The Human Emperor
chapter-1404

Chapter 1404: Frightening Golden Beetles!

Swish!

As the ashen-faced Black Yin Ancestor was about to land, his black robe flapping around him, he heard the air shriek and countless arrows shoot toward him.

“Alarm Gate!”

This was not the first time the Black Yin Ancestor had run into these attacks, and this level was far from enough to harm him. The Black Yin Ancestor turned his hand over, sending out a vast stream of Stellar Energy that immediately turned into a barrier of what seemed like black glass.

But as the first arrow battered against the barrier, the Black Yin Ancestor grimaced.

This wasn’t his first time receiving this kind of attack, but the power of the attack was clearly different.

Each of these arrows now delivered an extremely heavy force, seeming less like arrows and more like hammers. The black wall of Stellar Energy the Black Yin Ancestor had laid down began to tremble.

One arrow, two arrows, three arrows… as more and more arrows slammed down, the black barrier began to dim, and then it simply exploded.

“Not good!”

The Black Yin Ancestor punched forward, obliterating the rain of arrows. By this point, the Black Yin Ancestor’s face had twisted into a nasty scowl, and his eyes were extremely grave.

The formation had changed!

All the attacks had become stronger, more dangerous and harmful!

All those caught inside the formation… were in danger!

Arooooo!

The Black Yin Ancestor suddenly gave a bestial howl, and his dantian erupted with evil energy. In a flash, the Black Yin Ancestor was shooting like a cannonball toward the center of the formation.

“Just who is it who dares to oppose this ancestor?!”

His voice echoed through the space, but the man himself was long gone.

The Black Yin Ancestor was not some master of formations, but a moment ago, even he had sensed that someone was messing around with the formation, throwing into disarray all of its rules of operation.

Everything that was happening in front of him could not be written off as mere happenstance!

……

“Ah!”

One dying scream after another rang out through the air.

As Wang Chong heard these miserable screams from up ahead, he grimaced.

The entire formation had begun to operate in an entirely different matter, each formation gate turning into four. This meant that the more than ten thousand formation gates had become more than forty thousand, and they were starting to shift around more quickly and with more frequency, their attacks getting fiercer.

“They’re preparing to eliminate all the martial artists in the formation!”

As the winds howled around him, Wang Chong’s expression turned increasingly grave.

He had not been solely calculating all this time. Through the world of energy, Wang Chong could ‘see’ a vast storm of worldly energy that could make any martial artist pale. It was surging out from the core of the formation and well on its way to engulfing every single formation gate.

Through some mysterious method, this immense energy was swiftly hardening the formation gates and increasing the power of the various attacks within.

“There’s no time!”

Wang Chong’s expression was one of unprecedented solemnity.

That mysterious faction had activated the final energy of the formation in order to sweep away all the martial artists within. This was much earlier than he and the Formation Elder had expected.

It was obvious that these people were getting impatient and wanted to get rid of the martial artists as quickly as possible.

“There are too many martial artists gathered here. No matter what, I can’t allow them to succeed!”

Wang Chong’s eyes turned sharp.

Hwooo! As the winds tossed around his clothes, Wang Chong accelerated, his body flying toward the next formation gate.

Boom! Boom! Boom! As the formation rapidly shifted, the model of the Origin Immortal Formation in Wang Chong’s mind also began to move at unprecedented speeds.

Wang Chong’s Psychic Energy was rapidly consumed in this entire process.

As a Psychic Energy practitioner, Wang Chong possessed vast reserves of Psychic Energy. This was why Wang Chong was able to perform far more calculations than a master of formations like the Formation Elder.

Deriving the formation’s movements consumed Psychic Energy, particularly a formation as complicated as the Origin Immortal Formation. The faster and longer he calculated, the more Psychic Energy he would consume.

Now that the number of calculations had so abruptly multiplied, the Psychic Energy was being consumed at an astonishing rate.

But Wang Chong could no longer pay this any heed.

“Ah!”

A scream came from up ahead, and in a flash of light, Wang Chong entered the next formation gate. In this formation gate, several unaffiliated martial artists with bloodstained faces were strenuously fending off rains of stones and arrows.

“It’s over! We’re doomed!”

Despair appeared on their faces as the arrows and stones blotted out the sky.

