One hour later, the site of the Righteous Blood Sect, which had just regained a lot of energy, suddenly quieted down as all the Disciples in name and independent cultivators rushed to the Insect Valley, ten miles away.
Although there was no one left to guard the site, there was no need to worry about it being occupied by cultivators from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge, as Little Gray was still there. With it present, no cultivator from Ten Thousand Demons Ridge would dare to come; that would be akin to seeking death.
Moreover, with the Insect Plague catastrophe sweeping across the entire Spirit Stream battlefield at the moment, it was unlikely that any sect had the spare energy to stir up trouble during such times.
Ten miles away, in the Insect Valley, a battle had already erupted.
Compared to one hour before, the number of insects in the valley had increased. The main reason the Insect Plague was considered a catastrophe was the rapid reproduction and growth rate of the Insect Race. Given enough energy, they could transform into an army capable of annihilating everything in an exceedingly short amount of time.
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Therefore, to defeat the Insect Plague, the early stage was critical. It was necessary to curb the number of insects and not allow them to grow.
Seven hundred cultivators formed teams amounting to one hundred squads in total. Under the leadership of their respective squad leaders, they dispersed to all parts of the Insect Valley, slaughtering the insects and steadily advancing towards the insect cave.
The insects that crawled out were not very strong. Compared to cultivators, most of them were only equivalent to Level 1 or 2 of the Spirit Stream, and a few were equal to Level 3. Their size wasn’t very large either, unlike the insects Lu Ye encountered in the Mirage Realm, many of which were almost his size.
The smallest insects here were only as big as a fist, and the largest about the size of a washbasin. Additionally, their method of attack was simple, making them not too difficult to kill.
The only difficulty was their sheer number; tens of thousands of insects swarmed the entire valley, having gnawed away several layers of the soil.
Spirit force surged as each squad cleansed their designated areas, slaughtering the insects. The verdant green blood soon filled the valley, imbuing the area with a pungent smell of blood.
Differing from the squads that methodically exterminated the insects from the outside in, Lu Ye, armed with nothing but a saber, single-handedly carved a straight line through the army of insects, leaving a trail of insect corpses wherever he passed.
In dealing with enemies that were numerous but small in size, the effectiveness of the Boulder Mountain Saber was somewhat limited. Even though he could kill one insect per strike, there was a limit to how many he could kill.
However, Lu Ye’s methods of killing enemies were not limited to the Boulder Mountain Saber—he could, to some extent, be considered a counterfeit magic cultivator.
Alternating between the Fire Phoenix Technique and the Fire Dragon Technique, his blazing spirit force engulfed the area, killing large swathes of insects with each attack. Particularly, the Fire Dragon Technique, which was a part of the Red Lotus Soaring to Sky Technique and could only be practiced by cultivators of Level 7, had a much greater power and range than the Fire Phoenix Technique.
Naturally, its powerful effect came with greater energy consumption.
Between the two techniques, Lu Ye was undoubtedly satisfied with the Fire Dragon Technique, as this technique did not present any quirks.
The Fire Phoenix Technique, for some reason, had turned into a fire quail with a rather peculiar appearance.
The Fire Dragon Technique, on the other hand, was extremely visually appealing. When used, it looked like a real fire dragon was dancing, with even the dragon scales faintly visible on its body.
The valley was actually not very large, and it didn’t take long for Lu Ye to reach the insect cave at the front. Looking downwards, it was dark and seemingly bottomless. Various differently shaped insects continued to climb up the walls of the cave. Sensing Lu Ye’s vitality, several insects even jumped towards him, but were bisected by his saber light before they could reach him.
After a brief contemplation, Lu Ye leaped downward, throwing himself into the pit. Midair, insects lunged at him from all directions. His surrounding spirit force vibrated intensely, repelling all incoming insects.
Boom...
Lu Ye landed at the bottom of the pit, looked up to gauge its depth—it was not too deep, about ten feet or so, which was good news.
Sounds of creeping approached from all sides as the Insect Plague surrounded him.
Spirit force began to surge. Without pausing, Lu Ye continued onward, holding the Boulder Mountain Saber in one hand and the hilt of the saber held high in the other.
A glint of light from the hilt illuminated the surrounding area.
This was due to the Sun Blaze Spirit Runes he had imbued into the hilt of the saber. Though not very useful in combat, it was perfectly suited to this situation.
Conserving his spirit force, Lu Ye did not overly harness the power of Sun Blaze, allowing only enough radiance to cover a radius of thirty feet.
One hour later, Lu Ye soared out from the pit, a pair of fiery red wings conspicuously behind him.
He flew across the Insect Valley and landed beside Hua Ci, covered in fresh green blood.
Several low-level independent cultivators of Level 1 immediately approached, bringing clean water to wash him.
Hua Ci had not participated in the battle. As the only healing cultivator in the base, she needed to stay to treat injured disciples, though at the moment, due to the short duration of the battle, virtually no one was injured.
