The voice was startled, yet sounded somewhat weak and powerless. Even Ant Venerable had exerted nearly all his strength, unleashing every protective treasure he possessed, but before he could even activate them with his soul power, they all tumbled toward the ground.

Zong Shou couldn't be bothered to waste words on the man. The Fire Yin Sword slashed out, cleanly severing the Ant Venerable's head.

A twist of sword light followed, extinguishing his Nascent Soul completely. Swift and clean, he ended the man's life.

The instant the Ant Venerable perished, all the ant swarms fell into utter chaos.

Those Demon Fire Crystal Ants charged about violently, crashing into everything. But already poisoned and wounded, their frenzy was listless and weak. The giant Crystal Ant, however, simply exploded, flesh and blood scattering everywhere. Without the Ant Venerable's control, it couldn't even maintain its own form.

And all the remaining flying ants plummeted, utterly incapable of flight.

At almost the same moment, several dozen li away, Li Han’s face had turned ashen.

"This incense... is poisoned!"

Clutching his neck, barely able to breathe, Li Han desperately shoved every antidote elixir from his Universe Pouch into his mouth.

Xiong Yu’s face was also turning greenish. She wished she could slap Li Han across the face. To fail to recognize the poison in the incense was one thing, but to flaunt his supposed expertise—just moments before, he had taken several deep, theatrical breaths as if showing off his mastery. It would be strange if he wasn't poisoned!

She also blamed herself for being foolish. She thought that since Li Han was knowledgeable and possessed the Celestial Rank cultivation, he wouldn't possibly fail to discern the toxicity. Yet, she had believed him.

Fortunately, her condition was slightly better. The moment she sensed something was wrong, she had taken precautions and completely sealed her breath.

Though poisoned, it wasn't too deep. She immediately took several types of antidote pills and mobilized all her True Qi to expel the toxin.

The result, however, was utterly useless. The poison had completely fused with her True Qi. With 'me in it, and it in me,' intertwined and blended, separation was impossible. The effect of the antidote pills was minimal.

A fierce dizziness engulfed her mind. Even the wisps of air constantly diffusing around her, despite the forceful repulsion of her surrounding protective aura, could not be driven away. Instead, they seeped into every pore, infiltrating her entire body. Her skin felt as if it were on fire, on the verge of spontaneous combustion. She desperately wanted to tear off every stitch of clothing.

"Is this the Red Gold Scorpion Powder from the Pill Spirit Sect? No, this must be a mixed poison—"

In her memory, only the Pill Spirit Sect's infamous Red Gold Scorpion Powder had this effect. But as for the other complex toxins mixed in, she couldn't identify a single one.

Glancing at Li Han beside her, who was already powerless and merely sitting on the ground trying to expel the poison, Xiong Yu hesitated for a moment, then decisively turned and fled. Her figure darted like a streak of lightning. It wasn't that she didn't want to take Li Han with her; it was that the poison was growing more potent, and her own consciousness was darkening. She feared that even a slight delay, burdened by an extra weight, might lead to her death right here.

In Xiong Yu's mind, at that very moment, only one concept remained: 'Escape.' She needed to get as far away as possible before she lost consciousness and collapsed.

Above the corpse of the Ant Venerable, Zong Shou’s Nascent Soul had steered the sword back into his body. He then flew above the Ant Venerable again, his gaze lingering with a touch of puzzlement toward the south, where some movement seemed to be occurring. Two rats, it appeared, had been affected by his Hundred Li Pure Scent. Interesting—

The corners of his lips curled slightly. Zong Shou wasn't in the mood to pay much attention yet. When he turned his gaze back, Zong Yuan was standing nearby, his expression showing lingering fear as he looked at the sprawling ant swarm, all nearly dead, close to expiration.

"My Lord, if this poison were deployed on the battlefield, it could wipe out millions of troops without effort. Even Celestial Rank powerhouses would be unable to escape being ambushed if they didn't know its origins."

Zong Shou, however, shook his head slightly. "Although this Hundred Li Pure Scent is potent, it harms the Heavenly Mandate."

Later ages had many instances of chemical warfare, but the fate of those practitioners usually wasn't good. Even the Demonic Sect suffered a devastating backlash from the Righteous Alliance after only a few attempts.

Zong Shou himself couldn't bring himself to do such a thing. While he acted ruthlessly at times, he still maintained his own bottom line.

Zong Yuan clearly also did not wish for such a poison to appear on the battlefield. Hearing this, his expression eased. He then frowned. "That Demon Fire Ant Queen—I wonder where the Ant Venerable hid her. I'll go look—"

"I suspect there's no need," Zong Shou replied, shaking his head. "The Demon Fire Ant Queen is most likely right here."

Zong Shou then used his sword to slice open all of the Ant Venerable's clothing.

In the next instant, his back was revealed to be completely transformed into an insectoid body. It wasn't that the man had turned into an insect, but rather that the two were almost perfectly merged.

Even with Zong Yuan’s seasoned temperament and knowledge, he felt a wave of nausea and disgust. He had killed countless people; those who died by his hand on the battlefield numbered over a thousand. He had seen every sort of grotesque and bloody scene and could regard them as normal. But this situation was the first of its kind.

