Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 565 Hive Blade Storm
container?

Li Xia's eyes flashed. The [Dawn] that can form an avatar can only emerge from the body of the Bather of Light, that is, the Pale Spirit.

From this perspective, it's not wrong to call them containers.

"This is the story of the Zerg Hive Kingdom."

Old Oss picked up the steaming hot sap, brought it to his lips, and took a delicious sip.

"what about now?"

Li Xia kept his guesses to himself; the story was far from over, like the insect shells on the plains outside, and the long-sealed gate.
"Now?"

Old Oss remained silent for a long while, then sighed softly:

"The Pale Spirits achieved final victory and formed a united kingdom. They are also known as the Higher Beings, nobles who are above the insects."

The former alliance has fallen apart, and each Pale Spirit needs tens of thousands of insects to sustain it.

They proudly proclaim themselves to be the rightful masters of the world.
They broke their alliance and waged a massive war against beasts and spiders.

The war dragged on, and the area was once a military camp, teeming with terrifying numbers of insects.

The beasts and spiders also united to resist the invasion of the insect hive.

The war lasted for nearly ten years, and many of the insects never returned.

Ultimately, the beasts and spiders were defeated, but the insect hive was also severely weakened and had to close the gates leading to it.

This is a remote village, and apart from travelers like you, no one has come here for a long time.

I heard there's been a plague outbreak inside the insect hive, so even fewer people are coming here.
I wonder how my child is doing.

Old Os looked at Li Xia and suddenly said:
"Traveler, if you go to the City of Tears, could you please go and see my child?"
It hasn't sent a letter back in a long time.

"I can give you a discount on the map if you'd like."

Discount?

How could a mere few hundred native world currencies be taken seriously by Li Xia, the first representative of the Transcendent Hall, the prospective representative of the Hall of Light, the executioner, a low-level supreme being, and a demigod?
"it is good!"

Li Xia agreed with unusual decisiveness.

"Well, then four hundred Giorgios it is."

Old Os somehow pulled out that pottery jar again and waved it in front of Li Xia.

So the three little ones and Li Xia fell silent. Asking them to kill and rob for the map was simply impossible.

"I have no money."

"No money?"

Old Os was shocked. In his mind, these travelers were all very rich, always carrying large sums of Geo.

"Hmm, where are you going?"

“Abandoned mine.”

"An abandoned mine??"

A soft inhalation echoed in the room as Old Os looked at Li Xia:

"That's not a good place. The abandoned mine used to be called the Crystal Cave, where the crystals mined were an important energy source and raw material."

It was once very prosperous, but then suddenly fell into disuse.

He lowered his voice, and a human-like fear appeared on the insect-like face:
"It is said that the Crystal Cave was dug too deep, even opening up the legendary abyss, causing the miners inside to be bewitched by the abyss and turn into monsters."

Every year, many insects are attracted by the wealth accumulated inside the Crystal Cave, enter the cave, and never return.

Li Xia remained completely unmoved; it was just the first main quest, usually just a casual mission.

Old Os looked at Li Xia, seemingly sensing that he would definitely go, and sighed deeply:
"Traveler, if you insist on going, then I'll give you the map. If you manage to come back alive, just bring me a piece of green crystal."

The green crystal in this house is no longer clear; it needs to be replaced.

You have obtained the basic map - Insect Nest.

Li Xia looked at the map in his hand; it was indeed very rudimentary, just like an ancient treasure map.

But what's better than a treasure map is that this map at least marks landmarks in the key parts, so you won't be completely lost with reference points.

According to Old Os, there is also a very detailed map, which, when paired with a map compass, can even show one's location.

However, such maps are extremely rare and hard to come by.

Li Xia looked at the map again and memorized it, then determined the direction:

"Let's go, hurry up!"

The garbage collector watched intently from the sidelines, like a cunning beast lurking in the darkness, patiently waiting for Li Xia to reveal a weakness.

This is a battle of patience.

Li Xia and the three little ones weren't very fast; what limited their speed was the rudimentary map.

