Before Meng Xingyuan and Yu Aoqing had gotten far, the sounds of fierce combat suddenly erupted from outside. Moments later, those two Yunxia disciples who had chased after Yang Kai stumbled back in a wretched state.
"What happened?" Meng Xingyuan demanded.
"Uncle-Master, there are so many bugs!" one of them answered, his face grim.
No answer was needed — a droning buzz reached Meng Xingyuan's ears. The next instant, he saw a massive dark mass bearing down on them like a wall of fog.
This pitch-black mass was composed entirely of strange black insects, each no larger than a fist, their wings beating furiously. At a glance, the creatures completely filled the passage, their numbers beyond counting.
Yu Aoqing cried out in alarm, "Uncle-Master, those are the bugs that captured us!"
Meng Xingyuan's expression turned icy. "Get behind me!"
He shifted his stance and surged ahead of the Yunxia disciples, his hands sweeping through the air as violent torrents of True Yuan erupted from his palms.
Wherever his strikes landed, the strange insects fell like dumplings from a pot, scattering downward in thick clumps. A clear void was blasted open before him.
"Uncle-Master is incredible!" one of the Yunxia disciples gazed at him, mesmerized, and couldn't help but praise him.
"Follow me — we're cutting our way out!" Meng Xingyuan declared, his aura deep and steady as an abyss. He took the lead, unleashing his techniques as he charged forward. The two Yunxia disciples shielded Yu Aoqing between them and fell in close behind.
Step by step they advanced. Every time Meng Xingyuan struck, he felled dozens of the insects, but their numbers were simply too great — no matter how many he killed, there were always more. After throwing out a dozen or more attacks in succession, his breathing grew ragged. He paused for a moment, took a deep breath to suppress the churning in his blood and qi, and unleashed another savage technique.
Where the group had passed, the ground was carpeted with insect corpses, piled in a thick layer.
After pushing forward roughly fifty zhang, Meng Xingyuan suddenly halted. His face changed drastically.
From deep within the tunnel came a sharp crackling sound. The ceiling above shed chunks of dirt and debris. Then a deep, thunderous rumble filled the air, and the entire cavern began to shake.
"This is bad!" Meng Xingyuan shouted. "It's collapsing — move!"
The three Yunxia disciples behind him were stricken with terror and scrambled to keep up.
But with countless insects blocking their path, they couldn't move as fast as they wanted. Meng Xingyuan was giving it everything he had, yet the insects simply wouldn't part. In the rush, a few stragglers broke through and lunged at the three behind him, throwing them into frantic disarray.
After another thirty zhang of desperate flight, the passage ahead suddenly caved in, completely blocking their way.
Meng Xingyuan and the three Yunxia disciples looked ashen-faced. Yu Aoqing wore a blank, hollow expression — she clearly hadn't expected that the glimmer of hope she'd just glimpsed would lead them right back into a dead end.
The thunderous rumbling never stopped. Yang Kai had already sprinted to the mouth of the cave. The instant he burst out of the insect nest, the ground beneath his feet dropped with a violent jolt.
He didn't dare linger and kept running.
When the two Yunxia disciples had attacked him earlier, Yang Kai had already ordered the insects to destroy their own nest. He knew that clashing head-on with an expert of the Zhenyuan Realm would end badly, so with the insects at his disposal, it was only natural to put them to use.
These creatures were masters at burrowing, and destroying their own nest was child's play.
The sounds of mountains crumbling and earth splitting echoed across the land. Yang Kai ran for several li before finally stopping. He turned to look back and saw that centered around the entrance to the insect nest, the earth across several li had dropped by a significant height.
The entire insect nest had completely collapsed.
But Yang Kai wasn't at ease yet. He wasn't sure whether such a collapse could kill a Zhenyuan Realm expert. His thoughts turned, and he directed the insects to search underground for the Yunxia group's traces. He was determined to cut them down root and stem!
After waiting quietly for roughly the time it takes to finish a cup of tea, Yang Kai suddenly heard a shrill, unwilling scream rise from underground.
It was Meng Xingyuan's cry — the insects must have found him, and a battle was underway.
Gradually, the screaming grew fainter, until it faded into silence entirely.
With a Zhenyuan Realm expert like Meng Xingyuan dead, those Yunxia disciples whose strength was far inferior had no chance of survival. They'd likely been buried alive the moment the cave collapsed.
"What a pity — a stunning beauty gone to waste," the Earth Demon sighed. Yu Aoqing was undoubtedly a rare beauty, but this woman's heart was vicious and venomous. She deserved her end.
The Earth Demon felt only a tinge of regret.
Yang Kai said nothing, his expression indifferent as he stood motionless.
Before long, the ground across several li began to wriggle. Countless insects burst up from underground, surrounding him on all sides, awaiting his orders.
These insects would be Yang Kai's reliance for surviving and exploring Hidden Island.
From the moment he'd infiltrated Yunxia until now, Yang Kai had been cautious and vigilant, treading on thin ice. Only now had he finally shed the Yunxia group, and an unexpected sense of relaxation and freedom washed over him.
It was time to get to work.