139: Li Xuan died on the 13th.

Heat waves engulfed the air.

Li Xuan was mixed in the phalanx of one hundred thousand Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles; the further they advanced, the higher the temperature in the air became.

A layer of dark red began to appear on the surface of the Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles' carapaces.

Li Xuan stared intently ahead.

He felt uneasy inside, praying that it would not be the scene he had speculated.

He would rather this be a bloody slaughter for territory or high-tier spiritual objects.

As long as there was slaughter, there would be chaos.

As long as there were high-tier spiritual objects, there would be an antidote.

He could then take advantage of the chaos, obtain the item, and retreat unscathed.

The bug army continued to advance forward.

On the horizon ahead, sky-high black-gray flames burned holes through the clouds.

An extreme aura of destruction rushed toward him.

Li Xuan saw it clearly.

It was a scorched earth flowing with dark black lava.

More than a dozen flame creatures, over a dozen meters tall, were slowly crawling out from the lava.

The bone halos on their backs rotated slowly, and they held long whips condensed from karmic fire in their hands.

There were no Heaven And Earth Treasure.

There was no treasured land where Spiritual Qi gathered.

The front-most phalanx of Mad Sickle Shadow Blade Beetles had already stepped into that scorched earth.

The flame creatures swung their long whips, lashing into the sea of bugs.

The black-gray karmic fire exploded.

Hundreds and thousands of Mad Sickle Shadow Blade Beetles were contaminated by the flames.

Their carapaces vaporized, and their flesh evaporated.

The bugs in the rear rows stepped on the ashes of their companions in the front and continued to charge forward.

They opened their ferocious mouthparts, attempting to bite off a piece of bone from the flame creatures.

The next second, they were also burned into nothingness by the karmic fire.

Li Xuan's mind exploded instantly.

He was completely unable to accept the facts before his eyes.

Are the creatures in this Divine Realm all lunatics!

Just because of a disagreement, they ran to someone else's territory to throw their lives away!

These bugs had crossed a million-kilometer wasteland and traversed the perilous Nether River.

Only to come here, line up, and jump into a pit of fire to commit suicide?

Li Xuan felt his breathing was about to stop.

He turned his head and looked at K beside him.

K was also maintaining the mimicry of a Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetle, but his articulated limbs had stopped moving.

K's electronic eye, through the gap in the compound eye, revealed a dim red light.

K had accepted his fate.

Li Xuan read the meaning of resignation from the red light.

"What the hell are you doing!"

Li Xuan transmitted his voice to K through Divine Sense.

"Move! It's about to be our phalanx's turn!"

K's voice sounded in Li Xuan's mind, devoid of any fluctuation.

"Data model deduction complete."

"The flames ahead contain an unknown Law of destruction; the mechanical armor melts upon contact. Survival probability is zero."

"This group of bugs is using their lives to conduct genetic screening; they are attempting to evolve anti-fire genes."

"We have been dragged into a race-level evolution ritual."

"Li Xuan, give up. There is no way to break this situation."

Li Xuan was consumed by anger.

"Bullshit!"

"I am a Diamond Rank Sword Cultivator! I have killed demigods in the starry sky!"

"You want to accept fate from a group of bugs that are at most Platinum Rank? You want to die here?"

K's heart had no ripples; he even let out a cold sneer.

"Platinum Rank?"

"Look around you."

"These million bugs have a completely unified mental connection. They have no individual consciousness; there is only the Dominator controlling everything."

"The opponent is not one million Silver, Gold, or Platinum Rank bugs."

"The opponent is a single entity with a million bodies whose power can be infinitely superimposed."

"Our power is meaningless in front of this killing machine."

K's logic was impeccable.

He had calculated all variables and reached the conclusion of certain death.

Li Xuan ground his teeth.

He would not accept fate.

Cultivators are meant to struggle against heaven for their lives.

To follow is to remain mortal; to defy is to become an immortal.

He had fought his way from a small Time Demon soldier to Diamond Rank; he had never relied on data calculations.

He relied on the sword in his hand, and the ruthlessness to poke a hole in the sky.

"Since you want to die so damn much, I'll grant your wish!"

Li Xuan's voice sank.

"But before you die, give me some residual value!"

"Reveal all your trump cards and cover my retreat!"

K was silent for two seconds.

He watched the swarm of bugs ahead constantly turning into ashes, and then took a glance at Li Xuan's compound eyes, which were bloodshot from anger.

Even at this point, this Sword Cultivator still harbored delusions of struggling.

Completely irrational.

Completely illogical.

But K agreed.

"I will detonate the power reactor and release all weapon reserves."

"My mechanical core stores all the data from this exploration."

K's voice became faint.

"I will hand it to you; I hope you can escape and bring the intelligence back to the camp."

Li Xuan did not answer.