To reach the abandoned mine, head to the Forgotten Crossroads, turn there, and then find the statue of the Pale King, turning again.

Without these two road signs, they would most likely have gotten lost, so they had to slow down to avoid missing the signs.

The scenery along the way kept changing, and the dim light from the streetlights brought a faint glimmer of light to this dark world.

Aowu curiously approached the street lamp to investigate why it lit up, only to discover that glowing insects, resembling fireflies, lived inside the lamp's transparent cover.

The hollow streetlights serve as their nests, where mycelium grows, and these bioluminescent insects feed on the mycelium, living there for generations.

The faint light could not dispel the darkness over a large area, so these streetlights looked like clusters of light in the pitch-black world, appearing particularly lonely.

They traversed canyons, crossed foothills, trod through ruins, and forded streams; the road beneath their feet continued to extend, seemingly without end.

Until Li Xia finally saw the landmark, just as depicted on the map, the abandoned station was covered in dust, and the nearby streetlights looked broken.

The overturned carriage was full of cracks, and the ground was littered with the shells left behind by dead insects.

A forgotten crossroads, once a bustling transportation hub.

"Insects must have a very high reproductive rate."

"Awoo," it murmured. "Even though it's severely weakened, given the insects' reproduction rate, the entire hive should recover quickly. It shouldn't be in such a state of complete desolation as it is now."

The insect kingdom still exists, according to old Os, and its inhabitants still exist, though many insects have buried themselves in the ground and entered a deep slumber.

“Old Oss is on the border, which is quite remote. It’s possible that the plague in the hive is beyond his imagination.”

Li Xia stood at the forgotten crossroads, calibrated the direction, and walked in that direction again. "Another plague. It doesn't seem like it happened naturally. Could something be behind this again?"

Awoo sighed and muttered:

"It feels like we haven't had a normal world in a long time. Corruption, decay, distortion, chaos, darkness, and now a plague."

"The world is too fragile. The higher the world's level, the easier it is to encounter those things. On the contrary, a level 0 world like Earth is quite safe."

Aside from humans creating weapons to destroy themselves, even the Old Gods wouldn't go to a Tier 0 world.

The road leading to the abandoned mine was very wide, but it became narrower and narrower as you walked, and then it suddenly turned and disappeared underground.

No wonder it's hard to find without a map. This path is simply a tunnel dug underground. But insects are very good at digging tunnels, and the underground tunnels are comfortable in both height and width for transporting minerals.

It's just darker and blacker now.

They had to put their glasses back on to barely get a decent view in the darkness.

Tracks were laid on the ground, and ore fragments were scattered in the gaps between the rails. Plant roots broke through the walls, forming a net-like barrier in the passage.

"Clang—Clang—"

As they went deeper, they heard faint but clear knocking sounds coming from inside the passage, and the three little ones immediately tensed up.

The fear of darkness is an instinctive reaction of all living things that live in sunlight, and the existence of countless underground tunnels amplifies and exacerbates this fear.

"Bang—Bang—Bang!"

The knocking grew louder and louder until an extremely dim light appeared in front of them.

Aowu cautiously poked its head out and looked ahead. It saw that the passage behind it was filled with columnar structures resembling crystal clusters. These crystals emitted a faint green light, enveloping the entire passage in a verdant hue.

In this environment, an insect wearing a semi-circular hat and carrying a bag is wielding an iron pickaxe, striking the crystal cluster again and again.

"It looks like an insect miner."

Aowu breathed a sigh of relief. Although the idea of ​​insects mining was somewhat intriguing, it was just that—intriguing.

"It must be the insect adventurers that Old Os was talking about, attracted by the wealth here. They're quite clever, knowing not to go too deep and just picking up trash on the very edge."

Grandpa Long praised him highly, then stopped hiding and flew towards the miners to inquire about the situation.

As soon as it got close, Aowu sensed something was wrong. It took off its glasses and rubbed its eyes vigorously, then casually summoned water to form several lenses of different sizes.

