txolops Chapter 349 Golden Bloodthirsty Mosquito
Chapter 349 Golden Bloodthirsty Mosquito
As Luo Ming watched the silver mouthparts being devoured by the gold-eating insects, a thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately shook his head.
"However, for me now, such a powerful magic weapon is no longer enough."
As his strength and knowledge grew, the magical treasures and materials that ordinary Core Formation stage cultivators regarded as precious treasures had greatly diminished in Luo Ming's eyes.
Unless it is a rare and precious natural treasure that can pose a threat to a Nascent Soul cultivator, or that can be directly useful for him to cultivate specific techniques or refine his natal magic weapon, it is difficult for him to be tempted.
These silver materials are good, but they are not good enough for him. He would rather leave them for the Gold-Eating Insects to devour and evolve.
Having dealt with the most threatening silver bloodthirsty mosquitoes, the remaining low-level insect swarms were utterly no match for the gold-devouring beetles.
Without further delay, Luo Ming summoned the Xuan Turtle, sat cross-legged on its broad back, and slowly recovered the little bit of magical power he had consumed from activating the magic weapon, while steadily advancing towards the center of the lake.
He had a strong premonition that something of great benefit to him lay deep within the lake.
In stark contrast to Luo Ming's "leisurely" and "safe" approach, other Core Formation cultivators who noticed the strangeness of the lake or were attracted by the previous battle ended up in a much more miserable situation.
Some people, relying on their considerable cultivation or possessing powerful magical artifacts, also attempted to traverse the swarm of bloodthirsty mosquitoes and venture deeper into the lake. However, they lacked Luo Ming's Gold-Eating Insect Swarm, and even more so, they did not possess magical artifacts like the Eight Gates Golden Light Mirror, which could remotely imprison and restrain high-speed targets.
As a result, many people struggled to move forward through the blood mist, having to fend off the omnipresent harassment of low-level bloodthirsty mosquitoes while constantly guarding against the elusive attacks of the silver bloodthirsty mosquitoes.
Often, with a moment of carelessness, the protective magic treasure's spiritual light would be pierced by a sudden silver light, and then countless bloodthirsty mosquitoes, like sharks smelling blood, would swarm in through the breach...
The blood-red lake, still like a ferocious beast with its jaws wide open, silently devours any greedy life that dares to intrude.
Just as Luo Ming was riding the Xuan Turtle steadily towards the depths of the Blood Lake, deep underground in the center of the lake, beneath a small island only a few miles in circumference and completely shrouded in dense blood-red mist.
In the center of a huge cavern, there is a massive pool of blood, more than thirty feet in diameter and bottomless.
The pool contained not ordinary blood, but a viscous, bubbling, dark red liquid resembling magma, emitting a nauseatingly strong, bloody stench.
At this moment, the blood pool, which had been calm for countless years, suddenly began to boil violently without warning! Huge blood bubbles rolled and burst, making muffled "glug-glug" sounds, as if something was about to break out of the pool.
"Splash—!"
In the center of the blood pool, the viscous blood plasma suddenly parted to both sides, and a blood-red figure composed entirely of dense blood light, whose specific appearance was indistinct but vaguely human-shaped, slowly rose from the bottom of the pool and hovered above it.
"For thousands of years... this damned secret realm has finally... finally been opened by someone from the outside..." The blood-red figure uttered a low, hoarse voice, yet filled with barely suppressed excitement and greed, which echoed in the empty underground cave.
"I wonder how many 'blood delicacies' have entered this time? Nascent Soul stage... I hope there aren't too few, otherwise, it won't be enough for my main body to recover..."
He seemed to be able to vaguely sense the opening of the entrance to the secret realm and the influx of cultivators through some means, and his tone was full of longing for fresh blood and soul.
However, just as this blood-red figure's heart surged and killing intent rose due to the opening of the secret realm—
"Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!"
Around the blood pool stood four ancient stone statues, their bodies entirely dark red. As if provoked by the strange movements and killing intent of this blood-red figure, they suddenly burst forth with dazzling blood light!
On the surface of the statue, countless intricate and mysterious runes lit up one after another, radiating a strong sense of sealing and suppression.
Immediately afterwards, four chains, each only as thick as a thumb, yet incredibly condensed, entirely crimson, and with countless strange silver tadpole-shaped runes floating on their surfaces, shot out simultaneously from the open mouths of the four stone statues!
The chains moved with lightning speed, ignoring spatial distance, and instantly wrapped around the blood-red figure floating above the blood pool, locking its limbs and torso!
"Sizzle sizzle—!"
The silver tadpole runes swam wildly along the chains, each contact with the blood-red figure producing a piercing burning sound and wisps of blue smoke.
The chains tightened continuously, emitting a powerful suction force, and began to forcibly absorb and devour the blood light and primal power emanating from the blood-red figure!
The aura of the blood-red figure weakened at a visible speed.
"snort!"
The blood-red figure let out a cold, angry snort, and from the blood-red light covering its face, it seemed as if two sharp eyes were shooting out.
"You think your mere 'Four Symbols Sealing Spirit Array,' a half-finished imitation from the lower realm, can trap me? My 'Black Tortoise Body,' though only at a minor completion stage, is not something your crude restrictions can suppress at will! Wait until I…"
His voice carried a haughty contempt and anger, but as he spoke, his voice grew softer and softer, as if it were being disturbed and swallowed by an invisible force, until it finally became completely inaudible and dissipated into the cave.
