Chapter 1122: Insect Queen

A surge of wind across Kyushu

“Those bugs have intelligence,” Lu Ye asked, observing the battlefield environment.

At this moment, waves of divine sense continued to冲击 his mind, but under the suppression of the Soul Suppressing Pagoda, it was ultimately in vain.

“That’s the Mother Bug!” Nian Yuexian’s face showed a pained expression. Although the Mother Bug’s soul attack was aimed at Lu Ye, she was too close to him and inevitably affected. “Solving it will end the battle, but its regeneration ability is terrifying. Ordinary injuries are useless against it.”

After such a long battle, how could the Ninth-level cultivators not have harmed the Mother Bug? Yet, even severe injuries would heal in a very short time. So, at this point, everyone was at a loss as to how to achieve victory and could only drag it out.

They also realized that the root cause of the Mother Bug’s rapid recovery was its vast and pure life force. Would the Mother Bug lose that recovery ability if its life force was depleted to a certain extent?

This idea was worth testing, so despite their dire situation, the Ninth-level cultivators persisted, continually engaging the Mother Bug in combat.

At their level of cultivation, they had encountered countless crises in their lives and would not lose morale due to a small setback.

With the outcome undecided and life and death yet to be determined, no one dared to say they would surely lose.

Their current predicament was entirely unforeseen. They had followed the tunnel without incident, encountering no bugs along the way. But upon reaching this place, the situation became strange.

In the vast space, only the Mother Bug awaited them.

A battle then erupted. Though seemingly alone, the Mother Bug could instantly hatch numerous close-combat guards. Combined with its incredibly potent divine soul power, it caught the most elite team in Kyushu off guard in an instant.

Almost everyone was dizzy from its soul power impact, and casualties occurred at that time. Among Ninth-level cultivators, there were still some differences in strength. Some with stronger souls could withstand the Mother Bug’s soul attacks, while those with slightly weaker souls naturally could not.

Fortunately, only a few were lost. The remaining Ninth-level cultivators had extremely solid foundations and quickly counterattacked, beginning a fierce battle that continued until now.

“Mother Bug…” Lu Ye pondered. This was the first time he had heard this term. Throughout his campaign, he had participated in several bug nest eradication operations, but those nests never had a Mother Bug.

Perhaps because the bug nests were not large enough?

This bug nest stood in the very center of the Bug Race’s Grand Secret Realm and was the largest, which might explain the presence of a Mother Bug.

Of course, it was impossible to discern whether the Mother Bug created the nest or the nest birthed the Mother Bug. It was like the chicken-or-egg dilemma, without a definitive answer.

“There’s no life core here?” Lu Ye asked.

Nian Yuexian shook her head, “No, all its life force is concentrated within the Mother Bug itself.”

Lu Ye had already discovered this, as the Mother Bug’s life force was astonishingly vast. At this very moment, more than a dozen Ninth-level cultivators surrounded the Mother Bug, battling it. Occasionally, an attack would break through its defenses, leaving light or severe injuries, but with the massive life force at its disposal, even the most severe injuries would heal in the blink of an eye.

The speed of its recovery was even faster than the proliferation of the fleshy wall.

“We also considered retreating temporarily to avoid its ferocity, but this place has been completely sealed off; there’s no way to escape.”

Thick fleshy walls encased the entire space. The rate of destruction couldn’t keep up with the wall’s regeneration, making it impossible to carve out a passage. In other words, from the moment the Ninth-level cultivators entered, there was no retreat.

The entrance where Lu Ye came in was also long filled with fleshy walls. “You shouldn’t have come in,” Nian Yuexian sighed softly.

So many Ninth-level cultivators gathered together could do nothing against this Mother Bug. For him, an Eighth-level cultivator, to barge in was truly perilous.

Fortunately, Lu Ye’s own strength was formidable, so even with a lower cultivation level, he wouldn’t be a burden—this was also Lu Ye’s reliance for daring to enter.

At this moment, he was contemplating a question.

Since the Mother Bug could rapidly hatch so many powerful close-combat bugs, why did it draw him into this battlefield? It could have deployed its bug guards to deal with him in the tunnel.

If that had happened, he, alone, might not have been able to resist.

The Mother Bug didn’t choose to do so, most likely not because it didn’t want to, but because it couldn’t…

In other words, these rapidly hatched bug guards, though powerful, had a significant drawback: they likely couldn’t easily leave this place. It was the special environment here that allowed the bug guards to possess powerful combat abilities immediately upon hatching. Therefore, the Mother Bug could only lure him in.

Just as it allowed the Ninth-level cultivators to enter, this was its home ground, where it could unleash its full power. As he and Nian Yuexian rushed forward, the number of bug guards chasing them from behind increased. Newly hatched bug guards joined the pursuit from both sides, and others appeared from the front to intercept them.

