The new city lord

Heavenly Insect and the Spirit Butterfly Lineage were not at all surprised by Wu Xiao's reaction. Or rather, they had made the same preparations as he had.

The earlier so-called duel had mostly been an attempt to see how many trump cards Wu Xiao still had hidden.

Although the duel had drawn out Tian Fu, her attitude and behavior made it clear that she and Wu Xiao were not on the same side. Heavenly Insect and the others therefore had no further worries hanging over them.

With a raised hand, Heavenly Insect unleashed a massive arc of sword aura, cutting down a Sky Poison Scorpion before him. He immediately sent Demon Butterfly a voice transmission. "Now! Have the Black-Feathered Star Locust engage Wu Xiao head-on. I'll use the Sword Butterfly to kill him from the shadows!"

Demon Butterfly nodded at once. Meanwhile, the members of the Spirit Butterfly Lineage released their own spirit butterflies. Amid spiritual light that filled the sky, they all assumed spirit butterfly forms, instantly erupting with powerful energy fluctuations.

"Not good! Stop them!" Wu Xiao's expression changed. Although he did not know what method they were using, he knew he absolutely could not let them complete it, or his side would be in serious trouble!

Unfortunately, they knew far too little about the Spirit Butterfly Lineage. These spirit butterflies might not have been particularly powerful attackers, but their endless variety of special abilities could sometimes be even more terrifying than raw offensive power.

"Soul-Bewitching Domain!"

Under the Spirit Butterfly Lineage's all-out cultivation, with no expense spared, the Soul-Bewitching Butterflies obtained from the Spirit Butterfly Fairy's ruins had already multiplied into the hundreds. Now, the ability they unleashed together with the lineage's Spirit Insect Masters enveloped the army behind Wu Xiao.

In an instant, aside from the Heaven-grade Spirit Insects, the swarms of high-grade spirit insects that formed the main fighting force fell under its influence. They began madly attacking every living thing around them without distinction.

Wu Xiao's expression changed drastically. He immediately ordered his unaffected subordinates, "Hurry and kill those Soul-Bewitching Butterflies!"

"Yes!"

Several Spirit Insect Masters of the Three Heavens Realm answered thunderously, then released their spirit insects and prepared to strike.

But a towering sea of blue flames moved faster, surging into immense waves that blocked them all.

The Spirit Butterfly Lineage's matriarch stood before them in a rainbow-colored dress, looking like a butterfly sprite. On her snow-white shoulder perched a Flame Spirit Butterfly whose wings were made of blue fire...

Wu Xiao's expression grew uglier still, but he had no attention to spare for anything else. Demon Butterfly was already directing the Black-Feathered Star Locust to charge at him with ferocious momentum.

"Damn it!"

Wu Xiao cursed inwardly, but dared not be careless in the slightest. As far as he knew, the Black-Feathered Star Locust was a powerful spirit insect comparable to a Fourth Grade Sovereign. Even he and the Azure Mystic Ice Octopus together could not defeat it at full strength.

"Ice Octopus Possession!"

Boom!

Terrifying ice-blue spiritual energy erupted simultaneously from Wu Xiao and the Azure Mystic Ice Octopus. A gigantic phantom ice octopus emerged within that energy, and Wu Xiao plunged straight into it, merging with it...

The next moment, an even more terrifying aura spread from the ice octopus, faintly approaching the late stage of the Second Grade Sovereign level.

Demon Butterfly's heart sank at the sight. She felt that her Black-Feathered Star Locust was no match for the ice octopus before her.

But things had reached this point, and retreat was no longer an option.

A trace of cold ruthlessness flashed across Demon Butterfly's pretty face. She spat out a mouthful of blood, then guided the droplets with both hands, condensing them into ancient blood-red runes that she immediately drove into the Black-Feathered Star Locust.

Boom!

Another terrifying eruption of spiritual energy surged forth, even overpowering that of the merged Wu Xiao and Azure Mystic Ice Octopus.

"Black-Feathered Star Locust, ultimate strike!"

This state directly consumed the life force of both the Black-Feathered Star Locust and Demon Butterfly herself, so she had only one chance to strike.

Meanwhile, Heavenly Insect, who had been fighting a Spirit Insect Master under Wu Xiao who had reached the Spiritual Energy Tribulation, suddenly underwent a dramatic change in aura.

An astonishingly sharp sword intent rapidly spread outward, piercing heaven and earth. The sudden change left the Spirit Insect Master fighting Heavenly Insect aghast. This sword intent was so powerful that a single slash could probably cleave him in two...

