Chapter 1227: Root Source

"Is this for storage?" Lu Ye asked, holding the ring.

Greeny nodded. "This is a Universal Storage Ring. Only cultivators above the Constellation Realm can craft them." She wondered inwardly, *This human is clearly so powerful, yet he seems so unsophisticated, not even recognizing a storage ring.*

How could Lu Ye recognize a storage ring? The Constellation Realm had only recently appeared in the Jiu Continent, so no one could craft them. Everyone commonly used storage bags instead. He had initially been curious why An Ya didn't have a storage bag. It turned out she possessed something more advanced.

The restrictive seals on storage bags were generally not complicated. Due to the bags' inherent material, their seals were usually easy for a locksmith to bypass. Lu Ye himself had worked as a locksmith for a period, specifically to familiarize himself with the construction and deconstruction of spirit patterns.

However, he hesitated to easily tamper with the restrictive seal inside this storage ring, as it was too complex; one wrong move could destroy it.

"I... I can!" Greeny suddenly whispered.

"What?" Lu Ye asked, puzzled.

"I can help you unlock the restrictive seal within it. The Pixie clan inherently possesses such abilities."

Lu Ye raised his hand and tossed the storage ring to Greeny, then turned and plunged back into the sea of blood. Because of An Ya's interference, he hadn't yet finished eliminating the insectoid guards there.

Continuing his previous method, he systematically eliminated the insectoid guards while moving through the area. It took him another half an hour to completely wipe out the guards.

As the sea of blood receded, the core space of the insect hive was littered with corpses. The elite forces accumulated by the insectoids over ten thousand years had been utterly massacred. Yet, this was not the end. As long as the hive remained standing, the insectoids could stage a resurgence. Therefore, to eradicate them completely, he needed not only to destroy this hive but also to wipe out all insectoids in the entire Insectoid Tree Realm.

Lu Ye felt a headache coming on. When he had charged in with a surge of passion, he hadn't considered all this. He had only thought of killing more insectoids. But everything needed a proper beginning and end. While the killing was satisfying, the conclusion also needed to be clean for the task to be considered complete.

Lu Ye pondered his next course of action, gradually forming a clearer plan.

Meanwhile, Greeny had already broken the restrictive seal on the storage ring. Lu Ye took it and eagerly examined its contents, only to find nothing particularly valuable inside—just basic survival, cultivation, and healing supplies. It was quite similar in function to his own storage bag.

With a change of thought, Lu Ye understood: An Ya must have had a storage space created with Void Spirit Patterns as its core, just like him. All her truly valuable items would have been stored there, and they were certainly lost with An Ya's death.

He felt a slight disappointment but didn't dwell on it; he hadn't expected much from it anyway. The storage ring itself wasn't a very valuable item, and though it looked unremarkable, Lu Ye dared not use it casually. There was a chance that a powerful individual connected to An Ya might recognize it, which would unnecessarily cause him trouble.

While recovering his depleted spiritual power, Lu Ye took out the three spirit beast bags. These were the insectoids' three recent acquisitions. As for what exactly was inside, Lu Ye had a rough guess; it was likely similar. Spirit beast bags also had restrictive seals, though they were not too complex, and he could easily break them.

When the first spirit beast bag was opened, an exquisitely beautiful, pure white beast with glowing spots and a single horn on its head suddenly darted out. As soon as the white beast appeared, it grew larger with the wind, instantly transforming to the size of a water buffalo. A pure white light gathered and lingered on its horn, emitting extremely dangerous aura fluctuations.

Lu Ye simply watched it calmly, while Greeny fluttered her wings and flew towards it, shouting, "Wait, wait!"

Upon seeing a pixie, the white beast was clearly stunned for a moment, as it was different from what it had expected. It had thought that when it reappeared, it would surely be surrounded by insectoids, ready to fight to the death! The pure white light on its horn slowly receded. Greeny went forward and chattered with it for a while; Lu Ye didn't know what they said. The white beast occasionally glanced at Lu Ye, its eyes gradually becoming gentle and filled with gratitude.

It stepped forward and respectfully nodded twice at Lu Ye, presumably to express its thanks. Lu Ye waved his hand in response. He didn't know what species this horned beast was, but the insectoids had been scheming here for many years, primarily for some rare species residing in the tree realms. This horned beast had likely been captured in its own tree realm and brought here. An Ya's trip was to retrieve the insectoids' acquisitions from the Insectoid Tree Realm over the past century. However, she coincidentally encountered Lu Ye and met her demise.

Lu Ye opened the second spirit beast bag. Having learned from the previous experience, he was more cautious this time. But to his surprise, after waiting for a long time, nothing darted out.

*Could it have been suffocated?* Lu Ye carefully reached in and quickly retrieved an object from the spirit beast bag. It was, astonishingly, a tree!

