Chapter 2162: Disguise Lost Contact

**Wind Rises in Kyushu**

A moment later, the sea of blood receded, and the Talent Tree clone shot out, fleeing rapidly in one direction. Lu Ye's main body remained in place to collect the spoils of war.

It was a successful ambush: over thirty insectoids, none of them survived. Four of them alone were at the Ninth Path level, making for a substantial haul. However, Lu Ye knew in his heart that after this, he would have to flee.

Judging by the overall strength of the insectoids dispatched by the Insect Matriarch, it definitely has Integration Path powerhouses under its command. With such immense losses, the Matriarch would not send out more Enlightenment Path cultivators to their deaths; it would only deploy Integration Path cultivators.

Although Lu Ye had slain a Man Shan, that guy could be considered the weakest of Integration Path cultivators, and at that time, Qing Yu and others had assisted him. He certainly wouldn't be arrogant enough to underestimate Integration Path cultivators.

Just as he was about to leave, suddenly, there was an unusual movement. Lu Ye looked up, and his expression couldn't help but turn strange.

For above his head, a vortex rapidly formed, and something seemed poised to descend from within. The Star Abyss Blessing… it's back!

When he killed Man Shan, he had already received a Star Abyss Blessing once. According to Qing Yu, the Star Abyss Will is omnipresent; it's the Star Abyss Will's reward for the strong. Therefore, by killing sufficiently or by defeating the strong with the weak, one has a chance to receive such a blessing, especially in the latter case, where the chance is much greater than in the former.

For all beings in the Star Abyss, the Star Abyss Blessing is a great boon, but unfortunately, it's rarely encountered. Yet Lu Ye, in just a few months, had already encountered it twice.

Thinking about it carefully, it's not surprising.

During this period, he had single-handedly annihilated three minor forces, and just now, he had lured and killed a large swarm of insectoids, four of which were at the Ninth Path level alone.

While it wasn't strictly a case of overcoming superior strength, he was still only at the Enlightenment Path level, so it could arguably be called overcoming a numerical disadvantage.

This was likely why he drew the Star Abyss Blessing.

As he pondered, a white light descended from the vortex. Lu Ye knew he couldn't avoid it, so he simply didn't dodge.

The white light entered his body. Just like before, the Talent Tree reacted intensely, and a wonderful power coursed through his body. Last time, this power helped him heal rapidly; this time, there were no injuries, so it naturally didn't need to repair anything.

Lu Ye felt his physical body seemed to have become a tiny bit tougher again…

He wore a strange expression for a moment. Putting aside the hidden drawbacks of such blessings, if this continued, his physical body would reach an unknown level of strength, which was indeed a good thing.

However… Qing Yu had mentioned the diverse benefits of the Star Abyss Blessing, so why was it that both times he benefited from physical body enhancement?

He didn't know if it was a coincidence; he would only know for sure next time he received a Star Abyss Blessing.

He swiftly departed from the area.

Less than half a day later, Lu Ye, in his hurried escape, glanced back, only to see a streak of light rapidly approaching from behind, imbued with a shocking killing intent.

Even from a great distance, Lu Ye couldn't help but feel an inexplicable sense of crisis.

The Integration Path insectoid was pursuing him!

He had long anticipated this development. As a hegemon of the Star Abyss, with so many insectoids slaughtered by Lu Ye single-handedly, its authority was utterly lost. How could the Insect Matriarch simply let it go?

Thus, the moment he perceived the arrival of his pursuers, Lu Ye immediately constructed a Void Spirit Pattern and instantly teleported himself away.

Upon reappearing, he had already arrived at the location of the Talent Tree clone, hundreds of thousands of miles from his former location.

He, however, did not dare to be negligent. Hundreds of thousands of miles seemed like a great distance, but who knew what astonishing methods those Integration Path cultivators possessed.

Therefore, after they converged, his true body and the clone separated again.

After doing this for several days, he no longer found any traces of pursuers, and Lu Ye finally felt relieved.

He should have completely shaken off that insectoid Integration Path cultivator. If they could still pursue him under such conditions, then it would truly defy all logic.

He sought out a massive floating landmass, entered a cave he found, and only then did he retrieve the Dao Bones acquired from slaying insectoids earlier for refinement.

In a concealed spot a hundred thousand miles from his current position, the Talent Tree clone lay quietly in ambush, ready to rendezvous with his true body at any moment.

Having finished refining the Dao Bones and examining his Dao power, Lu Ye's spirit was invigorated.

It was time to refine some Dao Bones. Through a combination of rigorous cultivation and slaying enemies during this time, his accumulated Dao power had become quite substantial.

Lu Ye reckoned that with good luck, he could refine three Dao Bones; even with bad luck, it would be at least two.

Settling his thoughts, he channeled his Dao power into the Dao Bones. Time flowed by.

An hour later, Lu Ye opened his eyes, feeling invigorated.

His Dao power, painstakingly accumulated over several months, was now depleted, in exchange for a three-fold increase in Dao power. This was certainly a very good outcome.

Now, with thirteen Dao Bones and twenty-one Dao powers, he had truly reached the power level of Integration Path cultivators.

By his calculations, he could, on average, increase one Dao power in slightly over a month. If he wished to temper every bone in his body into a Dao Bone, it would require at least twenty years.

This kind of duration is not extensive for any Dao Realm cultivator, but Lu Ye still felt a bit dissatisfied.