The Time Demon Source within his body began to circulate.

Spiritual Qi rampaged through his Meridians.

The phalanx in front had been completely consumed.

It was the turn of their phalanx of one hundred thousand Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles.

The Dominator Bug's mental command was issued in his mind.

Advance.

Go to your death.

Just as these one hundred thousand Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles took their first step in unison.

An anomaly erupted.

K launched an attack.

The gray-white Time Demon Source forcibly broke through the disguise of mimicry.

The eight-meter-long Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetle body disintegrated rapidly.

A mechanical body appeared in the center of the sea of bugs.

K's chest armor sprang open to the sides.

A dark blue polyhedral crystal ejected out.

Mechanical core.

Li Xuan simultaneously deactivated his mimicry.

He grabbed the mechanical core in mid-air and stuffed it into his Storage Ring.

"Do it!" Li Xuan roared.

K's electronic eye erupted with dazzling red light.

"Overload mode, activated."

He raised his right arm, and the armor at his wrist flipped over.

A dense array of micro-missile launch nests was revealed.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Hundreds of antimatter micro-missiles, trailing exhaust flames, poured out in a fan shape toward the surrounding swarm of bugs.

Rumble!

Violent explosions erupted within the phalanx of Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles.

The energy of antimatter annihilation cleared out the bugs within a hundred-meter radius.

Fragments of carapaces flew everywhere in the sky.

K did not stop.

Two high-energy particle cannons rose from his shoulders.

Thick blue beams of light swept out.

Wherever the particle stream passed, the carapaces of the Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles were melted through by the high temperature, and the flesh inside was directly carbonized.

The surrounding bugs were alarmed by this sudden turn of events.

The Dominator Bug's mental network experienced a brief stagnation.

They could not understand why two of their own kind would suddenly turn into other races and launch an attack.

But the bugs' reaction speed was extremely fast.

The stagnation only lasted for half a second.

Mental command was issued.

Exterminate the heretics.

Tens of thousands of Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles turned their direction and swarmed toward K and Li Xuan.

Layers of dark blue shields appeared on their body surfaces, superimposing on each other.

K's particle cannon hit the shields that were superimposed thousands of layers deep, only stirring up ripples.

"Gravity Collapse Field!"

K's core power reactor roared.

A black energy sphere shot out from his chest and landed in the dense area of the swarm.

The energy sphere exploded with a boom.

A terrifying gravitational force erupted.

Thousands of surrounding Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles were all pulled over.

Their carapaces were squeezed, deformed, and shattered under extreme gravity.

Green body fluids sprayed out.

Li Xuan was not idle either.

He bit the tip of his tongue and spat out a mouthful of essence blood.

"Blood Explosion Pill, melt for me!"

He swallowed all the remaining forbidden pills in his Storage Ring.

The medicinal power mixed with the essence blood, forcibly breaking through his Meridians.

The life-bound Flying Sword deep within his Dantian emitted a crisp sword hum.

The Azure Underworld Sword broke out of his body.

"Heavenly Constellation Sword Formation!"

Li Xuan formed hand seals, his long hair dancing wildly.

The Azure Underworld Sword split into two, then into four.

In the blink of an eye, thousands of cyan sword lights condensed in mid-air.

"Kill!"

Li Xuan pointed his fingers like a sword and swung forward.

Thousands of sword lights whistled past.

Sword Qi crisscrossed, forcibly plowing a thousand-meter-long bloody alley through the sea of bugs.

The Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles blocking the front were cut into countless pieces.

"Go!"

K roared.

His mechanical body was already covered in cracks, and the light from the power reactor became blinding.

Li Xuan did not hesitate at all.

He stepped on his Flying Sword, turned into a cyan stream of light, and surged forward along that bloody alley.

The swarm of bugs behind surged, attempting to fill the gap.

K stood in place, watching the overwhelming sea of bugs pressing over.

The last line of code flashed in his electronic eye.

[Mission End]

Boom—!

K detonated the nuclear fusion power reactor inside his body.

A mushroom cloud rose on the purple-red wasteland.

A terrifying shockwave swept in all directions.

Tens of thousands of Nether-Uranium Heavy Armor Beetles were reduced to ashes at the center of the explosion.

The bugs on the periphery were also blown away, and the formation was completely thrown into chaos.

The aftermath of the explosion pushed Li Xuan's Flying Sword, making his speed soar again.

The edge of the Extreme North.

More than a dozen tall Fire Spirits stopped their actions.

They looked at the mushroom cloud in the distance.

Watching that group of bugs that were originally lining up to die, suddenly fighting among themselves into a mess.

The Fire Spirits were dumbfounded.

Instinct told them that this group of bugs came to die and be fed to them.

Why are they fighting among themselves now?

Is the food not being sent over anymore?

The Fire Spirits stood at the edge of the lava, falling into a brief stupor.