In an instant, he pushed his speed to its limit, putting several thousand meters between himself and Heavenly Insect.

Yet Heavenly Insect, who had gathered such terrifying sword intent, paid him no heed. He showed no intention of stopping his opponent and even closed his eyes.

The next moment, a gigantic phantom Ancient Sword Butterfly appeared behind him. Their sword intents merged, instantly multiplying the strength of the existing sword intent several times over!

Amid a terrifying tide of spiritual energy, an enormous sword formed entirely from spiritual energy rose into the sky above the battlefield. Even the combatants around it could not help stopping their attacks and looking up toward it.

"How is that possible...?"

Many people stared at the thousand-foot sword, unable to stop themselves from crying out.

Tian Fu, who had withdrawn into the distance as soon as the fighting began, kept her gaze fixed on the figure controlling the immense sword beneath it.

"An Ancient Sword Butterfly... Heavenly Insect's life-bound spirit insect is actually an Ancient Sword Butterfly with a sovereign divine insect bloodline!"

At that moment, Tian Fu became even more curious about Heavenly Insect's origins. If he came from their twelve branches, they would have another monstrous genius on the level of a holy son!

Looks like I'll have to find an opportunity to have a proper talk with this young man after the battle ends...

With that thought, Tian Fu kept her eyes trained on Heavenly Insect's battlefield, ready to see just how far this young man, who shared her main surname, could go.

There was no way Wu Xiao could fail to notice such a terrifying sword appearing on the battlefield.

But he was facing the Black-Feathered Star Locust's life-burning strike and had no attention to spare. He could only muster as much spiritual energy as possible, condensing a sturdy layer of blue mystic ice around himself to form a gigantic sphere, hoping it could withstand the double assault from front and rear.

"Heh, he actually made himself a ball..."

"What bloody good will that ball do!"

Rumble!

As his words fell, Heavenly Insect rose into the sky beneath the thousand-foot sword. Then, swinging both hands, he brought the enormous blade, utterly disproportionate to his own body, down upon the ice-blue sphere of mystic ice.

At the same time, the Black-Feathered Star Locust unleashed all its power. Dense silver star energy radiated from its body before a beam of star energy as thick as an arm blasted forth.

A gigantic explosion erupted across the battlefield. Its shock waves nearly knocked even those who had already retreated ten li away off their feet.

Countless streaks of sword aura shot out of the explosion and tore into the battlefield between the City Lord's Estate and the Spirit Butterfly Lineage, inflicting considerable casualties on both sides.

Fortunately, the Spirit Butterfly matriarch reacted faster. She immediately joined forces with the lineage's sole Heaven Fusion Realm elder to release an enormous spiritual energy barrier, shielding their people from most of the scattered sword aura. Otherwise, this alone would have devastated the Spirit Butterfly Lineage.

Wu Xiao's side, however, was not so fortunate.

Faced with such terrifying shock waves, the several Three Heavens Realm experts under Wu Xiao never considered sacrificing themselves to shield anyone else. They had fled far away early on, leaving everyone too weak or too slow to escape to perish beneath the sword aura.

Of course, those deaths stirred no ripples. At that moment, everyone's gaze was fixed on what lay beyond the dust filling the sky.

More than ten minutes later, the dust settled, revealing an enormous trench several meters wide, dozens of meters deep, and stretching beyond sight.

The sight made everyone's heart clench, giving them an even clearer understanding of the terrifying power of that earlier slash.

This strike was so much like the one that destroyed the entire Insect Prison Site back then!

Many who had personally witnessed that slash in the Spirit Butterfly Fairy's ruins immediately had the same thought.

It led quite a few people to wonder whether that earlier strike had also been unleashed by this fellow called Heavenly Insect.

"Where's Wu Xiao?"

Once the shock passed, someone suddenly called out.

Only then did everyone realize that beneath that terrifying slash, Wu Xiao, a Second Grade Sovereign, and his sovereign spirit insect, the Azure Mystic Ice Octopus, had vanished!

Had it left not even their corpses behind?

Many hearts trembled. When they looked at that young figure again, an instinctive fear arose within them.

Little did they know that Heavenly Insect had also reached his limit. Had the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm not just supplied him with a little spiritual energy, he might already have collapsed from exhaustion, letting the restless onlookers reap a fisherman's profit from the struggle.

Unfortunately for them, as they watched the figure standing imposingly at the center of the battlefield, no one dared be the first bird to stick its head out, even though Heavenly Insect's face was deathly pale and he clearly looked to be in terrible shape.

