Chapter 216: Insect Nest

The bottom of the cave had been cleared into a clean area, and Lu Ye had even used his Fire Dragon Spell to scorch the ground.

Several ropes hung down from above, which cultivators with lower cultivation levels used to descend. Of course, the primary purpose was to facilitate a quick escape.

Small teams, each carrying a torch, began to move deeper into the wormhole.

This was the Blood Fiend Sect's first time dealing with a worm tide, so there were two main objectives. The first was to locate the worm nest; once found, everything else would be straightforward.

The other was to explore the underground environment and map the subterranean space.

The worm tide wouldn't be a one-time event and was sure to recur, though the worm nest's location would likely shift. Investing effort now to map the area would save considerable time and effort in the future.

When Lu Ye first descended, he noticed the underground area was vast and crisscrossed with numerous branching paths, almost rivaling the complexity of the Evil Moon Valley mines. He wondered how such an intricate terrain had formed.

Exploring such a complex environment certainly required a significant number of people.

Lu Ye felt genuinely fortunate that after the Spirit Stream Stronghold Battle, he had recruited numerous disciples and affiliated rogue cultivators to the outpost. Otherwise, he would have no one available for this task.

He suddenly recalled Senior Sister Shui Yuan's earlier suggestion: since the Blood Fiend Sect had started recruiting disciples, they should significantly broaden their intake. She had urged Lu Ye to recruit as many disciples and rogue cultivators as possible, linking it to the sect's future development.

In retrospect, Senior Sister Shui Yuan must have given Lu Ye this advice with the worm tide in mind.

Lu Ye then activated his spiritual power, constructing a large Spirit Gathering Formation. This area would serve as a recovery and healing space for the registered disciples and rogue cultivators.

Hua Ci and others would also remain here.

After completing these tasks, Lu Ye didn't rush to leave. Instead, he took some time to recover and refine several spirit pills to ensure his spiritual power was abundant before heading deeper into the cave.

Along the way, the ground was covered in emerald green insect blood, though no insect corpses were visible, as they had all been collected.

He quickly reached the second fork and randomly chose a path to proceed.

The further he went, the more forks he encountered.

After roughly an incense stick's time, he arrived at an uninhabited branch path. Drawing his Pan Mountain Blade, he advanced, slaying insects, exploring the terrain, and simultaneously searching for the worm nest.

Meanwhile, throughout the vast underground labyrinth, Blood Fiend Sect disciples and rogue cultivators were fiercely battling insects in every branching path.

The deeper they pushed, the larger and stronger the insects they encountered, inevitably leading to injuries among the disciples. Injured individuals immediately retreated along their original path to the cave entrance. While receiving treatment from Hua Ci, they would present the maps drawn by their respective teams.

Hua Ci was responsible for collecting all the fragmented maps and compiling them into a complete underground map.

Progress was relatively smooth; while the worm nest hadn't been found yet, each team had made good progress. However, as the insects they encountered grew stronger, casualties became inevitable.

Such was the life of a cultivator: fraught with danger at every turn. Companions who had shared drinks and dreams of the future just yesterday might become cold corpses today.

A day later, Lu Ye, who was rampaging through a branch path, received a message: the worm nest had been found! The increased manpower had proven highly efficient!

He immediately turned back, returning the way he came.

Half an hour later, below the wormhole entrance, Lu Ye returned, covered in green blood.

Hua Ci cleaned the bloodstains from him. Lu Ye then activated his spiritual power to dry himself, and under the torchlight, he and Hua Ci approached a table.

On this table lay a map, the result of a day's exploration by seven hundred Blood Fiend Sect cultivators.

From the map, it was evident that there were numerous branching paths underground, winding and irregular, with many connected to each other.

The map was not yet complete, with many areas still needing feedback and additions.

Hua Ci pointed at a spot on the map: "The worm nest is located here, but it's very dangerous. Chen Yu has already led a team there, and Amber and Yi Yi are with them."

Lu Ye focused intently on the map before him, and a clear route gradually formed in his mind.

He then looked at the other routes on the map and said, "According to Fourth Senior Brother, the worm nest is a vast underground space connected by numerous tunnels. These tunnels eventually converge at the exit, which is our current location. Looking at it in reverse, no matter which branch path we take from here, it will ultimately lead us to the worm nest!"

Therefore, if the entire map were completed, the lines representing the branching paths would form a spindle shape, with the wormhole exit at one end and the worm nest at the other.

Currently, most of this spindle shape had been mapped, representing the Blood Fiend Sect cultivators' progress. However, only one line connected the two ends of the spindle, representing the path taken by the team that discovered the worm nest.

Other paths were still being extended; some were progressing slowly due to the teams' overall lower strength, while others were doing well, almost reaching the underground space where the worm nest was located.

"I'll go check out the worm nest first."

After Lu Ye finished speaking, he turned and went deeper into the wormhole.