"It really is the Symbiotic Technique. No wonder he could cultivate the Demon Fire Ant Queen into an innate guardian. But this method is also his downfall—"

Zong Shou shook his head, lamenting inwardly. Although this technique granted him the aid of a hundred thousand Crystal Ants, giving him the powerful combat strength to contend with, or even defeat, a Seventh Tier expert early on, once his body merged with the Ant Queen, further breakthroughs in spiritual arts or martial ways beyond the Seventh Tier became exceedingly difficult. It virtually annihilated any hope of advancing further in the future.

This Ant Venerable also carried a small Universe Pouch at his side. Zong Shou narrowed his eyes, beckoned casually, and took it.

After a brief pause, he produced an object: a delicate branch of the Ling Flower, bearing two fruits that had ripened side-by-side, merged into one indistinguishable unit.

"Twin-Branch Ling Fruit? This person probably wasn't after the item hidden in the vial, but rather that Eighth Tier Dragon Soul—"

In a flash, Zong Shou realized the truth. The Twin-Branch Ling Fruit must have been what the Ant Venerable used to achieve this symbiotic union with the Ant Queen. The man was quite lucky to have found another pair of Twin-Branch Ling Fruits somewhere. If he could convert the soul of that Eighth Tier Thunder Giant Dragon into an innate guardian, leveraging its supreme Yang and rigid energy, there was indeed a possibility to repel the assimilation between the Demon Fire Ant Queen and himself.

With a dry chuckle, Zong Shou carefully sliced open the insectoid body of the Demon Fire Ant Queen with his sword.

Immediately, countless insect eggs slid out from within, only about the size of a pinprick, hidden inside a sac. Zong Yuan found the sight even more nauseating. The thought that these Demon Fire Crystal Ants were 'born' from within the Ant Venerable made his stomach churn. But he forced himself to endure and watched closely, his attention immediately drawn to one golden egg.

Compared to the others, this egg was significantly larger—nearly the size of a fist, shimmering with a golden hue dotted with countless tiny points.

Zong Shou also noticed it. He casually prodded it with his sword, grasping it, and after a moment of silent scrutiny with closed eyes, he understood its origin.

"It is the Ant Queen's egg. Once hatched, it will be a Demon Fire Ant Queen—"

Such refined beast species always leave a contingency plan for the propagation of their bloodline, no matter the time or place. The existence of an Ant Queen egg was within his expectations.

Zong Yuan, however, was slightly startled. He knew that a Crystal Ant of the Queen grade was the most supreme type of guardian spirit beast. Setting aside its combat power capable of challenging higher ranks, merely possessing an endless supply of Ant Queens, which could be cultivated to high tiers, was equivalent to holding an absolutely obedient army of a hundred thousand! And these wouldn't be ordinary soldiers, but at least above Innate level!

Zong Shou’s expression remained calmly unchanged. "It's a pity. Once this Ant Queen is born, it will only be a maximum of Fourth Tier—"

A Fourth Tier Demon Fire Crystal Ant would only produce soldier ants with a maximum strength of Three and a Half Tier. Cultivating them to higher tiers would require immense time. For him, this was a wasted resource—too valuable to discard, yet tasteless to consume. Moreover, the Demon Fire Ant swarm, while strong, did not align with his fighting style, and he felt a slight aversion to them.

Suddenly, a thought sparked in his mind, reminding him of the instructions given by the Dragon Shadow Elder upon departure—

He said that in the future, he wouldn't need to be overly cautious. That Swallowing Heaven Venerable went mad because of this method, but it was likely due to that person’s reckless overuse.

He also said that the Swallowing Heaven Venerable applied it in the wrong context, and Zong Shou could explore it carefully later, not abandoning the technique entirely due to one failure.

These insights coincided perfectly with his own feelings. He had previously felt it was a waste to only use the Swallowing Heaven Primordial Transformation Great Art to steal the blood essence of others to serve his own purposes. As he recently gathered the 'Swallow' True Talisman and contemplated its profound meaning, this feeling grew stronger.

With this realization, the inspiration blooming in Zong Shou's mind became increasingly clear.

His pupils first dilated emptily, losing focus, and then rapidly contracted, revealing a sharp glint.

In the next moment, Zong Shou’s figure flashed. Within a ten-li radius, he rapidly drew intricate lines and runes everywhere, burying countless beast crystals throughout the area.

Finally, he managed to return to the side of the Ant Venerable just before all the Demon Fire Crystal Ants expired.

First, upon the insect eggs, he used a combination of spirit-demonic techniques and powder ground from Seventh Tier beast crystals to inscribe countless Purification Talismans, densely overlapping so that no corner was left untouched.

Then, he smeared the antidote for the Hundred Li Pure Scent onto the golden Ant Queen egg.

Taking a deep breath, Zong Shou suppressed the feeling of elation and anxiety, and then uttered the word, 'Swallow.' Grasping the egg, the Swallowing Heaven Primordial Transformation Great Art suddenly erupted.

Instantly, in that span of space, faint Ant Souls rose from the bodies of all the Crystal Ants. These souls were then completely shattered by an immense force and gathered toward Zong Shou.

All the countless flesh and blood also dissolved in that instant, transforming into vital essence and blood energy. Guided by the spiritual array Zong Shou had laid out, this essence flowed toward the center of the formation.

However, Zong Shou did not absorb these things into his own body. Instead, he directly diverted them, pouring them bit by bit into the Crystal Ant egg.