The entire altar was momentarily carpeted with the shattered shells of Crystal Ants, interspersed with droplets of vivid blue ichor.

The Ant True Man paid it no mind, chanting an incantation under his breath. With a casual point, several hundred Soldier Ants lifted into the air. Pairs of wind-wings unfurled on either side of their bodies, granting them the ability to soar, their aerial prowess proving in no way inferior to the Winged Ants.

Coupled with the Four-Winged Flying Ants occasionally snatching and dropping common Crystal Ants, even the Thunder-Winged Flood Dragon found itself unable to protect everything. Dozens of Crystal Ants slipped past its guard and breached the perimeter of the sword formation.

Zong Shou, who had been watching in silence, finally opened his eyes. He abruptly seized the paperweight from the wooden desk and brought it down with a heavy thud.

In the very next instant, the long banner inscribed with the runes for ‘Thunder’ and ‘Fire’ suddenly burst forth with resplendent light.

Countless arcs of electricity and bursts of flame erupted from around the altar. Merging with the electric glow surrounding the Thunder-Winged Flood Dragon, they instantly swept across several hundred zhang, engulfing the surrounding area entirely in lightning and fire.

The incessant buzzing within the entire space abruptly fell silent. Even some Fifth-Tier Soldier Ants could not evade the blast. They were either shattered by the lightning or incinerated into charcoal dust, falling down as fragmented debris.

Seeing this, the Ant True Man merely chuckled, "A little interesting! But how long can you sustain it, I wonder!"

The moment the words fell, the tens of thousands of Crystal Ants below suddenly became agitated, tearing and devouring each other. Chaos erupted in an instant.

Zong Yuan couldn't help but feel secretly astonished. What trick was this Ant True Man pulling? It was impossible that this person had lost control of the Demon Fire Crystal Ants.

Then, in a mere dozen breaths, some of the Demon Fire Crystal Ants that had consumed the flesh and blood of their kin suddenly began to swell. Not only did their size increase, but their aura surged instantaneously. In just a few dozen breaths, dozens of Soldier Ants were formed, also sporting wind-wings and flying through the air. The total number of Soldier Ants was thus restored to precisely four hundred.

Next, the Ant True Man chanted another spiritual incantation and formed a hand seal, his figure retreating approximately a thousand zhang. A hint of cold disdain lingered on his lips.

"Golden Armor, Bronze Hide!"

"Extreme Edge, Fierce Sharpness—"

"Grand Apex Shadow Technique!"

In less than a moment, all the Flying Ants and Soldier Ants surrounding the altar were encased in a layer of golden luster.

Their ferocious mandibles and their chitinous shells appeared significantly hardened. The former were sharpened beyond measure, often gaining the upper hand when directly colliding with Zong Shou’s forty-nine Flying Leaf Swords.

The shells were nearly impenetrable; even when successfully pierced, the damage was rarely critical. Their speed also multiplied several times, achieving a state nearly equivalent to the Sixth Tier.

They charged back and forth relentlessly, shattering the sword formation around the altar into disarray. It was entirely thanks to Zong Yuan wielding the Purple Thunder Spear that things remained relatively safe, preventing the Soldier Ants from overwhelming the altar.

And the Ant True Man, in the blink of an eye, layered several types of spiritual arts upon them. Almost every new spell increased the combat prowess of the Soldier Ants by several points.

Zong Shou’s heart sank. He mused that this time, things were truly troublesome. In a direct spell duel, he could certainly suppress the Ant True Man.

However, this man was clearly experienced, exploiting strengths and compensating for weaknesses. He used only supportive Dao techniques to empower the ant swarm, boosting their fighting power. Often, a single spell cast could benefit nearly a thousand Crystal Ants.

He even retreated a thousand zhang, clearly unwilling to engage in a frontal confrontation.

In truth, the combat potential of the Thunder-Winged Flood Dragon beside him was far greater. It had not yet deployed even a tenth of its ten-tenths lightning power. However, because the silver-white Soldier Ants and Six-Winged Flying Ants remained motionless hundreds of zhang away, building up momentum, the Flood Dragon could not fully unleash its capabilities, with more than half its energy being tied up by these personal attendants of the Ant Queen.

Truly, he despised this 'troop-spamming' style the most. He had played several virtual real-time strategy games with friends before, and he had been crushed and annihilated by overwhelming waves of troops more than ten times.

Sighing internally, Zong Shou did not hesitate and slapped several spiritual talismans onto the candles.

He also began mumbling incantations, continuously inscribing dozens of runes onto the Millennium Peach Wood Sword in his hand.

‘Blood Devour,’ ‘Still Essence,’ ‘Ice Fire,’ ‘Fortune Pray,’ ‘Illusion Vanish,’ ‘Golden Edge’—

A few breaths later, he suddenly opened his eyes. Within his pupils, it seemed as if the shadows of several true runes flickered incessantly.

Then, with a casual toss, he hurled the Peach Wood Sword out. When it reached thirty zhang, it suddenly exploded with golden light. The wooden sword seemed transformed into an unparalleled divine weapon, wreathed in the power of water and fire. With a single strike, it slew a Soldier Ant.

After the Peach Wood Sword pierced through it and swept past, the Soldier Ant completely disintegrated into an empty husk. It had absorbed all its flesh and blood into the body of the sword.

The aura of the Peach Wood Sword immediately surged. Wherever it passed, it met almost no resistance.

