Chapter 470: The Source of the Madness

Winds Rise in Kyushu

"Young Master, be careful!" The Great Elder, who had been resting nearby, leaped up and struck out a palm towards Amber. From his perspective, Lu Ye's bonded beast had clearly gone mad. In such a situation, the only recourse was to quickly kill the beast, otherwise, it would surely turn on its master.

A flash of fiery red blade light appeared, and the Great Elder quickly retracted his hand, staring in astonishment at Lu Ye, who had drawn his blade. "Young Master?"

"Wait!" Lu Ye said gravely, his expression serious.

Amber had actually contracted that madness; this was completely unexpected. Amber had always fought alongside him, never leaving his side, and showed no signs of injury. How could it have been infected? However, unlike other beasts that would immediately go berserk upon contracting the madness, Amber's eyes, though occasionally flashing crimson, and its throat constantly emitting threatening growls, was visibly struggling to maintain its sanity and suppress the urge to attack everything around it. After all, it was a companion beast that had lived and died with Lu Ye for over two years, bound by the pet contract granted by Heavenly Mystery. Even after contracting the madness, it hadn't gone completely insane like other beasts; it still retained a final shred of rationality.

A message arrived through the battlefield mark, and Lu Ye quickly checked it. As expected, it was from Yiyi. After reading Yiyi's message, Lu Ye looked up sharply. Amber, standing before him, lowered its tiger head towards him.

A brilliant light flashed on the Mountain-Splitting Blade. Lu Ye thrust the blade directly, precisely piercing Amber three inches behind its neck. The strike was so sudden that Xia Qianqian and the others stared at Lu Ye in shock, utterly baffled that he, who had just prevented the Great Elder's action, was now striking himself. But the next moment, they realized something was wrong. If Lu Ye's strike had truly been intended to kill Amber, he wouldn't have aimed for that spot.

A faint, peculiar buzzing sound emerged, like a cicada's chirp, but the cacophony of the battlefield made it hard to hear clearly. The long blade, having pierced Amber's neck, lifted, and blood splattered. Everyone's gaze was fixed on Lu Ye's Mountain-Splitting Blade. At that very moment, impaled and lifted by the blade's tip, was something resembling a cicada-like insect, struggling and wriggling. However, before anyone could clearly see what it was, the cicada-like creature suddenly burst open, turning into a pool of black liquid!

Lu Ye quickly activated his spiritual power, encasing the mass of black liquid to prevent it from spreading. Everyone stared at the black liquid enveloped in spiritual power, their expressions unreadable.

Amber, from whose neck Lu Ye had extracted the cicada-like creature, was now calm. It shook its head, the crimson glow in its eyes having long since receded. Blood streamed from its neck, but for a beast of its kind, it was merely a superficial wound. It looked up at the black liquid encased in spiritual power, then cautiously moved around it, hiding behind Lu Ye.

Lu Ye turned his head and looked at Xia Qianqian. Their eyes met.

"We've found the reason why the beasts are going mad!"

"What?" Xia Qianqian hadn't yet recovered from the recent events. After instinctively replying, she suddenly realized, "You mean, the thing you just extracted?"

"It's not the beasts going mad; something is parasitizing them and controlling them!"

Parasitism, control...

Xia Qianqian was stunned. "Are you sure?"

"Certain!"

If he had been alone, he wouldn't have been able to detect the source of Amber's affliction so quickly, because the parasite on Amber's neck had completely merged with Amber's aura. Even if he had activated his spiritual power to examine Amber's body inch by inch, he might not have found any abnormalities. This was also why the cultivators of the Myriad Beast Domain hadn't figured out the cause of the beasts' madness until now. They had captured some berserk beasts and meticulously examined them, but found nothing.

But Amber had Yiyi inside it! Since entering this Myriad Beast Domain secret realm, Yiyi hadn't shown herself. When Amber hadn't yet fallen ill, she hadn't paid much attention. But as soon as Amber exhibited symptoms, she immediately scanned its body and quickly located the strange insect, promptly sending a message to Lu Ye. This type of insect parasitized silently; even Lu Ye hadn't known when Amber had been infected. It was certain that when Amber was first infected, the insect must have been incredibly tiny, so small that Lu Ye didn't notice it. It only grew rapidly after parasitizing its host. By the time Lu Ye extracted it, it was already the size of a cicada. Unfortunately, after being extracted by Lu Ye's blade, the insect immediately burst. This was perhaps its inherent method of concealment, to avoid being discovered by cultivators.

At that moment, the exploded black liquid was still encased in Lu Ye's spiritual power. Everyone looked closely and were horrified to discover tiny insects swimming within the black liquid. Indeed, these insects were incredibly small; one would easily overlook them without a specific search. Lu Ye activated his spiritual power, and the fiery red energy blazed, incinerating the liquid completely.

