Great Demon Sun Wukong

Although Jing Potian's movements were somewhat strange, the other three had no time to pay attention to him, as they were completely engulfed by the overwhelming ant swarm. It wasn't just a matter of not being able to watch Jing Potian, but a moment's distraction could result in the giant ants tearing off a chunk of their flesh.

However, at this time, the three of them also discovered that inside these black ants there were mysterious crystals. They initially felt unlucky upon encountering the swarm because they had previously come across similar black ants that contained nothing within, making the fight seem hardly worth the effort.

Now, with the discovery of the crystals, they felt somewhat more balanced emotionally and fought with even less mercy. In an instant, the three of them plunged into a frenzied slaughter. At the very moment, Jing Potian let out a sound like thunderous explosion, and then, to everyone's astonishment, a completely new hand, pale and made of thunder, grew out of his left wrist where it had been severed.

Once the thunder hand was fully formed, Jing Potian released a laugh as if a tremendous burden had been lifted and stood up, swept the Thunder Pond off the ground with his left hand, and finally formed a Thunder Ball that he grasped in his hand. Looking at his newly formed left hand, Jing Potian laughed heartily, already charging into the swarm with the Thunder Ball in his hand.

For a while, the four of them unleashed various moves and unique skills, stirring up a storm of blood and carnage within the swarm. Yao Wumeng wielded two huge swords, the Tyrant Sword Juque slashing horizontally and chopping vertically, crushing a giant ant every time it was brought down.

Then the Destruction Sword Fenji joined the fray, coating each struck ant with liquid-like blazing flames that transferred onto their bodies, incinerating them into ashes. The mysterious crystals, however, remained unscathed by the fire.

Bu Yun wielded his peculiar Destruction Cloud Halberd that whipped up fierce winds; any giant ant that came close was soon enveloped by the pitch-black clouds swirling around the weapon. When the clouds dissipated, only the skeleton of the ant and the glowing white crystal remained.

The mysterious Destruction Cloud Halberd, with its terrifying black clouds, turned anything it touched into stark white bones.

As for Hao Chen, he moved incessantly with a strange step pattern, his trajectory very difficult to predict; sometimes it seemed he was moving forward, yet his body would retreat or sidestep in a baffling manner. Thus, Hao Chen was the only one among them whose clothing remained relatively intact.

Moreover, as he moved, the Star Cloud in his hand kept changing shape, causing black ants to suddenly and inexplicably die each time it transformed.

In this situation, Hao Chen appeared the most mysterious of the group, as it was unclear how he was killing the ants. Witnessing Hao Chen's methods, Yao Wumeng and the others couldn't help but remain cautious around him. Such abilities were indeed terrifying, and perhaps with his next move, they could find themselves lying on the ground.

Although the four were allies, complete trust was not an option.

Among the four, Jing Potian was by far the most imposing. His name alone suggested that he was not a quiet character. Although it was unknown how he had regenerated his hand, one thing was certain: his new left hand was many times more powerful than before.

Now, as the Thunder Ball in his hand kept flashing and bursting with various colors of lightning, Jing Potian's killing speed seemed to be surpassing the other three.

His newly born left hand not only allowed him to control thunder better, but he could also detect the subtle electromagnetic signals emitted by life forms to pinpoint their fatal weaknesses. Each strike Jing Potian made was deadly, sometimes with just a small crackle of lightning, yet enough to instantly kill a giant ant.

It seemed that although Jing Potian had his hand destroyed by the King of Qin, he might have gained blessing in disguise.

As the four grew more ferocious in battle, the seemingly endless swarm of ants began to show signs of dispersal. Although they had sustained minor injuries, none were serious enough to affect combat. Ultimately, after releasing their unique skills once more, the ant swarm began to panic and retreat, but after just a small step back, they started desperately burrowing into the ground.

"Haha, mere ants dare to obstruct our path, truly courting death!" The four had exhausted much of their physical and spiritual power during the mad slaughter, but their gains were also substantial. Each of them had almost a hundred mysterious crystals in their possession, and should those black ants have had crystals in every one of them, their loot would have been even greater.

