Monster Paradise

Lan Ling controlled the Boa Worm as they sneaked around, quietly slipping through a few of the bugs’ gathering places.

“We’re looking at first-rank heavenly god-level bug territory now. We should be close to the exit.” When Virtuoso finished speaking, they looked at Lan Ling. “You still haven’t found the tunnel that leads to the exit?”

“No…” Lan Ling shook her head helplessly.

A major difference between the Demonic Bug Maze and the Bug Tribe’s hive was that the combat strength disparity between bugs in the hive could be very big. Among the hives that had a heavenly god-level Queen Mother or Bug Queen as ruler, it was extremely normal to have Heavenly Gods, True Gods, and even virtual god-level Bug Tribe fighters in the hive together. However, it was different in a Demonic Bug Maze. In a Maze that was ruled by a Heavenly God, there would only be heavenly god-level bug beasts. If bug beasts below heavenly god-level came in, they would be treated as food and eaten.

Therefore, the first-rank heavenly god-level bug territory in the Demonic Bug Maze—where Lin Huang and the rest were now— housed the bugs with the lowest combat strength. Their gathering place was the shallowest layer in the entire Maze, and closest to the region where the Maze’s exit was.

Generally, there was more than one exit and entrance in a Demonic Bug Maze. However, there would not be many of them.

Judging from the scale of the Demonic Bug Maze that they were currently in, there should be four to six entrances and exits.

However, it meant that there would only be four to six passageways that led to the exits. Locating those few specific passageways among the tens of thousands of other complex passages was an astronomically difficult undertaking.

“The range of my probing ability is approximately thirty kilometers at most in this Maze. Furthermore, with the direction we’re traveling in, it’s still at least several thousand kilometers to the border region where the exit is—possibly even up to ten thousand kilometers… If we’re unlucky, I might need to probe up to a hundred times before I find the exit.” Lan Ling did not have any better ideas either. She could only look for the exit the hard way, probing repeatedly.

The rest were helpless too. After all, everyone’s probing techniques had been blocked. Lan Ling’s rather unusual spell ability was the only probing technique that could be used here.

Lin Huang pondered for a moment, then spoke up suddenly, “The efficiency of this method is too low.”

“You have a plan?” Virtuoso asked immediately. The rest looked at Lin Huang as well.

“I’m not sure how feasible it is, but we can try.” Lin Huang nodded, then said to Lan Ling, “Don’t go around the bugs when you encounter them later. Stop for a little bit.”

“Sure!” Lan Ling heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing someone taking the initiative to share her burden. She nodded immediately in agreement.

Very soon, she controlled the Boa Worm to slow down.

“There are a group of bugs approximately three kilometers ahead.”

Lin Huang nodded and eased himself half out of the Boa Worm’s back. As he moved his ten fingers slightly, tens of thousands of invisible Leech Pods wafted forth.

As the master of Monster Paradise, he could borrow Bloody’s Leech Pods ability with ease.

Leech Pods could be cast on all creatures with combat strength that was either the same as or lower than Bloody. Furthermore, she had gone into closed-door cultivation together with Kylie previously. Not only had she elevated to fifth-rank, but she had also achieved a breakthrough to first-rank heavenly god-level.

The Leech Pod ability was perfect for use in the current situation.

Lin Huang wriggled back into the Boa Worm’s body as soon as he was done releasing the Leech Pods.

Although Lan Ling’s projection allowed the others to see what he had done, they were not able to see the Leech Pods.

“What did you do?” Tu Tong was the first to ask as soon as Lin Huang returned, unable to restrain himself.

They did not use their sensing techniques, so it was only natural that they could not sense the Leech Pods.

“Just a little trick.” Lin Huang smiled but did not elaborate. “We’ll find out when we check out the bugs’ gathering place.”

“Are you sure you want us to barge in directly?” Virtuoso spoke before Lan Ling could ask any questions.

“Don’t all of you want to know what I did?” Lin Huang replied to Virtuoso, smiling.

Lan Ling, on the other hand, seemed to be hesitating a little. She was not sure if she should listen to Lin Huang.

Off to the side, Virtuoso fell silent for a moment, then nodded at Lan Ling. “Let’s go take a look.”

Lan Ling’s worries eased only after getting Virtuoso’s confirmation. She then controlled the Boa Worm and headed to the bugs’ gathering area.

A moment later, the Boa Worm arrived where the bugs were.

This was a group of Bladefoot Worms, approximately two thousand of them. Their bodies were purplish-black from being contaminated by Abyssal energy and were wreathed in black miasma. A number of them had mutated, sprouting even more strangely-shaped bladed feet on their bodies… They looked even more frightening than normal Bladefoot Worms.

However, what puzzled Virtuoso and the rest was that the Bladefoot Worms in front of them had tidily ordered themselves into a square formation.

Not only that, they did nothing when they saw the Boa Worm. They remained where they were neatly, seemingly waiting to be inspected.

“What is this…” Even Lan Ling thought this was rather unbelievable.

“I’ve never heard of an Imperial Censor who can control bugs, let alone control bugs from a distance.” Virtuoso glanced at Lin Huang. They were clearly somewhat surprised.

“I merely used a little trick,” Lin Huang said, smiling.

“If you’ve got such a trick up your sleeve, when didn’t you use it earlier?” Tu Tong asked from off to the side. He was not skeptical; instead, he was shocked.

“At the moment, I can only control first-rank heavenly god-level bugs at most. I can’t control those with higher combat strength,” Lin Huang explained rather helplessly. Naturally, he did not tell them that the reason for this was that Bloody—whom he had borrowed the ability from—only had the combat strength of a first-rank Heavenly God.

“To be able to control a group of first-rank Heavenly Gods while at true god-level—this trick of yours is already quite incredible,” Saber9, who had been quiet all along, gave his assessment apropos.

“What do you plan to do? Use these Bladefoot Worms to find the path for us?” Virtuoso asked.

“No, I’ll command a few of them to leave this Demonic Bug Maze from the closest exit,” Lin Huang answered unexpectedly. “We just need to follow them secretly.”

The others understood Lin Huang’s intentions immediately.

There was no way of retrieving information from the Bug Tribe beasts’ minds, as they were contaminated with Abyssal energy. However, the beasts definitely knew where the Demonic Bug Maze’s exits were.

Although Lin Huang’s command was simple, he could very efficiently turn the Bladefoot Worms into their guides.

“That’s a great idea!” When Virtuoso and the others heard that, their eyes lit up.

At that moment, six Bladefoot Worms emerged from the multitude. They formed a small group and left quickly in a specific direction.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Bladefoot Worms that were in formation soon resumed their usual relaxed mode.

“Follow them!” Lin Huang said to Lan Ling immediately.

Lan Ling hurriedly controlled the Boa Worm to follow behind the group of Bladefoot Worms.

“You’ve even specifically put together a search team. What a smart trick!” Virtuoso gave Lin Huang a thumbs-up. “Nobody would suspect them even if they ran into other search teams.”

“Details determine whether a plan succeeds or fails,” Lin Huang said expressionlessly.

“I have a question. Can you control more Bug Tribe monsters with this ability?” Lan Ling could not help asking.

“Yes.”

“Then how many can you control at the most?” Lan Ling questioned further.

Lin Huang turned his head to glance at her, giving her a slight smile. “That’s a secret.”

“…” Not just Lan Ling, but the rest were also bereft of speech.