Nine Astra Skies

The two Earthly Venerable Rank fighters felt despaired immediately. This was as good as sending them to their deaths! Tuoba Yan was the duke and on top of that, a Mystique Venerable Rank fighter. How could they not obey? They helplessly headed to the front to scout.

The rest of the Earthly Venerable Rank fighters exchanged glances and remained silent, feeling bad for the two who were sent ahead. Tuoba Yan and the others stayed behind, distancing themselves about a hundred meters away. They figured that from this distance, if the two in front had encountered the people of the Xiwu Empire, they would be able to assist them in time.

Ye Chen's Astral Body took note of this and he sneered. The truth was most fighters were fearful of deaths and would prioritize preserving themselves first. To send subordinates to their deaths was a normal occurrence.

Since they had sent out two of them ahead to their deaths, it would be a waste of their kind gesture if he did not take advantage of it.

Little Tanuki spat out a cloud of mist and it drifted around the mountain forest.

Since it was ten in the morning, it was not abnormal for there to be some mists in the woods.

Ye Chen hid behind a large tree. With several swift leaps, Little Tanuki was quickly approaching the two Earthly Venerable Rank fighters.

"What's going on? Why is the mist so thick?" one of the Earthly Venerable rank fighters asked. Using several gusts of palm force, he scattered the mist around them.

Right then, a glimpse of a white shadow flashed between the trees.

"What's that?" The two Earth Venerable rank fighters were alerted. They nervously observed the movements of the winds and grasses around them.

"I think it's a beast," after some time, one of them said uncertainly.

Little Tanuki had intentionally shown herself to draw their attention. While they were in a conversation, their vision suddenly blurred. When they turned around, they were greeted by a gigantic Winged Serpent leaping toward them. Terrified, they immediately ran ahead as if they had been poked by a knife from behind.

The gigantic Winged Serpent was an illusion conjured by Little Tanuki. The primal form of Little Wingsy was conjured within the two Earthly Venerable rank fighter's minds.

The two Earthly Venerable Rank fighters quickly dashed directly into the mist.

Seeing the two Earthly Venerable Rank fighters vanishing into the mist, Ye Chen, who had been hiding behind the tree, shot two Flying Daggers out of his palms. The Flying Daggers whooshed like a lightning bolt, piercing several large trees before striking the two Earthly Venerable Rank fighters with a thump. Fresh blood spilled from between their brows as they collapsed to the ground.

Got them! Ye Chen and Little Tanuki quickly flew away. Little Tanuki continued to produce mist to prevent the remaining fighters from catching up.

"Those two fools, why would they charge in shouting when the mist is so thick?" Tuoba Yan roared angrily. He flew a short distance with the group before encountering the thick mist ahead. They did not want to risk heading forward. Together, they used their palm force to scatter the mist.

After the mist had dispersed, they saw the two bodies laying on the ground. The spot between their brows was pierced through with a dagger of some sort.

When they saw the two bodies, they were startled and quickly stood on alert.

Tuoba Yan's expression remained still as calm water as he looked down to inspect the bodies. There were no signs of life left within them.

There were no remnants of the weapon. The kill was carried out in extreme proficiency and utterly clean!

"The manner of their deaths is strange. Logically, they wouldn't continue pursuing if they saw the thick mist ahead. Why did they choose to charge into the mist instead? This mist seems to be more than just a mere coincidence." Zuoqiu Gongye looked around their surroundings. There were no clues left behind nor a hint of their enemy.

Before they had even seen the Xiwu Empire fighters, they had already suffered two casualties!

"Until now, we still haven't found the location of the Xiwu Empire fighters. These cunning b*stards are definitely hiding in the shadows waiting to ambush us!" Tuoba Yan looked toward the rest of them and asked, "What do you all think?"

They had their suspicions but could not come up with a better guess. More importantly, though Tuoba Yan held his position as a duke, due to his long stay at the Central Empire over the years, the fighters did not have much faith in him. In addition, there was the chilling thought of the fact that he had just pointlessly sent two of them to their deaths.

"As it is, it's better for us to stay in a group to prevent being picked off one by one," Zuoqiu Gongye answered.

Zuoqiu Gongye's reply spelled their concerns as every one of them responded by nodding their heads in agreement.

"If that's the case, nobody is to be separated by more than five meters." Tuoba Yan groaned for a moment and nodded.

The group continued searching for tracks of the Xiwu Empire fighters. After the previous incident, they were extremely cautious as they did not know where the enemy would suddenly ambush them from. If they encountered a mist again, they would not dare recklessly enter.

"Looks like finding the location of the Xiwu Empire fighters takes urgent priority!" said Tuoba Yan after a moment of silence as he retrieved a large pouch. The contents of the pouch were unknown and it moved around constantly.

"Duke, what's that?" Zuoqiu Gongye puzzlingly asked.

