"So," He said looking at the white horse, "All of this because of that Golden Eye you said?"

The topic of that insect intrigued him to no end, and if it wasn't for the fact that he had to take care of a lot of things after the Elder's fall, he would have done everything in his power to go uncover such a delicious-sounding puzzle. But alas, he was but a single ant with limited time and mental capacities.

"Yes," replied White Wind, confusion evident on his face, "I know that he has a good bloodline, but I've never understood why the boss, I mean the viper gave him such importance."

But Blood Spear knew. Well, not know exactly, but he understood that for a monster of the horse's strength, it would be far more difficult to uncover the secrets of a monster's bloodline, unlike them, and their acute spiritual sense. However, understanding that the dragonfly called Golden Eye had already fled, he dismissed such pointless worries because they had reached their destination.

In front of them stretched a vast forest filled with hunched-back trees welcoming their appearance. Blood Spear's steps came to a halt, and with it all of the ants behind him.

The sudden transition from hundreds of moving ants to a deathly quiet scene filled him with immense pride, and he couldn't help but turn around and glance at the tapestry of blood-red ants and their twitching antennas.

"By god," He quietly mumbled to himself, "Is this what it feels like to be a part of a colony?" The shock was evident on his voice as his heart swelled with a profound sense of joy. Although he had experienced some expeditions with the ants against several monsters, none of them were as big as this one. But most importantly, none of them were under his direct command.

"What?" Asked one of the elders beside him.

Waking up from his reverie, he commanded, "Send the scouts."

Following a few silent commands through pheromones, a group of four slender and agile ants dashed into the depths of the territory.

The rest of the colony stood in order, as disciplined as one can be, until the four ants returned after a while. The leader of the small group ran in a beeline for the new Elder, Blood Spear, and stood in front of him as he spoke, "Elder, we've found that there were no monsters whatsoever. But," he said, seemingly unaware of how to proceed. But quickly catching the impatience on the elder's face, he explained, "But we've found a lot of traces leading down her cave, and we also sensed the existence of four humans observing nearby."

Registering the news, Blood Spear's face glanced up at the sky, face seemingly deep in contemplation. 'Monster traces leading down, and then four humans watching?'

After thinking long and hard about these two elements, he still couldn't understand what could have happened, or what they meant.

Thus, after a while, he knew that they could only continue advancing to learn more about what had happened. He was plenty confident in their strength to advance without careful analysis.

This time, the colony's speed had considerably increased following the Elder's footsteps, and soon they found themselves nearing the heart of the forest, and even the Scarlet Qiroot tree could be seen from afar.

Witnessing that treasure that he had been scheming a long time for, Blood Spear's eyes widened in anticipation.

However, his steps soon paused, and with it, the whole colony as well.

To his right, he could see faint shadows emerging one after the other, and from their way of walking, he knew that they were humans.

Heck, he even saw some faces that he himself recognized, 'Lu Peng?' He thought confusion evident on his face, 'What's that old man doing here?'

However, when the mentioned man looked at him, he didn't seem to recognize him as the ant did.

Dozens of human cultivators surrounded Lu Peng from both directions, and Blood Spear sensed that even the weakest of them were at the mid-stage Foundation Establishment level.

His mandibles thrashed in anger as he witnessed that, 'This is bad,' He thought. The dream of taking it all for himself was gradually crumbling in front of him, and he had no idea how to stop it.

'Should I go talk to him?' He debated, 'But that would reveal my secret...'

In front of him, a group of three men were also slowly advancing. Witnessing that sight, he became even more disgusted with how things were turning out. Although they were at the Peak Foundation Establishment, Blood Spear understood too much about humans. And from the man in the center's expression, he knew that he would be very resourceful.

'Why did they come here?' He cursed internally.

The three groups all looked at each other warily, their hands clasping their weapons as they stood with utmost alertness.

Suddenly, in the midst of this tense atmosphere, a lone small Body Forging mosquito could be seen flying in the direction of the underground opening.

