After the Seven Deadly Insect advanced to the Transcendent Realm, beyond the exponential growth of its original abilities, it gained an additional Transcendent-level skill.

The Power Insect’s Transcendent skill was called “Blood Sacrifice”:

Its essence was burning blood essence and squeezing potential, temporarily increasing battle power. This was somewhat similar to the Fourth-Rank “Berserk,” but “Berserk” was a localized power increase with only one strike’s worth of force.

“Blood Sacrifice” provided a greater and more comprehensive boost. Xu Qi’an conservatively estimated that if a Power Insect warrior who had just entered Third-Rank used Blood Sacrifice, they could contend with a mid-Third-Rank opponent.

Equivalent to advancing one minor realm.

“As expected of the Power Insect, strongest in battle power among the seven insect arts. It’s quite like a warrior—discarding all fancy tricks in pursuit of ultimate destructive power.”

The greatest surprise from the Power Insect’s advancement to Transcendent was that Xu Qi An could use “Blood Sacrifice” to raise his battle power by one minor realm. Originally after entering First-Rank, the Power Insect’s “Berserk” could no longer provide combat bonuses, but now it finally had its use.

The drawback was obvious—the longer Blood Sacrifice was used, the greater the physical consumption. A warrior’s endurance would decline.

Put simply, if Xu Qi An fought a warrior of the same realm, using Blood Sacrifice would let him dominate the fight, but he couldn’t last as long as his opponent.

If Xu Qi An were just an ordinary First-Rank warrior, Blood Sacrifice would be meaningless, as even with “Blood Sacrifice” he couldn’t kill a warrior of the same realm.

Of course, he was no ordinary warrior. With his various techniques and trump cards, as long as he could dominate a First-Rank warrior in combat, he had a very high chance of wearing down an opponent of the same realm during the process.

Well, special existences like the Gala Tree were exceptions.

“If I were in the Central Plains, with both the power of all living beings and ‘Blood Sacrifice’ enhancing me, supplemented by multiple techniques, I might be able to break through Gala Tree’s Immovable Wisdom King like Divine Shu did, and truly kill him.”

As for the Power Insect’s increased physical strength and regenerative abilities, they remained of limited use to Xu Qi An.

The Emotion Insect’s advancement to Transcendent brought many changes.

First, there were more ways to cultivate it. Now Xu Qi An could nourish the Emotion Insect by absorbing the carnal desires of surrounding living beings. Before, he could absorb such energy but only store it for use against enemies—the Emotion Insect couldn’t absorb it.

Now he just needed to stay in brothels and teaching houses, and the Emotion Insect would automatically absorb the desires of the customers and courtesans, feeding to satisfaction.

Second, women who regularly shared his bed would gradually become dependent on him, only feeling passion when facing him, and losing all interest in other men. Well, this wasn’t limited to women—if Xu Qi An were interested in men, it would work on them too.

Then, he gained an ability called “Enchantment,” greatly increasing his attractiveness to the opposite sex. His every gesture and smile could stir women’s hearts.

Luan Yu, the leader of the Emotion Insect tribe, was just such an enchanting beauty who could constantly seduce men.

Beyond these changes, Xu Qi An could also ignite his target’s desires. He didn’t need offspring insects or aphrodisiac toxins—just physical contact. As long as the target still had emotions and desires, he could stir their passion.

Of course, this ability was auxiliary. Any expert who had advanced to Transcendent had incredibly firm willpower. None would get weak-kneed and aroused, or experience overwhelming desire, from a single touch.

But under countless layers of accumulated desire, it could force Transcendent experts to divert some attention to resist their passions, thereby weakening their combat power.

Notably, this was ineffective against Celestial Sect’s Transcendent experts.

The so-called Supreme Emotionlessness meant absolute control and mastery over emotions and desires.

The Heart Insect gained an ability called “Empathy” at Transcendent Realm:

It could connect one’s emotions with the target’s. If one’s primordial spirit was stronger than the target’s, they could use emotions like “rage” or “compassion” to erode the target’s fighting will.

