220: The Mother of the Moth and the True Immortal's "Food"

The Demon Realm, the edge of the Demon Source Sea.

The pink mist gradually dissipated, revealing the temporary spatial passage leading to the Spirit Realm.

"Fellow Daoist Han, are you really not considering staying for a few more days?"

Precious Flower stood beneath a flowering tree. By now, she had regained her former glory as an Ancestor, dressed in white as pure as snow, her temperament cold and noble. She looked at the departing Zhou Wannian with a flicker of complexity in her eyes.

"The overall situation in the Demon Realm is still undecided. Although Six Extremes is injured, her Foundation remains intact. If Fellow Daoist Han were to assist..."

"Senior."

Zhou Wannian stood at the entrance of the passage and interrupted her with a smile.

"The affairs of the Demon Realm are your own family matters. As a member of the Human Race, if I interfere too much, it will instead provoke public indignation among the other Ancestors."

"Furthermore..."

Zhou Wannian turned around, his gaze seemingly piercing through the boundary wall to look toward the distant Spirit Realm.

"There's a fire in my own backyard."

"That old monster sealed beneath the Human Race's territory seems to have caught the scent of the Demon Tribulation and wants to come out for some fresh air."

Hearing this, Precious Flower's expression tightened slightly.

"Are you talking about... the 'Mother of the Ming Worms'?"

"The traitor of the True Immortal Realm... sealed by the Ancient Immortals?"

"Exactly." A cold light flickered in Zhou Wannian's eyes. "Leaving that thing there is always a hazard. Since I'm already warmed up, I'll head back and deal with it conveniently."

"Take care." Precious Flower no longer tried to make him stay, but solemnly handed over a crystal-clear flower petal. "If there is a need, crush this flower. Though the Demon Realm is far, this mistress will surely arrive."

"Thank you."

Zhou Wannian put away the petal and, leading Senior Brother Xiang and the others, stepped into the spatial passage... The Spirit Realm, Feng Yuan Continent, deep within Tianyuan City.

This was not the defensive line of the city walls, but an ancient sealed hall located extremely deep underground in Tianyuan City.

At this moment, the hall was shaking violently.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

In the center of the hall, the massive Sealing Altar covered in golden Immortal talismans was now riddled with cracks. Plumes of nauseating dark green mist spewed out from the fissures.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak—"

Emerging along with the mist were endless swarms of strange white insects. These insects were not large, but their teeth were incredibly sharp—they could even devour the spiritual light of the sealing formation!

"Hold on! We must hold on!"

Zen Master Jin Yue (Middle Body Integration Stage) was drenched in sweat, leading a dozen Elders in desperately injecting magic power into the altar.

But it was useless.

"Crack!"

A corner of the altar completely shattered.

A terrifying will awakened from the underground abyss. That will carried a high-and-mighty indifference, belonging to a higher dimension of life—a True Immortal (Pseudo)!

"How many tens of thousands of years has it been..."

A sharp, piercing sound, like the rubbing of countless insects' wings, resonated in everyone's minds.

"This damned cage has finally broken!"

"Human Race? Spiritual Qi? And... delicious flesh and blood!"

Boom!

The ground exploded.

A terrifying monster, a thousand feet in size, with the upper body of a seductive woman and the bloated insectoid lower body, slowly crawled out. She was covered in a hard carapace, with twelve pairs of transparent wings on her back. Every flap of her wings sliced through the Void Realm.

[Mother of the Ming Worms].

"Immortal Rank?!"

Zen Master Jin Yue's face turned ashen, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

Although she had been sealed for countless years and her strength had dropped to around the Mahayana Stage, the suppression coming from her very essence of life made them unable to even conceive the thought of resistance.

"Are these the current jailers?"

The Mother of the Ming Worms' compound eyes swept over Zen Master Jin Yue and the others, her mouth splitting open to reveal a mouthful of fangs.

"Too weak."

"As an appetizer, you're barely qualified."

"Die."

She casually waved an arm.

Swish!

Countless transparent threads, nearly invisible to the naked eye, sliced forward. Those were Threads of the Law of Space!

"It's over..."

Zen Master Jin Yue closed his eyes.

However.

At the very moment those threads were about to slice everyone into pieces.

"Buzz—"

The Void Realm suddenly solidified.

A palm, appearing incredibly tiny before this gargantuan creature, manifested out of thin air.

The palm was dark gold, with the luster of Chaos flowing upon it.

"Snap."

The hand gently grasped.

Those indestructible spatial threads were actually caught by this hand like cotton candy, grabbed in a handful, and then... crushed!

"Who?!"

A look of shock appeared on the Mother of the Ming Worms' seductive face.

"You want to eat my Grand Elder?"

A green-robed figure slowly stepped out from the Void Realm.

Zhou Wannian (Han Li) stood with his hands behind his back, treading on the Void Realm, meeting the thousand-foot-tall Mother of the Ming Worms eye-to-eye.

Behind him, Senior Brother Xiang carried the giant crab puppet, while Nangong Wan and Purple Spirit stood on his left and right, their auras fully unleashed.

"Then you'll have to ask me if I agree first."

"You are..."

Zen Master Jin Yue opened his eyes and, seeing that familiar back, was so moved that old tears streamed down his face.

"Elder Han! You've returned! Have you achieved a Breakthrough?!"