The insect put down its pickaxe, turned its head stiffly, and its lifeless face had even begun to rot.

It suddenly opened its mouthparts and emitted a piercing squeak, while the elytra inside its carapace vibrated, the high-pitched sound echoing through the cave.

The insects looked especially terrifying under the lush green light.

Awoo felt a chill rush out of his body.

"I am stupid!!!"

It subconsciously condensed a high-pressure water gun, a thin stream of water flashed by, the buzzing suddenly disappeared, and a thin crack appeared on the insect's head.

Then his head rolled to the ground, the miner's hat on his head touching the crystal and making a crisp sound. The miner's lamp, which had been extinguished, flickered twice and then lit up faintly again.

Before Aowu could even breathe a sigh of relief, Li Xia's figure had already appeared beside him.

His serious gaze blocked Aowu's path, staring into the dark passage.

The next second, a rustling sound, like branches and leaves swaying in the wind, rang out, or like the buzzing of countless people whispering.

Awoo's eyes widened slightly. Could it be—

"squeak!!"

Suddenly, the light in the passage dimmed rapidly from afar, and a black tide surged from the depths of the cave, devouring all the light as if it were alive.

Upon closer inspection, it was no darkness at all, but clearly insects. Because there were so many of them, they could only cling to the top of the channel on the crystal cluster, filling the entire channel completely.

Li Xia took a deep breath, and the Divine Might and Domineering Aura was quickly expelled from his body. It wasn't that the Divine Might and Domineering Aura was ineffective.

Rather, within this enclosed environment, the power of the divine might and domineering aura is so overwhelming that the spreading aura could very well cause the cave to collapse.

As the swarm of insects drew closer, Li Xia instead began to walk slowly toward it.

The two sides drew closer and closer, until they reached a certain boundary.

"Qiang!"

A clear, melodious sword cry echoed through the passage, drowning out all the noise. The translucent, icy sword, carrying a chilling aura, suddenly transformed into a streak of white light and shot straight ahead in an instant.

Before even making contact with the swarm of insects, the rapidly flying Frostflower suddenly shattered on its own, and the fine fragments were reshaped in mid-air, forming small swords.

Then, these small swords trembled again and split into three. Under Li Xia's control, hundreds of small swords began to spin at an incredible speed, forming a terrifying storm of blades.

The swarm of insects and the storm collided violently, yet it was as if nothing had happened.

Li Xia continued walking at her own pace until she entered the swarm of insects.

The three children exchanged glances, their previous fright seemingly vanishing in an instant, and skipped and hopped to catch up with Li Xia.

The insects maintained their fixed postures, and when Li Xia walked past them, it was as if a chain reaction was triggered.

The insect's body suddenly shattered into countless pieces, which crashed to the ground with a crash.

A chilling aura suddenly erupted, and layers of white mist rose from the fragments.

Li Xia walked on step by step, with layers upon layers of insect corpses and fragments behind him. White frost spread across the fragments, as if he carried frost with every step he took.

The three little ones followed behind, heads down, occasionally picking up round, thin pieces from the ground—these were Geo.

If I'm not mistaken, these insects are very likely the ones that have been attracted to the abandoned mine over the years, so it's normal for them to have some Geo on them.

When the last insect turned into an ice sculpture and froze in place, the rapidly spinning storm of sword blades finally stopped. The phantom image created by the clone rippled twice and disappeared, while the remaining small swords turned around and flew towards Li Xia from all directions like blooming fireworks.

The exquisitely beautiful, semi-transparent longsword Frostbloom reformed in front of him. Li Xia didn't even glance at it; he simply grasped the hilt, twirled the sword, and slowly sheathed it with a backhand motion.

The sword light, as clear as autumn water, was concealed by the scabbard until the last wisp of autumn water disappeared into the scabbard, accompanied by the sound of the clasp locking.

The cave finally returned to calm.

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

I feel that 8,000 a day isn't quite enough, so I'll try challenging myself to 10,000 a day in a couple of days.

Please vote for me, everyone!

(End of this chapter)