38: Taicang Realm

After fleecing Leng Yuechan, Feng Qiqi, and Kong Ming, Lin Xuan looked at the pile of glittering treasures in the system's item bar—the Immortal Slaying Sword Array Diagram, Nanming Separating Fire, and the Eight Treasures Merit Pool projection—his mouth was practically splitting to the back of his head. His Fortune Points also shot up a notch; although still far from the astronomical number of five million, he at least saw a glimmer of hope.

"Next, Qing Yao!" Lin Xuan's gaze shifted to his eldest disciple. Yun Qingyao had been stuck at half-step Void Refinement for some time, and the potential of her Moon Soul Saint Body hadn't been fully excavated. According to the system scan, she needed either a massive amount of Moon Essence energy or a fierce battle.

"Fighting is easy, but finding an opponent who can make her go all out isn't," Lin Xuan mused, stroking his chin. In a place like the Xuanhuang World, Soul Transformation was the peak, not enough for her to even bother with a single sword strike. He needed to find a higher-level dungeon!

"System! Scan for any medium-sized worlds similar to the Small Immortal Realm nearby? More spiritual energy, more experts!" Lin Xuan ordered in his mind.

Ding! Scanning in progress.

Target found: Tai Cang World!

Plane Level: Middle Thousand World

Status: Abundant spiritual energy, numerous Dao lineages (Sword Cultivators, Body Cultivators, Spell Cultivators, Beast Tamers, etc.), possesses a Tai Yin Star.

Current Event: Suspected large-scale insect plague outbreak, World-Devouring Insects variant: Spirit-Devouring Locusts! World barrier unstable!

Spatial Coordinates: Locked!

"Tai Cang World? Insect plague? And a big moon?" Lin Xuan's eyes lit up. "That's the one! Qing Yao! Qi Qi! Come with me! I'll take you to kill insects... uh, to gain experience!"

Yun Qingyao's serene face showed no emotion, she merely stood silently behind Lin Xuan. Feng Qiqi, however, excitedly rubbed her fists: "Yay! More new insects to burn!"

"Sky-Rending! Tai Cang World, let's go!" Lin Xuan waved his hand.

"Roar! As you command!"

Tai Cang World, Northern Region, Myriad Spirits Wasteland.

The scene here was even more tragic than Lin Xuan had anticipated. What should have been a lush wasteland, teeming with spiritual beasts, was now as bald as a shaven head! The ground was bare, revealing cracked yellowish-brown soil; all vegetation, even the grass roots, had been gnawed away! The air was filled with a strong earthy smell and the stench of insect excrement.

The sky was even more obscured! Endless, fist-sized, yellowish-brown locusts! Their wings vibrated at high speed, emitting a teeth-grinding buzzing sound, like a thick yellow cloud covering the sky! Wherever they passed, even the thin spiritual energy in the air was swallowed and absorbed by their opening and closing mouthparts! These were the mutated World-Devouring Insects, the Spirit-Devouring Locusts! They could not only devour physical entities but also spiritual energy!

On the wasteland, several teams composed of cultivators from different sects were relying on a few dilapidated ancient city ruins, forming arrays, and strenuously resisting the onslaught of the locust army. Sword lights, spells, and talismans continuously lit up, harvesting large swaths of locusts, but more locusts fearlessly swarmed forward, frantically gnawing at the light shields of the defensive arrays, making dense cracking sounds. The light shields were on the verge of collapsing, and the cultivators all looked pale, their spiritual energy greatly depleted.

"Hold on! All of you, hold on! Reinforcements will arrive soon!" A middle-aged cultivator in a green Daoist robe, at the early stage of Soul Transformation, shouted hoarsely, his hand seals continuously moving, maintaining the main array core.

"Sect Master! The array's energy is almost depleted! These damned things are endless!" A Nascent Soul elder next to him shouted in despair.

Just as the defense line was about to collapse!

"Buzz!"

A clear sword cry, cold as the moon, seemingly capable of freezing souls, suddenly resounded throughout the entire wasteland!

