Chapter 59: First Battle of the Spirit Bee
Chapter 59: First Battle of the Spirit Bee
Lin An entered the mountain cave. The entrance to this cave was not large, and it was dark and narrow, with many side paths along the way.
As Lin An walked to a fork in the path, one of the paths showed clear signs of someone passing through. A small strip of cloth hung from the protruding corner of the stone wall.
"Petty tricks, do you think you can deceive me with such skills?" Lin An snorted coldly and continued on another path.
Along the way, he encountered several forks with small tricks set up to mislead him, but Lin An cleverly saw through each one.
If he knew that Wang Hong set up so much just because he was afraid Lin An would get lost and couldn't find the place, he might be infuriated.
After walking three miles into the cave, there was a large hall ahead, about ten yards in diameter.
Lin An walked to the center of the hall and looked towards a corner, saying coldly, "Are you coming out on your own, or should I invite you out?"
"Do you really think that with such a low-tier concealment formation and those laughable setups outside, you can escape from a Foundation Building cultivator?" Lin An continued speaking, simultaneously summoning a Flying Sword. The few inches long Flying Sword flew into the air, rapidly expanding to about ten yards in length, slashing towards the corner.
He Yuan was responsible for activating the formation. As soon as Lin An stepped into the center of the hall, He Yuan began infusing Spiritual Energy into the array plate to activate the formation.
Seeing Lin An summoning the Flying Sword, He Yuan, though anxious, remained calm. Having experienced many hardships, he had a resolute character.
He continued steadily infusing Spiritual Energy into the array plate, simultaneously guiding the runes throughout and channeling the Spirit Qi from the Spirit Stone in the array plate into the Large Formation.
As the Flying Sword approached, Wang Hong had already summoned a defensive Spiritual Weapon in preparation. The Large Formation finally successfully activated.
A mist rose within the Large Formation, causing the Flying Sword to slow down as if stuck in mud. Lin An exerted force, but the Flying Sword maintained a sluggish pace, then flew into the mist, losing all contact.
At this point, he saw a large glow made of Talismans flying towards him.
The surrounding mist thickened, and like the earlier Flying Sword, he felt sluggish, each movement requiring tremendous effort.
In haste, he could only summon a defensive Spiritual Weapon. Fortunately, just before the Talisman reached him, he managed to summon a Wooden Plaque about a foot in size.
The Wooden Plaque emitted a blue glow, enveloping Lin An.
A multitude of Talismans struck the light shield, but it only rippled.
Then more than forty Long Spears flew in, striking the shield. It wavered for a moment but quickly returned to its original state.
Seeing this, Lin An burst into laughter.
"Truly ignorant, thinking that with this formation, you can kill me? Let me show you the methods of an Immortal Cultivator."
While speaking, Lin An struggled to retrieve a high-grade Magical Weapon Flying Sword from his Storage Bag.
As a Foundation Building cultivator and the head of the Lin Family, he only possessed two Spiritual Weapons for offense and defense.
Having lost his Spiritual Weapon Flying Sword, he had to resort to a high-grade Magical Weapon temporarily. However, a similar high-grade Magical Weapon in the hands of a Foundation Building cultivator was incomparable in power.
Yet, just like the previous Flying Sword, this Magical Weapon, when summoned, got stuck in the mud-like mist and lost contact.
Now both sides were desperately attacking, but their efforts couldn't harm each other in the slightest.
However, over time, this situation became extremely disadvantageous for Wang Hong. Once Lin An broke free, no one could stop him.
Wang Hong rushed to Lin An's side, took out several spirit beast bags, and released a dense swarm of Spirit Bees.
During this time, He Yuan controlled the formation, restricting only Lin An, so the actions of others were unaffected.
Seeing the swarm of Spirit Bees, even Lin An couldn't help but be moved.
The Spirit Bees, under the command of the Bee Queen, swarmed around the light shield.
Green-tailed Spirit Bees possessed a unique dispelling property. As they crawled onto the light shield, their bodies emitted a green light, dissolving the surrounding light shield. Then, their entire bodies merged with the light shield, only to detach from it and enter the interior once again.
