54: Sword Intent Transforms into Wind to Save Liu Ruyan

After strolling around Qingyan City, Lin Xuan gained a deeper understanding of how poor this 'novice village' of the Immortal Realm truly was. Resources were genuinely scarce, cultivators lived frugal lives, and even the City Lord's Mansion exuded an air of shabbiness. However, in such an environment, someone like Liu Ruyan, who could maintain her integrity and dare to stand up to a scion like Zhao Yuanhao, appeared particularly pleasing to the eye.

"This girl is quite interesting," Lin Xuan muttered, squatting on the stone steps at the entrance of his small courtyard, chewing on a slightly dry grass root he'd casually pulled from the roadside. He began to ponder. The All Heavens Star Palace was currently developing in the Abyss, but it would inevitably ascend to the Immortal Realm! When the million-strong demolition team arrived, wouldn't they need a few local guides familiar with the Immortal Realm's situation? A local Heavenly Immortal like Liu Ruyan, with her strength, sense of responsibility, and good character, wasn't she a ready-made good prospect?

"Hmm, I've got to recruit her!" Lin Xuan slapped his thigh, making a decision. But he couldn't rush it; he had to 'boil the frog slowly' and build a good relationship first. After all, he was just a newly ascended novice now. If he suddenly told her to 'follow him and he'd make her soar,' she'd probably think he was crazy.

Just as he was thinking about how to naturally get closer to Captain Liu, an extremely faint, blood-tinged fluctuation of immortal power, carried by a gust of wind from the west, drifted into his sensory range.

"Hmm?" Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow slightly, no longer chewing on the grass root. He seemingly casually closed his eyes, but in reality, a wisp of divine sense, condensed to its extreme, like an invisible tendril, silently extended hundreds of miles in the direction of that bloody scent!

Where his divine sense reached, the scene instantly became clear!

It was precisely the area west of the sand sea that Liu Ruyan's team had been investigating!

At this moment, there was no sign of activity there; it was practically an insect disaster zone!

Only a dense, tide-like swarm of insects could be seen, frantically attacking Liu Ruyan's small team! These insects varied in form: there were Blade Sand Mantises the size of millstones, with thick carapaces and scythe-like forelimbs; Poison Sting Hornets the size of fists, flying swiftly, capable of spraying corrosive acid from their mouthparts; and Quicksand Earth Dragons, lurking like giant earthworms beneath the sand, suddenly emerging to ambush! Their numbers were so vast they made one's scalp tingle! They stretched as far as the eye could see!

Liu Ruyan's team had been completely cut off and surrounded! The five team members formed a circular defensive formation, back-to-back. Each of them was injured, their immortal armor damaged, and their aura in disarray. Liu Ruyan stood at the forefront, her ancient longsword dancing impenetrably. Each sharp sword light she unleashed cleared a large area of insects, but immediately, more insects fearlessly swarmed forward! Her silver-white immortal armor was covered in corrosive marks and claw marks, and a bone-deep wound on her left arm was gushing blood. Her face was pale, but her eyes remained as sharp as blades, fiercely protecting the teammates behind her.

And behind the swarm, atop a high sand dune, lay an exceptionally large insect! It resembled a giant, purple-black beetle, magnified countless times, its back covered in disgusting fleshy growths and compound eyes. Its bloated abdomen constantly writhed, and with each movement, hundreds of thousands of small flying insects spewed from an opening at its rear, joining the attacking swarm! This was the "High-Tier Insect General" commanding the swarm! Its tiny, green-bean-sized compound eyes gleamed with cruel cunning, and it emitted a sharp, piercing shriek, seemingly directing and coordinating the swarm's attack rhythm!

"Captain! We can't hold on! There are too many insects!" "My immortal power is almost depleted!" "Ah! Watch out for underground!"

The desperate cries of the team members were mixed with the shrieks of the insect swarm and the clashing of weapons. The defensive perimeter was in critical danger! It looked as if they were about to be completely overwhelmed!

Lin Xuan's divine sense observed this scene, his brow slightly furrowed. The scale of this insect swarm, and the cunning of that Insect General, clearly exceeded Liu Ruyan's team's estimations. Was the City Lord's Mansion's intelligence wrong? Or were these insects too good at hiding?

"Tsk, I was just thinking about how to win her over, and an opportunity presents itself," Lin Xuan pouted. "But this hero-saving-the-beauty act needs to be played subtly. I'm currently playing the role of a newly ascended True Immortal, I can't break character."

With a thought, that wisp of divine sense, which had extended out, instantly condensed! It was no longer merely a probe, but transformed into a wisp of formless, intangible, yet exquisitely condensed Chaos Sword Intent!

