Chapter 20: Ancient Strange Insect

  Walk back to the cave hall, Xueguan Hu closed his eyes and lay on the ground to practice the medicinal power of gathering yuanling liquid. Gu Chen walked over to where the skull was located.

  As he approached the skull at a distance of three zhang, Gu Chen could clearly see the feather pattern on the cloak. The entire cloak was made from feathers taken from the same type of demon bird, although they varied in size, their appearance was identical.

  The feathers are shaped like a sharp arrowhead, with a pointed tail; the color is black, not a dull and lusterless ink black, but a shiny black, as if there is a layer of oil on the surface of the feathers.

  "What about the feathers of the Swiftlet with a pointed tail?" Gu Chen's eyes lit up.

  Swift Winged Swallow is one of the fastest flying demon birds in the ancient desolate mainland. The Swift Winged Swallow at the Innate Boundary can already fly as fast as a Human Cultivator at the Divine Sea Boundary driving a flying treasure, so the feathers of the Swift Winged Swallow are top-grade materials for refining flying artifacts and treasures.

  However, the Swift Winged Swallow is too fast, and it's extremely difficult for human cultivators to catch. Even a congenital Swift Winged Swallow can match the speed of a Sea of Gods realm cultivator. Unless one is a Sea of Gods realm Yuan or Diamond period cultivator, it's hard to catch one.

  The congenital boundary's swift winged sharp-tailed bird is already so elusive, let alone the divine sea boundary's swift winged sharp-tailed swallow. Even a powerful cultivator at the Life Spring Boundary wouldn't dare claim they could catch up to the divine sea boundary's swift winged sharp-tailed swallow without an extraordinary treasure.

  "How many swift sharp-tailed swallows would one need to catch in order to weave a cloak from their feathers?" Gu Chen took a deep breath, and couldn't help but admire the long-dead owner of the cave.

  It's hard enough to catch one swiftlet, and an adult swiftlet is only about two feet long. The number of swiftlets needed to make a piece of clothing with their feathers is at least twenty or more.

  Gu Chen speculated that the master of this Kunlun Cave Mansion should be above the Divine Sea Realm, either in the Yuan Yuan period or the Golden Elixir period. The swift winged swallowtail that can be caught is likely to be in the Innate Realm. The Practicing Treasure requires a swift winged swallowtail in the Divine Sea Realm, and the cloak on the skull should be a magical instrument.

  Although the law treasure is more powerful than the law instrument, it requires cultivation to reach the realm of the divine sea, and the internal cultivation of the divine sea: the source of the law power. Only with the law power can you control the law treasure.

  Gǔ Chén is currently only at the Later Heaven Realm, still 108,000 miles away from the Divine Sea Realm. Naturally, he hopes that the cloak on his skull is a more useful magical artifact for him.

  When one's cultivation is not strong, there is a treasure that increases speed. When encountering danger, escaping quickly makes the safety factor greater. For Gu Chen, of course, a magic weapon would be more useful.

  One step... one step.

  Gu Chen slowly walked towards the skull, which was facing the direction of the entrance to the cave. Gu Chen did not stand directly in front of the skull, so the intense killing aura emanating from it had little effect on him.

  Slowly, Gu Chen cautiously approached the long chair where the skull was sitting, within a few feet of the skull.

  Step by step, Gu Chen has been paying attention to the situation on the ground, the top of the cave, and all around him until he walked to the side of the skull. Although nothing happened, Gu Chen did not relax his vigilance at all.

  "Didn't you lay down any restrictions or poison?" Gu Chen furrowed his brow.

  Looking at the formation method deployed inside and outside the cave, the owner of this cave should be a famous formation master. Inside the cave, a special medicinal garden was opened to plant spiritual grasses and spiritual fruits, and the owner of this cave is likely to be a famous alchemist as well.

  He was both a Formation Master and an Alchemist, yet beside his own corpse, there were no restrictive spells or poisonous drugs laid down. This puzzled Gu Chen, as it went against the norm for cultivators to set up protective measures on their physical bodies before they passed away.

  "Isn't there something else wrong with this cloak?" Gu Chen looked at the skull in front of him with suspicion, withdrawing his hand that was about to pick up the cloak and taking a step back.

  Evil-warding charm, fierce fire charm...

  Gu Chen's left hand immediately took out two talismans from the Qian Kun bracelet.

  Peach wood sword... His right hand also took out a low-grade artifact peach wood sword from the Qiankun ring.

