Translator: Truth Editor : Dhael Ligerkeys “The entrance is a well, right? We can collapse the entrance after we’ve gone inside,” Someone suggested. “That’s too dangerous. Worst case scenario, we would be burying ourselves,” Another cultivator disagreed. “Should we try luring the Spirit Beasts away?” “That could work, but I doubt it’ll be easy since the reason they’re here is to guard the insectoid nest. At best, we can only lure away some of them.” “It’s better than nothing.” “Who will do it?” For a time, no one said a thing. It wasn’t that the task was dangerous—the Spirit Beasts were numerous, but not even the millions and millions besieging Bilandia were able to stop them from breaking out—but those responsible for luring the Spirit Beasts away would not be participating in the operation to destroy the insectoid nest. To the Jiu Zhou cultivators, this was a golden opportunity to earn a ton of battle points. If they succeeded in destroying the insectoid nest and consequently saving the Myriad Beasts Domain, they would surely be rewarded handsomely. A while later, every Jiu Zhou cultivator in the group turned to look at Lu Ye. Their meaning was as plain as day. Without waiting for someone to speak up, Lu Ye looked at the Great Elder and said, “Great Elder, I leave it to you and our people to lure away the Spirit Beasts!” He agreed. “Sure. I’ll be accompanying you though, Young Master.” The Myriad Beasts Sect only had six people left, and losing the Great Elder would reduce that number to five. While a task like this could benefit from having greater numbers, losing one person didn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things. Moreover, the Great Elder was a Ninth-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator. At the very least, he could protect Lu Ye to a certain extent. Lu Ye agreed immediately. “No problem.” The old woman said, “Take care, Young Master,” before descending toward the ground. It wasn’t long before they started blasting away at the Spirit Beasts and doing their best to lure the Spirit Beasts to them. As expected, the group of five was quickly chased by a horde of Spirit Beasts. For maximum effect, they circled around the headquarters a few times before finally making their escape. The number of Spirit Beasts guarding the Black Tortoise Sect was immediately reduced by half. This wasn’t ideal or even a good outcome per se, but it was the outcome they had expected. Theoretically, they could dispatch a couple more people to lure away the Spirit Beasts, but that would be folly because there were plenty of Spirit Beasts in the insectoid nest as well. If they did that, there was a high chance the remaining group would not be strong enough to destroy the insectoid nest. “Please lead the way, Fellow Cultivator Ye!” Zhou Hai said. Without a word, Lu Ye descended and flew straight toward the well. Their auras quickly caught the attention of the remaining Spirit Beasts. Large groups of avian Spirit Beasts began swarming them from all sides. Behind Lu Ye, the Great Elder and the Jiu Zhou cultivators launched their spells and flying weapons in response. They were able to blast a hole through the horde and make it all the way to the well. Lu Ye was the first to enter the well, followed by the Great Elder, Kitty Shen, Lan Ziyi, Xia Qianqian, and finally everyone else. The body-tempering cultivators were the last to enter. After everyone was inside the wall, the two body-tempering cultivators covering their rear immediately attacked the steening around them. It wasn’t long before rocks began falling from above. The well was less than thirty meters deep. The second Lu Ye landed on the floor, Amber immediately jumped off his shoulder and ran into a hidden passage. Lu Ye hurriedly followed behind it. Yi Yi had scouted the underground passage beforehand. With her guidance, there was no chance that Amber would get lost. Meanwhile, the body-tempering cultivators had finally collapsed the steening and sealed off the entrance. For now, they would not need to worry about pursuers. The commotion had alerted the Spirit Beasts lurking in the underground, however. They could hear their roars mingling with those who were stuck on the surface for now. The winding passage they were using was not the only passage in the underground as a matter of course. There seemed to be an infinite amount of forks as well. Without Yi Yi’s guidance, it would’ve taken them hours, if not days to make it to the insectoid nest. By then, it would already be too late. From time to time, Spirit Beasts would emerge from a side passage and attempt to kill them all. Their scarlet eyes were especially conspicuous in the darkness. Although Lu Ye was leading the way, he wasn’t worried for his safety because the Great Elder was protecting him. With his cultivation level, no one could get within ten meters of Lu Ye without being annihilated in one punch. He could not deny it felt great to be protected by a Ninth-Order Cloud River Realm cultivator who was absolutely loyal to him. The group did not encounter any difficulties along the way because the Great Elder wasn’t the only Ninth-Order cultivator in the group. Xia Qianqian, Pang Dahai and Zhou Hai were all Ninth-Order cultivators, and Zhou Hai in particular was a sword cultivator. Not only could he slay most Spirit Beasts in one strike, he was so fast that even Lu Ye could not see his movements. The gap between their cultivation levels was just too large, not to mention that sword cultivators were famed for their killing power. When they were over three hundred meters below the surface, the path in front of them suddenly widened into a massive chamber. They had finally arrived at the insectoid nest. The insectoid nest