Lord of the Desert

Chapter 434 Climbing the steps
The heavy rain lasted for a whole day and night, as if it had consumed a month's supply at once.

On February 15th, the first ray of sunlight at dawn was as thin as a blade, cutting through the night.

The sky cleared up completely.

At noon, the road was still very muddy, but the team had already set off. Within three days, they traveled a hundred miles in the northeast direction and reached the edge of Mount Saga.

From the 15th to the 18th, the weather became brighter and brighter, and there was no loss of personnel for three consecutive days. Hong Fan thought that this might have benefited from the heavy rain at Tiewa Pass, which forced everyone to rest for a whole day.

Another day, February 19th.

The team was still about 600 miles away from Feiyan Pass, so they stopped to rest in the afternoon.

A quarter of an hour later, Gu Yixin, who was on duty for reconnaissance, flew back from the sky like a hawk and landed accurately next to Hong Fan and others.

"There are two groups of real insects ahead, one group is thirteen miles to the north, and the other group is more than twenty miles to the northwest."

He sat down on the stone, his spear leaning against his side, and took the half-filled jar of freshly picked red raspberries that Hong Fan handed to him.

"Just soldier bugs?"

Xi Zhi asked.

"more than."

Gu Yixin shook his head, grabbed a handful of fruit and chewed it, only to find that it was very sour.

He turned his head and saw Hong Fan listening seriously.

"I counted carefully. Each team has twenty soldier bugs, led by a general bug."

Gu Yixin swallowed the raspberry and said.

Xi Zhi became a little solemn after hearing this.

"This means we are approaching the core area controlled by the Zerg."

Seeing Hong Fan's inquiring look, he explained further.

"If we compare the insect swarm to a person, the commander and general are the brain and skeleton. The flesh and blood of worker or soldier insects can be easily replaced if lost, but the general has to stay in the eggshell for at least several months. Unless it is a protracted war, it is almost impossible to regenerate."

"Besides, the general and the commander have always been one and the same. Since a general insect has appeared, there must be a commander insect within a radius of dozens of miles."

At this time, the relaxation brought by the sunny day was swept away, and everyone became stern.

"With the presence of a handsome bug at this position, does this mean that Feiyan Pass is still holding out?"

Hong Fan deliberately mentioned the good news.

"I suppose so."

Xi Zhi nodded, his expression slightly relieved.

"With you all here, it won't be difficult for us to wipe out a few real insect teams, but the insects are like the eyes and ears of the handsome insects. The handsome insects are one with each other. Once we clash with them, the entire insect tide will be able to determine our location immediately..."

"Can the general worm and the handsome worm communicate remotely and instantly?"

Hong Fan was stunned.

"Yes, according to the court, the general insects and commander insects have a long-distance communication mechanism based on innate spiritual energy, which can transmit two-way instant messages across dozens of miles."

Xi Zhi answered.

"That's a bit tricky."

Hong Fan crossed his arms, obviously not expecting that the alien race, whom he subconsciously believed to be barbaric and backward, would actually have such "high technology".

"Or Brother Gu and I can go hunt the handsome bugs nearby, is that okay?"

"Master Hong, this may be difficult."

Nie Bo took over.

"Although the handsome bugs are clumsy and have little combat power, their shells can change color to mimic other creatures, making them difficult to distinguish from a distance. In addition, they have a habit of burying themselves in the ground when they are stationed in a certain area, and only let their subordinates deliver food through the tunnels they have dug. Trying to find them is like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Everyone was silent for a moment, all at a loss as to what to do.

"Then let's take down the general insect first."

Gu Yixin spoke at this time.

"The further north we go, the more bugs there will be. We have to get going."

He said seriously, stuffed half a can of sour raspberries back into Hong Fan's arms as if nothing had happened, clapped his hands and stood up.

······
A quarter of an hour later, the temporary camp was more than ten miles north.

Downwind.

The thatched grass on the high hill was gently pressed down by a hand.

Hong Fan stuck out half of his face and looked at the swarm of insects wandering a few miles away.

There are twenty-one in total, the leader of which is three meters long, with thick limbs and ferocious horns.

"That's the General Bug. It weighs about two thousand pounds and has a strength that is ten times its own weight. In terms of strength alone, it's even stronger than a peak warrior."

Yin Feihu said in a low voice.

Hong Fan was shocked when he heard this.

"If we calculate it as one to twenty, wouldn't there be at least five hundred Pure Realm insects among the more than ten thousand True Insects in this insect tide?"

It should be noted that before the fall of the Li family, there were only about forty people in the Hunran realm in Jinhai City.

"It's not as scary as saying there are hundreds of Hunran Realm warriors. After all, the brain of the insect is pitifully small. One-on-one, it is definitely no match for the Hunran Realm warriors of the human race."

Yin Feihu explained.

"But even if the real bugs are stupid, they still have a strong body. If this group of people fight against the mortal army in the field, I'm afraid they can wipe out two hundred-man teams with heavy crossbows."

Hong Fan had no doubt about this - the insect's metallic exoskeleton and three pairs of compound eyes protected by chitin were definitely not something that could be penetrated by ordinary arrows.

"The five senses of a general insect are sharp, and its vitality is extremely strong. It is impossible to kill it with one strike without it realizing it."

Yin Feihu looked at the giant beast with a majestic appearance in the distance.

"Fortunately, we have the Ancient Spearmaster."

It was Hong Fan who took over the words.

"Not necessarily."

