm. Moreover, there was an extremely massive, dark green Snake King that was fully one hundred and fifty feet long! On top of its head, there were two bulges.

Even from far away, looking down from the sky, Qin Yu could sense that terrifyingly fierce and vicious aura. This was a Great Demon on the verge of transforming into a Flood Dragon!

With their current combat strength, the Insect Swarm was far from being its match. Attempting a direct assault was even less advisable.

Theoretically, the best method would be a war of attrition. Using the Insect Swarm’s mobility and rapid spawning capabilities, they could constantly harass it, trading injuries for injuries to slowly grind it to death. But in reality, this wouldn’t work either. Because demon fiends weren’t mindless wild beasts. Once they discovered the Insect Swarm’s tracks, those Qi and Blood Realm Great Demons would charge straight over and track down the Insect Nest. Then they’d be doomed.

"I still haven’t found any traces of the Snake Demon Li Tianyi. Could it be that this Snake Valley has nothing to do with him, and it’s just a coincidence?

"Or perhaps the Snake Demon Li Tianyi is in secluded cultivation within the Snake Valley.

"Or is he somewhere else?" Qin Yu guessed.

Ever since discovering the Snake Valley, he had immediately dispatched three Black Thorn Eagles to circle and scout the surrounding area. He had already gained a sufficient understanding of this Snake Demon Valley. The valley was long and narrow, stretching for over a dozen miles. Its interior was densely packed with caves everywhere—perhaps natural caverns, or perhaps excavated by the Snake Demons.

A massive number of snake species inhabited them. It seemed there was also a subterranean river connecting to the great lake. In such an extremely complex environment, acting rashly would inevitably lead to suffering a massive loss!

"I still need to continue developing, hunting the surrounding wild beasts and demon fiends to make the Insect Swarm even stronger, and then plan this out slowly.

"I can annihilate the other two demon nests before making a move on this Snake Valley," Qin Yu decided, not in a rush, turning his gaze toward the distance.

Having discovered the Snake Valley, the scouting network formed by the Black Thorn Eagles and Red-bellied Eagles was still continuing to probe the surrounding areas. Soon enough, they found a second and a third demon’s nest.

These two demon’s nests were also two to three hundred miles away from the location of Nest Number Two, only they weren’t in the same direction as the Snake Valley and were separated by some distance. Most importantly, the strength of these two demon’s nests fell far short when compared to the Snake Valley. The weakest one was merely on par with the Blazing Flame Tiger Demon.

The Insect Swarm developed extremely fast; their strength changed by the day! Wiping out scattered demon fiends and weak demon nests along the way to strengthen themselves was the true path to victory.

At this moment, led by the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear, the main force of the Insect Swarm had already set off overnight toward one of the weaker demon nests.

The "Demon King" of this demon’s nest was a scorpion. Its body was over twenty feet long and covered in Iron Armor. Its pair of iron pincers could easily shatter mountain rocks, and its dark, gleaming tail stinger clearly carried a lethal venom. In addition, this Scorpion King possessed the Earth Escape talent ability. Under its leadership, scorpions of all sizes had nearly hollowed out a massive mountain.

What left Qin Yu somewhat surprised and suspicious was that on this mountain peak, there were faintly visible ruins of shattered buildings, as if there were traces of humans having once lived there.

As for the other location, it was inhabited by a swarm of entirely silver-white Thousand-legged Centipedes. In this region, various poisonous insects and venomous snakes were extremely numerous. Even if an ordinary Martial Artist entering had enough strength, it would be very difficult to guard against these venomous creatures.

"By daybreak, the Insect Swarm should just about reach this mountain peak. We’ll slaughter this group of scorpion demon fiends first. I can also establish a branch base here."

Qin Yu closed his eyes and began to rest and build up his energy. The Insect Swarm didn’t move fast on the ground and needed to advance step by step. However, if he rode a Black Thorn Eagle, he could arrive quickly to participate in this hunt.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and his consciousness shifted to a Black Thorn Eagle monitoring the airspace above the Snake Valley.

BOOM!

A violent explosion erupted within the Snake Valley, followed by a burst of multicolored light that looked extremely bizarre in the dark of the night.

"What is that?"