Chapter 158: Soul-Devouring Silver Insects

Judging by the extent of the damage here, even if there had been a large teleportation array, it would certainly have been destroyed. Therefore, the Crossing Immortal Terrace remains the sole method to traverse the Heavenly Abyss Mountain Range.

After all, this place is unimaginably vast, and a large number of known and unknown demon race entities survive here. It would be fine if one were somewhat familiar with the terrain, but running into a Nascent Soul demon lord lurking deep in the primeval forests would mean certain death without a doubt.

The cultivation realms of fierce beasts correspond completely to those of the human race:

Enlightening Spirit (Nurturing Qi), Transforming Demon (Refining Qi/Spirit), Ancestral Return (Dao Body), Penetrating Divinity (Purple Mansion), Transforming Blood (Golden Core), True Form (Nascent Soul), and Fierce Ancestor (Deification).

Generally, upon reaching the True Form realm, the bloodline within a fierce beast is virtually indistinguishable from its primordial source, and its true body bears no difference from the legendary exotic beasts of lore.

To advance any further, one must comprehend one's own bloodline and guide it to evolve toward an even stronger heritage.

In ancient times, there were no cultivation techniques. The demon race fought relying entirely on innate might, and their progress in cultivation was extremely slow. Meanwhile, the human race observed the sun, moon, and starlight, gaining enlightenment from the heavens, earth, mountains, and seas.

Starting from the weak Enlightening Spirit fierce beasts and referencing their methods of cultivation, humanity gradually explored and formulated the systematic methods of cultivation used today.

The ancient demon lineage was actually developed step by step by certain demon species whose innate physical strength was inadequate, by referencing humans.

By the time the ancestors of the fierce beasts were completely slaughtered by human pioneers, the bloodline descendants left behind were weakened to varying degrees.

Coupled with the rise of the ancient demon lineage, as time passed, the fierce beasts degenerated more and more severely, gradually reaching a point where no demon lords naturally born in the True Form realm appeared.

This also gave birth to this body-refining path of bloodline ancestral return.

Such an origin is something many great cultivators of the immortal cultivation world do not know, yet Cao Chengyu understands it with absolute clarity through the "Hundred Solutions of Immortal Cultivation." Having accumulated such an advantage in information, he always retains a preemptive edge when dealing with major events.

Returning to the main point.

As expected, Chijiuxiao's party and Daoist Lin are ninety-nine percent likely right now within these ruins of the demon palace, trapped here due to some unforeseen changes.

Or perhaps simply Daoist Lin is trapped here while Chijiuxiao has already left—both possibilities exist.

Thinking of this, Cao Chengyu directly summoned a cloud and flew into the air, rapidly heading toward the targeted location based on his spiritual sensing.

Perhaps he could also reap some windfall and acquire the refinement method of the Crossing Immortal Terrace.

As for his two burdens, one was still unconscious while the other kept clicking his tongue in amazement. For them, this experience would undoubtedly be something to boast about for a long time, perhaps even for a lifetime.

...

After traveling for another half-hour...

...and encountering no obstacles, the group of three finally reached their destination.

This was a palace that, despite its shattered and ruined walls, still stood with towering majesty.

Even in its ruined state, the palace was a hundred meters tall, clearly built specially for the towering physiques of fierce beasts.

Since this was the Greedy Wolf Demon Palace, the possibility of encountering wolf-type demonic beasts was extremely high.

Cao Chengyu prepared to first scan the palace a few times with his divine sense to ensure safety, but upon contact, he discovered that his divine sense perception could not penetrate it.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. Without formations or restrictions, the sole reason his divine sense could not pass through could only lie in the construction materials of the palace itself.

Upon careful perception, there was a layer of silver-gray metallic coating inside the walls; it was this substance that blocked his divine sense.

No matter how hard he tried to push through, it was impassable.

"Strange, I have never heard of a mineral with this kind of property existing."

After a moment of thought, Cao Chengyu mobilized the power of the Human Soul Undying Chapter.

It was said that when all three volumes of this technique were gathered and perfected, one could roam the nine heavens by day and the nine netherworlds by night, regard heavenly tribulations as nothing, and achieve eternity with a single thought.

