“I advise against it!”

Unexpectedly, Grandmother Sky Insect expressed her opposition.

Xu Qi An frowned slightly as he listened to her explanation:

“The Seven Deadly Insect within your body was the Insect God’s attempt to break free from its seal. Although its will has long been erased, the Insect God’s methods cannot be taken lightly. The Transcendent Realm is a threshold—before reaching it, the Seven Deadly Insect might not show any abnormalities.”

“But once you push the Seven Deadly Insect to the Transcendent Realm, I fear all the problems will explode at once.”

Xu Qi An stroked his chin and analyzed: “The most likely scenario is that once the Seven Deadly Insect advances to Transcendent, the Insect God will view me as a vessel and attempt to manifest its consciousness through it. But I’m already a First-Rank Warrior, and the unity of spirit, energy, and body characteristic of warriors allows me to resist possession by any being, including those beyond Transcendent.”

“Besides, with the help of an Immortal, clearing out the Insect God’s will shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”

Grandmother Sky Insect nodded gently: “With an Immortal’s help, indeed there’s no need to fear the Insect God’s will… but must you take this risk?”

Xu Qi An replied helplessly: “At my current cultivation level, within Da Feng’s borders and with the power of all living beings supporting me, none of the existing First-Rank experts in the Nine Provinces can rival me. But outside of the Central Plains, I would at best have a slight advantage, or perhaps no advantage at all.”

“The great calamity approaches. I must find ways to increase my battle power. Taking some risks for this is completely worth it.”

After his battle with Saren Agu, Xu Qi An realized his combat strength was at two different levels inside and outside the Central Plains.

With the power of all living beings supporting him, he was even confident in fighting a complete Divine Shu. But outside the Central Plains, he could only say one thing:

Senior, please go easy!

He couldn’t always fight within the Central Plains—that would be too passive. The current Central Plains was rebuilding from ruins and couldn’t withstand high-level battles. Therefore, he needed to learn to take the initiative.

To fight outside the Central Plains, he needed to increase his battle power. As a First-Rank Warrior, he had hit bottlenecks everywhere and couldn’t make rapid progress in the short term. Currently, the breakthrough point was the Seven Deadly Insects.

As long as the Seven Deadly Insect could reach the Transcendent Realm, he would combine both the crude strength of a warrior and the mysteriousness of insect arts. Whether it was a straightforward clash of blades or tricks and schemes, he wouldn’t fear anyone.

“At your current level, the Seven Deadly Insect’s effects are already diminishing. It’s indeed worth the risk—your battle power will rise to another level.”

Grandmother Sky Insect nodded, no longer trying to dissuade him.

Xu Qi An continued: “I also want to take this opportunity to talk with the Insect God, to see if I can gather any intelligence about the great calamity from It.”

Grandmother Sky Insect warned: “When dealing with beings beyond Transcendent, caution must always come first.”

Xu Qi An responded with a “mm” and said: “Please take care of Ling Yin. I’m heading to the Extreme Abyss now.”

He didn’t want to waste time and needed to improve himself as quickly as possible.

Xu Ling Yin immediately looked toward Grandmother Sky Insect, patting her stomach and saying coquettishly: “Grandmother, I’m hungry.”

For the sake of food, she had even learned to act spoiled.

Grandmother Sky Insect’s face was kind as she waved her hand, summoning a basket of fried insect pupae from the kitchen. They were golden in color, glistening with oil.

“Eat up!” Grandmother smiled kindly.

Xu Ling Yin swallowed and eagerly reached out with her chubby little hands, grabbing a handful of fried pupae and stuffing them into her mouth.

Don’t feed my sister these things, she’s supposed to be a future noble lady from a prominent family in the capital… Xu Qi An’s lips moved, but in the end, he chose to remain silent.

Grandmother Sky Insect smiled and said: “These are good things, eating them builds strength and strengthens the bones—not inferior to meat at all.”

I know, the protein is ten times that of beef, and you don’t even need to remove the head… Xu Qi An silently complained, then soared upward, leaping out of the courtyard and disappearing into the horizon.

—

The Celestial Sect.

Auspicious clouds shrouded the area, with crane calls and ape cries creating an immortal atmosphere.

In a secluded, elegant courtyard, inside a meditation chamber, wisps of sandalwood incense curled through the air.

Li Miao Zhen wore a light blue Daoist robe, her hair pinned up with a Daoist hairpin, as she sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, purifying her heart and regulating her breath.

Her features were extremely beautiful, with slightly thick eyebrows that gave her a valiant air, but now she had trimmed the sharp edges of her brows into gentle willow shapes.

