Heavenly Insect

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Heavenly Insect’s original body belonged to a direct descendant of the Spirit Insect Tribe’s Heavenly Meridian. His family had earned distinction in Flying Spirit City through his parents’ service alongside its city lord. After their unexplained disappearance, the household declined until he was left alone 1 16.

Despite inheriting substantial theoretical knowledge, the original Heavenly Insect had mediocre cultivation aptitude, few resources, and little standing within the tribe. Unable to obtain a suitable Life-Bound Spirit Insect, he was overtaken by younger peers. A scroll left by his parents led him to travel hundreds of millions of miles in search of the legendary Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm 5 7 12.

The original owner died after being burned by the Nine Nether Sparrow’s flames; his possessions, including the inherited scroll, were destroyed. The present Heavenly Insect awakens in a reconstructed body described as promised “compensation,” inherits lingering memories, and chooses to adopt the former owner’s identity. He also possesses knowledge of the original novel’s plot 1 9 13.

His inherited memories initially treat his parents as dead. Tian Fu later reveals that investigators had connected their disappearance to the previous city lord but obtained no answers before that lord died 5 35.

Appearance

• Youthful body: Reconstruction leaves him looking approximately sixteen or seventeen, although the original owner had cultivated for several decades. Tian Fu’s records suggest he should be over thirty 5 35.
• Golden silkworm emblem: A tiny golden emblem forms on his forehead during the life-bound contract 13.
• Golden-tinged blood: The silkworm’s origin power introduces a faint golden glow into his blood and permeates his tissues 13.
• Rebirth shell: Completing the first cycle of the Golden Cicada Rebirth Art causes him to shed a golden outer shell and regrow his hair 41.

Personality

Heavenly Insect is ambitious but strongly conscious of risk. He scouts dangerous territory through expendable insects, waits for other explorers to enter hazardous areas first, and repeatedly reminds himself that a stronger cultivation realm does not guarantee victory against another Insect Master. He also conceals Golden Cicada’s identity until he can obtain sufficient strength or protection 10 17 19 40.

He is calculating in negotiations and reluctant to surrender resources without a return. His bargaining with Golden Cicada produces a fifty-fifty energy-sharing agreement, while his assistance to the Spirit Butterfly Lineage is exchanged for treasures he urgently needs. Nevertheless, his insistence on strengthening himself also serves their shared survival, and he genuinely wants Golden Cicada to emerge from its cocoon 14 20 27.

Political authority interests him less than cultivation and access to greater opportunities. He accepts Flying Spirit City’s lordship reluctantly, delegates its administration, and later nominates Demon Butterfly to replace him. When his rapid advancement encounters an unexplained obstruction, he stops rather than forcing a breakthrough 34 35 41.

Abilities & Skills

Spirit Insect Communication and Control

His tribal bloodline allows him to communicate with spirit insect consciousnesses. He supplements this ability with inherited control techniques and flute melodies 7.

• Spirit Insect Flute: Supports command, taming, berserk enhancement, and soul capture. He uses it to gather Black Poison Crocodiles into a bridge and increase his insects’ fighting strength 3 7 11.
• Insect-Control Spirit Talismans: Used with the Soul-Seizing Formation to subdue the Black Nether Ant colony in batches 9.
• Insect-Control Blood Talismans: Provide stronger control than ordinary spiritual talismans, second only to a life-bound bond 30.
• Blood-talisman limits: During his early underground expedition, ten attempts produce only two successful captures. Ten talismans are then his safe limit; further use would harm him 10.
• Upkeep: Large, powerful swarms require substantial spiritual energy and resources, limiting how many high-grade insects he can maintain 10.

Life-Bound Contract with Golden Cicada

He refines the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm into his Life-Bound Spirit Insect through blood-based rituals and persuasion 12 13.

