Sword Qi Across the Sky

No one had expected Heavenly Insect and his two companions, who had been overlooked all this time, to suddenly unleash such formidable power.

Gongyang Huo's Geometer Moth Transformation and Demon Butterfly's Spirit Butterfly Dance refined their bodies using the innate abilities of special spirit insects. Strictly speaking, these methods also counted as body-refining techniques of the Great Thousand World, only with more unique transformations exclusive to Spirit Insect Masters.

As for Heavenly Insect, his nine revolutions black-whiskered mosquito was a rare, special type of spirit insect with terrifying innate abilities... the Eight-Winged Spirit Bee had already proven that with its life.

"You dared devour my Eight-Winged Spirit Bee! I'll kill you!"

Seeing his life-bound spirit insect sucked down to an empty shell in just two breaths, Red Bee, who was fighting Flying Scorpion Inkstone, spat out a mouthful of blood. Madness filled his eyes as he abandoned Flying Scorpion Inkstone and charged straight at Heavenly Insect.

"Second, don't be reckless!"

"Second Brother!"

Qingyan and Black Jade were both horrified and hurriedly called out, trying to stop the frenzied Red Bee.

The latter even commanded his Black Jade Insect to form a sturdy mountain wall in front of Red Bee...

Although the death of a life-bound spirit insect would not actually kill its master along with it, it inflicted tremendous damage on a Spirit Insect Master's soul. Red Bee probably could not muster even half his strength now.

Besides, a Spirit Insect Master's greatest reliance was their spirit insect, which provided most of their combat strength. With their insect dead, their own fighting power suffered a drastic reduction.

"Retreat!" Qingyan acted decisively, immediately relying on the Black Jade Insect's powerful defenses to disengage from Gongyang Huo and the others.

There was no other choice. Their side had lost the Eight-Winged Spirit Bee, and even Second was half-crippled. Meanwhile, their opponents had revealed two formidable fighters in Gongyang Huo and Heavenly Insect, along with that woman overhead who had used some unknown sorcery. The balance of power had reversed in an instant!

"A nine revolutions black-whiskered mosquito! Damn it, how does that little bastard have such a vicious insect?"

Watching the nine revolutions black-whiskered mosquito in the sky, its aura surging after devouring the Eight-Winged Spirit Bee, Qingyan and his two companions were filled with both shock and fury.

Even their allies, Flying Scorpion Inkstone and Gongyang Huo, wore looks of disbelief. Their gazes on Heavenly Insect had changed.

"A nine revolutions black-whiskered mosquito! Brother Heavenly Insect, I never imagined you'd have such a terrifying vicious insect at your side!"

At this moment, Flying Scorpion Inkstone became even more certain that Heavenly Insect was a talented disciple nurtured by the main clan...

Naturally, Heavenly Insect would not explain anything. If the man wanted to fill in the blanks himself, he could go right ahead.

The brief ceasefire left the situation at a stalemate. Although Qingyan and his companions were deeply wary of Heavenly Insect's nine revolutions black-whiskered mosquito, they were not incapable of fighting. In fact, if they staked their lives on it, they still held the advantage.

But again, unless driven into a dead end, who would willingly gamble with their own life?

The stalemate had no chance to continue, however. Perhaps the earlier fighting had triggered some mechanism, for the sword qi surrounding the White Jade Sword Butterfly statue at the center of the square began to intensify. Eventually, it forced Heavenly Insect and the others all the way to the square's edges...

Boom!

The earth shook. The Sword Butterfly Jade Statue, several dozen feet tall, exploded, and a real White Jade Sword Butterfly soared out of it. Boundless sword qi tore apart the entire square's stone floor, leaving devastation wherever it passed.

Heavenly Insect's eyelid twitched, and an ominous feeling washed over him.

"Chirp, chirp..."

A piercing sound suddenly rang in everyone's ears. Heavenly Insect felt as though someone had stabbed a needle into his soul, and the searing pain forced a scream from his lips.

Of course, the others fared no better than Heavenly Insect-in fact, they suffered even more, because even someone like Flying Scorpion Inkstone, whose cultivation was a full realm above Heavenly Insect's,

had less soul power than Heavenly Insect. Under that piercing cry, blood streamed from all seven of his facial orifices, leaving him looking utterly wretched. "Second!"

"Second Brother!"

Heavenly Insect had only just felt the pain in his head ease when he heard two grief-stricken voices.

Looking toward the sound, he saw Qingyan and his companions behind the enormous Black Jade Insect. Qingyan and Black Jade wore sorrowful expressions as they stared at Red Bee, who lay motionless on the ground. Clearly, they had been the ones calling out.