  Ling Qi condensed his spirit, focusing intently on the cloak. Gu Chen stretched out his right hand, holding a peach wood sword to lift the cloak covering the skull.

  Just as Momotarou's sword lifted the cloak, suddenly...

  Hum...

  A flash of golden light burst out from under Pi Feng's feet, and a sheet of golden light shot out, shooting straight at Gu Chen.

  It's come so quickly...

  Luckily, Gu Chen was well-prepared and retreated backward with his body. With a flick of his hand, he threw out two talismans - one a dark evil-repelling talisman and the other a fierce fire talisman - simultaneously at the incoming golden light.

  Hiss...

  A fierce flame symbol exploded into a ball of flames, enveloping the golden light within. However, the evil symbol also transformed into a sheet of clear light, covering up the golden light.

  Gu Chen only then saw clearly what the golden light was, it turned out to be a pile of gold-colored insects, the insects' bodies were covered in golden armor, wrapping their entire body tightly, leaving only one head exposed.

  Its head is also golden yellow, with two half-inch-long sharp horns on its head and two half-inch-long sharp fangs in its mouth, as if it could tear something apart.

  The eyes are also golden yellow, with deep pupils revealing a hint of golden light, like ancient stars that have been shining for a long time, filled with an ancient aura.

  Gu Chen's face changed greatly, this kind of worm he had never encountered in his past 500 years, but he had heard of it from legend.

  Devouring Heaven Insect, a primordial insect that can swallow everything, has been missing for thousands of years in the ancient wilderness and only exists in the legend of the primordial insects.

  This group of Sky Swallowing Worms, each about two to three inches in size, numbered in the hundreds, yet the clear light transformed from the evil talisman had no effect on them.

  The flames produced by the Flame Talisman covered all of the Heaven Devouring Insects, but they didn't have much effect. Several hundred insects bit down on this and that one, and in an instant, the flames produced by the Flame Talisman were swallowed up clean.

  Gu Chen swung his sword down at the cluster of Sky Devouring Insects that had gathered together on the ground of the cave, his Taohua Sword slicing through them with a single strike.

  Clang...

  The peach wood sword cut through the metal like a heap, making a "ding" sound. The peach wood sword chopped into the golden ball formed by the devouring sky insects and was sucked in by a large number of devouring sky insects. Gu Chen swung his arm with force, swinging the entire golden ball formed by the devouring sky insects.

  A large number of Devouring Heaven Insects crawled over to Taomu Sword, some of them opened their mouths and bit down on the sword with their two sharp fangs, instantly creating dense holes in the sword. Even the artifact was directly swallowed?

  Gu Chen was shocked, this ancient strange insect is indeed extraordinary, no wonder the human cultivators gave them the name of Tianyin insects, they can swallow flames and artifacts, it's terrifying to think about what would happen if one were to get close to the body.

  Gu Chen hastily threw out the peach wood sword, and with his left hand, he took out two talismans from the Qian Kun ring, two Tai Yi symbols, which he threw at the Sky Swallowing Worm.

  Rumble...

  Taiyi talismans transformed into two streaks of lightning, splitting the golden ball formed by the Tianyin worms. The Tianyin worms let out a chorus of "chirping" cries and opened their mouths to swallow the lightning in unison. The two streaks of lightning transformed from the Taiyi talismans were swallowed up completely, without leaving behind even half a point.

  "What's wrong with you?" Gu Chen cursed inwardly, his body continuously retreating backwards.

  Even the Lian Tai Yi Fu couldn't cause any harm to the Tian Chong insect, and Gu Chen's post-heavenly cultivation was unable to bring out the might of those magical artifacts within the Qian Kun ring, rendering them completely useless.

  Moreover, with the devouring ability of the Devouring Heaven Insect, even if he reached the Xiantian realm's cultivation and could wield the might of his artifact, Gu Chen wouldn't dare guarantee that he could eliminate this swarm of Devouring Heaven Insects. It was entirely possible that even using his Xiantian true energy to activate his artifact, the Devouring Heaven Insect's devouring ability would allow it to swallow the artifact as well.

  Hmmm...

  The Devouring Heaven Insect swallowed the thunder light transformed by the Taiyi Talisman, and immediately the entire peach wood sword was also swallowed clean by the Devouring Heaven Insect. It continued to transform into a golden light, pouncing towards Gu Chen.