Chapter 229: Senior An Lin

In the Red Leaf City, which was located in the Black Stone Prefecture of the Heavenly River State, the whole city was enshrouded in an eerie silence with the occasional wisp of black mist rising into the air and a faint bloody scent lingering in the air.

The streets were completely devoid of people with only the occasional severed limb in sight, but those were all quickly engulfed by the crawling black shadows. The only things remaining on the ground were spots of red blood.

This city was a dead city. There were only deathly silence and no signs of life.

However, in one corner of the Red Leaf City, there was the commotion of battle, which was a stark contrast to the silence all around.

Black shadows crawled toward the man in front of them. They spread their cavernous mouths open, which were large enough to swallow a person whole. Within them, hundreds of sharp teeth squirmed, and a foul odor exuded from their fleshy depth as they crawled forward, intending to swallow the man in one bite.

Standing in their way was a well-built middle-aged man. He slashed out with all his might to create a white sword projection which knocked a black shadow back.

This black shadow was a huge black ant of about ten feet in length and black liquid gushed forth from its head after receiving the slash.

After it had been slashed away by the sword projection, another three huge ants crawled out and pounced at the man.

The man pushed aside the frail girl behind him and roared. “Susu, run! Run to the Heavenly Cloud Palace!”

“Father!” Tears welled up in her eyes, and her whole body trembled as she retreated with gritted teeth.

She knew that if she didn’t run now, she wouldn’t have another opportunity to do so. “You have to live on and find me!”

The girl prepared to turn and leave as she said this, but she caught sight of the man being knocked down by the giant ant, and she stopped dead in her tracks with her eyes wide open, feeling as if she had just been plunged into a glacier.

Her mind was completely blank as she stared at the sharp teeth approaching her father’s head. In her panic, she even forgot how to scream.

Right at this moment, a light breeze blew past.

A delicately handsome man had suddenly appeared in front of the man who had fallen to the ground. He held a black longsword in his hand which still had white wisps of wind flowing around the blade, but those soon dissipated.

“Phew… Thank God I was quick enough.” The man breathed a sigh of relief and placed his sword back into his storage ring without so much as a glance at the four huge ants around him.

Spurt…

The heads of the four huge ants slowly detached from their bodies and black blood spurted forth.

The man on the ground stared with wide eyes, completely in awe at the scene before him.

What had just happened? He was completely in the dark! He only knew that a man had suddenly appeared, following which the four huge ants all died.

But he immediately came to his sense for this was definitely a certain mighty figure. He clambered onto his knees in gratitude. “Thank you for saving my life, Senior, I, Liu Hu, am forever in your debt!”

The frail girl with delicate features had also made her way over to express her gratitude.

The man who had just been referred to as Senior was slightly taken aback. He then cleared his throat with a calm expression before saying, “Heh, no need to thank me, it was only a simple task anyway.”

He helped the two of them up from the ground as he said this.

“The whole city has already been ravaged by this colony of huge ants, why are you still risking your lives to come here?” The man who had been referred to as Senior asked.

A grief-stricken expression appeared on Liu Hu’s face, but he still clenched his fists and replied, “My home is in this city. A few days ago, my daughter and I went out to search for medicinal herbs, during which this ant invasion occurred. My parents and my wife were all killed by these accursed ants, so I must avenge them!”

“I heard that the Heavenly Cloud Palace, the sect closest to the Red Leaf City, was organizing a resistance force against the ants. I thought the ants would have already left the city so I planned to return home to retrieve my weapon and some resources, then travel to the Heavenly Cloud Palace. But I did not expect for there to still be ants hiding here…”

A remorseful expression appeared on Liu Hu’s face as he spoke. He was clearly quite annoyed at himself for his stupid decision.

The Senior nodded his head and sighed lightly. “The Ant Tribe are known for their bloodlust and ruthlessness. Since the appearance of the Black Mist Bridge, they have committed unforgivable crimes against us humans, so they are the public enemies of all cultivators. I also plan to join the Heavenly Cloud Palace to participate in their ant extermination, so we’re actually heading in the same direction.”

A glint appeared in Liu Hu’s eyes. “Would you be so kind as to accompany us there, Senior?”

If this powerful cultivator could accompany them, then their trip to the Heavenly Cloud Palace would undoubtedly be much safer.

