As the mountains trembled, huge amounts of mud and shattered rock cascaded down from the summit. Ancient trees crashed to the ground amid the deafening rumble. In the raging torrent of mud, the earth split apart, and from directly ahead of them, a long, razor-sharp leg slowly emerged.

Then came a second, a third, and a fourth. Amid piercing screeches and swirling dust, an enormous silhouette appeared in front of the convoy.

It looked like a bizarre stick insect, except magnified thousands upon thousands of times, so immense that a single leg stretched for hundreds of meters. Its entire body was covered in a hard carapace, while antenna-like tendrils writhed chaotically around its head. One by one, its legs slammed into the ground, gouging deep trenches into the earth. As though enraged, it lashed out at every living thing within sight.

“A beast of doom?” Ji Jue leaned out of the driver’s window, binoculars in hand, trying to get a better look at the colossal creature in the distance.

If only Xiao Jiu were here, he thought. Then I could just borrow her eyes.

Unfortunately, aside from sharing vision, Xiao Jiu wasn’t particularly useful in combat. Mercury’s precious little daughter hardly...