Chapter 2127: Mu Yuyan and Thousand Insect Fruit

The canyon was deep and narrow, with towering cliffs on both sides that pressed close together. The deeper one ventured into the valley, the narrower the passage became and the dimmer the light grew.

The canyon walls bore obvious scorch marks, and steep rock faces were covered in blue vines.

At the end of the canyon lay a cave over a hundred zhang wide. Inside, five colossal stone statues of animals — including a leopard, a flying eagle, a centipede, a giant scorpion, and a mighty tiger — lay scattered on the ground.

Dozens of thick, blue thorns covered the walls, entangled with three desiccated corpses.

The blue thorns suddenly twitched, and the three mummified bodies dropped to the ground.

A blue light glowed on the wall, revealing a short, stout young man in a blue robe, his body covered in blue spiritual patterns.

"Shi Lei, come out! Let's divide the treasures, then hide again."

The young man in the blue robe commanded.

No sooner had he spoken than a mound of earth swelled from the ground, and a thin, pole-like young man in a yellow robe emerged.

The young man in the yellow robe also had yellow spiritual patterns covering his body, and his eyes were earthy yellow.

"Qing Ji, your method is quite good," the yellow-robed young man said with a smile. "Waiting for them to come to us, like waiting for a hare by a stump, saves us from running around."

He added that both of them were from the Spirit race.

Compared to the Human race, the Spirit race was a small one, forced to rely heavily on the Essence Fire race.

The Spirit race had paid a heavy price to send five of their kinsmen into the Mystic Spirit Grotto-Heaven to search for treasures.

"Hmph, if I wasn't worried about running into an old monster's clone, I wouldn't use this method," Qing Ji urged. "Quickly dispose of the bodies and destroy their communication artifacts. More Myriad Spirit Sect disciples are bound to arrive; the Thousand-Insect Fruit is an irresistible temptation for those spirit masters."

Qing Ji hastened, explaining that they had killed a Myriad Spirit Sect disciple, learned of the Thousand-Insect Fruit tree here, rushed to this location, eliminated the guarding spirit beasts, and had been waiting to ambush others ever since.

The two quickly cleaned up the battlefield, divided the spoils, and destroyed the communication tools.

Shi Lei burrowed into the ground and vanished. Qing Ji transformed into hundreds of thick, blue thorns and climbed onto the walls.

Outside the canyon, countless blue spirit flowers suddenly sprouted from the ground, concealing the traces of the recent battle.

A vast lake, covering ten thousand mu, stretched out before them. Its waters were black, obscuring any view of the bottom.

Over a dozen black-and-white lotus flowers floated on the surface, each blossom half white and half black.

A blue water sphere, ten thousand zhang in diameter, hovered high in the sky. Inside were two men dressed in Xuanqing Sect robes. They struggled violently, their faces flushed crimson, and unleashed magic treasures to strike the blue sphere, but to no avail.

With a loud bang, the blue water sphere exploded. The two men's bodies burst apart, transforming into a shower of blood that splattered onto the ground. Two storage rings of different colors fell to the earth.

The lake surface churned violently, and a blue hand emerged from the depths, collecting the two storage rings. High above, heavy rain began to fall, washing away the bloodstains on the ground.

After a while, the area returned to calm.

In an underground mine, powerful explosions periodically echoed, causing the ground to shake.

In a narrow mining tunnel, two Zhenhai Palace disciples lay on the ground. Each had two large bloodied holes in their chest, and their eyes were wide open, as if they had witnessed something incredible in their final moments.

Several glowing magic treasures were scattered on the ground. A golden monster, about one zhang tall, was fiercely battling a tall girl in a red dress. The girl had a melon seed-shaped face, bright eyes, cherry-like lips, a beautiful nose, and a red jade hairpin in her hair.

The golden monster's body appeared to be composed of countless mineral fragments, emitting multicolored spiritual light from its surface. Its small eyes gleamed with golden light.

The girl in the red dress activated a magic art, and a golden jade vase above her head immediately blazed with spiritual light, spewing forth a thick column of golden flames that surged towards the golden monster with immense heat.

The golden monster's body erupted with dazzling golden light. With a loud bang, the golden flames engulfed the monster, and signs of melting appeared on its body.

The girl in the red dress raised her hand, and a red light shot out, disappearing from view.

The next moment, a red light flared above the golden monster's head, and a small, glowing red cauldron materialized out of thin air. A lifelike red flood dragon was carved into its body, exuding astonishing spiritual energy, clearly indicating it was a mid-grade Heaven-reaching Spirit Treasure.

The small red cauldron spun rapidly, its size expanding dramatically. It then sprayed out a stream of red light, coiling around the golden monster and drawing it inside.

The girl in the red dress chanted incantations, injecting several magic arts into the cauldron. The red flood dragon carved on the surface of the giant red cauldron seemed to come alive, emitting deafening dragon roars as torrents of blazing flames erupted from the cauldron's body.

The giant red cauldron shook incessantly. After a while, it stopped shaking, and the intense flames vanished.

The girl in the red dress changed her magic art, and the cauldron's lid flew open. Inside lay a shimmering golden ore, its surface covered in profound spiritual patterns.

"As expected, it was the Spirit race," the girl murmured to herself. "I wonder how many Spirit race members they sent in. What a pity for Senior Brother Li and Senior Brother Sun. I must try to meet up with Senior Brother Zhao and the others as soon as possible."

The girl in red, named Mu Yuyan, was actually a clone of Song Yuchan.

She and several fellow disciples had come here to search for a specific type of ore but unexpectedly encountered an attack by the Spirit race. Fortunately, she had brought several treasures with her, making the Spirit race no match for her.

Mu Yuyan collected the bodies and treasures of her fellow disciples and departed from the area.

Attacks and counterattacks were unfolding across the Mystic Spirit Grotto-Heaven, and the number of cultivators and non-human races who had entered was rapidly dwindling.

Half a month quickly passed.

In an underground cave, Wang Changsheng sat cross-legged on the ground, enveloped in a layer of blue spiritual mist, his eyes closed.

After a while, Wang Changsheng opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath of turbid air.

The Golden Scale Jade Sun Pill had an excellent healing effect, and combined with his powerful physical body, he was already out of danger.

Wang Changsheng stood up, removed the restrictions, and walked out.

Wang Ruyan immediately opened her eyes. She looked Wang Changsheng up and down, let out a long sigh of relief, and asked with concern, "How are you, husband? Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine now," Wang Changsheng replied, then asked, "Where are we currently?"

As he spoke, he took out a pale blue ginseng that exuded a rich, unusual fragrance.

The Qilin Turtle seemed to sense something. It extended its four limbs and head, and with a flicker of its body, instantly appeared before Wang Changsheng, opening its gaping maw.

Wang Changsheng tossed the blue ginseng into its mouth. The Qilin Turtle chewed a few times, swallowed it, and let out joyful roars.

"I've scouted the area," Wang Ruyan reported. "We're very far from where the Nine Thunder Bamboo is located, but not far from the Thousand-Insect Fruit tree."

Wang Ruyan explained truthfully, mentioning that Wang Changsheng had previously killed a Myriad Spirit Sect cultivator and extracted some information through soul-searching, with the Thousand-Insect Fruit tree being one of the discoveries.

The Thousand-Insect Fruit tree is an extraordinary plant: it flowers every three thousand years, bears fruit three thousand years after that, and the fruit takes another three thousand years to ripen. Spirit insects below rank six can consume the Thousand-Insect Fruit to increase their chances of advancement.