"He's... dead?!" Heavenly Insect was astonished. A Heaven Transformation Realm expert had died just like that. Wasn't that a little too abrupt?

But on reflection, it made sense. Red Bee's soul had already been damaged by the death of his life-bound spirit insect. Struck by that sonic attack, his soul finally failed to endure and was torn apart. Even his divine soul was annihilated, leaving him no chance of survival.

What else could anyone say? He could only blame his rotten luck...

Qingyan's side had lost Second, Red Bee, but Heavenly Insect's group had hardly fared any better.

Gongyang Huo and Demon Butterfly in particular were genuine Heaven Fusion Realm cultivators, and their souls had not been strengthened like Heavenly Insect's had as an Otherworlder. Their injuries were far worse than Flying Scorpion Inkstone's bleeding facial orifices.

Gongyang Huo, who had previously used his secret technique to render himself immune to physical injury, had lost half his life in an instant. His Geometer Moth Transformation only worked against external damage...

As for Demon Butterfly, fortunately, her Butterfly Transformation Technique was sophisticated enough to transfer her injuries directly to her spirit butterflies. Though badly wounded, she had managed to preserve her life.

The spirit butterflies in her possession, however, had paid the price, dying in swathes...

What puzzled Heavenly Insect was that even most of the Soul-Bewitching Butterflies she had just subdued had died shielding Demon Butterfly from disaster, yet she had preserved the Rift Phoenix Butterfly by her side. That was interesting.

Heavenly Insect certainly did not believe an ordinary high-grade rift phoenix butterfly was more valuable than a Soul-Bewitching Butterfly...

The sudden upheaval had seriously injured everyone present, but overall, Qingyan and Black Jade, with their higher cultivation, had come out better.

Despite losing one man, they were better off than Heavenly Insect's group, which had effectively lost two and a half people's fighting strength!

Of course, Qingyan and Black Jade were not the danger now...

Heavenly Insect raised his head slightly and looked at the fully revived White Jade Sword Butterfly in the center of the square. It merely gave its wings a gentle flap, and in the next instant, endless sword qi shot in every direction throughout the square, scouring the surroundings with virtually no blind spots!

"Fuck! We're dead, we're dead!"

Watching the sword qi hurtle toward them, Heavenly Insect's face went white...

He looked around and happened to spot the Heaven-Grade Flying Scorpion beside Flying Scorpion Inkstone. Though already covered in wounds from the earlier fighting, its enormous body made the perfect shelter.

Without hesitation, Heavenly Insect darted beneath the flying scorpion... of course, he did not forget to bring Demon Butterfly along. As he rushed underneath it, he also grabbed its master, Flying Scorpion Inkstone.

"Take... take me too..."

Watching the terrifying sword qi rain down from the sky, Gongyang Huo let out one last desperate plea.

Unfortunately, Heavenly Insect could only give him an apologetic look. He only had two hands, so whether Gongyang Huo survived depended on his own luck.

Hiss, hiss, hiss, hiss...

Countless streaks of sharp sword qi plunged straight into the square's floor. The hard black stone offered less resistance than tofu, unable to impede them in the slightest.

Heavenly Insect felt the flying scorpion overhead shudder slightly. Then its enormous body came crashing down like Mount Tai bearing down on his head.

Heavenly Insect's eyes widened, and he immediately roared, "Blade Mantis!"

The Blade Mantis was the only spirit insect he had that could still be considered reasonably large. Surely he could not expect the fist-sized nine revolutions black-whiskered mosquito to shield him?

Of course, they were all Three Heavens Realm cultivators. Even an actual mountain falling on them might not crush them to death, let alone the corpse of a mere flying scorpion.

But not being crushed to death did not mean they had to take the impact head-on. Heavenly Insect therefore released the Blade Mantis to be the taller one and hold up the flying scorpion overhead.

"Let go already..."

Just as Heavenly Insect breathed a sigh of relief, a voice tinged with embarrassed annoyance suddenly sounded beside his ear. He turned his head slightly and saw an alluring beauty who had somehow ended up lying in the crook of his arm...

Unfortunately, Demon Butterfly, who usually played the seductive temptress, now looked thoroughly embarrassed and annoyed. A blush covered her flawless, lovely face.

"The circumstances forced my hand. The circumstances forced my hand." Heavenly Insect gave a dry chuckle and hurriedly released her.

He could not help marveling inwardly. So this woman's earlier behavior had been an act. Just holding her briefly had made her blush scarlet.

