Pa!

The whip struck Chen Feng’s body again and a cloud of blood spread out. The barrier created by the Blood Mustering Bead was shattered, but Chen Feng made use of the opportunity to pull the Longevity Bow. 

An arrow flew out at the same time that the barrier shattered and Chen Feng could sense the arrow hitting the other party. 

As expected, the whip did not come again. However, four Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers surrounded Chen Feng, who swore silently. He had no choice but to go all out to fight them. 

From what Chen Feng could see, the situation was already as clear as day. Should the Slaughterers choose to not flee, they would likely end up being killed, all of them. Should they turn around now, it was possible for them to flee. But these Slaughterers knew not the meaning of death. Instead, they stayed behind and went all out to fight Chen Feng. 

Chen Feng felt entangled about the current situation. He wanted to kill them all, but this will also take a toll on his own force.

After several rounds, Chen Feng and the Slaughterers became wounded. Then, a combat puppet arrived. With just one punch, two of the Slaughterers were blown up. Another punch blew up the other two Slaughterers. 

Turning to look at the other combat puppet, Chen Feng saw that it was fighting against several Divine Monarch level Slaughterers. He then noticed that the Gold Immortal stage unique creatures under him were already suffering from some casualties. 

“Go kill off those Divine Monarchs,” Chen Feng said. 

The very moment the combat puppet moved forward, though, those Divine Monarch level Slaughterers dispersed with a boom to flee. 

Surprisingly, the Slaughterers had chosen to flee. Seeing that, Chen Feng was taken aback.

In the end, however, two of them were killed. In addition, some of the Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers also began fleeing. The rest, even those at the half-step Gold Immortal stage, revealed not the slightest intention of running away. 

After all the Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers fled, the remaining Slaughterers were quickly wiped out. 

They managed to gain a lot from this battle. Although most of the Slaughterers killed were the normal Slaughterers, over 100 Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers had stayed behind. Amongst them were several Divine Princes and Divine Monarch.

Just by looking at the Gold Immortals, the harvest they obtained this time was comparable to several of their previous battles. But after Chen Feng made a headcount, he found that several of the Gold Immortal stage unique creatures under him had fallen in battle as well. He shook his head and sighed. There was no helping it. Even in situations where they had the absolute upper hand, it would be rare for there to be no casualties. 

“Clean up the battlefield.” Although that was what Chen Feng said, the Divine Bugs appeared to quickly clean up the battlefield. This time, though, Chen Feng kept a portion of the crystal cores for the unique creatures. At any rate, the unique creatures were not combat puppets. To motivate these unique creatures to fight for him, he needed to give them some rewards. Moreover, in order to get battle results, he will need these unique creatures to grow stronger. Even combat puppets would consume energy. 

The number of Heavenly Immortal bugs under Chen Feng finally hit the one million mark. Because they had managed to kill off more Gold Immortals this time, the female bug was able to create another 10 Gold Immortal bugs.

Next up, Chen Feng stopped attacking. The previous plan of luring out the enemy was already a highly risky one. Chen Feng believed that, should he try that again, the Slaughterers would send out a high number of Gold Immortals to come after him. It would truly become a hunt for him. In the end, his force would end up losing. 

The time spent waiting was boring. Thankfully, he could use the time to cultivate and chat with the unique creatures. The unique creatures were all at the Gold Immortal stage. Every one of them had lived for countless years. More, they were from the various corners of the universe. Although they were subdued by the Longevity Tower, it cannot be denied that these unique creatures were extraordinary existences. Few amongst those who could cultivate up to the Gold Immortal stage were ordinary fellows. 

By chatting with the unique creatures, Chen Feng was able to expand his horizon and learn more. Additionally, it also helped him with his cultivation. 

Chen Feng came to truly know these unique creatures and he found out about the existence of some incredibly rare species within this universe.

Chen Feng did not want to simply suppress them. Thus, he did his best to communicate with the unique creatures. He even considered granting them back their freedom in the future. As expected, when Chen Feng deliberately let slip his intentions, he was able to clearly sense the notions of joy coming from a number of the unique creatures. 

However, some unique creatures expressed their desire to stay instead. Better yet, they wanted to cultivate in the Longevity Tower. In the beginning, Chen Feng was shocked, but he quickly understood. Some unique creatures wanted freedom, but some wanted a backing and a good cultivation environment.

Finally, one by one, the Divine Bugs sent for reconnaissance finally returned. Naturally, only a portion of them returned while another portion remained embedded within the army of Slaughterers. 

There was only a distance of tens of billions of li between the two parties and the female bug had no issues in maintaining contact with them. The Divine Bugs then transmitted the information to the female bug, allowing Chen Feng to find out what was happening within the army of Slaughterers. 

“It truly is a Bug Empress undergoing evolution. It is now in a period of weakness. We also have the general position of the Bug Empress now. However, even though the Bug Empress is in a weakened state, it is still not something I can handle. Moreover, it has so many defenders. I am unable to go near it either. Tsk, tsk. This is such a good opportunity. However, because I am lacking in strength, I am unable to approach it. How unbearable.” Chen Feng walked back and forth, mumbling in a vexed manner. 

