Chapter 297 – Activation! The Resonance of Spirituality!

Outside the Venomous Insect Cave.

Su Ming, with his exceptional Spirit Sense, detected the anomaly almost immediately.

“It seems we’ve alerted her after all, the Poisonous Insect Queen.”

Su Ming stared intently in one particular direction of the Venomous Insect Cave as he suddenly uttered these words.

From that direction, he sensed an unusual demonic aura and vigorous Qi and blood, along with the restlessness of countless venomous insects.

“What?”

Chi Qian’s face instantly paled at Su Ming’s words.

“Don’t worry.” Seeing Chi Qian’s drastic change in expression, Su Ming smiled and said, “If it’s just the Poisonous Insect Queen alone, even if that girl is no match for her, she should at least be able to escape.”

Su Ming’s words and overly calm expression helped Chi Qian regain some composure.

“Are you really sure it’s fine?” Chi Qian asked, “Your friend probably isn’t a match for a Nightmare Species, right?”

Through repeated confirmation using her keen senses, Chi Qian had basically determined that the extraordinarily beautiful mermaid girl hadn’t yet reached the level of a Nightmare Species.

Although she was comparable to a Six-Star Professional and much stronger than ordinary Hazardous Species, the gap between her and a Nightmare Species still seemed considerable.

If that mermaid girl had truly alerted the Poisonous Insect Queen, she might not even be able to retreat unscathed.

This made Chi Qian unable to help feeling worried.

Su Ming, however, remained truly calm, even appearing to have everything under control.

“Don’t worry, that girl has plenty of tricks up her sleeve.” Su Ming first said meaningfully, then abruptly changed the subject, “What we need to worry about is ourselves – we might have to leave this place ahead of schedule.”

“What?” Chi Qian was slightly taken aback.

“Can’t be helped. Even if that girl manages to escape successfully, the Poisonous Insect Queen might chase her out of the Venomous Insect Cave.” Su Ming spread his hands, “If it were just the Poisonous Insect Queen alone, the three of us combined might be able to hold our own against her. What I’m really worried about are those endless venomous insects. Without any Bloodline suppression, dealing with them would be far too dangerous for us.”

As he spoke, Su Ming turned around first and got into the off-road vehicle.

Chi Qian came to her senses, hesitated for a moment, then finally got in the vehicle as well, starting the engine and gripping the steering wheel.

“Shouldn’t we wait for her to come out?”

Chi Qian still seemed somewhat hesitant.

“No need, she’ll catch up with us.” Su Ming urged, “Alright, let’s get out of here quickly.”

Hearing this, Chi Qian remained silent for a while before ultimately turning the steering wheel and driving the off-road vehicle away.

Meanwhile, Su Ming began closing his eyes, slowly mobilizing the Spirit Power within his body, allowing it to flow along an invisible pathway.

……

“BOOM——!”

A roaring sound erupted violently above the lake, causing the endless low temperatures and countless venomous insects to spread outwards.

After facing off for several seconds, the Mermaid Princess and the Poisonous Insect Queen unsurprisingly began their confrontation.

The Mermaid Princess swung her fishtail, her entire body emitting terrifying low temperatures that formed a blizzard resembling white mist, which blasted forward.

The Poisonous Insect Queen drove the dense swarm of venomous insects, forming them into a tidal wave of pests that surged forth like a flood, similarly assaulting the Mermaid Princess.The clash between the Phantom Demon Princess and the Phantom Demon Queen brought devastating consequences to the surrounding realm.

Terrifying cold swept across the area, freezing the lake below into solid ice and transforming the landscape into a frozen wasteland completely shrouded in a blizzard.

Meanwhile, a tidal wave of poisonous insects surged forth, toppling forests one after another, causing countless trees to collapse, and covering vast stretches of earth with swarms of venomous creatures.

To describe it, this was an ultimate confrontation between a mage controlling ice and snow and a summoner commanding poisonous insects—a battle so magnificent it could shake heaven and earth.

“Milin!”

At this moment, though Little Hai’er radiated low temperatures from her entire body, she still protected the three ice coffins carried by water currents behind her, letting out a heavenly melody-like cry toward the Poisonous Insect Queen.

She was urging the Poisonous Insect Queen to stop, telling her that she hadn’t come to invade her territory but merely to retrieve a few items.

Well, in Little Hai’er’s view, the three ice coffins she brought were just objects—not people yet.

After all, they were still frozen, weren’t they?

Unexpectedly, the Poisonous Insect Queen showed no intention of stopping.

“Sa!”

The Poisonous Insect Queen also emitted a cry—somewhat cold and carrying a chill, yet surprisingly clear and pleasant, almost matching Little Hai’er’s celestial voice.

