Great Demon Sun Wukong

At this moment, both Yao Wumeng and the golden giant ant were seeing red, with serious wounds all over their bodies. Two deep, bone-deep gashes were present on Yao Wumeng's back, and on either side of the wounds, ant acid had attached itself, neutralizing Yao Wumeng's self-healing abilities.

After several exchanges, the golden giant ant had discovered Yao Wumeng's extraordinarily fast healing speed, so it directly coated its massive mandibles with corrosive ant acid. Yao Wumeng quickly spotted this because he had been relying on his robust self-healing skills to trade blow for blow with the golden giant ant, completely forsaking defense to ensure he could return every hit received.

Thus far, the body of that golden giant ant was riddled with scars, particularly the partly scorched head which by now appeared to be melting, and the fractures were significantly wider. However, once the golden giant ant dectected this with keen intuition, the tactic lost its effect.

The wounds on his back were the result of the last exchange of blows, where the golden giant ant had slashed him twice with its razor-sharp mandibles. Enduring intense pain, Yao Wumeng stood about twenty meters from the golden giant ant and took a deep breath.

In fact, Yao Wumeng could easily heal his wounds by cutting away the flesh that had been coated with ant acid, as without the acid, he would recover swiftly. Despite wanting to do this, Yao Wumeng remained still.

Just as he prepared to counter with Fenji and cut away the tainted flesh, the golden giant ant seemed to have anticipated his action perfectly, launching a sneak attack at just the right moment.

The price of this ambush was Yao Wumeng getting violently bumped by the golden giant ant, which struck directly on his injured back, almost causing him to pass out from the pain. Fortunately, his will was strong, and he swiftly countered with a slash from Tyrant Sword Juque, then immediately leapt back.

Seeing the golden giant ant land a hit but not press the attack came as a surprise to Yao Wumeng. The ant's battle instinct was terrifying, almost as if it had a premonition-like ability. Several times his follow-up moves were countered by the golden giant ant, causing Yao Wumeng to miss numerous opportunities to kill it.

Slowly moving his shoulders, the wounds on his back were still in agonizing pain. Surprisingly, the effects of the ant acid showed no signs of weakening after such an extended time. Withdrawing Tyrant Sword Juque to hover around his body, Yao Wumeng now felt a headache coming on. Could it be that he really had to use that move now?

But having just begun, it was already pushing him to resort to his ultimate move, making him wonder how he would manage the path ahead.

Just then, Yao Wumeng noticed the golden giant ant's two antennae tracing a mysterious pattern once again. During the battle, the golden giant ant had repeated this strange action several times, and each time, it immediately detected his concealed attacks and quickly responded.

This felt too much like someone was covertly puppeteering the golden giant ant and revealing to it how to dodge or what action to take at critical moments. Thinking of this and reflecting on the battle scenes, Yao Wumeng became increasingly convinced his speculation might be correct.

Additionally, more than once, he had a fleeting, very faint sensation of being watched, so subtle it could easily be dismissed as a figment of his imagination. Now, this feeling seemed likely real. Somewhere in the City of Ruins, there was indeed someone covertly controlling these golden giant ants, spying on every move they made.

Another detail that concerned Yao Wumeng was that none of the golden giant ant's wounds bled even a tiny bit. Furthermore, there was one instance where Fenji's whole blade penetrated the golden giant ant's back, but it did not feel like stabbing into flesh and blood.

Yao Wumeng had also suspected these golden giant ants might be some kind of high-level puppets, but even the most realistically made puppets could absolutely not possess a life force. However, the life force of these golden giant ants felt undeniably real. After rapidly contemplating, Yao Wumeng finally made a decision; he would use his forbidden move.

Even if it meant revealing it here and suffering the hefty repercussions, he resolved to do it.

Taking a gentle breath, Yao Wumeng slowly stood up. At this moment, he displayed not a hint of the tension one feels when facing a formidable enemy, only a relaxed ease as if the golden giant ant before him was just an inconsequential insect and the fierce battle just now was nothing but an irrelevant illusion.

This casual confidence stemmed entirely from that ultimate forbidden move. Since he had decided to use it, there was no longer anything to fear from the golden giant ant before him.

Observing the golden giant ant, whose antennae had ceased their mysterious movements, Yao Wumeng suddenly revealed a brilliantly dazzling smile.

Almost at the same time, Bi Hai and Jixin, who had been fleeing all the way, also stopped. Because Bi Hai forcefully used Spatial Evasion multiple times and had taken hits from the massive Black Mirror Scorpion, he passed out from the strain and was then carried by Jixin on his back, escaping towards a safe location within the City of Ruins.