They could even guide the target to commit suicide, betray companions, and perform various other tricks—it all depended on how the Heart Insect master used it.

If one’s primordial spirit was weaker than the target’s, they would instead be influenced by the target. This had both advantages and disadvantages. For instance, when the various leaders surrounded Xu Qi An that day, Chun Yan used this technique to “empathize” with Xu Qi An who was affected by the Emotion Insect.

The result was one Yang Ding Tian and one dead sheep.

That was certainly a disadvantage, but the advantage was that when you empathized with an enemy, whether your primordial spirit was stronger or weaker, you and the target became “one”—no one would harm themselves, so a Heart Insect master in the empathy state was safe.

In critical moments, this technique could save one’s life.

“Empathy” was limited to twenty seconds against experts of the same realm.

Against those one rank higher, it only lasted ten seconds; two ranks higher, five seconds; three ranks higher, completely ineffective.

In other words, Xu Qi An using this technique against First-Rank experts could only “empathize” for five seconds, and against Transcendent beings, it would have no effect at all.

“A powerful ability—I can empathize with other First-Rank experts for a full five seconds.”

Xu Qi An was very satisfied with this.

The Dark Insect’s “Shadow Jump” had increased in both distance and number of people it could carry. “Blindness,” which blocked all the target’s senses, and “Shadow,” which allowed dodging attacks by becoming a shadow, had also improved.

Among these, “Blindness” could affect experts of the same rank, and “Shadow,” previously considered useless because it could only dodge physical attacks, finally evolved to dodge elemental attacks as well.

But it couldn’t exceed one’s rank—early Third-Rank could dodge attacks from peak Third-Rank, but couldn’t withstand Second-Rank output.

And spells like Death Curse and Jade Shatter still couldn’t be dodged.

The Dark Insect’s Transcendent skill was called “Shadow Controller”:

As the name suggests, it controls the target’s behavior by controlling their shadow. Against experts of the same realm, control lasted three seconds, decreasing by one second for each rank higher.

“Another strong control ability, very suitable for assassination.”

Xu Qi An commented.

The Poison Insect and Corpse Insect didn’t gain new abilities, only strengthening their previous ones. But this didn’t mean these two insect arts weren’t powerful. First, with the Poison Insect, Xu Qi An could now kill experts below Transcendent with just a spit of saliva.

If he ate enough high-quality poison and accumulated sufficient toxins, he could even poison Third-Rank experts except for warriors.

As for the Corpse Insect, Xu Qi An had always believed this art required the most accumulation and foundation. Compared to the billions of living beings in the Nine Provinces, Transcendent experts were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns. A single Third-Rank walking corpse might require generations of accumulation.

Moreover, at Xu Qi An’s current level, Third-Rank walking corpses were useless—even Second-Rank might not qualify to participate. As for First-Rank, they could be counted on one’s fingers.

So for him, the Corpse Insect was both the strongest and most useless of the seven insect arts in terms of overall power.

“Now, my overall strength should be the highest among First-Rank experts in the Nine Provinces.”

Xu Qi An exhaled happily—this Southern Border trip hadn’t been wasted.

…

The Power Insect Tribe.

The tribespeople working at the dam were hurriedly called back to the settlement.

“Great Elder, what’s happening?”

Li Na looked at the open ground outside the settlement, packed with tribespeople. They carried large and small bundles of supplies, and pulled flatbed carts without horses, looking ready for a long journey or migration.

Everyone’s expression was extremely grave and serious—such expressions appearing on Power Insect tribespeople’s faces was itself an unusual event.

The Great Elder sighed:

“Something’s happened at the Extreme Abyss. A Transcendent insect beast may have been born. We need to prepare to head north for temporary refuge.”

A Transcendent insect beast born… Li Na’s small mouth opened slightly, her face full of panic. Although the Insect tribes had no written history, that didn’t mean they had no history—just different methods of preservation.