looked identical to the one Lu Ye had seen at the Spirit Creek Battlefield. It looked like they were inside a karst cave, though the interior was completely covered by a layer of flesh. Not only were the walls covered in bulging flesh sacs, these wriggled from time to time as if there was something inside them. They would not be surprised if something actually burst out of the sacs and attacked them. It felt disgusting to walk on the flesh. The air was filled with an acrid stench that reminded them of a living stomach. It was at this moment countless pairs of scarlet pupils appeared from behind the darkness. There were so many of them that one could mistake them for a cavern of fireflies. It should not need to be said, but the insectoid nest was guarded by a massive number of Spirit Beasts. There was a brief standoff before one Spirit Beast let out a mighty roar. Then, every Spirit Beast in the area charged at Lu Ye’s group. Spells and flying weapons illuminated the cave. Zhou Hai’s swords were especially bright. Although this was the first time they fought alongside one another, their teamwork still far exceeded that of a group of Spirit Creek Realm cultivators. The two body-tempering cultivators immediately occupied the frontlines and summoned their Shield Spirit Artifacts. While cycling their vitality and Spiritual Power, they did everything in their power to hold back the tide of Spirit Beasts. The combat cultivators positioned themselves at the center of the formation, and the spell cultivators went at the rear. The start of the battle was the hardest to endure. The Spirit Beasts were still at their full strength as they battered the two body-tempering cultivators from multiple directions, causing their shields to flash wildly. Over time, the cave became filled with blood stench, and the horde grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, they reached a point where the Spirit Beasts could no longer threaten their formation in the slightest. Some members of the group were injured during the battle, but no one was ever in danger of dying. The end was so close they could almost taste it. They worked even harder to kill the Spirit Beasts. An hour later, they finally took out every Spirit Beast in the insectoid nest. Carcasses piled like little hills all over the place. Suddenly, Xia Qianqian said, “Something isn’t right about this!” “I agree!” Pang Dahai panted while tossing a Vital Spirit Pill into his mouth. Zhou Hai was silent, but the fact that his aura remained strong proved that he was on full alert. Even the Great Elder was sticking to Lu Ye’s side with a tight expression on his face. All the Ninth-Order cultivators sensed that something was amiss. This was supposed to be the battle that decided it all, but they had barely encountered any difficulties at all. Sure, there were some harrowing moments here and there, but it was still nothing compared to their breakout from Bilandia. Something fishy was going on here. It was at this moment Lu Ye declared, “Our exit is blocked!” The group hurriedly turned around and found exactly that. The all-pervading flesh wall had blocked the exit completely before they knew it. No one knew when it happened. After all, they were all busy killing the enemies in front of them. This meant that the insectoid nest was completely sealed. Zhou Hai tried attacking the flesh wall with his sword, but he only managed to cut through the surface layer. When the light faded, they saw the wall of flesh wriggling and restoring itself to pristine condition in the blink of an eye. Everyone’s faces were severe and grim-looking. At this point, it was clear that this insectoid nest wasn’t quite the same as the one they were familiar with. Forget the Myriad Beasts Domain, even they had never encountered this type of insectoid nest before. The flesh wall wasn’t just tough enough to block a Ninth-Order sword cultivator’s slash, it recovered so fast that any attempt to destroy it would just be a waste of time. What should they do? “I have another question,” Pang Dahai walked up to a flesh sac and stepped on it. “The insectoids in this world are shaped like tiny cicadas, right? If that’s true, then what the hell are inside these flesh sacs?” Usually, this type of flesh sac was used to breed large insectoids. However, the insectoids of this world obviously didn’t need them. Moreover, these flesh sacs had been wriggling from the moment they laid eyes on them. It looked like whatever was inside the flesh sacs could burst out at any moment. Zhou Hai gripped his sword and walked toward the center of the nest. “It doesn’t matter what they are. The problem will be solved once we destroy the core of the nest!” Every insectoid nest had a core called the Nucleus of Life. It was a massive flesh sac where all of the nest’s energy was gathered. If the Nucleus of Life was destroyed, then the nest would lose the ability to breed more insectoids. This insectoid nest obviously had a Nucleus of Life as well. They just couldn’t get close until now because of the Spirit Beasts. Zhou Hai walked up to the massive flesh sac at the center of the nest. His sword shone like the sun when he wiped a pair of fingers across the blade. He then channeled all of his Spiritual Power and swung his sword straight down on the core. He didn’t manage to cut the core in half, not because it was too resilient, but because a claw abruptly burst out of the flesh sac and caught his blade in mid-swing. The fact that the claw had managed to stop his full-powered slash proved just how tough it was. Zhou Hai’s pupils contracted into needles. The rest of the group were stunned by this turn of events as well. No one thought that the Nucleus of Life would be hiding a living being.