Six Terrifying Innate Exotic Insects Once Existed in the Primordial Wilderness, Powerful Enough to Fight True Dragons and Colorful Phoenixes to the Death

At that moment, a ball of rosy light landed on Zhu Yin's shoulder. Little Pi Lan had arrived.

She was the first jade chicken born after the dawn of creation, blessed with extraordinary talent, and had already reached the mid True Immortal stage. Her mother had been an innate jade chicken at the peak of Great Principle, while she herself had grown alongside the Fire Mulberry Spirit Tree since birth, spirit roots accompanying one another. Her cultivation speed was astonishingly fast.

As time passed, she would far surpass her other companions. In the end, she was also the one Zhu Yin intended to formally accept as a disciple. Once she became a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal, she would officially enter his sect.

Zhu Yin set down his teacup. After offering everyone a few words of encouragement, he began expounding the Dao for them.

Profound Dao sounds echoed within and beyond the lotus pond. The Dao rhythm was dense, illusionary yet real; even the spiritual qi condensed into white lotuses, bamboo leaves, and Netherworld Bamboo.

Everyone immersed themselves in it, comprehending the Great Dao as though drunk and entranced.

This lecture lasted five hundred years, followed by another five hundred years of answering questions.

After a full thousand years, the immortals departed one after another. Zhu Yin sat alone in the pavilion, gazing at the scenery beyond the mountain with a faint smile on his lips.

The Hundred Treasures Hall's reputation had grown ever greater. Golden Immortals came in an unbroken stream to trade, and even Primordial Unity Golden Immortals often appeared. Fortune continuously flowed into Spirit Platform Mountain.

This place was no longer the desolate land it had once been. More than two million living beings now dwelled within a radius of a million li. Some had originally lived in the Western Lands, while others had migrated from elsewhere. Spiritual qi was abundant, and two more low-grade spiritual lands had even been born within the Dao domain.

In the past, a Mysterious Immortal had been a regional overlord. Now, even Golden Immortals were nothing unusual.

Zhu Yin's cultivation had also reached Great Principle Perfection. Spirit Platform Mountain had a chance of advancing into a high-grade grotto-heaven blessed land, and the million-li region around it bustled with life.

Everything was developing in a better direction.

He withdrew his gaze, drained the spiritual tea from his cup, then rose to harvest a batch of mature innate spirit fruits and continue brewing wine.

In the days that followed, he returned to his old routine:

Drinking tea and cultivating, repairing the earth veins, tempering his body, tending spirit plants, brewing wine, researching divine abilities...

The only difference was that, since the Myriad Things Cauldron was still gestating, he temporarily did not refine pills or artifacts. He focused mainly on laying formations and brewing wine.

Five hundred years later.

The Western Sea Dragon Clan sent people once more to exchange supplies... Thirty mid-grade innate spirit fruits for three jin of Mind-Clearing Tea. After the transaction was complete, the envoys did not leave immediately.

Because the Hundred Treasures Hall's grand auction, held once every ten thousand years, was about to begin!

They wanted to try their luck. Perhaps, like the Dragon King back then, they might purchase a precious spiritual treasure not even found in the Dragon Palace.

Several months later, the auction officially began.

A hundred Golden Immortals and more than a dozen Primordial Unity Golden Immortals gathered on the seventh floor of the Hundred Treasures Hall. There were even living beings who had rushed over from the Ten-Thousand Mountains... among them, a female immortal descended from a heaven-and-earth exotic insect.

All nine auction items were rare and precious. The final three, in particular, triggered fierce competition among the Primordial Unity Golden Immortals. Even the Western Sea Dragon Clan's elders could not restrain themselves...

The final three treasures presented at the auction were:

Clear-Heart Pill, Water-Moon Osmanthus, and Undying Spirit Wine.

The Clear-Heart Pill was a spiritual pill Zhu Yin had refined in the past. It could calm one's state of mind and focus the spirit, making it very helpful for Primordial Unity Golden Immortals seeking to improve their cultivation. This pill was even somewhat better than the Spirit-Clearing Pill. An elder of the Western Sea Dragon Clan exchanged three innate-grade spirit fruits for it.

Water-Moon Osmanthus was the flower borne by the Water-Moon Cassia Tree, a mid-grade innate spirit root. It contained an extremely dense lunar yin power. Not only could it strengthen the primordial spirit and enhance one's mana, it could also keep one's state of mind pure. Zhu Yin had found it in Que Mountain's treasure vault; it had originally been left behind by Mo Luo. Lunar yin power benefited all manner of living beings. He had put one flower up for auction simply to make the Hundred Treasures Hall even more renowned. In the end, a Primordial Unity Golden Immortal of the Sky Wolf Clan purchased it with a piece of high-grade innate divine iron.

The Undying Spirit Wine was a failed product from Zhu Yin's attempt three hundred years ago to brew Great Principle-grade spirit wine. He had used a Life-and-Death Fruit and half a drop of Three Lights Divine Water, hoping to brew the legendary Great Principle spirit wine. The attempt had failed, yet this wine was still the finest spirit wine beneath the Great Principle realm. So long as a Great Principle-level expert did not strike, it could save the life of any Primordial Unity-level cultivator, no matter how grave the injuries, restoring them completely. It could also treat most wounds and was even effective against certain strange poisons of the Primordial Wilderness. The moment this wine appeared, it sparked a mad scramble. In the end, the female immortal from the Ten-Thousand Mountains won, suppressing even the Western Sea Dragon Clan elder.

Once the auction ended, the immortals scattered in different directions. These final three treasures also elevated the Hundred Treasures Hall's reputation once more, greatly raising its status among Primordial Unity Golden Immortals.

Spirit Platform Mountain, within a cool pavilion.

