The five trapped in the valley became four, and their magical powers were depleted.
The defensive shield they jointly maintained was already riddled with holes, and at a certain moment, it could no longer bear the strain and collapsed completely.
In that instant, countless iron fire ants surged towards the remaining four, quickly swarming and covering their entire bodies.
At this moment, only one thought arose in the minds of the four: they were doomed.
In their final moments, they could only do their best to squeeze out their last reserves of magical power for external protection, even at the cost of their primordial essence.
Just as everyone was preoccupied with their own survival, Fei Xin, wielding a short sword, stabbed into the back of the tall evil cultivator.
Struck by this sword, the tall evil cultivator immediately lost his momentum. He only managed to let out a mournful cry before being engulfed by the iron fire ants.
This evil cultivator, even in death, sighed, never expecting that the righteous cultivator who appeared most honest and elder-like would launch a surprise attack and stab him in the back at the critical moment.
"You evil cultivators commit wicked deeds, and all people have the right to punish you!"
At this final juncture, Fei Xin did not forget to uphold righteousness, truly a model of a righteous cultivator.
"Junior Sister Ao, stay close to me!"
Fei Xin shouted, pulling out a bottle of spirit wine and downing it all in one gulp. A surge of magical power immediately rose in his dantian.
He reached into his waist storage pouch and produced a large stack of talismans.
Drawing out the largest one, he stuck it onto himself, and a dazzling golden light enveloped him, so bright it made one unable to open their eyes.
As the chief disciple of the Golden Core stage, how could Fei Xin not possess some hidden trump cards?
Now that the evil cultivator was dead and he had no further worries, he unleashed his hidden trump cards and began to break through with all his might.
Fei Xin threw talismans one after another, which exploded amidst the iron fire ants in front of him, transforming into various Foundation Establishment stage spells, forcefully blasting out a space in the ant swarm.
"Go!"
Fei Xin roared and pressed forward. Ao Lingxue also downed her last bottle of spirit wine to replenish her magical power, following closely behind Fei Xin.
Seeing the opportunity, Ji Wudi also hurried to catch up.
As a talisman master, Fei Xin had accumulated a large number of talismans, and today he took them all out, throwing them forward as if they were free.
Relying on the expenditure of a large number of talismans to clear the path, Fei Xin and his group quickly reached the edge of the ant swarm.
Just then, from beneath the ground ahead of them, a fat and sturdy ant queen crawled out.
The antennae on the ant queen's head trembled, emitting waves of peculiar spiritual energy.
The iron fire ants scattered throughout the area seemed to have received a call from their great leader and, like madmen, surged towards Fei Xin and the other two.
Fei Xin, on the verge of escaping, found his efforts thwarted by this ant queen. Enraged, he unleashed over ten talismans, hurling them at the ant queen.
"Boom boom boom!"
Following several loud explosions, it was unknown if the ant queen had died, but Fei Xin and the other two were once again surrounded.
Furthermore, Fei Xin had only a little over a dozen talismans left in his hand.
"Senior Brother Fei, do not panic! I am here!"
Just then, Xiao Fei's voice was heard, sounding like heavenly music to the ears of the three in distress.
Looking up, Xiao Fei's head appeared in the distance. He merely tossed a large bundle of spirit herbs onto the ground and then fled far away.
However, within this bundle of spirit herbs was the powdered residue of pills he had just refined.
The iron fire ant swarm sensed the special aura within the spirit herbs, immediately abandoned the three, and swarmed towards the bundle of spirit herbs.
As Xiao Fei fled, his divine sense constantly monitored what was behind him. Seeing that the iron fire ants were indeed attracted, he breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been troublesome if all his efforts had yielded no results.
While fleeing, he dropped some spirit herbs at intervals, drawing the iron fire ants into a frenzy of competition.
When he reached a narrow, deep pit he had scouted earlier, he threw in more than a dozen bundles of spirit herbs.
The pursuing iron fire ants all rushed into the pit to compete for the herbs.
