A Pawn's Passage

“He’s an insect host!” Tantai Ying exclaimed.

Madam Wu’s experience truly showed. The moment she discovered the giant slug, she immediately thought of the Insect Immortal Sect. As it turned out, her suspicions had been correct. There really were humanoid insects involved.

Qi Xuansu examined the dense white threads. “So these are humanoid insects? What cultivation level would these beings roughly correspond to?”

Madam Wu glanced at them and replied, “They should be in the Core Formation stage, roughly equivalent to the Guizhen stage of Xiantian Beings.”

Qi Xuansu nodded slightly. “Then the Golden Core stage corresponds to the Xiaoyao stage of Heavenly Being, the Nascent Soul stage corresponds to the Wuliang Stage, and ascension would be equivalent to the Zaohua Stage.”

“More or less,” Madam Wu said. “But the correspondence isn’t exact. There are bound to be some discrepancies.”

Using Pure Bodhi, Qi Xuansu lifted a strand of insect silk onto the tip of his blade and held it before his eyes. “The world is truly vast, with all kinds of strange things in existence. To think something like this actually exists...”

As he spoke, Qi Xuansu used his blade to part the mass of threads and discovered a cocoon hidden beneath it. He sliced the cocoon open.

Inside was indeed an insect. Unfortunately, it was already dead.

Upon closer inspection, the creature resembled a worm, with no shell, no antennae, and no limbs. Its soft body writhed slowly, and where its head should have been was a circular mouth lined with concentric rings of razor-sharp teeth.

This tiny creature was capable of controlling a human body, transforming people into Insect Immortals, and ultimately guiding them toward “ascension.”

While Qi Xuansu was studying the insect, Madam Wu swept her gaze across the hall. Suddenly, she noticed something. “Wait. It looks like there’s a survivor.”

With that, Madam Wu darted over to one of the bodies and lifted it up.

Qi Xuansu and Tantai Ying were immediately drawn to the discovery and turned their attention toward her. The person in Madam Wu’s grasp was not dressed as a Divine Eagle Guard. In other words, he was one of the humanoid insects.

Madam Wu did not simply cut the man open. For an Insect Immortal who had not yet reached the Nascent Soul Stage, forcibly removing the insect would almost certainly kill the parasite, but the host would not survive either.

It was much like treating Audrey. Qi Xuansu could not simply rip out her Steam Power Core through brute force. If he did, Audrey would most likely die. Such procedures required specialists from the Huasheng Hall.

As a highly experienced Pseudo-Immortal, whose breadth of knowledge rivaled even true Immortals, Madam Wu was naturally capable of much more than merely wielding fire.

She simply happened to enjoy setting things ablaze. But she also had plenty of other methods as well.

Madam Wu struck the man’s back with a heavy palm. Brilliant seven-colored radiance burst forth from between her fingers.

To Qi Xuansu’s surprise, the humanoid insect actually emerged from its deep slumber and slowly opened its eyes.

Although humanoid insects underwent drastic personality changes, they could still communicate. This was especially true for humanoid insects in the Core Formation stage.

At this stage, their humanity still remained dominant. Most of their reason and self-awareness were intact, and they had not yet fully become puppets of the insects within them.

After waking up, the humanoid insect immediately began screaming uncontrollably while curling himself into a ball, displaying extreme terror.

It was obvious that Madam Wu had not frightened him. Rather, he had experienced something horrifying before losing consciousness, and what they were witnessing now was merely the lingering aftermath of that trauma.

A moment later, the screaming gradually subsided. The humanoid insect slowly regained his senses, but it seemed that either excessive fear or the aftereffects of his deep coma had affected his mind. He appeared half-crazed and confused, speaking incoherently. “We were acting under the Ancestor’s orders! We were acting under the Ancestor’s orders! The ignorant are innocent! You can’t kill me! You can’t kill me!”

Qi Xuansu said, “We haven’t even started questioning him, and he’s already volunteering information. That’s certainly proactive. But who is this ‘Ancestor?’ Some Nascent Soul-stage Insect Immortal?”

“Most likely,” Madam Wu replied.

Upon hearing Qi Xuansu’s voice, the humanoid insect abruptly stopped shouting and shrank back fearfully. Unfortunately for him, Madam Wu was holding him firmly in place, making escape impossible.

Even a Nascent Soul-stage Insect Immortal would not have been Madam Wu’s match. A mere Core Formation-stage humanoid insect stood even less chance of escaping her grasp.

Madam Wu asked, “Who is this ‘Ancestor’ you’re talking about?”

As she spoke, an overwhelming power infused her voice. It was obvious she was employing some special technique.

Under that pressure, the humanoid insect seemed to experience something akin to bloodline suppression. He dared not remain silent and replied, “The Ancestor is above our heads. There is only one cloud, which is the Ancestor.”

Tantai Ying could not help but comment, “That expression sounds like it’s from the Central Plains. There’s no way a native of the Southern Continent would naturally say something like that.”

Madam Wu continued, “What did the Ancestor send you here to do?”

The humanoid insect answered obediently, “To sabotage the sacrifice and kill the offerings.”

Sacrifices were directional in nature. The ritual must first establish contact with its intended recipient, which is why an altar and the black sun symbol were necessary. It was much like sending a letter. There must be a specific address.

If the Divine Eagle Guards were killed before they reached the altar, then their souls, flesh, and blood would never be “delivered” to the intended recipient. In that case, the sacrifice would effectively be ruined.

Madam Wu continued her interrogation. “Who was the intended recipient of the sacrifice? Why did your Ancestor want to disrupt it?”

