22: Suppress the Lord of Heaven

The outer wall of the Small Immortal Realm bubble had become a living hell.

The dusty World-Devouring Insects, dense and overwhelming, covered the fragile world barrier like a crawling, leg-filled, disgusting carpet. The teeth-grinding crunching sounds of their gnawing, mixed with the hissing of the corroding barrier, converged into a symphony of despair that made one's scalp tingle.

Inside the Small Immortal Realm bubble, the wails of living beings faintly drifted through the thinning barrier, like background noise, adding to the oppressive atmosphere.

“Ugh… that smell!” Linglong pinched her nose, her peach blossom eyes full of disdain. She fanned herself vigorously with a freshly conjured, fragrant flower handkerchief. “It’s even worse than the stinky sewers of the Demon Realm! Master is really good at picking places!”

“Stop messing around!” Yun Qingyao snapped, her body radiating moonlight like flowing mercury, instantly clearing an area and freezing dozens of World-Devouring Insects that were happily gnawing with their rear ends in the air into ice sculptures. “Chu Xinghe! Crowd control! Yue Chan, the insect swarm on the left wing is dense! Su Yuan, deduce the Nascent Soul Insect King’s location!”

“Understood!” Chu Xinghe’s array disk glowed brightly. “Nine Nether Illusion Annihilation — Modified! Be trapped!” Countless chains, condensed from a mixture of Chaos Fiend Qi and starlight, appeared out of thin air. Like agile giant pythons, they instantly wrapped around a large group of World-Devouring Insects, fixing them in place, unable to move! This was his crowd-controlling divine skill, a modification of the Nine Nether Illusion Annihilation Array combined with the Star Palace’s array dao!

“Hiss—!”

Yun Qingyao’s reply was a terrifying sword hum that tore through space! Leng Yuechan moved! Her Chaos Sword Bone erupted with dazzling light from her spine, and her entire being transformed into a human-shaped sword aura, directly crashing into the densest insect swarm on the left wing! Wherever she passed, sword qi surged, like a meat grinder entering a tofu heap! Broken limbs and armor, and foul-smelling gray-green liquid sprayed like a torrential rain! Those thick-skinned World-Devouring Insects were as fragile as paper in front of her!

“Aoo ao ao—” A dark golden Nascent Soul Insect King, visibly larger and with an aura reaching the Nascent Soul stage, let out an angry roar, leading a group of its subordinates to aggressively pounce on Leng Yuechan!

“Yue Chan sis, be careful!” Su Yuan’s pupils flashed wildly with light green deduction runes. “Three steps in the Qian position, an ambush in the Kun position! The Insect King’s weakness is the third segment below its proboscis!”

Leng Yuechan’s figure flickered like a ghost, precisely avoiding several highly corrosive acid sprays. The sword light in her hand flickered like a venomous snake’s tongue, and at the moment the Nascent Soul Insect King pounced, she stabbed fiercely into the inconspicuous grayish-white segment below its proboscis from an extremely tricky angle!

“Pfft—!”

Dark golden, foul-smelling blood gushed out like a fountain! The Nascent Soul Insect King let out a shrill, distorted shriek, its massive body twisting and convulsing wildly, then crashed down, crushing a group of its subordinates!

“Well done!” Linglong’s eyes lit up. “Watch me! Myriad Transformation Demonic Heart — Bewildering God Chaos!” She waved her small hand, and an invisible wave filled with chaos and temptation instantly spread out! A large group of World-Devouring Insects, trapped by Chu Xinghe’s chains, had their crimson compound eyes instantly become confused and agitated! They stopped gnawing on the world barrier and instead roared and bit at each other! One bit off a leg, another gnawed half a body, the scene was bloody and chaotic!

“Everyone else! Why are you standing there!” Chu Xinghe roared at those behind him while maintaining the array. “Clean up the battlefield! Insect armor, insect teeth, insect core crystals, they’re all good stuff! Don’t waste them! Also, hurry up and go save people! Be quick about it!”

