Chapter 48: Rescued
According to the records of beasts rankings in the Eastern Region, the ordinary blade locusts were considered level three monsters.
However, the difference between other beasts that were level three and the blade locusts was that blade locusts never appeared alone.
“If you come across a single blade locust, there are at least two thousand more behind that one!”
Although it was an exaggeration, it showed just how vast the numbers were, and so the saying spread throughout the south.
In the face of such vast numbers of blade locusts, refiners were afraid to deal with them, whether were half a step into the nature level or at nature level.
At present, disciples from the Cloud Sect had managed to kill a few hundred blade locusts, because each one had good strength.
Blade locust corpses were piled high around the wreckage, accumulating a body hill.
No matter how high the pile of dead blade locusts got, it seemed endless amounts were coming at the disciples!
“Aah!”
came a sudden scream. It was a disciple rushing the blade locusts in a drastic move. Even if the others wanted to save him, it was too late. In an instant, a large group of locusts knocked him to the ground and were gnawing his limbs, until nothing remained and the blade locusts scattered.
As the other disciples watched this gnarly scene, a shiver went through each of them.
No one wanted to be the next to be ripped apart and eaten alive by these gruesome monsters.
Wave on wave of blade locusts came at them though, and once everyone's energy was sapped, they would die.
As the onslaught continued, the disciples felt their melancholy attitudes deepening within, and their attacks became weaker.
It was now that one of the disciples shouted, “Cheer up! No slacking now, it's not that bad! We should counterattack! If we roll over and let them break us, we'll all die right here!”
“Zing!” A purple energy arrow of life vitality was let loose, whizzing into the mass of blade locusts, and instantly thrusting through more than ten.
“Bam!” Blazing flames exploded, coloring a patch of sky red. The powerful fire incinerated dozens of blade locusts, leaving the charred stench death in the air.
It was the nature level refiners using their unique skills to fight.
The others in their ranks were significantly encouraged by this display of force, and were reinvigorated, beginning to battle with all their strength.
Rushing in and out among the horde of locusts, Zen used his power of Purple Light Fist. It was not all that powerful, yet, through the advantage of his body's strength, he killed eight blade locusts in a short time.
In the heat of the battle, there was a scream, “Alert, everyone! Incoming, blade locust officers!”
Zen looked up, along with all the others fighting for their lives. The sight of dozens of purple blade locusts among legions of green ordinary blade locusts was approaching them. The purple officers were almost twice the size of the ordinary ones. They appeared hideous and misshapen and covering the skin on their bodies were dense bony thorns.
'Are these purple monstrosities the blade locust officers?'
wondered Zen. It was said a blade locust officer was far more potent than an ordinary blade locust, and here a few hundred were headed at them!
The ordinary blade locusts were challenging enough to kill, let alone the stronger blade locust officers.
The screeching blade locust officers dove from high above in the sky, while more blade locusts surrounded the disciples.
Everyone felt an overwhelming feeling of gloom within, pondering, 'Are we going to die here today?'
Who could have foreseen this outcome while boarding the giant flying chariot?
In fact, while blade locust hunting was difficult, situations as dangerous like this, rarely happened.
From the jungle near them, a branch of burning bamboo came flying in at that moment, with a “whoosh!”
Thick smoke billowed from the end of the bamboo impaled in the ground.
A strong scent of herb came from the smoke filling the air. Sniffing, Zen breathed it in.
Suddenly, more burning bamboos flew into the midst of the crowd.
Every bamboo was billowing with smoke from one end.
Soon, the air was filled with smoke.
Amazingly, the blade locusts feared the smoke and spread their wings, taking off into the skies above at sight of the burning bamboos. Circling the disciples below, the locusts remained above, not daring to descend on them.
The same thing happened with the blade locust officers.
Although the smoke was making the disciples uncomfortable, they were able to bear it and were given a reprieve from the locust attacks.
A 'swishing' sound was heard coming from the woods before a large number of serious looking men appeared at the edge of trees, all dressed in uniforms, marching in unison, and each carrying bamboo sticks on their backs.
“It's the imperial army!”
whispered more than one of the disciples at the sight of the imperial army. The Cloud Sect disciples visibly relaxed.
The Burning Sky Empire would send a considerable number of the imperial army yearly to war the Insect Aggression.
Compared with the Cloud Sect disciples, the imperial army had unified action and a good sense of discipline. While the individual strength of an imperial soldier might not be comparable to a single Cloud Sect disciple, the unified power of the imperial army shouldn't be underestimated.
