Chapter 2: The Abnormal Golden Armor (Part 1)

Han Yan’s face turned pale. As the person in charge of this area, he led a group of mid-to-low-level professionals who already struggled to fend off swarms of Golden Armored Beetles. If an Abnormal Golden Armor of level 11 appeared along with endless waves of those beetles, they would be utterly no match. He forced a smile and said, “Don’t worry. Those powerful Golden Armored Beetles will be dealt with by the inner sect’s experts. Our task is just to kill more of the lower-level ones.”

Guo Shier knew that if the Fire Sect’s top experts couldn’t stop this Abnormal Golden Armor, the entire sect might be destroyed. Judging from its size, it could crush the second defensive talisman array. Although its movement speed wasn’t fast, each step it took was steady.

Eagle Demon calculated briefly and said, “At most eight hours, and that Abnormal Golden Armor will reach here.”

Guo Shier replied, “So slow… Yeah, indeed very slow.” He also did some calculations and found that the Abnormal Golden Armor moved like a turtle. He didn’t know that it could move as fast as lightning. The reason for its slow movement was that it needed to break through the earth’s crust to bring up magma from beneath. With the flow of magma, their Golden Armored Beetles could gain strength, and their attacks could also take advantage of the magma’s force.

Gu Yu, who had remained silent until then, suddenly said, “If we can’t stop it… we’d better leave!”

Lu Yiding stood next to his Ice Bear. This mutated Ice Bear was three meters tall, emitting thick clouds of cold mist. Standing near it made one feel cool. Guo Shier and the others also stood beside the Ice Bear.

Guo Shier said, “Once the Abnormal Golden Armor is within a kilometer, we’ll leave. There’s no way we can fight it.”

Lu Yiding nodded. “If the Fire Sect’s higher-ups still don’t show up, it’s really dangerous.”

Han Yan had nothing to say. He also understood that once the Abnormal Golden Armor got within a kilometer, the second defensive talisman array might collapse at any moment, and things would become truly disastrous. He said, “Don’t worry. There will be experts to hold them back… Look! It’s coming!” His tone suddenly became excited as he pointed at the sky and shouted.

Two people flew into the sky—man and woman, both appearing very young. The man looked like a teenager, while the woman was a girl around seventeen or eighteen. But any professional present, especially those from the higher-ranked continents, knew that these two were the true masters of their sects.

The two hovered above the edge of the defensive talisman array. A moment later, another person flew up as well.

Guo Shier exclaimed in surprise, “The Fiery Beauty?”

The Eagle Demon also saw the woman who flew up and said, “She looks familiar… I wonder if she’s the Demon Queen.”
Han Yan, who was right beside them, replied, “It’s the Demon Queen. Do you know her?”
Guo Shier quickly denied it, saying, “She doesn’t know us. Hehe, I’ve seen her before in another place and know she’s the Demon Queen. Could it be that the Demon Queen belongs to the Fire Sect…?”
Han Yan said, “No, the Demon Queen is here as a guest at the Fire Sect.”
Guo Shier asked, “Who are the other two lords?”
Han Yan showed an expression of admiration and said, “These two are the great elders of our sect. They hold high status and possess immense strength. We haven’t seen them for many years. I thought they weren’t in the sect, but to my surprise, they came today. With these two great elders here, the sect is safe, hehe.”
Guo Shier asked in confusion, “Great elders?”
Han Yan explained, “Strictly speaking, they’re no longer great elders. Their status in the sect is actually even higher than that of great elders.” Then he introduced their names.
The man who resembled a youth was named Hu Da, and the woman’s name was Tian Hua.
Guo Shier was stunned by their names. Hu Da was one thing, but Tian Hua sounded terrifying—she was a deadly infectious disease that caused fear in past lives.
Hu Da and Tian Hua didn’t rush to act but discussed something with the Demon Queen. Soon, the three of them left the defensive circle and stepped outside. Immediately, countless golden-armored insects swarmed at them.
The Demon Queen laughed, clasped her hands together, and pushed outward. A whirlwind shot out along her arms. Then, as she moved her hands, she quickly cast thousands of hand seals, with countless virtual talismans merging into the whirlwind. The originally weak whirlwind suddenly expanded, emitting a howling sound. The nearby golden-armored insects were instantly sucked in and torn to pieces by the virtual talismans, turning the whirlwind blood-red.
The Demon Queen shouted, “Annihilate!” The whirlwind rushed into the swarm of golden-armored insects. Then she threw a small, round object that was too tiny to identify. Once it entered the whirlwind, it exploded with a loud noise, turning into countless ice crystals mixed within the whirlwind, as a cold aura spread out.
The professionals below watched in astonishment. In less than a minute, at least tens of thousands of golden-armored insects turned into blood mist. As the whirlwind moved, more and more insects were torn to pieces.
The whirlwind kept moving, its powerful suction drawing in all the surrounding golden-armored insects, including those mutated ones at levels eight or nine. They were all crushed into blood mist and carried away by the whirlwind’s airflow.