Tuoba Yan grinned smugly and said, "This is called the Venomous Hornet and they are as small as grains of rice. They are bred using a unique method. This pouch contains thousands of them. Once released, they'll seek and attack humans on their own. Once stung, the potency of the venom could last for several months if you don't have an antidote. The venom that they carry within is so strong that even a Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter will not be able to easily neutralize it using Celestial Chi. In lighter doses, it can cause one to become unconscious while in severe cases, it means instant death."

"Won't they attack us?" asked Zuoqiu Gongye. When he heard what Tuoba Yan had said, he was terrified.

"Here, each person takes two pouches - one blue and one black." Tuoba Yan tossed something toward Zuoqiu Gongye and continued, "The blue one is an aromatic sachet. As long as you carry them with you, the Venomous Hornets will not attack you unless provoked. The black one contains the antidote. If you're stung, take a small bit and it'll save your life. However, it won't do much to help with the pain that follows so it's best to not get stung at all."

After hearing Tuoba Yan's words, they quickly collected the aromatic sachets and the antidotes.

"Although these Venomous Hornets are tiny, each one of them is a mutated mystical beast. They also survive in very harsh conditions so their bodies are extremely resilient. It'll take a lot of effort even for an Earthly Venerable Rank or Heavenly Venerable Rank fighter to kill them. They say that a hundred thousand of these Venomous Hornets could easily sweep through a city. Even if there were twenty Mystique Venerable Rank fighters, they'd still be killed by these hornets." Tuoba Yan smiled menacingly. "I was planning to save them for use in the future but the Xiwu Empire fighters have annoyed me today, so I'll let them witness the power of the Venomous Hornets!"

"Duke's ploy will wipe out the entire Xiwu Empire forces!" Zuoqiu Gongye praised.

"The duke is brilliant!" the rest of them followed.

Hearing their compliments, Tuoba Yan flashed a smug smile with his line of yellow teeth.

Once they had released the Venomous Hornets, they only needed to stay behind the hornets, then they would be able to find the Xiwu Empire fighters. They could also take advantage of the opening created by the Venomous Hornets attacking the Xiwu Empire fighters to directly confront them!

As Tuoba Yan was taking out the Venomous Hornets, Ye Chen's Astral Body was observing them. He had heard their entire conversation and a weird smile surfaced on the corner of his mouth. Tuoba Yan had thought that he was so smart with his plans that he probably did not expect that he was only setting himself up!

Tuoba Yan carefully loosened the opening of the pouch. It would be a waste to use up all of the Venomous Hornets, therefore, he was being very cautious. Groups of Venomous Hornets came buzzing out.

"Go." Tuoba Yan smiled sinisterly.

Just as Tuoba Yan opened the pouch, Ye Chen's pupils shrunk as he released his Astral Body.

After being released, the swarm of grain-sized Venomous Hornets swarmed together in the air. They formed a black cloud and looked like they were looking for a target. When they noticed Tuoba Yan's group beside them, they caught the scent coming out from them. It turned them off. Just as they were about to look for other prey, a wave of strong Astral Body came over them. The entire swarm of Venomous Hornets was sent into a frenzy and they disregarded the unappealing scent coming from Tuoba Yan and charged toward him.

Tuoba Yan had just released a portion of the Venomous Hornets and there were about three hundred of them. Just as he was about to wrap up the pouches, the released Venomous Hornets suddenly came after him.

Several Venomous Hornets violently stung Tuoba Yan's hands, nearly causing him to scream in pain. The back of his hand instantly swelled up with several large lumps. The burning sensation was like being scorched by a burning-hot steel bar.

Tuoba Yan had never expected that the Venomous Hornets who had always been under his control would suddenly turn against him and attack him. He felt waves of numbing sensations coming from his hand - it was the hornet's venom! His hand jolted, dropping the pouch on the ground where more Venomous Hornets came buzzing out.

Thousands of Venomous Hornets flew around and charged toward Tuoba Yan and the rest. They were all caught off guard.

"Duke, didn't you say that the Venomous Hornets wouldn't attack us?" Zuoqiu Gongye, Zuoqiu Mingye, and the rest of them hurriedly invoke their palm force on the Venomous Hornets.

However, the Venomous Hornets were extremely tough. Even the palm force from Heavenly and Earth Venerable Rank fighters was not able to kill them all.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Horrifying shrieks came one after another.

No matter where the Venomous Hornet stung, a swollen, burning lump the size of a bun immediately swelled up. They quickly consumed the antidote.

"I have no idea! Something's wrong here. Someone must've played some sort of trick!" Tuoba Yan shouted. With his palm force, he killed the Venomous Hornets one after another. These Venomous Hornets possessed some intelligence as well. They did not attack together from the same direction but instead, came in at different angles.

"Duke! This isn't good, the antidote effects aren't strong enough!" one of the Earthly Venerable Rank fighters shouted, panicking. He had been stung in more than ten spots and his body was covered in large lumps. Even his lips had turned plump like a sausage and his voice had become muffled. The antidote could suffice if one was stung once or twice. If stung too many times, then it could not be effective anymore.

They were stung all over. Their entire body felt numb, almost unable to move at all.