However, they braced themselves, finding comfort in their numbers, and followed after her. Step by step, the long group of monsters silently walked into the underground lair before they encountered the first fork in the path, but the viper queen didn't hesitate and veered to the left. Once the next one was reached, the same thing happened and continued to the left, followed by everyone.
...

Lei Yan had received a signal from his first mosquito offspring, Lumina. Using the technique that he was very versed in by now, his consciousness blinked out and into existence before everything changed.

This time there was no sense of falling, just powerlessness as his powers were left behind. Lumina understood how the technique worked, so he didn't have to worry about that.

He found himself perched on top of a tree's branch, gazing into the distance. However, his attention was completely captured by the rhythmic percussion of legs tapping against the earth. The sound was so very interesting, and more so unexpected so one would immediately zone in on it.

Glancing down, he saw a shocking sight!

Close to the giant hole in the ground where he had witnessed the ants diving in previously, were hundreds upon hundreds of ants of varying sizes.

Dark blood ants with rough exoskeletons, their abdomen pitch-black and culminating in a deadly stinger. They were split into several organized groups that were made up of dozens of them, in perfect rows and columns. Their steps synchronized as they headed in the same direction.

At the vanguard of the ground, towering ants led the way. Some were as big as two meters tall, and others up to just a meter, but relative to their knee-height comrades, they appeared more imposing.

'Shit!' Lei Yan thought, his shock only increasing as he observed. 'This can't be good.'

Although he knew that they were headed for the viper's territory just by looking at that proud joyful white horse walking amongst them, this wouldn't be good for his plans.

The viper queen was too weakened right now, and she wouldn't be able to resist their attack. However, for his plans to come to fruition, the ant's invasion couldn't be smooth or easy.

'I need to do something.' He pondered with a solemn look, 'New powers should be introduced to this fight.'

His gears were turning trying to think of who, and how, he should be involved in this as well. After the last group of ants disappeared from his view, he unfurled his wings and followed after them, his mind still on overdrive.

As he was thinking about that, he received a signal from one of his remaining six mosquitoes that he left roaming around those territories in search of something.

Quickly flowing through that connection, he left Lumina with the order to continue following from afar. His eyes jolted open in a new body and in a new territory.

This time too, the mosquito's body was perched on a tree so he didn't fall. After studying the area with his eyes, he quickly found the reason behind the signal. Directly underneath the tree were four cultivators, all of whom wore grey robes.

'These are sect disciples?' He thought, but when he noticed their strength he reasoned that they might have been in charge of some outpost or something similar, because all of them were Peak Foundation Establishment, except for the last one of them. A tall, shoulder-length dark-haired man. He wore a simple light grey attire, and he appeared both depressed, but more so wounded.

Lei Yan quickly noticed how this man's energy was all over the place. But what puzzled him about it was the fact that he had no Qi to speak of, so the reason why his energy was chaotic was a mystery.

He began thinking once again, 'That group of ants had 7 at the High Foundation Establishment realm and Peak, if I could lure these guys to fight them with the viper it'll be very good...'

Knowing how resourceful and crafty humans were, he knew that they'd be able to hold their own, but how to lure them was the question. Noting how the three cultivators were all men, a ridiculous idea appeared in his mind.

'Should I do it?' He thought, slightly amused by how it'd turn out.

He ordered the mosquito to follow and canceled the technique returning to his original body. Hearing their shared mental connection abuzz with discussions among the insects, he faintly smiled in his mind.

Although he very much wanted to talk with them, especially Nevas and the two dragonflies, now wasn't the time. He still had plenty of things to do, and so with that, he approached Red Shadow, and said, "Follow me."

With her dutifully following, they approached the end of the underground tunnel and started digging through the sand until they emerged on the other side. After making sure that the whole looked closed, and not that suspicious the two dashed into the south.

Reaching the cliff, he gestured for her to follow him into the cave. Once the two were there, he looked at her and said, "Remember that special surprise I told you about?"

Registering the words, she was overjoyed, how could she forget that? She had been anticipating it all of these days, and so with bated breath she mumbled, "Yes, yes."

Not wasting any time, Lei Yan used the not much used system function with her as the target. Soon, a transformation began. The small Red Shadow began to grow in size at a tremendous speed before all of that energy was undergoing a miraculous process of changing from a dragonfly's anatomy into a human.

