50: Chapter 50 A Shocking Turn of Events in the Dungeon, The Black Fiend's Cunning Scheme

The alarm sounding from the direction of the Martial Arts Alliance headquarters dungeon was sharp and shrill, like a horn summoning death, causing the entire floating fortress to tremble slightly.

The faces of everyone in the great hall were grave to the extreme; they had just purged the traitor Mo Xuan, yet they had not expected the remnants of the Black Fiend Sect to be so rampant as to dare cause chaos right in the heart of the Alliance headquarters.

"Everyone! Follow me to the dungeon!" the Alliance Leader shouted angrily.

His apricot-yellow Daoist robe billowed like a sail, and the pressure of his Peak-level King realm was released without reservation.

Golden spiritual light surged around him, and with a single step, he transformed into a stream of light, speeding toward the dungeon.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Military followed closely behind. As he sped along, he roared into his communicator: "First and Second Guard Squads, support the dungeon immediately! Activate the highest-level lockdown Formation! Close all entrances and exits!"

A flurry of urgent replies came from the other end of the communicator.

Immediately following, a heavy metallic roar resounded throughout the entire Martial Arts Alliance headquarters, and thick black iron gates sprang from the walls, sealing off every passageway tightly.

Lin Zhou's eyes narrowed, and he said in a deep voice to Su Ye and the others: "The three of you, stay close to me and proceed with caution! Since the people from the Black Fiend Sect dared to come, they must have something to rely on!"

"Understood!" Su Ye and the others replied in unison.

Zhao Lie gripped his longbow, the evil-breaking arrows in his quiver already poised for release; Qin Yue held her long sword, cyan Sword Intent swirling around her, ready to strike at any moment; Su Ye even shouldered his Mountain-Opening Axe, the axe body flickering with red light, radiating Killing Intent.

Lin Zhou nodded, and with a flash of spiritual light at his feet, the sun-shooting bow hovered before him, the True Sun Fire dancing slightly on its body, illuminating the path ahead.

His Eye of Evolution remained activated, flickering with purple light as it continuously scanned the surrounding environment, guarding against any ambushes by the Black Fiend Sect.

The group sped down the passageway. The closer they got to the dungeon, the more pungent the stench in the air became—the distinct, nauseating odor of the parasitized.

The walls on both sides of the passage were covered with deep claw marks, along with traces of dark green blood splattered about; clearly, a fierce battle had just taken place here.

"Help! Help me!"

A faint cry for help came from ahead. Lin Zhou and the others looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a blood-soaked dungeon guard curled up in a corner.

His right leg had been gnawed down to the bone, he was on the verge of death, and his eyes were filled with terror.

Lin Zhou walked up quickly and crouched down to check his injuries. After scanning with the Eye of Evolution and discovering that he had not been parasitized, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He took a mind-concentrating pill from his pocket, shoved it into the guard's mouth, and said in a deep voice: "Don't be afraid, we are here to save you! Quickly, tell me, what exactly happened in the dungeon? What is the Black Fiend Sect trying to do?"

The guard swallowed the mind-concentrating pill, and his breathing stabilized slightly.

He pointed a trembling finger toward the depths of the dungeon, his voice choked with sobs as he said: "It... it's the people from the Black Fiend Sect! A dozen of them came, all wearing black robes, and their strength was outrageously powerful!"

"As soon as they entered, they killed many of our brothers, and they... they released all the dangerous criminals being held here! The most terrifying part is that they are holding a kind of black powder; as long as it's sprinkled on someone, it will... it will turn them into those monsters!"

"Black powder?" Lin Zhou's pupils constricted, and a bad premonition arose in his heart. "What about those dangerous criminals? Have they been sprinkled with the powder?"

"They all were!" the guard cried out. "Those criminals were already heinous and wicked, and after being sprinkled with the powder, they all turned into those incredibly strong monsters, attacking us crazily! The people from the Black Fiend Sect just stood by and watched, as if... as if they were enjoying this farce!"

Just then, a hair-raising roar came from the depths of the dungeon, followed immediately by a dense sound of footsteps, as if countless monsters were rushing toward them.

"Oh no! They're coming!" Zhao Lie's expression changed, and he immediately drew his bow and nocked an arrow, aiming at the end of the passage.

They saw dense black shadows rapidly approaching from the depths of the passage. Some of these shadows were dungeon guards, others were the released criminals; their eyes were pitch black, black insect legs were squirming beneath their skin, and dark green saliva flowed from the corners of their mouths—they were monsters parasitized by the Devouring Insect Race!

"Kill!"

Su Ye roared, swung his Mountain-Opening Axe, and charged forward. Red light surged on the axe body as he hacked fiercely at the monster in the very front.

