Deep Within the Insect Nest

Without rashly charging into that mysterious insect nest, Heavenly Insect first released the Black Armored Beetle that he had controlled with a blood talisman, having it dig directly through the stone wall to scout out the enemy's situation.

This was the safest method; at worst, he would simply lose a single spirit insect, which would have no impact on Heavenly Insect whatsoever.

Yet what he never expected in a million years was that when he finally had the Black Armored Beetle dig through the stone wall and enter the realm he had sensed, everything his divine sense beheld directly stunned him.

As a Spirit Insect Master, Heavenly Insect had inherited the memories of his original body, so he was confident that he was very familiar with countless types of spirit insects, but everything appearing before him now shattered his own understanding.

What was that?

A Black Armored Beetle was actually living together with an Earthflame Scorpion?

Shouldn't the former be the food of the latter? Could it be that he had seen wrong?

Heavenly Insect continued to cautiously manipulate the Black Armored Beetle to draw closer, then discovered that the various types of spirit insects living in this underground space far exceeded his imagination, and moreover, they were actually getting along so harmoniously together without any disputes breaking out.

How could this be possible? It completely defied the habits of spirit insects.

Or perhaps these spirit insects were not wild ones, but rather spirit insects cultivated and subdued by some other insect master?

Yet that didn't make sense either...

Let alone ordinary insect masters, even Spirit Insect Masters hailing from the Spirit Insect Tribe would never dare to place the different types of spirit insects in their hands together in one place like this.

Otherwise, unless you watched them every single moment, they would absolutely fight!

Unwilling to give up, Heavenly Insect continued to have the Black Armored Beetle push deeper, but what surprised him was that even when the Black Armored Beetle he controlled walked right up beside those spirit insects, the other party actually showed no reaction whatsoever.

What the hell! What kind of situation is this? Could it be that these spirit insects are all fake?

Of course, fakes were definitely impossible, because Heavenly Insect could sense the powerful auras on those spirit insects. Just looking at their size, they were much stronger than his Black Armored Beetle, and they were definitely all of high-grade spirit beast caliber.

Furthermore, the species were numerous, with quite a few varieties of spirit insects that were exceptionally rare in the outside world.

There were Fire-Spitting Ants, Earthflame Scorpions, Jade-Tailed Scorpions, Giant-Shield Black Armored Insects, Frost Demon Spiders, and everything else imaginable.

While controlling the Black Armored Beetle to push deeper, Heavenly Insect took in all the surrounding circumstances with his eyes while analyzing this bizarre insect nest.

Although he still didn't know just how vast the subterranean space where this insect nest resided truly was, based merely on what Heavenly Insect was able to scout, it already exceeded a hundred spirit insects, and the strength of every single spirit insect was at the high-grade spirit insect stage-this completely defied the laws of a naturally formed insect nest.

I just don't know whether this place is man-made, or created by some high-grade, high-intelligence spirit insect...

If it was the latter, then this place was very likely the lair of that Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm!

Because even the moment this Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm was born, its intelligence was already no less than that of the human race, and perhaps it would be even more cruel and cunning.

Just as Heavenly Insect was still pondering these thoughts, an intangible fluctuation swept out from the deepest depths of the subterranean space, and then the previously quiet spirit insects abruptly erupted. Before he could even react, that Black Armored Beetle was directly swallowed in a single gulp by a five-meter-sized Earthflame Scorpion...

Damn it! Gave me a fright! The sudden bizarre change directly startled Heavenly Insect, because his divine sense had just been attached to that Black Armored Beetle, so there was somewhat of a sense of shared experience.

However, the consumption of the Black Armored Beetle did not seem to pacify the commotion within the insect nest. Massive high-grade spirit insects began to scatter in all directions, seemingly intending to search for the infiltration route of the "enemy."

Feeling the chaos of the subterranean space from the opening in the stone wall, Heavenly Insect immediately knew that he had been discovered. He then hastily retreated from this passageway, and all along the way he released both his Black Armored Beetle and Soul Devouring Bee Swarm, preparing to fight a desperate battle against those subterranean spirit insects.

As long as he could breach that subterranean insect nest,

and figure out the mystery inside, it would be entirely worth it even if all of his Black Armored Beetles and Devouring Spirit Bees were lost to the last. Of course, Heavenly Insect also kept his eye on those spirit insects within the subterranean insect nest, wondering if he could try and see whether he could subdue them.

After all, they were all high-grade spirit insects, with quite a number of rare high-grade spirit insects to boot-this was something that made him, a Spirit Insect Master, extremely greedy!

Before Heavenly Insect could even reach the ground, the sounds of spirit insects slaughtering each other had already arisen within the passageway below. Clearly, that group of spirit insects within the subterranean insect nest had found the mouth of the passageway and were charging out from inside.

Although the grade of the Black Armored Beetles was one tier lower than their opponents, their numbers were dozens of times greater. Coupled with the narrow passageway, the massive bodies of the high-grade spirit insects were severely restricted within the underground tunnel, and for a time it was actually Heavenly Insect's side that gained the upper hand. Many of the high-grade spirit insects that rushed out had their carapaces cracked open by the black lava spat out by the endless Black Armored Beetles, and were then devoured until nothing was left.