Yet, for some strange reason, in this very tense atmosphere this quiet and simple action captivated the attention of everyone present.

The group of three humans made way for the rest of the other humans, and soon they were joined into a single unit without even speaking that began marching in the tree's direction.

Blood Spear, not wanting to be outdone, but more so in an attempt to gauge the opposite party's resolve, also began advancing forward. His pheromones wildly gushed out in waves as he commanded all of the ants behind him to stand ready and follow in his footsteps, which they dutifully did.

Lei Yan's heart was beating loudly inside of his chest after he finally entered the viper's lair, and excitement swelled up within him. He was dying with anticipation, wanting to see how this would turn out. But most importantly, the sight of that army of ants made him drool.

'If I could control such a huge force,' He thought with impatience, 'How cool that would be?'

Naturally, his thinking went beyond just how cool it would be, but more so how strong it would allow him to be, how safe, and thus how powerful he would become if he had plenty of time to cultivate in peace.

He quickly quickened his pace, unwilling to let his subordinates to wait for too long because he prepared for them a very good show. On their way here, he ordered them to climb into the biggest and farthest trees to watch everything unfold from a distance.

The two golden dragonflies were his biggest worry as he was afraid someone who knew him might recognize them, but thankfully their eyesight was very good and there was a considerable distance between them and the entrance.

Reaching the first fork that he was very much familiar with, he continued to the left. He could see the traces of the hundreds of monsters that had stepped foot on these paths, and he was very much intrigued about what was going on inside, and more so what was in the other cavern.

However, after flying only for a few seconds in this passageway, something odd happened.

As he was flying and looking ahead, he noticed a swift shadow flying directly in his direction. Its speed was so fast that before he could even process the sight, his body exploded and he opened his eyes in his mosquito form that was perching on a tree branch far away.

'What in the world,' He thought in shock, and now that he had the time to go through the last visual he had seen, he was confused.

It was a pitch-black viper with golden eyes and dark slits. Atop its head was a single pointy horn that glistened with a dangerous light, and its speed was incomparably fast.

'Shit,' He thought, 'I got to see this.' Using his legs, he started climbing on top of the tree he was in, zigzagging around his own subordinates until he reached the very top of the tree, and then he glanced in the viper lair's entrance with his unimaginably powerful eyesight.

The now two parties, ants and humans, began closing in on one another as they approached the tree. When there were only a few dozen meters between the two, they both suddenly stopped at the same time.

The sight of hundreds of creatures stopping at the very same moment gave him an eerie feeling, and Lei Yan couldn't help but hold his breath as a response, awaiting whatever scared them to this degree.

All of a sudden, a colossal black viper emerged from the entrance with both gentleness and grace in its slitherered in their direction.

However, that grace was soon shattered as its very thick head reached the entrance and couldn't pass through. With a forceful nudge, the walls broke apart as the dirt and debris flew all over the place and she finally passed through. Her eyes shone with a predatory glint as they looked at all of the petrified onlookers, but deep, deep down, there was unbridled joy in those golden eyes.

A slow but chilling hiss echoed as her tongue emerged out of her mouth beautifully, her gaze moving from one direction to the next.

The viper queen's new size was incomparable to the past. Now as she slithered there, she seemed taller than an average man, and length-wise, the end of her body couldn't even be seen as she slowly emerged.

"Hello," She said, her voice low but easily reaching the ears of everyone present. "I don't remember inviting this many guests," She chuckled at that, but then her voice turned unimaginably cold, "But I will make sure to show you my hospitability."

Lu Peng's eyes and mouth widened in sheer horror, and his hands at the side were uncontrollably shivering. A prickling sensation was felt all over his eyes as his mind was thinking about one thing, his daughter. He had brought her with him to both of their demise.

His right hand was clenched so tightly into a fist that his knuckles turned white, and his mind raced trying to think of a solution. At the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of the leader of the group from the Grey Heavenly Cloud Sect, and he thought of something.

However, before he could go and talk to him, he witnessed the latter's horror-stricken face before he a made run for it.

In a split second, everything turned dark.