She was surrounded by about a dozen individuals, ten of whom had cultivations too low, only at Level 1. With such cultivation, participating in the battle would be too dangerous, risking death, so they stayed with Hua Ci acting as assistants.
The others were keen on developing towards becoming healing cultivators and were learning medical techniques from Hua Ci.
This was quite beneficial. A sect always needed different factions to thrive, especially the healing cultivator faction. Although the current strength of the Righteous Blood Sect was generally low, they were well-rounded with representatives from various factions within the sect.
"Did you find it?" Hua Ci approached, picking up a severed limb of some insect from Lu Ye’s head and tossing it aside.
Lu Ye shook his head.
"The passages inside were too many, I didn’t dare to venture too deep."
He ventured alone into the insect cave because he wanted to locate the insect hive. Enjoy more content from freewebnovel
These Insect Race members aren’t baseless; deep within every insect cave, there lies an insect hive, which is the breeding ground for these creatures.
To resolve the Insect Plague, one must find the insect hive, for only by destroying the hive at its source can the plague be eradicated.
This information was obtained from Li Baxian.
The insect hives are deep underground and protected by powerful insects, making it difficult for Lu Ye alone to achieve this. Hence, whenever the Insect Plague arrives, all the big sects go all out. While they may not deploy to the extent that the Righteous Blood Sect does, they do send a significant number of people to first pinpoint the location of the hive before making any further plans.
These sects face the Insect Plague every now and then, so they are experienced. They understand the underground terrain and know where the passages lead.
On the other hand, this was the first time in decades that the Righteous Blood Sect had enough manpower to handle the Insect Plague, with no one knowing the underground terrain, so everything had to be started from scratch.
Thus, the urgent task was to quickly clear out the insects in Insect Valley, and then explore underground further.
The formation of the Insect Plague remains a mystery because, even though it gets thoroughly wiped out after each appearance, it isn’t long before it returns with force.
Before every plague, there are unmistakable signs like thunderbolts falling from the sky.
The endless swarms of Insect Race, and even the Insect Plague itself, seem to materialize out of thin air.
So, whenever the time is about right, and as soon as it starts thunderstorming at the Spirit Stream battlefield, all the big sects begin to be on alert.
This was also why Li Baxian sent a message to Lu Ye as soon as possible.
Soon, the first injured cultivator came, and though the insects in Insect Valley weren’t powerful, their sheer numbers inevitably led to injuries during the battle.
Hua Ci, of course, took great care in treating him, and simultaneously explained medical principles to the few disciples who were interested in becoming healing cultivators.
Lu Ye didn’t take further action; killing those insects had been easy for him, but he hadn’t earned much merit. With his current strength, he estimated needing to kill twenty to thirty insects to earn a slight amount of merit.
Unlike the low-level cultivators, who earned merit for every insect they killed, their numbers might not be large, but the accumulated gains were substantial.
The Righteous Blood Sect disciples currently had no suitable way to earn merit, so the Insect Plague was an opportunity for them.
Given the Righteous Blood Sect’s resources, clearing the insects from Insect Valley was not a difficult task, so Lu Ye decided not to get involved in that matter anymore.
The real need for Lu Ye’s effort would be when they entered the insect cave.
The battle continued, with more people getting injured and coming to Hua Ci for treatment before rejoining the fight.
After half a day, the Righteous Blood Sect cultivators had reduced their encirclement by half, and progress was quick since the sect was narrowing the perimeter from the outside in, making the later stages smoother.
Another four hours passed, and the insects in Insect Valley were slain to extinction, eliciting cheers of jubilation from the disciples.
The entire Insect Valley was now littered with insect corpses, their bright green blood flowing like rivers.
"Clean up the battlefield, squads restore and recover, after six hours, follow me into the insect cave," Lu Ye commanded, and the disciples immediately sprang into action, with some teams guarding the entrance of the cave, slaying insects crawling out, while others collected the insect corpses.
The insect corpses could be sold to Heaven’s Augury treasure vault.
For the cultivators of the Nine Provinces cultivation world, Heaven’s Augury treasure vault was a treasure trove indeed, offering anything for purchase, as long as one had enough merit, and buying virtually anything, though valuing such items could be challenging.
For instance, the insect corpses the disciples were gathering right now might only earn them a minor amount of merit after selling dozens, but any amount of merit was better than none.
Six hours flashed by, and seven hundred cultivators gathered at the cave entrance, all filled with high spirits.
Lu Ye, with his hand on the hilt of his saber, walked from behind, with Amber at his side and Yiyi riding on Amber, the crowd parting to make way for them.
He reached the entrance and leaped down in one step, with Amber not hesitating to follow with Yiyi, while the Level 7 Chen Yu jumped down next, followed by teams led by Level 6 cultivators.
Sounds of intense battle came from below, accompanied by the death screeches of the insects.
Moments later, Chen Yu’s voice rang out from below, "It’s clear now!"
The waiting teams at the entrance then orderly descended, groups converging at the bottom of the cave and led by their captains, moved forward to explore, and one by one, torches were lit...