In the rolling green hills approximately 2,300 kilometers northwest of the academy.
A dozen or so enormous insectoid shadows flashed across the dim sky, flying down into the pale red stone houses of various sizes and rugged styles below.
"High Priest! Tribe Leaders Fei Yu and Fei Ling."
The Insect-man on duty saw the arrivals and his face immediately filled with reverence. He bowed low from the waist in a formal Insect-man salute.
Each Insect Master of the Red Centipede Tribe controlled one or more subordinate tribes, and the common Insect-men called them Tribe Leaders.
Fei Lie gave a slight nod but didn’t reply, instead leading his swarm of Soul Beasts between the buildings paved with gray flagstones.
"High Priest."
"Greetings, High Priest."
Fei Lie remained expressionless in the face of the greetings from passing Insect-men, their voices filled with a mixture of fear and respect. He wound his way past stone houses, some simple and others relatively exquisite, until he reached the very back of the complex and stopped before the tallest stone house of all.
"High Priest, please wait a moment." The Insect-man at the door stopped Fei Lie.
Fei Lie grunted in acknowledgment. "Has the Chief awoken?" he asked nonchalantly. "Go inform the Chief. I have an urgent matter to report to him."
"Yes, sir."
The Insect-man bowed and vanished through the doorway of the stone house.
A moment later, he reappeared before Fei Lie and said respectfully:
"The Chief is awake. He invites you and Tribe Leader Fei Yu to enter and dine with him."
Fei Lie nodded and asked, feigning casualness, "Has Tribe Leader Fei Liu returned yet?"
Hearing this, the Insect-man answered honestly, "Not yet."
"Good. I understand."
Fei Lie called over to Fei Yu. He had the massive insects with them settle by the entrance, leaving them in the temporary care of other Insect-men, and the two of them strode into the tall, rugged stone house.
「On the other side.」
Han Ning, hidden outside the Red Centipede Tribe’s main camp, received Fei Lie’s message. Learning that Fei Liu was not currently in the tribe, he relaxed slightly. Maintaining Fei Liu’s appearance, he followed Fei Lie’s instructions and headed toward the tallest stone house in the complex.
This was something the two of them had arranged before he entered the tribe’s territory.
’If I change into Fei Liu’s form and the real Fei Liu happens to be in the tribe, won’t it be awkward if I’m exposed?’
Of course, if Fei Liu had been in the tribe, Han Ning had a Plan B ready.
Fortunately, the young master of the Red Centipede Tribe was not home. Mimicking Fei Liu’s usual mannerisms, Han Ning carefully flew into the Red Centipede Tribe’s camp.
Fei Liu was clearly famous within the Red Centipede Tribe. Whenever Han Ning passed an Insect-man—whether they had ugly features or were of a higher Level with more human-like appearances—they would respectfully greet him.
Han Ning could only keep his face taut, trying his best to maintain Fei Liu’s usual persona.
Before long, he arrived in front of the same tall stone house where Fei Lie had been earlier.
The Insect-man on duty at the entrance saw Han Ning in his guise as Fei Liu, and a surprised look crossed his face. He hurried to greet him, "Lord Fei Liu, you’ve returned?"
"Hmph."
Han Ning didn’t even glance at him, merely giving a flat acknowledgment as he walked straight into the stone house.
This time, the Insect-man didn’t stop Han Ning as he had Fei Lie. Instead, he grinned and helped push open the stone door for him.
"So the enemy was powerful enough to seriously injure you and even kill Fei Ling?"
Beside a low stone table, Fei Ming, Fei Lie, and their companion sat cross-legged. Fei Ming spoke in a hoarse, astonished tone as he reached out, grabbed a plump, red worm from the table, and stuffed it into his mouth.
This was a spacious hall, well over 100 square meters in size.
The floor was entirely covered with a fabric resembling silk, while the coarse stone walls were adorned with the dismembered limbs of Soul Beasts, still bearing traces of dried blood.
A female Insect-man also stood nearby, listening quietly to their conversation. She was rather beautiful, with a curvaceous figure, and stood nearly 1.8 meters tall.
"That’s right. The enemy had the strength of at least three Green Moth Tribes combined. That Aketu spouted nothing but lies and caused me to suffer a great loss. I won’t spare him when I get back," Fei Lie said, nodding with a furious expression.
Fei Ming was about to say more when his ears twitched. Hearing the sound of light footsteps from outside the door, he looked up.
He saw Fei Liu, who was over two meters tall and strikingly handsome, walking in from the courtyard with a cold and severe expression.
"Liu’Er."
Seeing him arrive, both Fei Ming and the female Insect-man standing nearby offered a faint smile and called out his name softly.
Across from them, Han Ning gave a cold nod. He didn’t reply, but walked straight to the stone table.
Sitting further back, Fei Ming felt a flicker of doubt and was about to say something more.
But suddenly, an inexplicable chill shot up from the base of his spine, and the Spiritual Power in his mind screamed a warning.
His expression changed. He had just started to move when his vision swam. A sharp tentacle covered in dense, purplish-red patterns shot toward his head, letting out an ear-piercing sonic boom.
In his pale red pupils, the sharp, glittering point grew larger and larger.
Ripples appeared in the air around Fei Ming as he simultaneously tried to roll backward.
But in the next instant, the tentacle, wrapped in a sonic boom, plunged violently into his brain.
THWIP! THWIP! THWIP!
Several more tentacles shot out, repeatedly stabbing Fei Ming in his brain, chest, abdomen, and neck.
"You..."
Fei Ming couldn’t even manage to raise a hand. His widened pupils were still filled with utter disbelief as a massive amount of scarlet blood gushed from the gaping wounds, staining a large patch of the floor red.