It doesn't matter what the lord is.

Entering the Plain of Weeping Night, the whole environment suddenly became worse.

The snow under my feet is not soft at all, nor is it smooth like ice. Instead, it is a silvery white desert made up of tiny pieces of ice sand. The feeling of walking on it is very similar to the real desert, but it is more slippery. Anti-slip material must be added under the horseshoes to allow normal walking in the desert made of ice particles.

The surroundings were all white, just like in extremely foggy weather, and visibility was further reduced. In such a place, if there was nothing to point the way, it would be pure wandering, and it was estimated that only one in a hundred people could find the way out successfully.

Falling ice spikes are also a serious danger. Dozens of soldiers have died since entering the Weeping Night Plain. They were pierced through the head by the sudden, meteorite-like ice spikes, and fell to the ground with blood dripping. Their deaths were extremely miserable. However, no one would complain about this. Compared with walking in the Cold Abyss Corridor, this level of casualties is already a drizzle.

Zhan Mei got a black umbrella from somewhere and used it to shield Lid from the wind and snow as well as the icicles that might fall on his head. She also explained to Lid:

"The ribs of my umbrella are made of Canglan whale bones, and the umbrella cover is made of Changming shark skin. It is tempered with Lijiang flint and can generate high temperature heat instantly to defend against attacks from the outside world. When ice spikes fall from the sky, they will melt into water about two centimeters above my umbrella. I can also use this as an excuse to share an umbrella with Mr. Lide... What do you think, Mr. Lide, isn't it a very convenient prop? ... Mr. Lide?"

Zhan Mei had just said half of her words when she was suddenly picked up by Lid and her umbrella tilted to the side.

"Alaiya!"

Lid called Alayya's name and threw Zhan Mei in his arms. Alayya opened her arms and hugged Zhan Mei. Lid said to her loudly:

"She said her umbrella is very powerful. You should share an umbrella with her. Be careful."

Zhan Mei silently opened the umbrella and rode on the same horse with Alaiya to shield her from the wind and snow outside. Alaiya rode closer to Lid and asked:

"What should I do, Master?"

Lid pointed at Shiloh, who was riding a horse beside him, and said to Alayya:

"Don't worry, someone will take care of my safety."

As he was speaking, a sharp icicle fell from the sky and instantly reached Lid's head. Instantly, a dagger whizzed over and collided with the sharp icicle, exploding a circle of ice chips. The solid and sharp icicle was directly blasted away, drawing a parabola in the air and falling to the ground.

This is a game that tests reaction, and it is also a special training for Shiloh by Reed.

Shiloh's sight repeatedly switched between Lid, the sky, and the ground. He had to be on guard against danger and control the horse. He didn't even have time to look at Alayya beside Lid. After knowing that Shiloh would be responsible for Lid's safety, Alayya didn't say anything, but she didn't ride away. Instead, she kept a relatively close distance with Lid, also on guard against danger in the sky.

Zhan Mei held an umbrella, looked at Shiloh and then at Alayya, with a smile of "I understand" on her face.

Lid had a very good sense of direction. Sometimes he could sense when the army's marching route deviated a little. But he was too lazy to say that this degree of deviation was not a big problem. Moreover, every half a day, when everyone sat down to eat, there would be a special person in the army to search for the Weeping Night Sandworm nearby to check the direction. If nothing unexpected happened, they could leave smoothly all the way north.

The temperature in the Weeping Night Plain is about the same as outside during the day, but it is lower at night. It is necessary to reduce the length of sleep. If you fall into a deep sleep in this environment, you may never wake up again. The Lingwu army uses local materials and spends some time every night to make igloos with snow and ice sand, which can more or less keep out the cold.

At this time, Reed discovered the benefits of War Charm.

Her body temperature was higher than that of a normal person, and she was like a small stove in the dark. Zhan Mei herself was also a girl who grew up in the military, and she was not bound by so many rules and regulations. She would hold anyone who had a low body temperature without hesitation. At night, Lid, Alaiya, and Shiloh held her to sleep, and the cold night was not so unbearable.