Zhu Yin looked at the two jade boxes before him and smiled faintly. Even the tea in his hand seemed to become more fragrant.

The female immortal had relied on these two jade boxes to triumph over the lavishly wealthy Dragon Clan elder.

Each jade box contained the larvae of an exotic insect.

Some contained two, while others contained six.

Every one of these exotic insects was extraordinarily rare and precious.

Zhu Yin circulated his mana, removed the seal, and opened the first jade box. When he saw the azure insect cocoons inside, his mood immediately brightened.

His master Zhunti had once explained that six terrifying innate exotic insects had existed in the Primordial Wilderness. They were so powerful that they could fight True Dragons and Colorful Phoenixes to the death, and many records of their slaughter remained from the previous era. These six were:

Bloodthirsty Black Ant-Mosquito, Six-Winged Heavenly Silkworm, Many-Eyed Golden Centipede, Nine-Tailed Earth Scorpion, Wutu True Locust, and Azure Jade Sword Butterfly.

Although these exotic insects were incomparably fierce and had even slain Great Principle dragons and phoenixes, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans had been too powerful in those days. Fortune blessed them, and experts filled their ranks. Moreover, these exotic insects had been too few in number. Before long, the three clans joined forces to eradicate them, smashing their nests apart. Only a small number of larvae escaped, vanishing without a trace between heaven and earth thereafter.

The azure insect cocoons before him were precisely the legendary Azure Jade Sword Butterflies.

These insects were as crystal-clear as azure jade, their bodies as hard as gold and iron. Powerful Sword Qi lay hidden within them, and with a single beat of their wings, they could unleash terrifying sword light.

It was said that the first Azure Jade Sword Butterfly had reached the peak of Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal. With one flap of its wings, it could break ten thousand techniques. Back then, Zhulong of the Dragon Clan had personally acted to slay it, refining it into a top-grade postnatal spirit sword of immense power.

Though these two larvae before Zhu Yin were not as powerful as their ancestor, their bloodlines were extremely pure. If they were cleansed with innate divine water, there was a chance for their bloodlines to "return to their ancestors," awakening their forebears' power once more. Their prospects were boundless.

Ordinarily, they could gather nectar and cultivate; when needed, they could also kill enemies in battle.

In terms of potential, they were even stronger than the Hundred Illusion Butterflies of the Southern Sea.

He reached out and took out the Life-Force Bottle, dripping two drops of Three Lights Divine Water onto the two cocoons. The insects immediately brimmed with vitality, their bloodlines slowly awakening, though the process would require time.

He sent the two insects into the Spirit Medicine Garden to hatch, then opened the other jade box. Inside were six Golden Ant larvae.

Though this exotic insect was not as famous as the Azure Jade Sword Butterfly, its strength was no weaker.

Golden Ants mainly cultivated the physical body, possessing astonishing strength. Not only did they comprehend the Dao of Earth, they could also cultivate the rare Force Dao. So long as their feet stood upon the earth, their strength would be inexhaustible. Back then, the first Golden Ant had competed with a True Dragon in strength and fought it to a draw.

Unlike other ant clans that multiplied until they became a calamity, this clan found reproduction exceedingly difficult and was scarce in number. Though it had not been entirely extinguished, few remained, and they mainly lived in the Ten-Thousand Mountains.

Zhu Yin took out another three drops of Three Lights Divine Water, dripping half a drop onto each of the six Golden Ants. These ant insects also possessed very pure bloodlines. Half a drop of divine water would greatly improve their aptitude, after which he sent them deep underground to be nurtured.

After finishing all this, Zhu Yin's gaze pierced through the void.

Outside Spirit Platform Mountain, a woman in azure robes was kneeling upon the ground. Her features were peerlessly beautiful, yet an inextinguishable sorrow lingered on her face.

She was the female immortal who had overwhelmed the Western Sea Dragon Clan elder at the auction. More importantly, she was actually an Azure Jade Sword Butterfly in transformed form, bloodline-linked to the insect cocoon in Zhu Yin's hand. She was its mother.

Zhu Yin had already calculated the reason she had gone through the auction to deliver these two larvae.

After their nest was destroyed, the Azure Jade Sword Butterfly Clan had wandered throughout the Primordial Wilderness, hiding everywhere and drawing the covetous eyes of all sides. In the end, only one sword butterfly had fled into the Ten-Thousand Mountains. Taken in by the Golden Ant ancestor, it found a sliver of peace.

Yet she had never dared reveal her identity, fearing the extermination of her clan and fearing she would implicate the Golden Ant Clan as well.

Only after the Three Clans War ended and a new era began did the Azure Jade Sword Butterfly Clan relax their guard slightly, though they still lived in seclusion with utmost caution.

Unfortunately, fair weather did not last.

Within the Ten-Thousand Mountains, the weak were prey for the strong. The Golden Ants and the Golden-Blade Mantis Clan were old enemies.

Originally, the two sides had been evenly matched. But ten thousand years ago, the Golden-Blade Mantis ancestor encountered a fortuitous opportunity, and his cultivation broke through to the mid Great Principle realm.

Three thousand years ago, the mantis ancestor emerged from seclusion and led his clan in an attack against the Golden Ant Clan. The Golden Ant ancestor died in battle, and the entire clan was massacred in a scene too horrible to behold.

The Golden Ants had shown kindness to the Azure Jade Sword Butterflies, and the two clans had an excellent relationship, long tied to the same rope.

Thus, the sword butterfly clan also acted to help, fighting side by side with the Golden Ants against their enemies.

At the same time, they helped some of their clansmen break through the encirclement and flee for their lives.

Later, those sword butterfly clansmen fled all the way.

They were repeatedly hunted down by Golden-Blade Mantises, suffering devastating casualties.

Their identities were further exposed, drawing covetous eyes from every side, and another group of them died...