Under the chaotic storm of spirit force, a large mass of black feathers melted away like snow under the scorching sun, revealing the disheveled figure of the Winged Race. He stood there, dazed and lost, searching for something all around. The situation... seemed somewhat wrong! His secret technique had evidently left the sword cultivator riddled with holes. The feedback he received was unmistakable; logically, that sword cultivator should be dead by now. But as he rushed forward to seize the treasure, the sword cultivator was nowhere to be seen! The opponent disappeared magically, like an invisible wind, leaving no trace behind. He had no time to continue the search. Following closely behind him were two figures flying swiftly. One on the left, the other on the right, encircled him, and one shouted angrily, "Leave the treasure gourd behind!" The Winged Race looked up to see that the two Fellow Daoists, with whom he could join forces earlier, now surrounded by abundant spirit force, wore fierce expressions. Their gaze full of brutality, beyond these two were more streaks of light, more figures... The Winged Race couldn't help but curse in anger, realizing the seriousness of the situation. He knew he could not linger here; he was decisive, immediately flapping his wings to escape into the distance. Though knowing it might be useless, he still unwillingly explained, "I ask you both to calm down. If I say the treasure gourd is not with me, do you wish to believe me?" One of them nodded repeatedly while chasing him, "I believe you! So Fellow Daoist, please stay, let's discuss this carefully!" The Winged Race understood his explanation was indeed weak, placing himself in such a situation; he wouldn't easily believe anyone's words; he'd only trust his own eyes. Thus, he fled even faster. When a Winged Race excels in speed, determined to escape, there's basically no risk of being caught. Only one thing left him puzzled — how did a lively sword cultivator suddenly vanish? Moreover, his secret technique clearly hit the opponent, causing such a devastating injury that a Divine Sea Realm couldn't withstand. Full of unanswered questions, the Winged Race only knew this Divine Sea battle seemed doomed for him. As time went on, news of him acquiring the treasure gourd would spread wider, and as the Taichu Realm's active range shrunk, he might face enemies from all sides. After all, the Winged Race's features were too distinctive to be hidden no matter how hard he tried. At this moment, Lu Ye was leisurely traveling through the air. The doppelganger had been retrieved. Although during the previous escape, the doppelganger did some concealing, including activating Pseudo-Might Spirit Runes to disguise as Divine Sea Level 9 cultivation and using Thousand Faces Spirit Runes to alter his appearance, for safety's sake, it was better not to show the doppelganger to the public for now. The treasure gourd was also stored away in the storage sack. The emergence of the treasure gourd triggered chaos, a chaos likely to persist for several more days, ensuring the Taichu Realm wouldn't be peaceful in the short term. Currently, it wasn't suitable to study what powers the newly acquired treasure gourd possessed. Investigating later when there's time would not be too late; after all, with the treasure in hand, no one could take it away. Lu Ye continued collecting precious herbs within the Taichu Realm. Things produced here were rare treasures not found elsewhere, a chance that naturally couldn't be missed. Those born in top-tier domains had luxurious resources to rely on, not needing to worry about these things. Many cultivators born in large domains didn't have to fret about the source of spirit jade, but cultivators from the Nine Provinces were different, currently in a self-sufficient state. Later when ascending to Constellation, traveling through the stellar space, it's imperative to have some spirit jade. During his collection, a thunderous sound echoed, and Lu Ye sensed a repelling force being pushed from a certain direction. However, given his deep location, the feeling wasn't clear. Thus, he knew the Taichu Realm's active range had once again shrunk. After this shrinkage, cultivators' activities were confined to the Core Circle, which would only become smaller in the future. Calculating time, the Divine Sea battle had lasted two months until today, with only one month remaining. In these two months, he had killed plenty, mostly from the Blood Race, nearly twenty of them, contributing significantly to his gains. And killing them wasn't much trouble, but regrettably, there were no more Blood Race left. Viewed in the stellar space, the Blood Race might seem like a major race, but compared to other races, they weren't much of a large race, especially compared to the enormous size of the human race. He hadn't precisely counted his gains or knew his current ranking. But the only thing he could be certain of: based on the existing gains, he could ensure a pretty good rank even if he did nothing in the next month, as long as he survived. Yang Qing set the goal of being in the top ten, which he was likely to achieve. Thus, he maintained a relaxed attitude, feeling no rush to find targets to hunt. In the last month, the conflicts would be extremely fierce, when the time comes, even if he didn't seek others, others would come to find him. Seizing the brief calm before the storm to gather more spirit flowers and rare herbs that can't be found outside is the right path. But even with such a laid-back attitude, he inevitably encountered two battles. Without exception, seeing his cultivation was weak