However, this Queen was clearly not one with a gentle temper. Seeing that Little Hai’er was obviously a Phantom Demon and, like herself, a noble Nightmare Species, yet protecting several frozen humans while intruding into her territory, she felt filled with hostility and remained completely unconvinced by the persuasion.

Especially when she noticed Little Hai’er’s evidently still immature power and appearance, indicating she hadn’t fully matured, the Poisonous Insect Queen grew even more displeased.

How dare a mere newborn Nightmare Species, who had just recently left infancy, casually barge into her territory? Did she think she was easy to bully?

It was no wonder the Poisonous Insect Queen thought this way.

In the Spirit Demon Abyss, higher-ranking Phantom Demons each possessed their own territories and domains. Any intrusion typically meant a declaration of war.

This was especially true for Nightmare Species, who were overlords of their respective territories, ruling over countless Phantom Demons. If they stayed out of each other’s way, that was one thing, but once one stepped into another’s domain, it became a fight to the death.

This was because Phantom Demons could devour each other and absorb each other’s blood to accumulate power, gradually progressing toward evolution.

A Nightmare Species not only possessed an extraordinary Bloodline that would bring great benefits if consumed, but their territories also contained countless Phantom Demons that served as abundant blood sustenance. Obtaining these would yield numerous advantages.

Humans understood competing for resources, and Phantom Demons were no different.

Thus, for Phantom Demons, aside from those of the same race, tribe, or category, all others were essentially enemies.

Lower-ranking Phantom Demons were more manageable—conflicts among them were usually individual and sometimes they coexisted peacefully. Alternatively, they might be driven under the command of a higher-ranking Phantom Demon or have their hostility redirected toward other creatures due to more appealing blood sustenance. This was why lower-ranking Phantom Demons often appeared in groups, attacking humans together.For Phantom Demons, humans are the finest blood sustenance, the most delicious blood, enough to make them join hands and assault humans together, forgetting their hostility towards each other.

But higher-level Phantom Demons are different.

Gulu

Higher-level Phantom Demons generally possess extremely intact spiritual wisdom, with intelligence no less than humans. They won’t neglect their vigilance and defense against their own kind just because better blood sustenance is present.

Sometimes they cooperate with each other, sometimes they slaughter each other—just like humans, with no real difference.

Without prerequisites for cooperation or kinship ties, one party intruding into another’s territory is a major taboo. It can only make others think you have ulterior motives, that you’re targeting them, wanting to use them as blood sustenance.

Just like human nations—if one party suddenly intrudes into another’s territory without any prior indication, any ruler would think the other wants to attack their country, that they come with ill intentions.

The world of higher-level Phantom Demons shares some remarkable similarities with the upper echelons of human society—quite ironic indeed.

The difference lies in humans relying less on violence and more on deception and scheming. When something actually happens, they’ll just engage in mutual blame and calculation, with life-or-death struggle coming only after exhaustive scheming.

Phantom Demons are different—without so many twists and turns, without so much deception and scheming. If you intrude, invading my territory, my domain, then we fight directly.

“Whoosh!”

Thus, the Poisonous Insect Queen showed no intention of holding back. With a wave of her jade-like hand, a massive insect swarm surged forth, like locusts on the march or a typhoon passing through, leaving behind only highly toxic miasma and rampant demonic energy wherever it went.

“Miling!Seeing that the Poisonous Insect Queen had no intention of stopping, Little Hai’er naturally wouldn’t wait to be captured. With a wave of her hand, a blizzard was summoned and launched forth.

Instantly, this patch of heaven and earth erupted with roaring sounds once more.

Ice and snow swirled backwards, poisonous insects grew agitated, demonic powers collided there, stirring up one strange phenomenon after another, with commotion comparable to a natural disaster scene.

The two sides were in a stalemate against each other, yet couldn’t maintain the stalemate for long.

Soon enough, the blizzard summoned by Little Hai’er was gradually breached by the colorful insect swarm, allowing the swarm to reach Little Hai’er multiple times.

Little Hai’er retreated again and again, visibly beginning to struggle.

There was no helping it—both were Nightmare Species, but one was an underdeveloped newborn who had just left the juvenile stage, while the other was a fully developed form that had cultivated for many years and was already advancing toward the Terror Species level. Which side was stronger and held the advantage needed no explanation.

If Little Hai’er was comparable to a Six-Star Professional, then the Poisonous Insect Queen surpassed Six-Star Professionals, having already touched the Domain of Seven-Star Professionals—a true Senior.

