ATPnovel Chapter 645 Instant Kill! You cheated!
Chapter 645 Instant Kill! You cheated!
It didn't fly away; rather, its speed was so fast that it was imperceptible to the naked eye. All the crowd saw was a thin, dark golden line streak across the arena, as thin as a hair flashing in the sunlight, before the Blood Scorpion Gu's hissing abruptly ceased.
The cicada had already perched on top of the blood scorpion gu's head.
Its mouthparts pierced the gaps in the head carapace of the Blood Scorpion Gu, and its pair of black tentacles, which were originally as thin as hair, were now deeply embedded inside the carapace.
A domineering devouring force surged from its body, completely extracting the insect spirit power from the Blood Scorpion Gu's body as if peeling away layers of silk.
The Blood Scorpion Gu's massive body froze in place. Its six legs trembled violently a few times before it completely lost its strength. Its two giant pincers drooped limply, and the eerie green poisonous light on its tail hooks quickly dimmed.
Before it could even put up any effective resistance, the Golden Cicada drained most of its insect spirit power within three breaths, leaving it with no strength left to mobilize its demonic power to fight back.
Three breaths.
From the moment the Golden Cicada made its move until the Blood Scorpion Gu completely lost its resistance, it took only three breaths.
The entire room fell silent.
Ulihan's smile froze on his face, his lips trembling as he couldn't utter a single word.
His Blood Scorpion Gu, which had killed seven Gu worms of the same level on the grassland and was his precious treasure, was now withering away at a speed visible to the naked eye!
Its hard carapace collapsed into an empty shell, the poisonous light on its tail hook went out completely, and its six legs curled up into a ball.
Chen Fan watched all of this calmly, without even blinking.
On the stands, Duan Wuliang's mocking expression froze before it faded, and he opened his mouth several times but couldn't utter a word.
The demonic cultivators beside him, who had just been mocking the size of the Golden Cicada, were now all pale-faced, looking at the Golden Cicada as if it were some kind of prehistoric beast.
Song Tianren's brows furrowed even more, and a hint of seriousness flashed in his dark eyes.
Wang Zhenyue sat upright on the west side of the stands, expressionless. However, the fingers on the armrest had tightened slightly, and the sandalwood beneath his fingertips had silently sunk into a shallow dent.
On the high platform, the Gu woman's cloudy old eyes narrowed slightly.
Having lived for hundreds of years, she naturally knew more about things than others. She thought that the way this golden Gu worm devoured was almost exactly the same as the Soul-Devouring Gu, which had been lost to the grasslands for a long time.
She had served under the Gu King for hundreds of years and had seen records of the Soul-Devouring Gu in the ancient books collected by the Gu King. The descriptions were strikingly similar to the devouring instincts displayed by the insect in front of her.
Her gaze shifted from Jin Chan to Chen Fan's face, a meaningful glint flashing in her old eyes.
On the arena, Jin Chan drained the last trace of insect spirit power from the Blood Scorpion Gu's body before finally pulling its mouthparts out of its shriveled carapace with satisfaction.
It took flight, circled its empty prey once, and then did something that made everyone present gasp in shock.
It began to devour the corpse of the Blood Scorpion Gu.
That scene wasn't bloody, but it sent chills down your spine more than any gory image.
The tiny cicada, no bigger than a grain of rice, lay on the corpse of the blood scorpion gu, which was hundreds of times larger than itself. Its mouthparts, like sharp blades, sliced through the hard carapace inch by inch, and then swallowed the fragments into its belly at an astonishing speed.
Although it was small in size, it devoured things very quickly, swallowing the entire Blood Scorpion Gu, shell and all, in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.
After devouring everything, the golden cicada shone brightly with golden light.
The intricate golden patterns on its carapace seemed to come alive, twisting and writhing, radiating a scorching aura. Its size shrank even further in the golden light, shrinking from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a sesame seed, but its aura rose steadily at a visible rate, getting closer and closer to the threshold of the Nascent Soul stage, now only a thin layer away.
The audience was silent.
