For example, some insectoid creatures resembling spiders can spit out webs with astonishing stickiness, making it difficult for a cultivator to escape once entangled. There are also insectoid creatures similar to porcupines, whose quills can be shot out with great force. In some respects, insectoid creatures share certain traits with demon beasts, and in many ways, there are striking similarities between the two. However, all insectoid creatures have one distinctive feature, which is a solid carapace covering their body surface, something most demon beasts do not possess. Therefore, even if the spiritual intelligence of insectoid creatures is low, they can pose a certain degree of threat to cultivators if not dealt with carefully. In the mutual attack between the cultivators' army and the insectoid creatures, the insectoid side suffered heavy casualties. Compared to the cultivators' side with a variety of attack methods, the insectoid creatures' tactics seem rather weak, and such counterattack strategies reaps no advantage. After some aggressive attacks, numerous insectoid creatures were annihilated. Except for a few careless ones among the True Lake Realm who were injured, everyone else remained unscathed. As if realizing that continuing this way would lead to total annihilation, the swarm guarding the periphery of the insect hive finally couldn't hold back and charged forward against the cultivators' attacks. Most of the insectoid creatures were slain on their way, and the few who rushed to the front line could achieve little. The physique cultivators and combat cultivators at the forefront of the formation were not to be trifled with. On the left, center, and right formations, twenty Divine Sea Realm cultivators worked simultaneously, using various means to kill the insectoid creatures, piling their bodies high. Nian Yuexian's flying sword roared back and forth, sometimes transforming into a sword dragon, sometimes condensing into a single strike. Even the giant-grade insectoid creatures couldn't withstand her flying sword strikes. Troops advanced steadily on three fronts, neither fast nor slow, steadily clearing the insectoid creatures in their line of sight. The battle lasted less than an hour before it ended. It was a significant victory for the cultivators. Looking around, the ground was littered with insect corpses, and even the towering insect hive became dilapidated. Although the surface-dwelling insectoid creatures were thoroughly cleaned out, under the detection of Mental Consciousness, it was still possible to clearly sense the hidden presence of many insectoid creatures deep underground. Obviously, these insectoid creatures were hiding inside the insect hive. An insect hive is not just the part standing aboveground; that is only a small portion. The grandeur of the insect hive truly lies underground, where the main body is hidden from view. During the recent major battle, many insectoid creatures retreated into the insect hive and vanished, and it was clear they were hiding inside now. Having dealt with the visible enemies, naturally, the hidden ones must also be dealt with, only then can the mission be completed fully. Many Divine Sea Realm cultivators gathered around Nian Yuexian, who made some brief arrangements, leading them along the passageways inside the insect hive. Twenty Divine Sea Realm cultivators surged in succession, followed by teams of True Lake Realm cultivators. Upon entering the insect hive, a dark, cold atmosphere hit them, along with an extremely unpleasant odor. Lu Ye had experience delving into insect hives before, whether it was on the Spirit Stream battlefield or in the Ten Thousand Beasts Domain, he had ventured into the depths of the hives. However, the previous hives he encountered were naturally not of the same caliber as this one. Under the detection of Mental Consciousness, the inner passages of the insect hive seemed intricate and numerous, with many insectoid creatures lurking in these forks, lying in wait. Even with the Divine Sea Realm's Mental Consciousness, it was impossible to clearly map the routes underground, compounded by the constraints of the terrain. Therefore, there was only one method to eliminate the underground insectoid creatures. Split up and act separately. Each person took a different path, and in less than a cup of tea's time, Lu Ye found himself all alone. As he proceeded, searching and slaying insectoid creatures as he went, twisting and turning, Lu Ye couldn't tell exactly how deep he was. However, with a sudden flash of Mental Consciousness, he could sense the presence of human race cultivators nearby, with battles sporadically breaking out, spirit force surging. This carpet-style search was undoubtedly time-consuming, but to ensure there were not too many escapees, they could only act this way, at least to fundamentally destroy the insect hive. Otherwise, it would continue spawning new insectoid creatures endlessly. More than half an hour later, just when Lu Ye was still continuing his search, a Mental Consciousness suddenly undulated from a certain direction. Someone found the core of the insect hive! Lu Ye immediately changed direction, tracking the source of the Mental Consciousness, traversing numerous branches in the process. As he hurried along, intense spirit fluctuations came from that direction, indicating that the Divine Sea Realm cultivators were engaged in a struggle with the insectoid creatures. By the time Lu Ye finally arrived at the location, the battle was almost over. This was a large chamber, with fleshy walls and floors, giving the sensation of entering the stomach of some creature. The fleshy walls were covered with various-sized nodules, within which insectoid creatures were in the process of hatching. The core area of the insect hive was always guarded by the hive's protectors. These protectors were generally the strongest members of the swarm, each being giant-grade. From birth, they guarded the core area and would never leave until death. The number of protectors seemed quite large, yet under the coordination