The humanoid insect replied, “I don’t know who the sacrifice was meant for. I only know that there are clouds above the Ancestor’s head as well. We simply obey orders. The Ancestor never told us deeper secrets and only promised that after we returned, we would be rewarded with elixirs and magical treasures and promoted to core disciples.”

Madam Wu’s tone grew heavier. “What did you encounter?”

A look of pure terror appeared on the humanoid insect’s face. “Although the offerings were difficult to deal with, we still managed to kill them. But at that very moment, I felt an immensely powerful will descend. It became an invisible storm. We had no power to resist it at all...”

Something stirred in Qi Xuansu’s heart, and he glanced toward Tantai Ying.

Tantai Ying had mentioned earlier that after Chak Chel appeared, she warned her that the sacrifice had already failed, which would inevitably bring down the wrath of the Heavenly God. Afterward, Chak Chel urged her to leave immediately and made her forget everything she had witnessed there.

Could this be the Heavenly God’s wrath?

It certainly made sense. Imagine sitting down to a meal, only for a swarm of insects to rush in and overturn one of the plates, wasting all the food upon it. How could one not be angry?

This did not necessarily mean that Chak Chel had acted out of kindness. The key issue was Tantai Ying’s highly sensitive status. They could neither allow her to learn the truth nor deal with her too harshly. Forget killing her; even injuring her would attract the attention of the Western Daoist Order’s upper ranks.

Once the Western Daoist Order became involved, whatever scheme they were carrying out would likely be ruined.

Madam Wu asked, “How did you survive?”

The humanoid insect replied, “I’m not entirely sure myself. But I had a life-saving treasure that I obtained through a fortunate coincidence. It could only be used once. It was probably that treasure that saved my life.”

“What is the name of your sect?”

“The Blue Cloud Sect.”

“Where is your sect headquarters located?”

“It’s located on an island overseas. We call it Blue Cloud Island because the sea there is a deep blue color, matching the sky above, while the white waves resemble drifting clouds. The island is very secluded and lies outside normal shipping routes, making it difficult to discover.”

The sect was essentially a hive, continuously giving rise to new humanoid insects.

“When you encountered these offerings, what was their mental state like?”

“They were extremely confused. The moment they saw us, they attacked without a word.”

“Why weren’t you affected?”

“It should be related to our cultivation technique. Although I haven’t reached the Golden Core stage yet, a rudimentary Golden Core has already begun to form within me. Because of that, I’m not afraid that I would be controlled by these ancient gods.”

“There should be more than one sacrificial site, right?”

“Yes. There are many other places where sacrifices are being conducted. We attempted to stop some of them. As for others, we simply lacked the manpower and had to leave them alone.”

“What about those two slugs?”

“We wanted to use the slugs to block the passages and delay the offerings coming from the other two directions so that we could deal with them one group at a time. But the slugs apparently failed to stop them.”

“Do you know anything about the Fallen Apostles?”

“I’ve heard a little about them. They seem to be Westerners.”

“Do you have any connection with the Fallen Apostles?”

“I don’t know. Only the elders and the Sect Master know about matters like that. The Ancestor is the Supreme Elder.”

At this point, Tantai Ying tried to suppress a smile.

Clearly, the title “Supreme Elder” had been modeled after the title of a retired emperor. Every sect seemed to require a Supreme Elder overseeing it. The system was somewhat reminiscent of the cloistered emperors of Fenglin.

Qi Xuansu, however, was not in the mood to laugh.

No matter how he looked at it, Madam Wu had been correct. The long-dormant Insect Immortals had returned.

Although they lacked the scale and influence they once possessed, a basic organizational framework had already taken shape.

If the Blue Cloud Sect were the only surviving sect, that would be manageable. But if there were other sects besides the Blue Cloud Sect, the situation would become far more complicated.

In that case, another insect-extermination campaign might become necessary.

Who had brought the dormant humanoid insects back into the world? Who was manipulating them from behind the scenes?

It now appeared that the waters of the Southern Continent ran far deeper than he had imagined. What troubled him even more was that, here in the Southern Continent, he no longer enjoyed the direct support of the Daoist Order. Many matters required extra intermediaries and additional procedures, slowing everything down.

Madam Wu seemed to understand Qi Xuansu’s thoughts instinctively. After all, the two had once shared a single body. She asked on his behalf, “How many sects like the Blue Cloud Sect are there?”

The humanoid insect replied, “Only the Blue Cloud Sect remains. Many years ago, we suffered a great calamity. The Central Daoist Order and the Western Daoist Order nearly exterminated us completely. The survivors had no choice but to hide and lie dormant. Even after all these years, the number of fellow cultivators remains relatively small.”

The humanoid insects addressed one another as fellow cultivators. Unfortunately, the immortality they sought was that of Insect Immortals.

As he spoke, the humanoid insect’s life force rapidly weakened.

The life-saving treasure he had relied upon had not truly saved him. It had merely delayed his death for a short while. Even that was only possible because the humanoid insect possessed resilience far beyond that of ordinary humans.

After all, the wrath of the Heavenly God was not an empty threat. Even if that Heavenly God could not truly descend into the mortal world, its power remained terrifying.

Madam Wu did not attempt to save him. She had merely stimulated his remaining life force, allowing him a brief moment of lucidity before death. It was not that she was unwilling to preserve a living witness. The problem was that such matters were not her specialty.

She excelled at fire, which had never been particularly associated with saving lives.

Now his borrowed time had run out. Like a lamp exhausted of oil, the humanoid insect inevitably withered to death.