Seeing the ants retreat, the four sat down without minding appearances and began to take Elixirs to recuperate their physical and spiritual power. Although the swarm was repelled, they had barely advanced less than fifty meters from the city gate, still on the fringes. The dangers ahead were unknown, so ensuring they were always at their peak was their greatest security for survival.

But just as they had sat down for not even a quarter of an hour, the ground suddenly began to shake violently. They all stood up at once and slowly gathered together, scouting for the cause of the disturbance. However, just like before, Divine Consciousness Scouting revealed nothing but emptiness, no trace of anything.

However, the four of them, no matter how foolish, wouldn't believe that there was nothing left here, because they had already seen four mounds appear in the clearing ahead, and soon after, four giant golden ants, each over ten meters long, crawled out from inside the mounds.

At that moment, the four also understood that these mutated ants must possess some method to completely erase their vital signs and fluctuations, which was why they detected nothing when they used their Divine Consciousness Scouting.

Swallowing hard with some difficulty, the four exchanged glances and saw shock in each other's eyes. The four golden ants before them felt every bit as strong as they were. However, the four warriors were severely exhausted from a previous battle and could only muster up to sixty or seventy percent of their original Combat Power. Facing these golden ants now, the outlook was not very optimistic.

"Scared of what? We are peak warriors, should we fear these mere ants?" Bu Yun spoke and dashed forward a few steps, then, with a forceful throw, hurled the Destruction Spear at one of the golden giants. However, the golden ant reacted extremely fast, instantly sidestepping and using its powerful mandibles to deflect the Destruction Spear.

At the same time, another golden ant leaped out of nowhere and smashed its hard head down on the flying Destruction Spear.

Immediately, the Destruction Spear plunged into the ground where Bu Yun stood with the force of a hammer driving a nail, and if Bu Yun hadn't reacted just as quickly, tumbling backward to dodge, he might have been impaled by his own weapon. This made Yao Wumeng and the others' faces turn pale.

If they were just dealing with four strong ants, there might still be hope, at most requiring them to pull out their last resort early. But now it was different, these four golden ants were not only extremely strong but also lightning-fast in their response, and they even cooperated with each other.

Four ants capable of such cooperation would see their combat effectiveness become much more than a simple addition. One slip-up, and the four of them really might end up dead here.

"Is, is this still an ant? Why does it feel even harder to deal with than four people?" Bu Yun said with trepidation as he moved forward to pull out the Destruction Spear, now fully buried in the sand. This time he had learned his lesson and no longer dared to strike rashly.

"We must cooperate with each other now, or else it's a one-against-four situation, and none of us will survive. And don't hold anything back or it'll be the end for all of us if one of us dies," Yao Wumeng said and suddenly held the Fenji Sword horizontally in front of him, then took a deep breath in, sucking the liquid flame, flowing like water on the sword, into his mouth.

Afterward, a layer of fluid flame, resembling armor, emerged on the surface of his body.

The other three knew that this was not a time to be playing around. They looked at each other and quietly began to circulate their Spiritual Power, trying to recover from their injuries as much as possible. Seeing Yao Wumeng get ready, they all took out their trump cards.

Bu Yun partially withdrew the dark clouds to adhere to his body, looking as if donning a black cape, while Jing Potian's body was constantly traversed by thunder, seemingly wearing Thunder Armor. Hao Chen had a bright white star-shaped mark appear on his forehead, and specks of starry light also revolved around his body.

Just as the four had finished preparing, Yao Wumeng suddenly realized that the four golden giants before them had vanished. He yelled out a warning, but it was too late. Because the four of them were now standing very close and with their backs to each other, hence facing four different directions.

Just as Yao Wumeng cried the alert, four streaks of Golden Light suddenly appeared before them, and in the terrified eyes of the four, the giant golden ants surged forward and lifted them into the air with a push and a heave of their ant heads.

Before recovering from the severe pain in their chests, they felt an intense agony on their backs as if someone had viciously stamped on them. With the pain at their backs, they suddenly plummeted and smashed harshly into the ground, forming four huge pits over twenty meters across in the sandy terrain.

In each pit lay a golden giant, standing above Yao Wumeng, Hao Chen, Bu Yun, and Jing Potian!

(Three chapters on Mid-Autumn Festival day; two chapters on other days. Please be understanding of Sanzang's schedule.)