Chapter 1336: Swarm Out

"You are still as breathtakingly beautiful as when I first saw you," Han Li said with a smile.

"When we first met, I don't recall you being in awe of a celestial being. That time with the Ink Dragon, you..." Nan Gongwan stopped mid-sentence, realizing she had misspoken.

This time, even her cheeks flushed crimson.

Han Li pulled her into his arms, a trace of reminiscence appearing in his eyes as he slowly said:

"Speaking of which, we have that Ink Dragon to thank. If we hadn't mistaken its lust sac for a dragon pill, you and I..."

"Don't say another word..." Even though they had long become dao companions, Nan Gongwan still felt deeply embarrassed. She raised a finger to press against Han Li's lips, stopping him from continuing.

Sunlight filtered through the forest, casting a warm glow on the two of them. From deep in the woods came the occasional clear chirping of birds, and the mountain breeze passed by like a gentle caress.

Han Li said no more, simply holding her gently, savoring this rare moment of tranquility.

...

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

The Juefan Realm, under the jurisdiction of the Nanlin Immortal Domain, was the smallest and had the weakest spiritual qi among all the mortal realms subordinate to the many immortal domains.

In this realm, all who lived and multiplied were ordinary mortals. Even those born with spiritual roots and the aptitude for cultivation were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.

Precisely because of the insufficient spiritual qi, immortal herbs and spiritual plants were naturally scarce, and cultivation resources were pitifully few. Often, a Core Formation stage cultivator was already a once-in-ten-thousand-years cultivation genius, while Nascent Soul stage cultivators were akin to gods, absolute rulers at the pinnacle of this realm.

Thus, to this day, this realm remained dominated by the secular world, with more emphasis on martial arts, jianghu, and court politics.

As for those lofty immortal cultivation sects, they were more often than not like divine beings, appearing only in oral legends and various storybooks.

Hence, in this realm, one rarely saw battles and duels between cultivators. After all, merely embarking on the path of immortality was already extremely difficult, and even the limits of lifespan could not be broken through, let alone staking one's life on feuds and fights.

But on this day, the Yinshan Sect, the number one immortal cultivation sect in the Beiyuan Kingdom of this realm, was attacked by a mortal enemy from the Nanyang Kingdom.

That mortal enemy from Nanyang Kingdom was merely a mid-Core Formation stage cultivator, far weaker than the current sect master of Yinshan Sect, who had already reached late-Core Formation stage decades ago.

Logically, he should not have dared to attack the sect.

However, the fact was that not only did he directly attack the Yinshan Sect, but relying on his bone flute insect-controlling technique, he commanded a large number of poisonous creatures, slaughtering the sect's disciples, who numbered less than a hundred.

If they had been ordinary poisonous creatures, it would have been manageable, but the trouble was that among these poisonous creatures were hidden many extremely rare spirit insects, including twenty-eight not yet fully grown Devouring Gold Beetles.

After a fierce battle, only the sect master and a few severely injured elders remained of the entire Yinshan Sect, forced by the man's spirit insects and poisonous creatures to the ancestral peak's founder hall.

Among them, the Yinshan Sect master was a short, childlike man with graying hair. His right shoulder was a bloody mess, and his arm and sleeve had been completely devoured by the twenty-eight Devouring Gold Beetles.

"It was merely an oversight back then that caused your breakthrough to fail. Why must you go so far as to annihilate us?" the sect master said with a pale face, glaring angrily at the disheveled man controlling the insects with the bone flute.

The latter stopped playing, and the poisonous creatures and spirit insects temporarily halted, not continuing their pursuit.

"The spiritual qi of this realm is limited, insufficient to support the emergence of too many Nascent Soul stage cultivators. After you hindered me once, I fear I will never be able to break through again in this lifetime. Do you think this grudge should be avenged?" the disheveled man said coldly.

"Even so, you have already completely destroyed my sect. Shouldn't you stop now?" the sect master pleaded.

"There is still one step left. Only when you die will your Yinshan Sect be truly destroyed," the disheveled man said, unmoved.

With that, he blew the bone flute again, and the large swarm of poisonous creatures that had surrounded the peak stirred once more, advancing toward the Yinshan Sect master and the others.

Just then, a faint, almost imperceptible tremor seemed to resonate through heaven and earth. Everyone sensed it for a moment, but no one paid it any heed, for after that brief anomaly, everything returned to normal.

Immediately after, a sudden commotion broke out among the insect swarm controlled by the disheveled man. The orderly formation suddenly fell into chaos. The ordinary poisonous creatures showed no change, but the spirit insects among them all broke free from control.

Seeing this, the disheveled man was greatly alarmed and hastily mobilized his spiritual power, trying to regain control of the spirit insects.

Unexpectedly, as he exerted his full strength, the spirit insects that had been trying to fly away suddenly turned around and, led by the twenty-eight Devouring Gold Beetles, flew straight toward him.

After a series of miserable screams, the disheveled man was stripped of all flesh, leaving only a bloody skeleton standing in place.

