As soon as Lu Ye moved, he imdiately attracted the attention of many Divine Sea Realm cultivators, and soon so silently followed.
The number of people grew.
Those Divine Sea Realm cultivators who insisted on observing the situation did not obstruct them. They could express their own opinions and adhere to their own judgnts, but they wouldn't rashly interfere with others' actions; this is a principle of dealing with people and things.
Lu Ye didn't pay attention to those following him. For him, even being truly alone didn't matter.
After rushing into the insect hive, he imdiately found a passage and swept downward.
Upon entering the insect hive, he noticed so unusual things.
This insect hive was fundantally different from the ones he had encountered before.
Previously, the passages inside the insect hives were simple Insect Paths, which the Insect Race created underground to facilitate their entry and exit.
But here, the Insect Paths were surrounded by a layer of flesh wall.
Flesh walls are usually only seen at the core of an insect hive; they aren't present in the Insect Paths, yet this insect hive's paths were covered in flesh walls, which was quite unusual.
While dashing, he drew out the Boulder Mountain Saber, dragging it along as he went, its sharp blade slicing the flesh wall, releasing a foul stench.
Lu Ye inspected his Talent Tree, finding no abnormalities, indicating that those slls were rely unpleasant and not poisonous.
Nothing else leaked from the flesh walls, seeming no different from the flesh walls he had seen in the cores of other insect hives.
He continued to move deeper, with a large number of cultivators following behind.
Along the way, there were no traces of battle, nor did they encounter any mbers of the Insect Race.
This was different from other insect hives, where the paths inside often had Insect Race ambushes, requiring cultivators to fight their way through as they went deeper, but here, it was smooth and unobstructed.
However, Lu Ye felt a sense of unease.
After all, if things really were this smooth, the Level 9 cultivators would have resolved the issue long ago.
Lu Ye still didn't know what kind of enemy they had encountered.
After advancing for only a few monts, a sudden change occurred.
The flesh walls around him started rapidly wriggling, then swelling and growing, filling the entire Insect Path in the blink of an eye.
Lu Ye felt imdiately wrapped in a piece of rotten at, his mouth and nose filled with the foul sll, surrounded by a soft and squishy sensation.
Cries of alarm rang out everywhere.
Not only was he enveloped in flesh walls, but the cultivators who were following him deeper inside also experienced this.
In an instant, chaotic spirit force surged and fluctuated as everyone used their techniques, trying to break free from the grip of the flesh walls.
Lu Ye desperately unsheathed his saber; as spirit force surged, he executed the third stance of the Tyrannical Saber, Lotus Sun.
Dazzling light burst forth, sharp saber light exploding like a blooming lotus, cutting through the Void with him at the center.
The bound feeling vanished instantly; the flesh wall enveloping him was imdiately cleared away, leaving a huge cavity.
However, just as he escaped the predicant and before he could take further actions, the cavity was filled again by the writhing flesh walls, and the sense of pressure and binding returned.
The force of the binding was imnse, and it felt as if he was gripped in a giant hand, his breathing becoming labored.
Such binding strength would likely cause anyone below the Divine Sea Realm to instantly explode; even Divine Sea Realm cultivators with lower cultivation or insufficient physical strength would be in trouble.
Lu Ye sensed several instances of life fading behind him, accompanied by so brief screams.
Misfortune had already befallen so.
This was truly an unsuccessful start; they had intended to support those Level 9 cultivators in fierce battle, but upon entering the insect hive, they already suffered losses.
Lu Ye was temporarily safe, but he could clearly sense the binding force growing stronger. If he didn't find a way to escape the grip of the flesh walls, sooner or later he wouldn't be able to withstand it.
In fact, the best response to such a crisis would be to summon the Dragon Throne, but he was now completely enveloped by flesh walls, with no space to summon it, and the pathways in the insect hive weren't wide enough to make effective use of the Dragon Throne.
"Retreat, quickly retreat!" soone shouted from behind.
After only brief contact, everyone realized the seriousness of the situation; while the flesh walls could be destroyed, their rapid regrowth continued to envelop them. Given such circumstances, forget about penetrating the insect hive to provide support; after awhile, even self-preservation would be challenging.
So to survive, they had no choice but to retreat quickly.
Lu Ye didn't retreat; not only did he not retreat, he instead advanced forward. Yet, even the power of the Tyrannical Saber's third stance only afforded him a brief mont, after which he was once again enveloped by the flesh walls.
At this mont, he wondered if the sect master encountered such a thing when he entered.
They likely didn't; otherwise, they would have sent ssages to inform those outside.
