There were no cultivators guarding the vicinity of the ground fissure.
A cultivator qualified to guard a ground fissure must at least be in the Divine Sea Realm, and preferably at Level 3 and above, because only cultivators of this level have a chance to escape when encountering a large insect.
If a True Lake Realm cultivator were to guard the fissure, and if a large insect appears that they can't handle, they wouldn't even have a chance to flee, resulting in a needless loss of personnel.
Therefore, although there are quite a few Divine Sea Realm cultivators in the Nine Provinces, not every ground fissure is guarded by a strong cultivator of the Divine Sea Realm. Only at those fissures of larger scale are cultivators of the Divine Sea Realm dispatched. For smaller fissures like this one, they are simply left alone.
This is unavoidable.
Lu Ye took out the ten-part map to check his position. It was not bad; he didn't appear on the territory of the Ten Thousand Demons Ridge and was still within Bingzhou.
The current location wasn't too far from Haotian City, and at his speed, he could reach it in less than two hours.
Confirming the direction, Lu Ye flew toward Haotian City while simultaneously ssaging the sect master.
This ti, delving deep into the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm, he had gathered quite a bit of useful intelligence and needed to report it to the sect master. As far as he knew, the task currently burdening the sect master was to probe deep into the ground fissures. The old man had ventured into the ground fissure and charged into the Insect Path a few hundred tis over the past few years, but unfortunately, he returned empty-handed each ti.
Soon, he received a response. The sect master wasn't in Haotian City but was pursuing a few large insects that had fled from the fissure; however, the battle was nearing its end and would conclude soon.
"Wait for in Haotian City." The sect master didn't know what he was up to, but he knew that his disciple wouldn't randomly ssage him unless it was sothing particularly important.
Upon this command, Lu Ye continued flying towards Haotian City.
An hour later, he entered the city. Instead of returning to his own courtyard, he went to the sect master's place and quietly waited.
After another half hour, a streak of light darted in from outside the city and landed in the courtyard, revealing the figure of the sect master.
Lu Ye stepped forward to greet, "Sect Master."
The sect master stroked his beard with a gratifying look, a bit nostalgic. To think that the disciple he accidentally took in back then had grown to this level, arguably the fastest-growing disciple since the founding of the Righteous Blood Sect. Even looking across the entire history of the Nine Provinces, there's almost none comparable.
And so of the particularly unique experiences he had were that even an old Divine Sea Realm cultivator like himself found extraordinary.
Indeed, chaotic tis certainly breed talent, and especially under the current situation, the rapid rise of his disciples undoubtedly revealed so truths.
Standing higher, his view was broadened, and he could faintly detect things that Lu Ye couldn't perceive.
He led Lu Ye into the house, where Lu Ye skillfully retrieved the tea set and brewed tea.
Only then did the sect master ask, "How is everything at the mountain pass lately?"
"Quite good." Lu Ye nodded. The doppelganger stood guard at the fissure, with the cultivators from the two mountain passes working together sowhat. But whenever the Insect Race crawled out of the fissure, they were imdiately slain. During this period, there were even two instances where large insects appeared, but they were exterminated instantly by countless attacks without causing any trouble.
This was the advantage of being stationed at the fissure entrance, resolving so hard-to-handle Insect Races imdiately. Otherwise, allowing those large insects to break through the fissure would inevitably require sending Divine Sea Realm cultivators for a hunt, which would be laborious and resource-consuming.
"No one has been looking for trouble with you, have they?" the sect master asked again.
"No, I'm an honest person, never causing trouble with others. Who would co looking for trouble with ?"
The corner of the sect master's eye twitched.
There are indeed many doubts surrounding Liew Yuei's death.
After all, being at Divine Sea Level 7, she wasn't weak. How could she die without a reason? Even if she t an opponent or Insect Race she couldn't defeat, she would at least send a ssage before dying.
But in reality, before Liew Yuei died, no one received any ssages, which is the biggest doubt.
Whether or not it was this disciple of his who killed her... the sect master neither knew nor intended to ask.
But, the fact that Lu Ye was near Jinglan Lake Pass shortly after Liew Yuei's death remained true. The enmity between Lu Ye, Li Taibai, and Liew Yuei was also evident. The Twin Heroes of Bingzhou, working together seamlessly, is another fact...
If they could jointly slay several large insects, they might have been able to kill Liew Yuei. But how they managed to prevent her from sending out a ssage was unknown.
Of course, from the sect master's perspective, Liew Yuei's death was irrelevant as she was no good. That's why he imdiately sent a ssage to Nian Yuexian to warn Yu Huajin. The result was that with one move, Nian Yuexian almost took Yu Huajin's life.
These matters need not be shared with this disciple, in order to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble.
"Now that you are a mountain pass master, it wouldn't be appropriate to wander around, and you still hold the responsibility of refining Explosive Fire Spirit Stones and array discs. Bingzhou has already popularized the array discs, but the other Eight Great Provincial States still need them. Since the Haotian Alliance is a whole, it wouldn't be right to favor one over the others. Pang Zhen has been under a lot of pressure lately, and now that you have the capability, you should relieve so of the burdens for the alliance."