“Yes! Senior Brother Chu!” A dense crowd of Outer Sect Disciples, all wearing unified gray robes, swarmed forward with fiery eyes, like a plague of locusts! Some used specially made storage bags to frantically collect insect corpse materials, some cast earth-element spells to reinforce the weakening points of the crumbling world barrier, and even more rushed into the Small Immortal Realm through temporarily opened passages to rescue survivors. The scene was chaotic but highly efficient.

“Hehe, this is a huge profit!” An Outer Sect Disciple deftly pried off a fist-sized insect core crystal, wiped off the slime, and happily tucked it into his storage bag. “Following Senior Brother and Senior Sister, you either starve nine times in three days… Ptooey! Or you have meat for every meal!”

Yun Qingyao looked at the perfectly coordinated group, a hint of a smile appearing on her usually cold face. She looked up at the endless sea of insects outside the world barrier, and her moonlight power surged again: “Don’t relax! The big one is still coming! Chu Xinghe, prepare the Star Furnace! Let’s give them a barbecue feast!”

“Roar—!” A hideous, purplish-black Nascent Soul Insect King, whose aura had reached the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, lurking deep within the swarm, seemed to sense the threat and let out a deafening roar! It suddenly opened its massive mouth, filled with spiral teeth, and a viscous, grayish-white beam of light emanating terrifying corrosive fluctuations tore through space, fiercely blasting towards Chu Xinghe, who was setting up the array!

“Holy crap!” Chu Xinghe’s hair stood on end!

Just at this critical moment!

Buzz!

A pale green light screen instantly appeared in front of Chu Xinghe! Countless profound runes circulated on the light screen, precisely predicting the trajectory and energy nodes of the light beam!

Boom—!

The grayish-white light beam violently crashed into the light screen, erupting with dazzling light! The light screen vibrated violently, cracks spread, but it stubbornly did not break!

“Su Yuan! Thanks!” Chu Xinghe, still shaken, looked gratefully at Su Yuan in the distance, who was making hand seals with both hands and sweating on his forehead.

“Stop talking nonsense! Set up the array quickly!” Su Yuan gritted his teeth, his deduction runes operating at their limit.

“Here it comes!” Chu Xinghe’s eyes hardened, and the array disk in his hand erupted with unprecedented light! “All Heavens Star — Furnace Open!”

Rumble—!

Above the massive insect swarm trapped by the Chaos chains, space suddenly twisted! Illusions of burning, brilliant white stars appeared out of thin air! The stars connected to each other, instantly forming an immense fiery furnace that exuded an aura of burning the heavens and boiling the seas! Terrifying Star True Fire poured down like a waterfall!

“Squeak squeak squeak—!”

The extremely shrill insect cries instantly drowned out all other sounds! Tens of thousands of World-Devouring Insects struggled, twisted, and carbonized wildly in the Star True Fire! An indescribable, peculiar smell of burnt protein mixed with burning carapaces permeated the air… “Ugh… This barbecue smell… it’s even worse…” Linglong pinched her nose, her face a picture of utter despair… Meanwhile, deep within the Small Immortal Realm, a magnificent celestial palace – the Lingxiao Treasure Hall – floated above an endless sea of clouds, constructed entirely of crystalline white jade.

Lin Xuan had Liu Wufeng thrown beside him, and he sat cross-legged, grandly occupying the supreme imperial throne that originally belonged to the Lord of the Heavenly Court. Under his buttocks was a soft cushion embroidered with a golden phoenix, snatched from who knows where. In his hand, he was tossing and playing with two luminous pearls, radiating spiritual energy, which he had pried off the armrests of the imperial throne, looking as leisurely as if he were strolling in his own backyard.

Below, the once solemn and majestic hall was a mess. Several exquisite jade pillars were broken, the ground was pitted, and dozens of terrifyingly powerful Golden Armored Divine Generals, at least at the Mahayana stage, lay groaning haphazardly on the ground, their golden armor like tattered sacks. Beside them, about ten early Tribulation Transcenders were restrained, unable to move, while two mid-Tribulation Transcenders and one late Tribulation Transcender were in the center of the hall, a middle-aged man dressed in a nine-dragon imperial robe, wearing a twelve-stringed imperial crown, with a dignified and handsome face, was being firmly pressed to the ground by invisible Chaos Qi, unable to move. The middle-aged man’s majestic face was flushed purple, his terrifying aura at the peak of Tribulation Transcension was firmly confined within his body, not a single bit leaking out.

