Hao Ren walked along with Gara, following him through the woods at a steady pace. The young man took a deep breath as he noticed the enemies. Outside the treeline there were several hundreds of ants, and their limbs were akin to that of a sword. Their exoskeleton was shiny and glossy, however, it did give an overbearing aura. Hao Ren noticed that many of the village fighters were shivering.
Although they feared the beasts, Hao Ren could see the disparity in their realms as the swarm closened the distance between them. He asked, "They are not afraid of fire?"
Gara shook his head and said, "Senior, they only have one weakness, and that is their underbellies. However, they are so agile and the sheer quantity they have makes it very difficult for us to counter them."
Hao Ren asked, "How have you been dealing with them for all this time. You don't seem to be facing them for the first time."
Gara nodded and said, "As soon as they come close to the treeline, we would damage the barks and run away. The ants will not enter the tree line."
Hao Ren nodded but suddenly he said, "This is not the solution in the long term. The trees are spirit beings and I am sure they cannot grow so quickly. Can they?"
Gara shook his head and Hao Ren asked, "Why not leave this valley?"
The former sighed and revealed a bitter smile, "Senior, with this level of cultivation, if we are to step out of the valley, we would become nothing else but slaves and fodder. How can I lead these men and women to their deaths."
Hao Ren nodded, this was a valid reason to stay cooped up inside the valley. He looked at the swarm of ants and said, "Well, I will talk to you later, how about you let me handle the swarm this time."
Gara was shocked, but then he nodded and said, "You may act as you please senior, I will support you as much as I can with my people."
Hao Ren smiled but didn't say anything else. He held his sword and walked outside the tree line and then he vanished to appear a few hundred meters away from the treeline. He took half a step forward, bent his knees and held his sword close to his waist as he said, "Dragon Draw."
A wave of sword intent shot from his blade and rushed at the ants coming forward. Suddenly, the invincible seeming sword ants, hit the ground and a cloud rose in the void. The vanguard collapsed, but Hao Ren didn't have any intention to stop. He waved his hand and released Phoenix flames from his palm.
The flames burned with no restrain and the temperature in the valley rose sharply, causing the people to sweat. Gara and the rest looked at Hao Ren and they shivered, this guy who was smiling with them just now is so terrifying, more than the sword ants.
Hao Ren cast the flames in two different directions and made a funnel from them that forced the ants to attack him only. The beasts could sense that Phoenix Flames were nothing ordinary and thus they had no option but to attack Hao Ren. The young man smiled at the situation, and with his loss robes and lose ponytail, he looked like a fallen immortal, who braved dangers with his sword.
The young man held the hilt of his sword and said, "Four Seasons Sword Play."
He began to attack the swarm of ants before him with the four different attributes of his sword play. They were not very effective, but with a wave of ants fallen on the ground earlier, it was enough to kill them. These ants were ruthless, they didn't hesitate to step over their comrades and directly stab them with their sword limbs.
Hao Ren knew that nature could be cruel, but now that he was watching it, he couldn't help but feel a chill running down his spine. These things were really creepy crawly. He shook his head and decided to stop practicing and wrap it all up soon. He said, "Phoenix Scattering Clouds."
He moved along with his sword, and danced with it. Waves of fiery sword intent moved through the crowd of ants, burning them and exploding in different spots. Think of the swarm as a cloud, and the fiery waves as a bomber attacks. It was scattering the swarm and Hao Ren took complete advantage.
He cast another, move, "Phoenix Circling the Snake."
The flames moved around in a circle and began to tighten around the ants slowly. The ants had been disrupted and they couldn't run away, so they had no choice but to go through the wall of flames. However, as soon as they touched the flames, they burned and screeched.
Hao Ren was beginning to feel a little dizzy from the eruption of these wails from this inscent, however, he wasn't sure what to do to stop them. After a few minutes of persisting he sealed his ears with his spiritual energy and continued the onslaught. He didn't stop at just a single Phoenix Circling The Snake, he cast it multiple times.
Gara was watching Hao Ren from the distance and he couldn't help but speak in a daze, "God of sword."
He was in awe of the skills and movement Hao Ren showed. The young man before him was killing the Sword Ants, the enemy that has consumed the lives of so many of his family and friends, with such ease that it almost felt like he was cutting vegetable that lay on the chopping board and begged him to do it.
The battle continued, and the blade continued to reap lives. Hao Ren was dancing with his sword lost in another world and his speed was getting faster and faster with every move. At a point it seemed that at the center of the ground, there was a hurricane. Hao Ren had turned into a mirage and after images.
Hao Ren was using this time to understand the extent of his sword play. He was capable of slaying people, but he wasn't sure if he could hold on to this level of output on not. In his whole life, this was the first time he fought against so many enemies. As the battle continued, he began to increase the difficulty for himself, he aimed at the limb joint of the ants and not the limb itself. These things were akin to a natural sword, so why not retrofit them and make swords for everyone?
Hao Ren was quick and decisive, with every move his control improved. After a few minutes, he realized that the enemy had no movement. He stopped, and found that hundreds of sword ants were dead, they were all spread across the ground as if they were never alive. He noticed that some of them were scorched, and some had big gashes on them. The young man took a deep breath and realized that he was almost empty.
He spent a lot of spiritual energy to deal with these people, however, this also gave him an estimate about how long he would last if he fought the people . The young man smiled, and turned around to look at Gara, just then a high pitched screech echoed in the void, and Hao Ren sighed.
He turned around and found an ant, that was ten times bigger than the rest of the Sword Ants was crawling out from the ground. It was moving very slowly, and looked different than the rest of her race. This one was white, had a soft appearance. Hao Ren thought of something and mumbled, "Ant Queen?"
The next moment a loud voice shook the void, "Human!"
Hatred, Hao Ren could sense only one emotion in this voice, and that was Hatred. The ant bellowed again, "How dare you do this to my children?!!! You should die, you will die, I will kill you?!"
Hao Ren wanted to point at the thing and ask how it would kill him, by hugging him to death? However, before he could say anything, the bug began to glow, and using Yin and Yang eyes, Hao Ren found that the bug was shrinking. It was getting compact and its form seemed to be changing.
The young man frowned and asked, "Did you think I would let you transform while I wait here patiently? Fuck you!"
Then he raised his sword high above his head and held the hilt with two hands as he said, "Dragon Cut."
The sword was slashed down and the next moment, a space fissure, running diagonally across the glowing bug, and sucked in everything. The bug was still alive, and it screeched as it yelled, "Despicable Human, you will rot in hell. You will suffer the same fate that you give others, I c..."
Before it could complete the words, the space fissure sucked in everything and the young man took a deep breath. He turned around to look at Gara and said, "Well, the Sword Ants have been settled, how about we have a conversation?"
Gara was shocked, and then he knelt down on the ground and said, "I will heed whatever you say, Lord." Official source is novelFɪre.net
Hao Ren was shocked and took half a step back, "What the fuck happened?"