Ulihan finally came to his senses, his face ashen.
He pointed a trembling finger at the golden cicada, his voice hoarse as he cried out, "This... what kind of Gu worm is this? How can it devour its opponent's Gu worm on the arena? This is against the rules! This is cheating!"
The Gu cultivator in charge of the referee was silent for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "The rules of the competition only stipulate that the Gu worms of both sides must fight to the death, but do not prohibit the devouring of the opponent's Gu worms. The winner advances, and the loser is eliminated. Ulihan, you have lost."
Ulihan stood dejectedly on the arena, watching as the Blood Scorpion Gu he had painstakingly cultivated over hundreds of years was completely destroyed, his face drained of all color.
Chen Fan raised his hand, and the golden cicada transformed into a dark golden stream of light and flew back into his palm. It rubbed its head against his fingertips and let out a satisfied buzz.
The buzzing sound carried a lingering, unfulfilled longing.
Chen Fan calmly put it back into his sleeve, bowed to the referee, and turned to walk off the stage.
In the stands, Qin Zhan finally snapped out of his shock and suddenly threw his head back and burst into laughter.
The unrestrained laughter startled several grassland Gu cultivators nearby, who all turned to look at him: "Good lad! I knew you were hiding your true strength! What's the origin of this insect? It even devoured a Gu worm at the early Nascent Soul stage without hesitation. Tsk tsk, I've already witnessed your unparalleled skills in alchemy and formations. Now you've even raised Gu worms in such an eccentric way. Just how many trump cards do you have up your sleeve?"
Not far away, Duan Wuliang's face was no longer ashen, but deathly pale.
He had just been publicly mocking Chen Fan for not having any decent Gu worms, but in the blink of an eye, he was slapped in the face by this inconspicuous little bug.
He swallowed hard, his throat dry, and whispered to Song Tianren beside him, "Fellow Daoist Song, what exactly is this insect?"
Song Tianren did not answer, but remained silent for a moment before coldly uttering a few words: "It's not important. The battle of Gu worms is just an appetizer. The real winner will be decided in the final cultivation arena."
He spoke in a detached tone, but the previous contempt was gone from his dark eyes.
On the west side of the stands, Wang Zhenyue's expression was not much better.
Although he maintained the composure of a Nascent Soul cultivator, the fingers resting on the armrest had turned slightly white. Having lived for over a thousand years, his eyesight was incredibly sharp; he immediately recognized that the golden cicada was no ordinary Gu worm.
If a worm that can devour even a nascent Nascent Soul stage Gu worm in three breaths were to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have to be wary of it.
He slowly closed his eyes, suppressing the murderous intent in his heart back into the depths.
Below the arena, Chen Fan had already settled back into his seat in the waiting area.
He took the Golden Cicada out of his sleeve and used his divine sense to examine its condition. He saw that after the Golden Cicada devoured the Blood Scorpion Gu, the devouring power within its body had become increasingly pure, and it was only one step away from reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
If he could devour another Nascent Soul level Gu worm, breaking through to the Nascent Soul level would be a natural progression.
The cicada gently fluttered its wings on his fingertips, emitting a clear buzzing sound.
Chen Fan put it back into his sleeve, picked up the spiritual tea on the table, took a sip, and closed his eyes to rest.
On the other side of the waiting area, in front of the lottery boxes, many people were already whispering among themselves. Although the battle had only lasted for the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, it was enough for all the candidates present to remember that tiny, dark-gold Gu worm, no bigger than a grain of rice. Several Gu cultivators who had previously looked down on Chen Fan now looked at him with a hint of apprehension.
"What kind of insect was that?"
"I've never seen anything like it. It's so small, yet it devours things so quickly. It doesn't seem like the Gu worms commonly found on our grasslands."
"I heard that this person is a top-ranking retainer of the Zhao Kingdom, who has killed a Nascent Soul demon cultivator in the Boundless Sea. I didn't expect that he could raise such wicked Gu worms."
Whispers rose and fell in the waiting area. Chen Fan ignored them, simply waiting quietly for the next round of drawing lots.