Huang Qi knew Tianming would never trust her, so she simply behaved in the most annoying way possible. If Tianming asked her what the “big gift” was, she would definitely answer: as long as he let her out, she would help with anything and reveal anything.

So asking was the same as not asking.

Tianming couldn’t be bothered anymore and continued following the group of bee-headed people deeper into the Sea of Aeternity.

“Why take such risks? Just let me out already. Our interests are aligned.” Huang Qi continued to drone on the entire way.

Tianming wasn’t irritated, but Zi Zhen had long since grown annoyed. They had finally gotten some alone time! Her anger was simmering constantly.

“I know you’re relying on the skypole stars. But that thing is just ordinary cosmic god power. The Sea of Aeternity, however, is built on aeternal source, a fusion of soul power and primeval source. Some of the undying aeternals even have special talents that can bypass your skypole stars... When you run into it, you’ll regret everything.

“Li Tianming, let me be honest. You can only rely on me if you want to accomplish anything in the Sea of Aeternity.”

“You haven’t hit the wall yet, so you don’t understand pain. When you’re desperate, it won’t be too late to release me.”

The storm continued to grow even more violent. This storm was formed entirely from aeternal source, which was thicker and stronger than xeno source. Tianming also discovered that aeternal source carried certain special traits. It seemed to be a kind of unique life-force that might allow the local undying aeternals to live even longer lives.

“The Bzzzzt Lake?” What kind of place would have a name like that?

As he moved forward, Tianming began to spot some cities. These cities were spherical, resembling bee hives or ant nests, and other sorts of insect structures.

These spherical nests allowed the undying aeternals to survive stably amid the raging environment. Some were as large as nova source worlds, and some as small as mound or universe cities.

However, Tianming found it strange that while the residents had clearly noticed him, most remained inside their nests, watching him from afar.

Only after Tianming passed did some of them crawl out of the nests. Tianming’s Plundering Eye looked behind. Without exception, they all had insect heads and human bodies!

Just as Huang Qi had said, the order apian which had once ruled was no longer the mainstream. After passing so many nests, he had seen only a handful of order apian nests.

The ones crawling out and quietly following him included butterfly-head, ant-head, scorpion-head, mosquito-head, cicada-head, and locust-head people, as well as dozens of other types. None of them wore clothing, exposing everything.

Yin Chen could transform into various insects, but it was metallic silver and never disgusting. These undying aeternals however, had real insect heads. Every compound eye, mandible, antenna, and droplet of slime was clear and oversized.

Such heads, placed on either muscular male bodies or voluptuous female ones, were enough to leave Tianming tongue-tied.

And the worst part? The reason they didn’t wear clothes seemed to be that they preferred to “unite” anytime, anywhere. In the group following Tianming, some were literally rubbing against each other as they flew.

Their heads were insects, but the bodies doing the “uniting” were human.

“I know what I’m having nightmares of tonight,” Zi Zhen said helplessly.

With such primitive instincts, they still called themselves the undying aeternals? Tianming didn’t believe for a moment Huang Qi’s claim that she was a pure maiden.

“But I have to admit, their numbers really are large. If their lifespans are long too, then the power of the Sea of Aeternity, at its upper tiers, might well rival one branch of the Eightpart Pantheons.”

That was Tianming’s guess. The number following him now wasn’t too large, but Yin Chen had already begun scouting, giving him a rough view of the Sea of Aeternity’s structure.

“Fortunately, most of them are under a hundred meters tall, equivalent to Overflow stage astral gods.” They had large numbers, but wouldn’t pose a threat to Tianming.

He focused on having Yin Chen speed up to scout ahead.

“Have you reached that Bzzzzt Lake yet?” Tianming asked.

“Almost there,” Yin Chen asked. After a while, it said again, “There now.”

“How does it look?”

“Long description...!” Time was tight. In the lifebound space, Yin Chen rapidly arranged countless centipedes into a block of text.

“The Bzzzzt Lake is a massive altar. It has many transparent spheres with unknown function. Beneath these spheres is a creature a million meters in diameter, shaped like a giant brain. Sixth's vita seems to have fused with it. This creature should be the main threat. Behind the Bzzzzt Lake is another type of undying aeternals called the mayfly divinities. They are even more insectified than the other races. Their heads and bodies are those of mayflies, with only human hands and feet.”

Tianming clicked his tongue. “Try asking around and find out what that creature actually is, and what sets these mayfly divinities apart from the other undying aeternals.”

“No way to ask. These beings follow insect instincts. One queen or mother controls all individual wills. Under such conditions, they won’t speak.” The words spelled out by Yin Chen shifted as it explained.

“How strong do you think that thing is?” Tianming asked.

“It doesn’t feel strong, just very strange. The spheres of the Bzzzzt Lake can fuse with it, like some sort of brain-bubbles. The mayfly divinities calls it the Mayfly Brainlord.” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

“The Brainlord?” Tianming saw the Sea of Aeternity as the brain of the universe. Any creature named like that would certainly be troublesome.

The problem was... Sixth's vita had merged with it?

“It’s that powerful? It even managed to control the Mayfly Brainlord?” Tianming asked Bai Ye and Bai Ling.

Bai Ye curled his lip. “Not sure, but the soul power from that direction feels terrifying and violent. It doesn’t feel like the power of the Celestial Sourcepath Progenitor. It’s possible that the will of this brain-insect holds the dominant position.”