Along the cave walls, torches burned at regular intervals. Every cultivator typically carried many such common lighting items in their storage bags, as one never knew when they might be needed, and it was always better to be prepared.

He moved quickly, and within half an hour, he sensed the commotion of intense fighting ahead, along with Amber's roars.

Looking up, he saw flashes of magical lights and heard the fierce yet adorable roar of a young girl.

"A seventh-layer insect! Yin Yin, quickly block it!" Chen Yu's voice rang out.

By now, everyone had a general understanding of the insects' strength levels; a 'seventh-layer insect' was equivalent in strength to a seventh-stage cultivator.

"I'm a girl, Senior Brother Chen Yu, you're asking too much! Ah, I'll go all out!"

Lu Ye rounded a corner and saw He Xiyin, her body brimming with vitality, holding a large shield as tall as herself. Before her, a praying mantis, even taller than her, swung its scythe-like arms, striking the shield with loud thuds. With each blow, He Xiyin's body shuddered.

Despite He Xiyin's soft and adorable appearance, she was actually a Body Cultivator!

Lu Ye had been greatly surprised when he first learned this, wondering how such a small body could contain such abundant vital energy.

With her holding off the seventh-layer insect, Chen Yu, Yi Yi, and the others naturally unleashed their full power, sending out streams of spells and controlled artifacts, instantly slaying the mantis.

However, what followed were more and more massive insects.

"Retreat quickly, there are too many!" Chen Yu roared. The commotion had clearly alerted the insects in the worm nest, causing several seventh-layer insects, along with many sixth and fifth-layer ones, to surge out.

Before Lu Ye arrived, they had already been fighting and retreating, moving a considerable distance back.

"Body cultivators only die standing, never retreating; I'm still fine!" He Xiyin gritted her teeth. Suddenly, she felt her body lighten and drifted backward, uttering a surprised "Huh?"

In that instant, she felt someone grab her collar and directly toss her away.

She landed lightly and looked closely, only to see a new figure at her original position. Fiery red streams of light surged through the corridor, and one by one, insects fell, screeching.

As the long blade, imbued with spiritual power, cleaved down, a seventh-layer insect that had leaped high to attack was instantly split in two.

"Lu Ye!" Yi Yi's delighted cry rang out.

"Fifth Senior Brother!"

Calls came one after another. Lu Ye shook the blood from his Pan Mountain Blade, gave a slight nod, and said, "Kill them first!"

With his reinforcement, the situation, which had been on the verge of collapse, immediately stabilized. Under the surging light of controlled artifacts, insects fell dead one after another, and the group pushed forward.

Lu Ye no longer needed to draw his blade; his controlled artifacts were sufficient. He even had time to observe Yi Yi and Amber.

Amber had grown tremendously. Since coming to the Blood Fiend Sect, it had been well-fed, consuming countless spirit pills daily, and every few days, it would seek out Lu Ye to request a bloodline from his scales.

There was no direct measure of Amber's current strength, as it wasn't a cultivator. However, its demonic energy fluctuations in battle were no less than those of a sixth-stage cultivator. Golden demonic energy enveloped its body, making it shimmer with golden light and appear awe-inspiring. When its fangs bit down, it could crush the insects' hard exoskeletons, and a strike from its massive tiger claws would instantly leave a deep indentation on an insect's body.

As for Yi Yi, she initially wanted to learn medical arts from Senior Sister Shui Yuan. Because Lu Ye often got injured, Yi Yi's greatest dream was to become a medical cultivator, allowing her to heal Lu Ye anytime, anywhere.

However, dreams are ultimately just dreams. After being harshly confronted by reality, her dream shattered, leaving Yi Yi despondent for several days.

Later, seeing her despondent, Senior Sister Shui Yuan suggested she learn spells from the sect master. Yi Yi hadn't held much hope, but this suggestion unexpectedly opened the door to a new world for her.

Lu Ye had never asked about Yi Yi's progress in learning spells, but she spent most of her time with the sect master.

It wasn't until this moment that he witnessed various spells blossoming with changing brilliance from Yi Yi's hands.

In fact, privately, the sect master had praised Yi Yi's talent in spellcraft more than once, even speculating that Yi Yi might have been a spell cultivator herself before transforming into a loyal spirit. Often, the sect master only had to teach a spell two or three times before Yi Yi could cast it.

She was Amber's symbiotic loyal spirit; her strength was directly proportional to Amber's. Therefore, the power she currently displayed was equivalent to that of a sixth-stage spell cultivator.

Moreover, as a spirit body, she had no elemental affinity restrictions, allowing her to cast spells of any attribute.

Her biggest problem was the recovery of her own power; as a spirit body, she couldn't consume spirit pills. To recover, she had to hide within Amber's body and refine Amber's vital energy.

Therefore, in the Amber and Yi Yi combination, the source of power for both was Amber itself, which would accelerate Amber's depletion.