It is better to say that the current life is more peaceful than one can imagine. There are almost no giants to be seen in the Plain of Weeping Night. After being able to identify the direction quickly and easily, this place has changed from a death zone to a short paradise. The casualty rate has reached the lowest value on this journey north.

Even Zhan Mei often watched the falling snow in the sky before going to bed, and said to Lid with a smile:

"If we just cross it like this, we can get closer to the Golden Giant while paying the least cost. That's great, Mr. Reed."

But in fact, peace did not last until the last moment as she imagined.

On the fifth day in the Weeping Night Plain, the Lingwu soldiers dug down as usual, looking for the Weeping Night Sandworm. However, as they were digging, the ground suddenly began to collapse, burying them alive underground.

At first, only a small area collapsed, and then it suddenly began to expand. The solid frozen soil was completely unable to withstand this force, and a crack that stretched as far as the eye could see was torn apart in the roar, blocking the Lingwu army.

Because he was at the front of the army, Lid was able to clearly witness everything that happened. At first he thought it was a natural phenomenon similar to quicksand, but soon he realized that something was wrong and began to squint at the collapsed ground. On guard with him were the great swordsman Garberd, the Moon Guard General War Ghost, and the Spirit Warrior Lord. Most of them were still confused because nothing happened within a few dozen seconds after the crack appeared, and there was only the sound of the whimpering wind.

The quiet time was fleeting, and some huge creature suddenly emerged from the crack and rushed straight into the sky. Its dark gray body was similar in color to ice and snow, but obviously different. It was unknown how long its huge body was, and the part that protruded from the ground alone was hundreds of meters long. Humans seemed to be just simple ants in front of it. It overlooked Lingwu's army as if it was overlooking a dense colony of ants.

The little slime poked out from the clothes on Lid's chest, took a look at the huge creature that stood up, and said with a slightly trembling voice:

“Queen! I see. No wonder the Weeping Night Sandworms haven’t become extinct after thousands of years. A queen has escaped to the Weeping Night Plain!”

Reed could intuitively feel its fear from its trembling body. After all, even humans would feel despair when seeing such a scene, let alone this small creature which was only slightly bigger than Reed's palm.

"Beji... But this shouldn't happen. Thousands of years have passed. Why would this guy wake up at this time?"

Reed casually pushed the little slime back into his clothes. In the current situation, it is better not to let it continue to watch, otherwise it will cry and make Reed's chest wet again.

61. Show you the world

Li Dejue's first reaction was that the weeping night sandworms he had caught before were really petty. He just wanted to use them to identify the direction. Why would he run back to tell his parents? The key point was that this parent seemed to be really good at fighting. He was completely different from those little sandworms that could only run away when frightened.

Its long body penetrated deep into the clouds, and only a pair of eyes flashing red could be seen in the dark clouds. It had an unknown number of pairs of legs, densely packed together, and every leg was moving.

Zhan Mei reacted quickly. She waved her umbrella to shake off the snow and then jumped off Alayya's horse. When she landed, there was no smile on her face, only a murderous look. She stretched out her hand to tighten her cloak and walked towards her brother who was standing in front of her. During this time, a soldier who was dressed slightly different from the others brought up a giant axe that was more than a person tall. Zhan Mei picked it up and stood beside her brother. The first thing she said was:

"What does your Majesty say?"

The War Ghost folded his arms and said:

"Ask about the realm of this bug, and then let us solve it ourselves."

Zhan Mei scratched his head:

"Solve it yourself... Indeed, it was us who persuaded you to go to the Weeping Night Plain. But it doesn't matter. When I decided to go here, I was already prepared to deal with danger. Old man, what level is this thing?"

Garberd turned around and said:

"It's the tenth level. In my opinion, it should be higher, but it looks old... Its legs are yellowish, and its body is not shiny. Compared with other sandworms, it is an out-and-out old guy. I won't be wrong about this. Its vital signs are quite weak."

Zhan Mei first breathed a sigh of relief, then complained in a low voice:

"Why don't you just rot in the ground? Why do you have to crawl out and make a fuss?"

The War Ghost's iron-like body stood in the snow, looking up at the huge queen insect. After a moment of silence, he said briefly:

"It doesn't seem to be targeting us."