"Yes," Lu Ye responded respectfully, "that's why I went to the depths of the ground fissure a few days ago to investigate the situation."
"Cough cough..." The sect master almost choked on his tea, set down the teacup, and reprimanded with a stern face, "Nonsense, the depths of the ground fissure are fraught with dangers. Even I dare not venture in recklessly. How could you act so rashly?" As if realizing his tone was a bit harsh, he continued more gently, "Yiye, you are still young and have a bright future ahead of you. Do not carelessly venture into places that are too dangerous. We old folks will handle the exploration of the ground fissure depths, you must not go in."
Lu Ye kept nodding, agreeing verbally.
The sect master could tell from his deanor that Lu Ye hadn't really taken the words to heart, but he thought that if this disciple truly listened to every word of advice, he wouldn't have achieved his current accomplishnts.
Cultivators inherently are not a content group, the more capable they are, the less content they seem to be.
"Did you make any discoveries?" the sect master asked casually.
Lu Ye hastily took out a few image ssage stones and handed them to the sect master. "I made so discoveries, I ask the sect master to take a look."
The sect master took them, casually picked one, and imrsed his ntal consciousness to investigate.
He hadn't thought much of it since Lu Ye's capabilities were visible, and even if he ventured deep into the ground fissure, what valuable discoveries could he bring back? But these were brought back at the risk of a disciple's life, and as the sect master, he felt obliged to take a look.
However, as he began to investigate the images within the stones, his expression changed instantly, and he sat up straight.
Because those shocking scenes were ones he had never seen before.
A sky-covering swarm of insects, shadows of insect hives resembling hills, and oval-shaped glowing portals; each scene brought trendous shock to the sect master's heart.
He looked up abruptly, staring at Lu Ye with surprise and doubt: "Yiye, this is..."
Lu Ye's expression was solemn: "I call this place the Insect Race Great Secret Realm, and these scenes are from within it."
"Insect Race Great Secret Realm?"
"Yes," Lu Ye nodded.
The sect master looked incredulous, "You found the source of the insect disaster? How did you manage that?"
In recent years, he had been venturing deeper into the ground fissure, trying to locate the source of the insect disaster, but had never succeeded. The deeper he went underground, the more his cultivation was suppressed. Encountering powerful insect races forced him to retreat, yet here was his disciple who had managed what he could not.
This achievent not only outshone him but also overshadowed many old explorers of the ground fissure across the Nine Provinces. Yet, there was no jealousy—he felt only comfort seeing his disciple achieve so much.
If Lu Ye could achieve this, his thod might be worth learning from. If it could be made widely known, the biggest problem in the Nine Provinces would be resolved.
Lu Ye explained, "I have so unique thods that allow to control the insect race. I managed to control a Divine Sea realm insect and hid on its back. It carried all the way to the end of the Insect Path. Sect master also knows I am a spirit runes master, so I used Concealnt and Breath-concealing Spirit Runes on myself and covered myself with insect blood to mask my aura. It was thrilling but without incident."
The sect master imdiately understood that Lu Ye's thod was not sothing others could imitate.
Currently, there were three primary groups exploring the ground fissure in the Nine Provinces.
First were the physique cultivators, second were the ghost cultivators, and third were the beast-taming faction cultivators.
No need to ntion physique cultivators, the interference and erosion of the origin magnetic field made the spirit force in a cultivator's body dull and unclear. Physique cultivators could at least rely on their physical robustness to endure longer in the underground depths. But a magic cultivator couldn't accomplish anything there; it might even cost them their lives.
As for ghost cultivators, although they don't have the robust bodies like physique cultivators, they excel at hiding themselves and can act stealthily. But this approach relies heavily on luck because the Insect Path is sotis narrow. If they encounter the insect race, there's a risk of exposure.
The beast-taming faction uses insects to explore paths, but their cultivators are not particularly strong, so their ability to protect themselves in the Insect Path is weak. The main issue is that their taming techniques are less effective on the insect race and cannot make them fully obedient.
Lu Ye's thod combined the best of the beast-taming faction and ghost cultivator strategies. Who could emulate it?
There were cases where ghost cultivators and the beast-taming faction attempted to collaborate like Lu Ye. But once the controlled insects strayed too far from their master, they couldn't be controlled anymore, resulting in the ghost cultivator's death in vain.
"At the end of the Insect Path, I encountered a portal. Entering it led to the Insect Race Great Secret Realm."
As Lu Ye spoke, the sect master continued to quickly investigate the image ssage stones. For a cultivator of his strength, multitasking was second nature.
Although the images in the stones took Lu Ye days to compile, the sect master's ntal consciousness quickly absorbed them in monts.
What he saw and heard exceeded imagination.
The prevailing belief in the Nine Provinces was that there was a gigantic insect hive deep underground, serving as the source of the insect disaster.
But now it seed otherwise, the situation was worse than anticipated.
User Comments
0 comments from readers