The holes left by the departing Spirit Bees on the light shield quickly restored.
In a short time, a large group of Spirit Bees broke through the defensive light shield, climbed onto Lin An, and sought convenient places to sting.
While Foundation Building cultivators had stronger physical bodies than those in the Qi Cultivation stage, unless specifically cultivating their bodies, the Spirit Bee's stingers could still penetrate.
Lin An raised his hand to swat them away, but due to the restrictions of the formation, his movements were slow. He managed to kill some, but against a swarm of Spirit Bees numbering in the tens of thousands, it was like a drop in the ocean.
Soon, the sound of Lin An's uncontrollable groans echoed from inside. The toxicity of the Spirit Bees wasn't particularly strong, but the intense pain it caused surpassed that of a knife cut.
At this point, all the Spirit Bees had penetrated the defense, covering Lin An's entire body, resembling a massive ball of Spirit Bees.
While the poison from the Spirit Bees wasn't too potent, the sheer quantity was something a Foundation Building cultivator couldn't easily endure.
Under the influence of the Spirit Bee's toxins, Lin An's magical energy circulation became sluggish, and the defensive light shield dimmed slightly.
Seizing the opportunity, Wang Hong vigorously attacked the defensive shield with his Long Spear, while Zhang Chunfeng and the others joined in.
Dozens of people simultaneously attacked the shield, causing its radiance to dim progressively.
At this point, Lin An was surrounded by a swarm of ten thousand Spirit Bees, enduring a torture akin to the cruelest imaginable.
The Spirit Bees infiltrated through the seams of his clothes, crawling over every inch of his skin, first injecting toxins with their stingers. Although the toxins wouldn't kill, the pain was excruciating.
Every area pierced by the stingers quickly became swollen and incredibly painful, as if being cut with a knife at the slightest touch.
Each Spirit Bee had limited toxins, releasing them through stings and then resorting to biting with their less-than-impressive teeth.
The problem was, these Spirit Bees weren't carnivorous; they didn't have good biting capabilities. Now, countless Spirit Bees crawled over Lin An, fiercely biting with their inadequate teeth.
It was like trying to cut meat with a blunt knife, struggling back and forth without making much progress.
Moreover, affected by the Spirit Bee toxins, Lin An's entire body was swelling, enlarging several times over.
These swollen areas felt like they were burning, causing unbearable pain with the slightest touch, and tens of thousands of Spirit Bees continued to gnaw on them.
At this moment, Lin An was suffering a pain worse than being drawn and quartered, but he gritted his teeth and endured.
It wasn't that he was exceptionally strong-willed; it was just that if he opened his mouth, Spirit Bees would pour in. He had already swallowed a large number of them, and now his stomach was in excruciating pain.
Countless Spirit Bees also crawled into his ears and nostrils.
Unable to bear it any longer, he pulled out a second-tier Talisman from his Storage Bag, pressed it against himself, and activated it directly. The Talisman instantly exploded on him.
As the dust settled, Lin An bore the full brunt of the second-tier Talisman's impact. At this point, his entire body was charred, and standing up seemed precarious.
As for the significant increase in his body size, it was undoubtedly the result of the bee venom.
A pile of Spirit Bee corpses fell to the ground. Although Spirit Bees had dispelling properties, they also had a limit to what they could endure. When the force was strong enough, any attribute became useless.
At least tens of thousands of Spirit Bees had died this time, but after a brief daze, the remaining Spirit Bees continued to crawl onto him.
If a second-tier Talisman were used four or five times, these Spirit Bees would be completely wiped out. However, just one or two more uses, and Lin An himself would be blown up by the Talisman.
The Talisman he had just used exploded internally, and the defensive light shield Lin An summoned also experienced a significant impact.
Its radiance dimmed further, and Wang Hong and the others accelerated their attacks.
He Yuan, manipulating the formation, now had a pale complexion, drenched in sweat, having already emptied a bottle of high-grade Spirit Wine.
Although there was enough Spirit Wine, controlling the formation required not only Spiritual Energy but also spiritual awareness. At this moment, it felt like countless needles were piercing his head.
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