Chapter 1349: Confusing the Audience

"Usually, master, you might not know this, but life forms with a strong tolerance for poison attributes often possess a powerful inherent talent for concealing themselves. They can almost completely mask their presence. If the poison attribute power weren't so overwhelming, even I would struggle to identify them directly through my five senses. This process is quite complicated, far from as simple as we imagine. I trust my intuition won't be wrong."

Seeing White Dragon's confidence, Xu Yang could only put more trust in his companion. He nodded calmly. "Alright, since you're so sure, let's go straight into that dense forest and see for ourselves."

Just as Xu Yang's team was about to proceed, a very familiar scream suddenly echoed from the other side of the dense forest.

Xu Yang and the others all turned their heads, looking towards the source of the sound.

Everyone indeed recognized the person screaming: it was none other than the Black Tortoise clone.

It turned out that when he previously cast the Guigu Qimen formation, a spatial anomaly occurred, teleporting him and Azure Dragon to completely opposite locations.

He had been transported into the dense forest before them, which was heavily permeated with poison attributes.

The reason for his agonizing scream was that the Black Tortoise clone had been tormented relentlessly by the poison-attribute beast experts in the area.

"Boss, I knew you'd come! Quick, save me! These crazy guys are going to bite me to death!"

Hearing the Black Tortoise clone's plea, Xu Yang immediately acted without hesitation, moving his main body directly to the exact location from which the clone's voice originated.

As Xu Yang's presence emerged, the Black Tortoise clone, facing a formidable enemy, was surrounded by hundreds, even thousands, of enormous rats. Each rat was as large as a wolf!

"Heh, if I hadn't come here, I really wouldn't have seen rats this big. And there are thousands of them! With their size and destructive power, they could probably gnaw this entire jungle bare in just a few days."

Hearing Xu Yang's words, the Black Tortoise clone, who felt like he had received a grand pardon, couldn't help but show a look of horror as he stared at his boss.

"What the hell? Boss, shouldn't your focus be on my current well-being, as your subordinate and brother?"

Xu Yang chuckled, shaking his head gently, not even turning to face the Black Tortoise clone directly.

"You're just a clone, not my real body. Even if you were completely destroyed here, it wouldn't be a big deal for you. On the contrary, I'm more concerned about Azure Dragon's current situation."

Hearing Xu Yang's remark, the Black Tortoise clone threw his hands up in exasperation.

"Alright, boss. Although I have to admit what you said was pretty low-brow, since you're here, my danger should be over."

The two's conversation virtually ignored the thousands of powerful rats before them. The leader of the rats, whose pupils glowed green, snorted and fixed its gaze on Xu Yang.

"This creature is our prey, our plaything. There's no way we'll let it go just because you, a self-proclaimed extraordinary human expert, suddenly appeared. However, we don't wish to create new, more powerful enemies. If you leave now and abandon this one to us, our Giant Rat clan will consider what happened before as if it never occurred, and we can continue to mind our own business."

Xu Yang, however, showed an expression of interest. "So, if we don't offend your Giant Rat clan, we could find the location of the Beast Emperor's clan by taking a detour?"

The Giant Rat leader sneered, "You're dreaming. This Poisonous War Jungle surrounding our Giant Rat clan is the best barrier to the Beast Emperor's main camp. No human life form can survive here for more than three days, no matter how powerful they are. Our Giant Rat lineage's innate talent is to dissolve any powerful life force. No matter how high one's cultivation, the essence and origin of life force are difficult to fundamentally alter. Unless you have reached a truly god-like existence, as legend describes, possessing unparalleled immortality and the ability to freely replace your physical body and replenish your life essence. Otherwise, in our territory, if you're a dragon, you'll coil; if you're a tiger, you'll lie low. If you still dare to stand against us with such an arrogant attitude, you will ultimately pay with your life."

Xu Yang burst out laughing. "Your Giant Rat clan certainly knows how to talk. I wonder what your true strength is capable of. I'll give it a try right now; I hope you don't disappoint me."

Xu Yang truly showed no respect to the other party, openly speaking in a challenging and provocative tone. However, with his strength, he certainly had the right to do so.

As expected, the next moment, Xu Yang lightly waved his hand. Countless Boundless Sword Auras rapidly condensed behind him, then, guided by his mental power, launched a furious assault on the Giant Rat army before them.

Indeed, although these giant rats were enormous, their movement speed was astonishing.

Thousands of individual giant rats moved simultaneously, creating a scene like a true beast purgatory on earth, instantly disorienting Xu Yang and the Black Tortoise clone behind him, disrupting their perception.

Although these individual giant rat warriors were incredibly large, they were remarkably similar to one another. Combined with their rapid speed, once countless shadows began darting about, it became nearly impossible to pinpoint a single absolutely safe location.

Only the limited number of towering ancient trees in the surrounding jungle could serve as a reference for Xu Yang to judge the movement trajectories of the giant rat warriors in the area.

However, before Xu Yang could use this as a standard for a comprehensive battlefield assessment, several leaders of the Giant Rat clan seemed to have anticipated his next move and unhesitatingly issued a new command.

As expected, countless tens of thousands of giant rats converged, their massive bodies forming a concentrated light that furiously devoured the towering ancient trees around them.

"Good heavens, they actually thought of this method! They're destroying the entire jungle in the shortest time, depriving you, boss, of any reference points for attack or movement. This way, you won't be able to determine where a specific giant rat warrior might appear next second, or where they were the previous second. Even if you use the Guigu Qimen formation, it will be completely useless. They're using this method to confuse vision and hearing as the best medium to hide and protect themselves. Targets that cannot be accurately pinpointed can never be directly killed in a single round."

From behind Xu Yang, the Black Tortoise clone articulated the true core problem of this battle: "If there's no way to solve this problem, this giant rat army will indeed be very difficult to conquer."