“Tsk, your Heavenly Court, the renovation is quite expensive.” Lin Xuan tossed the luminous pearls, his eyes playfully looking at the man on the ground. “Emperor Qinglan, right? Peak of Tribulation Transcension? Quite a lot of water content. I haven’t even used much strength, and you’ve already collapsed?”

Emperor Qinglan trembled with rage, the pearl strings of his imperial crown clattering, yet he couldn't even move a finger. He could only express boundless anger and… a hint of deeply hidden fear with his eyes. This person in front of him was ridiculously strong! His peak Tribulation Transcension cultivation was like that of an infant before him!

“Why are you staring?” Lin Xuan nudged Emperor Qinglan’s cheek with his toe, not with force, purely to humiliate. “Tell me, why are you sending people everywhere to plunder the origin of mortal realms, causing widespread resentment? Do you really think you’re a local emperor?”

Emperor Qinglan gritted his teeth, his eyes struggling. After a long while, the anger in his eyes faded, replaced by a deep despair and weariness. He spoke with difficulty, his voice hoarse: “Plundering is for protection.”

“Protection?” Lin Xuan raised an eyebrow, a little interested. “Tell me, how do you protect? By draining other worlds dry?”

Emperor Qinglan took a deep breath, as if having made some kind of decision, his eyes becoming distant and pained: “Ten thousand years ago, the previous Emperor, my Master, led twelve peak Tribulation Transcension mighty figures of the Heavenly Court, not to ascend, but to block the World-Devouring Insect tide.”

“World-Devouring Insects?” Lin Xuan’s eyes narrowed slightly, thinking of the small instance his disciples were currently clearing.

“That insect tide was far larger than any before!” Emperor Qinglan’s voice carried fear. “In that tide… there was an Insect King! Its aura surpassed Tribulation Transcension! It was likely at the True Immortal level! Although it was only a clone that descended, it was definitely not something we mortal cultivators could withstand!”

“True Immortal-level Insect King?” Lin Xuan sat up straight, his playful expression gone.

“Their target was the Small Immortal Realm!” Emperor Qinglan closed his eyes in pain. “They devoured the passage! Master and the twelve seniors… knowing they were no match, they did not flee, but… burned their divine souls and Dao fruits, turning their bodies into an array! They forcibly disrupted the spatial coordinates, twisting the path from the insect nest to the Small Immortal Realm!”

“The price… was eternal oblivion, their divine souls annihilated!” Emperor Qinglan’s voice choked. “They used their lives… to buy the Small Immortal Realm ten thousand years of respite! But it also completely cut off the path to ascension!”

Lin Xuan was silent. Turning one’s body into an array to disrupt coordinates, this was more painful than self-detonation, it was eternal exile and torment.

“That’s not all,” Emperor Qinglan opened his eyes, a deeper despair in them. “Ten thousand years ago… the Immortal Realm sent back one last broken message… during the height of the Immortal-Demon War… the Asura Clan… descended!”

“Asura?” Lin Xuan frowned. That name didn’t sound good.

“They took advantage of the Immortal and Demon Realms both being severely wounded… and launched an indiscriminate massacre against all races in the Immortal Realm!” Emperor Qinglan’s voice trembled. “All races of the Immortal Realm were forced to form an alliance, abandoning vast immortal lands… retreating to the last pure land to eke out a meager existence. The entire Immortal Realm is now under the control of the Asura Clan!”

“Hiss…” Lin Xuan gasped. The Immortal Realm… had fallen?

“The Asura Clan… uses the living beings of all realms as blood food… and the origin of worlds as nourishment… The ‘Asura Insect Mother’ they control can hatch endless terrifying battle insects!” Emperor Qinglan stared intently at Lin Xuan. “And the World-Devouring Insects… are one of their most terrifying claws! The world origin devoured by these insects will ultimately become sustenance for the Asura Insect Mother! Making them stronger! Hatching more, more terrifying insects!”