"Woof!" Amber, having shrunk to the size of a cat, leaped onto Lu Ye's shoulder and let out a low growl. Lu Ye nodded feignedly while checking the information Yiyi was sending through the battlefield mark. Yiyi and Amber shared a symbiotic relationship, so Yiyi knew Amber's thoughts better than anyone, even its master, Lu Ye. Even with the pet contract bestowed by Heavenly Mystery, and the previously established Life Essence Art and Beast Seal, Lu Ye could at most only have simple communication with Amber, unable to perceive details as clearly as Yiyi.

"What did it say?" Xia Qianqian watched in wonder; she had never seen such an intelligent beast.

Lu Ye continued nodding...

A moment later, having finished checking Yiyi's message, Lu Ye said, "It says that when it was controlled by that insect, it vaguely sensed something in that direction!" As he spoke, he pointed in a direction.

"Sensed what?"

"Unclear, but there was definitely an invisible connection related to the insect that controlled it."

"The source of the madness?" Xia Qianqian's eyes brightened. The beasts' rampage wasn't due to the beasts themselves, but because insects parasitized and controlled them, and those insects were linked to something distant. Such an association naturally occurred to her. If this was true, then everything that had been difficult to ascertain before now suddenly became clear.

"Do you know exactly where it is?" Xia Qianqian pressed.

"Only that it's in that direction..."

"That direction..." The Great Elder, who had been standing by silently, mused thoughtfully.

Lu Ye looked at him. "Great Elder, have you remembered something?"

"That's the direction of the Black Tortoise Sect." The Great Elder frowned. "The beasts' madness originated from the Black Tortoise Sect and then swept through the entire Myriad Beast Domain."

Hearing him say that, a thought couldn't help but surface in both Lu Ye and Xia Qianqian's minds: It must be right. The location Amber sensed was very likely where the Black Tortoise Sect was situated.

"But the Black Tortoise Sect has already been destroyed. We've all investigated there, and there's nothing."

"You also investigated the berserk beasts, and you didn't find the insects, did you?" Xia Qianqian countered.

The Great Elder immediately looked ashamed. From his perspective, if his Young Master and his bonded beast hadn't been telepathically linked today, the matter of the insects would likely have remained undiscovered.

The cause of the beasts' madness had been found. Although the source hadn't been pinpointed, it was almost certain. Lu Ye and Xia Qianqian exchanged glances, recognizing each other's thoughts. Two Worlds City couldn't be held. Judging by the beasts' siege, even if Two Worlds City fought with all its might, it wouldn't last more than a few days. The city would inevitably fall, and the Myriad Beast Domain would still follow its destined historical trajectory. When that truly happened, neither the native cultivators of the Myriad Beast Domain nor the visitors from Kyushu would fare well. Therefore, for Lu Ye and the others, there was now only one way to survive. Go to the source of the incident and resolve the problem from there; only then might they have a chance at survival.

"We'll need some people," Lu Ye said gravely.

"I'll contact people," Xia Qianqian said, and began sending out messages. As a Cloud River Ninth Level cultivator, her connections were naturally incomparable to Lu Ye's, a fledgling. Among the Kyushu cultivators who entered this time, there were always some she knew.

"Young Master, what are you doing...?" The Great Elder was puzzled.

Lu Ye thought for a moment, then said, "Great Elder, we're going to the Black Tortoise Sect! There should be a way to solve the problem there."

"Go to the Black Tortoise Sect now?" The Great Elder's expression changed. Beasts were currently besieging the city. Leaving now would be akin to breaking through a heavy encirclement—how dangerous!

"If we don't go now, there'll be no chance. Staying here is just waiting to die!"

The Great Elder wanted to say more, but after careful consideration, wasn't Lu Ye speaking the truth? He immediately nodded. "The Young Master is right; staying here is indeed waiting to die! I'll go see that old bastard Liu Wuzhai and see if he can spare some people to go with us!"

Lu Ye was delighted. "That would be excellent!" For this trip to the Black Tortoise Sect, the more people, the better, as more people would increase their chances of success.

"Young Master, please wait a moment!" With that, the Great Elder shot into the sky, heading directly towards the City Lord's Mansion.

A moment later, a stream of light swept directly towards them, landing before the group. Immediately after, a lazy voice rang out: "Xia Qianqian, do you know that abandoning your post at a critical juncture like this will lead to a deduction of your military merits?"

When the voice sounded, Lu Ye was momentarily stunned, because this voice... sounded somewhat familiar! He turned his head and saw a plump, round-figured man. The man's face was full of flesh, his eyes narrowed into slits, and he had a bulging belly and a cordial smile. Lu Ye was taken aback, never expecting to encounter this person here! Moreover, when he had entered this Myriad Beast Domain secret realm before, he hadn't noticed this person had also come in. As if sensing Lu Ye's gaze, the plump man glanced at Lu Ye, a glint flashing in his narrowed eyes, and his smile became even more hearty.