Chapter 132: Breaking into the Underground Palace

The stone dolls, though diminutive in stature, displayed no decrease in their offensive power, sending a corpse beetle flying with every punch and kick. Their small bodies seemed to contain immense strength.

The corpse beetles, meanwhile, retaliated with frantic biting, scratching, and ramming, chasing after the stone dolls with deep-seated malice. The stone dolls, however, were unbothered by these attacks. If the beetles wanted to test hardness, they would see who was tougher. With every impact, the beetles were sent recoiling, sometimes knocking their own companions away in the process. It was a miserable sight.

The corpse beetles' usually infallible venom had no effect on the stone dolls. Any toxin found it difficult to overcome a God-touched race gifted with the power of the earth; even divine poisons were useless. The earth-bound kin were virtually immune to all toxins. The beetles repeatedly sprayed their murky green venom onto the faces and bodies of the stone dolls, staining them a ghostly green. Yet, it was in vain; the dolls remained lively, continuing their slaughter of the beetles.

Soon, the beetles were forcibly driven back, leaving a trail of corpses in their wake. As the stone dolls in the front pushed forward with ferocity, those in the rear took charge of burials. They dragged the beetle carcasses, dove directly into the earth, and vanished, only to reappear moments later, empty-handed, ready to drag away another large corpse.

"Shen Qinghu, are these stone spirits your kin?" She Shiyi asked in astonishment. "How do you possess so many kin so quickly?"

"Is this fast?" Shen Qinghu asked, puzzled.

"How is it not? You can't be twenty yet. I've heard that for God-descendants at your age, even if they have kin, they would have at most a hundred or so, or perhaps none at all, relying instead on vassals. You, on the other hand—how many are there? At least seven or eight thousand," She Shiyi said, watching the stone spirits fight with genuine envy.

"Only seven thousand and a bit. Still a long way from eight thousand. But if we kill enough beetles, we might exceed ten thousand," Qinghu replied. Her kin had expanded by two thousand after their last major battle. She was quite satisfied with the growth rate.

"Wait, over ten thousand? That’s not right. Your kin can grow just by killing corpse beetles? Aren't kin supposed to be difficult to cultivate?" She Shiyi asked in surprise.

"That depends on the type. Some require meticulous, painstaking cultivation. Others develop by consuming sufficient resources. Insects, like these corpse beetles, are often the preferred choice for evil gods and demons. Even among corpse beetles, there are hierarchies. These black-shelled ones with dark green spots are the most unremarkable variety. Even evil gods wouldn't choose them unless they had no other options. Their growth is limited; they can only deal with cultivators below the Golden Core stage," Ba Lie explained.

"Do God-descendants have kin?" Qinghu asked curiously.

"You are a God-descendant yourself and have kin. Why wouldn't others? Are you suggesting you're special, or that you aren't a God-descendant at all?" She Qi retorted.

"She is a God-descendant. She just hasn't heard of others cultivating kin, so she assumes she is the most unique," Qingzhen chimed in to smooth things over. She Qi laughed at this.

"Indeed, most God-descendants don't have kin. But there are always lucky ones who do. Sometimes an unremarkable descendant suddenly gains a powerful or high-potential kin that pledges loyalty. Once pledged, they rarely betray their master." She Qi looked at Qinghu and smiled, "Your luck is truly incredible, Shen Qinghu. These stone spirits have immense potential. By the way, were that group of large stone spirits who battled the beetles earlier also your kin?"

"Yes, that's them," Qinghu said.

"What? These aren't small stone spirits?" She Qi asked, confused.

"They can change their size at will," Qinghu replied.

She Qi gasped. "Changing size at will? This talent is astonishing. Can they condense a stone body of any size? Are their strength and speed inversely proportional to their size?"

"Hahaha," Qinghu laughed it off without giving a direct answer. She couldn't answer because she didn't want to lie. These stone spirits weren't inherently high or low in potential, but the one who condensed them was unusual, making the spirits unusual as well.

She Qi felt a bit dissatisfied with her laughter, but She Shiyi had already moved on to the next question. "Shen Qinghu, can these stone spirits really multiply through battle?"

"More or less. When they consume the beetle spirits, they can sometimes split into new individuals." In short, the stone spirits were animated earth-elemental spirits. Their stone bodies were more like armor that protected them and facilitated combat.

