The ant queen was obviously using spirit knowledge. It had kept its eye on Qin Mo from the moment it appeared, as it sensed that of all those present only Qin Mo exerted such intense pressure upon it.

At present though, it watched as Lin Zizheng drew closer, its immense wings fanning faintly and its enormous mouth slightly ajar, a dark black liquid erupted from its mouth and straight at Lin Zizheng.

Seeing the poisonous liquid, Lin Zizheng's face did not show a single trace of panic. With a wave of his hand, the handle of a □ □1 materialised from thin air and in his right hand.

The weapon was more than eight feet long, its body completely black and underneath the sunlight, glints of gold flickered on the sides. Its tip was silvery white and looked exceptionally sharp.

As Lin Zizheng seized the □ □ with a gentle wave, the poison that had already arrived before him dissipated into nothing. Yet the weapon's tip remained as s.h.i.+ny as ever.

The ant queen stared blankly, obviously, it had not antic.i.p.ated the little ant it was faced with to dodge its poison attack and couldn't help but get somewhat annoyed. Flitting its wings, it flew forward attacking Lin Zizheng, planning to use its mandibles to suck him dry.

Lin Zizheng's eyes narrowed whilst he watched the ant queen's ambush. He bent down, immediately leaping up to meet the ant queen head on.

Behind him, Qin Mo's brow gently creased and unwittingly he stepped forward before stopping again. He hadn't expected Lin Zizheng to be so impulsive, going so far as to fight fire with fire.

The movements of both person and ant struck rapid, colliding with each other in a flash. As he reached the ant queen, Lin Zizheng's body suddenly turned. No one present could see how he'd done it, but in a wink, he'd appeared behind the queen's body as though he'd teleported.

The □ □ held high, Lin Zizheng's face no longer bore his usually gentle smile, but was instead rather solemn.

Suddenly, the □ □ swung down once more, embedding into the crack between the ant queen's head and its body. The queen didn't react for a bit, but then it was struck by the pain in its neck. Its wings beat even harder, forming a strong wind and blowing the surrounding objects into the distance.

No matter how the ant queen struggled, Lin Zizheng's grip around the □ □ did not loosen and it dug deeper into the neck, pinning the queen to the ground.

The ant queen's neck was its weakest point and after scuffling on the ground for a moment, it gradually ceased all movement and no longer made any sounds.

Lin Zizheng readily summoned a cascade of bright orange flames and cast them on the queen's body. In the span of a second, the ant queen, who'd just been showing off its prowess in martial arts, was gone. Looking at the pile of black ash in the dirt, Lin Zizheng once more picked up the □ □ .

The crowd of disciples watched dumbstruck. They hadn't expected him to actually be capable of executing the foundation phase ant queen. They simultaneously felt astonished by the feat and by its absurdity, gazing at Lin Zizheng with different eyes. No wonder s.h.i.+xiong regarded him so highly. As it turned out, he'd actually possessed such abilities.

Qin Mo looked on as the youth holding the □ □ walked over step by step towards him, the sunlight striking his figure from behind gave off a notably towering impression. Qin Mo couldn't help but feel a little moved. Regardless of what is changed, the era of the protagonist is bound to come.

Petting the little fox on his shoulder, Qin Mo turned to the disciples behind him and spoke: “Let's leave.”

Noticing the little fox, He felt somewhat surprised. It seemed to had disappeared since the giant forest ants had first arrived. Now that they were gone, it also chose to come out. So his spoiled spirit pet was really only interested in saving its own neck? Qin Mo slightly furrowed his brow.

Appearing to have guessed what Qin Mo was thinking, it rolled its eyes at him. Its mouth opened slightly and a wad of purple spirit gra.s.s appeared in his hand.

Flipping the herbs in his hand over a few times, a flash of perplexity pa.s.sed across his eyes. He wasn't sure of the nature of the spirit gra.s.s, nor of the little fox's intentions.

A disciple next to him glanced at the spirit gra.s.s in his hands and, seeing it, immediately blurted out: “Ah, its drifting gra.s.s!”

“En?” Qin Mo was somewhat unconvinced, he had never heard of drifting gra.s.s before.

