Chapter 1744: Chapter 1744: Deep into the Sea of Black Ants
The Hongmeng Academy ship continued flying toward the Sea of Black Ants.
While Yang Xiaotian and others headed to the Sea of Black Ants, the Hall Master of the Nine Evil Hall was gloomily listening to the reports from his subordinates about the investigations over the years.
Over the years, although many suspects had been captured, the murderer who killed more than a dozen of their Nine Evil Hall disciples was still not found.
"Hall Master, we just found out another suspect. A few days before Chen Qunyu and others entered Silver Demon Ridge, this person and his subordinates once entered Silver Demon Ridge," his subordinate reported. "This person is Yang Xiaotian from the Primordial Universe Academy’s Heavenly Fire Branch Campus."
"Yang Xiaotian, who took first place at the Holy Path Conference of the Profound Thunder Empire?" the Hall Master of the Nine Sha Hall stood up.
"Yes, it is him." His subordinate quickly said, "However, we’re not confident it’s really him."
The Hall Master’s face sank, "Whether it’s him or not, bringing him back will uncover the truth."
His subordinate hesitantly said, "He is a disciple of the Hongmeng Academy, and there’s also Nan Tian by his side."
"What of him being a disciple of the Hongmeng Academy? If they are truly the murderers, they must pay for the lives of our disciples!" the Hall Master coldly declared.
"But what about Nan Tian?" His subordinate still showed fear.
"Then use poison. No matter how strong he is, I can’t believe he won’t fear poison. Poison him, bring them back," the Hall Master said sinisterly.
...
"We’ve arrived." As Yang Xiaotian was cultivating, the voice of a Hongmeng Academy teacher sounded from outside the secret chamber.
Besides Tang Chang and Xie Qiu leading the team, a few other teachers had also accompanied the group on this trip.
Yang Xiaotian and the others exited the secret chamber, arriving at the bow of the ship to see before them a sea of darkness.
The Dark Sea was still and enveloped with black mist that carried an eerie and chilling aura.
This was the Sea of Black Ants.
It was the breeding ground of the Black Ants.
Previously, when Yang Xiaotian visited Sword Tomb Peak, the black ants had rioted, pouring out from the Sea of Black Ants. This time, however, no black ants were to be seen.
All the black ants had retreated into their nests within the Sea of Black Ants.
They could only enter the Sea of Black Ants to hunt down the ants.
This made it even more dangerous.
If these black ants emerged from the sea, it would actually be easier to hunt them.
But if they entered the Sea of Black Ants, as they hunted down the ants, any disturbance could alert the other ants. At that time, billions of black ants would surge out, making escape nearly impossible.
The end result would be being gnawed to the bone by these black ants, being devoured alive until death.
Tang Chang and Xie Qiu looked at the Sea of Black Ants ahead with solemn expressions. Tang Chang advised Yang Xiaotian and the others, "When everyone enters the Sea of Black Ants, you must be extremely cautious."
"Never venture deep into the Sea of Black Ants."
"Stay at the periphery, waiting for solitary black ants."
Tang Chang warned everyone.
Many black ants often emerged from their nests to forage, sometimes alone or in pairs.
When these black ants were alone, it was the best time to hunt them.
"Does everyone remember?" Tang Chang, fearing recklessness from the group, reminded them again.
Only after the group affirmed did Tang Chang allow them to proceed.
Yang Xiaotian and his fellow disciples flew towards the Sea of Black Ants.
Their figures gradually disappeared into the black mist of the Sea of Black Ants.
As per regulations, Tang Chang, Xie Qiu, and a few teachers could not enter the Sea of Black Ants with Yang Xiaotian and others, so they waited outside.
Tang Chang and Xie Qiu watched as Yang Xiaotian’s figure disappeared, concern written between their brows.
After entering the Sea of Black Ants, Yang Xiaotian and the others found themselves surrounded by darkness. Though it was daytime, the entire Sea of Black Ants resembled night.
Furthermore, in this place, Divine Soul Power was heavily suppressed, and Yang Xiaotian discovered that his Divine Soul Power could only cover a kilometer around him.
This was because of his strong Divine Soul Power; the range was even smaller for other disciples.
The other disciples wore faces of fear and hesitation.
Obviously, facing the legendary Sea of Black Ants, which devours people without leaving bones, the disciples felt insecure, and no one dared to advance first.
"We have only three days, everyone should stop hesitating," Liu Bo said in a stern voice, then soared forward first.
In the blink of an eye, Liu Bo’s figure vanished.
Seeing this, Xiao Hong followed closely behind Liu Bo, delving deeper into the Sea of Black Ants.
Yang Xiaotian also stepped forward, cutting through the layers of black mist, flying ahead.
The disciples swarmed in.
As Yang Xiaotian flew forward, he found that Liu Bo, Xiao Hong, and the others were already out of sight. However, he didn’t mind, as he intended to act alone since a large number of people would attract the attention of the black ants.
Arriving at a certain area of the sea, Yang Xiaotian broke through the water and entered the seabed.
The Black Ants lived more than a hundred fathoms below the sea, and their nests were generally within the seabed’s mountain structures, so they had to enter the seabed to search for the Black Ants.
The seabed was even darker, with visibility at zero.
But Yang Xiaotian couldn’t activate the Sun Holy Body; once activated, it would be hard not to alert billions of black ants.
The seawater was icy cold and carried a chilling poison, so they couldn’t stay in the Sea of Black Ants for too long, at most a few days.
If they stayed too long, the cold poison would invade the Holy Vein, making it difficult to expel.
Yang Xiaotian performed the Chaos Five Elements Escaping Technique, flying cautiously forward.
Fortunately, his Chaos Five Elements Escaping Technique had reached the peak of the Twenty-Sixth Layer, and when escaping, it wouldn’t cause any energy fluctuations.
With the Chaos Five Elements Escaping Technique and his Life-Bound Soul Skill, Absolute Concealment, even if a black ant passed close by him, it wouldn’t discover him.
After flying forward for about half an hour, Yang Xiaotian finally stopped.
The area ahead was the black ant nest region, the further ahead, the more nests, making it the best waiting area.
After waiting for half an hour, Yang Xiaotian finally saw a black ant emerge to forage.
When the black ant approached, Yang Xiaotian instantly drew his sword, the Hell Sword in his hand slicing through the water, piercing directly under the black ant’s head.
That was the black ant’s weakest defensive point.
In this Sea of Black Ants, if you couldn’t achieve a one-hit kill when hunting these ants, you’d easily attract a swarm of black ants.
After killing the black ant, Yang Xiaotian stored its body in the Tribulation Dragon Ring and continued to conceal himself.
This time, after waiting for half an hour, not one black ant came out to forage.
Seeing this, Yang Xiaotian could only risk moving to hunt; otherwise, waiting like this was pointless. In three days, not to mention killing three thousand black ants, it would be hard to kill even three hundred.
Sure enough, as Yang Xiaotian continued to venture deeper by a few kilometers, the black ants began to increase in number.
But it was still not enough; after an hour, Yang Xiaotian had only killed a dozen or so.
Yang Xiaotian continued to delve deeper.
Unknowingly, he got extremely close to the black ant nest region, only a hundred meters away.
Swarms of black ants inside the nests, densely packed, were transporting items.
Those items turned out to be Lower Grade Dao Holy Stones.