As she sat expressionless in meditation, she possessed a somewhat otherworldly, cold temperament.

Combined with the purple dao mark on her brow, she increasingly embodied the bearing of an immortal maiden.

“Creeak…”

The meditation chamber’s door opened, and a young female Daoist stepped over the threshold. She bowed at the table’s edge and said softly:

“Holy Maiden, the Master requests your presence.”

Li Miao Zhen opened her eyes, her gaze calm, even somewhat detached.

“Understood.”

Her voice was equally cold.

She rose expressionlessly, somehow already holding a whisk in her hand, which she draped over her arm as she walked slowly out of the meditation chamber.

Each step seemed measured, not a fraction more or less, as if governed by rules.

The young female Daoist watched Li Miao Zhen’s retreating figure, thinking to herself that after returning from tempering in the mortal realm, the Holy Maiden had undergone a complete transformation, initially entering a state of Supreme Emotionlessness.

Given time, the Celestial Sect would produce another Third-Rank expert.

Li Miao Zhen left the meditation chamber, exited the small courtyard, and followed the path paved with blue stones to the Hall of the Frost Extinction Immortal Lord.

Outside the hall, three Daoists had been waiting: her master the Frost Extinction Immortal Lord, Daoist Xuan Cheng, and Holy Son Li Ling Su.

Li Miao Zhen approached expressionlessly, performed a standard Daoist bow, and said:

“Greetings to Master, Uncle Master Xuan Cheng, and Senior Brother Holy Son.”

Her voice carried no emotional fluctuations whatsoever.

Li Ling Su’s handsome face was equally devoid of expression, his gaze as deep as a pool, as he returned a Daoist bow and said:

“Greetings, Junior Sister.”

His voice also carried no emotion.

The two pairs of masters and disciples displayed identical temperaments and expressions.

The Frost Extinction Immortal Lord’s calm gaze swept over the two of them and said flatly:

“You can stop pretending. You might fool me, but you can’t fool the Heavenly Venerable.”

Li Ling Su and Li Miao Zhen’s faces fell simultaneously as they complained about each other in unison:

“It’s all your fault, you useless person, you can’t even act properly.”

Daoist Xuan Cheng said expressionlessly:

“The Heavenly Venerable has gathered the elders of each peak to conduct a ceremony that will sever your mortal ties and cleanse your mundane hearts, helping you more quickly comprehend Supreme Emotionlessness.”

Li Ling Su and Li Miao Zhen’s expressions changed.

The so-called “severing mortal ties and cleansing mundane hearts” was a secret technique of the Celestial Sect for erasing memories.

The Frost Extinction Immortal Lord explained coldly:

“The Heavenly Venerable believes that during your three years of traveling in the mortal realm, you’ve become entangled in too much karma, clouding your dao hearts. If these memories aren’t erased, you may never be able to comprehend Supreme Emotionlessness in this lifetime.”

They want to strip away my memories… Li Miao Zhen’s pretty face went slightly pale as she instinctively looked toward Li Ling Su, only to see the Holy Son’s gaze blank and his expression ugly.

Daoist Xuan Cheng said flatly:

“When you enter the Heavenly Venerable’s hall shortly, the Venerable will ask if you’re willing. Nod in agreement. Otherwise, sect rules will be enforced.”

—

The Extreme Abyss.

Xu Qi An slowly descended from above, his boots touching down with a pat as they landed on a piece of rubble.

The rubble came from the statue of the Confucian Saint.

Xu Qi An examined the statue, which had one hand behind its back and one placed on its lower abdomen. The crack in its brow had now spread to its chest, half a finger wide, with some rubble scattered at the statue’s feet.

“The Confucian Saint’s power continues to weaken. The Insect God’s escape from its seal can’t be far off.”

Xu Qi An silently exhaled, feeling even more anxious.

No matter what, he had to reach the level of Half-Step Martial God before the being beyond Transcendent completely broke free—this was the bottom line.

Next, he shared a vision with the Seven Deadly Insects to look into the great ravine. In the Seven Deadly Insect’s vision, thick Insect God power was gushing from the depths of the Extreme Abyss, including the blood energy representing the Power Insect, the black light representing the Dark Insect…

Xu Qi An distanced himself from the Confucian Saint statue and sat cross-legged, beginning to absorb the Insect God’s power.

“Huff, huff…”

The First-Rank Warrior’s breathing gradually intensified, stirring up air currents in the Extreme Abyss. His terrifying lung capacity resembled the breath of an ancient beast.