of numerous Divine Sea Realm cultivators, they were still slain until the blood flowed in rivers. Nian Yuexian had arrived early, her flying sword sweeping through, invincible. Lu Ye hurriedly joined the battle. In no time, all the insectoid guardians had been completely exterminated. Among the Divine Sea Realm cultivators who had arrived, a few were injured, but fortunately, the injuries weren't severe. The main issue is that for those in the Divine Sea realm, this kind of environment is ultimately somewhat constrained, making it difficult to fully utilize their learned skills. In the very center of the chamber stands a gigantic tumor, which is the core of the entire insect hive. Inside it contains a vitality core, the source of energy for the Insect Race's incubation. Nian Yuexian stepped forward, broke open the tumor, and extracted all the vitality cores, effectively cutting off the power source of the insect hive. Even if left unattended, it would no longer be able to hatch the Insect Race. Of course, it was best to destroy the entire chamber to truly eradicate the problem. This task fell to Lu Ye and another Divine Sea realm magic cultivator. Both had spirit force of the fire element, which made them most suited for this kind of scorched earth task. A moment later, as everyone exited the chamber, Lu Ye and the magic cultivator each used their methods, setting ablaze roaring flames that quickly spread an acrid smell. Nian Yuexian's Mental Consciousness fluctuated, sending out an audio transmission, prompting all the cultivators still underground to retreat along the original path. Then, they regrouped and continued advancing. The advance of the Nine Provinces cultivator army encountered no significant setbacks; any giant insects encountered were preemptively handled by those at Divine Sea Level 9, and any insect hives encountered were easily removed. The course of the war was overwhelmingly in favor of the human race. This was undoubtedly as everyone had hoped and was perfectly reasonable. Given the immense size of the Nine Provinces cultivators, with a full eighty percent of the elite split into nine armies charging into the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm, if they couldn't easily resolve the problems, that would indeed be troubling. The pace of the advance was getting faster and faster. Mainly because as they progressed, the original encirclement of the entire Insect Race's Great Secret Realm kept getting shorter, concentrating the cultivators' strength even more. With more people, defeating enemies naturally became easier. Since the start of the third phase of the counterattack against the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm, half a month later, various teams of differing sizes gradually made their way to the central position of the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm. Upon reaching this point, everyone stopped. More teams converged, and unanimously halted their steps. A day later, the Nine Provinces army had already formed an encirclement around the center of the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm. Thus, the nine armies had officially united, signifying a thorough carpet-style purge of the entire Insect Race's Great Secret Realm. During this half-month period, the number of exterminated Insect Race was beyond calculation; even counting the giant insects, several dozens were annihilated. The number of removed insect hives exceeded a hundred. At this point in the war, victory seemed imminent, but it wasn't over yet, because at the very heart of this Insect Race's Great Secret Realm stood a massive insect hive. It was much larger than any insect hive encountered along the way. If the previous insect hives were akin to thatched cottages, this one was a grand palace, completely incomparable. If it hadn't been witnessed with one's own eyes, it would be hard to imagine that an insect hive could feel so majestic. But that's the reality. While a larger insect hive doesn't necessarily mean stronger insects, everyone recognized that beneath this hive, many massive insect-level beings might be hidden. This was the final barrier in the counterattack against the Insect Race's Great Secret Realm; once this hive was removed, it would signify the complete victory of the Nine Provinces army. Having come this far, it was natural to strive for perfection. Outside the insect hive, it was empty, with not a single trace of the Insect Race. The leaders from the Nine Provincial States gathered in one place, discussing their next strategy: how to most effectively remove this insect hive and how to minimize their own casualties, these were all matters they needed to consider. On the Bingzhou frontline, Lu Ye joined Team D-9, together gazing at the gigantic insect hive, marveling at the sight. Li Baxian said, "A hive this large should have plenty of insects inside, right?" "Who knows? Only by going in can we see," Lu Ye shook his head. Interestingly, when confronting previous insect hives, his Mental Consciousness could more or less detect some hidden presence of the Insect Race. But in front of this final insect hive, his Mental Consciousness showed emptiness, without any traces of living beings, almost as if there were no Insect Race underground at all. Of course, it's also possible that the Insect Race were deeply hidden. "Once this insect hive is removed, the counterattack can be considered a perfect conclusion, what plans does the junior apprentice brother have next?" "Diligent cultivation?" Lu Ye replied casually, though he had a vague premonition that the day when he would return to the Blood Refinement World was not too far off. Although there were no clear signs, nor any call from Heaven's Augury, it was just an intuition. Therefore, he had much to accomplish, especially if he needed to use the tokens gifted by the seniors to recruit more powerful allies; he needed to think it through clearly. But before that, he needed to figure out one thing: how many people he could bring with him upon returning to the Blood Refinement World this time.