Chapter 1111, The Second Stage

Translator: Jon

Translation Checker: Silavin

 

In front of the portal, Lu Ye kept Amber inside the Spirit Beast Bag and leapt onto the back of a scarab. Then, he lifted its wings and covered himself under them.

 

Following that, he skilfully activated some Glyphs to conceal his presence and restrict his aura.

 

A moment later, he secretly ordered the enslaved insectoids to form a line-up, after which they passed through the portal and disappeared.

 

The scarab that Lu Ye was riding was inconspicuous among the group.

 

As the view around him shifted, the suppression of Yuan Metal Force Field disappeared in an instant. He understood that he had passed through the portal and entered the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm.

 

He could hear the noise of insectoids crawling or flying as well as the squirming of their mouths. He immediately made the scarab fly into the sky.

 

When he reached a certain altitude, he secretly stuck out his head and saw all sorts of insectoids near the portal. The sight was magnificent.

 

In this situation, the Vanguard members had to slaughter the enemies if they wanted to gain a foothold. However, once their Spiritual Powers fluctuated, the insectoids would endlessly come to attack them.

 

The Vanguard members of Bing Zhou had Lu Ye who barged into the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm first. He could use the enslaved insectoids and Explosive Fire Spirit Stones to distract the other insectoids. However, people from the other eight Zhous didn’t have a similar move. They would face a greater challenge than those from Bing Zhou to establish a defence line here.

 

Whether those Vanguard members would succeed depended on their skills.

 

Lu Ye sensed the locations of his insectoids and accurately gave each of them a different order. These insectoids then went deeper into the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm in different directions.

 

It took these roughly 200 insectoids in the Divine Ocean Realm to stay between 20 and 50 kilometres away from the portal. They couldn’t be too near the portal, for that would be pointless, nor could they be too far away. Staying 20 kilometres away from the portal but within 50 kilometres was the best distance.

 

Only then did Lu Ye send a message to Tang Yi Feng. ‘I’m ready.’

 

Now, he just had to wait.

 

It didn’t take the soldiers of Jiu Zhou a long time to assemble. After all, the participants were cultivators in the Real Lake Realm and above, and all the teams were led by Divine Ocean Realm Masters. They were naturally efficient.

 

They only came across some insectoids in their respective paths. Once they reached the insectoid passageways where the Vanguard members had been, everything would be smooth sailing.

 

All the soldiers were ready two days later. The army of every Zhou formed a long line-up.

 

The head of the army had converged with the Vanguard members as they stayed in front of the portal. The back of the army was only several kilometres into the insectoid passageway. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to go further. They were limited by the terrain. They couldn’t move forward before the people at the head barged into the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm.

 

While concealing his presence, Lu Ye received a message from Tang Yi Feng, telling him it was time to take action. He immediately gave an order to the roughly 200 insectoids he controlled.

 

Among the insectoids, a mantis in the Divine Ocean Realm suddenly wielded its blades and attacked the companions beside it. Following a series of attacks in quick succession, many insectoids had lost their lives before they even realised what was going on.

 

Even though some stronger insectoids were injured, they were still alive. Driven by instincts, they quickly attacked the mantis.

 

Lu Ye had discovered something during his previous trip to the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm. The insectoids didn’t get along well. Instead, they were constantly fighting each other. The stronger insectoids regarded the weaker ones as their food and resources for achieving an ascension, whereas the weaker ones would instinctively counterattack when they were in danger.

 

Nevertheless, they wouldn’t see insectoids killing each other in Jiu Zhou. Perhaps there was something more attractive to them in the outside world.

 

Meanwhile, a canine insectoid started gnawing at its companions. The fight soon turned into an intense slaughter.

 

At the same time, a centipede that was several dozen metres long coiled its body around a companion and bit off the other party’s shell with its mouth, revealing the flesh inside.

 

Chaos descended on them in different parts of the Hidden Realm.

 

As the insectoids destroyed each other, they would inevitably detonate the Explosive Fire Spirit Stones on their backs.

 

Explosive sounds were suddenly heard, followed by violent and chaotic fluctuations of Spiritual Powers.

 

To create sufficient fluctuations of Spiritual Powers to attract the insectoids, every insectoid in the Divine Ocean Realm enslaved by Lu Ye bore at least a hundred Explosive Fire Spirit Stones. The larger ones had even more Explosive Fire Spirit Stones. For example, there were several thousand Explosive Fire Spirit Stones on the centipede’s back.

 

As long as one Explosive Fire Spirit Stone was triggered, the rest would detonate in a short time.

 

When the flames shot into the sky, it was like dropping a bit of salt into a pot of boiling oil. Insectoids within a radius of a hundred kilometres around the area broke into a commotion.

 

All the insectoids which had detected the fluctuations of Spiritual Powers became thrilled. Driven by instincts, they streamed towards the source of the fluctuations.

 

[Boom! Boom! Boom!] Explosive sounds were continuously heard as columns of flames shot into the sky. The locations of the 200 insectoids in the Divine Ocean Realm became the focal points of the other insectoids.

 

Besides the insectoids on the ground, even those in the sky were attracted.

