Chapter 246: You Come and I Go

Dark clouds pressed down on the city, threatening to crush it.

A vast, surging horde of insects, like a dark cloud, covered the entire battlefield step by step, their cries incessant. Some had sharp claws and fangs, some spat venomous mist, while others unleashed electric charges or flames.

Soldier-class ferocious insects corresponded to human cultivators of the Spring-Source Realm, while General-class ferocious insects matched those of the Five Seas Realm.

All these ferocious insects emerged from underground, travelling together at the command of the seven Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors. Only a few General-class insects, etched with insect script, were controlled by Bai Shu, preventing them from being exploited by enemy insect tamers or Disaster-Fire Realm Grand Diviners.

With the "Dissolve" character hovering in the air and preventing Commander-level wondrous insects from participating, only the larval forms of wondrous insects like the Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors barely possessed the ability to summon such a swarm. It was akin to a young Son of Heaven in the Five Seas Realm being comparable to a Dao-Seed Realm cultivator.

On the battlefield, the cultivators currently fighting were utterly astonished, frantically raising their protective vital energy.

Cultivators from Three Chen Palace and Tianyi Sect gathered together, led by Chen Wenwu. One of them stammered, "This... isn't this against the rules?"

The Immortal Emissaries from the Crossing Tribulation Temple, standing high above, remained expressionless, offering no response to the numerous voices of doubt rising from the Extreme West Ash Region camp.

Zhu Yibai and Yin Jiu fought back-to-back against their numerous enemies, their robes soaked with sweat and blood. They looked up to see the expanding insect horde. Zhu Yibai let out a loud, heroic laugh, as if powerful reinforcements had arrived in their desperate situation.

Yin Jiu's resolute face also relaxed slightly; he could finally catch his breath.

"I've long heard that the Nine Li Tribe is incredibly mysterious," Zhu Yibai said. "Retrieving coffins, raising insects, taming spirits, and predicting fortune and misfortune are all their specialties. Today, I've truly had my eyes opened. Brother Jiufu, your Nine Li Tribe used to be too low-key. Were you intentionally feigning weakness to the world?"

Zhu Yibai slapped Yin Jiu's shoulder vigorously. Fighting side-by-side, they had developed a strong camaraderie.

Yin Jiu was slapped so hard he nearly coughed up blood, but deep down, he felt a natural pride.

When it came to insect taming, it truly had to be Ancestor Yin.

If Ancestor Yin wished, the underground of all twenty-eight states of the Lingxiao Living Realm would know no peace, and the swarms it could summon would be unimaginable. Unfortunately, the Nine Li Tribe's apparent strength was not formidable enough, and the patriarchs of its nine great tribes also lacked the power and ambition to conquer the world.

More importantly, Ancestor Yin would not obey anyone from the Nine Li Tribe, unless the leader who disappeared a millennium ago returned.

Turning his gaze to Li Weiyi in the distance, Yin Jiu was finally completely won over by the talent and character Li Weiyi had displayed at the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival. Unfortunately... Yin Shi did not witness any of this.

If she had, perhaps she too would have been utterly convinced by this divine recluse.

As the situation dramatically shifted, "Cang Jin" and "Ku Di," disguised as loyal officials, abandoned their attacks on Zhu Yibai and Yin Jiu and rapidly headed towards Luan Sheng Linyou.

By the sea.

Ming Niansheng and Tantai Jing noticed the commotion and looked towards the city area, now teeming with black dots.

Already, sporadic ferocious insects had flown near the Ash Region, only to be shattered into puffs of black smoke by the formation, emitting sizzling sounds.

Tantai Jing, hailed as the strongest Grand Diviner, simply could not believe that someone of the younger generation could cause such a massive stir. She wondered, "Is this truly not the doing of an insect tamer at the Spirit Diviner level?"

Lu Cangsheng flew up from the camp bristling with formation flags and landed on the city wall, looking down at the tide-like insect horde. "I never thought such a change would occur in what was originally a one-sided situation," he mused. "It seems Li Weiyi's identity as an insect tamer is not to be underestimated."

A Seventh-Sea Realm cultivator from the Thundercloud Sect was already boiling with excitement. "Are we still not making a move?" he urged.