He felt the unfathomable aura emanating from Zhou Wannian's body.

That was... the Body Integration Stage! And it was an aura even more terrifying than a typical Late Body Integration Stage!

"Yes, I just returned."

Zhou Wannian didn't even turn his head, merely staring at the Mother of the Ming Worms.

"A traitor of the True Immortal Realm?"

"Doesn't look like much, just like an oversized ant."

"Presumptuous!"

The Mother of the Ming Worms was furious. She was a noble True Immortal! Even if she had been banished to the Lower Realm, she was not someone a mere ant of the Lower Realm could humiliate!

"A little bug who just advanced to Body Integration dares to speak so arrogantly before this seat?!"

"Ten Thousand Insects Devouring the Body!"

She opened her mouth and let out a piercing screech.

Buzz, buzz, buzz—

From deep underground, billions of high-grade Stem-Borers surged out like a black tsunami, instantly flooding the entire underground space and lunging toward Zhou Wannian.

This insect sea tactic was enough to exhaust any Mahayana Stage Cultivator to death!

Facing this overwhelming sea of insects.

Zhou Wannian smiled.

He smiled very happily, even a bit... greedily.

"Playing with bugs?"

Zhou Wannian rubbed his chin.

"What a coincidence, I am also an insect Cultivator."

"And..."

Zhou Wannian slapped the spirit beast pouch at his waist with one hand.

"My insects might be slightly... more ferocious than yours."

"Come out, Jin'er."

"It's time to eat."

Buzz—!!!

An extremely brilliant golden light burst out from the spirit beast pouch.

There weren't billions of insects.

Only one.

An insect only the size of a fist, its entire body cast like gold, with purple star-patterns on its back.

[Gold Devouring Insect King · Ultimate Mature Form].

As soon as this tiny beetle appeared, the billions of Stem-Borers that were originally incredibly violent stopped their attack instantly, as if they had encountered their natural enemy. They trembled and even began to trample each other in their flight.

That was fear from the depths of their Bloodline!

The King of Ten Thousand Insects!

"This is... a Gold-Devouring Insect?!"

For the first time, a look of genuine terror appeared on the Mother of the Ming Worms' seductive face.

"Impossible! How could a mature Gold Devouring Insect King be born in this realm?!"

"A ferocious insect that even True Immortals fear..."

"Go."

Zhou Wannian didn't bother to explain, only pointing a finger gently.

"Squeak!"

The Gold Devouring Insect King let out an excited hiss and turned into a golden stream of light. It completely ignored the Mother of the Ming Worms' hard Immortal Rank carapace and instantly bored into her body like it was drilling through tofu.

"Aaaaaah—!!!"

In the next moment.

A shrill and agonizing scream echoed through the underground.

The Mother of the Ming Worms rolled and struggled frantically, her hands desperately clawing at her own body.

She felt that the golden insect was devouring everything inside her body!

Eating her flesh and blood!

Eating her Laws!

It was even eating her True Immortal Origin!

"No! Get out! Get out now!"

The Mother of the Ming Worms was in despair. Her spatial divine abilities, her deadly poison, her carapace—everything was useless before the all-devouring Gold-Devouring Insect!

"Senior Brother Xiang, don't just stand there."

Zhou Wannian turned to look at Xiang Zhili, who was watching the show from the side.

"This insect mother's shell is a top-grade material for refining defensive Magic Treasures. Don't let it go to waste."

"You got it!"

Xiang Zhili chuckled and controlled the giant crab puppet to charge forward.

"Crab Number One! Lightning Pincers! Rip off her wings for me!"

"Snap! Snap!"

The giant crab brandished its large pincers and, while the Mother of the Ming Worms was rolling in pain, precisely snipped off the twelve pairs of thin wings on her back.

"I'll help too."

Nangong Wan sacrificed the Vermilion Bird Ring, which turned into a towering divine fire, blocking the Mother of the Ming Worms' retreat.

This was a one-sided beatdown.

An "dissection" of an Immortal Rank monster by Lower Realm Cultivators... An incense stick's time later.

The screams gradually subsided.

The once invincible Mother of the Ming Worms was now nothing more than a massive empty shell.

*Burp~*

The Gold Devouring Insect King flew out of the insect mother's skull with satisfaction, its belly round and bulging, with a hint of immortal aura added to its golden luster.

It flew back to Zhou Wannian's shoulder and rubbed against him affectionately.

Zhou Wannian beckoned with his hand.

A crystal emitting a milky-white halo flew out from the insect mother's corpse.

[immortal yuan stone] (True Immortal Origin Crystal).

"Good stuff."

A flash of joy crossed Zhou Wannian's eyes.

"With this, I can attempt to break through to the Middle Body Integration Stage, and even prepare for the Mahayana Stage."

He turned around and looked at Zen Master Jin Yue and the others, who were completely petrified.

"Elder Jin."

"The hazard has been removed."

"However, the environment down here is quite good, with abundant insect energy."

Zhou Wannian pointed at the stem-borer corpses strewn across the ground.

"I plan to build a branch base here specifically for raising insects."

"Any objections?"

Zen Master Jin Yue swallowed hard and, looking at the wretched Immortal Rank corpse, shook his head like a rattle.

"No objections! Absolutely no objections!"

"Elder Han can do whatever he pleases!"

"As long as you are happy!"