Xiao Fei quickly used earth-attribute spells. The surrounding soil surged, burying the pit and the iron fire ants within.
He then summoned his brick-shaped magical artifact to pat down the soil above, compacting it.
Given the physique of the iron fire ants, they would not die from being buried like this, but it would take them a considerable amount of time to burrow their way out.
"Junior Brother Xiao, thank you for this time!"
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Xiao, for saving us!"
The three rescued individuals came forward to thank Xiao Fei.
Even Ao Lingxue, who had always been cold and aloof, forced a smile that was more like a grimace than a smile and thanked Xiao Fei.
"This place is not safe to linger. Let's go!"
Fei Xin knew that the iron fire ants inside were likely not dead and urged everyone to leave quickly.
"Senior Brother Fei, you go ahead. I'll be right back."
As Xiao Fei spoke, he flew back towards the original valley. This swarm of iron fire ants attacking cultivators so ferociously was likely in their mating season, making them easily agitated by the slightest provocation.
He wanted to go back and see if he could find any ant eggs.
Most of the iron fire ants in the valley had been lured away, and the few remaining ones no longer posed a threat.
Xiao Fei quickly found the place where the ant queen had appeared earlier. A large pit had been blasted into the ground by Fei Xin's talismans.
At the bottom of the pit lay the broken body of an ant queen.
Although the ant queen could command the other ants, its individual combat strength was not strong, not even reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.
Scattered at the bottom of the pit were also some shattered ant eggs.
"What a pity!"
Xiao Fei shook his head, finding only a few dozen relatively intact ant eggs at the scene.
"Second Sister! Lend a hand!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Lan transformed into a wisp of green smoke and seeped into the ground.
This large swarm of iron fire ants undoubtedly had more than one ant queen, and there must be other ant eggs.
However, the iron fire ant nests were interconnected, and there would be many iron fire ants guarding the nests. It would not be easy to find the ant eggs in a short time.
Xiao Lan, being a ghost cultivator, had no physical form. She could gather or disperse at will, move freely within the ant nest, and was not afraid of being bitten by ants.
"Junior Brother Xiao, hurry up! The iron fire ants have already emerged from the ground."
After only a dozen breaths, Fei Xin's call was heard.
Fei Xin had not gone far but had voluntarily stayed nearby to keep watch for Xiao Fei.
At this moment, Xiao Lan emerged from underground as a wisp of green smoke, tossed a bag to Xiao Fei, and then re-entered the Soul Nurturing Pearl.
Seeing this, Xiao Fei asked no further questions and turned to fly away on his artifact.
The four flew a long distance before stopping on a hillside to tend to their injuries.
Ao Lingxue left them and hid in a patch of woods.
The two men, with no pretense, simply took off their clothes.
Even at this time, a few ants were still clinging to their bodies, unwilling to let go after failing to get any flesh.
Each time an iron fire ant was pulled off, a small piece of flesh was taken with it.
Only now did Xiao Fei have the time to examine the bag his second sister had given him. It contained a pile of white ant eggs, numbering around ten thousand.
Having witnessed the power of the iron fire ant swarm, he intended to try cultivating some iron fire ants.
"Junior Brother Xiao, you intend to cultivate iron fire ants, don't you?"
Fei Xin had long seen through Xiao Fei's intentions.
"Iron fire ants rank 126th on the list of rare insects in the world, truly formidable, but they are not easy to raise.
Otherwise, people would have long ago cultivated large groups of iron fire ants for combat.
I don't know the specifics, but there should be books on this matter in the sect's library. You should check them when you return."
Although Fei Xin had entered the sect much earlier than Xiao Fei, he had read fewer miscellaneous books than Xiao Fei, and only knew a little about iron fire ants.
Xiao Fei knew that for iron fire ants to maintain their formidable combat power, their strength primarily relied on their vast numbers.
However, raising such a large swarm of iron fire ants required an enormous amount of resources, and ordinary people could not afford the daily consumption.
But Xiao Fei's spatial dimension now had 36 mu of land and a 20x time acceleration. Perhaps he could try.