Under normal circumstances, when faced with such a situation, these high-grade spirit insects would also retreat, yet those high-grade spirit insects in the nest still mindlessly rushed forward to hurl themselves to their deaths.

After all, there was still a grade gap, so under the fearless charges of these high-grade spirit insects, the Black Armored Beetle swarm similarly suffered massive losses.

This cannot go on like this... Heavenly Insect, who had already fled to the surface, could not help but frown.

Because that narrow passageway similarly imposed severe restrictions on his own insect swarm, especially flying spirit insects like the Devouring Spirit Bees.

Over such a long period of time, under the effect of Heavenly Insect's refined spirit liquid, quite a few of the current Soul Devouring Bee Swarm had also evolved into mid-grade spirit insects.

The mid-grade Devouring Spirit Bees had once again gained a tremendous enhancement, and coupled with their flight attribute, their lethality was much stronger than the Black Armored Beetles.

More importantly, these Devouring Spirit Bees possessed stingers; the stinger at the tail of each and every Devouring Spirit Bee's abdomen was their most powerful armor-piercing weapon.

Coupled with the evolved bee venom, it could be said that tens of thousands of deployed Soul Devouring Bee Swarm would be even more terrifying than the Black Armored Beetles!

Lure them up to the ground!

Heavenly Insect instantly made his decision.

Flashing over to a mountain wall, Heavenly Insect watched the exit of the subterranean passageway down below with his gaze. Countless Black Armored Beetles rushed out from within like a flowing river, then scattered across the surrounding area within a radius of a thousand meters.

At a single glance, the individual Black Armored Beetles were like massive black stones, directly covering the entire ground.

As for the sky, a massive dark cloud had already shrouded the surroundings, and the densely packed Soul Devouring Bee Swarm had long been prepared for a while, waiting solely for those high-grade spirit insects to emerge before swarming forward in a mob.

Boom, boom, boom!

Even up on the mountain wall, Heavenly Insect could hear the dense sounds of marching from beneath the earth. Clearly, those high-grade spirit insects lived up to expectations and directly charged out.

The corner of Heavenly Insect's mouth curled into a faint sneer; at this moment, he was even more certain that there was something fishy about that subterranean space. This was an attempt to exterminate them completely in order to hide itself...

Next came a meat-grinder-like battle. Countless Black Armored Beetles and Devouring Spirit Bees directly covered the entire valley, and every single powerful high-grade spirit insect was blanketed by a dense layer of Devouring Spirit Bees.

Perhaps these high-grade spirit insects possessed extremely formidable combat power, killing dozens of Devouring Spirit Bees with every single attack, but facing the endless black clouds in the sky, these minor losses were completely trivial.

Furthermore, confronting the dual attacks from both the sky and the ground, even high-grade spirit insects could not last for more than a few minutes before having their hard carapaces cracked open by the lava of those Black Armored Beetles and meeting their ends.

As for those pierced by the venomous stingers of the Devouring Spirit Bees, their fates were even more miserable. The violent bee venom directly brought about unimaginable, excruciating pain that even high-grade spirit beasts could not endure; these pitiful fellows would struggle and die in agony, a sight that made even Heavenly Insect in the distance feel his heart leap with fright.

Mn, it seems it's time to harvest some of the evolved bee venom to study; perhaps it could become a bizarre trick for dealing with enemies in the future...

Harboring such thoughts, Heavenly Insect quietly sneaked up beside a half-dead high-grade spirit insect, and then drove an Insect-Control Spirit Talisman into the other's head.

Yet what Heavenly Insect did not expect was that his insect-control rune actually had no effect, and was even directly blasted apart by a layer of golden light within the opponent's consciousness!

As expected!

These spirit insects were being controlled, otherwise, when faced with such a terrifying insect swarm, any spirit beast with normal sanity would have fled.

Heavenly Insect glanced at the spirit insect before him. This was an Earth Spirit Scorpion, a type of giant scorpion living underground that possessed earth-attribute spiritual energy, excelled at earth-tunneling, and was highly venomous. What it loved most was lurking underground to ambush prey.

Moreover, the potential of this kind of spirit insect was quite good, possessing the aptitude to be cultivated into a Heaven-grade spirit insect. Furthermore, in Heavenly Insect's memories, someone within the Spirit Insect Tribe had mutated this Earth Spirit Scorpion into a Three-Tailed Earth Scorpion, rivaling a divine beast.

Such a spirit insect with boundless potential was still one that Heavenly Insect was unwilling to abandon.

Since ordinary insect-control runes were useless, he would just try the blood talisman of the Spirit Insect Tribe...

Thinking of this, Heavenly Insect once again spat out a mouthful of vital essence, then swiftly formed hand seals, and a bloody rune took shape before him once more.

The blood talisman entered the body, and the golden light in the Earth Spirit Scorpion's mind appeared once again. However, this time it did not directly blast the blood talisman apart, and the two actually began to stalemate.