“Hold! You’re not dead yet!”

A thunderous roar rang out, and before they could react, the energies of Yin and Yang swept up these martial artists and tossed them through a formation gate behind him.

“If the three of you work together, you can still hold out for a while and will safely reach the edge of the formation.”

There was one last thunderous shout, and then Wang Chong was gone.

As one got closer and closer to the center of the Origin Immortal Formation, the formation moved faster and faster, but no matter what sort of danger he encountered, Wang Chong was able to calculate that single opportunity that would allow him to narrowly escape danger, allowing him to proceed with a confident and determined pace.

The formation model in Wang Chong’s mind rapidly turned, the revolving of the nine layers moving so quickly that to look upon it was almost blinding. But no matter how the formation changed, Wang Chong was always able to find that path to the center through the model in his mind.

Swish! An arrow shot forward with destructive energy, but Wang Chong managed to dodge it by a hair.

Keekee!

Just as Wang Chong was passing through that narrow space between the Pain Gate and Death Gate to reach the Open Gate, he suddenly heard a chirping sound. It was like the chirping of an insect, but also different. There was a metallic buzz to it, and the sound was also much louder than any insect could make.

Wang Chong only raised an eyebrow at first and continued to press forward. But a moment later, a golden streak of light was hurtling toward his face.

“Where did this bug come from?”

Wang Chong’s brow furrowed. He could tell at a glance that this was a golden beetle the size of a silver coin, its wings open as it flew toward him.

Out of caution, Wang Chong took two steps back and thrust forward a palm. A torrent of energy rushed forward and soon collided with that mysterious golden beetle.

This single attack had immense weight behind it and could easily pulverize a rock.

But the completely unexpected occurred.

After being struck by Wang Chong’s energy, that golden beetle only wobbled in the air for a few moments before flying at Wang Chong once more. Moreover, through the world of energy, Wang Chong could see that not only had the golden beetle escaped completely unscathed, the glow around its body grew even brighter, as did the ripples of energy emanating from it. It felt as if the golden beetle had absorbed a portion of the energy from Wang Chong’s attack into its body.

“How could this be? What sort of insect is this?”

Wang Chong’s heart thumped, his expression instantly changing.

There was no insect in the world that could endure the immense weight of his attack, not even one that had been forged from metal. There was clearly something strange about this insect.

Buzz!

As the golden beetle shot forward in a streak of light, Wang Chong turned apprehensive, sensing an intense danger.

The Formation Elder had said that this Origin Immortal Formation was the world’s number one formation, and that it would only get more dangerous as one got closer to the core. Moreover, the formation was very likely to have some powerful hidden defenses. This golden beetle was likely to be one of the defenses around the center of the formation.

These thoughts quickly flew through Wang Chong’s mind. A moment later, two more golden beetles appeared with a shriek, their wings open as they shot like lightning bolts toward him.

The three golden beetles, one in front and two behind, were chirping as if they had found food.

With no time to think, Wang Chong fired a milky-white bolt of Sword Qi, as sharp as could be. At this moment in time, Wang Chong had decided to use the Art of God and Demon Obliteration.

Keekee!

After being struck by Wang Chong’s Sword Qi, the leading beetle immediately flipped over in the air, bursts of gas venting from its back. Wang Chong observed that this golden beetle’s energy was weakened by about a third, and it was apparent that it had suffered significant injuries.

“What a frightening insect! To think that it would possess such formidable defense!”

Wang Chong slightly paled at this sight.

He had seen many things over his lives, but he had never seen an insect like this. Not only was Stellar Energy of no effect against it, it could actually absorb it and use it to strengthen itself.

The Art of God and Demon Obliteration’s attacks were hailed as peerless in the world, and of the ten great arts, it was second only to the Origin Immortal Art. But even the immense offensive capabilities of the Art of God and Demon Obliteration could not kill these golden beetles.

However, the Sword Qi had succeeded in wounding the golden beetle, and it was probably the only method at his disposal for doing so.

Pa! Pa! Pa!

As the two golden beetles in the rear shot forward, the golden beetle that had been thrown back spiraled in the air and then also corrected its course. Wang Chong immediately flicked his finger several times, sending bolts of Sword Qi at these three insects.