As Lu Ye took it out, he clearly saw one eye quietly squint on the tree's trunk, cautiously observing its surroundings. Greeny came forward again and began explaining the current situation to it. Lu Ye recognized it: this tree was from the Wood Spirit clan, the very species the Pixie clan had previously manifested as!

Gradually, the Wood Spirit relaxed its guard, grew limbs, and spoke in human language, "Thank you for saving me, fellow Daoist. I am Mu Kui of the Wood Spirit clan, endlessly grateful!"

Lu Ye simply waved his hand; saving the other party was merely an unintended gain, so he didn't need to make much of it.

He then opened the third spirit beast bag. The two spirit beast bags An Ya had given him earlier contained the white beast and the Wood Spirit, but she had held onto this third one. This suggested that the third spirit beast bag likely held the most important item; otherwise, An Ya wouldn't have made such a choice. Lu Ye was curious to know which species was so highly valued by An Ya.

The spirit beast bag opened, and there was no movement for a good while. However, Lu Ye could feel something small inside. After waiting a moment, a tiny head peeked out from the spirit beast bag, timidly looking around.

Greeny was extremely surprised. "Reddan!"

"Hmm?" The tiny head turned, saw Greeny fluttering nearby, and immediately yelped, "Greeny!"

Reddan became excited, darted out of the spirit beast bag, and rushed to Greeny's side. The two little pixies immediately hugged each other, crying and laughing. The third spirit beast bag actually contained a pixie!

Lu Ye was very surprised. If a member of the Pixie clan had gone missing, why hadn't Goldsparkle mentioned it? After all, the Pixie clan comprised only about a hundred members in total; any missing member would be very obvious. It was understandable if Goldsparkle hadn't mentioned it, probably because she hadn't imagined he would fight his way into the Insectoid Tree Realm, nor did she expect him to rescue any abducted clan members. But it was strange that Greeny hadn't mentioned it. She had come here with him and should have known about this, yet when she saw Reddan, she was clearly very surprised.

The reunion of the two little pixies was very lively. It took a while for their excited emotions to calm down.

Greeny then asked, "Reddan, how did you end up here?"

Reddan said, feeling very wronged, "You really did forget me!"

Greeny looked embarrassed. "We thought the Tree God had called you away for duty."

Reddan burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably, "No, I wasn't! I was captured by the insectoids! They imprisoned me for a very, very long time! Waaah!"

Lu Ye watched from the side, speechless. With only about a hundred clan members in total, one went missing, and the entire clan was completely unaware. This showed just how unreliable the Pixie clan truly was.

Greeny's voice chimed in, "Don't cry. You're making me want to cry too, woooah!"

Lu Ye had always been curious how the insectoids managed to open passages between different tree realms. Logically, low-level insects with little intelligence shouldn't possess such an ability. It now seemed that the insects themselves indeed lacked this capability, but they possessed a treasure that did!

High-level insectoids from the Insect Sovereign Realm had sent a group of insectoids with this treasure to settle in the tree realm. Using the treasure's power, they gradually opened passages to other tree realms, subsequently carrying out invasions and plunders. Whether it was the white beast, Mu Kui, or Reddan, all were victims of this scheme.

And it wasn't just these three; the insectoids had been scheming here for tens of thousands of years, so there were certainly many more victims.

Since this was all part of the insectoids' scheme, why be polite? Lu Ye immediately took out the treasure. Without it, the insectoids would never again be able to invade other tree realms. This truly solved the problem at its root, proving even more effective than merely eradicating the insect hive here.

Upon seeing this, the white beast and Mu Kui, perhaps overcome by painful memories or for some other reason, also burst into tears, creating an exceptionally noisy scene.

Lu Ye, feeling a headache, quickly walked to the core of the insect hive, raised his blade, and struck down. To destroy the hive, its core had to be annihilated; only then would the hive lose its ability to hatch new members.

In the Pixie Tree Realm, when he and Yu Yaoyao destroyed the insect hive's core, a passage to the Insectoid Tree Realm had appeared. He had assumed the situation here would be similar.

However, when Lu Ye broke open the core of this insect hive, he discovered an unusual object inside. It was a section of something entirely white, resembling a lotus root, placed right in the center of the core. A strange power permeated its entire body.

Lu Ye's curiosity was piqued, and he carefully examined it. He quickly discerned the object's function. This object was precisely the root source for opening passages between tree realms.

Of course, the insect hive still needed to be eradicated; he couldn't just leave it there to take root and flourish.

Fiddling with the lotus-root-like treasure in his hand, Lu Ye clearly sensed that it indeed had an inexplicable connection to various tree realms. He could also completely use this object to easily open passages to those tree realms.