Knowing Heavenly Insect had not deliberately taken advantage of her, Demon Butterfly did not make a fuss. She merely shot him a warning glare, then stole a glance at Flying Scorpion Inkstone on the other side. Only after seeing that he had not noticed what had happened did she relax slightly.

Flying Scorpion Inkstone truly had no interest in paying attention to the little flirtation beside him.

"My flying scorpion..."

Seeing the Heaven-Grade Flying Scorpion passed down through his family perish in his hands, his feelings were easy to imagine!

The endless sword qi showed no sign of stopping. Heavenly Insect knew the flying scorpion overhead could not shield them for long.

"Hey, I have a way to save our lives. Are you willing to take a risk?"

Pale-faced, Demon Butterfly bit her lip as though making some decision, then spoke directly to Heavenly Insect beside her.

"Really?" Heavenly Insect looked astonished. At a time like this, if they could deal with the White Jade Sword Butterfly overhead, what did a little risk matter?

Demon Butterfly took a deep breath. With one hand against her chest and the other supporting her body, she sat up slightly and fixed her pale blue eyes on Heavenly Insect's.

"I have a way for you to subdue the White Jade Sword Butterfly overhead, but afterward, you must honor your promise and help me obtain the Spirit Butterfly Fairy's inheritance!"

This truly was an unexpected windfall!

Heavenly Insect stared at the woman before him in surprise, scarcely believing she possessed such a method.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't dare call myself a particularly upright man, but I do have one good quality: I always do what I say.

"Since I promised to help you obtain the Spirit Butterfly Fairy's inheritance, I'll definitely help you. I won't go back on my word!"

Demon Butterfly gave him a long, searching look. Whether he meant what he said or not, she had only one choice under the circumstances.

At that thought, Demon Butterfly took a deep breath, gently closed her eyes, and leaned forward to kiss Heavenly Insect...

"...?"

Well, only when he felt the soft touch against his lips did the utterly bewildered Heavenly Insect react.

Weren't you going to tell me how to subdue that White Jade Sword Butterfly? How did this turn into you taking advantage of me...?

But before he could push away this wicked woman who was taking advantage of him, he felt something cool flow between her lips into his throat, then enter his body and spread through every limb and bone.

A moment later, Heavenly Insect felt the sweet fragrance leave his lips. He hurriedly raised both hands and saw blue-violet spirit butterfly patterns appearing on his palms.

Butterfly spirit marks... is this the method Demon Butterfly mentioned for subduing the White Jade Sword Butterfly? Sure enough, this woman must have some connection to the Spirit Butterfly Fairy of old. She might even be her direct descendant...

At that thought, Heavenly Insect could not help looking at her.

That movement provoked a fierce reaction from the woman opposite him. Demon Butterfly's pretty face was flushed crimson, and her lively eyes darted about helplessly as she stammered, "Don't misunderstand. Just now, I was only... only transferring the spirit butterfly jade marks to you. Only with the spirit butterfly jade marks do you have a chance of subduing that White Jade Sword Butterfly. I had absolutely no other intentions!"

"Don't worry. I know that even without you saying it."

Heavenly Insect paused despite himself, then scratched his head. You'd have been better off saying nothing. If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have thought too much about it...

Although he had only had one girlfriend in his previous life, Heavenly Insect was quite experienced at kissing. Even ambushed like this, he had not panicked at all.

Are people in the Great Thousand World really this old-fashioned? Does one kiss mean you have to take responsibility?

Yet when Demon Butterfly, whose heart had still been fluttering wildly, heard those words, her expression froze. The heat in her pretty face cooled at a visible speed.

"All right, you can go out now! Just aim the spirit butterfly jade marks at the White Jade Sword Butterfly and activate them to awaken it. As for whether you can subdue it, that depends on your own ability!"

Heavenly Insect nodded. His thoughts were now entirely on the powerful White Jade Sword Butterfly overhead, and he paid no attention to Demon Butterfly's change in attitude.

"That Sword Butterfly is so berserk right now that facing it won't be easy. One careless move, and that endless sword qi will cut me to pieces!"

"Then you'll have to rely on yourself... I've given you the method, anyway."

Heavenly Insect nodded slightly and scanned the surroundings from beneath the flying scorpion, looking for anything he could use...

As his gaze swept over the area, it soon settled on one spot: where Qingyan and Black Jade were relying on the astonishing defenses of the Heaven-Grade Black Jade Insect to withstand the sword qi.

More precisely, he was looking at the dying Azurefire Heavenly Scorpion beside the Black Jade Insect, whose body had been too large to find shelter...