Immediately following, a brilliant, moon-white beam of light, like a silver river descending from the Nine Heavens, fiercely blasted into the sky-obscuring cloud of locusts!

Boom—!

Bone-chilling Moon Essence energy erupted instantly! Tens of thousands of Spirit-Devouring Locusts were frozen into ice lumps before they could even let out a scream, falling from the sky like hail! The locust cloud in that area was instantly cleared out, revealing the hazy gray sky behind!

"Reinforcements! It's reinforcements!" The cultivators below were first stunned, then burst into thunderous cheers!

It was Yun Qingyao who made the move! She floated high in the sky, her moon-white long dress fluttering without wind, surrounded by countless Moon Essence ice crystal swords, like a Moon Palace fairy descending to the mortal world, her serene gaze scanning the surging insect tide below.

"Wow! Sister Qing Yao is so cool!" Feng Qiqi also arrived, her small face full of admiration as she watched Yun Qingyao clear the field with a single sword strike. Then, scorching white Nirvana True Flame flickered on her fingertips, "Watch me! Barbecue feast!"

Whoosh!

A scorching white fire dragon roared out, charging into another locust cloud! The terrifying high temperature instantly incinerated countless locusts into ashes! The scent of burnt protein filled the air?

With the two Void Refinement powerhouses making their move, it was like a hot knife through butter! The previously precarious defense line's pressure drastically reduced! The cultivators' morale greatly boosted!

Lin Xuan didn't rush to make a move. He stood with his arms crossed, riding Sky-Rending, watching the show from the edge of the battlefield. His Law-Breaking Sword Eyes were like an invisible radar, scanning the entire battlefield. Soon, he noticed something was off.

These Spirit-Devouring Locusts seemed chaotic, but their attack on those few cultivator strongholds was significantly more intense! Especially on one ancient city ruin that looked the most dilapidated but was in a crucial position! Moreover, he vaguely felt that deep within the insect tide, there seemed to be an extremely subtle intention, full of violence and destruction, secretly guiding the insect swarm!

"Asura Clan?" Lin Xuan's eyes narrowed. This familiar scent of destruction, it couldn't be wrong! There was indeed a hidden hand behind the insect plague!

"Qing Yao! Qi Qi! There's something commanding the insect swarm from deep within! Bring it out for me!" Lin Xuan directly transmitted his voice.

Yun Qingyao and Feng Qiqi nodded simultaneously. Yun Qingyao's Moon Essence Sword Domain unfolded, freezing all locusts in its path! Feng Qiqi transformed into a flame storm, burning a scorched path! The two were like two sharp daggers, piercing directly into the core of the insect tide!

Soon after the two delved into the insect tide!

"Hiss-ang!"

A sharp, ear-piercing hiss, full of anger and destructive aura, suddenly erupted from the deepest part of the insect tide! A terrifying pressure, hundreds of times stronger than ordinary locusts and carrying the unique violent aura of the Asura Clan, descended abruptly!

A dark-golden locust king, the size of a small mountain, suddenly burst out! It had three pairs of hideous, metal-like wings on its back, its mouthparts were like a giant pulverizer, and its compound eyes were blood-red! Even stranger, on its massive head, an asura magic crystal, emitting a dense black-red destructive energy, was embedded! It was this magic crystal that made its aura reach the peak of the mid-Void Refinement stage! Far exceeding ordinary insect kings!

"Asura Insect King!" Lin Xuan's eyes were cold. As expected, the Asura Clan was behind this! They were using magic crystals to forcibly catalyze and control the insect king, creating disaster!

The dark-golden insect king roared, its huge mouthparts spewing a viscous torrent of dark-green corrosive venom mixed with Asura demonic energy, fiercely crashing towards Yun Qingyao, who was at the forefront! At the same time, its three pairs of metallic wings vibrated wildly, emitting a soul-tearing shriek!

Yun Qingyao's serene face showed no fluctuation. Her Moon Essence Sword Domain instantly contracted, condensing into a giant ice crystal shield in front of her!

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!