With a loud "bang," the monster's head was split in two, and dark green blood sprayed out. But shockingly, the monster did not die immediately; its headless body continued to writhe crazily, crawling on all fours, and lunged toward Su Ye.

"Damn it! How is the vitality of these monsters so tenacious!" Su Ye cursed inwardly, quickly dodging to the side and severing the monster's limbs with one swing of his axe.

Qin Yue's cyan Sword Intent was like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, with sharp beams of sword light flashing by, constantly reaping the lives of the monsters.

Zhao Lie's evil-breaking arrows were even more precise; every single arrow could pierce through a monster's heart, causing it to lose all signs of life completely.

Lin Zhou stood in the rear, his Eye of Evolution scanning these monsters at high speed, and he soon discovered their weakness: "They all have parasite eggs hidden in their hearts! Attack the hearts!"

Hearing this, everyone immediately adjusted their attack targets. Sure enough, the effect of attacking the hearts was immediate; the monsters fell to the ground one after another, turning into puddles of dark green pus.

Just as everyone was struggling to kill the monsters, a cold, chilling laugh came from the depths of the dungeon: "Hahaha! Lin Zhou! I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly! However, it is too late!"

Lin Zhou looked in the direction of the sound and saw that on the open plaza in the depths of the dungeon, there stood a dozen people dressed in black robes.

Their leader was a tall person in black robes, wearing a sinister skull mask on his face—it was the Black Fiend Sect's Deputy Sect Leader — — Vice Sect Leader!

In the hand of the Vice Sect Leader was a black porcelain bottle, and inside the bottle was that very black powder that could turn people into monsters.

Beside him stood a dozen released criminals; these criminals had not been parasitized but were looking at the Vice Sect Leader with fanatical eyes, clearly having already defected to the Black Fiend Sect.

"Vice Sect Leader! What on earth are you trying to do?" Lin Zhou shouted coldly, the True Sun Fire on the sun-shooting bow surging, ready to strike at any moment.

The Vice Sect Leader sneered and slowly raised his head; the gaze beneath the skull mask was cold and bone-chilling: "Lin Zhou, you ruined our Sect Leader's grand plan and killed our Sect Leader. Today, I will make you pay for your blood debt!"

"However, before I kill you, I want you to watch with your own eyes how this Martial Arts Alliance headquarters turns into Hell!"

Having said that, the Vice Sect Leader threw the porcelain bottle in his hand into the air. The bottle shattered, and the black powder spread out like black mist, drifting toward the surrounding monsters.

After inhaling the black powder, the monsters' bodies began to swell crazily, their sizes ballooning several times over, and their auras became even more terrifying!

"Oh no! He is strengthening these monsters!" Qin Yue's expression changed, and she shouted a warning.

The Vice Sect Leader laughed wildly and waved his hand: "Kill them! Turn them all into monsters!"

The strengthened monsters let out a roar and lunged toward Lin Zhou and the others like a tidal wave. They were faster, stronger, and the black energy on their bodies was even more intense; clearly, they had already become more Advanced parasitic entities.

The purple light in Lin Zhou's eyes flared brightly, and the analysis speed of the Eye of Evolution soared to the extreme.

He discovered that the weakness of these strengthened monsters was still the parasite eggs in their heart area, but the defense of the eggs had become stronger, requiring more powerful Yang energy to destroy.

"Celestial Fox Physique fire, burn everything!"

Lin Zhou gave a low shout, and the silvery-white fox fire around him surged violently. Nine flames shaped like fox tails shot into the sky, carrying the might to purify all evil, and swept toward those monsters.

Wherever the fox fire passed, the black energy on the monsters quickly dissipated, and the insect legs beneath their skin curled up and charred, emitting shrill, miserable screams.

[Ding! Detected that the host is killing Advanced parasitic entities, proficiency of Celestial Fox Fire increased!]

[Ding! Current proficiency of Celestial Fox Fire: 60%, unlocked new form: Flame Fox!]

As the System prompt sounded, the fox fire around Lin Zhou changed instantly. The originally silvery-white flames now turned into a scorching gold. Within the flames, the faint phantom of a giant Flame Fox appeared. The Flame Fox roared at the sky, its voice shaking the heavens.

The power of the golden fox fire was far stronger than the silvery-white fox fire. After the strengthened monsters touched the golden fox fire, they were instantly burned to ashes, leaving not even a trace behind.

The Vice Sect Leader's expression turned incomparably gloomy instantly. He had not expected Lin Zhou's strength to be so powerful that even the strengthened parasitic entities were no match for him.

He gritted his teeth and pulled a black token from his pocket; on the token was carved a bizarre insect race pattern.

