Chapter 162: Liang Yuexin’s shock
Chapter 162: Liang Yuexin’s shock
.
Liang Yuexin had never encountered such creatures before, but she had heard of them. They were also among the many beings that had joined the assault during the calamity that once swept across the continent.
Although these creatures had existed long before and even after that calamity, they usually only appeared in lifless environments, environments that had become that way in the first place because of the presence of these insects.
They could also be found in ancient tombs or long forgotten graveyards, and were a recurring problem for everyone.
That said, their numbers were usually very low, and only in isolated places like parts of dead forests or areas contaminated by poison and other substances that deprived life would one find such a great number of these creatures. And yet, here they were, rushing at them in growing swarms.
For a moment she felt panic creep in, since this was the first time she was facing them, though it wasn’t as if she lacked means to deal with them.
She was a powerhouse of the fifth stage, and any of her attacks was more than strong enough to wipe these creatures away. The only problem was their sheer numbers, and launching wide range attacks risked collapsing the tunnel over their heads.
As for that point, even most elemental attacks, no matter how effective against these creatures, were dangerous to use in such a closed and narrow space. They could very well create an even worse danger than the insects themselves.
So she held back from charging with attacks and instead turned her attention to Zhu Rong, trying to figure out what he intended to do.
She had sensed him manipulating elemental energy, so it was clear he was preparing an attack, but what kind of attack would actually work in this situation?
Surely he wouldn’t use fire, for obvious reasons. Even though his fire was far more destructive than hers, and she knew that, no matter how hard it was to admit.
Wind wasn’t a good choice either, so that left only the earth element, which, depending on how it was used, could actually help stall their advance and even buy them time to retreat or move forward safely.
That said, when she examined the elemental energy he was channeling into his attack, she couldn’t help but pause for a moment, her brow furrowing.
"Wait, this isn’t earth element, it’s..." She was confused by what he was using, it wasn’t what she expected, but if it wasn’t that, then what was it?
It didn’t take her long to realize, and the instant she did, her eyes widened.
Just as she was about to speak, Zhu Rong condensed the elemental Qi in his hand into a small, glowing azure sphere. He pointed it forward and, without a second’s hesitation, hurled it toward the swarm of tiny creatures charging at them.
Swish.
It shot out at high speed, and in an instant reached the corpse eating insects that were piling up and advancing toward them.
The moment it arrived in their midst, Zhu Rong clenched his hand, and as soon as he did, the sphere hanging over the creatures suddenly shone brightly. In the next instant, a muffled explosive sound echoed as a powerful freezing current swept through the tunnel.
The explosion was relatively quiet, almost restrained, but fast, and its effects were anything but small. In fact, they were devastating enough to leave Liang Yuexin pale, still wondering how Zhu Rong had managed to use such a rare element.
The very fact that he was using a rare element, one as difficult as hers, made her mind go blank for a moment. Only when the sphere exploded did she snap back and see more clearly the havoc he had caused ahead.
There, little more than a dozen meters from them, layer upon layer of ice had formed, completely blocking the passage.
It wasn’t perfectly uniform, nor did it form a complete wall that shut off their view. Instead, massive, thick icicles had erupted from every direction, wedging into the tunnel’s walls and floor, sinking deep into the ground.
She could tell at a glance that those ice pillars, which seemed to sprout from all directions only to slam into the opposite side, hadn’t just formed in front of them but stretched on much further, at least twenty or thirty meters deep.
Essentially, they had engulfed the entire swarm of insects, or at least the majority of them. Given the attack’s power, there was no way any of them were still alive.
"Sorry to ask, but just how many elements did you decide to learn?" she asked, her mind both confused and curious.
She asked in the heat of the moment, not expecting him to actually answer seriously.
"Hm? Oh, more or less all the ones I could manage. If all goes well, I might even cultivate lightning in the future," he said with nonchalance as he walked forward, radiating a wave of spiritual energy ahead.
Hearing his words, she seemed to freeze all over again as her mind processed what he had just said. But just as she did, the ice pillars blocking the way ahead began to tremble, and soon cracks spread from their centers.
Because the pillars were wedged into both sides, the break in the middle didn’t seem to weaken them much, but things didn’t stop there.
The shattered chunks of ice didn’t fall to the ground, instead, they floated up and then shot outward to different points. Soon, a large opening nearly three meters wide formed in front of them, its sides smooth, coated in thick ice.
Zhu Rong had manipulated the ice already present to carve a path. Once it was done, he stepped inside, turning his head back toward her as he said,
"Shall we move on?"
***
While Zhu Rong and Liang Yuexin continued their journey, above the mountain the rest of the crowd was in complete chaos.
The presence before them was anything but simple, and that much was clear to everyone. But hearing that the secret realm had been left behind not just by some random great entity of the past, but by the very first human emperor himself, struck a heavy blow to the hearts of all present.
No one knew how to respond.
The realization was simply too great, and its implications unimaginable. Many of those gathered, figures of high status in the Lushan province, couldn’t help but tremble at the weight of what they had just been told.
The First Human Emperor, one of the most powerful beings in human history, if not the entire continent, a figure about whom little was known, but who had reached an unimaginable level of power in their plane of existence, had actually left a legacy behind, and it had been here all this time?