• Links their consciousnesses, bloodlines, and lives; if either dies, the other also dies 12 13.
• Grants benefits from the insect’s origin, including physical strengthening 13.
• Enables cultivation through purified energy from spirit beast essence and supreme spirit liquid, divided equally between them 14 29 30.
• Provides access to Golden Cicada’s treasure sensing and protective golden halo, which blocks mosquito haze and chilling winds 17 20.
• Does not make supreme spirit liquid immediately usable: Golden Cicada initially needs more than half a month to digest one drop 30.
• Rapid energy accumulation does not remove the need for personal cultivation insight; his advancement later stalls despite abundant refined energy 35.

Spirit Arrays

He inherits his mother’s talent for arrays associated with spirit insects 40.

• Soul-Seizing Formation: Captures the Black Nether Ant colony through repeated batches lured with Spirit Insect Liquid 9.
• Blood Soul Array: Uses sacrificed blood to contest the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm’s control over enemy insects. The struggle destroys many insects’ souls and leaves him severely weakened 11 12.
• Evolution Spirit Array: Evolves the Blade Mantis using a Golden Crystal Jade Lotus, Illusory Demon Stone, Azure Mystic Ice Octopus blood essence, and supreme spirit liquid 40.
• The Blade Mantis array is comparable in complexity to a fifth-level Spirit Array. He reduces the setup difficulty with prepared array foundations 40.
• His demonstrated expertise is limited to insect-related arrays; he has not studied conventional offensive arrays such as those used by Mu Chen 40.

Golden Cicada Rebirth Art

A high-ranking body-refining art that tempers the body through successive revolutions and the shedding of an outer shell 36 41.

• Each revolution is described as doubling physical defense 36.
• Nine revolutions are stated to produce a body comparable to a divine artifact; this is the art’s potential, not an attained feat 36.
• Heavenly Insect completes the first cycle before undertaking the Body Tribulation 41.

Flying Insect Movement Technique / Sword-Riding Art

An inherited divine movement art that manifests a spirit insect’s phantom form to increase the user’s speed 28.

• Its basic form initially doubles or triples his speed 28.
• By the time he passes the Body Tribulation, he uses a form modeled on the Nine Revolutions Black-Whiskered Mosquito 42.
• The Ancient Sword Butterfly form requires sufficient physical strength to withstand its sword energy 42.
• He begins mastering that form before the elimination round, traveling as sword light with a phantom butterfly behind him. He renames it the Sword-Riding Art 44.

Spirit Attachment

A secret art obtained from Flying Spirit City’s collection that temporarily attaches one of a spirit insect’s abilities to its master 39.

• Borrowing the Ancient Sword Butterfly’s sword energy allows him to surpass Xu Qing, a First Grade Supreme 39.
• This application depends on his unusually strong physical body 39.
• He also combines insect possession with concentrated sword energy during the battle against the dragon-centipede Spirit King 47.

Spirit Insects

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Spirit Insect Flute — instrument for command and specialized insect-control melodies 3 7 11.
• Junior Spirit Insect Pouches — two supplied by Mu Feng to house his insects and make travel through populated areas manageable 8.
• Xuan Ling Shield — protects the Mu Domain group from falling black flames during the Nine Nether Sparrow’s tribulation, though a flame still reaches Mu Chen 6.
• Heaven-Covering Net — purchased at Ling Tian Trading House; later used to throw the Azurefire Heavenly Scorpion into the White Jade Sword Butterfly’s attack 14 25.
• High-grade Cosmic Bracelet — bought to replace inadequate storage after collecting extensive spirit materials 12 14.
• Supreme spirit liquid — principal high-level resource for his cultivation partnership, insect growth, and evolution arrays 27 30 40.
• Demon Sound Illusion-Slaying Melody — received as a reward after the Flying Salamander Domain arena contest 40.
• Sword — channels insect-derived sword energy in battle. He initially lacks weapon-specific training and later seeks a better sword as his sword-qi capabilities develop 33 37 47.