Just as Heavenly Insect worked desperately to restore his spiritual energy during the brief window in which everyone remained cowed, an aura of savage bloodlust approached from afar.

Everyone was startled by the sudden arrival. Even the Spirit Butterfly Lineage abandoned healing and recovery as their matriarch gathered them together once more.

Things had already reached this point. If someone truly intended to loot a burning house, then even if only one member of the Spirit Butterfly Lineage remained, they would never hand over their victory!

The murderous aura drew closer from the distance. At last, an army several thousand strong appeared before everyone's eyes.

"It's the Flying Spirit Army!"

"To think the Flying Spirit Army would mobilize now! Could they want to contend for the position of city lord too?"

Discussion broke out all around. Many ambitious faction leaders began to regret their choices. Had they also prepared in advance, they might have been the fishermen reaping the spoils this time.

"This is bad. If the Flying Spirit Army attacks now, we'll have a hard time stopping them!" Demon Butterfly told Heavenly Insect, her face just as pale.

Neither her Black-Feathered Star Locust nor Heavenly Insect and the Ancient Sword Butterfly could unleash much power again in the short term. Against the Flying Spirit Army, which could wield battle intent, the Spirit Butterfly Lineage's strength alone would not suffice.

"Don't worry. Perhaps these people are here to help us..." Heavenly Insect said with a light chuckle.

"Well... that's not very likely, is it?" Demon Butterfly stared at Heavenly Insect's face in astonishment, her expression full of disbelief.

As the Flying Spirit Army arrived on the battlefield, Black Jade, who had been watching the fight all along, moved to the front of the army. Under everyone's gaze, he walked straight up to Heavenly Insect, dropped to one knee, and declared loudly, "Black Jade, commander of the Flying Spirit Army, leads the Flying Spirit Army in paying respects to the city lord!"

"We pay our respects to the city lord!"

For a moment, everyone around them was stunned by Black Jade's actions, including Heavenly Insect himself...

"What's going on? This isn't what we discussed before..." Heavenly Insect said, utterly bewildered.

At the sight, the Spirit Butterfly matriarch's brows drew together slightly, but soon relaxed. She then walked over beside Black Jade and bowed to Heavenly Insect. "Blue Butterfly, matriarch of the Spirit Butterfly Lineage, pays her respects to the city lord!"

Seeing even their matriarch kneel, all the remaining members of the Spirit Butterfly Lineage immediately dropped to their knees and cried out, "We pay our respects to the city lord!"

Heavenly Insect was speechless. Things seemed to be developing somewhat beyond his expectations.

He truly did not want to be trapped in such a small place as its city lord. He had been planning to leave after the Spirit Butterfly Lineage took power, squeeze some more benefits out of them, and find a larger city in which to make his way.

"Don't refuse. This will benefit you..." A voice suddenly sounded beside Heavenly Insect's ear.

He swept his gaze around, then settled on Tian Fu in the distance. Those words had come from her through a spiritual energy voice transmission.

"Trust me. I'll come explain the specific reasons to you afterward..."

After considering it, Heavenly Insect felt that this would not really affect him much, so he did not refuse. With the support of the Flying Spirit Army and the Spirit Butterfly Lineage, he naturally assumed the position of Flying Spirit City's lord.

In truth, Black Jade's choice was easy to understand. Compared with Heavenly Insect, who stood alone without a faction, if the Spirit Butterfly Lineage took power, Black Jade's standing and importance would inevitably suffer.

Once Heavenly Insect took power, however, he would have no loyal forces of his own. Whether to set an example for Flying Spirit City's various factions or to balance the forces under his command, he would need Black Jade's strength. That made this his best choice.

As for why the Spirit Butterfly matriarch had changed her goal so decisively, it was because her lineage had suffered severe losses. After Black Jade suddenly made this choice, if she still insisted on putting the Spirit Butterfly Lineage in power, she might well offend Heavenly Insect. Then her lineage would truly be in danger, so she very decisively chose to submit to him.

This way, no matter how one looked at it, Heavenly Insect would certainly not treat them poorly. He might even regard them as his own trusted core!

It had to be said that those who could rise to such positions were keenly perceptive when weighing gains against losses, and equally decisive.

Yet they had no idea that, from the very beginning, Heavenly Insect had never thought much of a little place like Flying Spirit City...

Had Tian Fu not acted so mysteriously, Heavenly Insect would have insisted on giving the position of city lord some serious thought before accepting it.