After a while, what stood before him was a relatively tall naked red-haired woman. Her porcelain skin contrasted against the fiery hue of her shoulder-length red hair. Her face was framed by delicate features, with a pert nose and striking emerald eyes that seemed to pierce through his soul.

As she swayed from one side to the next, studying her body, her boobs moved causing him to audibly gulp. 'Sweet mother of god' He thought, and a small sense of pride couldn't help but swell within him, knowing that this great beauty calls him, my lord.

Lost in his daydreams, he was quickly awakened by a startled sound, "Am I human now?"

Lightly coughing, he clarified, "No, it's just that you have access to that form."

This made Red Shadow even more shocked as her eyes widened in shock, "My lord, you're too powerful!"

"Well what can you do, you know." Lei Yan mumbled, feeling slightly embarrassed. Swiftly he brought for her some special clothes. Because of the multitude of bodies in his spatial ring, he had clothes in bulk.

What he brought out was a thin white undergarment that some female disciples wore. It was composed of both shorts and a shirt, and so he said, "Wear this."

After she wore it, he couldn't help but nod in agreement in his mind, 'Way too overpowered sex appeal.'

"Damn, you do indeed look very beautiful." He said, and noticing a faint blush on her cheeks he felt even more proud. Dismissing such ridiculous thoughts as time was of the essence, he began explaining to her the plan.

Once that was done, he used his wind Qi to carry her out of the cave, and the duo walked toward the group of cultivators.

They were situated on the western edge of the viper's territory, so they had to run the whole journey, but this would also help in facilitating the plan that would enable him to hit two birds with one stone.
...

Underneath a natural canopy made up of a cluster of trees, shadows moved. A large fire flickered with the wind, sending shadows of the nearby branches moving in a twisted way.

Surrounding the fire were three men, or rather it should be said four, though the last one was clearly an outsider. His hair was dark and long, and he leaned against one of the trees, with a deadpan expression on his face. A stark contrast to the three men who surrounded the fire, laughing manically amongst themselves.

All three of them wore grey-clothed robes with the emblem of a colorful cloud. One of them in particular, was clearly the leader of the group. He sat in the middle, and as the other two talked, it was very clear from their body language how they sought his approval.

However if one noticed very well it would be easy to sense that they all had the same strength, Peak Foundation Establishment. Except for the other man with a cold expression that is.

The leader had honeyed hair, and emerald eyes, and another interesting distinction was that his fingernails were unusually long for a man. The other two were rather average-looking, and their most distinct features were that one of them was slightly overweight, and the other one was strangely skinny.

As the skinny man was engrossed in recounting a story that the other duo was visibly intrigued by as they hung into his every word, suddenly, they all became instantly deathly quiet.

After a few seconds, the overweight one of the two said with a sigh, "Ouf, it's just a human, she scared me."

The three stood up when a red-haired skimpily dressed woman ran in their direction with a frantic look on her face. She quickly reached the group and knelt in front of them, heavily panting, and words stuck in her throat as she looked at them, clearly wanting to say something.

The three however, weren't at all concerned with this, all of them audibly gulped as they looked at her fair skin, slightly sweaty body, exposed cleavage, and thick nude thighs. The trio swiftly glanced at each other before the leader of the bunch glared at them and they backed off.

Summoning his mightiest voice and valiant facial expressions, he crouched down beside her, and he began to comfort her, "Calm down, you're safe now, what happened to you?"

The red-haired woman continued her terrified show for a few minutes before she began speaking, "I was..." she said, her breath still labored, "I was just on a mission with my fellow senior brothers, and they..."

"They wait?" Said the leader of the group, seemingly intrigued by what had just happened to reduce her to such a state.

"We found..." Just as she was about to continue, she bit her lips and looked at the group.

The three watching this could easily see through the reasons why she acted as such. She had found something precious!

Gritting her teeth, the red-haired woman glanced at the two, before she focused her eyes on the leader of the bunch and said with a solemn voice, "We found a very rare treasure, but..." She paused, trying to let her words marinate, and she continued, "You need to promise me to revenge my senior brothers."

"Sure," Calmly replied the man, clearly unfazed by the mention of a treasure, in his mind something that would make a Qi Condensation cultivator greedy wasn't a treasure that he would waste his time with, however, for the sake of beauty he humored, "And what's that?"