"This..." She Shiyi’s eyes widened. "The talent of your stone spirits is too powerful."

"They're just little stone spirits," Qinghu said dismissively. She chose them because they were easy to raise. She summoned them using divine power when needed and let them roam beneath the earth when not. She didn't even have to feed them. Beneath the mountains near Panlong City, she already kept a batch of over ten thousand large stone spirits, which had grown in number after fighting various fierce beasts.

Listening to their conversation, everyone felt that Shen Qinghu was becoming increasingly mysterious. What kind of background did this God-descendant have?

As the stone dolls advanced, Qinghu and her group entered the stone cavern. Everyone brought out their illuminating pearls, either holding them, hanging them around their necks, or attaching them to their waists, bathing the cave in light. The dolls moved quickly, and the party followed, covering four or five hundred meters through the spacious, descending tunnel.

Ruan Qingwu remarked to Helan Che, "This is really easy. The stone spirits handle all the fighting while we just follow along. If only we could find that thing smoothly."

"Don't count on it, ma..." Before Helan Che could finish, a massive swarm of corpse beetles crawled out from the cave walls and surged toward the humans and other races.

"Corpse beetles! Corpse beetles!" someone shrieked.

"Careful, it's an ambush!"

As the beetles charged, the stone dolls emerged from the ground and walls. Unlike the beetles, which left deep holes behind, the earth closed up behind the stone spirits, leaving no trace. The two sides clashed again, but this time, the humans and other races were caught in the fray.

Without experience coordinating with the stone spirits, the party soon began to suffer injuries. The sight of blood only incited the beetles to greater frenzy. Friendly fire incidents occurred as the stone spirits, humans, and other races became entangled. In just a short time, sixty stone spirits had been shattered, though they were quickly replaced by others emerging from the ground. Among the humans and other races, two of the weaker ones—a dog and a snake—had already been devoured.

"Hei Zhan, do your people have a battle formation? Use it, or casualties will keep mounting!" Qinghu shouted to her fourth brother, while simultaneously commanding the stone spirits to slaughter the beetles. Qingzhen fought with increasing ferocity, feeling as though the beetles were throwing themselves onto his blade.

As more stone spirits went underground to intercept the ambushers, the tremors grew more frequent, indicating an intense battle beneath their feet. With the battlefield shifting underground, the number of beetles on the surface dwindled, and soon they were wiped out.

The group stood amidst the beetle carcasses and the wounded, panting heavily. The last half-hour had been harrowing. "She Shiyi, we can't go on. We’re returning to the surface," a member of the snake tribe shouted.

"Suit yourselves," She Shiyi replied indifferently. "But think about it: we just arrived at the path to the subterranean palace and encountered so many beetles. Do you think the surface is safe? If you stay with us, we have a fighting chance. If you leave alone and run into another swarm, do you think you’ll survive?" His words struck fear into the snake-men.

Wei Dongting and the others turned pale. "We left many people on the surface."

"If they’re unlucky and hit a large swarm, it’s over. If they’re lucky and hide, they might be fine," Helan Che said. "But we’ve been separated for so long; it’s too late to go back for them now." Wei Dongting and his group looked conflicted, left only to hope their companions had found a safe place to hide.

Seeing that no one was moving, Qinghu sat on a beetle carcass and pulled out a large, ten-jin ceramic jar of spiritual liquid for her fourth brother. She took one for herself, downing it with satisfaction. Qingzhen followed suit, gulping it down, then clutched his stomach, feeling like it might burst. Qinghu was not human—drinking ten jin of eighth-grade spiritual liquid at once was not something he could handle a second time.

When Qinghu offered him another jar, he shook his head vigorously. She gave him a look of disdain and finished that one too. Qingzhen’s eyes nearly fell out of his head. Was her stomach a bottomless pit? She drank two more jars, and when she reached for a sixth, Qingzhen grabbed her arm.

"Your complexion is back to normal, don't drink any more. Even good things can cause trouble if you overdo it."

Qinghu let him take the jar. "I’m fine, I feel great."

"Still, moderation is key," Qingzhen insisted.

"Fine, I’ll stop."

"By the way, your kin..." Qingzhen started, wanting to ask where they came from but hesitating to do so in front of everyone. How could she have kin if her status as a God-descendant was fake? It made no sense. He wanted to drag her away and demand an explanation. Why were people starting to believe she really was a God-descendant?