The queen insect looked around at Lingwu's army from top to bottom, then twisted her body slightly, looked towards the north, and made a high-pitched insect sound. A series of explosions occurred in the air, which made people's eardrums hurt.

The queen twisted her body as if she was very irritated, and most of her body was underground. This simple movement immediately caused a larger crack in the ground. Even the giants did not have such terrible destructive power. The Lingwu army was affected by the ground collapse, and many soldiers were buried alive in the ground before they could react, and lost their lives.

Zhan Mei quickly said to her brother:

"A mad thing has no target at all. At this time, we can only fight it."

Zhan Gui nodded and roared to the people behind him:

"Order the troops to retreat! Retreat to the safest possible place!"

This was a wise decision. Even an invincible army was supported by individual soldiers. The ground collapsed, and the soldiers lost their footing, and they could not perform the charge that the Lingwu army was proud of. If they stayed here, they would just die in vain. It would be better to retreat to the back and leave the situation to the masters present.

Zhan Mei then added:

"Old man, you can't go up either. The area north of the Weeping Night Plain is the activity range of the Golden Giant. Although the chance of encountering a Golden Giant right after leaving here is very low, this possibility does exist. If you expend too much energy here, it will be bad if something unexpected happens."

Lingwu's army began to retreat in an planned manner. Zhan Mei looked back and saw that people from other territories were also planning to take advantage of the situation to retreat. His eyes suddenly became a little colder, and his smile was completely different from his usual sunny expression. It was somewhat similar to the expression he had when he said he wanted to dismember the little slime.

She said to Garberd:

"Please help me, old man. If any of the masters from any territory intend to retreat, just kill them. Since we marched north, it has been our Lingwu army that has been having a tough time. Now our army needs to temporarily avoid the front line. If these people don't intend to stand up and fight, there is no point in keeping them."

Garberd glanced at the huge sandworm towering into the sky, smiled, and slightly suppressed the sword energy in his body. Although he wanted to rush up and chop it up, he had to consider what Zhan Mei said. Since Garberd was Lingwu's trump card against the Golden Giant, he must not be distracted by the monsters when he saw the Golden Giant.

Only then did Lid understand why Zhan Mei was favored by the Lingwu Lord and why she could serve as the deputy general of Lingwu Yuewei despite her low qualifications and realm. Unlike her bold appearance, she was very steady in battle, and her brother Zhan Gui had a very good complementary style.

Garberd swung out a sword energy, forming a straight crack on the ground, then sat next to the dead line with his sword in his arms, and issued an ultimatum to the masters of other territories who were preparing to retreat with the Lingwu army.

Just as the Lord of Lingwu once said, in Lingwu, those who died in battle will enjoy supreme honor, and those who abandon the battle and flee will never be able to escape the reputation of cowardice.

Lid did not leave. He stayed here with Alayya and Xiluo, not because he felt guilty, but because he had nothing to feel guilty about. The people of Lingwu had walked through the Weeping Night Plain many times, but they had never found the existence of this queen worm. Moreover, this queen worm had aged to only the tenth level. Even if there were some casualties in the battle, it would definitely be more cost-effective than walking through the Cold Abyss Corridor.

The main reason why Reed did not leave was for two reasons.

First, that old bastard, Garberd, was staring at him, as if to say, "I know your level, don't try to get away with it by pretending to be useless." It would be better to stay here than to risk offending a great swordsman of the tenth level. The current situation was a bit like a group of adventurers clearing a dungeon and fighting a BOSS. He didn't have to take action if he stayed. He could just take Alaya and Shiloh to see the world and gain some experience.

Second, Lid also thought it was a little strange that the queen worm suddenly came out from underground at this time. There must be some reason behind this, and in Lid's opinion, the various things behind it might be much more dangerous than the queen worm itself.

So he didn't plan to leave, but said to Alayya and Shiloh:

"When the fight starts later, you guys go up and touch it, and feel what's so powerful about a creature that has lived for thousands of years. Especially Alayya, you are now on the eighth level from the seventh level, and what you need is more adventures and more experience. Don't worry about me, if the situation goes wrong, I will throw the little slime out to attract the queen's attention and escape by myself."