Lu Cangsheng looked at the position of the full moon in the sky, secretly calculating the time, and shook his head. "The current situation is even more unclear," he said. "A rash move might lead to eternal damnation."

Qin Qian said, "That's right, let them fight. The bell will ring soon, and we'll bypass the battlefield directly then to be the first to enter the Dragon Palace."

"If Luan Sheng Linyou wins," she added, "the Crossing Tribulation Temple might truly support the forces behind him, and the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Only by entering the Dragon Palace first can we stand in an unbeatable position."

Within the Thundercloud Sect, there was clearly a division between conservatives and radicals.

From the first floor of the Bright Moon Seven Stars Pavilion, two figures, one male and one female, rushed out and stared in disbelief at the insect horde surging like a black torrent along the Heaven-Earth Grand Way.

The woman in white said, "I didn't expect another variable. This makes things difficult now. How do we choose?"

The man in white said, "The insect horde was summoned by those seven Monarch-level wondrous insect larvae; it must be unstable. As long as Luan Sheng Linyou forms a Grand Diviner formation and uses his divine sense, he can break it."

The woman in white countered, "Will Li Weiyi and Zuoqiu Hong give him a chance to form a Grand Diviner formation? The twenty-eight Disaster-Fire Realm Grand Diviners by the sea would be easy to mobilize, but allowing Ge Xiantong to escape the formation is probably a situation Luan Sheng Linyou would rather avoid."

The man in white pondered for a moment: "Then let's wait a bit longer, until the precise situation becomes clear."

Not only were the Extreme West Ash Region and all other factions startled by the sudden insect army, but even Zuoqiu Hongting was momentarily bewildered, looking at Li Weiyi with eyes full of questions.

Where were they summoned from?

"Whose home is this Qunzhou Prefectural City anyway, yours or mine?" she seemed to ask.

She, who had originally decided to fight to the death, now rekindled her confidence and was full of renewed fighting spirit.

Luan Sheng Linyou and Dragon Palace displayed the demeanor befitting top-tier experts of the younger generation. They did not falter due to the sudden drastic change; their eyes remained sharp, and their minds unwavering.

Dragon Palace took out a small bottle of Imperial Dragon Blood and poured it into his mouth.

The dragon blood was scalding hot, feeling like molten lava as it went down his throat.

Li Weiyi and Zuoqiu Hongting exchanged glances and launched an attack towards Dragon Palace. But the moment they moved, the interwoven vital energies of the four individuals changed, which in turn summoned the Azure Luan and the Qilin.

The Azure Luan flew towards Zuoqiu Hongting; after spreading its wings, it was as large as a blue cloud, carrying both wind and fire elements.

Hurricanes roared, and flames blazed around it.

The Qilin suddenly charged at Li Weiyi, five zhang long and resembling a small metallic mountain. Although it was clearly a combat technique manifestation, its body was incredibly solid, and its eyes glowed with wisdom.

It internally gathered metal and wood energies, and was externally shrouded in clouds and mist.

Li Weiyi was currently leaping through the air above the street. He was forced to forcefully change his attack direction, stepping on his jade cauldron, and collided with the Qilin's head.

Boom!

Vital energies clashed, and the air vibrated.

Suddenly, Luan Sheng Linyou's handsome true form appeared out of thin air above Li Weiyi's head like a phantom, moving with astonishing speed. He knew one thing clearly: if he killed Li Weiyi, the insect tamer, the insect army would naturally dissipate.

He held a silver staff; when he swung it, it unleashed dazzling silver light, and the energy from it blew away all the cultivators in the vicinity.

Li Weiyi, directly beneath the silver staff, finally felt Luan Sheng Linyou's terrifying power. He was firmly locked onto by his opponent's combat technique manifestation, unable to escape, and could only fight head-on.

Bang!

He swung the Yellow Dragon Sword to block.

His left arm dropped, and the Startling Feather Sword in his left hand adopted a piercing stance, aiming for Luan Sheng Linyou's right chest. This was because Cang Li had once said that Luan Sheng Linyou's heart was not on his left side.

Contrary to his wishes, the moment the Yellow Dragon Sword and the silver staff met, a terrifying force shook Li Weiyi, making him almost lose his grip on the sword hilt, and his body plunged straight down.

