290: Chapter 290 Running Faster Than a Rabbit

However, this was not the end!

Every feather on that gigantic divine plume began to ripple with dense, countless spatial distortions.

Immediately following that, spatial portals the size of fists formed rapidly!

"Bzzzzzz—"

A hair-raising sound of wings flapping suddenly erupted!

From those countless spatial portals poured out thousands upon thousands of flying insects, each the size of a fist, with cyan bodies and scarlet compound eyes!

Could it be the three-star difficulty magical beast, the Wind Mosquito?

The aura of a single Wind Mosquito was not particularly strong, only around the fifth or sixth rank, and they possessed no powerful skills.

But their numbers—they were simply too many!

Thousands?

No, I fear it has already exceeded one hundred thousand!

They gathered together, forming a cyan cloud of insects that blotted out the sky!

The buzzing of their wings converged into a terrifying sonic wave, enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint on the spot!

Vast and mighty, covering the sky and earth!

It was as if the entire starry sky had been occupied by this cyan insect cloud!

Extremely terrifying!

It could be called a blessing for those with trypophobia!

This sudden, catastrophic scene left everyone present stunned.

Even Chen Yi was dumbfounded for quite a while.

"What—what is going on?"

"How did so many bugs suddenly pop out?"

"Is that feather causing this?"

After his initial shock, Gu Fan seemed to remember something and exclaimed, "Could this—be the sea calming pearl?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yi frowned even tighter: "sea calming pearl? How does this thing look anything like a pearl?"

Gu Fan explained: "Calling it a sea calming pearl is just a placeholder name; it doesn't necessarily refer to a bead!"

"I don't know if you, Brother Chen Yi, triggered a hidden mechanism prompt on your way here, which stated that whoever obtains the sea calming pearl shall obtain all the treasures here!"

"At first, I also thought it was a precious bead, but I have carefully observed all the bead-type heaven and earth spiritual treasure in this starry sky, and there is nothing that matches the description of the sea calming pearl!"

"So I estimate that this sea calming pearl might not refer to a specific bead form, but rather acts as a placeholder for the core of this starry treasure vault! It is the key item that can trigger the final change and determine the ownership of all treasures!"

"After all, think about it; outside is the Dragon Palace. In mythology, isn't the treasure of the Dragon Palace the sea calming pearl?"

Hearing this, Chen Yi nearly fell over.

"Why didn't I trigger a similar mechanism prompt?"

He felt speechless inside, wondering if this secret realm was treating geniuses differently.

Was this good luck or bad luck? He just randomly picked up a feather from a pile of treasures, and it turned out to be the core?

That is truly absurd!

Just then, Gu Fan's face suddenly showed a hint of apology as he shouted to Chen Yi: "My apologies, Brother Chen Yi! The number of this Wind Mosquito army is simply too terrifying; it is definitely not something we can handle with our manpower!"

"You also know that I have contracted many girls. If I die, there will be many more heartbroken people in the world!"

"So, I apologize, Brother Chen Yi, but I must take my leave first!"

After saying this, he took a silver-white talisman from his space ring and infused it with spiritual power.

Juno Lan and his other Contracted Spirit Beast subordinates also took out the same silver talismans and began to infuse them with spiritual power.

Chen Yi frowned slightly: "You are going to—"

Gu Fan explained: "There are only seven of these directional teleportation talismans, and I must ensure that I and my partners survive first! I am truly sorry that I cannot fight side-by-side with you, Brother Chen Yi! Take care of yourself!"

After saying that, he didn't even wait for Chen Yi's response.

Seven silver rays of light erupted simultaneously from Gu Fan and his spirit beasts.

The next second, they completely disappeared from the platform, having been teleported to a safe location they had marked beforehand.

Of course, everything Gu Fan said about "not being able to handle it," "having to flee for his life," and "taking care of himself" was a lie!

With Black Rose, the Demon Emperor, present, this swarm of Wind Mosquitoes was not a problem at all!

If she were to unleash her full Demon Emperor true form and cast the large-scale forbidden secret technique—"Ten Thousand Spirits Annihilation"—to deal with these Wind Mosquitoes, which were numerous but whose individual strength was not top-tier, she could wipe them out in an instant!

But the key point was that forbidden secret techniques of that level were often indiscriminate attacks that would absorb the spiritual power of all living beings within a massive range!

Even allies were no exception!

In other words, as long as one remained there, even if they were not hit by that attack, their level would likely drop because their spiritual power would be forcibly drained!

Because of his Heart Soul Contract, Gu Fan's leveling speed was already very slow; otherwise, he wouldn't be 35 years old and still haven't broken through to the seventh rank.

He certainly didn't want the level he had worked so hard to improve to regress because of this trivial matter!

That would be even more painful than killing him!

Of course, his plan was also very meticulously calculated!

He would just let Chen Yi and his group go head-to-head with the Wind Mosquito army first to exhaust their strength, ideally causing their levels to drop.

After Black Rose finished her ultimate move and was in a weakened state, he would return under the guise of having "suddenly realized his mistake" to provide support, directly executing the plan to forcibly take Chen Yi back to the Demon Abyss Cult!!

At that time, wouldn't all the treasures, including those Chen Yi and his group had previously collected, as well as the starry treasure vault itself, all belong to him, Gu Fan?

The reason he said those things to Chen Yi before leaving was, firstly, to maintain his persona of being forced into a helpless situation, and secondly, for fear that Chen Yi and his group might also flee if they saw the situation was bad, which would cause his plan to fall through.

Having teleported away, Gu Fan appeared in a safe corner of the secret realm, a cold, confident smile of victory on his face.

"Hmph, Chen Yi! I admit that I did underestimate you before!"

"But so what? No matter how strong you are personally, or how high the potential of the spirit beasts under your command is, compared to the deep foundation and eternal schemes of the Demon Abyss Cult, you are ultimately just insignificant ants!"

"It is your blessing that you can be favored by the supreme Queen!"

"But I, Gu Fan, am different! I am born to succeed, destined to stand at the pinnacle of the world!"

"Between lives, there exists an insurmountable gap from the moment of birth! If you are sensible in the future and willing to join the organization, considering you are such a genius, I can show mercy and let you be my lackey, serving me faithfully!"

"By then, those powerful spirit beasts by your side—hehehe—"

He grinned, as if he had already seen his glorious future of returning as a king, suppressing everything, stepping on Chen Yi, and taking over all his resources and women.

---

On the other side.

Seeing Gu Fan slip away so cleanly and decisively, Chen Yi was also stunned for a moment.

Damn it, he really is a professional schemer!

I thought that after saying so much, he wanted to face the enemy together or something.

Turns out he ran faster than a rabbit!