I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 202 - 200: Xi Yuan Tournament (Part 26)

The entire audience was in an uproar.

Over at the seats of Harssas Academy, Wen Dao’s face was ashen, and he shakily fished a pill from his pocket, pressing it under his tongue. This match was full of too many unexpected events; it was really driving this old man to the brink.

Luo Jun’s veins bulged on his forehead, and after watching the slow-motion replay, he pointed at the screen and cursed:

"I can’t believe Cui Tianxiao, that idiot, stepped on the Transmission Array twice in a row! Why doesn’t he have this kind of luck when buying lottery tickets? Just see how I’m going to deal with him when we get back!"

Having calmed down, Wen Dao waved at Luo Jun, his tone steady and magnanimous:

"Xiao Luo, don’t say that. He didn’t want to step on the Transmission Array, it was all unexpected. Let’s continue watching the match, keep a calm mindset, or we’ll end up being a laughingstock to the other academies!"

Luo Jun looked up, glaring fiercely at the gloating Cold Smoke Pavilion teacher, then angrily retreated into his seat, opening the booth’s built-in menu to order food.

At this point, all they could do was eat first. With her blood sugar higher, she’d probably lose her temper less.

The Buff Busters’ re-teleportation was bad news for Harssas Academy, but from a live broadcast standpoint, it was perfect!

The series of unexpected turns pushed the Buff Busters team’s viewership rating to a peak, nearing the highest record in history.

The host couldn’t hide the joy on his face and his voice trembled a little as he received data from the backstage manager.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the departure of the Red Armored Scorpion seems to have taken away the Buff Busters’ good luck. They’ve been randomly teleported to... oh my god, what a coincidence, they’ve ended up there! How will they overcome this hurdle? Let’s wait and see!"

The green light spot on the map reappeared, peculiarly overlapping with the golden light spot in the northeast direction.

Stone Forest Ant Nest.

As the glow from the Transmission Array faded, Cui Tianxiao landed, feeling a sticky sensation on his foot. When he saw what he had stepped on, he immediately let out a piercing scream: "Ahhhhhh——!"

A red ant the size of a baby Star Beast, with its oval abdomen sliced halfway off, leaving green blood and brown entrails all over the ground. Cui Tianxiao’s foot was right in the middle of the mess of intestines and blood.

The surrounding ground was almost entirely covered with the ruined bodies of large red ants, the earth soaked with blood and entrails.

Most of the ants were already dead, some still crawling slowly. Thousands of slightly smaller red ants moved among the corpses, carrying pieces and the wounded.

"What the hell is this place?"

Cui Tianxiao was exasperated; why did he have to step on the Transmission Array again? Would it kill him to spread some of this luck to others? No doubt, the comments mocking him now must have been thick enough to block out light.

The red ant that Cui Tianxiao had stepped on, though heavily injured, was not dead yet. It dragged half its body towards Cui Tianxiao’s foot, its giant jaws snapping open and closed.

Cui Tianxiao’s hair stood on end; he pulled out the Thunderbolt Bow and swung it hard, sending the half-ant flying like a golf ball into the distance.

Ye Qingting surveyed his surroundings, furrowing his thick eyebrows, a bad feeling rising in his heart.

"These red ants are Red Fierce Ant Beasts. A single Red Fierce Ant has low attack power, but as a social Star Beast, their collective fighting power can wipe out high-level beasts like the Desert Short-tailed Bear in seconds."

Cui Tianxiao: "Why are there so many corpses, did they fight each other to death?"

Ye Qingting shook his head: "The Red Fierce Ant Clan is extremely united. Even during the succession period between queens, internal strife doesn’t occur. They must have engaged in a fierce battle with some Star Beasts, and we just happened to be teleported onto the battlefield."

Li Xing kicked away a small Red Fierce Ant attempting to ambush her and pointed at the towering stone forest around them. "These stone peaks look strange; could they be the ant nest?"

Qi Ming retracted his spiritual power, his face serious: "The Stone Forest contains Yellow Spring Soil, so spiritual power can’t penetrate it, but I saw small Red Fierce Ants moving in and out of the ground, it’s definitely an ant nest!"

Cui Tianxiao’s face changed: "The whole stone forest is?"

Qi Ming shook his head: "I’m not sure, but based on the Red Fierce Ant corpses on the ground, this is a super large colony with numbers exceeding a million."

Ye Qingting squatted down, carefully examining a Red Fierce Ant corpse that had half its head sliced off. This ant’s head was obviously larger than the others, but its mandibles were small, meaning it wasn’t a combat type. The wound on its head was smooth and clean, giving Ye Qingting a strange sense of familiarity.

"Look, this Red Fierce Ant’s wound is smooth, it seems to be caused by Elemental Power."

Everyone gathered around to observe closely, and the more they looked, the more it felt like it. Could it be that the battle with the Red Fierce Ants was against a participating team?

The Desert Boat Team parted ways with them not long ago, so it’s unlikely they’d be here. It must be either Team Tianyi or the Tu Ling Team.

Ye Qingting’s expression slowly changed as he realized why the Red Fierce Ant’s wound seemed so familiar—it was cut by his cousin’s Wind Blade!

Before he could voice this thought, the ground began to tremble slightly. Ye Qingting snapped his head up, looking at the nearby stone peaks.

From dozens of holes, innumerable Big Red Fierce Ants poured out like a flood, charging towards their position.

"This isn’t good, run!"

When the number of Star Beasts reaches a certain point, their collective combat power can’t be assessed by individual levels.

Such a large group of Red Fierce Ants, even if standing still, would take forever to kill them all. The smartest move was to avoid them for now, find a place to hide, and figure out the situation.

The four of them ran as fast as they could along the winding path formed between the stone peaks. Behind the Red Fierce Ant swarm, a few Red Fierce Ants with large heads and small bodies stood on the Big Red Fierce Ants, herding the swarm in one direction, like shepherds.

Li Xing observed the ant swarm as she ran.

The Red Fierce Ants on the ground had dark red body walls covered with scars of varying depths, while those chasing them were bright red, smooth, and glossy, without a single mark. This made Li Xing suspect that these Red Fierce Ants had just recently hatched.

With such a boost in numbers, the colony must have a super large egg chamber, and if the eggs continue to hatch, the number of Red Fierce Ants would easily exceed Qi Ming’s estimated millions.

They might very well be in for another tough battle.

Rounding the stone peak ahead, the scene before them caused the running four to skid to a halt, coming to a stop after sliding several meters due to inertia.

In front of them was a swarm of Red Fierce Ants far exceeding the number of pursuers. Under the command of those large-headed Red Fierce Ants, the Big Red Fierce Ants stacked up like trained soldiers, methodically launching a siege.

Their target was the four people hidden at the top of the stone peak.

"Holy crap—! It’s Team Tianyi people!"

Cui Tianxiao was a Divine Archer, naturally with sharp vision. He spotted the Team Tianyi members at the stone peak’s entrance, and simultaneously, Team Tianyi’s four members noticed them.

Jiang Yuesheng had been thinking that it’d be great if Cui Tianxiao were around, and now, seeing him, he couldn’t help but rub his eyes, thinking he might be seeing things.