The female bug had no solution for this either. There were 300 billion Slaughterers and a Paramount Gold Immortal stage Slaughterer. That was not a force that they could contend against, not unless the female bug also advanced to the Paramount Gold Immortal stage.

Do I have to leave just like this?

 Chen Feng sighed. Although he was able to figure out the situation there, he was lacking in power. In order to follow the Slaughterers, he had taken a very long detour from his original path. If it weren’t for the fact that he did manage to get something out of this earlier, he would have complained about how much he lost from this whole situation. 

I’ll wait for a little longer. If nothing changes, I will leave

. In the end, Chen Feng came to that conclusion. 

After one year, Chen Feng was unable to endure anymore. He did not intend on leaving just yet, though. Instead, he decided to personally take the risk of going in to investigate the situation.  

After keeping the unique creatures, Chen Feng moved forward. After making his way into the army of Slaughterers, he borrowed the power of the Ancient Divine Bug and combined it with his own stealth technique as he moved through the Slaughterers. Every time he encountered some seals or obstructions, he would be able to figure a way through them. And so, he continued heading forward until he was deep into the army of Slaughterers. There, Chen Feng then felt as though he was taking too big of a risk. In the face of benefits, his actions here was almost suicidal. Should the Slaughterers discover him, it would be impossible for him to escape. 

But now that he had come this far, Chen Feng was unwilling to turn back. And so, after wrestling with his thoughts for a moment, he decided to continue onwards. 

As he headed deeper, the number of Slaughterers around him became increasingly small while their strength became increasingly formidable. As for Chen Feng, he became increasingly vigilant. In the end, he would see Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers again and again. When he finally saw Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers and half-step Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers appear in groups, he knew that the Bug Empress was close by.

“I can sense the aura of the Bug Empress,” the female bug in Chen Feng’s sea of wisdom said. 

“Where? How far is it from here?” Chen Feng asked. 

“It’s just up ahead, but there is a group of Divine Monarchs standing guard over it,” the female bug replied. 

“A group of Divine Monarchs?!” Chen Feng halted his steps. 

“There are quite lot. At the very least, I sense the auras of tens of Divine Monarchs. Moreover, this is only the auras from one direction. There might be more elsewhere,” the female bug said. 

“Say, would it be better if I leave now?” Chen Feng asked. 

“I suggest we leave immediately,” the female bug was quick to reply. 

“Very well, let’s just leave. Going any further is just suicide.” Chen Feng nodded. With tens of Divine Monarchs or more standing guard there, he would be incapable of breaking through, not even after he had advanced to the Gold Immortal stage.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Feng then turned around to leave. However, as he was in the midst of making his way out of the army of Slaughterers, he saw the army falling into a state of chaos. Next, a furious, ocean-shaking roar rang out, followed by the sounds of battle. 

For a brief moment, Chen Feng was taken aback. Next, he realized that someone must have broken in. And so, he halted his steps again. He decided to observe the situation. If this new party was strong enough, he might be able to fish in troubled waters and get himself some more goodies.

“The aura of bugs,” the female bug suddenly said.

“Bugs? What bugs?” Chen Feng was surprised, but he immediately understood what the female bug meant. 

“You mean to say that the ones attacking is another bug brood?”

“Yes. Additionally, they are experts,” the female bug said. 

“Experts.” Chen Feng’s eyes lit up. The female bug was already at the Divine Monarch level. For it to say that they were experts meant that they were at least at the Divine Monarch level.”

“How many are there? For them to be able to stir up such a ruckus, there must be quite a lot of them,” Chen Feng mumbled as he secretly released his divine sense.

“Destroyers?” Chen Feng was quick to notice black holes moving quickly there. It was similar to the Destroyer that he had encountered back then. 

“Not Destroyers, but Devourers,” the female bug said. 

“Devourers? Why do they look similar to Destroyers?” While Chen Feng had heard of the Devourers before, he had never seen them. 

“Appearance wise, they are similar. However, the Destroyers would purely destroy while the Devourers, while destroying, could also devour their targets’ energy and parts. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Devourers are stronger than Destroyers,” the female bug said. 

“Is that so? In that case, we don’t need to leave. With these Devourers to open the way, we will be able to get ourselves a bargain here.” After saying that, Chen Feng waved his hand and a spatial crack appeared before him. Instantly, over a hundred Slaughterers were sucked into it, disappearing from sight. The very next moment, the hundred plus Slaughterers fell into the separate space housing the female bug. Instantly, the other Divine Bugs inside the space finished off the Slaughterers. 

After that, Chen Feng changed his position, taking advantage of the chaos to display some methods non-stop to capture the Slaughterer. Several times, the other Slaughterers had noticed him. However, the chaotic situation and the fact that he was constantly moving around made it so they were not able to surround him. 

In the end, a Devourer appeared not far away from Chen feng. This Devourer was rapidly charging forward without realizing Chen Feng’s existence. A massive black hole was shredding the Slaughterers apart and all the shredded Slaughterers would be devoured. 

Divine Monarch level Devourer!

 After the Devourer appeared, Chen Feng remained immobile. He retracted all his aura and waited for the Devourer to disappear before taking action to capture over a thousand Slaughterers. 

1 li = 0.5 km