"I will fight you--"

As soon as the little slime poked its head out, Reed stuffed it back in.

Alayya and Shiloh completely ignored the creature that kept moving in Reed's chest and nodded at the same time.

62. I am a gadfly

There were no less than a hundred experts left at the scene.

If this formation is placed in the human world, it is definitely a force of considerable strength. Although without the presence of the top ten bosses, it cannot reach the level of "going wherever I want and exploring the ends of the earth", but when masters of this scale gather together, any territory will need to be careful to guard against it.

But this time, they seemed so small in front of their opponents. According to the little slime, the mother sandworm was tens of thousands of meters long, and the part exposed above the ground was just the tip of the iceberg. But the hundreds of meters high body was comparable to various high-rise buildings in the original world of Lid. You should know that the height of the Oriental Pearl Tower was only more than 400 meters. The oppressive force when looking up from below was self-evident.

Lid was very optimistic and cheered for Alayya and Shiloh:

"Don't be afraid! The best way to eliminate fear is to face it. Come on!"

Having said that, how many people can remain calm when facing a behemoth of this magnitude?

At least Zhan Mei was one of them. She set a good example for the others present. She stepped heavily on the ground and rushed up first, stepping on the limbs of the mother sandworm and rushing towards the sky. After a few leaps, she turned into a small black dot. Then her specific location was completely invisible. After a moment, the sandworm's head exploded about a hundred meters below, and then Zhan Mei's figure fell from the sky and landed steadily, shaking all the ice sand within dozens of meters around her into the sky.

She turned around and said to the masters who were standing there in a daze:

"Stop looking, come and give me a hand!"

After saying that, Zhan Mei clenched the huge battle axe that was as tall as her, and rushed forward again with a shake of her body.

The human masters stopped watching the battle and followed Zhan Mei's footsteps to launch an attack.

Although the mother sandworm has enough power to overturn the ice field, it does not seem to have invested too many talent points in agility. It may also be because of its slow reaction due to its age. When it was surrounded and beaten, it looked a little sluggish.

Broken limbs and pieces of armor fell one after another, spreading over the silvery-white ice and snow.

It was as if the network delay was finally restored. After a moment, the queen insect let out a howl and suddenly rolled over, shaking away all the human masters who had besieged her. At the same time, the insect body buried underground began to exert its strength, completely destroying the surrounding ground in almost an instant.

Various attacks were launched on it. Some attacks were painless and could not even break its body. Some attacks could break through its defenses, just like a mosquito bite. Some attacks could cause some real damage to it, penetrating into its vulnerable places such as the gaps in its shell and the broken ends of its limbs, leaving a severe wound in its body. These attacks exploded on its body at the same time, and the queen insect suddenly fell into a frenzy.

The ground had begun to collapse. Any ordinary person would have fallen into the quicksand or been smashed into a pulp by the huge frozen soil blocks that flew out. But Lid's luck seemed to be surprisingly good. He was always able to avoid all dangers in an unnoticed place and frantically probe around the queen insect.

The little slime felt like he was on a roller coaster. He was shaken so hard that he felt dizzy and forgot to cry or make a fuss. His whole body was wrapped around Reed's chest like a suction cup. He didn't even have the courage to look outside.

Lid observed that the mother sandworm's attacks were mostly indiscriminate. It had a huge body that could destroy everything, which was both its advantage and disadvantage. For example, when a human master stepped on its carapace and ran along its back, the mother sandworm could only shake its body to try to throw him off, but had no way to accurately attack him.

It is the king of mass destruction, but just as a gadfly can kill a buffalo, human masters are not completely helpless when dealing with it.

Of course, this only means that top masters can continuously consume it through clever positioning and near-perfect timing, but not-so-top masters find it very difficult to deal with this giant sandworm.

The limbs of the queen worm can cut a living person in two in an instant like the pincers of a mantis. If the speed is not fast enough, it is very likely that the person will die before he can react. And if the person climbing on the back of the giant worm is not at the right level and falls, the chance of survival is almost zero. There is no foothold on the ground now. The hard frozen soil has been shattered into powder under the twisting of the sandworm. The person who falls down will most likely be instantly submerged in the quicksand like a mud cow entering the sea.