“I've also seen it in s.h.i.+fu's ancient scripts. It doesn't effect cultivators, much like any common weed, however, one of its properties is that it attracts giant forest ants. As a result, the commonly seen drifting gra.s.s is usually destroyed. Though if I remember correctly it only grows on top of cliffs. How'd it get here?” The disciple's face brimmed with concentrated confusion.

Hearing this, Qin Mo's brow furrowed even deeper. It was as s.h.i.+fu had said, the incident surrounding the invitation really was quite strange. Although he had read the original novel, he couldn't remember its plot. He glanced over at Lin Zizheng. The protagonist is here, there shouldn't be any major issues!

That thought in mind, with a twist of his wrist, Qin Mo placed the drifting gra.s.s into his Qiankun bag and took out the Cloud Boat, preparing to leave with the Yueqing Sect disciples.

“The fellow Daoist upfront! Wait! Wait!” Before they could board the Cloud Boat, they heard an anxious call from behind. Turning to look, they saw a cultivator wearing earth coloured robes quickly staggering towards them.

Waiting for him to get nearer, they could see that he wore a Zhengyang Sect robe, but he seemed quite embarra.s.sed. His clothes were torn, his hair dishevelled, and his whole body was covered in wounds. He appeared to had just gone through quite the struggle.

Seeing the state he was in, they again recalled the fierce fight they had just run into and many of the disciples couldn't help but sympathize with him in their hearts.

As he approached, the cultivator noticed the crowd's gaze focus on him and with uneasiness drawn over his face, he somewhat nervously spoke: “I am a disciple of Zhengyang Sect. I came to the area to gain experience, but I didn't think I'd come across a group of giant forest ants. Several of my companions who'd come here with me were killed.”

The cultivator's voice carried a mournful tone, his expression revealing his resentment. His fists tightly clenched and then slowly released, “I was lucky enough to escape with my life and now I wish to quickly return to my sect. I was wondering if you could bring me along with you?” His eyes centred on Qin Mo, betrayed a bit of nervous antic.i.p.ation.

Once they heard all this, the hearts of the Yueqing disciples grew compa.s.sionate and they all looked to Qin Mo.

Under the stares of so many, Qin Mo rather uncomfortably turned his head and, glancing at the cultivator before him, faintly nodded.

The cultivator, who claimed to be named s.h.i.+ Ying, was a disciple related to one of the elders of Zhengyang Sect. He seemed to be quite talkative and as such was rather easily accepted into the group.

Whilst he talked and laughed with the rest of the disciples, s.h.i.+ Ying looked at Qin Mo, who only stood to the side, and a shy smile crept onto his lips. From his Qiankun bag, he took out a pale green spirit fruit and presented it to Qin Mo.

Sweeping a quick look at s.h.i.+ Ying's smiling face, Qin Mo thanked him and took the spirit fruit from his hand. However, he only held on to it and didn't immediately eat it. After all, Qin Mo had always conducted himself with strictness, unless absolutely necessary, he preferred to not eat in front of others.

Noticing this, s.h.i.+ Ying's pupils subtly flashed: "s.h.i.+xiong Qin Mo, this spirit fruit tastes quite good. It can also improve the spirit power within a cultivator's body. It would be better to try it!"

Qin Mo's hand tightened around the spirit fruit. Why did he get the feeling that s.h.i.+ Ying seemed a bit overly eager for him to eat it? Thinking of this, Qin Mo nodded slightly, gave a quiet “En”, and pressed the spirit fruit to his lips, while discretely looking at s.h.i.+ Ying from the corner of his eye.

Sure enough, as Qin Mo had expected; as s.h.i.+ Ying watched Qin Mo prepare to bite into the fruit, he could no longer conceal the smile on his face, as a tinge of ridicule pulled at the corners of his mouth.

The moment the spirit fruit was about to touch his lip, Qin Mo's wrist twisted slightly and it disappeared. His gaze at once turned severe as he examined s.h.i.+ Ying, asking: "Who are you?"

The smile on s.h.i.+ Ying's face suddenly stiffened and he answered somewhat awkwardly: "s.h.i.+xiong Qin Mo, What do you mean? I am s.h.i.+ Ying!"

