Chapter 479: Thirty Thousand Battle Merits (Thanks to Alliance Leader pft0 for the Reward)

The Wind Rises in the Nine Provinces

After losing their parasitic hosts, these strange insects posed no threat to the cultivators.

Lu Ye lowered his head, examining the insect he held. It was similar in size to the ones discovered earlier, resembling a cicada, but its entire body glowed golden, as if cast from pure gold.

“A ‘Bug King’!” he murmured softly.

“What?” Zhou Hai frowned.

“This is the Bug King!”

The group looked bewildered, especially the cultivators at the ninth level of the Cloud River Realm. They had never heard of a “Bug King.” Despite spending so much time in the Cloud River battlefield, experiencing one secret realm after another, and encountering numerous insect races, those insects were always just destructive, murderous monsters; there was never any mention of a “Bug King.”

“How do you know it’s the Bug King?” Xia Qianqian asked, puzzled.

“I had a certain sensation when I was just parasited…” Lu Ye carefully recalled the feeling from that brief moment, then thoughtfully stated, “If we kill it, the crisis in the Myriad Beast Domain will be resolved!”

Hearing this, everyone’s interest was piqued. Zhou Hai asked, “How can you be so sure?”

Lu Ye organized the information he had received the moment he was parasited and explained, “All other insects are controlled by this Bug King. If it dies, the others will just be inert. Even if they remain parasited inside the demon beasts, they won't have any effect on them…”

When he was parasited, he sensed numerous auras from above—clearly the auras of insects parasiting the demon beasts. He also sensed millions of life imprints in the direction of Two World City, which were evidently insect imprints as well.

When Amber was parasited in Two World City, it sensed the location of the Black Tortoise Sect. That was a connection with the Bug King.

“So, if we kill this Bug King, we won’t have to deal with all those demon beasts?” Shen Xiaomao asked.

Previously, she had been full of worries. Even if they killed Niu Meng here, they would still face an overwhelming horde of demon beasts outside, and in their current state, they had little fighting strength. But if things were truly as Lu Ye said, then killing just one Bug King would eradicate the madness afflicting the demon beasts outside.

“We’ll see if that’s the case once we get out,” Lu Ye said, applying pressure to his hand. With a hiss, he crushed the golden Bug King. The golden fluid that burst out was instantly incinerated by a surge of his scorching spiritual power.

At the same time, on the surface above the Black Tortoise Sect, the demon beasts that had been roaring furiously and attempting to break into the underground suddenly calmed down, the scarlet glow in their eyes quickly receding.

This was not only true for the Black Tortoise Sect; the same happened at the imperiled Two World City, which had been on the verge of being breached. Cultivators, who had been filled with despair, were astonished to find that the demon beasts, which moments ago seemed to harbor an irreconcilable hatred for them, were now retreating like a tide.

On the broken sections of the city walls, the surviving cultivators slowly gathered, watching the massive beast horde recede into the distance, savoring the joy of surviving a catastrophe.

No one knew why the demon beasts had suddenly retreated. Only the cultivators of the Nine Provinces vaguely suspected that someone had resolved the problem in the Myriad Beast Domain at its source.

At this moment, underground at the Black Tortoise Sect, everyone had exited the sealed insect lair.

After Niu Meng’s death, the insect lair withered, and the sealed lair naturally opened a passage.

Poisonous mist still lingered within the lair, and no one wished to stay inside any longer.

However, uncertain of the situation with the demon beasts on the surface, they dared not ascend freely. Instead, they found a place in the underground passages to rest and recuperate.

Poisoning had a significant impact on the cultivators. Even after taking numerous antidote pills earlier, everyone was now feeling sore and weak all over, their limbs lacking strength, and their spiritual power depleted.

In this state, they would need to return to the Cloud River battlefield and seek treatment from a medical cultivator. Relying solely on their own cultivation techniques, it would be difficult to thoroughly clear the toxins from their bodies.

In the dim passage, Lu Ye swallowed a healing pill and slowly recuperated. Yiyi had already been sent out to scout the situation on the surface. If things weren't as he expected, they would have to fight their way out.

This was undoubtedly something no one wanted to face.

Looking at their current condition, everyone was heavily injured and severely poisoned, unable to exert even half their usual strength.

In the silence, Pang Dahai suddenly chuckled, “Everyone, check your battle merits!”

He had clearly discovered something and was in a rather joyful mood.

Hearing him, everyone quickly took out their identity tokens to check.

Lu Ye also checked, astonished to find his battle merits totaled nearly 30,000 points!

Battle merits were managed and distributed by the Heavenly Mechanism, so there would be no deductions or inaccuracies. Previously, Lu Ye had only earned just over 3,000 battle merit points from killing numerous demon beasts with his extensive array formations. During the defense of Two World City, his merits increased to over 5,000 points, which included not only merits for killing enemies but also for maintaining the Thunder Roar Array.

Yet now he had nearly 30,000 points! In other words, his journey to the Black Tortoise Sect had earned him nearly 25,000 battle merit points. The bulk of this undoubtedly came from their combined effort in slaying Niu Meng, with another portion likely from eliminating the Bug King.

