Tall wooden humanoid creatures stepped into the chamber one after another.
Their bodies were covered in bark-like armor and twisted vines. Green light glowed faintly inside the cracks of their wooden bodies.
So carried massive wooden clubs. Others had long thorn-covered limbs. Their numbers quickly increased.
Ten.
Twenty.
Thirty.
More and more Woodland Fiends erged continuously. They were more than twice the number of Arkaal’s summons. The chamber suddenly beca crowded. Arkaal’s face finally changed slightly.
’The fuc*k? He is not only a beast tar but also a summoner too? That too while being as young as he is? There seems to be a big secret hiding behind his unnatural capabilities.’
anwhile, Aksai imdiately used the opening to withdraw Zyn from battle.
The heavily injured wyvern disappeared into a spatial ripple and was sent back into the Enchanted Everwood Farm for recovery.
Now, only Arkaal and his poison minions remained surrounded from every direction by the Woodland Fiends. The wooden creatures slowly closed in like a living forest.
anwhile, Arkaal’s face had already turned ugly by the ti the Woodland Fiends completely surrounded the battlefield. They attacked endlessly. So smashed down with massive wooden clubs while others restrained Arkaal’s poison creatures using thick vines and thorn-covered limbs.
The poison humanoids were quickly torn apart. The giant centipede beast lost several of its legs after being crushed under the combined assault of five Woodland Fiends. Even the three-tailed lizard was forced backward repeatedly.
For the first ti since the battle had started, Arkaal was truly being pushed into a corner.
The old man gritted his teeth. He had underestimated Aksai once again.
Not only did the fellow possess a strange Soul Artifact and a 4th Order wyvern, he also had an entire army of bizarre wooden creatures hidden away.
Arkaal finally realized that this was no ordinary wandering cultivator. This was a monster hiding behind a harmless face.
Boom!
Another poison humanoid exploded after getting smashed apart by a Woodland Fiend.
Arkaal’s eyes twitched slightly. Then his expression gradually turned cold.
Very cold.
It looked like he had finally made up his mind.
"Fine," he muttered darkly. "You forced into this."
For the first ti since the battle began, Arkaal stopped conserving his resources completely.
He quickly took out a strange ring from his storage ring. The ring was dark green in color and had a tiny multi-legged insect figurine wrapped around it.
The figurine looked alive. The mont Arkaal wore the ring, his face instantly beca pale. His aura weakened slightly as if sothing inside his body was being consud rapidly.
Aksai narrowed his eyes imdiately.
’That thing...’
Before he could think further, Arkaal took out another object from his storage ring. It was a large rotten block of flesh. The thing looked disgusting.
Dark liquid dripped from it constantly while foul-slling gas spread into the surroundings. The flesh twitched occasionally as if sothing alive was hidden inside it. The mont the ring activated, the rotten flesh started moving violently.
Squirm!
Squirm!
Then—
Crack!
The surface of the flesh split open. A large centipede-like insect crawled out.
Then another.
And another.
Soon, dozens of them erged from inside the rotten flesh.
These creatures looked horrifying. They resembled centipedes, but each one was as thick as a person’s arm and several feet long. Their black shells glistened with wet poison while countless tiny legs moved rapidly beneath them.
A foul green aura surrounded their bodies constantly. Even the air around them started becoming rotten. The stone floor beneath them slowly decayed.
The surrounding poison mist beca darker and dirtier. It felt as if these creatures did not simply poison living beings. They poisoned existence itself.
Aksai’s expression finally beca serious. He could clearly sense their level.
4th Order gu insects.
And not weak ones either.
’Damn it,’ Aksai cursed inwardly.
He had expected Arkaal to possess hidden trump cards.
But this...
This was beyond his expectations.
The pressure released by those insects was terrifying.
And the worst part was that Aksai could imdiately tell sothing else. These gu insects did not belong to Arkaal. At least not fully.
Raising and maintaining such horrifying 4th Order gu insects required enormous resources and terrifying poison mastery. Arkaal alone should not have been capable of controlling them properly.
Which ant only one thing. Qishan had left them behind for him.
A last resort. A life-saving trump card.