 

Initially, some insectoids were flying around Lu Ye, but they were all gone now. He lifted his head and saw no other insectoids apart from the scarab he was riding.

 

Even the scarab which he had enslaved with Soul Control was tempted by the fluctuations of Spiritual Powers. If not for the fact that he gave the order to suppress the scarab, it would’ve flown towards the nearest fluctuations of Spiritual Powers.

 

If that had happened, it would’ve been troublesome for Lu Ye.

 

He looked down and saw that there were no insectoids near the portal, which was initially bustling with noise.

 

Everything was going more smoothly than he had expected.

 

Explosive sounds were still heard. These 200 insectoids in the Divine Ocean Realm were scattered in different parts, so they wouldn’t take action at the same time. They made a move one by one, which allowed Lu Ye to stall for time.

 

The Void within the portal undulated. Several figures emerged from the portal at the same time. The people at the head were still Pang Zhen and Long Bai.

 

Since they had no idea what was going on inside, they were ready to fight. Much to their surprise, no insectoids were around them when they entered the place. The nearest insectoids were several kilometres away from them, and they were leaving rapidly.

 

They were shocked by the strange sight but soon understood that it was thanks to Lu Ye. Pang Zhen couldn’t help but say, “He’s done a great job!”

 

Although Lu Ye’s proposal was accepted during the great conference back then, no one knew if it would be useful or how effective it would be.

 

It wasn’t until now that they realised Lu Ye’s proposal was more effective than they had imagined.

 

The fact that there were no insectoids near the portal allowed the Vanguard members to do their things without worries.

 

More and more figures passed through the portal and entered the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm. In just several breaths of time, hundreds of Vanguard members arrived.

 

“Let’s do it according to our plan!” Long Bai ordered, after which these hundreds of people dispersed and pressed on in different directions.

 

The Void in the portal never stopped undulating. After the Vanguard members, the cultivators responsible for establishing a defence line entered the Hidden Realm as well. Their powers varied as some of them were in the Divine Ocean Realm while some were in the Real Lake Realm.

 

They were Ward cultivators, so their job was to build different Wards in front of the portal. In this situation, if they could establish the Wards quickly, it would lessen the pressure on the Vanguard members. It was a test of their mastery of the Way of Wards.

 

When the Ward Cultivators were doing their things, their fluctuations of Spiritual Powers became a mess.

 

Some insectoids detected the fluctuations and streamed towards them. It was imaginable that as time passed, more and more insectoids would come to them until a lot of insectoids were ready to clash with the Humans.

 

Lu Ye made the scarab descend and join the Vanguard members. He was flanked by Tang Yi Feng and Nian Yuexian, so he felt safe.

 

He then released Amber from the Spirit Beast Bag and placed it on his shoulder. Yi Yi also showed up and approached Tang Yi Feng. “Honoured Master.”

 

Tang Yi Feng took a look at Yi Yi and sensed the fluctuations of her Spiritual Power before nodding gratifiedly. “Not bad!”

 

They hadn’t met in a long time, so Tang Yi Feng was pleased to see that Yi Yi’s power had increased significantly.

 

“Just stay by my side and watch me destroy the enemies!” Tang Yi Feng was high-spirited.

 

Yi Yi rubbed her palms. “I’ll assist you.”

 

Meanwhile, Nian Yuexian spoke to Lu Ye using her Divine Ego. “Don’t stay too far away from me.”

 

A laugh escaped Lu Ye. “Senior Sister, I’m not a child. Moreover, I’m a Combat Cultivator.”

 

As a Combat Cultivator, he was supposed to take part in the war instead of getting protected.

 

Nian Yuexian pursed her lips and said no more.

 

Although the Vanguard members couldn’t press on quickly, they were not slow. They soon arrived at the spot that was five kilometres away from the portal. They had occupied this area which served as the territory for the soldiers of Bing Zhou.

 

Before the defence line was established, the Vanguard members had to fend off the insectoids so that the Ward Cultivators had enough time to do their job.

 

These hundreds of people were scattered semi-circularly in the area that was five kilometres away from the portal. The distance between the two couldn’t be considered short. This required every one of them to be powerful. That was why only cultivators in the Seventh-Order Divine Ocean Realm and above could become part of the Vanguard.

 

Any weaker than that, they couldn’t do their jobs well. Once the insectoids broke through the defence line, it would negatively impact the soldiers who were coming over.

 

Those from Bing Zhou could smoothly occupy the territory without facing much disruption. It was thanks to Lu Ye’s proposal. More than 200 insectoids in the Divine Ocean Realm were scattered in different parts of the Hidden Realm. As the Explosive Fire Spirit Stones they carried exploded, many insectoids were drawn to them. This gave those from Bing Zhou sufficient time to get prepared.

 

However, the cultivators from the other eight Zhous were not capable of doing that. If they wanted to claim the territories, they had to destroy all the insectoids in front of them. It could be said that the battles in front of the other eight portals started as soon as the Vanguard members stormed into the Insectoid Great Hidden Realm. They had to slaughter the enemies and march on until there was a long enough distance between them and the portal. After that, they had to gain a foothold so that there would be enough space for the soldiers who were joining them.