This instantly brought disaster upon the Earth Spirit Scorpion; already left with only half its life, its consciousness was directly shattered by the fallout from the collision between the blood talisman and the golden light, and it met its end.

Heavenly Insect shook his head with some regret; it seemed he still needed to find a more tenacious spirit insect to try again.

In the ensuing slaughter, Heavenly Insect maneuvered within the battlefield, picking out a target from time to time, and before his own insect swarm could bite the opponent to death, he would pull them over using an insect-catching net, followed by serving up a blood talisman.

After a round of attempts, Heavenly Insect found a total of ten targets, but the number successfully controlled by his blood talisman turned out to be a mere two. This success rate was simply too low!

Moreover, ten blood talismans were already the limit for Heavenly Insect at present. If he were to use any more, it would have an impact on his own self, a thing that must never be done.

These two high-grade spirit insects-one was an Earth Spirit Scorpion, and the other was a Blade Mantis. The former belonged to the earth-traveling spirit insects, which strictly speaking did not match Heavenly Insect's attributes...

After all, among the four meridians of spirit insects-Heaven, Xuan, Earth, and Spirit-Heavenly Insect, who originated from the Heavenly Meridian, was most adept at flying spirit insects. The Earth Spirit Scorpion belonged to the darlings of the Earth Meridian, and that senior in his memories who had cultivated the Three-Tailed Earth Scorpion was also a person of the Earth Meridian.

Of course, a mismatch in attributes did not mean he could not use it; it simply meant the cultivation methods would be fewer and he would find it rather strenuous.

At worst, once he returned to the tribe in the future, he could trade with the people of the Earth Meridian... With the Three-Tailed Earth Scorpion as a precedent, this Earth Spirit Scorpion was still very popular within the Spirit Insect Tribe.

As for the Blade Mantis, it could be considered a relatively compatible match for Heavenly Insect. Furthermore, the Blade Mantis belonged to a type of spirit insect with quite formidable offensive power; not only was its speed extremely rapid, but its twin blades could release sharp blade qi, causing ordinary high-grade spirit beasts to sustain injuries when facing such attacks.

In Heavenly Insect's memories, the original body's father had once possessed a Blade Mantis, and had even successfully completed its cultivation and evolution, evolving it into a Six-Eyed Blade Mantis. This was a divine insect of the third rank that could rival a three-star Supreme, and the six eye-like black spots on its wings were their characteristic trait, capable of shooting out hallucinatory light to lure enemies before unleashing a fatal strike!

As it happened, Heavenly Insect also knew the cultivation and evolution methods for the Blade Mantis, so the moment he discovered the presence of Blade Mantises within these subterranean insect nests, he had already set his sights on them.

Finally, after Heavenly Insect produced a bottle of Spirit Insect Liquid to replenish the nutrients for his two newly acquired spirit insects, the great battle within the valley also reached its conclusion.

By this time, the ground of this sizable valley had been completely piled high with corpses, and various differently colored liquids had converged together, making the valley look like a gigantic chemical sewage pool.

Heavenly Insect furrowed his brows, inspected the losses of his insect swarm, and then felt a slight twitch of pain in his heart...

Nearly twenty thousand Black Armored Beetles, and the remaining number now turned out to be less than two thousand. A casualty rate of nine-tenths was a hundred or a thousand times more cruel than human warfare.

As for the Devouring Spirit Bees, they fared slightly better, after all their base numbers were greater and they could fly, inherently occupying a certain advantage.

Even so, their numbers were left with just a little over ten thousand.

The only thing that brought solace to Heavenly Insect was that through this grand battle and by devouring so many high-grade spirit insects, his insect swarm had also been elevated quite a bit.

At the very least, those Blood Nether Ants among the Black Armored Beetles that were already formidable now faintly showed signs of advancing. Heavenly Insect did not stop them, directly allowing this group of fellows to charge into the piles of corpses and gorge themselves to their hearts' content.

The Devouring Spirit Bees similarly completed a generational turnover; now, this ten thousand Devouring Spirit Bees had all reached the mid-grade realm, and their combat power had not decreased, but rather increased instead.

This was the truly terrifying aspect of an insect swarm: as long as they were provided with sufficient time, elevating the tribe's numbers was not a difficult matter.

Of course, this came with a prerequisite, and that was that Heavenly Insect could provide them with sufficient spiritual energy... This was the crux of the problem!

The more powerful the spirit insects, the greater the consumption required. When it came to the Heaven-grade, if he still wanted to play around with insect swarm sneak attacks like now, he would just have to see how deep his pockets were!

Judging from Heavenly Insect's current situation, he couldn't even support many high-grade spirit insects, let alone form an insect swarm at the high-grade spirit insect level.

Glancing at the corpses of high-grade spirit insects littering the ground-these were all prime materials, and selling them would also be very lucrative. Unfortunately, he now needed to explore the secrets deep within the subterranean space, and these items could only wait to be dealt with after everything was finished...