"You... you're trying to possess me! Hah! Don't even dream about it. My clan's Ancestor lit a soul lantern for me. If you dare try anything, the Ancestor will find you!"
"Hahahaha!!"
A wave of laughter echoed through the cave as cultivators began to appear one after another. They ranged from the Foundation Establishment stage all the way to Divine Transformation. Jian Dan even spotted a few dressed in sect robes.
Her brow arched slightly. Something had clearly shifted with the situation in Heifeng Ravine.
"You'll soon be one of us!"
The man called Hei Laoda burst into laughter as he stepped down from his seat. With each footfall, his body slowly turned into black ash. By the time he stood before Jian Dan, only his head remained. That eerie grin still clung to his face.
Then, a black beetle about the size of an egg burst from his forehead and darted toward Jian Dan's brow.
But it stopped three inches away—unable to advance a hair further. The laughter around her abruptly faded.
"So this is where you've been hiding."
Jian Dan raised her hand, enclosing the black beetle in a Verdant Flame cage, her voice cold and steady.
"Kill her! She mustn't leave alive. If she escapes, we're all finished!"
A middle-aged cultivator in white robes shouted and charged at her, wielding a spirit sword. His cultivation wasn't low—Divine Soul stage.
"Why abandon your humanity just to grovel before the insect race?"
Jian Dan gave him a single glance, her voice sharp and direct.
He didn't give her any time to react. Spells exploded in all directions, illuminating the entire cave with blinding light.
But Jian Dan had already been lifted into mid-air by Yue Liang.
She immediately transmitted a message to every Heavenly Sword Sect cultivator:
"Heifeng Ravine contains larvae of black beetles belonging to the insect race. Exercise extreme caution in combat. Avoid parasitism at all costs. I do not want to be forced to eliminate any of you myself."
As her words echoed, she opened a spatial domain with a wave of her hand, enveloping the entire hollow.
"Chuan, the terrain here is unusual. Directionless black winds could strike at any moment. Dig as deep as you must and find the insect nest."
Liu Chuan obeyed without hesitation, transforming into a willow branch and piercing into the center of the hollow. His roots began to spread underground, reaching outward in all directions like living tendrils.
Finally, at the source of a subterranean river, he located the insect nest. Within it squirmed a massive broodmother, sluggishly stirring as if sensing imminent danger. Moments later, swarms of black beetle larvae began to emerge from a tunnel, rising toward the surface.
Upon hearing Liu Chuan's report, Jian Dan sent a voice transmission to Wu Siyuan, the Divine Soul stage cultivator closest to the nest with his team.
"One li northwest of your current position lies a fissure in the earth. Large numbers of black beetle larvae are emerging from it. Take your team and intercept them immediately."
"Understood, Zhūnzhǔ."
Wu Siyuan had assumed this mission was merely about clearing out a few bandits and hadn't planned to intervene personally. But the moment Jian Lu Zhūnzhǔ activated the domain, he knew something was wrong. The presence of a beetle nest confirmed it.
"Everyone stay sharp! There's an insect nest here. Stay alert unless you want to become a host!"
"Yes!"
Battle-hardened as they were, the squad immediately responded. They had trained endlessly for this kind of scenario.
Wu Siyuan was the first to arrive at the fissure. He tossed out a trapping formation, and the other nine quickly joined him, erecting defensive barriers as they entered.
The formation, controlled by Wu Siyuan, isolated the beetles into smaller groups for easier extermination.
None of the Heavenly Sword Sect's top cultivators were pushovers. With swords flashing, they dove into the swarm. The air filled with the gleam of sword light and the crunch of insect carapaces. Corpses rained down like black snow.
Wu Siyuan handled the cleanup, using spiritual fire to incinerate the remains. In previous battles with the insect race, black beetles had feigned death only to sneak into cultivators' sea of consciousness and take control.
The sect had lost several promising sword cultivators that way. Those bloody lessons taught them that when it came to the insect race, there was no such thing as being too careful.
The other nine squads moved out to block various escape routes.
Back in Hei Laoda's cave, the cultivators didn't fare any better. Liu Chuan pierced through them like skewering candied hawthorns. Few survived.
Ten remained, paralyzed with fear, not daring to move. They knew this might be the day they died.
"Why are there still so many left?"
Jian Dan glanced down and questioned Liu Chuan.
"They haven't been parasitized."
"Oh? Still whole, yet living so comfortably inside an insect nest? I'd wager they've already sold their souls to the insect race."
"We can find out with a soul search."
Among them was the one known as Hei Lao'er, the middle-aged cultivator who had first attacked Jian Dan—no doubt the most alert of the group.
She had no time to deal with them now. She needed to keep control of the battlefield. With a flick of her sleeve, she summoned a sleeve-world and swept them all into it, storing them away for later.
Elsewhere, Bian Qikang and his two companions had already handled Hei San. All three of them wore grim expressions as they regrouped with Jian Dan.
"Zhūnzhǔ, Hei San has been taken care of. His cave held other cultivators. Their spiritual power was sealed."
"All men... and badly injured," one of the other Golden Core cultivators added, his face pale.
"Undo the seals on their cultivation and explain the situation. What they choose to do after is up to them."
"Yes, Zhūnzhǔ."
"You three, seal off the cave entrance and clean the place out thoroughly. We're not letting ourselves be tied up for nothing."
"Yes, Zhūnzhǔ!"
Jian Dan turned and vanished from their sight.
Floating above Heifeng Ravine, she spread her spiritual sense wide, scanning the battlefield. Skirmishes broke out across the terrain as all ten teams engaged the beetles in earnest.
Here and there, beetle-controlled cultivators attempted to disrupt the fight, but none could halt the advance.
The ten-man teams coordinated well. While they didn't dominate the battlefield, their steady progress and clean formations were enough to hold the line and drive forward.
Jian Dan sensed a shift in the wind—literally. Her spiritual sense picked up the formation of a black, directionless wind. A feature unique to Heifeng Ravine, this wind had no fixed path, making it nearly impossible to predict or defend against.
"Disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect, hear this: push forward and eliminate the enemy. Enter the underground nest. The black, directionless wind has begun to form. It will soon sweep through this area."
"Yes!"
The ten Divine Soul squad leaders responded in unison, launching a renewed offensive and guiding their teams through the fissures into the winding tunnels of the insect nest.
Jian Dan followed, drawn into the tunnels by Yue Liang.
Each squad advanced in formation, led by their Divine Soul cultivator. Sword light flickered without pause. The Heavenly Sword Sect had no need for fancy techniques. Clean, efficient, lethal—that was their style.
Jian Dan bypassed the lesser tunnels and made her way directly to the broodmother.
It was massive—far larger than the one she had encountered in the Demon Abyss.
To Jian Dan, it looked like nothing more than a grotesquely swollen maggot.
Sensing her presence, the broodmother reared up and unleashed a soundless screech. At once, surrounding beetles surged forward to protect it.
But Jian Dan had already activated her defenses. The screech had no effect.
When she saw the beetles coming—larger than any she'd seen so far—her brow creased.
It seemed that after being driven into hiding by cultivators, the black beetles had found a new place to fester and recover. Who knew how many they had already harmed.
Jian Dan raised her hand. Spiritual energy condensed into a flurry of fine needles, spinning outward in a deadly storm. Wherever they landed, beetles fell and were incinerated by Verdant Flame until nothing remained.
"Ji!"
The broodmother's cry rang out once more. The entire nest began to tremble.