’Where the fuc*k did these Gu Poison King people even co from?’ Aksai thought grimly. ’And what exactly were they doing while hiding under the royal faction?’
anwhile, the battle below continued fiercely.
The Woodland Fiends were still overpowering Arkaal’s poison creatures through sheer numbers. The poison humanoids were continuously being crushed.
Victory had almost been secured. But it was already too late.
The newly summoned gu insects suddenly moved.
Screeeech!
The centipede-like creatures shot across the battlefield like black arrows.
Their speed was terrifying. Before the Woodland Fiends could react properly, the insects climbed onto their wooden bodies. Then they burrowed inward.
Crunch!
Crunch!
Crunch!
The Woodland Fiends imdiately started shaking violently. Green poison smoke exploded out from the holes dug by the insects. Then the decomposition began.
The sturdy wooden bodies rapidly softened and rotted. Branches beca black. Vines shriveled instantly. Even the spiritual energy maintaining their forms started collapsing.
Aksai’s eyes narrowed further as he watched the horrifying scene. One Woodland Fiend tried crushing the insects attached to its chest. But before it could succeed, half of its body decomposed into rotten wood and dead flesh.
Another fiend collapsed completely after the gu insects dug into its head. Soon, the battlefield turned into a horrifying sight.
The Woodland Fiends still managed to finish off the remaining poison beasts through sheer numbers.
But by the ti the battle ended—
The Woodland Fiends themselves had also fallen. One after another, their bodies collapsed into piles of rotten wood, black sludge, and dead flesh. The gu insects crawled across the remains slowly while releasing their foul poison aura.
The entire chamber had started slling like decay and death. Even Aksai’s protective barrier creaked faintly under the pressure of the spreading poison.
And amidst the ruined battlefield, Arkaal slowly raised his head and looked toward Aksai with a vicious smile.
"Hehehe. I hope you don’t complain now that you have forced my hand. This," he said hoarsely, "is the true inheritance of the Gu Poison lineage."
Saying this, the old man slowly started walking toward Aksai.
Step.
Step.
Step.
His pace was unhurried now. There was no longer any anxiety on his face.
No caution either. Only confidence.
After summoning those horrifying 4th Order gu insects, Arkaal felt completely in control of the situation again. Even though he looked calm on the outside, he knew very well what price had been paid for this attack.
These gu insects were not sothing he could truly maintain. They needed 4th Order poison resources regularly to survive. They also needed Qishan’s blood to remain stable for long periods of ti.
And now?
Qishan was dead.
The remaining 4th Order resources left behind by his master were limited as well. At most, these insects would survive for a few more days before dying on their own.
This was why Arkaal had hesitated to use them earlier. This was truly a one-ti-use trump card.
But none of that mattered right now. As long as these insects remained alive, Arkaal felt almost invincible inside this chamber. And he had more than enough ti to deal with a newly advanced Core Formation Lord like Aksai.
The gu insects continued crawling around him while releasing their foul aura. As he walked closer, the old man carefully observed Aksai’s face.
It was almost as if he was trying to understand sothing.
Finally, Arkaal spoke.
"Brat," he said slowly, "I only had a doubt in the past but now I’m compleyely sure. Your high-grade poison constituion— it’s not a natal constituion, is it? It seems you have also gotten your hands on a legacy from the Heavenly Poison Sect."
His eyes flickered greedily.
"Now I am even more determined not to kill you outright."
A faint twisted smile appeared on his face.
"I will also not place a Slave Mark on you anymore and turn you into a useful tool for the royal faction."
The old man’s voice gradually beca colder.
"Instead, I will slowly torture you and extract every bit of information you have regarding the inheritance you obtained from that place."
Aksai also felt like a lot of his questions were answered by Arkaal’s casual admission.
’So Qishan truly had ties to the Heavenly Poison Sect.’
Or at least to one of its hidden inheritances.
Arkaal slowly turned his head and looked toward the pile of powder lying not too far away. That was all that remained of Qishan now.
Arkaal’s face twisted slightly. Hatred appeared in his eyes.
"You might not know this yet," he said slowly, "but that place was what allowed my master to finally break into the 4th Spirit Realm and beco the Gu Poison King."
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