The seven colors symbolizing seven types of power followed his breathing into Xu Qi An’s body, gathering at the back of his neck.

The Seven Deadly Insect, originally flush against his vertebrae, began protruding from his skin’s surface, constantly swelling and contracting in rhythm with Xu Qi An’s breathing.

It greedily absorbed the Insect God’s power that entered through Xu Qi An’s breathing, then fed that power back to him, forming an exchange, a cycle.

When the Seven Deadly Insect fed the “Power Insect” power back to Xu Qi An, his muscles swelled, stretching his loose robe taut.

When the Seven Deadly Insect fed the “Emotion Insect” power back to Xu Qi An, his groin also swelled, seeming about to burst through his trousers.

Each type of power manifested in its unique way on Xu Qi An’s body.

Huff, huff… The dragon-like breathing continued to intensify, the air currents sweeping through the Extreme Abyss, creating sharp howling sounds as they scraped against the jagged cliffs.

Above the entire Extreme Abyss, the Insect God’s power formed an exaggerated vortex hundreds of zhang in diameter, collapsing downward like a whirlpool on the ocean’s surface frantically swallowing seawater.

The Insect God’s power dispersed around the Extreme Abyss began to thin.

—

The Power Insect Tribe.

Long Tu, who was preparing for tomorrow’s ceremony, sensed something and looked toward the Extreme Abyss.

Then the six elders also successively detected the abnormality in the Insect God’s power—an abnormality so extreme that even they as Fourth-Rank experts could easily sense it.

The Great Elder’s face drained of color as he gripped his walking stick tightly, exclaiming in shock:

“The Insect God’s power in the Extreme Abyss is disappearing. This… this means a Transcendent Realm insect beast has been born?!”

The Second Elder’s voice trembled:

“Didn’t Grandmother say it would take at least half a year before a Transcendent insect beast would appear? Quick, recall our tribespeople and prepare to evacuate north.”

Long Tu didn’t waste any words. With a boom that collapsed the ground beneath his feet, he shot into the sky like a cannonball, flying toward the Extreme Abyss.

At the same time, the leaders of the Dark Insect, Heart Insect, Emotion Insect, Corpse Insect, and Poison Insect tribes all took to the air, rushing toward the Extreme Abyss first.

Meanwhile, the tribespeople quickly mobilized, gathering people and collecting supplies, preparing to withdraw in an orderly though hurried manner.

Once a Transcendent insect beast emerged, it would certainly wreak havoc, and no one could guarantee the battlefield wouldn’t shift to the tribes’ dwelling places.

If ordinary tribespeople were caught in a Transcendent battle, they would die in droves.

—

Missing women somewhat… and the little mare… want to refine corpses… want to eat arsenic… want to fight… want to find a hole to hide in… Xu Qi An meditated with closed eyes as various thoughts flashed through his mind.

These thoughts were all suppressed by him the moment after they appeared.

The stronger the thoughts, the closer the Seven Deadly Insects were to successfully advance.

By now, the Seven Deadly Insect had swollen enormously, covering half of Xu Qi An’s spine, its seven limbs like seven ribs.

The Seven Deadly Insect’s growth was accompanied by flesh-tearing pain, though this was nothing to a First-Rank Warrior.

Xu Qi An focused on the pain in his back. After an unknown time, the pain disappeared.

The Seven Deadly Insect stopped growing—its advancement was complete.

All the abilities of the Transcendent Realm Seven Deadly Insect instantly fed back into Xu Qi An’s mind.

But just as he was savoring the skills gained from the advancement, the Seven Deadly Insect—which should have had no consciousness, only instinct—suddenly gave birth to a terrifying, domineering will.

This will be vast and magnificent, making one feel as if facing an abyss as if confronting divine might.

“You’ve come as expected, Insect God!”

Xu Qi An’s lips curled into a smile.

That will ignore him, surging like a tide to impact his sea of consciousness, attempting to possess and occupy this First-Rank Warrior’s body.

But no matter how fierce the tide, no matter how many times it washed over his sea of consciousness, it could not leave behind any trace or change the sea of consciousness.

Normal possession only required devouring the primordial spirit within the sea of consciousness, but a First-Rank Warrior’s primordial spirit was not in the sea of consciousness—it was in the flesh, in the energy channels. Merely washing over the sea of consciousness naturally could not achieve possession.

Just as when Divine Shu was dismembered, his primordial spirit was also separated, contained within his limbs.

After failing attempt after attempt, that domineering will cease its erosion. Then, a majestic and vast voice echoed in Xu Qi An’s mind:

“Who are you? I have not seen you in my glimpses of the future!”