This wisp of Sword Intent was even more ethereal and elusive than the one that had blown off Zhao Yuanhao's pants earlier! It had no earth-shattering momentum, not even a trace of energy fluctuation leaked out. It was like the most ordinary wisp of fresh breeze in the desert, silently sweeping across the battlefield!

The wind, gently blew past.

Where the wind passed, the Blade Sand Mantises, frantically attacking, suddenly stiffened! The next second, as if erased by an invisible rubber, their massive bodies, along with their hard shells, silently turned into dust! Scattered by the wind! The dense, buzzing Poison Sting Hornets, touched by the breeze, instantly turned into specks of black ash, like paper set alight! The Quicksand Earth Dragons, lurking beneath the sand, preparing to emerge, didn't even let out a scream. Their entire bodies disintegrated and annihilated beneath the sand layer! The insect swarm was as if paused, then instantly and completely wiped out!

No explosions! No roars! Only wind! Only sand!

One second, the insect swarm was surging like a black tide; the next second, under the dumbfounded gaze of Liu Ruyan's team, it was as if wiped away by an invisible giant hand! Leaving behind only fine dust on the ground, and a faint, burnt smell lingering in the air!

The entire battlefield instantly became vast and silent! Only the mournful sound of the wind blowing over the sand dunes remained.

Liu Ruyan's longsword was still in a striking posture, the determination and tragic resolve on her face not yet faded, when she was stunned into a daze by this sudden change! Her teammates behind her gaped, their eyes almost popping out!

"Captain? Where are the insects?" a team member stammered, his voice trembling.

Liu Ruyan suddenly snapped back to reality, her sharp gaze instantly sweeping towards the high sand dune behind the insect swarm! That bloated High-Tier Insect General!

At this moment, the Insect General's green-bean-like compound eyes were filled with incredible terror and fury! It didn't understand what had happened! Where was its insect army?! Where was its power, enough to overwhelm a small immortal army?! How could it be gone with just a gust of wind?!

It let out a sharp, distorted shriek, its bloated body twisting frantically, seemingly wanting to spray insect eggs again! However!

Whoosh!

That invisible wisp of Chaos Sword Intent, like that of the Grim Reaper, had not dissipated! Like a maggot clinging to bone, it silently brushed past its massive body!

The Insect General's shriek abruptly ceased!

Its purple-black carapace, covered in fleshy growths and compound eyes, instantly became covered in spiderweb-like cracks, like weathered rock! Its bloated abdomen suddenly deflated, like a leaking balloon! The massive body twitched violently a few times on the sand dune, and then... it collapsed with a crash! Turning into a lifeless pile of foul-smelling fragments!

Even the sand dune beneath it was silently leveled by a layer!

"Hiss!" Everyone in Liu Ruyan's team gasped! A chill ran from the soles of their feet straight to the top of their heads! What kind of method was this?! Killing an Immortal-tier Insect General like crushing an ant?! Without even a sound?!

Liu Ruyan's palm, gripping her sword, was slick with cold sweat. She stared intently at the spot where the Insect General had turned into fragments, then suddenly looked around! The empty desert, nothing but wind and sand! That indescribable sharp aura, which made her soul tremble slightly, appeared mysteriously and vanished without a trace, like a ghost!

"A master?" a team member guessed, his voice trembling.

"Don't worry about that now!" Liu Ruyan forcefully suppressed the tumultuous waves in her heart. She knew now was not the time to delve deeper. "This place is not safe for long! Although the insect swarm is destroyed, the commotion was too great! Quickly clear the battlefield, collect the insect crystals and the Insect General's core! We retreat!"

The team members, as if waking from a dream, quickly moved, suppressing their shock and fear. Liu Ruyan personally went to retrieve the shattered core of the Insect General—a crystal the size of a human head, emitting a malevolent purple-black light, still imbued with an aura that made her heart palpitate. She carefully sealed it in a specially made jade box.

Throughout the entire process, Liu Ruyan's mind was highly tense, vigilantly scanning the surrounding sandstorms. She always felt that an invisible pair of eyes, from somewhere she couldn't perceive, was calmly observing everything.

It wasn't until the team had finished packing up and quickly retreated from the desolate battlefield that the feeling of being watched slowly disappeared.

Liu Ruyan looked back at the eerily empty sand sea, her eyes filled with confusion, awe, and a hint of inexplicable agitation.

In Qingyan City, in Lin Xuan's small courtyard. Lin Xuan still chewed on the dry grass root, leaning against the rough stone wall, his eyes narrowed, as if dozing. Only the corner of his mouth curved into a barely perceptible arc. "Hmm, saving her life, step one complete. Captain Liu, you'd better remember this favor."