The Startling Feather Sword, intended for a pierce, could only switch from offense to defense, blocking Luan Sheng Linyou's second staff strike, which was aimed at his chest.

The silver staff was formed from a flowing silver mask.

It could be solid or liquid, changing unpredictably and incredibly dangerous.

Boom!

After the artifacts collided, energy radiance burst forth.

Li Weiyi was forced back, and the flagstones beneath his feet cracked, creating a gash tens of meters long, which deepened to his waist at its end.

His daoist robe was completely shredded, revealing the Blood Handprint Demon Armor worn underneath.

His fingers were excruciatingly painful, on the verge of splitting, and blood oozed from between them, but he still gripped both swords tightly. The symmetrical muscle lines of his arms were full of masculine beauty.

On the other side, after Dragon Palace consumed the Imperial Dragon Blood, dragon scale patterns appeared on his skin. He suddenly grabbed the bronze war-halberd stuck in the ground. Blood mist spewed from his pores, his muscles and bones roared like dragons, and the space around him showed signs of real distortion.

His eyes gleamed intensely, locking onto Zuoqiu Hongting. He sprang forward, swinging the halberd to intercept her, preventing her from joining forces with Li Weiyi.

Li Weiyi circulated the vital energy within his body, and his aching, numb fingers instantly recovered. His gaze met that of the rapidly approaching Luan Sheng Linyou. The latter was resplendent in silver, his battle attire as neat as new, and the massive manifestations of the Azure Luan and Qilin condensed once again.

Whoosh!

From Li Weiyi's soft armor, blood mist permeated. Over nine hundred blood-red scriptures appeared on his skin, and demonic energy erupted.

Above his head, the sound of breaking wind filled the air as the seven Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors arrived.

Behind them were seven long rivers of insects, winding, twisting, and rotating as they advanced.

Whoosh!

Li Weiyi catapulted out of the gash, moving parallel to the seven Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors. Bare-armed and wielding two swords, he once again clashed with Luan Sheng Linyou.

Swords and staff exchanged blows, their moves fierce.

The two fought with the ferocity of more than a dozen individuals.

The addition of the seven Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors greatly restricted Luan Sheng Linyou's speed and forced him to divert some of his strength to defense. Now, the Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors could break through his protective vital energy; their membranous wings could potentially cut his neck, and their claws could pierce his physical body.

The seven insect swarms, like seven long rivers, continuously impacted Luan Sheng Linyou.

Dozens of moves later, Li Weiyi bounced off the ground, suddenly raising his swords. Behind him, six combat technique manifestations instantly appeared, exploding into existence. His two swords carved through the air like an opening sea, unleashing one hundred and fifty percent of his combat power.

Luan Sheng Linyou's pupils constricted sharply, and his silver staff erupted with over seven hundred scriptures, transforming into a grand umbrella of scriptures.

Li Weiyi's two swords and the seven Phoenix-wing Moth Emperors formed nine streams of power. They forcefully and domineeringly shattered the grand umbrella of scriptures, sending Luan Sheng Linyou flying backward and crashing more than ten zhang away.

Crack! Crack!

The two swords cleaved two deep sword-energy grooves into the ground between them over these dozens of meters.

A strand of silver hair floated slowly down through the air.

Luan Sheng Linyou held his silver staff as scriptures flowed back to him like a tide. A fresh red bloodstain appeared on his face, typically as cold as a thousand-year-old iceberg. Fortunately, his battle attire was of extremely high grade and imbued with defensive runes; otherwise, those two swords would have severely wounded him.

Previously, he had disdained wearing defensive battle attire and using artifacts, believing he could navigate the Hidden Dragon Lantern Festival relying solely on his own abilities.

The cultivators who witnessed that scene were all stunned, left breathless.

Luan Sheng Linyou was actually repelled, and bleeding!

The last time Luan Sheng Linyou was injured, it was by Cang Li. But that was the result of a coordinated assault by all the Nine Li Tribe experts, and it came at a heavy price. If Cang Li and Li Jiufu had not fled, most of the Nine Li Tribe experts would likely have been annihilated by Luan Sheng Linyou.

As for Li Weiyi, he was an insect tamer himself.

The insects he raised were naturally part of his strength.