Xiao Fei followed the tracks of his senior brothers, finally finding himself outside the valley.
He dared not take another step forward.
Ahead, a dense mass of red Ironfire Ants blocked the valley so completely that not a drop of water could pass. They were everywhere, in the sky and on the ground, making one's scalp tingle.
He had seen these Ironfire Ants in the sect's ancient texts and knew something of their habits.
They were violent and ferocious, possessing almost no intelligence, acting purely on instinct. Once provoked, the outcome was a fight to the death.
He hadn't expected such a large swarm. Even a Golden Core expert might falter upon seeing this.
As a mere alchemist not skilled in combat, he was even less qualified to provoke such formidable foes.
However, his senior brother had treated him well, and it felt wrong to simply turn back.
Moreover, this was his first time out on a mission. If only he returned from a group of three, would his master think he was fated to harm the sect?
He recalled reading in the sect's ancient texts that many powerful beings had difficult fates.
As a child, they might cause the death of their family; as adults, they could kill their friends or destroy their sect. Wherever they went, almost nothing would grow, and even mice would drown themselves in rivers.
Anyone who dared to go out with such a person would never return.
Xiao Fei pondered this. He was just a small alchemist; he shouldn't possess such a calamitous constitution.
Still, rescuing his senior brother and that cold, elegant senior sister from this swarm of Ironfire Ants would not be easy.
First, he had to ensure his own safety and not risk his life. Only then could he focus on rescuing them.
A direct assault was out of the question. Although his magical artifacts were difficult to damage, these Ironfire Ants were too numerous, possessing the spirit to grind an iron rod into a needle.
Xiao Fei carefully recalled the habits of the Ironfire Ants, especially their likes and dislikes.
He had vast amounts of time in his spatial dimension, and he had read these texts like casual reading, not delving deeply into the preferences of each type of insect.
"Ironfire Ants seem to have a particular fondness for Dragon's Breath Grass."
With this thought, he immediately dug out a hundred-year-old Dragon's Breath Grass from his spatial dimension.
When the Dragon's Breath Grass was brought out, several Ironfire Ants did change direction and fly towards Xiao Fei.
But the number was too small. Compared to the overwhelming swarm of Ironfire Ants, it was less than a drop in the ocean. This method wouldn't work.
After some more thought, Xiao Fei got up and flew to a farther, safer mountain peak.
Only then did he take out his alchemy furnace and some spirit charcoal from his spatial dimension. He intended to concoct a pill that could attract the Ironfire Ants on the spot.
Being able to freely devise new pills as needed, without a pre-existing formula, was something beyond the capabilities of ordinary alchemists.
It required a thorough understanding of medicinal properties and pharmacology, and a profound grasp of fundamental alchemy theories.
Coincidentally, Xiao Fei possessed all these advantages.
He had mastered them through diligent study and arduous practice.
Xiao Fei first pondered in his mind, conceiving the main and auxiliary ingredients for the pill, as well as the primary effects needed.
Only then did he begin to light the fire and refine the pill, using Dragon's Breath Grass as the main ingredient, along with dozens of auxiliary ingredients, to bring out a specific characteristic of the Dragon's Breath Grass to its fullest extent.
As for whether Fei Xin and the others could hold on until his pill was successfully produced, it was up to fate.
At the same time, Fei Xin and the others were finding it increasingly difficult.
Now there were only the tall evil cultivator, Fei Xin and Ao Lingxue, Ji Wudi, and a black-faced cultivator from the Scarlet Sun Sect.
The defensive circle formed by the five had been compressed smaller and smaller, and they could only stand back-to-back for now.
However, the presence of an evil cultivator among the five made the scene extremely discordant.
These evil cultivators were not good people; betraying teammates in critical moments was a common practice.
Just recently, they had witnessed it twice.
Now, forced to fight back-to-back with an evil cultivator, they had to constantly guard against a stab in the back.
In truth, the tall evil cultivator was also very displeased. Being alone among a group of righteous cultivators made him feel out of place, giving him goosebumps all over.
Ironfire Ants continuously breached the five's defensive circle, crawling onto them and biting.
As the five gradually weakened and their spiritual power waned, more and more Ironfire Ants broke through their defenses and climbed onto them.
Ao Lingxue conjured a spiritual energy shield while drawing her short sword and forcefully slashing at her calf.
A series of "clanging" sounds echoed as she severed over ten Ironfire Ants from her leg onto the ground.
Along with this slash, half of her skirt was also cut off, revealing her fair, tender calf, which was already covered in pockmarked wounds.
Ao Lingxue repeatedly stomped on the ground, crushing the more than ten Ironfire Ants.
These Ironfire Ants seemed to know that her flesh was more tender and delicious, attacking her the most.
Several more Ironfire Ants had already crawled inside her clothes, and she couldn't deal with them conveniently at the moment.
Ji Wudi was likely in the best situation. His body refinement was complete, and it took a long time for the Ironfire Ants to bite off a piece of his flesh.
"Ah! My leg!"
Just then, a rather large gap was gnawed open in the defensive circle formed by the five. A dense swarm of Ironfire Ants poured in, instantly covering the black-faced cultivator's legs.
With a rustling sound of gnawing, the black-faced cultivator's legs were soon reduced to bare white bones.
A large number of Ironfire Ants continued to surge through the gap, quickly covering the entire body of the black-faced cultivator from the Scarlet Sun Sect.
"Quick! Block the gap!"
Fei Xin had the strongest cultivation among them, but he was still separated by two people from the gap, so he could only shout loudly.
The tall evil cultivator was closer to the black-faced cultivator and now displayed the decisive and resolute nature of an evil cultivator.
He reached out, grabbed the black-faced cultivator covered in Ironfire Ants, and directly stuffed him into the defensive gap.
"Ah! I'm not dead yet, Senior Brother Ji, save me!"
The black-faced cultivator was not completely dead. Now being used to block the gap by the evil cultivator, he could only cry out in despair for help.
"You!"
Ji Wudi glared at the tall evil cultivator, swatting to death dozens of crawling Ironfire Ants with a palm strike.
"What do you mean 'you'? If you have the ability, move him away now, and I won't stop you! I can't stand you righteous cultivators."
Ji Wudi was rebuffed by the evil cultivator and ultimately did not reach out to save the black-faced junior brother.
Just then, gaps appeared in two other places, and countless Ironfire Ants poured in.