and he was alone, they tried to take advantage, only to crash into a wall, thus increasing his spoils. Several days later, Lu Ye passed through a place and observed the peculiar scene ahead, slightly focusing his mind. It was because he unexpectedly saw an insect hive in the Taichu Realm! The insect hive is a large structure, ninety-nine percent of it is buried deep underground, especially the core of the insect hive, which must be at the deepest location. So what can be seen is just the small part of the insect hive standing on the surface. Dıscover more novels at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚫𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦⚫𝘯𝘦𝘵 Taichu Realm is a very primitive space, a treasure land where the Reincarnation Tree is nurtured. Apart from being opened once every century for Divine Sea Realm prodigies from various domains to compete, it is usually closed. How could such a space have the existence of an insect hive? What is certain is that this insect hive didn't originally exist; it was very likely constructed by the Insect Race here. After observing for a moment, Lu Ye suddenly understood. Two months have passed since entering the Taichu Realm, yet I haven't seen a single Insect Race cultivator. Relatively speaking, the Insect Race is considered a major race in stellar space, with nearly twenty Blood Race individuals participating in the Divine Sea. The number of Insect Race participants surely wouldn't be much less. There's no reason not to see a single one for such a long time. Lu Ye originally thought the Taichu Realm was too big, making it hard for everyone to meet, but now it seems that's not the case. These Insect Race guys... they gathered early in the Core Circle to build an insect hive here! Two months ago, when prodigies from various domains were thrown into this domain, some chose to hide and lurk, moving along the edges as the Taichu Realm's range shrinks, while some, like the Blood Race, gathered and set up defenses at the junction between the inner circle and outer circle, and surely some headed straight towards the Core Circle. Each choice has its pros and cons. Compared to moving with the shrinking range of the Taichu Realm, going straight to the Core Circle is likely to encounter enemies, leading to battles. But the Insect Race made this choice, clearly with prior strategy. They spent two months here to construct an insect hive, allowing them to defend by taking advantage of the terrain. As long as they don't leave the insect hive, they can occupy an absolute advantage geographically. If others want to deal with them, they'd have to risk venturing into the insect hive. At that time, unless they muster forces several times those of the Insect Race, it would be hard to achieve anything significant. In such a scattered environment where most are on their own, the Insect Race establishing their base at the insect hive practically places them in an invincible position! In a way, this tactic is somewhat shameless, but in such competition, using any means is inevitable, and no one can really criticize it. The Insect Race has this capability, which is their advantage, just like how the Blood Race can gather through the Blood Resonance Technique, all other races cannot imitate it, and the Reincarnation Tree won't prohibit such actions. Outside the insect hive, there are traces of the Insect Race scattered about, but judging from their size and might, they seem insignificant, probably just scattered outside as sentinels, while the real Insect Race cultivators must be hiding inside the insect hive. Lu Ye still remembered, back in the Insect Race Tree World, that Loathsome Aphid said the Insect Race and Blood Race are natural allies, as the characteristics of these two major races are primarily invasive, making them compatible. The Blood Race guys have been taken care of by Lu Ye before, now having stumbled upon the Insect Race... it seems I can't discriminate between them? In Lu Ye's cultivation journey, he had the most encounters with the Blood Race and Insect Race, and his impressions of these two races were the worst. Being natural allies, they must be dealt with uniformly! But dealing with the Insect Race is not as simple as dealing with the Blood Race. The Insect Race cannot be suppressed through saintliness, causing their power to plummet and mind to shake. So even though he had a plan, before truly deciding to act, some preparation is necessary. At the very least, leave himself a retreat. If others are numerous and formidable, and he's unable to face them, he must ensure he can escape at any time. He looked around for a while and found a hidden place, setting up a Teleportation Array as a contingency. Only then did Lu Ye leisurely fly towards the insect hive. Midway, blood Qi surged around, transforming into a small blood cloud enveloping his body to hide his appearance. Landing at the entrance of the insect hive, several scattered insects around immediately emitted intimidating hisses, but Lu Ye ignored them, instead shouted towards the entrance: "Li Taibai from the Blood Malice World visits, wondering which fellow Daoist of the Insect Race is here?" After waiting for a moment, Mental Consciousness surged from below, and a Mental Consciousness transmission reached his ears: "Oh, it's a fellow Daoist from the Blood Race, please enter quickly!" As the words fell, the small insects that were hissing intimidatingly nearby immediately quieted down and scattered to the sides to maintain vigilance. Within the blood cloud, Lu Ye casually tidied his clothes, his figure swaying, he followed the entrance downwards.