TL: Etude

“So many forbidden insects!” Ye Tian was astonished.

The earlier intelligence had reported far fewer forbidden insects than this! According to the reports, there were only about sixty or seventy, but here, there were over a hundred, including many seventh-stage forbidden insects.

At this moment, Ye Tian noticed Dao Ancestor Clear River and the others. Seeing their perilous situation, he swiftly flew over.

In the blink of an eye, Ye Tian arrived at their side.

Boom!!!

The Forbidden Domain unfolded, completely suppressing the forbidden insects.

Without hesitation, Ye Tian conjured a Forbidden Spear, enhanced with his Forbidden Talent: Dark Spear!

Puff!

The Forbidden Spear instantly pierced through the body of a seventh-stage forbidden insect. Its residual power didn’t dissipate, piercing through several sixth-stage forbidden insects as well.

The sixth-stage forbidden insects were killed instantly by the Forbidden Spear. As for the seventh-stage creature, while it didn’t die immediately, it was grievously injured and left on the brink of death, with hardly any power to resist.

At this moment—

Dao Ancestor Clear River, Dao Ancestor Silver Dress, and Dao Ancestor Crazy Shark were dumbstruck. While it was already astonishing to instantly kill a sixth-stage forbidden insect, it wasn’t unheard of. But to severely injure, and nearly kill, a seventh-stage forbidden insect with a single attack? That was beyond extraordinary.

They had been battling these seventh-stage creatures for quite some time, barely managing to wound them. In terms of survivability, the seventh-stage forbidden insects were even tougher than themselves.

Yet, Ye Tian had almost killed one with a single blow. This meant that Ye Tian could also severely injure, or even kill, them in one strike!

“Even Dao Ancestor Sky Claw couldn’t inflict such severe damage on me with one attack!” the three Dao Ancestors murmured internally.

Didn’t this mean that Ye Tian’s strength had surpassed Dao Ancestor Sky Claw’s? Not by a little, but by a significant margin.

Dao Ancestor Sky Claw was already at the peak level of seventh-stage Dao Ancestors. Only Young Master Gui could suppress him. Yet, even Young Master Gui might not have the power to severely injure, let alone kill, them in a single strike.

Terrifying!

This was their assessment of Ye Tian.

After severely injuring the seventh-stage forbidden insect with one strike, Ye Tian followed up with another spear strike, finishing it off completely.

At this point, the remaining forbidden insects seemed to realize the threat Ye Tian posed. Yet, they didn’t flee. Instead, they swarmed him together.

In their minds, fear was not an option.

Ye Tian unleashed the Ten-Directions Space-Fixing Technique, locking the void in place. He further boosted his combat power with the Primeval Desolate Body.

“Primeval Slashing Technique!”

With one strike, Ye Tian split the body of another seventh-stage forbidden insect. Following up with the Forbidden Spear, infused with the Dark Spear, he slew it outright.

One after another, Ye Tian executed various Dao Techniques, slaughtering the forbidden insects. In just a short time, the Dark Forbidden Void was littered with the corpses of forbidden insects.

Dao Ancestor Clear River, Dao Ancestor Silver Dress, and Dao Ancestor Crazy Shark stood there, observing in silence. They didn’t even need to intervene.

Before long, only seven or eight forbidden insects remained, three of which were seventh-stage creatures.

At this point, fear finally dawned upon them, and they began to flee.

However, escape was futile. Ye Tian’s speed far exceeded theirs. With his tracking Grand Thousand Dao Technique—the Three-Fruit Heavenly Eye Technique—he could easily lock onto their positions. Coupled with their inability to conceal their forms, no matter how far they ran, Ye Tian could catch up and eliminate them one by one.

In no time, the last few forbidden insects were hunted down and slain by Ye Tian.

“Many thanks to the Dao Ancestor of Ten Thousand Laws for saving our lives!”

Dao Ancestor Clear River, Dao Ancestor Silver Dress, and Dao Ancestor Crazy Shark expressed their heartfelt gratitude when Ye Tian returned after annihilating the forbidden insects.

“You’ve done a great service too. If not for you holding them off, I wouldn’t have been able to kill them all!” Ye Tian smiled and continued, “Let’s retrieve the bodies of the fallen Dao Ancestors from the forbidden insects’ spatial storage.”

“Mm!” Dao Ancestor Clear River and the other two nodded.

After some organization, the corpses of the Dao Ancestors were retrieved from the spatial interiors of the Forbidden Insect Race. These corpses needed to be taken back for burial or incineration and were not to be left for the Forbidden Insect Race to exploit.

“These insect corpses belong to you from now on. As for the rest, I’ll take them. Any objections?” Ye Tian asked.

“No objections!” Dao Ancestor Clear River and the other two agreed without hesitation.

According to the established rules between the major forces, whoever killed a Forbidden Insect Race member kept its corpse. Naturally, they had no reason to oppose this.

Moreover, they were not part of the same faction as Ye Tian. There was no obligation for him to show them any special consideration.

If it weren’t for the cooperation of the major factions this time, they might have been enemies under normal circumstances.

Thus, Ye Tian took the corpses of the forbidden insects he had killed and returned to their respective bases with the three Dao Ancestors.

The corpses of the Dao Ancestors were handled by Ye Tian, who brought them back to the base for proper disposal.

…

Blackwind Mountain Base

Ye Tian returned and handed over his mission. The Wind King allocated the Dao Ancestor corpses to their respective factions. A few corpses belonging to rogue cultivators were taken back to the Profound Void Archaic Realm for destruction.

In the following days, Ye Tian occasionally went out to hunt forbidden insects or offered support to other Dao Ancestors. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Unknowingly, a hundred years passed. Over that time, he accumulated nearly a hundred forbidden insect corpses.

One day,

Ye Tian submitted a request to return to the Profound Void Archaic Realm for a period of recuperation. He also planned to use the opportunity to sacrifice the corpses of the forbidden insects.

The request was approved swiftly.

…

Profound Void Archaic Realm

Ye Tian and Xiao Yue returned, but their son, Ye Xingchen, remained behind to continue the battles. He did not accompany them.

As soon as they returned to the Human Race, Ye Tian and his wife, Xiao Yue, began the process of sacrificing the forbidden insect corpses.

On the sacrificial formation,

One by one, the forbidden insect corpses were placed upon it. As the formation activated, the corpses were consumed by the sacrificial process.

Then,

Ye Tian felt the presence of the Profound Void Archaic Realm’s origin. It bestowed a cultivation enhancement upon him, with an immense influx of the Profound Void Archaic Realm’s origin energy pouring into his body. This energy refined his physical body, Forbidden Dao Force, and soul.

Ye Tian carefully stored this origin energy, intending to refine it gradually in the future.

Once he refined all this origin energy, his strength would experience a notable boost.

Even more importantly, the augmentation from the Profound Void Archaic Realm’s origin meant that cultivating within the realm would now yield far greater results than before. This was the true benefit.

Afterward, Ye Tian entered the Forbidden Void Realm for cultivation for a time. Later, he departed from the Profound Void Archaic Realm and ventured once more into the Dark Forbidden Domain to hunt the Forbidden Insect Race.

Through this cycle of coming and going, Ye Tian’s strength and reputation steadily grew.

One day,

News arrived—an Invincible Dao Ancestor had fallen!