Chapter 229: Feint Attack

The Locust Demon Crown Prince had barely finished speaking when the sky abruptly darkened.

It was not clouds obscuring the moon, but countless minuscule Gu Insects pouring from his body, a dense swarm that blotted out the sky.

Among those Gu Insects were not only common First and Second Realm creatures but also a considerable number of Third Realm ones.

Together, the tens of thousands of Third Realm Gu Insects emitted a suffocating Demon Qi.

“Th-this… How is this possible?” The color finally drained from Su Feibai’s face.

“He’s turned himself into a living hive,” the Wood Daoist sighed. “He fed those Gu Insects with his own lifeblood and lifespan. Each one is equivalent to one of his avatars. He’s been hiding in Red River Prefecture all these years for the sole purpose of raising these insects.”

The hearts of the assembled prodigies sank.

The Locust Demon Crown Prince stood amidst the swarm. The two bloody holes in his chest no longer swarmed with locusts, but had become two black, gaping pits.

Countless tiny insects crawled in and out of them.

His face was ashen, but his eyes were terrifyingly bright.

“I, the Crown Prince, have plotted for ten years, all for this day.” His voice echoed amidst the drone of the swarm. “The Plague God Sparrow and the Red River Dragon Python were merely pawns. The people of Red River Prefecture were nothing but fodder.”

“I will use your blood to feed my swarm and ascend to the rank of a Great One!”

“In your dreams!” Yan Liyuan roared. With a wave of his ruler, he sent a streak of golden light slashing toward the Locust Demon Crown Prince.

The golden light plunged into the swarm and vanished without a trace, like a stone sinking into the sea.

“It’s useless.” The Locust Demon Crown Prince shook his head. “My locust swarm can devour any attack. Your Literary Energy, your Blood Qi, your Magic—it’s all sustenance for them.”

The prodigies exchanged uncertain glances.

‘Is he telling the truth, or is it a lie?’

The Locust Demon Crown Prince’s words were a mix of truth and lies, making it impossible to know what to believe.

Perhaps he was just trying to apply psychological pressure.

Or perhaps it was true, and the Locust Demon Crown Prince was so powerful that he could afford to be this brazen.

In any case, no one knew whether to believe him or not.

“Zhu Ge, are you dead yet?” Guan Julan yelled. “If not, get up and show us you’re alive! I think it’s about time you used that thing of yours. You know, the long, thin one.”

Down below, Zhu Ge kept his eyes shut, feigning unconsciousness and turning a deaf ear to the call.

Guan Julan couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

‘Look at Zhu Ge’s physique,’ he thought. ‘He’s built like a Third Realm Demon Beast, a water buffalo made of pure muscle. How could he possibly be spitting up blood and seriously wounded?’

“Alas, it seems we still can’t hunt a Great One on our own,” a woman sighed softly. “I had hoped to test the waters, to see if we might even be able to challenge the top ten.”

“As it stands, it seems it would take more than half of the sixteen of us here, all going full out, just to kill this Locust Demon Crown Prince.”

This woman was the very same practitioner of the Thief Dao who had encountered Zhu Ge earlier. Her figure was completely enveloped in a pitch-black, form-fitting suit and a cloak.

“Hey, Hong Xiu, when you said eight people, were you talking about those ranked in the top fifty, or below?” Guan Julan asked.

Hong Xiu replied helplessly, “The ones above, of course. Look at you lot ranked below fifty. You’re so weak, what good would you be?”

Seeing the group start to chat so brazenly, the Locust Demon Crown Prince’s expression grew even darker.

“Ignorant whelps.”

Seemingly enraged, the Locust Demon Crown Prince summoned a massive phantasm that suddenly appeared high in the sky.

The phantasm was that of an old man, his face shrouded in thick darkness, his hands as withered as dry wood.

In an instant, the countless insects in the sky coalesced into the shape of a single giant locust, and then the oppressive black swarm charged down toward the Six Paths Valley.

“Oh?”

Zhu Ge scrambled up from the ground, showing no sign of serious injury whatsoever.