Guo Shierou gently tapped his forehead. He knew the Demon Lady’s strength was not as great as that of the man in red, yet with just that strength, she could easily kill so many Golden Armored Beetles with a single move. Meanwhile, he had struggled for ages using his Giant Axe, only managing to eliminate a little over ten thousand Golden Armored Beetles—completely no match at all.
The Eagle Demon said with envy, “It seems one would need to reach the level of a high-ranking Great Sage to possess such strength. It’s amazing!”
Guo Shierou replied, “Choumo is even more powerful. Even the man in red, Choumo’s disciple, is stronger than her… I wonder where that man in red went?”
The Eagle Demon shook his head. “I don’t know…” He glanced into the distance. That Abnormal Giant Golden Armored Beetle was still crawling, seemingly unhurried at all.
Hu Da looked down. He knew exactly how the professionals would react and said, “Everyone, stay calm. There’s no need to panic. A large number of professionals have already entered through the sect’s teleportation gates. The Fire Sect is safe. You’ve bought time for the sect.” His voice wasn’t loud, but everyone present could hear him clearly.
Han Yan exhaled in relief. “That’s great. With the support of professionals, things will be much easier for us.”
Guo Shierou stared intently at the sky, eager to see how Hu Da and Tianhua would attack that terrifying Abnormal Giant Golden Armored Beetle. A battle of this scale could provide him with great insights.
The Demon Lady used a whirlwind attack to eliminate seven or eight hundred thousand Golden Armored Beetles, creating a huge gap in the swarm. Only then did she step back with a smile and say, “That’s an Abnormal Giant Golden Armored Beetle… quite valuable. Forget its soul—I want its life force and some materials from its body.”
Hu Da nodded. “No problem. Just wait a bit longer. My master is almost here…”
The Demon Lady’s expression turned slightly serious. “Is the Ancestor returning?”
Tianhua laughed. “With such a major event, how could the Ancestor not return? This time the chaos was too great—almost destroying the sect.”
The Demon Lady said, “If the Ancestor returns… then there’s no problem.”
Hu Da said, “Let’s first eliminate some of the Golden Armored Beetles to relieve the burden on the guys down there. Wait a moment.” He spat out his Soul Altar. Although it was still in a virtual form, it already had the basic structure of an altar.
Guo Shierou saw this clearly and immediately realized that this Hu Da was slightly stronger than the man in red—his altar was almost fully formed.

Hu Da gently tapped the altar, and a wisp of silver light sprouted from its top, resembling fireworks from a past life. It flew above the swarm of golden beetles and, with a soft sound, formed a large silver chrysanthemum. Hu Da cast a spell and shouted, “Fallen Crystal!” The large silver chrysanthemum instantly turned into countless silver ice crystals, which fell from the sky.

Puff! Puff…

A series of sounds as frequent as raindrops, as if there was a heavy downpour, filled the air, with screeching noises echoing everywhere as the golden beetles were shattered to pieces. As Hu Da moved his fingers, the large silver chrysanthemum moved as well, covering any area it touched with silver ice crystals.

According to Guo Shier’s estimation, Hu Da’s single attack covered an area of about a hundred meters. By moving continuously and attacking repeatedly, he cleared a large area in no time.

The professionals were filled with amazement—this attack was extremely powerful, even more so than the Whirling Wind attack of the Sorceress. It took three full minutes before the large silver chrysanthemum in the sky gradually dissipated. That single attack had killed at least hundreds of thousands of golden beetles. Just one attack from these two was equivalent to the number killed by all the professionals in their sect combined.

Tianhua said, “Since Brother Hu and Sister Sorceress have both attacked, I’ll give it a try too, hehe.” She also emitted her own soul altar and gently tapped it with her delicate fingers. A curved, fiery red metal blade appeared in front of her. She tapped it eight more times, resulting in nine metal blades, each burning with fierce flames, instantly forming a matrix of flaming blades.

Tianhua smiled satisfactorily and said, “Go!” She tapped the blade matrix formed by her fingers, and with a metallic tremor, the blade matrix shot out.

Guo Shier said, “A Spell-Warrior!”

Eagle Demon watched intently and murmured, “So powerful! To be able to use blade spells like this!”

Sharp howling sounds filled the air. Tianhua gave a sharp command, “Disperse!” The metallic light plunged into the swarm of golden beetles, exploding violently—forming a whirlwind of blades that spun wildly among the insects.

Gasps of awe came from all around. Guo Shier stared in shock, realizing that blade spells could be arranged into matrices, making their attacks many times stronger than those of a single blade.

The blade matrix controlled by Tianhua relied on two principles: gathering and dispersing. As the matrix kept shifting between these states, the golden beetles suffered greatly—any that came into contact with the blades were shattered to dust. In no time, a large area was cleared, thinning out the entire swarm.

Each of the three attacked once, eliminating one-fifth of the Golden Beetle swarm. Guo Shier began to understand what it meant to be a top-tier professional, but he still couldn’t imagine what effect professionals like Li Ran and Chou Mo, who had tangible altars, would have.