Immortality: Raising an Ant Queen to Cultivate by increasing stat points - Chapter 265

Chapter 265: Chapter 258: Echo Worm_1

“If it really is the Grand Disciple of Elder Jiu Yin defending this place, and Elder Jiu Yin has deliberately laid a trap, there must be a very deep intention behind it.”

Master He Shan’s expression became solemn.

“Qin Niu, hurry up and eliminate these Taiyin Yaoyao. I’m worried there might be trouble on Deputy City Lord Bai’s end.”

“I have no more Metal Bug Canisters to contain them!”

Qin Niu felt helpless; knives and swords simply couldn’t kill these Taiyin Yaoyao, and the best way to deal with them was to lock them up.

But he had no more Metal Bug Canisters to use.

“Take this Insect Bag! It has multiple locking features; once the bugs are inside, just lock the pull string on the bag, and that’s it.”

A large Insect Bag was tossed over.

It was evident that Master He Shan was somewhat pained to part with it.

Higher quality Insect Bags are expensive due to their difficult production and high material standards. Qin Niu had inquired about the price of Insect Bags in the Nine Insect Gang’s Hundred Leaf Town, and even the less expensive ones were sold for more than ten taels of Silver Money.

Such top-notch goods were simply not seen at the street stalls.

The price could soar above a hundred taels of Silver Money.

Even for an Insect Master of Master He Shan’s caliber, earning money in a proper fashion, making a hundred taels of Silver Money was not an easy feat.

During the locust disaster, Qin Niu had helped the Yan Family exterminate insects, and after one hard day’s work, he only earned a few taels of Silver Money.

That was when the locust disaster had struck, and he just happened to have the means to restrain the locusts, which allowed him to earn that income.

Normally, there aren’t many ways for Insect Masters to make money.

They help people exterminate bugs, catch bugs to sell, or they take on disciples and help others appraise bugs, and so on.

The most stable income probably comes from Planting Masters.

Among the four basic needs—food, clothing, shelter, and transportation—food ranks first.

The high-grade herbs grown by Planting Masters can be sold for quite a sum, easily enough to keep one well-fed and clothed for a long time.

After receiving the Insect Bag, Qin Niu tried it out; it was quite handy.

It felt hefty in his hands, but he wasn’t sure what material it was made of. The interior usually had gold threads woven into it.

Some are made of special materials; they have to be bite-proof and also comfortable for the insects to live in.

With the Insect Bag in hand, Qin Niu immediately began to kill.

The most terrifying things about these Taiyin Yaoyao were their speed that made them seem to vanish without a trace and their formidable self-healing ability.

Seizing the opportunity, as soon as he sliced one Taiyin Yaoyao in half, he immediately had the Golden Toad and Termite work together.

First, they captured one half of the Taiyin Yaoyao, then the other half.

After locking them in the Insect Bag, Qin Niu was ready to take on the remaining four.

But the Taiyin Yaoyao he had just locked in the bag managed to reunite its halves and burrow out of the bag.

The creature was extremely ferocious; the moment it burrowed out, it rapidly crawled towards Qin Niu’s hand, its mouth gaping, ready to bite.

Luckily, Qin Niu was always cautious.

He activated the King Pig Leather Armor, blocking its attack.

Then with another slice, he cut it in half once more.

The three Taiyin Yaoyao he had caught before had been successfully detained; was it an issue with the Insect Bag, or should he not have allowed them to reunite?

“Qin Niu, it seems these Taiyin Yaoyao possess strong escape abilities; you need to keep their two halves locked up separately.”

Master He Shan quickly spoke up to remind him.

His experience in insect combat was more extensive than Qin Niu’s, and he understood the situation immediately.

When the Taiyin Yaoyao were split in two, their special abilities were impaired, rendering them unable to escape.

These bugs were truly formidable, to the point where even the Insect Bag couldn’t contain them.

Qin Niu had previously used cages to separate and detain their halves mainly because the cages were too small, and he couldn’t deal with both halves at the same time. Ironically, this mistake led him to a successful method of imprisonment.