Li Xuan, taking advantage of the explosion's cover, flew hundreds of kilometers in one go.

He fell from his Flying Sword and slammed heavily onto a barren mountain.

Large mouthfuls of black blood sprayed from his mouth.

His left arm was severed at the root.

His whole body was covered with wounds deep enough to see bone.

His Meridians were broken, and his Spiritual Qi was exhausted.

But he had survived.

Li Xuan leaned against a rock, gasping for breath.

He trembled with his right hand, touching the mechanical core in his bosom.

The cold touch made him feel incredibly reassured.

The bug army behind did not catch up.

Li Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.

He raised his head, looking at the gray sky, and a tragic sneer curled at the corner of his mouth.

"So what if there are a million bugs?"

"I am a Diamond Rank."

"Mere bugs, and they want to keep me?"

He could not help but feel smug inside.

In such a desperate situation of certain death, he still fought his way out.

As long as he recovered a little Spiritual Qi, he could find a place to hide and survive this long thousand years.

When he returned to the starry sky, he would still be a high and mighty elite of the Time Demon Race.

Just as Li Xuan was immersed in the joy of surviving the disaster.

The space around him suddenly rippled.

Li Xuan's expression changed.

The instinct honed from years of walking on the edge of life and death made all the hair on his body stand up.

Hum!

The Void Realm ahead cracked open out of thin air.

A three-meter-long Mad Sickle Shadow Blade Beetle leaped out from the Void Realm.

Void jump!

Li Xuan's scalp went numb.

These bugs actually mastered the power of space!

"Seeking death!"

Li Xuan roared angrily.

He forcibly suppressed the injuries in his body and grasped the Azure Underworld Sword that had fallen beside him.

The foundation of a Diamond Rank erupted.

He leaped up, his long sword stabbing straight at the Blade Beetle's head.

This sword strike was as fast as lightning, unavoidable.

However, this Blade Beetle had no intention of dodging at all.

There was no emotional fluctuation in its compound eyes.

Just as the Azure Underworld Sword was about to pierce its head.

The dark purple patterns on the Blade Beetle's back shone brightly.

The Void Realm gland inside its body instantly overloaded.

Boom!

The Blade Beetle self-destructed.

A high-frequency spatial shockwave spread outward with the Blade Beetle as the center.

Li Xuan's sword tip pierced into the shockwave.

Crack.

The already severely damaged Azure Underworld Sword body let out a crisp sound and snapped into two pieces.

At the same time, Li Xuan felt the surrounding space become incredibly viscous.

His movements slowed down.

The arm swinging the sword felt like it had fallen into a quagmire.

Even the circulation of Spiritual Qi in his body was forcibly solidified.

Fear finally appeared in Li Xuan's eyes.

He wanted to retreat, wanted to use a blood escape technique.

But the space was locked.

He could only watch helplessly as the Void Realm around him cracked open one after another.

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Ten, a hundred, thousands of Mad Sickle Shadow Blade Beetles leaped out from the Void Realm.

They surrounded Li Xuan tightly.

There were no attack movements.

All the Blade Beetles, at the same moment they leaped out of the Void Realm, lit up the dark purple patterns on their backs.

A continuous sound of self-destruction rang out on the barren mountain.

The Void Realm glands of thousands of Blade Beetles detonated simultaneously.

High-frequency spatial shockwaves superimposed together.

The surrounding space completely collapsed.

Li Xuan's body was frozen in mid-air.

His skin began to crack, and his bones emitted unbearable squeezing sounds.

In this final moment of life.

Li Xuan's consciousness became incredibly clear.

He saw the day he entered his Revered Master's sect, the scene where his Revered Master handed the Azure Underworld Sword to him.

"Xuan'er, a Sword Cultivator must press forward, better to break than to bend."

He saw himself slaying powerful enemies in the starry sky, his high spirits when he stepped into the Diamond Rank.

He saw his determination when he betrayed his sect in order to pursue a higher Realm.

Scene after scene flashed through his mind.

He once thought he could control his destiny.

He once thought the power of Diamond Rank was enough to deal with all changes.

But in front of the underlying rules of this Divine Realm.

In front of such unreasonable suicide attacks by the bug race.

Everything he was proud of became a joke.

The suction of the space collapse pulled his body.

Li Xuan looked at those bugs that leaped out of the Void Realm one after another, choosing to self-destruct without hesitation.

He suddenly understood the words K said before he died.

They were not creatures at all.

Just a kind of monster born for destruction and evolution.

"Junior Sister..."

Li Xuan's lips parted slightly, spitting out three silent words.

He burned up the last trace of his Soul power.

The broken Azure Underworld Sword erupted with a brilliant sword light, slashing toward the endless Void Realm.

"Sword Nine, Reincarnation!"