Since the sect master didn't encounter such an attack, but his group did, this differential treatnt was clearly not the insect hive's instinct but a consciousness control in action!
This consciousness clearly doesn't want more people to co and make trouble, so it wants the newcors to back off.
This is also the reason Lu Ye advances instead of retreating; no matter what that consciousness is, if it wants him to retreat, then he must advance. At this mont, only by going against that consciousness can he have a chance to succeed.
However, there is one thing to be thankful for: the supporting cultivators hadn't gone too far in before the flesh wall reacted.
If they had really gone too deep, there might not even be space left to retreat, leading to heavy casualties.
Is that consciousness compassionate? Clearly not. There's only one explanation for this situation.
The consciousness doesn't dare to bind too many cultivators with the flesh wall, so it attacked when the supporting cultivators had not yet gone deep.
Why is that?
Lu Ye thinks that if he can figure out this problem, it will greatly aid the upcoming actions.
His ntal Consciousness spreads out, monitoring all directions, while he keeps wielding his saber, trudging forward with difficulty.
In this constant struggle against the flesh wall, Lu Ye discovered sothing: the flow of life force.
Cultivators are very sensitive to life force, especially Lu Ye, who refined a drop of Sacred Blood in the Blood River of the Blood Refinent World, gaining the Blood Race's heritage, and is thus much more sensitive to life force than ordinary cultivators, since most blood techniques are perford based on one's life force, especially the Blood Refining Technique.
The flesh wall is destroyed but can quickly regenerate, obviously replenished by life force. In other words, by continuously destroying the flesh wall, he is depleting the life force stored in the insect hive.
He suddenly realizes, no wonder the consciousness doesn't want too many cultivators going deep inside, because each cultivator's destruction of the flesh wall is a depletion of life force.
The sect master and the others are deep within the insect hive fighting an unknown enemy, causing significant damage to the flesh wall, which needs to be replenished by life force.
The consciousness that can trap the most elite group of the Nine Provinces likely relies on the enormous, endless life force, and doesn't want it wasted on other cultivators, hence it tries to make them retreat.
Lu Ye vaguely feels he's grasped a key point.
Life force, perhaps, is the deciding factor in this battle!
As he trudged forward through the insect hive passage, outside, many cultivators gathered, many with lingering fear on their faces.
Having cultivated for so many years, they had never encountered such a bizarre scenario. Just now, if they hadn't retreated quickly, they might have been utterly annihilated.
Even so, a few fell in the passage.
"Did everyone make it out?" soone asked.
"Soone's still in there."
The situation was very clear because there were fluctuations of spirit force coming from within.
The group looked around and imdiately understood who was still in the passage.
Lu Yiye of the Righteous Blood Sect!
This quick judgnt was naturally because Lu Ye was leading, making a strong impression, and now that those still alive had retreated, he was the only one missing.
His whereabouts were already very clear.
"Is he... unwilling to retreat?" Under their perception, they didn't sense any intent of Lu Ye to retreat, instead, he was slowly advancing.
Such a bold and skilled move couldn't help but evoke amazent.
But this reckless act was clearly not going to end well, and even if he succeeded, how much assistance could one person really offer to those at Level 9?
For a mont, everyone was filled with anxiety. They had originally planned to delve into the insect hive to provide support, but now they couldn't, which was truly embarrassing.
Inside the insect hive passage, Lu Ye stopped his actions.
This isn't feasible. The position of the sect master and his group is unknown in depth; at his current speed, how long would it take to reach them? Moreover, this would exhaust his spirit force, and he might perish from exhaustion before even arriving.
He needs to think of another way.
As soon as he stopped, the flesh walls around him rapidly enveloped him, seemingly intent on swallowing him whole.
Lu Ye beca ruthless in his heart; then let's see, who will devour whom.
If his previous speculation was correct, then even if he doesn't reach the battlefield where the sect master and others are, he can still play his part.
Allowing the flesh walls to bind him, he activated the power of his Talent Tree.
In an instant, invisible roots spread from his body surface, penetrating into the flesh wall.
At that mont, Lu Ye's eyes shot open because he clearly sensed how abundant the life force contained within the flesh wall was.
In the present Nine Provinces, the most abundantly life-empowered individuals are undoubtedly those Level 9 physique cultivators, such as the sect master.
Yet even the life force within the sect master's body pales in comparison to what Lu Ye is currently sensing. They are utterly incomparable.
Not only is it vast, but this life force also gives a different impression as if it transcends the realm of Lu Ye's understanding, an existence above the Divine Sea Realm!
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