There were hundreds of them all sleeping in front of him. The beetles were as big as a palm and were covering the ground, the trees, and even the canopy above, hanging upside down.
Their bodies were unlike any other insect beast that Lin Mu had seen till now. There was a cylinder shaped growth on the beetle's back that seemed to be filled with some kind of a fluid.
The 'container' or the 'cask' was translucent, like that of a mosquito's belly, and the liquid inside could be seen.
"So that's their 'bile'." Lin Mu pointed.
"Indeed, senior. They will explode that cask when they are attacked and spray the bile everywhere. While it is not corrosive or toxic, it is still strong enough to knock a person out.
Even Nascent soul realm cultivators have fallen prey to these beetles, despite them being weak." Hua Yi informed.
Lin Mu raised his brows as he felt the cultivation base of the beetles, finding them to be barely at the Qi refining realm. There were a couple that were at the core condensation realm and biggest of them all.
"How do we proceed from here?" Lin Mu asked.
"Usually we would go around an area like this, but unfortunately for us the area that we want to go is beyond them." Hua Yi spoke. "They aren't this concentrated like a wall and we would have been able to find an empty path out, but we can't in the current condition." He explained.
"Hmm… I see." Lin Mu replied and tried to think of a solution.
His spirit sense scanned the area and checked if there was anything else in there. After a minute, Lin Mu made up his mind.
"Little Shrubby… Burn it all down." Lin Mu stated.
~BOOM~
Not even a moment later, the beast obliged and spat out a stream of flames that burned through everything that was on the path.
~CHIIIIIIIII~
The loud chitter of the Bile Cask beetles could be heard as they were very rudely awakened. But before they could move or fly around, the flames devoured them and reduced them to ashes.
The foul bile in their bodies was also rapidly burned before it could spread in the area and cause them any trouble. The trees were not safe either and burned down with the beetles that were living on them.
"Enough," Lin Mu said, after sensing that all the beetles had been burned.
~Crackle~
~Thud~
But now another problem had presented to them… the trees were burning and the flames would not stop spreading.
"Senior Lin Mu! This…" Hua Yi was a bit taken aback.
He had certainly not expected Lin Mu to take such a crude yet direct approach to the problem.
"We can't let the fire spread!" Hua Yi urged.
The Great Southern Forest was important to everyone in the world, right from the commoners to the cultivator since a lot of resources were brought from there. The commoners didn't know this but a lot of formation arrays that protected the villages and towns they lived in needed materials that were often sourced from here.
Thus if a wild fire broke out, it will cause a lot of problems. Not because it would harm the forest, since that was almost impossible. The forest had a strong vitality and the trees would grow back again soon.
The main problem was in fact, due to the beasts that lived there. If a fire spread, while it would stop after a certain point, the beasts that lived in the area would be angered. Some might die and some might leave their habitats.
And when something like that happened, it was called a migration. A large scale beast migration that would be caused due to a wild fire could lead to even more serious consequences… such as a Beast tide.
The Noon Grass sect was located right next to the Great Southern Forest, thus a beast tide would be something they would have to deal with. If they were lucky, a beast tide would only have some Nascent soul realm beasts, and a majority would be weaker beasts.
But if they were unfortunate and some more sensitive areas were burned, Dao Shell realm beasts might even appear. If that happened, the sect might lose some of their disciples.
And that… was something they certainly did not want to happen.
This is why the sect had rules about causing wildfires in the forest.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Lin Mu assured.
He flipped his palm, and the short sword appeared in his hand.
~huu~
Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu closed his eyes. A few seconds later he opened them and they were filled with a sharp aura.
"Sever," Lin Mu lightly said and swung the short sword.
~shing~
An arc of energy shot out of the short sword and expanded as it traveled outwards. If one looked closely, they would realize that the arc of energy was actually just there for an instant and a few meters after that, it was just wind that was spreading.
Still, the wind was sharp enough to cut through all the trees that were in its path, while also blowing out the flames that were burning on them.
~crash~ crash~ crash~
One by one, all the trees that had been cut, collapsed to the ground, creating a demarcated area that septate the burning trees from the normal trees.
Hua Yi, who witness the fine display of swordsmanship, couldn't help but feel impressed.
'Such control… and power.' Hua Yi thought.
Once the final tree fell to the ground, their path was cleared, and they were now free to continue.
~poof~
The flames on Lin Mu and Little Shrubby's nose disappeared and they could breathe normally again. The foul smell tainting the air had been purged by the flames, providing them relief.
"That was amazing!" Hua Yi said.
"Let's go on now.." Lin Mu said with a smile and took the lead once again.