Sage of Humanity-Chapter 475 - 473

"The entrance is actually a dried-up well. Once we enter, we can collapse it to block the exit," someone suggested.

"Too dangerous, if it goes wrong, we might all be buried inside," another expressed concern.

"Why not lure them away?"

"That might work, but these demon beasts are guarding the insect hive, so it would probably be hard to draw them away. Even if we could lure some, it's not possible to lure them all."

"We still have to try," said someone else.

"Who will go?"

Everyone looked around at each other, nobody spoke up, not because leading the demon beasts away was extremely dangerous. There were many demon beasts here, but not more than at Two Worlds City, and everyone had fought their way out of Two Worlds City, so they weren't afraid of the chase from the demon beasts here.

It was just that if someone were responsible for leading away the demon beasts, they wouldn't be able to participate in the subsequent destruction of the insect hive.

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For the Nine Provinces cultivators, this was a golden opportunity to earn battle merit. If they could really destroy the insect hive here and thereby resolve the crisis in the Ten Thousand Beasts Domain, there would certainly be a lot of merits to be gained.

A moment later, everyone looked towards Lu Ye, the implication was clear.

Lu Ye understood what they were thinking, turned to the Great Elder, "Great Elder, you all try your best to lead the demon beasts away!"

The Great Elder responded, "Alright, but I need to remain with the Young Master."

There were six people left from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect, excluding the Great Elder, that left five. Although having more people would be better for leading the demon beasts away, the difference between five and six people wasn't significant.

Moreover, with the Great Elder, a Cloud River Level 9 cultivator, staying by Lu Ye's side, he could provide a certain degree of protection.

Lu Ye immediately agreed, "No problem."

The old lady said, "Young Master, be careful."

With that, she led a few cultivators from the Ten Thousand Beasts Sect downwards. Soon, there were intense fluctuations of spirit force and booming sounds below, and everyone looked down to see several Ten Thousand Beasts Sect cultivators transforming into streaks of light, sweeping across the sky above the Black Tortoise Sect ruins, repeatedly making moves.

Soon, a large group of densely packed demon beasts followed behind these few people. The cultivators didn't rush to escape but instead circled above the Black Tortoise Sect a few times before leading the beast horde away into the distance.

The number of demon beasts gathered around the Black Tortoise Sect was instantly cut by half.

The situation was not too optimistic, but it was within expectations.

Now, splitting forces again was not very feasible. There were still many demon beasts inside the insect hive. If they split their forces to lure away the demon beasts on the surface, then only a few people entering the insect hive would be left, making it hard to accomplish much.

"Fellow Daoist Ye, you lead the way!" Zhou Hai said.

Without a word, Lu Ye transformed into a streak of light and swooped downward, the others closely followed.

The fluctuations of spirit force soon drew the attention of the demon beasts. A large group of flying bird-like demon beasts actively came to meet them. Those following Lu Ye immediately acted together; their magic and weapon control techniques wrapped in a lethal aura, slammed into the beast horde, blasting a path through it.

They plunged straight down, and a dried-up well came into view. Lu Ye was the first to descend into it, followed closely by the Great Elder who always protected him, then Shen Xiaomao and Lan Ziyi, followed by Xia Qianqian and her gathered allies, with two physique cultivators at the rear.

As they fell, the two physique cultivators at the rear continuously struck the surrounding well walls. When the group's figures finally landed, what followed were massive falling rocks.

The well was not too deep, measuring less than ten Zhang. The moment Lu Ye landed at the bottom of the well, Amber leaped down from his shoulder and dashed to one side; Lu Ye hurriedly followed.

Yiyi had previously explored the underground passage, and with her secret guidance, Amber would not lose her way.

The ongoing booming sounds behind them were incessant; the well walls were completely collapsed. The entrance through which everyone had entered was now sealed, so they no longer needed to worry about being pursued and attacked from behind.

However, such actions seemed to have alarmed the demon beasts underground, as roars from the beasts continuously emerged from all directions, echoing the roars from the beasts on the surface.

The underground passage was not a single path, but rather a complex network of bending and branching paths. Without Yiyi's secret guidance, even if the group had entered this place, finding the location of the insect hive would have taken a lot of effort.

Periodically, demon beasts attacked from the branch paths, their crimson eyes particularly visible in the darkness.

With the Great Elder guarding his side, given his Cloud River Level 9 cultivation, very few demon beasts could come within three Zhang of Lu Ye. Any that did were immediately annihilated by the Great Elder's punches.

Honestly, having such a loyal Cloud River Level 9 cultivator as a protector provided a great sense of security.

The journey deeper was smooth to the extreme.

Among the team, there were not only the Great Elder with Cloud River Level 9 cultivation but also Xia Qianqian, Pang Dahai, and Zhou Hai. Especially Zhou Hai, a sword cultivator, who was highly proficient in the Sword Control Technique. Often it was only a flash of sword light, and a demon beast would be slain. With Lu Ye's eyesight and cultivation level, he couldn't even see how Zhou Hai made his moves.

The disparity in cultivation level was after all too great, especially since sword cultivators were known throughout the world for their killing techniques.