Perhaps it also accounted for the discovery of the insect race's secret here…

Regardless, for Lu Ye, a cultivator at the second level of the Cloud River Realm, nearly 30,000 battle merits was an enormous gain.

At the quartermaster’s office in Two World City, a Golden Spirit Sigil only cost 16,200 battle merits. Lu Ye’s current merits were almost enough to exchange for two Golden Spirit Sigils!

He didn’t know how many battle merits others had, but he imagined they wouldn’t be far behind him. The ninth-level Cloud River Realm cultivators had contributed significantly to the previous battle, especially Zhou Hai and Pang Dahai. Niu Meng had died by Zhou Hai’s flying sword, and Pang Dahai had exerted great effort in entangling Niu Meng.

Calculating this way, one Niu Meng was worth approximately 100,000 to 200,000 battle merits. After he was slain, the Heavenly Mechanism distributed these merits according to each person’s contribution, at varying proportions.

The more bitter they had felt during their battle against Niu Meng, the more joyous they felt now. In the darkness, smiles spread across everyone’s faces.

However, there had been over a dozen of them when they set out, and now only seven or eight remained alive. The battle with Niu Meng had been extremely perilous; half the weapon cultivators had died, one body cultivator had died, and even the female ghost cultivator had not escaped.

Great gains also meant tragic losses. A cultivator’s life was always fraught with insurmountable crises.

“Are we missing someone?” Pang Dahai suddenly asked.

Lu Ye turned his head, looking around. He counted the heads and indeed found someone missing. Upon closer inspection, it was Lan Ziyi.

This surprised him. He hadn’t seemed to reveal any traces, yet this woman was quite alert, having slipped away from the team and hidden herself at some unknown point.

Entering this Myriad Beast Domain secret realm and cooperating with Lan Ziyi under the Heavenly Mechanism’s arrangement was no major issue. After all, it was orchestrated by the Heavenly Mechanism, and Lan Ziyi’s identity here was his maidservant, meaning Lu Ye was still gaining an advantage.

However, both Lu Ye and Lan Ziyi were well aware of each other’s backgrounds.

Belonging to opposing factions, they had previously clashed in the Spirit Stream battlefield and experienced each other’s strength. If the opportunity were right, Lu Ye wouldn’t mind killing Lan Ziyi, and he believed Lan Ziyi harbored the same intention.

He hadn’t revealed this intention earlier because there hadn’t been a suitable opportunity. He wasn’t sure of the allegiances of the others in the team besides Pang Dahai, and acting openly might not have guaranteed success.

Now, the opportunity was perfect. Lan Ziyi was heavily poisoned, and her strength was greatly diminished. Although Lu Ye was also seriously injured, his condition was much better than hers.

As long as he found an opening, he was confident he could kill the woman with a single strike. Even if someone tried to intervene, Pang Dahai could help him block them for a moment.

Unexpectedly, Lan Ziyi didn’t give him that chance at all.

He felt a slight regret, but also admired the woman’s decisiveness. She clearly knew that in her current state, it was truly unsuitable to appear before Lu Ye.

Lan Ziyi’s disappearance didn’t cause much of a stir. Pang Dahai merely asked a question and then said nothing more.

They were all seasoned veterans of the Cloud River battlefield. Lan Ziyi hiding at this moment clearly indicated she had reservations; there was no need to state the obvious.

A message arrived through the battlefield imprint. Lu Ye checked it; it was a message from Yiyi.

It was confirmed: the demon beasts on the surface above the Black Tortoise Sect had all dispersed. Yiyi had even specifically found a lone demon beast nearby to observe, discovering that it had returned to normal.

“How does one typically leave this kind of secret realm?” Lu Ye asked.

Pang Dahai replied, “Normally, if all problems are resolved, there will be a Heavenly Mechanism Pillar in a certain location… For this secret realm, the Heavenly Mechanism Pillar should appear in Two World City. As for its exact whereabouts, that would require searching!”

Lu Ye raised an eyebrow. “We left Two World City without the City Lord’s permission. The City Lord said that if we dared to abandon our posts, we would be traitors to the human race and never set foot in Two World City again.”

Pang Dahai chuckled. “So, getting back into Two World City might be a bit troublesome.” He had likely experienced such situations before, so he remained unfazed.

“But we can’t just not go back. The quartermaster’s office is still in Two World City,” Lu Ye said, a headache forming.

“That’s fine,” Pang Dahai reassured him. “Your battle merits can be exchanged for desired supplies at the quartermaster’s office in Two World City, or you can take them back to the Cloud River battlefield.”

“Hm? How do you mean?”

“Let me put it this way: battle merits can only be obtained in certain secret realms, and they are a higher tier than contribution points. Even if you don’t use them in the secret realm, you can take them back and find any Heavenly Mechanism Pillar to connect to the Heavenly Mechanism Treasury and spend your battle merits. As a friendly reminder: battle merits can acquire items not obtainable with contribution points—such as various Spirit Sigils. Conversely, anything obtainable with contribution points can certainly be acquired with battle merits. This is because all supplies, whether exchanged with battle merits or contribution points, originate from the Heavenly Mechanism Treasury; the Heavenly Mechanism itself operates this system!”

Lu Ye understood. This was remarkably convenient and made him appreciate the marvels of the Heavenly Mechanism even more.