Alayya and Shiloh followed Reed's instructions very well, and overall they perfectly executed the word "slacking off".

But everyone who has played a dungeon knows that when the level gap is too big, even paddling becomes very difficult. When a touch from the BOSS can result in a person's death, that person must be extremely cautious every minute and every second in order to survive to the end and share the fruits of victory.

The realms of cultivation of both Alayya and Shilo are not outstanding, especially Alayya who is only at the seventh level of perfection. In such a situation, what she needs to consider is not how to harm the queen insect, but how to save her life as much as possible.

She hung on the carapace behind the queen, whose body was shaking constantly. Sometimes Alaya would float up like a carp streamer, and then fall heavily on the queen, making her dizzy. Although she also controlled [Scarlet Fire] to attack the queen, the damage she could cause was actually very limited.

Barely breaking the insect's body was the limit of what Alayah could do. If it weren't for the fact that her sword energy far surpassed that of swordsmen at the same level, and the mother insect's body had become fragile due to aging, she, who was at the seventh level of perfection, should not have been able to cause any damage to the tenth level mother insect.

Shiloh is not much better. As an assassin, the damage she can cause is not much more than Alayya. Shiloh's advantage is that her body is lighter and more flexible. She can move freely on the queen insect and does not look so embarrassed.

Alayya was currently about 100 meters above the ground. The wind made it difficult for her to open her eyes, and the violent shaking from the insect body made her completely unable to maintain her balance. Various sword energy magics continued to explode at higher altitudes, and human masters kept climbing up the queen insect's body. Alayya stared closely at their movements, engraved the scenes in her mind, and digested and absorbed them as quickly as possible.

Although we can't do more, but risking our lives to survive has always been the best way to hone people.

Opportunities like this are not likely to come along on a normal day. No matter how many times I swing my sword in the back garden, I will never have the insights I have now.

Just when Alayya was immersed in studying, the human masters suddenly burst into cheers.

I don't know when, Zhan Mei has quietly climbed onto the triangular head of the queen insect, and is wiping the sweat from her forehead while holding the battle axe and looking at the pair of red eyes. The queen insect's body keeps shaking, and because of the huge size difference, its "slight" shaking is absolutely unbearable for humans.

Zhan Mei lost her balance several times. If she wasn't careful, she could have fallen from the sky and died without a complete body. But she managed to keep her balance every time and walked step by step towards the most vulnerable part of the queen insect.

63. This is Lingwu’s Moon Guard

Reed also noticed Zhan Mei's movements, but he was not optimistic about this attack.

The reason was simple. Although the sandworm's eyes reflected a sharp red light, creatures that lived underground all year round definitely did not rely on vision to move around. Even if the mother worm's eyes were destroyed, it would not cause any substantial damage to it.

Lid estimated that Zhan Mei might want to destroy the queen insect's head from the eye sockets. Although this is a feasible method, the queen insect is too large. With Zhan Mei's cultivation level of the middle eighth level, it would be extremely difficult to accomplish this task.

Moreover, for this relatively primitive arthropod, even if the head is destroyed, the remaining torso can "survive" for a long time. If you want to get rid of it completely, you must destroy several important parts such as the heart tube, abdominal aorta, circular blood vessels, brain, abdominal nerves, etc. at the same time. However, because most of the sandworm's body is hidden underground, it is difficult to achieve this goal.

Reed silently calculated in his mind and soon came up with several plans.

But he didn't intend to say it, because most of the plans required him to do it himself. Although there were many human masters present, there were no masters like Xiao Hei, Xiao Bai or Huang Yan who stood at the top of the pyramid. If he wanted to destroy all the key organs of the sandworm mother body in a short period of time, this kind of thing could only be done by himself.

If the people currently participating in the northward march have been forced into a desperate situation, or if Aleiya and Shiloh are in danger, Reed might consider taking action, but now the Lingwu side still has considerable room for maneuver, and Garberd, who is at the tenth level of realm, is watching the show from the side, so Reed does not intend to get too involved.