The Insect tribes preserved history through wall paintings and oral tradition. Li Na had grown up being frightened by tales of Transcendent insect beasts. When she was small and wouldn’t sleep at night, just playing around.

Her mother would scare her with terrible Transcendent insect beasts, and she would no longer dare go out, trembling under her covers, then wetting the bed the next day and getting another beating.

Now she was no longer that child but understood even better the power and terror of Transcendent insect beasts.

Historically, every time a Transcendent insect beast was born in the Extreme Abyss, some tribal leaders would die from the beast’s death throes.

The impact of Transcendent battles could potentially affect all tribes’ dwelling places—once the fighting reached them, people would die in droves.

The Second Elder continued:

“Fortunately, they’re building a border market in Yu Province. When we head north, we won’t be without a place to stay.”

Given the current relationship between Da Feng and the Insect tribes, they would take them in. Moreover, the border market was building towns and needed manpower, and merchant caravans needed experts. The tribespeople might not eat their fill, but they wouldn’t starve.

Li Na nodded repeatedly:

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s quickly head north for refuge.”

The Power Insect tribespeople urged:

“Great Elder, let’s leave quickly. Who knows when the fighting might reach us.”

The Great Elder said gravely:

“The hunting party hasn’t returned yet. We don’t know where they’ve wandered. Let’s wait a bit longer.”

He then looked at Li Na, glancing around her vicinity with furrowed brows:

“Where’s Ling Yin?”

Xu Ling Yin was the Power Insect tribe’s little treasure.

“Oh, she was taken to see Grandmother Sky Insect by Xu Ning Yan…”

Li Na finished speaking, then suddenly slapped her forehead, exclaiming joyfully:

“Right! Xu Ning Yan is here—he can help us fight the insect beast.”

This child Li Na had always been clever.

The Great Elder and others were stunned at first, then one by one showed wild joy and excitement, eagerly asking:

“Xu the Silver Gong is here? In the Southern Border right now?”

Li Na nodded.

After receiving confirmation, the Great Elder’s expression relaxed in relief.

Not just him—the tense atmosphere immediately eased, and the dark cloud hanging over the Power Insect tribespeople’s hearts dispersed.

The Power Insect tribespeople were overjoyed. This feeling of being rescued in a critical moment made them dance with happiness.

“It’s wonderful that Xu the Silver Gong is in the Southern Border.”

“Everyone needn’t flee in sorrow—let’s wait for good news at home.”

After the Central Plains warfare was settled, news reached the Southern Border, and all the Insect tribe people knew that Xu the Silver Gong had become a First-Rank warrior, the strongest expert in the Central Plains.

With a First-Rank warrior present, what kind of insect beast couldn’t be dealt with?

Unless the Insect God crawled out of the Extreme Abyss, the Insect tribes could rest easy.

“This child Li Na has always been clever. I had completely forgotten about Xu the Silver Gong,” sighed an elderly man with graying hair.

“Ah? That was Xu the Silver Gong? I can’t remember what he looks like—Central Plains people all seem to look the same,” said the middle-aged woman beside him, looking bewildered.

These were the Power Insect tribe elders who had just been chatting with Xu Qi An.

…

Outside the Extreme Abyss, above the primordial forest.

Long Tu examined his surroundings, his rugged face full of gravity, and said in a deep voice:

“The Insect God’s power in the Extreme Abyss has thinned by at least fifty percent.”

He made this calculation based on changes in the “blood energy force”—he couldn’t see the other six types of Insect God power with his naked eyes.

“Indeed, about fifty percent.”

Chun Yan and the other leaders responded based on their observations.

This result made the leaders present look extremely troubled, even somewhat terrified.

“It seems this time there’s more than one Transcendent insect beast, and there’s a possibility of simultaneously controlling two or more types of insect arts.”

Yu Shi, wrapped in a black robe with seven walking corpses following behind, said in a low voice.

For insect masters, simultaneously containing two types of life insects was a ninety-nine percent fatal endeavor—only an extremely rare genius could achieve it.