The torrent of corrosive venom crashed onto the ice shield, making a harsh sound. The ice shield trembled violently, its surface rapidly corroding into pits! The soul-tearing shriek made Yun Qingyao frown slightly.

"Sister Qing Yao, I'm coming!" Feng Qiqi shouted, her Nirvana True Flame transforming into a giant fiery phoenix phantom, fiercely crashing into the dark-golden insect king's flank!

Boom! Flames exploded! The insect king let out a pained roar, its hard dark-golden carapace was burned red, but it wasn't severely injured! It suddenly flicked its tail, and a hideous insect tail covered in barbs, like a steel whip, swept towards Feng Qiqi with a whooshing sound!

Feng Qiqi dodged with a flame teleportation, her small face solemn: "Such a hard shell!"

Seeing Yun Qingyao's ice shield about to be corroded through by the venom!

"Roar! Master! Tiger Lord is going to help!" Sky-Rending was eager to try.

"No need!" Lin Xuan's eyes sharpened. At the center of his brows, where a faint golden mark usually lay hidden, a dazzling golden light suddenly shone!

Buzz!

A vertical eye, composed purely of golden light, majestic and sacred, seemingly capable of piercing through the essence of all worlds, slowly opened between Lin Xuan's brows! Law-Breaking Chaos Eyes! A brand new talent born after integrating the origin of the Law-Breaking Sword Eyes, the Chaos Sword Body, the Chaos Demonic Embryo, and a trace of the power of the Life Godhead!

As the vertical eye opened and closed, golden light swept across the battlefield!

In an instant!

The seemingly chaotic and disorderly insect tide became incredibly clear in Lin Xuan's eyes! The movement trajectory of every single locust, its energy flow, and even the fragile and chaotic spiritual connection points forcibly injected into them by the asura magic crystal, were all as clear as lines on his palm!

The corrosive venom torrent spewed by the dark-golden insect king, its energy composition, and its corrosive law nodes, were instantly analyzed!

The soul-tearing shriek's sound waves, their frequency, and vibration weaknesses, were completely exposed!

Even the operating rules and energy core of the asura magic crystal on the insect king's head were clearly visible!

"Found you!" Lin Xuan's lips curved into a cold arc. He pointed his fingers like a sword, a wisp of hazy, supremely condensed Chaos Sword Qi flickering at his fingertip! The golden light from the vertical eye between his brows was like a precise aiming scope, locking firmly onto the most core energy node of the asura magic crystal on the insect king's head!

"Go!"

Whoosh!

The Chaos Sword Qi shot out silently! Its speed was so fast it surpassed thought! Its trajectory was even more unpredictable, as if it pierced through the obstruction of space!

Pfft!

A very faint muffled sound!

The Chaos Sword Qi, like a red-hot steel needle precisely piercing tofu! It ignored the insect king's hard dark-golden carapace and protective demonic energy, directly hitting the most core and weakest energy node of the asura magic crystal!

Crack!

A crisp cracking sound rang out!

The asura magic crystal, emitting a dense aura of destruction, was instantly covered in spiderweb-like cracks on its surface! The violent destructive energy within it, like a punctured balloon, frantically leaked and backfired!

"Hiss!" The dark-golden insect king let out an unprecedented, shrill and distorted shriek! Its massive body convulsed and twisted wildly! The shattered magic crystal on its head erupted with dazzling black-red light, like an out-of-control bomb!

Rumble!

A violent explosion erupted centered on the dark-golden insect king! Turbulent Asura demonic energy mixed with the insect king's flesh and blood fragments, forming a destructive shockwave that swept outwards! Tens of thousands of Spirit-Devouring Locusts nearby were instantly torn to shreds!

Yun Qingyao and Feng Qiqi were pulled back by Lin Xuan's spatial power just before the explosion, completely unharmed.

After the explosion, only a giant deep pit remained. The insect king's body was completely gone, only a few pieces of dark-golden shattered carapace and the completely shattered, dull asura magic crystal remains, proving its former existence.

The insect tide, having lost its core command, instantly fell into chaos! Like headless flies, they crashed around chaotically, their attacks becoming disorganized!

