Ji Xinghuo remained expressionless.
He had known since he arrived at Ice Lake, Electromagnetic Induction had detected the tunnel beneath the ice and a vast nest.
There was a Thousand-legged Ice Worm that had reached the "Bright" Level.
However, it was hibernating.
This type of insectoid monster, he had found many in the past few days in the Ice Finger Mountain Range. Entering Fog Moon, they would hide in their nests to weather the winter, only awakening during the hotter "Warm Month."
The recent battle noises had already awoken the Thousand-legged Ice Worm, but it was very cautious and did not leave its nest.
It opened its eyes, and the numerous long legs on both sides of its body moved occasionally.
Ji Xinghuo’s Electromagnetic Induction kept observing.
He was somewhat tempted.
If he could kill this Thousand-legged Ice Worm, he could obtain at least two or three Transcendent Species. However, entering its nest to hunt this Bright Level Catastrophe monster was unwise.
"If it would come out on its own..."
Ji Xinghuo turned and walked away.
"Sir!" Bai Mang was stunned for a moment and hurriedly followed, but Ji Xinghuo did not wish to entertain him and directly soared into the air, quickly distancing himself.
Bai Mang watched Ji Xinghuo disappear into the horizon, immediately dumbfounded.
He turned back on Ice Lake and made a round; Ji Xinghuo had taken any valuables from several corpses, finally leaving with the heads of several enemies.
In the frost mist above, Ji Xinghuo hovered, his gaze piercing through the fog, quietly watching Bai Mang return the same way to the Cangye Tribe. He did not want any entanglement with the Cangye Tribe or the antler people; killing those five people to avenge them was all the effort he wished to put forth.
What happened to the Cangye Tribe afterward was not Ji Xing’s concern, nor could he help.
He activated the Stealth Ring and gently descended from the sky, standing on a cliffside peak to the side of Ice Lake, about three or four thousand meters from the center of the lake.
The wind began to howl again between the mountains.
In his Electromagnetic Induction, the Thousand-legged Ice Worm finally could not contain itself, stretched out its body in the nest, and crawled into the tunnel at the entrance.
Its trunk exceeded thirty meters in length, its entire body covered with Ice Armor, and dense rows of fine legs on either side, ’fine’ only relative to its body; they were actually as thick as an adult’s thigh, each fine leg was over ten meters long, amounting to hundreds of legs in total!
These fine legs were highly nimble, allowing it to swiftly ascend the ice walls in the tunnel.
The frosty tunnel, clearly excavated by itself, connected one end to the nest and the other downward towards the bottom of Ice Lake.
Soon, the Thousand-legged Ice Worm crawled into the lake, where the bottom water had not frozen yet.
Its fine legs moved continuously, its massive body swimming toward the frozen surface, rippling the still unfrozen surface of the water at the large hole recently punched open. One by one, fine legs stretched out, prying through Shattered Ice, following which, a ferocious head rose from under the water, breaking through the ice surface.
Emerging from the hole, the most prominent feature of the Thousand-legged Ice Worm was a giant maw filled with saw-like sharp fangs.
It had a pair of large eyes, with two antennae on top of its head nearly as long as its trunk.
From the back of its head to the first third of its body, wing-like fins opened on both sides, segments covered in Ice Armor, hundreds of fine legs stretching around, allowing the body to move lightly with a speed and agility that belied its enormous size.
The Thousand-legged Ice Worm breathed in the cold air.
Around it within a hundred meters, the temperature dropped even lower, water vapor in the air continuously condensed into snowflakes and frost, swirling around it.
Ji Xinghuo stood on a distant cliff, motionlessly observing it.
"It really is a Bright Level monster!"
The four levels of Catastrophe monsters, Flood, Bright, Shock, Meteor, are not ascended by each evolution, but distinguished by strength. Generally, Catastrophe monsters only evolve one to two times; between Flood Level and Bright Level, there is no evolution.
Bright Level monsters, equivalent to the peak of Legendary Second Dan, nearing Heavenly King.
It might even be comparable to a weaker Heavenly King.
This Thousand-legged Ice Worm, Ji Xinghuo assessed, definitely was not at Heavenly King, yet it was more terrifying than the vast majority of Legendary Second Dan.
"It’s possible to try to hunt it, but I must not make a move immediately."
Ji Xinghuo watched the Thousand-legged Ice Worm move across Ice Lake, it discovered those headless corpses, its antennae trembling excitedly, it bit the bodies, chewed a few times, and swallowed them down. For the monster, these Fourth and Fifth Rank bodies were a great nourishment.
After finishing off the bodies, the Thousand-legged Ice Worm dove headfirst through the large hole in the ice, returning to its nest beneath the lake.
Soon, it entered hibernation again.
Ji Xinghuo appeared on the distant cliff, watching the gradually freezing water surface, already formulating a plan to hunt it.