The four blood-red chains remained firmly bound to him, and the silver tadpole runes flickered incessantly, continuously drawing out and suppressing his power.
The cave returned to deathly silence, with only the occasional bursting of bubbles from the blood pool and the faint glow of runes flowing on the stone statue chains proving that everything that had just happened was not an illusion.
One day later.
The enormous body of the Xuan Turtle, like a moving island, steadily broke through the viscous, dark red lake water and moved forward.
A thick, earth-yellow aura shield enveloped the Xuan Turtle's carapace, keeping out the scattered, reckless low-level bloodthirsty mosquitoes. The mosquitoes crashed into the shield with muffled "plop" sounds, and were then repelled or stunned by the Yuan Magnetic Divine Power, falling into the lake.
Luo Ming sat cross-legged in the center of the Xuan Turtle's shell, his eyes slightly closed, seemingly regulating his breathing, but in reality, most of his mind was focused on perceiving and monitoring the outside world.
Throughout the day, he did not encounter any large-scale attacks from the bloodthirsty mosquitoes. The occasional sporadic attacks were easily dealt with by the Xuan Turtle's protective shield and the gold-devouring insects on the perimeter, resulting in minimal consumption of his mana.
However, instead of relaxing, Luo Ming felt increasingly uneasy.
"Something's not right..." Luo Ming suddenly opened his eyes, his brows furrowed, his sharp gaze sweeping over the almost unchanging thick blood mist around him, and the dark red lake water flowing slowly below.
"Why does it feel like... I'm going in circles? The direction I'm moving forward seems to be constantly being guided and deflected by some invisible force?"
Traveling through this blood mist, where visibility is suppressed to a mere thousand feet, it's easy to lose one's sense of direction.
At first, Luo Ming didn't pay much attention, attributing it to the influence of the blood mist and the strange force field in the lake. But just now, when his powerful divine sense swept across a seemingly unfamiliar lake surface in front of him, he detected an extremely faint, yet familiar, fluctuation.
With a thought, he reached out and grabbed several fragments of dark red insect corpses floating on the water, drawing them before his eyes with his magic. The fragments bore obvious signs of gnawing, as well as a faint, almost imperceptible aura of the Gold-Eating Insect and delicate golden fragments.
"These are traces left by my gold-devouring insects... and they were left not long ago."
Luo Ming's face darkened. This meant that he had passed through this area at least once! Or rather, while he appeared to be moving forward, he might actually be circling in a huge circle under the influence of some force, or trapped in some kind of maze!
"There's definitely something strange about this place! It's not just about bloodthirsty mosquitoes and blood mist!" Alarm bells rang in Luo Ming's mind. There were probably even more powerful restrictions or bewildering methods hidden deep within this blood lake.
Just as he was filled with doubt and was about to stop and carefully examine the surrounding environment to look for flaws, he vaguely sensed some unusual activity coming from afar.
"Hmm? Could it be that demon cultivator who transformed into human form before?"
Luo Ming felt a chill run down his spine and immediately realized that this commotion was no ordinary fight.
Luo Ming subdued the spirit beast, then used his concealment technique to its fullest extent, like a slippery fish, carefully stealthily moving towards the direction from which the commotion came.
As the distance closed, the roars and howls became clearer, and the violent collision of demonic energy even caused the surrounding blood mist to churn violently. Luo Ming became more cautious, and a golden light suddenly shone deep in the depths of his eyes. The blood-red mist that had been blocking his divine sense seemed to thin out by more than half immediately.
When he finally saw the core of the battlefield, the scene before him made his pupils shrink!
Above, on a lake that had been cleared by violent power, two figures were clashing and crossing at an astonishing speed! One of them, with blazing crimson feathers and demonic flames soaring into the sky, was none other than the avian-transformed demon cultivator they had seen before!
His opponent, however, made Luo Ming gasp in shock!
It was a giant bloodthirsty mosquito, far exceeding the size of ordinary mosquitoes, standing two zhang tall, covered with a cold, hard golden carapace, and possessing three pairs of thin, transparent golden wings that shimmered with a metallic luster. The demonic energy it emitted had reached the level of the Transformation Stage!
This golden, bloodthirsty mosquito was incredibly fast! With just a slight movement of its three pairs of golden wings, it left afterimages within a hundred feet radius as if it were teleporting, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right.
The transformed demon cultivator's body was engulfed in crimson demonic flames, which transformed into walls of fire, fire spears, and firebirds for attack and defense. The power was astonishing, and ordinary silver bloodthirsty mosquitoes would collapse upon contact with them.
However, the golden light emitted by the golden bloodthirsty mosquito seemed to be able to restrain and penetrate his demonic fire to a certain extent. Moreover, its speed was too fast, and most of his attacks missed. His defenses were also repeatedly breached, making him look quite disheveled. He could only rely on his strong physical body to fight and maneuver against it.
"Damn it! We are both demons, why are you so persistent in pursuing me?" The transformed Fire Owl was once again grazed by a golden afterimage, leaving a trail of blood. Although the wound was instantly healed, it was clear that he had consumed a lot of energy. He couldn't help but shout angrily.