The pressure on the cultivators at the strongholds below greatly reduced, and they seized the opportunity to counterattack, routing the locusts!

"Master, Master, your glabella..." Feng Qiqi pointed at the vertical eye between Lin Xuan's brows, which was slowly closing, leaving only a faint golden mark, her small mouth agape into an 'O' shape.

Yun Qingyao's serene eyes also flashed with a hint of shock. The angle of that sword qi just now, its precision in timing, and its thorough destruction, were simply incredible! Especially the pressure emanating from the opening and closing of that golden eye between his brows, it made even her feel a tremor in her heart!

"A small trick." Lin Xuan rubbed his glabella, feeling a bit swollen. These Law-Breaking Chaos Eyes were good to use, but the consumption was a bit high, so they couldn't be used frequently. He looked at the chaotic battlefield, his gaze sweeping over the scattered insect swarms and the cheering cultivators below, finally resting on the shattered asura magic crystal.

"The Asura Clan has stretched its reach quite far." Lin Xuan's eyes were cold. "Qing Yao, Qi Qi, I'll leave this place to you. Clean up the insects, and while you're at it, ask the people below what's going on with this insect plague and how deeply the Asura Clan has infiltrated."

"Yes, Master!" Yun Qingyao and Feng Qiqi acknowledged the order.

Lin Xuan, meanwhile, rode Sky-Rending, starting to wander through the chaotic and scattered insect tide. His Law-Breaking Sword Eyes scanned, looking for any missed treasures or clues.

"Roar? Master! There's something underground!" Sky-Rending suddenly stopped, his tiger claws pawing at the ground, which was a mess of insect blood and explosions. His crimson-gold tiger eyes stared downwards, "Such strong earth elemental fluctuations! And a hint of turtle smell?"

Lin Xuan also sensed it. His Law-Breaking Sword Eyes pierced through the soil layer, only to see that hundreds of meters below the edge of the explosion pit, a huge underground cave constructed from some kind of jade stone was hidden! In the center of the cave, a turtle was lying?

The turtle was extremely massive, its shell like a giant mountain covered with profound runes, its entire body exhibiting a warm, yellowish-brown luster. It seemed to be in a deep sleep, its aura long and heavy, carrying an ancient and vast flavor. Even more peculiar, its huge shell was actually embedded with countless faintly glowing star stones, subtly forming a star map?

Ding! Special target found!

Nine Nether Mysterious Turtle · Juvenile Stage

Status: Deep slumber

Talent: SSS-rank · Bearing the Azure Nether! SS-rank · Son of the Earth!

Abilities: Unparalleled defense (difficult to break for those of the same rank), bearing stars, suppressing earth veins, divining fortune and misfortune!

Slow growth, long lifespan

Value: Extremely high, living star map! Miraculous for spatial positioning and divination! Best choice for a sect's mountain guardian beast!

Warning: Its sleeping place is the core of the Tai Cang World's Northern Region earth veins! Forcibly awakening or moving it may cause earth vein tremors!

Nine Nether Mysterious Turtle? Bearing the Azure Nether? Living star map?

Lin Xuan looked at the system prompt, then at the giant turtle sleeping like a dead pig underground, his eyes wide! This thing... it was practically the ultimate core of a sect's mountain-protecting array! And it could be used as a living GPS! A sharp tool for finding Immortal Realm Passages!

"I'm rich! I've hit the jackpot this time!" Lin Xuan was so happy he almost jumped off Sky-Rending's back. "Sky-Rending! Don't wake it up! We need to figure out a way to pack it up, shell and all, and take it home!"

He stared at the sleeping giant turtle underground, then looked at his two disciples who were happily killing insects in the distance, and then thought of the three princesses and the dragon egg soaking in the spiritual spring at home.

"With a big family and a big business, I need to get a sturdier turtle shell to put it in!" Lin Xuan stroked his chin, looking at the Nine Nether Mysterious Turtle underground, revealing a benevolent smile that said, "Little turtle, come with big brother, there's meat to eat."