Geniuses who could contain three types of life insects simply didn’t exist, except for Xu Qi An.

But insect beasts, which were essentially mad, had a higher probability of containing multiple insect arts than insect masters.

Historically, insect beasts that crawled out of the Extreme Abyss generally controlled more than one type of insect art—this was why they could fight tribal leaders to the death.

Luan Yu’s bright, alluring eyes swept around vigilantly as she suggested:

“Grandmother hasn’t arrived yet. Why don’t we go back to consult with her first?”

A warm breeze blew past, and she suddenly felt cold—her thin gauze dress couldn’t provide any sense of security.

She wore a pink gauze dress, with very light clothing underneath: a chest wrap that just covered her breasts, and ultra-short shorts made of animal hide and silk.

Her long, well-proportioned legs, enchanting curved waist, and soft flat abdomen were all faintly visible beneath the gauze dress.

This outfit, combined with her seductive figure, could maximize the Emotion Insect’s enchantment, but now, Luan Yu wished she could wrap herself up completely, preferably with top-grade magical equipment for protection.

All seven types of Insect God power thinning by nearly fifty percent meant multiple insect beasts had been born in the Extreme Abyss.

Among the leaders, Luan Yu had the weakest self-protection ability. If she encountered an insect beast with Heaven Insect abilities, she could easily die from its sneak attack.

The Poison Insect tribe leader Ba Ji shook his head slightly, “Haven’t you noticed? Grandmother said a Transcendent insect beast would appear in about half a year, but it was born early—Grandmother’s prophecy was wrong.”

Heart Insect master Chun Yan pondered:

“You mean at least one of the Transcendent insect beasts in the Extreme Abyss controls Heaven Insect abilities. If so, they should have detected us when we arrived at the Extreme Abyss.”

Long Tu said in his deep, muffled voice:

“We can’t delay. Once Transcendent insect beasts leave the Extreme Abyss, all surrounding living beings will face catastrophic disaster. The best approach is to kill them while they’re newly born. Moreover, we don’t even know their numbers or types yet.”

“Go back to consult with Grandmother? Consult about what? Let’s go down and meet them first.”

Seeing everyone’s minds made up, Luan Yu could only follow the majority. She pursed her red lips and said pitifully:

“Shadow, don’t leave my side by more than ten zhang!”

Poison Insects, Heart Insects, Power Insects, and Corpse Insects all had survival methods, but Emotion Insect alone did not. And while the first four could only protect themselves and not others, only Dark Insect could protect her.

“Mm!”

Shadow remained unmoved by beauty, merely nodding.

Luan Yu felt slightly reassured but sighed softly, thinking how good it would be if the Insect tribes had a Second-Rank expert of overwhelming battle power.

Currently, only Grandmother Sky Insect was Second-Rank, but Heaven Insect wasn’t suited for battle. Although abilities like observing celestial phenomena to determine seasons and glimpsing the future were extremely useful to the Insect tribes, when facing Transcendent enemies, they still needed an overwhelmingly powerful expert to suppress everything.

The strongest present was undoubtedly the Power Insect tribe’s Long Tu, who was just one step away from Second Rank.

But after witnessing Xu Qi An’s battle power, Luan Yu somewhat looked down on Long Tu.

Unfortunately, the surnamed Xu was from the Central Plains—distant water couldn’t quench the present thirst.

The group flew over the primordial forest, looking down and using their respective sensing abilities to search for Transcendent insect beasts in the Extreme Abyss.

Chun Yan mimicked bird calls, summoning strange-looking birds from various parts of the dense forest.

“Jiu jiu! Jiu jiu jiu!”

After listening, Chun Yan frowned and said in an odd tone:

“They tell me someone has entered the Extreme Abyss.”

The leaders immediately stopped searching and looked over.

Did someone enter the Extreme Abyss?

Entering the Extreme Abyss at this critical moment… the leaders looked at each other, various thoughts running through their minds.

Luan Yu pursed her red lips and asked:

“When did they enter the Extreme Abyss? What were the person’s features?”