"Fourth brother, take some medicine." Qinghu tossed him a handful of turtle essence pills. If he couldn't drink the liquid, he would have to pop pills.

Qingzhen sighed and took them. They might face another battle soon. As the party rested and recovered, they set off again. No one cared that a few people were missing from the tail end of the group.

A few minutes later, they heard shrill screams in the distance, which abruptly ceased. Soon, a blood-soaked man stumbled back. "Corpse beetles... the exit is filled with them. They’ve blocked it." He collapsed and fell unconscious. His companions rushed to revive him.

As soon as he woke, he looked at She Shiyi with accusation. "If you hadn't insisted on coming down, five of us wouldn't have died."

"Don't blame me. Use your pig-like brain," She Shiyi retorted. "If I hadn't found you and led you this far, you’d have been eaten long ago. If you can't be grateful, at least have some sense. Haven't you noticed how unusually numerous these beetles are? They are hunting and eating people everywhere. If we don't enter the palace and kill the one in charge, staying on the surface is just delaying death."

"He's right. That thing wants us all dead."

Suddenly, the Donghuang birds appeared behind the group.

"Where did you come from?" She Shiyi’s group tensed. They hadn't heard any fighting at the entrance, and there were no side paths.

"We came from above," the young woman who had been rescued earlier said. "There was a small illusion array masking an opening in the wall. We jumped down while you were fighting the beetles."

"Why come here?" She Qi asked.

"We intend to enter the palace and kill that thing. Otherwise, there is no way to live. The surface is overrun, and hiding won't last forever. Since you are also going to deal with it, can we join forces?"

She Shiyi turned to look at Qinghu. "What do you think, Shen Qinghu?"

"Fine, let them come," Qinghu said, glancing at the birds.

"That's settled. Together, we might have a better chance," the Donghuang woman said.

"I agree," She Shiyi said with a faint smile.

"How is the situation outside?" Shou An asked.

"Very bad. Everywhere there are living people, there are swarms of beetles. We don't know how long we can hold out. We must kill the thing inside," the woman replied.

"You know what's inside?" She Shiyi asked. "Or are you so confident you can kill it? You speak so boldly, yet we don't even know if we can defeat it." The Donghuang woman turned pale with anger but controlled herself.

"Look, the stone spirits have reached the palace. Let's follow," Qinghu said, pulling her brother ahead.

Once they entered the palace, its vastness was revealed. This was the true nest of the corpse beetles. They were everywhere, covering the buildings and the ground. The fighting between the stone spirits and the beetles intensified. For a moment, the line was pushed a hundred paces inside, but as more beetles swarmed, the stone spirits were forced to retreat.

"Everyone, join in! My stone spirits can't handle this alone. Let’s kill them together!" Qinghu commanded. She and her brother moved to the right, where the beetles were thickest, guarded by the lions and dogs. Ba Lie and the others shielded them at the center, fighting without holding back. Seeing Helan Che and Ruan Qingwu join in, Wei Dongting’s group followed suit. She Shiyi’s group moved to the left to join the fray.

No sooner had they started than the Donghuang birds took flight, soaring over the beetles toward the depths of the palace. The Fire-Tailed Pheasant siblings and the other snake-men followed.

"Did they plan to use Shen Qinghu’s kin to enter the palace unscathed from the start?" She Shiyi watched them leave and walked over to Qinghu's side.

"Let them go," Qinghu replied. "I’d rather they go first. There are so many beetles here; we need someone to share the burden. This is fine."

"Go first?"

"Yes. Whoever is in the front, closest to that thing, is either the strongest or has the best trump cards. That thing will be more afraid of them and focus its efforts on them." Before she finished, a sharp shriek echoed from within, and at least half the beetles began to crawl back.

She Shiyi laughed. "You’re right. This is indeed fine. Should we follow them in?"

"No," Qinghu said. "That thing is too tanky. We can't kill it quickly. It's better to kill its beetles. The more we kill, the more it will have to recall its forces to deal with us and those inside. That way, the people still alive on the surface will be safer."

"Right, right. That’s a great strategy," Wei Dongting agreed, leading his people to slaughter the beetles with renewed vigor.

With half the beetles gone, the remaining pressure was significantly reduced. With the support of the stone spirits, the party fought effectively.