"Cousin, you and the others stay here to look after Sergeant Liu. I'll go help Shawn Young—" Rainie Cheng couldn't rest easy letting Shawn go alone, so she said this to Sergeant Mandy Chung, then hurriedly ran after him. Before long, she caught up.
That mass of blue-green demonic light flickered ahead, darting rapidly. Shawn Young kept his eyes locked on it, chasing from behind. Suddenly, he heard footsteps behind him, turned to look, and saw Rainie Cheng. He quickly said, "Rainie, why are you here? That thing may be badly injured, but it's still extremely dangerous! Go back—"
"I'm not going back! I can't let you go alone! Besides, you're not familiar with this place. With me here, you'll have extra backup!" Rainie replied.
"Uh—okay—but you have to be careful! That thing isn't just powerful, it's really cunning! Whatever you do, don't try to show off—" Shawn Young warned her.
"Got it—look—it flew up to that hillside! Let's hurry!" Rainie nodded, turned her head, and pointed ahead.
Up ahead was a densely wooded hillside, surprisingly isolated with no houses around. The blue-green demonic light darted into the narrow entrance of the slope, then vanished inside. Shawn Young and Rainie Cheng rushed after it, and as soon as they entered the passage, they saw a long, sloping path leading down the hill.
The demonic light turned down the long slope, then disappeared at a narrow bend. Shawn Young and Rainie Cheng hurried after it, and as they rounded the corner, a bamboo grove appeared before them. The grove was so thick that a faint mist lingered, making it eerily quiet and mysterious. The demonic light flashed in midair and shot straight into the bamboo forest.
"Ah, we can't let it get away! It'll be hard to find it in this place. Hurry—" Shawn Young called out to Rainie Cheng behind him, then dashed deeper into the bamboo forest.
As soon as they entered the bamboo grove, a chilly wind swept over them. Shawn Young felt a jolt—deep in the grove was a tall earthen mound, and at its base ran a winding creek. The creek snaked around the mound, beside a patch of wild, overgrown graves. Tombstones clustered together, surrounded by thick trees and tangled bushes. The gusts of cold wind were blowing from that direction.
This eerie aura of death lingered—even though it was broad daylight, Shawn Young could feel the silent breath of death all around.
Shawn Young's heart skipped a beat—"A graveyard! This is a place for the dead! That thing actually escaped here. Is it trying to absorb corpse energy again?"
But the demonic light didn't linger among the graves. Instead, it sped past them and shot straight up the earthen mound.
"Uh—if it's not absorbing corpse energy, why is it heading up the mound? What's it after?" Shawn Young pushed down his frustration and continued up the slope. Soon, he reached the top and was greeted by a whole new scene.
Standing at the top, Shawn Young looked down the other side of the slope. Below was a basin, surrounded by hills on all sides, with bamboo and trees growing in neat patches. Rocky outcrops jutted everywhere, and amid the bamboo, he could just make out a strange bamboo house. The demonic light suddenly shot straight into the house with a swift "whoosh"—then everything went quiet.
Watching it dart into the bamboo house, Shawn Young was just about to give chase when Rainie Cheng hurried up behind him. After running for nearly half an hour, she was out of breath. Seeing Shawn, she stopped by a tree, panting, and asked, "Where did it go?"
"Oh—it went down there. But I feel something weird about this place. I'll use the Heavenly Eye Technique to check it out—" Shawn Young thought the bamboo house was suspicious, so he activated his Heavenly Eye Technique to observe. But as soon as he did, his vision was shrouded in darkness and blur; he couldn't make out anything inside.
"So strange—is there some kind of evil force here?" Shawn Young was shocked. After all, there were very few places the Heavenly Eye Technique couldn't penetrate, and most of them were sites of ominous power.
"Uh—this place is really weird. Rainie, don't go down there yet. Wait here for me. I'll check it out first, and if anything seems off, you act accordingly—" After hesitating, Shawn Young turned to Rainie Cheng and said.
"Okay, but be careful—" Rainie Cheng nodded in agreement.
Shawn Young quickly made his way down to the basin, soon reaching the open ground near the bamboo house. He noticed something odd—the earth at the base of the mound was very loose, black in color, and covered with a layer of white lime powder.
The sun was shining overhead, but the ground was chillingly cool, with no warmth at all. Shawn Young found this strange. As he walked around, his footsteps startled something in the undergrowth. Rustling sounds erupted all around—creatures he knew and didn't know, shelled, crawling, flying, winged, horned—all kinds of insects scattered everywhere. This place was crawling with bugs!
Shawn Young glanced around at the plants—firs, red pines, giant bamboo—all tall and lush, thriving wildly!
"Rocks like tortoise shells, black earth inlaid within, green foliage like a blanket, and a hundred insects gathered together." Suddenly, a line from the Codex of Ascension popped into Shawn Young's mind.
"A hundred insects gathered together! This is the Land of a Hundred Bugs!" Shawn Young exclaimed. In feng shui, this 'Land of a Hundred Bugs' is also called the 'Insect Array'—a strange place where bugs gather and keep each other in check. Such a place is bound to have a king among insects, and that king is always vicious, poisonous, and powerful!
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Thinking about the hidden 'King of Bugs' nearby, Shawn Young couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle and a chill run down his spine. Poisonous snakes and beasts didn't scare him much, but the thought of those weird, disgusting bugs with all sorts of toxins made his skin crawl!
Just as he was looking around, a breeze swept through the woods. Maybe it was nerves, but Shawn Young shivered. Suddenly, a strange buzzing came from the trees to his left. He turned quickly—and saw a cloud of black-brown insects with yellow stripes rushing toward him!
"Ah! That's—the Tiger Fury Hornet!!" Shawn Young gasped, his pupils contracting. His scalp felt like it was about to explode, because he recognized the swarm zooming toward him: the Tiger Fury Hornet, an extremely vicious and poisonous creature!
This species is incredibly rare, living only in tropical jungles. They're fiercely aggressive and extremely poisonous—if you're stung and don't get help fast, your kidneys will fail and you'll be dead in minutes. It only takes a few to kill a healthy adult, and they're as big as a grown man's thumb. With tiger-like stripes on their bodies and heads, they attack in furious swarms if disturbed or invaded, making a terrifying buzz. That's why they're called Tiger Fury Hornets.
And this massive swarm of Tiger Fury Hornets looked to be thousands strong—enough to kill hundreds of people! Instinctively, Shawn Young turned and ran, but the hornets seemed to be controlled by someone, chasing him relentlessly. They sped up, splitting into several 'battle groups' in the air, like a specially trained hornet army. The air was filled with a deep, terrifying buzz.