There was certainly some exaggeration in that claim, but its effectiveness could not be underestimated.

A palpable, dense red light shot from Cao Chengyu's eyes, resembling the legendary clairvoyant vision.

However, Cao Chengyu's light was purely divine soul power, with his eyes merely acting as the medium of manifestation.

The illusory energy of his divine sense condensing into a solid substance meant that Cao Chengyu was not far from the peak of the Purple Mansion realm, and it was even within his grasp!

The blood-colored pupil light swept across.

Under this enhanced observational capability, Cao Chengyu was astonished to find that the so-called silver-gray metal plating was actually a species of fierce insect.

Soul-Devouring Silver Insects.

True to their name, they possessed the ability to devour the power of divine sense and divine souls. Their individual bodies were much weaker compared to other swarms of fierce insects.

Yet, for shielding against divine sense detection, as long as their numbers were sufficient, no matter how powerful an incoming divine sense was, they could devour it completely down to the last trace without leaving a single flaw.

Realistically speaking, the Soul-Devouring Silver Insects should have long since gone extinct.

Although some of the Soul-Devouring Silver Insects within the architectural layers had died, a portion had similarly survived, which was why his divine sense could not pass through.

After consuming a portion of his divine sense, the originally weakened Soul-Devouring Silver Insects gradually regained their vitality.

A thought stirred within Cao Chengyu.

If this creature were raised on his spirit boat, it would be equivalent to mounting an external stealth module.

Unless spotted with the naked eye, relying solely on a pilot's divine sense perception, it would be utterly imperceptible.

To prevent being hunted down by others in the future, or perhaps after doing certain things and being hunted down by someone's cultivation partner, the Soul-Devouring Silver Insects suited him perfectly.

Among the enemies Cao Chengyu had previously slain, quite a few possessed beast-taming abilities, and Lin Yunjiao was an old hand at this.

Although he had not formally studied it, he still understood a thing or two about binding methods.

The Six-Eyed Flying Serpent strap was already a perfect vessel; he would capture them first, and learning the techniques to control fierce insects later would still not be too late.

Thinking is doing.

Cao Chengyu chanted a incantation, squeezing out a ball of red divine soul power, wrapped it in mana, and slowly moved it close to the wall.

This was a lure-and-trap technique.

To these weakened Soul-Devouring Silver Insects, divine soul power was the guarantee of their survival, so they would definitely be provoked.

As for the wrapping layer of mana, he had tampered with it; the moment they touched the mana film, they would be knocked unconscious by a secret technique he had pre-imprinted upon it.

At that point, he could directly "harvest the corpse," which shared a wonderful similarity with waiting outside the entrance of a bar for a stumbling damsel in distress.

Every trade has its master; the stronger the Soul-Devouring Silver Insects' resistance against divine souls, the weaker their abilities in other aspects must be.

From the laws of heaven and earth, a flawless, all-around organism could never be born naturally unless artificially created, and the difficulty of doing so would likewise be extraordinary.

Cao Chengyu's trapping snare was crudely crafted, but having gone without food for too long, this flock of Soul-Devouring Silver Insects that had hibernated for nearly three thousand years could no longer restrain themselves.

If they starved any longer, they would all die.

Therefore, even knowing it was a trap, they swarmed forward like moths to a flame.

Cao Chengyu turned none away, knocking them unconscious and tossing them all directly into the spatial confines of the serpent strap. To this end, he directly swapped in one of the imprisoned Golden Core divine souls to feed the Soul-Devouring Silver Insects so they could recover.

There were over thirty thousand surviving insects in this batch. Even with Cao Chengyu feeding and nurturing them, having slept for three thousand years meant their origins were nearly depleted, and they could not live much longer.

Thus, he directly tossed an atomized version of a few aphrodisiac pills into the space.

With over thirty thousand insects pairing up, they could produce hundreds of thousands of insect eggs. After a few more rounds of breeding, the quantity would be enough to cover an entire flying spirit boat.

Meanwhile, these first-generation Soul-Devouring Silver Insects would also perish from depleted vitality due to this reproduction.

To put it colloquially, it could be summarized in four words:

Drained to death.