Chapter 441: Scorpion Swarm
"No!"
Wan Hai suddenly shook his head. "It's not like that. These Desert Poison Scorpions never travel alone. They're social creatures that never act on their own. Plus, they're extremely vengeful. If you kill one of their kind, they'll hunt you relentlessly until one of you is dead."
"Hehehehe!"
Gu Tianyao threw his head back and laughed, still unconcerned. "Fine, let them come. If one comes, I'll kill one. If two come, I'll kill two."
The moment Gu Tianyao's words faded.
"SWISH!"
Two sounds of something slicing through the sand rang out, and then a massive red scorpion tail suddenly shot out from beneath Gu Tianyao's feet.
Gu Tianyao smiled faintly, launched himself into the air, and dodged it with ease.
Then, he casually swung the sword in his hand, unleashing a huge arc of light. But the light didn't strike the tail; instead, it slashed into the sand beneath it.
"HISS!"
A sharp cry sounded from beneath the sand.
The sand below began to bulge upward, and a monstrous Desert Poison Scorpion burrowed its way out. But it had barely emerged when it suddenly paused, trembled, and a deep gash split open across its body.
Then, with a heavy THUD, the Desert Poison Scorpion collapsed, split in two as blue blood gushed out.
Seeing this, Gu Tianyao couldn't help but smirk triumphantly. He landed on the Desert Poison Scorpion's corpse and declared, "Just a puny beast. Bring on the next one!"
But Gu Tianyao had barely finished speaking.
The sand all around him began to churn and heave.
"SWISH!"
"SWISH!"
"SWISH!"
...
In an instant, one, two, three... ten, then dozens of massive red scorpion tails erupted from the sand around Gu Tianyao.
Not only that, but in the blink of an eye, the sand around the entire group was teeming with them. A dense forest of massive scorpion tails had completely surrounded them. A sea of pointed red tips filled their entire vision.
A quick glance revealed at least a hundred massive tails, which meant at least a hundred Desert Poison Scorpions were hidden in the sand beneath their feet.
!!!
???
"So many!"
Gu Tianyao's eyes went wide. "Holy shit!"
He stared at the giant scorpion tail that was practically touching his face.
"GULP!"
Gu Tianyao swallowed hard, completely stunned.
The next moment, the massive tails around him sprang into action. They raised their incredibly sharp stingers high and stabbed down at Gu Tianyao from all sides at once.
Startled, Gu Tianyao quickly leaped into the air, trying to escape.
However, he had just taken flight when a shadow fell over him.
One, two, three... five.
A full five massive Desert Poison Scorpions had leaped from the sand, blocking out the sky as they intercepted him from above.
Gu Tianyao's eyes widened in shock.
He watched as one of the Desert Poison Scorpions opened its huge pincers, reaching for him, about to snap his body in half.
"Sister, save me!"
Gu Tianyao cried out in alarm without a second's hesitation. Faced with so many Desert Poison Scorpions, every last bit of his earlier arrogance had vanished.
Although Gu Tianyao was arrogant, he still knew his own limits. He could handle two or three, maybe even four or five Desert Poison Scorpions with ease.
But with so many appearing at once, no matter how skilled he was, there was no way he could be a match for them.
And as Gu Tianyao cried out.
Suddenly, the temperature in the scorching desert plummeted. Gu Muyun had made her move. A streak of white light flashed across the sky.
In an instant, the Desert Poison Scorpions above Gu Tianyao froze mid-air, transformed into solid ice crystals.
Gu Tianyao seized the opportunity, lightly tapping his foot on one of the frozen scorpions to propel himself to safety.
Having escaped the Desert Poison Scorpions' encirclement, Gu Tianyao gasped for breath. He then turned and yelled in terror, "What are you all standing around for? Run! Run! Run! Run! Run!"
But after shouting several times, he saw that no one was moving.
Gu Tianyao quickly looked up and saw that the sand around the group was continuously churning and rising. One after another, Desert Poison Scorpions were quietly emerging, surrounding them in layer after layer.
At the same time, the massive Desert Poison Scorpions raised their pincers and long tails, pressing in on the group. Their eyes, fixed on Gu Tianyao, were filled with a murderous rage, as if they sought revenge for their fallen kin.
"It's over! We're completely surrounded!"
Wan Hai's expression changed, and he couldn't help but shake his head.
This was exactly why the Desert Poison Scorpions were so difficult to deal with.
A single demonic beast at the Ninth Layer of the Earth Profound Realm was nothing, of course. He and Tang Yi could handle that. But how could they possibly deal with an entire swarm of them? Their Spiritual Power wasn't inexhaustible.
"HISS!"
A sharp hissing suddenly erupted from the mouths of the Desert Poison Scorpions. Then, the massive beasts moved, launching themselves from the ground and pouncing on the group.
Gu Muyun raised the sword in her hand, and the surrounding temperature dropped by several degrees.
"SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!"
Streaks of piercingly cold light shot out.
Suddenly, several of the huge Desert Poison Scorpions froze mid-air, then turned into ice crystals and fell straight from the sky.
"CRASH!"
They smashed heavily onto the ground, shattering into countless tiny shards of ice.
Watching the ceaselessly attacking Desert Poison Scorpions, Gu Muyun spoke coolly, "I'll clear a path."
Gu Tianyao immediately shouted, "Little White, lead the way!"
He looked down, only to see the Demonic Creature plastered to the ground, paws clamped over its head, trembling all over. It was scared out of its wits.
"Useless thing!"
Gu Tianyao couldn't help but shout in frustration, "Get back here!"
The Demonic Creature suddenly leaped up and, with a SWISH, flew back into Gu Tianyao's hand.
"Let's just get out of here first," Gu Muyun said coolly, then slowly raised the Treasure Sword in her hand. She made no discernible movement, but with a flash of light, an azure, crescent-shaped arc of sword light slashed out horizontally.
"CLANG!"
At the same time, a clear phoenix cry rang out as a massive Ice Phoenix phantom soared out from within Gu Muyun's body.
"SWISH!"
A cold light flashed and streaked across the sky.
In that instant, the Desert Poison Scorpions that had leaped high into the air, waving their giant pincers, froze and were suddenly sliced in two.
Then, the colossal Nine Heavens Ice Phoenix spread its massive wings and soared toward the sky.
"BANG!"
The Nine Heavens Ice Phoenix violently smashed through the Desert Poison Scorpions that were pouncing on them from above.
Suddenly, Gu Muyun pointed a finger to the sky. "Fly out!"
As she spoke, Gu Muyun stepped onto her Flying Sword and shot up into the air.
The others pointed their fingers, summoned their Flying Swords, and quickly followed using Sword Control.
But just at that moment.
"HISS!"
All the Desert Poison Scorpions suddenly stopped their attack. Instead, a strange, sharp shriek came from their mouths in unison. They raised their pincers high into the air as their bodies slowly began to glow.