He looked at the swarm pressing down on them, but the question of how to defend against it never even crossed his mind.

His Bone Monster Avatar was already manipulating the Fungus God Destruction Array.

Between the Bone Monster Avatar, Zhu Ge’s main body, Hua Liusha, and Zhu Sisi, there were a total of four beings capable of controlling the grand array.

Therefore, he wasn’t worried about usage limits. To completely drain all four of them, they would have to activate the Fungus God Destruction Array at full power more than a dozen times.

And now, as Zhu Ge watched the phantasm descend from the sky, he wasn’t the least bit flustered. He didn’t even push the array to its full potential.

‘Just as I thought!’

The phantasm, for all its imposing and powerful presence, merely flashed in mid-air and dealt no damage whatsoever.

But the Wood Daoist’s brow suddenly furrowed, and an instant later, his body exploded into a shower of wood splinters.

A feint!

Everyone present was a prodigy; they all realized in an instant that the Locust Demon Crown Prince wasn’t foolish enough to attack the obviously powerful grand array. His true target had been the Wood Daoist!

Yet in that same instant, all the other prodigies attacked as one.

High in the sky, a phantasmal figure shimmered into existence behind each of them.

True Intent Manifestation!

The mark of entering the Third Realm was to first condense True Intent within one’s Middle Yuan Palace—the heart—and then have it charge upward into the Upper Yuan Palace to achieve the breakthrough.

However, even among those in the Third Realm, only some could manifest their True Intent, transforming it into tangible power.

For instance, the Raincoat Fisherman possessed the Fisherman’s Song Intent.

Zhu Ge, on the other hand, had his personally comprehended Martial Dawn Intent.

Everyone present was one of Yan Liyuan’s friends or old acquaintances. They had all rushed here from across the Da Sheng Dynasty, and all of them intended to go to Nanyue Mianhuang.

These were people Yan Liyuan believed were capable of fighting against a Great One.

As such, practically every single person there had achieved True Intent Manifestation.

In an instant, the entire sky was crowded with phantasms.

There was a scholar reciting texts, a teacher admonishing a student, a Great Hero drawing his sword, a celestial pointing the way…

The various Intents caused the Spiritual Qi for a thousand li around to tremble and surge.

The City Lords of Jianshui City, Mengzi City, and other nearby cities all sensed the disturbance.

Members of the Demon Race in the surrounding lands also panicked and trembled.

This was a battle whose influence stretched an unknown distance; the mere fluctuations could be sensed by Third Realm experts even ten thousand li away.

BOOM!!!!

The two sides collided, and in a single instant, the shockwave flattened everything within a hundred-li radius.

And this was a sneak attack, launched by the prodigies at the very moment the Locust Demon Crown Prince was executing his feint.

Everyone present was a prodigy, and those who had made it onto the recent Sheji Chart were all veterans of countless battles with an impeccable sense of timing.

But even with all these prodigies launching a coordinated sneak attack, they had only managed to fight to a draw.

PTUI!!!

The Wood Daoist reappeared a hundred meters away, spitting a mouthful of blood.

Evidently, the one the Locust Demon Crown Prince had attacked was merely a wooden decoy.

At the same time, three other prodigies shuddered and staggered back a few steps, apparently injured as well.

Just then, the Locust Demon Crown Prince gave a cold snort.

The next second, the two locusts on his chest vanished back into his body with a WHOOSH.

“Watch out!” Yan Liyuan shouted, his expression grim, but he was too late.

BANG!!

CRACK!!

With two soft sounds, one prodigy’s chest was pierced through, while another’s neck was snapped.

However, an object on each of their bodies suddenly lit up.

A halo of light appeared over the chest wound of the first, enveloping him and instantly whisking him far away.

The one with the broken neck flashed with light as his head snapped back into place. He turned to Yan Liyuan, cupped his fist in a helpless gesture, and said:

“Brother Yan, my life-saving treasure has been destroyed. I cannot defy the orders of my Sect. I must take my leave now. Forgive me!”