The Yinshan Sect members, who had witnessed this horrifying scene, were shocked. But they found that after killing him, the spirit insects soared high into the sky and flew away, showing no intention of attacking them, while the poisonous creatures scattered in all directions.

The survivors, having narrowly escaped death, looked at each other in bewilderment, none of them understanding what had happened.

At this moment, atop a majestic mountain peak in the middle of this mortal realm, where it touched the sky, a spatial rift dozens of feet long had split open. Swarms of spirit insects of various shapes and sizes were gathering from all directions and flying into it.

However, almost all of these spirit insects were torn to pieces by the spatial forces the moment they flew into the rift, with only a few dozen Golden Devourer Beetles flying through unscathed.

……

Gaochang Immortal Domain, Mingling Sect.

A range of low mountains hidden within ten thousand miles of poisonous miasma had its entire mountain belly almost hollowed out, containing labyrinthine tunnels and hundreds of palaces.

Countless alien beings with ant heads but human bodies, all wearing identical black armor, were busily moving through the maze-like tunnels.

At this moment, in the deepest part of the mountain belly, within a massive underground palace, lay a huge white ant queen. Her lower body was plump and snow-white, resembling a spring silkworm, while her upper body was no different from a human, even bearing a flawless, beautiful woman's face.

Just then, a faint tremor of heaven and earth swept through in an instant. The white ant queen's slightly closed eyes snapped open, her gaze filled with disbelief and ecstasy.

"Could it be... impossible, no, it must be... it must be..."

She cried out somewhat incoherently. A fluorescent light flickered on her body, and in an instant she fully transformed into human form, becoming a young woman in a white gauze dress, her aura unmistakably at the late Da Luo level.

"Come..."

At her loud command, seven or eight figures soon rushed into the hall, clasping their fists and kneeling.

"The day we have been waiting for has finally come. Gather the army, empty the nest..." the ant queen declared loudly.

"As you command." The eight were startled at first, then also filled with wild joy, responding in unison.

On this day, the largest insect tide in history erupted across the Gaochang Immortal Domain.

Yet, for some reason, these spirit insects, as if they had agreed to revolt together, did not attack the cities but instead gathered in a sky-obscuring swarm toward the highest peak in the domain, Zhuyuan Peak.

Some curious individuals went to investigate and found that, unbeknownst to anyone, a spatial rift tens of thousands of feet wide had appeared above Zhuyuan Peak.

……

Beihan Immortal Domain.

In the far north of the Minghan Continent, a snowy ice field was ravaged by blizzards year-round, the land sealed by ten-thousand-year-old ice. Not only was it devoid of human traces, but even other living beings were hard to find.

A towering iceberg stood alone there, entirely crystal blue, visible only as a huge, blurry shadow in the blinding snow.

Without warning, a soft "crack" pierced the howling wind of the blizzard.

Massive chunks of ice broke off from the mountain, rumbling as they fell, revealing a giant cocoon thousands of feet tall.

With a soft "rip," the giant cocoon suddenly split open, and a vast expanse of deep blue light shone out, releasing a skyward surge of freezing cold that nearly froze the falling snow within a hundred miles.

Amid the blue radiance, a white-haired man with two long antennae on his forehead flew out.

His cheeks were lean, his features sharp and handsome, and his eyes sparkled with a deep blue crystalline light, their gaze piercing and strangely alluring.

He was quite tall, wearing a blue leather armor, with four blue light wings on his back flapping slowly. His aura was unmistakably at the peak Da Luo level.

"King, you are finally returning..." He gazed into the blizzard-obscured sky, murmuring to himself.

The next moment, his four wings flapped, stirring up a powerful snowstorm, and his figure vanished.

……

Zhongtu Immortal Domain, Tiangong Continent, somewhere in the Heavenly Court.

In a massive palace entirely emerald green like jade, a tall man with short hair and bare arms, his face like a vajra, eyes wide with fury, muscles bulging and straining his dark green robe, paced back and forth before a jade throne. Veins stood out on his forehead, and his expression was grim.

Before him stood several Heavenly Court divine officials, all clearly Da Luo level experts, yet before this man they stood with hands down, their faces respectful and tinged with fear.

The reason was simple: this vajra-like man was named Xuan Yuanjie, a Five Elements Origin Dao Ancestor, one of the "Seven Lords of the Heavenly Dao" standing at the pinnacle of Heavenly Court power.

"Are you certain? Besides Lord Huxiang, even Tongqiu was assassinated?" Xuan Yuanjie gripped the armrest of the throne and asked coldly.

"Reporting to Ancestor Heavenly Lord, the Eight Sons of Reincarnation have all mobilized, working in pairs to hunt down the strong from various domains who came to attend the Bodhi Feast across the immortal domains. It is impossible to guard against. Those two have both been assassinated and fallen." One of them fell to his knees with a thud and hastily explained.

The others immediately bowed deeply, not daring to speak.

Lord Huxiang was not much, but that Real Person Tongqiu was the son of an old acquaintance of Xuan Yuanjie. Though they had little contact, the bond of past friendship still remained.