The Senior smiled and nodded. “I do not know the way, so please take me there.”

“Of course, no problem.” Liu Hu nodded excitedly.

“May I please ask Senior’s name?”

“My name is An Lin.”

“Oh, Senior An Lin! The Heavenly Cloud Palace is located to the Southwest of the Red Leaf City, around ten kilometers from here.”

“That’s fine, let’s go.”

Thus, An Lin, who had been referred to as Senior for the very first time, set off on a journey to the Heavenly Cloud Palace with Liu Hu and Liu Susu.

Ever since the strange black mist rose up from the Abyss of Evil to form a Black Mist Bridge, the Ant Tribe had swarmed in hordes into the Kingdom of the Nine States.

Within the Heavenly River State, there had already been over eighty cities that have fallen victim to these ants. The places where these ants passed through were all completely wiped of any living beings. They were truly ruthless killers which made people wince just at the very mention of their existence.

And it was exactly due to this ant epidemic that the end-of-year trial for An Lin and the others had been completely overhauled this year.

The Heavenly Cloud Palace of the Red Leaf City had already extended an open invitation to all cultivators to request for their assistance in withstanding the ant epidemic, as well as to protect those who had lost their homes during this disaster.

An Lin had gathered a lot of information on the Heavenly Cloud Palace during his travels, and Liu Hu had also done the same.

This included information such as the Palace Leader of the Heavenly Cloud Palace was a man named Chen Tianyang, who was a mighty figure of Spirit Nurturing Final Stage. Their Grand Elder was an extremely powerful cultivator who had reached the cusp of the god realm, and on top of that, there was a mystical flower in the palace which had unfathomable powers…

An Lin listened as Liu Hu divulged this information to him, nodding from time to time in response.

Liu Susu cast furtive glances at the handsome cultivator in front of her before casting her gaze away with a blush.

After a short while, the girl seemed to have mustered up some courage and took initiative in initiating a conversation. “Senior An Lin, this cute dog and adorable monkey, are they your pets?”

An Lin was slightly taken aback by her words and stroked his chin in silence as he looked behind him at the miniature version of Da Bai and then at Xiao Chou, who was perched on his shoulder.

Adorable monkey? How unfortunate that a girl so young has already been blighted by blindness!

He naturally wouldn’t say this out loud. Instead, he introduced his two beast pets to the girl with a smile.

“These aren’t just pets, they should be referred to as beast pets. The doggo’s name is Da Bai and the monkey’s name is Xiao Chou.”

“Wow, Senior An Lin is so cool… If I have a chance in the future, I want a few adorable beast pets like these ones too!” The girl smiled lightly.

Although her figure was quite thin and frail, her smile was extremely pure and delightful.

Xiao Chou couldn’t help but blush and scratch at his own fur in embarrassment at Liu Susu’s compliments.

After discovering that An Lin was quite easy-going, a conversation began to flow freely between Liu Susu and An Lin.

Soon, a huge palace constructed on the side of a mountain appeared in their line of sight.

“We’re finally here…”

An Lin raised his head to look up at the palace, and his expression cooled slightly.

His eyes turned white as he stared up ahead.

Heh, cultivation base detection spell formation, eh? They sure are well prepared…

An Lin raised his ring finger inconspicuously and shot forth a stream of energy from his finger before retracting his hand and clasping it behind his back.

They soon reached the entrance.

An Lin announced the purpose of his arrival to the guard, following which the guard brought out a blue mirror and looked into it before looking back at An Lin and the others. His tone of speech instantly became a lot more respectful.

“Please come in, fellow cultivators, I’ll take you to see our Palace Leader!”

They could see the Palace Leader immediately upon entry? Liu Hu and Liu Susu both felt extremely flattered.

But they both came to the realization when they looked toward An Lin.

It was all thanks to Senior An Lin that they had this type of opportunity.

An Lin nodded calmly and followed the guards into the palace.

The scene within the Heavenly Cloud Palace was a lively and bustling one. There were many cultivators scurrying about hurriedly and quite a few of them were training in battle formations, screaming at the top of their lungs about slaughtering the Ant Tribe, making Liu Hu and Liu Susu’s hearts thump with excitement.

An Lin continued onward with a calm expression, but his heart grew colder with each step.