It slew every Soldier Ant and Flying Ant it encountered, regardless of tier, with incredible speed. Each time it devoured flesh and blood, it converted a portion into a primal energy explosion to propel itself forward.

It required no further magical input from Zong Shou; it sustained itself purely by consuming vital essences.

Zong Shou then took up the startling-sound block and struck the desk again. The forty-nine Falling Leaf Swords were also enveloped in a golden sheen, growing several points sharper. A faint breeze spun around them, further enhanced by countless electrical arcs, drastically increasing their speed.

He had not cultivated the Wind rune, so the might of his spiritual arts was inferior to the Ant True Man's. However, borrowing the power of the thunder now, the effect on speed far surpassed that of the Soldier Ants by several times.

Weaving and darting everywhere, in moments, countless fragments of flesh and blood littered the area within a hundred zhang.

The altar then accelerated again under his control, charging directly toward the Ant True Man’s location.

If the True Man chose to intercept, so be it. If he dared not, the altar could plunge directly into the Sea of Clouds.

Zong Shou gambled that the Ant True Man would certainly not stand by and watch him escape into the Sea of Clouds.

As expected, the Ant True Man’s eyes narrowed and his expression shifted upon seeing this. However, he did not appear to stop it, instead retreating further. With a mere wave of his sleeve, thousands of Demon Fire Crystal Ants below began to devour each other again.

When Zong Shou’s altar had advanced roughly ten li, a colossal Crystal Ant, the size of a small mountain, had swollen into existence.

Its aura was savage, climbing rapidly towards the peak of the Sixth Tier. In terms of sheer imposing grandeur, it surpassed the Six-Winged Flying Ants by several hundred times! Its structural integrity, however, was slightly weaker, not quite reaching the Seventh Tier.

With a furious roar, great plumes of ferocious demonic flames erupted within the several thousand zhang radius, filling the entire space and soaring toward the heavens.

Its speed was not slow either. The altar’s attempts to change direction were repeatedly blocked by it, forced instead to retreat constantly by the overwhelming demonic fire.

Zong Shou inhaled sharply. The degree of control this Ant True Man exerted over the ant swarm was astonishingly profound!

Fortunately, he had prepared the Hundred Li Pure Air Incense—his trump card—in advance. Otherwise, he would truly feel despair right now.

With an identical wave of his sleeve, several talismans were released. Spiritual light scattered, falling upon Zong Yuan behind him. The little golden creature wrapped around his left arm detached itself and entwined itself around the Purple Thunder Spear.

Zong Yuan understood immediately. Without waiting for Zong Shou’s command, he surged forward, his spear arcing through the sky like a meteor, plunging down toward the location of the colossal Soldier Ant.

First, faint threads of lightning flickered, then countless electric arcs transformed into a massive thunder dragon wrapping around his body and the spear. A fierce crackle of thunder erupted!

When the electric charge reached its zenith, Zong Yuan’s figure flickered violently. Invincible, he consecutively destroyed over a dozen Soldier and Flying Ants attempting to intercept him. He abruptly arrived before the massive Crystal Ant. Where his spear tip pointed, the chitinous shells all burst open. A mass of flesh exploded. As Zong Yuan’s momentum carried through, he nearly cleaved the giant Crystal Ant in half, piercing a massive hole through it.

But at that very instant, countless surrounding Demon Fire Crystal Ants swarmed toward him madly.

Zong Yuan dared not linger. He leaped upward again. Spear shadows flashed, and he killed several more Soldier Ants before narrowly returning to the altar. The giant Crystal Ant, after a furious bellow, was nearly insane, charging wildly in all directions in pain.

The Ant True Man, however, remained unconcerned, coldly laughing, "So what? My children are endless. We shall see how long you can last—"

Before the words died away, the giant Crystal Ant calmed down. It began consuming others, devouring nearly a hundred surrounding Crystal Ants in a few breaths. Within the massive cavity, flesh and blood tumbled, frantically filling the void. Moreover, the shell seemed to be healing bit by bit.

However, at this moment, the Peach Wood Sword plummeted down. It pierced directly through the opening and began to devour immediately. The sword body, too large to contain the massive amount of flesh and blood, converted it directly into primal energy, which then exploded beside it.

Almost every concussion was as violent as the self-detonation of a Fifth or even Sixth Tier spirit beast!

The giant Crystal Ant first descended back into frenzy, but soon afterward, it lost all strength, collapsing onto the ground, barely clinging to life. Its shell was riddled with countless holes. After only a short while, not a single sound remained.

When the Peach Wood Sword emerged, the golden light on its body grew even denser and more formidable. With a single sweep, ten Soldier Ants perished on the spot, all their flesh absorbed by the sword.

Seeing this, the Ant True Man’s expression finally shifted slightly. He looked at the Millennium Peach Wood Sword with immense apprehension, wondering what sort of dark sorcery Zong Shou had employed to make this ordinary millennia-old peach wood sword almost comparable to an Eighth Tier spiritual weapon, seeming to possess inexhaustible power.

His controlled Soldier Ants were completely incapable of stopping it. A single giant Crystal Ant had cost him over three thousand Demon Fire Crystal Ants, and it was still being consumed by Zong Shou. If this continued, his tens of thousands of Crystal Ants would eventually all be slain by this sword, one by one.

In his past battles, he never engaged directly, always relying on the ant swarm to wear down his opponents until they died of attrition.

In that moment, he experienced that same feeling—that sense of utter helplessness against an unstoppable force.