Even though Lu Ye and Nian Yuexian were both quite strong, they found themselves in perilous situations, and the scene became utterly chaotic.

Not only were bug guards converging on him, but so were the Ninth-level cultivators.

After such a long battle, the cultivators had also discovered a problem: the number of bug guards the Mother Bug could hatch was limited.

At most, it wouldn’t exceed eight hundred.

Before Lu Ye came in, each of them had to simultaneously deal with several guards. They would kill them, but new ones would soon hatch, endlessly.

So, while they could protect themselves, they found it hard to help others.

The situation had remained a stalemate.

However, since Lu Ye’s arrival, the unchanging stalemate had shifted. The number of bug guards the Ninth-level cultivators had to face decreased…

Because most of the newly hatched bug guards had joined the encirclement and pursuit of Lu Ye.

They were all experienced cultivators who had cultivated for many years, so they could easily discern such a change.

Long Bai shouted, “Kid, what did you do before? Why is the Mother Bug paying so much attention to you?”

This was also what others were curious about.

The Mother Bug’s intense focus on Lu Ye, as if it wanted to quickly eliminate him, undoubtedly indicated one thing: Lu Ye posed a significant threat to it. Otherwise, the Mother Bug wouldn’t react this way.

This was quite incredible, considering that the Mother Bug didn’t seem to care much about even them, the Ninth-level cultivators, treating everyone equally. Why would a Fourth-level cultivator be treated so differently?

But it also seemed natural, after all, it was Lu Yiye, favored by the will of heaven, capable of what others could not.

Everyone quickly realized one thing: to break the stalemate, the key might lie with Lu Ye. This was also why many Ninth-level cultivators instinctively converged around him.

“Picking the softest persimmon to squeeze,” Lu Ye casually replied.

Long Bai pursed his lips, clearly unconvinced, but this was not the time to probe Lu Ye’s secrets. He shouted, “Whatever methods you have, use them quickly! If we delay any longer, we’ll all be dead!”

Lu Ye no longer hesitated. He lowered his body and whispered, “Seniors, please protect me!”

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Sounds of breaking air filled the space as streaks of light rapidly changed direction, surrounding Lu Ye like stars orbiting the moon. They descended downwards.

Stepping onto the elastic fleshy wall, Lu Ye immediately activated the power of his Talent Tree. Invisible roots plunged into the fleshy wall, and his heart tightened.

The Mother Bug could control the fleshy wall. Earlier in the tunnel, he couldn’t easily touch the fleshy wall. If the Mother Bug now controlled the fleshy wall to avoid him, he would be helpless.

In that case, he might have no choice but to lead this group of people to retreat through the tunnel they came from, unwilling to let these Ninth-level cultivators lose their lives.

But to his delight, as the Talent Tree’s power was unleashed, there was no sign of the fleshy wall disappearing beneath his feet. With the Talent Tree’s devouring ability activated, vast and pure life force was rapidly absorbed.

Lu Ye didn’t know why the Mother Bug didn’t control the fleshy wall to avoid him, but he figured there must be a reason, perhaps related to those bug guards.

If his earlier conjecture was correct, these rapidly hatching bug guards needed the special environment of this place to maintain their combat effectiveness, which was why they couldn’t leave.

This was considered the core of the entire bug nest, sealed airtight by the fleshy wall, smooth and flawless. If a hole appeared in the fleshy wall, it would inevitably disrupt something and affect the bug guards’ strength.

Once the bug guards became useless, the Mother Bug would die even faster. The attacks of over two hundred Ninth-level cultivators were no joke; no matter how abnormal its recovery ability, there would be a moment when its life force was depleted.

Therefore, even knowing that Lu Ye had the ability to devour its life force, the Mother Bug did not control the fleshy wall to disappear or avoid Lu Ye’s methods.

Between two evils, it chose the lesser. The Mother Bug’s intelligence was not low.

Or perhaps the fleshy wall here was beyond even the Mother Bug’s easy control. Lu Ye was too lazy to probe the reason; the situation was, after all, developing in their favor.

As he acted, the Mother Bug suddenly let out a sharp, ear-piercing shriek. On its sides, more than a dozen long, thin claws flailed even more frantically.

That shriek clearly contained an immensely vast and pure divine soul power, sweeping through the surroundings. In an instant, many cultivators around Lu Ye groaned incessantly, some of their faces visibly paling, and waves surged within Lu Ye’s own mind.

Around the Mother Bug, more than ten people had been constantly battling it, inflicting damage and depleting its life force. At this moment, they were caught off guard and temporarily withdrew from its ferocity.

82

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