He smiled, quite interested.

"Brother Gu, how about I do it this time?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Gu Yixin and saw him nod without hesitation.

"My two lords, how about playing it safe?"

Xi Zhi was a little worried.

"Don't worry. If Brother Fan says he can do it, then he definitely can." Gu Yixin replied seriously.

Yin Feihu wanted to persuade him again, but after hearing what the strongest man in the formation said, he decided to stop talking and secretly pressed his hand on the hilt of the knife.

Hong Fan's face solemnly stood up, took a step forward and stepped on the high hill.

The green grass on the fields swayed like hair, bringing the storm from the north hand to hand.

The gravel rolled silently.

First, a straight long gun barrel was molded on Hong Fan’s shoulders, and then his entire body was firmly cast on the ground.

At this point, the man and the hill have become one, solid as steel.

A moment later, the blazing fire essence exploded and was propelled out of the gun, like a dotted line pointing directly into the left eye of the unaware general four hundred meters away, detonating inside his skull.

Blood and flesh splattered, and the insect's neck was emptied.

A second later, the thunder of an explosion was heard, and at the same time the giant insect that had lost its head staggered and fell.

"amazing!"

Gu Yixin was the first to praise.

"I remember that before we parted last year, your sand spear couldn't reach far. I didn't expect that you'd make such progress in just half a year. Is this the result of your new training method?"

He asked casually.

Xi Zhi was listening at the side and felt scared - it turned out that you didn't know Mr. Hong's methods just now - but then he changed his mind and was even more surprised at Gu Yixin's unconditional trust in Hong Fan.

"This killing method is truly amazing!"

Yin Feihu was completely shocked.

As an innate four-in-one warrior, he originally relied on his cultivation to surpass Hong Fan, and treated the latter with respect but not respect. Now he put himself in the position of the insect just now, but he was not 100% sure of his survival.

"This must be the first-class killing method in the Hidden Martial Pavilion?"

He sighed.

"It has not been determined yet. I personally think it is more than one grade."

Hong Fan replied without any concealment - since it has not yet been classified, it is certainly a newly created method.

Just for this one shot, several people praised it several times. They were very excited at first, but soon they all stopped talking at the same time.

In the distance, the twenty soldier insects surrounding the general insect confirmed that their leader was dead, and immediately tore into and ate his corpse.

Green slurry spurted out, limbs slanted sideways, and pieces of exoskeleton were completely torn apart by brute force...

The wind blew from afar, bringing with it tiny gnawing and tearing sounds.

"These soldier bugs have lost their command and returned to their instinctive state..."

Xi Zhi swallowed and finished his words intermittently.

"They are now like the lowest beasts, collecting as many resources as possible and bringing them back to their intended destination until they are reorganized next time."

The meal continued, and Hong Fan seemed to smell something in the fresh breeze.

“Without thoughts, emotions, or fear, I will not even pause for a moment because of death, and will be perfectly focused on the present moment.”

His face was solemn.

"What a terrifying war machine."

The general insects had been torn to pieces, but the twenty soldier insects were unable to bring back the resources and died in the hands of five human warriors in a blink of an eye.

The battle was so easy that it doesn't even deserve a few adjectives.

Gu Yixin pulled the gun out from the brain of an insect corpse and saw Hong Fan standing there in a daze.

"what happened?"

he expressed concern.

"Have you heard about the Star Lord's ability to increase his cultivation by stealing souls and spirits?"

Hong Fan came back to his senses and said.

"I heard that you are going to break through again?"

Gu Yixin swung the gun tip at an angle, splashing green blood into a line on the ground.

"No, I found that as my realm increases, the amount of vitality required for breakthrough becomes larger and larger. The vitality provided by these twenty soldier insects is equivalent to that of hundreds of ordinary people, but I can hardly detect any obvious difference."

Hong Fan sighed with emotion.

"Now that I have reached the second level of innateness, to advance to a higher level, about 30,000 to 40,000 mortals will have to die."

"Do you need so many? The Xiantian realm is certainly extraordinary, but I don't think it can match so many people."

Gu Yixin frowned.

"No, it's not enough. The plundering of the vitality of the life star will consume a large part of it, almost one in ten, but after all, I am only at the second level of innate integration."

Hong Fan took two steps closer, glanced back at the others who were dragging the insect corpses dozens of meters away, and lowered his voice so that only the two of them could hear it.

"Brother Gu, from my calculations, it would take tens of thousands of people to take one step forward. What if there are even stronger ones?"

"Stronger? Even if a warrior is a celestial being, he doesn't have your ability to search and seize souls."

Gu Yixin swung the tip of the spear, cutting off the poisonous mouthparts and claws to make it easier to collect them later.

"If warriors can't do it, then those above warriors can't do it either?"

Hong Fan lowered his voice even more.

"If the gods want to ascend the stairs, how many corpses must they step on?"

At this time, Gu Yixin stopped and looked back, leaning on the gun.

There was no expression on Hong Fan's face.

Beyond his face, in the distance, was the misty gray-yellow horizon where the sky and the earth merged.

Higher up, the indigo-colored sand mountains hang in the air, like spectators outside the world.

The two of them just felt frightened by the wind.

"Hong Fan, I don't understand this."

Gu Yixin lowered his eyes and murmured.

"Just kill more bugs."

Hong Fan stopped talking, just nodded silently and carried a complete soldier insect corpse on his shoulder.

Then they turned and walked up the hill.

(End of this chapter)