With one Insect Bag not sufficient, he had to find another empty Insect Bag among his recent spoils of war.

After separating and detaining the two halves of the Taiyin Yaoyao in different Insect Bags, this time they couldn’t escape. However, they were still ferociously active inside the bags.

Qin Niu then proceeded to apply the same method, successfully imprisoning the remaining four Taiyin Yaoyao.

By now, he had caught eight Taiyin Yaoyao in total.

All of these were Grade Seven insects; used as food for the Ant Queen, they could help her level up by at least one grade.

“Let’s go; let’s immediately check over there.”

Having witnessed Qin Niu’s methods, Master He Shan’s attitude toward him had greatly changed.

Even the tone of speaking had become much more polite.

This somewhat flattered and astonished Qin Niu.

After all, he was currently just a third-class soldier, whereas Master He Shan was the Chiliarch in charge of the Insect Master camp.

In terms of both status and strength, they were not on a level playing field.

Strength was respected everywhere.

Qin Niu had displayed powerful strength, earning Master He Shan’s respect.

The two hurried forward quickly.

Along the way, bloodsucking leeches occasionally attacked them, but they posed no threat to either of them.

A true expert was entirely capable of handling these bloodsucking leeches with ease.

After dashing forward for a bit more than three hundred meters, they sequentially came across the bodies of five bodyguards.

One by one, they lay in tragic death, fallen on the road leading to those ships.

Master He Shan leapt down from the back of his mighty lion to examine the corpses.

On their bodies, no obvious wounds were found.

But the mouths of the five corpses were wide open, the expressions terrified, and three of the bodies had their own hands dug into their throats. Dark red blood flowed out from their eyes, nostrils, and ears.

“They might have been killed by voice-imitating insects!”

Master He Shan’s tone was serious, with a hint of solemnity.

“It feels like they were killed by insects burrowing inside their bellies. What are these voice-imitating insects?”

Qin Niu didn’t know much about some strange and unusual insects.

“I’ve never seen what they actually look like myself. I only know that Nie Kun, the leading disciple under Elder Jiu Yin, and the Gang Leader of the Nine Insect Gang, both have a kind of insect called voice-imitating insect. These insects move at the sound and feed on human hearts. They are one of the notorious murderous insects.”

Even Master He Shan didn’t know the details of this ferocious insect.

Qin Niu silently raised his vigilance, staying alert.

“Don’t worry too much, if we encounter voice-imitating insects, as long as we don’t speak, we will be fine.”

Although Master He Shan said not to worry too much, he still took out a mask from his bosom and put it on.

Qin Niu did the same, donning the face armor of the King Pig Leather Armor.

The defensive capability of the face armor was relatively weak, but it was better than nothing.

They could faintly hear the sounds of fighting ahead.

But they couldn’t see any figures at all.

Qin Niu followed behind Master He Shan, rushing toward the location from which the sounds of combat came.

Suddenly, Master He Shan disappeared before his eyes.

What followed was a dense fog that made it impossible to see any figures.

“Not good, we might have entered the enemy’s trap of an illusionary formation!”

A sense of dread sank in Qin Niu’s heart.

This sudden fog seemed suspicious and unnatural, unlike a regular mist arising from the riverside.

“Qin Niu, Qin Niu, where are you?”

Master He Shan’s calling voice came from ahead.

Qin Niu was about to respond when he suddenly remembered the five dead bodyguards, each meeting a gruesome end at the hands of voice-imitating insects.

In this uncertain situation, it was best to remain cautious.

With this thought, he kept silent.

Instead, he made his way toward the source of the sound.

“Qin Niu, come over here quickly!”

Master He Shan’s voice came again, sounding quite anxious.

Although Qin Niu had only interacted with Master He Shan for a short time, he knew him to be a composed person.

Whether speaking or acting, he was very level-headed, and even when besieged by seven Taiyin Yaoyao, he hadn’t sought help from anyone.

The sudden urgency of hurrying Qin Niu now was highly abnormal.

Yet the voice sounded so real.

It was no different from Master He Shan’s voice.