Chapter 153: Chapter 145: You’ve Been Empowered

Han Ning tested the strength of the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm and found that it wasn’t without its flaws.

At least, at its current Entry Level, its combat prowess was weak. Its Soul Techniques all lacked offensive power, making it more suited for support than battle.

But that was only assuming he had a single Soul Beast. If he had more combat-oriented Soul Beasts, this wouldn’t be a weakness. In fact, it could help boost the combat power of his other beasts.

Furthermore, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm could protect the relatively fragile body of the Beast Master himself, preventing him from being instantly killed in an emergency.

Its strengths far outweighed its weaknesses. Han Ning was already quite satisfied with the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s abilities.

He closed his eyes, and the vision of the blood-red butterfly suddenly appeared in his mind.

It was a blood-red world, somewhat like thermal imaging.

Under his command, the blood-red butterfly flew into the air and looked down upon the grasslands, taking in a clear view of everything below.

’What an excellent scout,’ Han Ning thought with admiration. Using the butterfly’s vision to get his bearings, he sat on Egg Pancake’s back and raced toward the Insect-man ruins.

’Since I’m already here, I might as well drop by and have a look.’

"Ling~"

Seeing that an insect had taken over reconnaissance duty, Yin Yi descended from the sky. Its light, airy leaves swayed in the wind as it leaped into Han Ning’s arms.

The insects living here didn’t treat the butterfly as an intruder. Occasionally, one or two insects of other species would pass by, completely ignoring its presence.

With the butterfly’s reconnaissance and Egg Pancake’s Mimicry, Han Ning managed to avoid large groups of insects by taking a relatively quiet path, soon arriving before the main gate of the ruins.

The messy pile of insect corpses that was originally there had long since disappeared.

However, the stone gate was still wide open. The walls were splattered with specks of green insect blood, and a dozen or so insects, each two to three meters tall, were loitering near the ruins.

The blood-red butterfly met no resistance. It flew directly to the stone gate and slipped inside, surrounded by the swarm of insects.

Han Ning commanded Egg Pancake to follow close behind.

There seemed to be an invisible force within the ruins that attracted insects, causing them to spontaneously guard the surroundings.

But when Han Ning made his way down and arrived in the spacious underground hall, he found no trace of any Insect-men having been there.

’Clearly, they haven’t discovered the anomaly here yet.’

According to Lena, the unknown Insect Master commands three to four tribes. The Insect Servants from the tribe nearest the ruins had all been captured by the academy, so there was no one left to go to the other tribes and report back to the Insect Master.

As for whether they had any special means of communication, that was anyone’s guess.

On the way down before entering the hall, Han Ning had specifically observed the rock walls on both sides but found no obvious insignia of the Ancestor Families.

This indicated that the ruins were not created by an Ancestor Family.

He entered the main hall.

Six one-meter-tall insect statues, made entirely of pale green Insect Crystal, came into view.

At the very front, in the center, stood a three-meter-tall statue of a bizarre-looking Insect Queen. It reflected a pale green luster under the dim light filtering in from outside.

"Yin Yi, bind all the surrounding statues and pull them over."

"Ling~"

At his command, Yin Yi shot out seven vines, wrapped them around the upper bodies of the seven statues, and pulled.

As it pulled, the pupils of the seven statues lit up in unison with a pale green glow.

In that instant, they seemed to come to life.

The pale green Insect Crystal pulsed with a brilliant light as the statues maneuvered their stiff bodies and charged toward Han Ning.

’The Spiritual Energy fluctuations aren’t strong, probably around the Awakened Level... This must be the extent of this ruin’s power.’

Facing the charging statues, Han Ning leaped backward from Egg Pancake’s back to the ground and said, "Egg Pancake, they’re all yours. Yin Yi, provide support."

The moment his voice fell, Han Ning felt the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm within him stir, and his vision suddenly changed.

Seven small black insects of varying sizes, hidden inside the heads of the seven statues, appeared in his vision. They were marked with a blood-red glow, like flames in the dark of night.

He tried to see if he could use the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm to control the seven small insects.

But the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm didn’t react at all.

’So these are the control centers for the statues?’ Han Ning realized in an instant, marveling at the Spiritual Silkworm’s keen perception of insect swarms. He raised his hand, and a long, sharp spike suddenly shot out from the tip of his right index finger, stabbing into Egg Pancake’s rear.

"Ji!"

Egg Pancake awkwardly wiggled its rear, its expression a little dazed.

Immediately after, a continuous stream of red, bloody mist flowed from Han Ning’s fingertip into Egg Pancake’s rear.

In just a second, enveloped in the bloody light, Egg Pancake’s body, originally over three meters long, abruptly swelled to just over four meters. The well-defined muscles on its limbs bulged, brewing with terrifying explosive power.

"JI-ROAR!!"

A faint red glow covered Egg Pancake’s eyes. Feeling the Energy coursing through its Body, it suddenly raised its head and roared at the charging swarm of statues.

"Egg Pancake, you’ve been buffed! Take them down!"

"Ling!"

"Ji Ji!"

Egg Pancake raised its sharp claws, the tips of which suddenly ignited with a blazing, crimson Flame. It blocked Han Ning just as a statue swung its limb down to strike.

BANG!

The clash of claw and limb erupted with a dull thud.

A mantis statue, unable to withstand the force, stumbled back several steps.

"Their weak point is the head! Focus your attacks there."

"Ji!"

Egg Pancake let out a strange cry. Using the momentum from the clash, it leaped up and slammed a blow right into the insect statue’s head.

With a loud BOOM...

...the one-meter-tall statue was blown apart in mid-air by Egg Pancake. The raging flames enveloped the small black insect from inside its head, burning it ferociously.

’These small black insects... are they the same Ink Ring Mosquitos that pursued Teacher Liu?’

Seeing that the fire wasn’t very effective against the Ink Ring Mosquito, Han Ning quickly shouted, "Just like last time, seal them with mud!"

"Ji!"

With a casual flick, Egg Pancake hurled a glob of mud at the flying Ink Ring Mosquito, instantly encasing it and slamming it heavily onto the ground.

Its sharp, flame-wreathed claws clashed continuously with the pale green Insect Crystal, sending showers of shattered Crystal Stone fragments into the air.

Egg Pancake’s Blood Qi surged. The "pancake" itself looked like a terrifying Giant Beast, indiscriminately destroying the heads of the surrounding statues.

CRACK!

Its powerful forelimb struck the three-meter-tall Queen statue like a cannonball, instantly unleashing a powerful gust of Wind. Even this largest of statues was covered in fine cracks around its head after a single blow.

The twelve dull compound eyes shattered inch by inch.

Egg Pancake clenched its fists. Wreathed in a bloody mist, it rained down one furious blow after another onto the statue’s head.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The seemingly hard Insect Crystal head instantly burst apart.

A glint flashed in Egg Pancake’s eyes. It snatched the tiny Ink Ring Mosquito from within, mud rolling on its claw tips, and viciously slammed it to the ground.