Relationships

• Golden Cicada — life-bound partner with a contentious but mutually beneficial relationship. They bargain over energy, exchange insults, and depend on one another for growth and survival 12 13 14 20.
• Mu Chen — initially intimidates and tests him, then becomes a traveling ally. Encourages his cultivation and teases him before his return to the Northern Spiritual Academy 2 6 8.
• Mu Feng — supplies and hosts him in exchange for assistance crossing the Black Poison Marsh; receives his warning about the Liu Domain ambush 3 7 8.
• Demon Butterfly — cautious alliance develops into sustained cooperation supporting her lineage. Transfers the Spirit Butterfly Jade Marks to him through a kiss and is later nominated as his successor 21 24 27 41.
• Spirit Butterfly Fairy — offers an Ancient Sword Butterfly Egg and half her supreme spirit liquid in exchange for helping restore her lineage and protecting it for ten years 27.
• Spirit Butterfly Tribe Chief — Demon Butterfly’s mother; provides support for hatching the Ancient Sword Butterfly and manages Flying Spirit City’s affairs during his cultivation 29 35.
• Flying Scorpion Inkstone — ally in the ruins. His flying scorpion shelters Heavenly Insect from sword qi; Heavenly Insect later saves him by directing the subdued Sword Butterfly against Qingyan 24 25.
• Tian Fu — fellow member of the Twelfth Branch who identifies his family background and guides him toward Tian Yuan and the Insect World selection 33 35.
• Tian Yuan — domain lord and patron who recognizes his potential, recommends him for selection, and provides a cultivation site 40 41 42.
• Elder Tian Zhe — sponsor who provides rewards and promises resources, asking him to help the Twelfth Branch improve its expedition ranking 50.
• Tian Yu — rescued during the elimination round and becomes his hunting partner. Later revealed to be Tian Wu’s younger sister and a fellow expedition member 44 46 50.
• Tian Que — temporary hunting ally who pays for his assistance and agrees to reward him with four thousand Spirit Cores for a successful Spirit King hunt 46 47.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Black Nether Abyss and the Mu Domain

Heavenly Insect encounters Mu Chen, intervenes in his conflict with Liu Mubai, and forms a supply-for-assistance agreement with Mu Feng. He provides a crocodile bridge across the marsh, detects a Liu Domain ambush, and helps shield the group during the Nine Nether Sparrow’s failed tribulation 2 3 6.

After recuperating in the Mu Domain, he returns to pursue his actual objective: the Golden Origin Heavenly Silkworm. He captures the Black Nether Ant colony, discovers a hidden underground insect city, and survives a costly struggle against its controlling cocoon. Making the silkworm his Life-Bound Spirit Insect enables his first major breakthrough 8 9 11 12 13.

Return to the Spirit Insect Continent

He sells collected materials, purchases equipment, and returns through the Forest Continent and the Endless Sea. At Kongsang Mountain, Golden Cicada guides him into the Insect Prison Site, where he discovers the Nine Revolutions Black-Whiskered Mosquito 14 15 17.

His alliance with Demon Butterfly leads to the subjugation of the White Jade Sword Butterfly Puppet and the death of Qingyan. In the ruins’ garden, he accepts the Spirit Butterfly Fairy’s offer to support her descendants in exchange for cultivation treasures 24 25 27.

Flying Spirit City

Following Flying Locust’s death, Heavenly Insect cultivates at the Spirit Butterfly Lineage’s ancestral grounds and raises the Ancient Sword Butterfly. He gathers intelligence from Black Jade, proposes a contest for the city’s leadership, and joins the lineage in defeating Wu Xiao 29 30 31 32 34.

The Flying Spirit Army recognizes him as city lord. Tian Fu persuades him to accept and explains how the position can open a route to the Insect World selection through Tian Yuan 34 35.

Insect World Selection

He attracts Tian Yuan’s attention, evolves the Six-Eyed Blade Mantis, secures a recommendation, and passes the Body Tribulation before traveling to Flowing Moon Heaven 40 41 42.

During the elimination round, he rescues Tian Yu, gathers Spirit Cores, and joins Tian Que’s Spirit King hunt. A second Spirit King appears as an Armored Back Dragon Centipede, prompting him to reveal the Ancient Sword Butterfly and unleash his greater strength 44 46 47.

He finishes fourth, qualifying directly without entering the round-robin tournament. Before the Insect World opens, he overcomes the Spiritual Energy Tribulation and joins the ten-person team at the Scripture Pavilion to select a divine art 50.