Chun Yan shook her head slightly:

“They can’t answer these questions.”

Insect beasts had no concept of time, let alone human appearances.

After speaking, Chun Yan turned her head, uttering bird language to communicate with them for a while.

Her expression suddenly became grave as she fell into deep thought.

“What did they say?”

Yu Shi’s voice came from under his hood.

Chun Yan raised her head, sweeping her gaze over the leaders, and said slowly:

“Fear!”

“They felt extreme fear from that person.”

Extreme fear… everyone furrowed their brows, exchanging glances, growing more vigilant.

Insect beasts were naturally mad and brutal—even facing them, they would attack fearlessly.

An existence that could make insect beasts fear must be of an incredibly high rank.

At the same time, they could deduce that the mysterious person who entered the Extreme Abyss was of a much, much higher rank than them.

Long Tu asked in a deep voice:

“Is that person still in the Extreme Abyss?”

Chun Yan nodded slightly.

The leaders floated in mid-air, unsure whether to advance or retreat.

An outsider, entering the Extreme Abyss, all seven types of Insect God power simultaneously thinning by nearly fifty percent… Chun Yan’s mind stirred as she seemed to realize something. Her grave expression gradually relaxed, then showed a reserved, contained smile.

It’s him!

The other Insect tribe leaders weren’t stupid—they immediately guessed the visitor’s identity.

Because of his young sister’s dream about the Insect God, Xu Qi An had recently returned to the Southern Border, and his Seven Deadly Insect wasn’t a secret. Now all seven types of Insect God power had simultaneously thinned.

Combined with the information just conveyed by the insect beasts, it wasn’t hard to deduce that Xu Qi An had caused the changes in the Extreme Abyss.

Luan Yu’s autumn waves shone brilliantly, the joy on her face impossible to suppress, completely different from her previous worried, cautious demeanor.

Yu Shi was also excited, his body trembling slightly under his robe, the excitement and eagerness in his voice obvious to anyone.

His dream dried corpse!

Long Tu remained as serious as ever, showing no change in expression, but his tense muscles quietly relaxed, loosening from their alert, combat-ready state.

Huff… Ba Ji exhaled and said:

“Last time we fought, his Seven Deadly Insect was already very close to Transcendent. The changes in the Insect God’s power must be from his Seven Deadly Insects advancing.”

He seemed relieved—this way, the Insect tribes’ most troublesome problem was solved. For quite a long time to come, they wouldn’t need to worry about Transcendent insect beasts appearing in the Extreme Abyss.

Hearing this, the leaders’ faces showed smiles.

Shadow said:

“Let’s go to the Extreme Abyss and look. Don’t relax our guard until we see Xu the Silver Gong.”

The leaders suppressed their smiles and nodded slightly, speeding toward the great ravine.

Luan Yu took the lead, her gauze dress flying as she rushed ahead—quite different from earlier when she only dared to cautiously hide beside Shadow.

Watching the seductive Luan Yu ahead, Chun Yan slightly pursed her lips, the two small snakes on her earlobes making “hiss hiss” sounds as if mocking Luan Yu.

…

“Time to head back!”

After initially stabilizing the Seven Deadly Insects, Xu Qi An, who had been sitting cross-legged at the cliff’s edge, stood up. Then he turned his gaze toward the strip of blue sky above.

Through the cliffs on both sides, seven figures sped through the azure sky, led by the seductive and alluring Luan Yu. Spotting Xu Qi An from her aerial view, she immediately accelerated her descent.

Pat!

Her snow-white bare feet landed gracefully as the enchanting beauty called out sweetly:

“Xu the Silver Gong!”

Xu the Hard Mule… Xu Qi An thought to himself that the Southern Border accent was really hard on the ears.

The other six people landed in succession, their faces showing smiles and the relief of settled dust.

“Greetings, Xu the Silver Gong!”

The leaders cupped their hands.

Xu Qi An shifted his gaze from Luan Yu’s tall, curvaceous figure and nodded slightly to everyone.