“Master and the others used their lives to disrupt the coordinates… but that was only a delay!” Emperor Qinglan’s voice was tearful. “Space is recovering! The World-Devouring Insects… are about to re-lock onto the coordinates of the Small Immortal Realm! Once they devour the Small Immortal Realm… and the Asura Insect Mother receives this nourishment… the last pure land of the human race in the Immortal Realm… will face utter destruction!”

He suddenly looked at Lin Xuan, his eyes filled with desperate madness: “Plundering the mortal realms! Extracting their origin! It’s not to strengthen the Heavenly Court! It’s to conceal! To conceal the vitality fluctuations of those mortal realms! To make them like extinguished stars, undetected by the World-Devouring Insects and the Asura Clan! At the same time… it’s also to accumulate strength! To accumulate the last shred… of possible counter-attack power!”

The hall was dead silent. Only Emperor Qinglan’s heavy breathing remained.

Lin Xuan was silent. His hand, which had been playing with the luminous pearls, stopped. Under his Law-Breaking Sword Eyes, Emperor Qinglan’s soul fluctuations were not lying. That despair and struggle were real.

“So… you sent people everywhere to act like bandits, burning, killing, and plundering, all for… to gain strength for a counter-attack?” Lin Xuan’s voice showed no discernible emotion.

Emperor Qinglan’s face turned pale, speechless.

“The method was a bit foolish.” Lin Xuan stood up from the imperial throne, walked in front of Emperor Qinglan, and looked down at him. “But the original intention… barely qualifies as human.” He waved his hand, and the Chaos Qi pressing down on Emperor Qinglan instantly dissipated.

Emperor Qinglan scrambled to his feet, looking at Lin Xuan with suspicion and uncertainty.

“The World-Devouring Insects are about to find the coordinates, right?” Lin Xuan stretched his wrist, his Law-Breaking Sword Eyes sweeping towards the depths of the void, as if he could penetrate endless space and see the restless insect shadows. A cold and wild curve appeared at the corner of his mouth, and the fires of excitement burned in his eyes:

“Perfect.”

“My newly accepted little disciples are currently outside playing at killing insects.”

“As their Master…”

Lin Xuan’s voice was not loud, but it carried a resolve that could sever eternities.

“…I should also go to the Immortal Realm and kill some big ones to stretch my muscles.”

As his voice fell, Lin Xuan’s figure vanished like a bubble, leaving only the dumbfounded Emperor Qinglan and the messy Lingxiao Treasure Hall… All Heavens Star Palace, beside the spiritual spring on the back mountain.

Space fluctuated, and Lin Xuan stepped out. As soon as he returned, his divine sense swept towards the direction of the Small Immortal Realm bubble.

Outside the world barrier, insect corpses were piled up like mountains, being diligently packed by the industrious Outer Sect Disciples. Inside the world barrier, survivors were being orderly evacuated. Although Yun Qingyao and the other four were somewhat tired, their auras had become much more condensed, clearly having gained a lot.

“Master! You’re back!” Linglong, sharp-eyed, was the first to see Lin Xuan and waved excitedly. “Look! We brought you local specialties!” She pointed to a small mountain of charred insect armor and insect legs piled nearby.

Lin Xuan’s mouth twitched. He was about to speak.

“Mmm! Mmm mmm mmm—!”

A familiar, muffled whimper came from the direction of the silence barrier. Kong Ming, the little bald monk, had somehow (perhaps Linglong secretly helped?) managed to poke half his head out of the barrier! He was struggling to wriggle towards Lin Xuan, his big eyes full of accusation: “Master, look at me! I’m stifled!”

Lin Xuan: “…”

He silently brought up the system panel, found [Silence Barrier], and firmly pressed [+100 hours] on the [Exchange Duration] option!

Peace! He needed absolute peace! And then… to the Immortal Realm to kill insects!