Their powers weren’t on the same level at all, resulting in Little Hai’er’s successive defeats, with her losing posture quite apparent.

However, what made the Poisonous Insect Queen frown was that despite the obvious gap between them and Little Hai’er’s continuous retreats, somehow she always managed to barely handle her assaults and block her attacks.

The mermaid girl appeared disheveled, yet hadn’t actually been injured or captured. Instead, she repeatedly mounted counterattacks, blocking her assaults.

Something’s wrong.

Very wrong.

What such a Poisonous Insect Queen didn’t know was that at this moment, Little Hai’er wasn’t fighting alone.”Mirin!”

In the midst of a heavenly melodic cry, Little Hai’er was enveloped in surging cold air, while an endless stream of Spirit Power emerged from within her body.

Yes, Spirit Power.

Little Hai’er’s body was actually radiating Spirit Power.

This Spirit Power seemed to resonate with the latent spirituality hidden within Little Hai’er herself. As it flowed through her entire body, it actually fused with her power as a Phantom Demon, greatly enhancing Little Hai’er’s strength.

Without a doubt, this was Spirit Power originating from Su Ming.

Ever since that incident in the wilderness danger zone outside Longyao City, where Little Hai’er was forced to evolve due to the Mo Family’s interference and successfully overcame the crisis by receiving Su Ming’s Spirit Power support through the [Exorcism] Spell Formula, an inexplicable and profound connection had formed between Su Ming and Little Hai’er – a strange sensation of shared bloodlines.

After some research, Su Ming discovered that the reason for this connection with Little Hai’er was likely because his Spirit Power had seeped into her Bloodline during her evolution process.

After all, hadn’t this girl, at the critical moment of her evolution, drawn Spirit Power support from him through the channel of the [Exorcism] Spell Formula?

Since his Spirit Power played such a crucial role in her evolution, it was understandable that his Spirit Power became integrated into her Bloodline Power during Little Hai’er’s Bloodline transformation.

If it were any other Phantom Demon, having such spiritually potent power that counters demonic nature deeply embedded in their Bloodline would have likely caused them to disintegrate and collapse on the spot.

But Little Hai’er was an exception.

Although she was a Phantom Demon, just as Mo Yin had speculated, she had awakened spiritual talent like a human Sorcerer, making her an anomaly among Phantom Demons.

This Little Hai’er inherently possessed hidden spirituality within herself, existing as a being where spirituality and demonic nature coexisted.

Such beings also existed among humans, and Su Ming was precisely one of them.

That’s right – a Dual Professional.

Under incredibly low probability circumstances, humans could become Dual Professionals.

Conversely, under extremely rare and special conditions, Phantom Demons could also become beings possessing both spirituality and demonic nature.

In other words, Little Hai’er was the Phantom Demon equivalent of a Dual Professional.

Su Ming’s Spirit Power seeping into Little Hai’er’s Bloodline under such special circumstances not only didn’t cause her to collapse immediately, but instead activated her spirituality, creating compatibility between Su Ming’s and Little Hai’er’s spiritual natures.

Because of this, that profound and mysterious connection formed between Su Ming and Little Hai’er, giving them the feeling of shared bloodlines.

Their spiritual natures had become completely compatible, as if they had signed an invisible contract – and one of the highest grade at that, comparable to a Divine Grade contract, making it difficult to separate them from each other.

Su Ming was relatively unaffected, as the influencing party wouldn’t show much reaction.

Little Hai’er was different though. With Su Ming’s Spirit Power mixed into her Bloodline and her spirituality compatible with his, she became completely unable to leave Su Ming’s side. Both her body and mind were enveloped by Su Ming’s spirituality, inevitably becoming his constant follower.

This was far more advanced than the forced servitude of [Exorcism] – it was conquest on spiritual and Soul levels.

And this resulted in a unique characteristic forming between Su Ming and Little Hai’er.

That is, Su Ming could at any time directly channel his own Spirit Power to Little Hai’er through their compatible spiritual natures.No matter how far apart they were, Su Ming could supply Little Hai’er with Spirit Power, stimulating her Bloodline with it to awaken her Spirit Art.

In this state, Little Hai’er was like a true Dual Professional. Though she couldn’t wield close combat techniques with one hand and long-range Spirit Arts with the other like Su Ming, she could combine spirituality and demonic nature to greatly enhance her power.

As long as Su Ming’s Spirit Power remained uninterrupted, Little Hai’er in this condition could unleash power surpassing her original capabilities.

Even when facing a fully-formed Nightmare Species, she could rise up and resist.

This was the true reason Su Ming felt confident letting Little Hai’er venture alone into the Venomous Insect Cave.

(End of Chapter)