"Since it has come to this, don't blame me for being impolite!" The Vice Sect Leader roared and violently crushed the token in his hand.

In an instant, a violent tremor came from the depths of the dungeon, followed immediately by a terrifying aura that shot into the sky.

Within that aura was contained a dense insect race aura, more terrifying than the aura of all the previous parasitic entities!

Lin Zhou's pupils constricted suddenly, and his Eye of Evolution looked toward the depths of the dungeon.

There, a huge insect race monster was slowly Awakening. Its body was covered in black carapace, the carapace covered in sharp bone spurs, and a pair of huge compound eyes flashed with a ghostly green light—it was the vanguard of the Devouring Insect Race — — the Insect General!

"What?! It's actually an Insect General!" The Alliance Leader's voice carried a hint of horror. He had just arrived, and upon seeing this Insect General, his face instantly turned deathly pale.

The Insect General slowly raised its head, its huge compound eyes sweeping over Lin Zhou and the others, and let out a shrill hiss.

Immediately, it lunged violently toward Lin Zhou, its huge claws carrying the might to tear through space, aiming directly for Lin Zhou's head!

Lin Zhou's expression was grave to the extreme. He could feel that this Insect General's strength had already reached the mid-stage of the King realm! Moreover, its carapace was incredibly hard; ordinary attacks could not harm it in the slightest!

At this critical moment, Lin Zhou took a deep breath, a flash of determination in his eyes.

He violently mobilized all the spiritual power in his body, and the Awakening level of his Celestial Fox Physique instantly rose to the extreme. Nine golden fox tails slowly unfurled behind him, and within the fox fire was contained a terrifying power.

"sun-shooting bow! True Sun Fire!"

Lin Zhou roared, pulling the sun-shooting bow into a full moon. On the bow body, the golden fox fire and the True Sun Fire intertwined and wrapped around each other, condensing into a golden arrow.

The arrow contained the power to destroy the heavens and the earth!

"Whoosh!"

The golden arrow tore through the air, carrying a dazzling golden light, and shot toward the Insect General's compound eyes!

The Insect General seemed to sense the danger and hurriedly raised its claws to block, but it was too late!

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, the golden arrow precisely pierced through the Insect General's compound eye and burrowed into its head.

Immediately following, a terrifying energy exploded within the Insect General's head, and golden flames shot into the sky, instantly burning the Insect General's head to ashes.

The Insect General's body staggered back a few steps and finally crashed heavily onto the ground, completely losing its life.

Seeing this scene, the Vice Sect Leader's face turned as pale as paper. He had not expected that even the Insect General would be killed by Lin Zhou. He knew that he had lost, and lost miserably.

"Lin Zhou! My Black Fiend Sect will fight you to the death!" The Vice Sect Leader roared and turned to run away.

"Want to run? Too late!"

Lin Zhou snorted coldly, raised his finger, and a golden fox fire shot toward the Vice Sect Leader's back.

The Vice Sect Leader screamed, a large hole instantly burned through his back, and black parasite eggs crawled out from the wound, only to be instantly burned to ashes by the fox fire.

The Vice Sect Leader crashed heavily onto the ground; before he died, his eyes were filled with unwillingness and resentment.

With the death of the Vice Sect Leader, the remaining black-robed people and criminals were also all killed by the Alliance Leader, the Commander-in-Chief of the Military, and the others. The crisis in the dungeon was finally resolved.

Lin Zhou slowly retracted his fox fire and looked at the mess on the ground, but his heart felt not the slightest bit of relief.

He knew that this was only a beginning; the conspiracy of the Devouring Insect Race was far more massive than he had imagined.

Just at this moment, the System's prompt sound rang in Lin Zhou's mind:

[Ding! Detected that the host has killed a Devouring Insect Race Insect General, gained a large amount of energy!]

[Ding! Celestial Fox Physique Awakening level increased by 2%, current Awakening level: 95%!]

[Ding! Triggered main quest: The Conspiracy of the Insect Race Vanguard. Quest requirements: Investigate the whereabouts of the Devouring Insect Race vanguard squad and destroy their nest. Quest rewards: sun-shooting bow evolution Materials * 1, Celestial Fox Physique Awakening level increased by 3%!]

A sharp light flashed in Lin Zhou's eyes. He looked up at the sky and secretly swore in his heart: Devouring Insect Race, your doomsday is coming soon!

Meanwhile, in a distant Star Domain, on that huge black spaceship, a figure draped in a black cloak was watching the scene of Lin Zhou killing the Insect General on the screen, a cold smile appearing at the corners of his mouth: "An interesting little fellow, but you are ultimately just an ant. When our army arrives, Blue Star will become our breeding farm!"