Chapter 513: Chapter 502: The Sword Cultivator Father
Since Elder Shigu and the others were far away, Ye Qiu didn’t know he was being targeted yet.
He was very busy at the moment because the Blazing Fire Ants had discovered more than one strange place.
"There are so many good things in the desert." Ye Qiu marveled, giving everything usable to the Mutant Blazing Fire Ant, and stashing away the rest for himself.
The Blazing Fire Ant, now spirited instead of reluctant, had never known it could hunt for treasures like this!
But even if it had known before, it couldn’t have achieved this, as there were more than just one Golden Core Blazing Fire Ant within its previous colony, and it simply didn’t have the power to command such a large ant army.
However, they also encountered some troubles during their search; the Endless Desert was home to more than just the Blazing Fire Ants, and creatures like the Red Poison Scorpion, Big Rock Snake, and Four-legged Dragon, among others, also resided there.
Life in the harsh desert was fierce, and the spiritual beasts that could survive there were ferocious with a strong sense of territory, leading to many Blazing Fire Ants never returning.
"Let’s go, one of the Blazing Fire Ants seems to have found that Ancient Temple you mentioned." Two months later, just as the agreement with the Mutant Blazing Fire Ant was about to expire, good news finally arrived.
"Master, all of the Blazing Fire Ants have retreated, do you think they’ve found it?" The man in green observed the hastening Blazing Fire Ants and then released his own spiritual beast to feed.
Blazing Fire Ants were merely low-level spiritual beasts; the Blazing Fire Ants in groups were not to be trifled with, but they held no value for contracts, and only the Mutant Blazing Fire Ant was worthy of their attention. Thus, they showed no mercy when slaughtering any passing Blazing Fire Ants.
"Let’s speed up and take a look, to see what’s worth this grand mobilization." A look of interest appeared on Elder Shigu’s face, with an air of determination to succeed.
The man in green extolled excessively, while the man in grey was sullen; it was he who had made the discovery, yet it was his senior fellow disciple who ended up receiving the Master’s favor, which felt truly unfair.
"Is this the Ancient Temple you’re looking for?" The Mutant Blazing Fire Ant looked at Ye Qiu, puzzled. It seemed nothing special – just a Monk sitting cross-legged, though he did have something like an inner core, similar to that of demon beasts, within his belly.
"That’s right." As soon as Ye Qiu saw the Buddha Lamp beside the petrified Buddha, he knew, for Lin Shen had used this lamp in a previous life to drive away a dark spiritual beast.
"Forgive me, senior!" Although the ancient Buddha had already petrified and no longer possessed Divine Sense, Ye Qiu still showed respectful demeanor and naturally performed a salute.
However, right after Ye Qiu finished his salute, the remains of the ancient Buddha dissipated with the wind, and the Shariputra in its belly fell onto the cushion below, emitting a soft glow.
"Shariputra?" Elder Shigu, who had arrived just in time, eagerly lunged forward to seize the bead upon the cushion, his eyes lighting up.
Ye Qiu, with quick reflexes, drew his sword and unleashed a majestic strike towards Elder Shigu.
Elder Shigu, sensing he could not take the hit head-on, narrowly dodged but found himself further away from the Shariputra.
"Lonely Swallow Sword Lord?" Elder Shigu’s disciples did not recognize Ye Qiu, but Elder Shigu himself did, and it was because he knew who Ye Qiu was that his expression showed much more wariness.
The title of Sword Master was not given lightly. When Ye Qiu had just entered the Nascent Soul Stage, he was already known as the foremost practitioner of the Sword Dao in the Xuanyuan Realm, which spoke volumes of his prowess.
Then, Elder Shigu was shocked to discover that Ye Qiu’s cultivation had reached the middle stage of Nascent Soul. It hadn’t been long since his advancement to Nascent Soul, how could this be?
Elder Shigu always considered himself a genius, but at this moment, he felt a deep pang of jealousy because there was someone in the world even more talented than he was.
Although he was at the late stage of Nascent Soul, he did not dare to confront Ye Qiu, who was in the middle stage of Nascent Soul, head-on. How humiliating was that?
However, he was a Beast Master, not alone in the fight.
Elder Shigu summoned a Unihorn Dragon, freshly contracted and of the late-stage Nascent Soul, from his Spiritual Beast Ring, then looking down at Ye Qiu he said, "Lonely Swallow Sword Lord, I’ll be taking this Shariputra. Could you bear to part with it?"
By this time, his two disciples had also sensed the situation, standing to the left and right sides of Elder Shigu, completely devoid of the respect and fear they previously showed towards Ye Qiu. However, upon hearing their master call out the name "Lonely Swallow Sword Lord," both disciples were taken aback.
After their surprise, they felt a strong killing intent and turned to look, only to realize the killing intent was emanating from the Mutant Blazing Fire Ant nearby.
Having almost lost their minds and the Flame Flower to the Blazing Fire Ant, it could be said the ant harbored a deep hatred for the two, its desire for their death the only way to quell its inner rage.
"Master," said the man in green and the man in grey, moving even closer to Elder Shigu, as they were no match for a Nascent Soul Spirit Beast.
"What is there to fear?" spoke Elder Shigu, as he released a Poisonous Crocodile and a Poison Bee, both at the middle-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, and then with an air of superiority said to the Mutant Blazing Fire Ant, "Surrender and become my Spiritual Pet."
"In your dreams," the Blazing Fire Ant hissed, its killing intent even heavier.
"Go, subdue it," Elder Shigu, accustomed to the unruly behavior of spiritual beasts, calmly ordered the Poisonous Crocodile and Poison Bee.
"Little Jin, don’t let the Blazing Fire Ant die. You don’t need to worry about my side," said Ye Qiu, wanting to know his own limits in combat after making a breakthrough, facing both a late-stage Nascent Soul Beast Master and late-stage Nascent Soul Unihorn Dragon.
Elder Shigu glanced at the small-sized Little Red Bird and paid it no mind; a spiritual beast he didn’t recognize was surely of a low level and not worthy of his attention. He thought the Lonely Swallow Sword Lord was at his wit’s end and just pretending to be calm.
"Lonely Swallow Sword Lord, let me say it again, back off now, and I can overlook this matter," Elder Shigu said.
"You’re dreaming," Ye Qiu replied coldly, lifting his sword.
The expression on Elder Shigu’s face darkened: "Since you refuse to be sensible, don’t blame me for being inhospitable. Let me also see just how formidable the Lonely Swallow Sword Lord, renowned throughout the Xuanyuan Realm, truly is."
"Today, you’ll get a good look," Ye Qiu said just as coldly.
The clash occurred in an instant, as the Unihorn Dragon let out an earth-shattering roar.
Even though it’s called a dragon, the Unihorn Dragon only has a very faint trace of giant dragon bloodlines and doesn’t even look like a dragon. It’s unknown what other spiritual beasts it’s mixed with; it’s incredibly ugly, covered in repulsive meaty spines.
However, it had to be said, its defensive power was formidable. Ye Qiu’s probing first strike only left a shallow mark on its body.
Elder Shigu thought little of Ye Qiu and cackled gleefully.
"Lonely Swallow Sword Lord, surely the title of Sword Master wasn’t just trumped up by Tianyan Sect! I gave you the chance to leave, but since you refuse, don’t blame me for not showing any mercy!"