Qin Mo did not answer him, only his expression became even graver.

Seemingly frightened by Qin Mo's reaction, s.h.i.+ Ying's face fell and he just muttered: "s.h.i.+xiong Qin Mo…"

As he spoke, his expression s.h.i.+fted, becoming rather sinister. He opened his hands and a sharp palm shot forward at Qin Mo's face, as he uttered menacingly: "Manghuang2 palm, Zhengyang Sect's unshared hidden technique. Let's see how you escape this time!”

Faced by the sudden threat of the fierce palm, Qin Mo's face remained unchanged, his jade-like slender hands slightly turned, radiated a light glow. He lifted them up and with so simple a motion stopped s.h.i.+ Ying's mighty blow.

“No, it can't be! How are you so strong?” s.h.i.+ Ying's hands were restrained. Unable to move at all, his face twisted with disbelief and he looked at Qin Mo with eyes full of fear.

Before all this, he was the one who'd planted the drifting gra.s.s on them. He'd believed that the giant ants would leave most of the group from Yueqing Sect either dead or injured. However, unexpectedly they'd all escaped the scourge and in the end even dealt with the ant queen so effortlessly.

Thus, with the failure of that plan, he hatched a new one; he plotted to trick Qin Mo into eating a poisoned piece of fruit. Yet he failed to foresee that Qin Mo would see through his lie. More so, what made it so difficult for him to accept his defeat was the fact that he'd fully perfected his cultivation in the Qi refining phase. When caught in sneak attacks not even the edge of his hem could be caught.

Thinking of this, s.h.i.+ Ying's gaze teemed with deep disappointment. It was apparent, he'd failed his mission of intercepting and weakening the Yuqing disciples.

To his side, the disciples finally realised s.h.i.+ Ying's hand in their plight. Seeing that he had the cheek to mount a sneak attack on their s.h.i.+xiong, they seethed with rage and glared at him intensely, wis.h.i.+ng they could devour his flesh3.

“Who sent you?” Qin Mo's brow wrinkled, as he asked coldly.

“Haha, you're done for! We, Zhengyang Sect, will become the first in the boundary of the blue sky!” The air was suddenly filled with s.h.i.+ Ying's frantic laughter and he spoke, his tone demented.

As soon as this was said, the disciples fell into an uproar. After all, Zhengyang Sect was also one of the three major sects. Its disciples primarily relied on body refining. Simply put, they were all brawn but simple-minded. While their techniques had always been quite exceptional.

Following s.h.i.+ Ying's laughter, black blood began trickling from his mouth. In just a moment, his head rolled to one side, no longer breathing.

Lin Zizheng, who had become sullen since s.h.i.+ Ying's attempted sneak attack on Qin Mo, now came forward and looked over s.h.i.+ Ying's present state, declaring: "Dead."

Qin Mo's pupils shrunk. He hadn't antic.i.p.ated he'd actually commit suicide by taking poison. The trail unexpectedly broke off in such a manner. As for what he'd last said about Zhengyang Sect, Qin Mo didn't have the slightest bit of confidence in it.

Loosening his hold on s.h.i.+ Ying, Qin Mo icily ordered the disciples to look after the corpse. He sped up the Cloud Boat's flight, intent on reaching Zhengyang Sect quickly and figuring out the truth of the matter.

Atop the Cloud Boat, the disciples argued spiritedly whether or not s.h.i.+ Ying's words were to be believed. Considering the fact that he wore robes from Zhengyang Sect and used their secret Manghuang palm technique, unavoidable doubt was cast on Zhengyang Sect.

Getting major Wen clan vibes from this Zhengyang Sect (Sun symbol anybody). Hehehe

1Okay so the boxes are here in the original but like is it just me or is this thing a sword? I feel like its sword. 8 feet definitely long for a sword but like ehhhh ¯_(*-*)_/¯. Though adding the boxes makes it seem like "something" else. Hahaha, I'm an idiot. Oh well staying true to the content is my virtue.

2Manghuang: directly translates to uncultivated poisonous so it's basically a poison hand technique.

3I know this sounds weird as s.h.i.+t but it legit says they want to eat him and idk how to make this sound good man.