Chapter 36: Pouring in Poison

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Three months after Lu Qing closed himself off again, Lu Mingchao brought along a few of the clan's cultivators and headed out of Yuyan Mountain. They went toward one of the three places that Lu Qing had instructed them to clear off the threat.

There, they found a group of Steel Red Bugs. The bug queen was a demonic beast that had reached Level Two. Its battle capabilities were not strong, but it was still troublesome to deal with since a bug queen usually had tens of thousands of Steel Red Bugs surrounding it.

An ordinary Steel Red Bug was not much of a threat. The demonic power it had in its body was pathetically low. Even a stray cat might be able to defeat one of those bugs that were about the size of two palms.

However, they were troublesome when there were tens of thousands of them.

Moreover, the bugs were a species of demonic beasts. When quite a number of them have gathered and were commanded by a bug queen, all of the demonic power in the Steel Red Bugs would resonate. They would become much more threatening.

However, Lu Mingchao had received ample information before she set off. She had been told the specific location of the bug's nest. At the same time, she found an easy way to deal with the horde of bugs with the magic equipment and techniques she possessed.

She brought four of the clan's cultivators along with her. They were all at the seventh tier of the Qi Refining Stage or higher, and none of the cultivators cultivated Fire or Earth Elemental Techniques. The power of these two elements would be restricted when they were used to deal with the Steel Red Bugs, which were fire-element demonic beasts. The effects of the techniques would not be great. 2

Before they got near to the area where the bug's nest was located, Lu Mingchao informed all of the cultivators to be alert of the environment. They had to eliminate the Steel Red Bugs the moment they noticed one.

These bugs could not sense that their brethren had died from a long distance. As long as they remained unnoticed by the bugs and prevented them from relaying the information back to the nest, then they would be able to secretly approach the nest without being noticed by the bug queen.

When they reached a certain distance away from the nest, they noticed that there was a greater concentration of bugs in the area. It became more difficult for them to kill off the bugs beforehand.

Lu Mingchao did not force the issue. She activated a technique she cultivated, the Cloud Fog Technique, after she calculated their distance from the nest.

Under the cover of the fog that she had summoned, the cultivators accelerated in their advance. Having been engulfed by the fog, the radius of detection of the Steel Red Bugs-which detected their enemies by sight-had been significantly reduced. The cultivators did not have to worry too much about being discovered by the bugs. On the other hand, Lu Mingchao's sensory abilities-which she gained from within the fog summoned by the Cloud Fog Technique-allowed them to discover a few bugs before the bugs found them.

The bugs were unintelligent. They did not understand that Lu Mingchao's technique had created the sudden appearance of fog.

The fog could descend onto this area.

After they eliminated the bugs that they had to deal with along the away, the group arrived at the entrance of the bug's nest.

The entrance looked like it was two meters wide, but the group could not ascertain just how deep it was. An ordinary person would have difficulties entering the nest. Furthermore, the nest had been reinforced by a hardening technique unique to the Steel Red Bugs. It was not easy to break down the nest and bury the horde of bugs within.

However, Lu Mingchao had other plans.

She whipped out her Cloud-Gathering Poison Conversion Cup and summoned a ball of mist. She converted the mist into a highly corrosive poisonous fog using the magic equipment and sent it into the nest.

There was no reaction at the start. However, she did not find it strange.

A nest built underground by a horde of bugs would be enormous and too complicated. It would take some time for the poisonous fog to spread throughout the nest. There was no need to be anxious.

Lu Mingchao had been prepared for this. She knew that this would be a war of attrition. Thus, she did not put too much effort into controlling the poisonous fog. Instead, she maintained a slow, steady output. She even crushed a Spirit Stone with her hands and absorbed the spiritual energy within as replenishment while she released the poisonous fog.

Soon after, several bugs crawled out of the nest. Since most of them were hobbling from side to side, it was easy for the cultivators outside the nest to exterminate all of them. Similarly, the bugs that were returning to the nest were killed in the same fashion.

Six hours later, they could faintly sense the transformation coming from underground.

Prepare yourselves! This is the last hurdle! Lu Mingchao reminded the group of cultivators. At the same time, she increased the output of her spiritual strength. The amount of poisonous fog swarming out of the Cloud-Gathering Poison Conversion Cup increased. The fog also became darker.

The rest of the four cultivators became more cautious.

Indeed, sometime later, a large number of bugs swarmed out from within the nest.

The bugs that were at the very front were all very shaky. They did not travel a great distance before they fell dead onto the ground.

However, these bugs still had their instincts. They maintained a tight formation as they charged out of the nest. The bugs at the outer perimeter defended those inside the formation from the poisonous fog with their lives. That allowed the bugs within the formation to remain in top condition.

The horde of bugs looked terrifying. They bared their fangs. Their lethal fangs could tear off a piece of meat if they chomped down on a human. They could even inject fire poison.

The four Qi Refining cultivators had rehearsed this before they set off on this mission. They were nervous but not too afraid.

Two water-element cultivators joined forces and activated their spiritual strength. They summoned a large source of water for a short time.

The abilities of a Qi Refining cultivator were limited. The current they summoned was like a small stream, but it was just enough. The water crashed into the nest and obstructed the advancement of the horde of bugs. A few of the bugs at the perimeter were even directly swept away.

Lu Mingling, who was also in the group, seized the opportunity. He grabbed a magic sword made out of black steel and murmured an incantation. He summoned lightning.

Just like Lu Chaoxi, Lu Mingling cultivated the Bright Yang Lightning Ceremony. He was one of the most exceptional disciples from the Ming generation of the clan. Even though he had not reached the Foundation Building Stage and could not cultivate powerful techniques like the Xuanyin Yang Lightning Incantation, he had no problems conjuring a few live currents.

The live currents followed the direction of the sword and flew into the stream of water. It spread outward and exterminated a massive horde of bugs.

However, the person who was the most efficient in dealing with the bugs was Lu Mingchao herself.

She no longer held back. After she activated the poisonous fog to the greatest extent, the power of the poisonous fog increased dramatically. She combined her poisonous fog with the stream of water, which caused it to spread outward rapidly and become even stronger.

The wave of bugs had not managed to charge out of the nest before they were completely destroyed.

A large number of bug corpses blocked off the entrance to the nest.

The earth-element cultivator who did not take action just now activated his spiritual strength and cleared off the entrance to the nest. Then, Lu Mingchao pushed her poisonous fog into the nest once again.

This process lasted for two days.

During the process, the horde of bugs retaliated several times. However, their counterattacks were not as powerful as they were during the first wave. They got weaker and weaker.

In reality, no bugs have crawled out of the nest by the sixteenth hour. After pushing poison into the nest for sixteen consecutive hours, the entire nest might have been filled with the corrosive poison.

However, the bug queen had not shown itself.

The cultivators did not let down their guard. They sat outside the bug's nest, and each took out a Spirit Stone. They absorbed the spiritual strength within the stone and regained their stamina as they guarded the nest. Lu Mingchao continued to send poison into the nest periodically to maintain the concentration of the poison in the nest.

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