The imperial army formed orderly rows, and then a young man with a crew cut stepped forward and spoke earnestly, “I am Martin Lu, the centurion of the Green Haze Group! Disciples of the Cloud Sect, listen carefully! If you want to live, follow us!”
After Martin Lu issued his commands, the Cloud Sect disciples stood there, staring at blade locust corpses piled high.
They came here to earn points, not for a holiday.
By the rules set forth for the Cloud Sect disciples, they received one point for twenty blade locusts. Such a pile of blade locust corpses was a vast number of points in the disciples' eyes!
However, the bodies of blade locust were too big to drag, so the Cloud Sect stipulated that it was necessary to dig the crystal core from the chest of blade locust.
Since everyone had fought hard for such a long time, they were eager to get some booty.
But, Martin was pushing them to leave, of course, all of the disciples were upset.
The fact that the relationship between the imperial army and the Cloud Sect wasn't a harmonious one didn't help. They didn't like each other, and incidents of group brawls erupted at times for no reason.
Someone said to Martin, “Can you wait for just a little while? We need to...”
Martin interrupted, “Hmmph! I know what you want to do, but, you'd better think it over prudently! We've detected legions of blade locusts swarming here, and our lives are worth more than yours! You don't have to go if you don't want to. But, we are leaving!”
Feeling they had no choice, the Cloud Sect disciples prepared to set out with the troops.
They had to follow the imperial army.
With so many blade locusts corpses, several cultivators of the nature level decided to stay and collect some crystal cores. They thought they'd be able to break through the encirclement alone, but, looking up they saw the increasing amounts of blade locusts, and finally, gave up the idea.
The average strength of a single soldier in the imperial army was weaker than an individual disciple of the Cloud Sect, but, they had a few tricks coping with the large numbers of blade locusts.
For example, the bamboos they carried were designed in particular for fending off the blade locust attacks.
Trudging ahead, they lit a stick of bamboo every ten feet or so. As long as the bamboo released a cloud of smoke, the blade locusts were held off, hovering out of reach above their heads.
The imperial army silently marched, leading the way, while the disciples of Cloud Sect plodding along behind, had to counterattack blade locusts from time to time, with either swords or bows.
However, overall the blade locusts almost all kept their distance and were difficult to hit, so whenever a disciple hit one or two blade locust, they would laugh elatedly.
Watching the scene, Zen just shook his head.
The strength of a single Cloud Sect disciple was greater than an individual soldier of the imperial army.
Still, if they were to fight against each other, the Cloud Sect disciples might very well be defeated.
The Cloud Sect disciples didn't have the training that the military had, so they didn't acquire the benefits of teamwork.
Half an hour later, they had trekked through the jungle. Under the leadership of the imperial army, they had crossed a small river and hiked to the top of a hill, where a magnificent castle came into view.
“It's the Dragon Fort. We are safe here!”
shouted a few sharp-eyed inner disciples when they spotted the castle.
It was the Dragon Fort, their destination, and was used to defend the southern frontier of the Burning Sky Empire.
The Dragon Fort was deemed the most critical barrier in the southern part of the Burning Sky Empire, and beyond it was the endless tropical rain forest.
Zen had once read the book “Exotic Beasts Annals,” which recorded the areas of adventuring throughout the Eastern Region.
In the book, it recorded a story of cultivators from the Eastern Region going deep into the rain forest. One hundred miles deep in the lush rain forest, they had only found level three beasts, and it was reasonably safe. Another five hundred miles further into the forest though one would encounter creatures that were level five. Over a thousand miles deep into the rain forest, all kinds of level seven or eight senior beasts could be found.
Further within the rain forest was a world too difficult for humans to explore.
Every year, tons of beasts emerged from the rain forest to attack the Burning Sky Empire for unknown reasons.
It was the Dragon Fort's role to keep these beasts from the rain forest at bay.
Among the various beasts, the most troublesome was the blade locust.
The Dragon Fort was rudimentary in appearance, boasting no ornament for either the walls or the moat except for one huge sculpted dragon head hanging on the wall.
The sculpture was entirely black, and the dragon's eyes sparkled when they caught the light. The sculpture radiated incomparable majesty.
While passing under the dragon head sculpture, each disciple of the Cloud Sect felt a sense of awe.
When Zen walked closer, he stood, staring up at the dragon's eyes for a while with a hint of doubt rising in his heart.
Zen could feel the 'intention' from within dragon head sculpture, the spiritual pressure it was emitting.