Based on his plan, he hoped to achieve this goal within five years.

At that point, with over two hundred Dao powers, he might even be able to contend with an Integration Path peak cultivator like Yin Luo. Once he reached that stage, he would truly be qualified to gain a foothold in the Star Abyss.

Unlike his current situation, where if an insectoid Integration Path cultivator appeared, he would have to flee upon sight.

On the other hand, as his power slowly grew in the future, the enemies he could defeat would undoubtedly grow stronger, and his rewards would naturally be more substantial then.

Achieving this goal within five years was not necessarily impossible.

Just as Lu Ye was pondering these possibilities, he was suddenly startled. He hastily darted out from his hiding place and rushed towards the location of the Talent Tree clone.

For in that very moment, he had, astonishingly, lost all connection with his clone!

And prior to this, he had not felt any abnormality whatsoever.

The core of the Talent Tree clone was a section of the Talent Tree's root; it was critically important and could not afford to be lost. As time was pressing, he only managed to quickly make some superficial concealment.

A distance of a hundred thousand miles; with Lu Ye traveling at full speed, he soon reached the vicinity.

He didn't immediately reveal himself; instead, he quietly surveyed the location, and his brows soon furrowed.

The situation was not quite what he had imagined!

He had initially assumed the Talent Tree clone had been ambushed and destroyed, thus losing contact with his true body. But if so, that section of the Talent Tree root would definitely have been left behind, and he should have been able to sense it.

Just as that time when his clone was slain by Man Shan, he could still retrieve the root segment. This was something invisible to others; only he could perceive it.

However, in the present situation, the clone didn't appear to have been destroyed, and surprisingly, even the floating landmass where the clone had hidden was gone.

If that's the case… then there can only be one possibility.

The clone had entered a different space, one that cut off communication with the outside, which was why it lost contact with his true body.

Lu Ye hastily darted out, arriving at the clone's previous location. With a flick of his finger, nine Blood Treasure clones darted forth, spreading out in all directions to search.

After a thorough search, he found nothing; there was no other space here at all.

Furthermore, the Talent Tree clone had been lying dormant here without moving, so how could it have suddenly entered another space?

If it wasn't voluntary, then it was involuntary.

Lu Ye considered this and promptly expanded his search radius.

After about half an hour of searching, one of the Blood Treasure clones finally detected an anomaly.

A few moments later, Lu Ye's true body and all his Blood Treasure clones convened at this location. Retrieving his clones, Lu Ye then looked ahead.

As his gaze fell upon it, ahead, there was a large expanse of star-sand radiating multicolored light. Each grain of star-sand was spaced out, coalescing to envelop a considerable region.

This star-sand field shifted and flowed, appearing odd and bizarre.

Lu Ye carefully observed but found nothing particularly unusual. However, upon sending his divine sense into it, it was like a stone vanishing into the sea, and the interior felt utterly empty.

The Star Abyss was full of oddities, and Lu Ye had already experienced this firsthand. Under normal circumstances, if he encountered such an anomaly, he would at most watch from afar and would certainly not make contact carelessly.

Because no one could ascertain if it posed any danger.

But today, it was about his Talent Tree clone, so he had no alternative but to take some risks.

Was his clone in there?

If it was, why had it lost contact with his true body?

Lu Ye couldn't be sure, but the entire vicinity had been searched without any anomalies; only this massive star-sand cloud was truly strange.

Just as he prepared to use one of his Blood Treasure clones to test it, he suddenly caught sight of a streak of light swiftly approaching from the side.

He turned his head to look, and when he clearly saw the newcomer's form, his expression instantly darkened: "Still lingering!"

He had been evading for days, yet this Integration Path insectoid had still not given up its pursuit and had truly managed to find his tracks and follow him.

He swiftly formed a Blood Treasure clone and sent it soaring towards the star-sand cloud.

The moment it entered, the Blood Treasure clone vanished like a drop of water in the ocean, disappearing without a trace right before Lu Ye's very eyes.

He confirmed it: there was something peculiar within this star-sand cloud. It absolutely contained a space that isolated the inside from the outside. As it flowed through space, it had silently enveloped the spot where the Talent Tree clone was hidden; it must have absorbed that location.

That's why the clone had lost contact with his true body without warning.

Without further hesitation, Lu Ye dove headfirst into the star-sand cloud.

The Integration Path insectoid pursued him to this spot, halted its movements, glanced at the star-sand cloud, which continued to drift forward, and apprehension flickered in its eyes.

It evidently recognized the star-sand cloud. This entity, after all, held a considerable reputation within the Star Abyss; common cultivators might not know, but as an insectoid Integration Path expert, it was naturally aware of it.

After a brief silence, it eventually turned and left. The human had entered that place and was likely trapped there for life; killing or not killing made no difference.

As for Lu Ye, after he plunged into the star-sand cloud, his surroundings transformed without warning, and he instantly found himself in a vibrant, colorful starry sky.

The reason it was described as colorful was because the stars surrounding him were all vividly colored, appearing both stunning and peculiar.

Lu Ye was momentarily stunned. From his previous probe, he knew that the star-sand cloud contained a space isolated from the outside, yet he had never imagined that this space would be so vast.

The tiny grains of star-sand he had seen from outside were astonishingly these vibrant, colorful stars.

That massive cloud of star-sand was essentially a starry sky scaled down countless times!