Chapter 1066: The Lingering Blight
Chapter 1066: The Lingering Blight
From its epicenter in Shilin Province, a terrifying storm of spiritual energy abruptly swept across the entire Xuanhuang Realm.
The wind howled, its roar echoing across the land. Even the celestial cities of the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance—those magnificent citadels that floated eternally in the sky, seemingly immune to gravity—trembled in the face of the gale.
The fierce winds, however, were merely a prelude.
What truly horrified the Alliance cultivators was the appearance of countless black insects, a swarm like a roiling dark cloud that materialized from nowhere.
They blotted out the sun, casting a pall over the Xuanhuang Realm.
Before the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance could even mount a response, the insect plague had already infested every corner of their territory.
In a mere half-day, the concentration of spiritual energy throughout the Xuanhuang Realm plummeted precipitously.
At this critical juncture, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance finally demonstrated the decisiveness befitting one of the two ruling powers of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Those lacking the necessary strength were advised to take refuge in the celestial cities, their personal grotto-heavens, or within the Tianxuan Mirror until the calamity passed.
Following the Alliance's decree, the situation across the provinces transformed overnight.
The mutated Dao One insects, aside from their ability to devour spiritual energy and reproduce at an astonishing rate, possessed no other special offensive or defensive capabilities.
After suffering some initial losses, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance quickly discovered the most effective method for dealing with the black insects.
They developed a special technique that used immense spiritual consciousness to seize control of the swarms, forcing the insects into a frenzy of self-slaughter and rapid attrition.
With this method, just two Dao Integration cultivators could purge an entire province of the insect plague in a remarkably short time.
Once the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance disseminated this secret technique, dubbed the "Insect Monarch," the raging plague began to show immediate signs of collapse.
...
Deep within the Hundred Stones Grotto-Heaven, Li Fan used the Dao One mother-insect's senses to observe the Alliance's response, taking note of every cultivator who distinguished themselves during the plague. He then cross-referenced their names with the data stored in the Tianxuan Mirror.
"So this is the Alliance's true upper echelon," Li Fan mused. "As long as these cultivators stand, the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance will face no existential threat."
"But if they were to be eliminated first," he continued his train of thought, "the loss of its core strength would instantly plunge the Alliance into a state of paralysis, with no capable hands to deploy. Then, even the smallest of calamities could have a devastating impact."
After a moment of contemplation, Li Fan's thoughts returned to the present.
Feeling the number of his insect swarms rapidly dwindling, he couldn't help but frown.
The "Insect Monarch" technique, which turned his swarms against themselves, was an unexpected countermeasure.
The mother-insect was supposed to have absolute control over its progeny. The simple life form of the Dao One insects should have rendered them immune to conventional methods of manipulation.
But this "Insect Monarch" secret art worked by masquerading as the supreme ruler of the insects, thereby usurping the mother-insect's authority.
"Insect Monarch..."
With his access to the Tianxuan Mirror, it was easy for Li Fan to learn the secrets of this technique. To him, it seemed to share a common origin with the Imperial Beast Sect's Ten Thousand Reincarnation Beast Wheel.
"Could it be that Emperor Sanmo lent them a hand?"
His new wave of Dao One insects wasn't fully deployed. If the plague ended now, it would fail to achieve its primary purpose: luring out Dharma Transmitter Jiang.
"Time for the contingency plan, then," he decided.
Li Fan deliberated for a moment, and two Dao One mother-insects materialized in his palm.
Due to the massive losses among their swarms, their bodies were no longer as plump and round as before. They looked somewhat listless.
They eyed each other with a mixture of wariness and greed.
It was the raw instinct to devour their own kind to survive in a moment of crisis.
Watching these two tiny insects that had thrown the Xuanhuang Realm into turmoil, Li Fan's expression remained utterly impassive.
With a faint clench of his fist, he instantly crushed them both.
With that single act, the very sky of the Xuanhuang Realm transformed.
The black insects that had blanketed the heavens, their incessant, subtle buzzing a constant drone, suddenly fell silent.
And then...
Like a torrential downpour, they began to plummet from the sky.
The Alliance cultivators, still engaged in their extermination efforts, could only stare in stunned disbelief.
They instinctively levitated some of the dead insects for inspection, only to find they were not feigning death.
Seeing this, some breathed a sigh of relief, remarking on how swiftly the calamity had come and gone.
But others, those with more sensitive spiritual perception, felt a growing sense of dread.
They wasted no time in reporting the situation to the Alliance headquarters.
In a single moment, every last black insect that had ravaged the Xuanhuang Realm perished, leaving behind a carpet of corpses that covered the land.
If these carcasses weren't dealt with swiftly, they would undoubtedly cause new, unforeseen problems.
After a brief deliberation, the Alliance issued a new directive.
It announced that it was now safe for the cultivators who had taken shelter to emerge and assist with the cleanup effort.
Participation wasn't mandatory, but it was incentivized with a substantial reward of contribution points.
Thus, a great many cultivators, unable to resist the temptation, left the safety of their shelters.
They looked out upon the endless sea of black insect corpses covering the land, and a collective shiver ran down their spines.
The bodies of the black insects were composed almost entirely of a unique energy, converted from the spiritual energy they had devoured.
This energy bore a resemblance to spiritual qi, but it could not be absorbed or utilized by cultivators.
As the incalculable number of dead insects began to decompose naturally...
...this unique energy was rapidly released into the atmosphere.
Just half a day later, the sheer quantity of this energy reached a critical point, triggering a terrifying transformation.
"Retch..."
A foul odor permeated the air, causing any cultivator exposed to it to feel a wave of intense nausea.
It was an uncontrollable, retching urge.
"Hold your breath and seal your senses! The stench is toxic!"
Nausea was the least of their problems. Soon, cultivators who had been exposed to the stench for too long began to simply pass out.
And that was when the real trouble began.
With a sickening *pop*, the unconscious cultivator's body exploded into a bloody mist.
Although the cultivator was quickly reborn from their personal grotto-heaven, the addition of their flesh and blood to the air made the stench even more unbearable.
Furthermore, this peculiar, acrid stench latched onto the spiritual qi of the world. Any interaction with it, any attempt to draw in energy, would pull the foulness along with it, straight into the cultivator's body.
Not every cultivator possessed a source of nearly inexhaustible spiritual power like Li Fan's Five Elements Great Grotto-Heaven.
Ordinary cultivators still needed to draw spiritual qi from the surrounding environment.
Thanks to the preceding insect plague, the concentration of spiritual qi in the Xuanhuang Realm was already at a critical low.
Now, before it could even begin to recover, what little remained was tainted by the carrion-stench and the reek of blood.
The situation reached its horrifying apex as the last of the insect corpses finished decomposing.
In this putrid environment, even Nascent Soul cultivators couldn't endure for long.
Only those at the Soul Transformation stage or higher could rely on their profound reserves to function normally.
Even so, after just a short time in the fetid outdoors, they too would experience a lingering, psychological revulsion.
"The Xuanhuang Realm was fine just a moment ago," countless cultivators lamented. "How did it turn into this hellscape so suddenly?"
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