Going straight a hundred Zhang underground, the area suddenly opened up, a huge chamber came into everyone's view.

The insect hive was there!

It was very similar to the insect hives Lu Ye had seen in the Spirit Stream battlefield. This place was probably an underground cavern which now was completely encased by a layer of flesh walls. Those flesh walls had many swollen flesh nodes that continuously wriggled as if some creatures were hiding inside them, possibly ready to burst out at any time.

The group stood on the flesh wall, feeling as if they were in the stomach of a living creature, the air filled with a pungent odor.

In the darkness, pairs of crimson eyes opened, dense like fireflies.

Inside the insect hive, a large number of demon beasts gathered to protect it.

After a brief standoff, the roar of the beasts suddenly erupted, and with their roars, the demon beasts guarding this place launched an attack on Lu Ye and his uninvited group.

The sword light covered the sky and illuminated the entire insect hive, along with the violent glows of magic and spells and weapon control.

Although it was their first collaboration, the coordination of the Cloud River Realm cultivators was incomparable to those from the Spirit Stream Realm. Two physique cultivators immediately teamed up to stand in front of everyone, their blood Qi boiling and surging. Each summoned a spirit artifact big shield to withstand the frenzied attack of the demon beasts.

Combat cultivators were behind, and magic cultivators even further behind, and the fierce battle ensued without cessation.

One by one, the attacking demon beasts were slain, and the smell of blood began to permeate. The demon beasts' frenzied attacks made the big shields of the two physique cultivators flicker wildly, and their defensive line was momentarily breached.

Having endured the most challenging early stage, as the number of demon beasts decreased, the pressure on everyone gradually lessened until they completely stabilized their formation.

Though people were injured from time to time within the team, overall, there was no worry for their lives.

With hope in sight, they fought the enemies with increased vigor.

After half a Shichen later, every demon beast within the insect hive had been killed, leaving the ground around them piled high with their bodies.

"Something's not right!" Xia Qianqian suddenly spoke up.

"I also feel something is a bit off!" Pang Dahai gasped heavily, tossing an Origin Spirit Pill into his mouth as he spoke.

Zhou Hai, though silent, had a sword light floating beside him that never extinguished, showing he was always on guard.

Even the Great Elder continued to stay close to Lu Ye, not leaving his side, his expression tense.

Several Cloud River Level 9 cultivators also noticed something unusual.

Everything had been too smooth.

Since they had ventured underground and fought their way into this insect hive, killing every demon beast until none was left, there were some twists, but overall, it was too smooth.

The excessive smoothness stirred a sense of unease among them, as if something had gone unnoticed.

"The way back is cut off!" Lu Ye said.

The group quickly turned to look, only to discover that the entrance they had come through was gone, completely enveloped by the omnipresent flesh walls.

Nobody had noticed when the exit was cut off; everyone had been focusing intensely on fighting the enemy and hadn't paid attention to the entrance behind them.

At this moment, the insect hive could be considered completely sealed off.

Zhou Hai's sword light flashed, and a flying sword slashed toward the location of the entrance, but its sharp sword light only managed to break the surface of the flesh wall, cutting a notch but not completely through. As the sword light retracted, the flesh wall quickly wriggled, and in the blink of an eye, it was restored to its original state.

Seeing this, everyone's expression turned grave. This insect hive was different from any other they had encountered before.

The Insect Race they faced this time in the Ten Thousand Beasts Domain was also unlike any they had seen before.

If the flesh walls of this insect hive had such powerful regenerative and protective capabilities, how would they be able to destroy it?

"I have another question," Pang Dahai stepped forward to a spot and stomped on a flesh sac below, "If the insects in this world's Insect Plague are tiny like cicadas, then what's inside these flesh sacs?"

In other insect hives, flesh sacs incubate large-bodied members of the Insect Race, obviously, this world's insect nests didn't require such large flesh sacs.

Moreover, since the beginning, these flesh sacs had been constantly wriggling, as if something alive was about to break out from inside.

Zhou Hai drew his sword and stepped toward the center of the insect hive: "No matter what it is, let's destroy the core of this hive first!"

Every insect hive has its core, where a huge flesh sac resides, containing a vitality core formed by the insect hive absorbing various energies. Destroying this core would deprive the hive of its ability to incubate the Insect Race.

This hive naturally had a core, but until now, everyone had been obstructed by the demon beasts and hadn't been able to get close.

Zhou Hai stepped up to the towering flesh sac at the center, wiping his longsword, which immediately lit up with a dazzling light.

As his spirit force surged, his longsword turned into a stunning sword flash, slashing toward the core.

This all-out strike from him couldn't smoothly cut down because just as the longsword was about to strike, a beast claw suddenly reached out from the core flesh sac, grabbing Zhou Hai's sword. The claw was tougher than refined iron. The longsword striking it produced a metallic ding, sparks flying, showing its solidness.

Zhou Hai's eyes narrowed.

The group, witnessing this scene, was equally shocked by this sudden development; no one had expected that there would be a living creature inside the core flesh sac.