Chapter 1338: Insect Ancestor

Among all of the spatial rifts, there was one through which a vast snowfield was visible.

Standing in the snowstorm was a white-haired man with a pair of long feelers on his forehead, and he was barely discernible from the snow around him.

A smile appeared on the man's face as he rose up into the air, following which a burst of indistinct white light erupted out of his hands before surging into the spatial rift.

Immediately thereafter, the burst of white light expanded drastically, forcibly expanding the rift from only dozens of feet in size to over a thousand feet, and the man flew through it into the Extraheavensphere.

In the instant that he did so, a burst of white light appeared over his body to ward off the oncoming spatial storms, and he immediately flew over to the golden beetle before falling to one knee as he greeted in an excited voice, "Shuang Bai welcomes the return of his queen."

As soon as his voice trailed off, a young woman in a white sheer dress stepped out of another spatial rift with several hundred humanoid ant beings behind her.

Outside the spatial rift were countless more humanoid ant soldiers clad in suits of black armor, forming a formidable and well-disciplined army.

"Given how lazy you are, I thought Qing Feng would be the one to get here first, but you've surprised me," the young woman said with a smile as she turned to the white-haired man.

In response, Bai Shuang merely gave a curt nod as he said, "Long time no see, Yi Jiao."

"You're still all by yourself and as cold and unapproachable as ever. Having said that, you've certainly made some significant progress in your cultivation base," Yi Qiu remarked in a surprised manner.

During Qu Lin's battle against the Heavenly Court, most of the eight most powerful subordinates under her command had perished, and she recalled that Shuang Bai had suffered extremely severe injuries at the time.

"I already failed to protect our queen once, so I naturally had to do everything in my power to ensure that I can pull my weight upon her return," Shuang Bai replied.

Right at this moment, a barely audible voice suddenly rang out from Shuang Bai's shoulder.

"How long has it been since we were last together?"

Yi Jiao and Shuang Bai were both quite startled to hear this, but they quickly relaxed once they recognized the voice.

A faint buzzing sound rang out as a tiny cuckoo wasp rose up from Shuang Bai's shoulder, then transformed into a tall man in a suit of azure leather armor.

The man appeared to have been around forty years of age with a head of curly, shoulder-length hair that spilled down behind him in an unkempt fashion. There was a weary look on his face, as well as a messy stubble, giving him the appearance of a hungover drunkard.

His most noteworthy feature was his eyes as there was a circle of golden patterns around each of his pupils, presenting a mesmerizing sight to behold.

The armorclad ant soldiers behind Yi Jiao immediately stepped forward to surround the man, only to be instructed to stand down.

"Looks like you've honed your laws of concealment even further, Qing Feng. Neither of us was able to sense you at all. When did you get here?" Shuang Bai asked.

"I immediately came here after sensing our queen's call," Qing Feng replied.

"Has our queen given you any instructions?" Yi Jiao asked.

"No. She hasn't spoken to me at all since I arrived," Qing Feng replied.

As soon as his voice trailed off, a projection of a woman drifted out of the golden beetle, and it was none other than Jin Tong.

"We pay our respects to the esteemed Insect Ancestor!" Qing Feng's trio exclaimed in an ecstatic manner as they fell to their knees.

"I'm going to attempt to return to my Dao Ancestor status today, and I want all of you to protect me if any enemies of mine choose to attack at this critical juncture," Jin Tong said.

"We will defend you with our lives!" the trio replied with ecstatic and determined looks in their eyes.

Jin Tong nodded in response, then faded back into the golden beetle's body.

All of a sudden, the golden light emanating from the golden beetle's body became blindingly bright, and bursts of very special law power fluctuations began to sweep through the surrounding air.

Those law power fluctuations surged into the surrounding spatial rifts, and the spirit insects that were converging from all of the immortal regions instantly erupted into a frenzy, tearing their way out of the spatial rifts with renewed urgency.

At this point, all of the Great Encompassment Stage Gold Devouring Immortals in existence had already been devoured by Jin Tong, so all of the Gold Devouring Beetles that were flying out of the spatial rifts were at the High Zenith Stage or below.

"Xuanyuan Jie's not just going to sit back and watch, so we have to be prepared," Qing Feng said.

"We have to stop him this time, even if it costs us our lives!" Shuang Bai said with a cold look of resolve in his eyes.

"I'll get everyone into formation, you two keep an eye on the spatial rifts to make sure no enemies sneak in," Yi Jiao said.

"I'll go get rid of those pesky Heavenly Devils over there," Qing Feng said as he turned his gaze to the massive, black cloud in the distance, and the weary look on his face abruptly faded away as he spoke, following which he instantly vanished from the spot.

"He's become even more powerful than before," Yi Jiao murmured to herself with a look of mixed emotions in her eyes.

Out of the three of them, she had been the one that had sustained the least severe injuries during the previous showdown against Xuanyuan Jie, yet right now, she also possessed the lowliest cultivation base of the three.

Shuang Bai could see the guilt and dejection in her eyes, and he consoled, "Don't worry about it. You've always been more proficient in the art of formations and arrays, so stick to your strengths."

Yi Jiao nodded in response, then flew up into the air until she was directly in front of the golden beetle, and all of the ant soldiers behind her hurriedly followed along.

After some instructions were issued, all of the ant soldiers dispersed and mingled themselves into the mighty spirit insect army that had gathered around the golden beetle.

Before long, the chaotic insect tide had been organized into groups by Yi Jiao and were standing at attention like a well-trained army.

As more and more spirit insects flew in from the different immortal regions, an enormous spirit insect array began to take shape.

Meanwhile, a cloud of glacial, white mist surged out of Shuang Bai's body in all directions along with his spiritual sense as he kept a close eye on all of the surrounding spatial rifts.

......

As time passed, the insect army became more and more enormous, and all of them either possessed powerful innate abilities or formidable cultivation bases, allowing them to withstand the spatial pressure in the Extraheavensphere to arrive by Jin Tong's side.

Under Yi Jiao's command, all of these insects formed a massive array that resembled a giant scorpion, with one pincer that was white and giving off fearsome glacial qi, while the other was dark green and burning with green flames.

On the tip of the scorpion's raised tail was a curved stinger that was giving off a sharp gleam.

At this point, the golden light around Jin Tong had become so dense and opaque that it was no longer possible to see her within it. The ball of golden light resembled a bright jewel that was sitting on the giant scorpion's back, releasing bursts of formidable suction force in all directions.

Right at this moment, a thunderous sound resembling that of a giant gong being struck rang out from within the ball of light, and a projection of Jin Tong emerged to hover above it.

She began to chant an incantation while spreading her arms open as if she were embracing the world, and a golden vortex appeared in front of her chest before connecting to the ball of golden light down below like a funnel.

Immediately thereafter, the surrounding spatial rifts began to tremble violently, and countless Gold Devouring Beetles came flying out of all of them in a frenzy, forming a series of golden waterfalls that plunged into the vortex.

It was as if an incandescent golden sun had appeared in the Extraheavensphere, illuminating the entire area within a radius of millions of kilometers.

Yi Jiao was standing on the giant scorpion's head, and she turned back to observe this breathtaking spectacle with irrepressible excitement on her face, and she was so moved that tears had even begun welling up in her eyes.

Shuang Bai also appeared beside her from a cloud of white mist, then murmured to himself, "We've waited for what felt like an eternity, but this day has finally come."

Yi Jiao turned to him and asked, "Where's Qing Feng? Is he still not back?"

"Extrarealm Heavenly Devils are not so easy to deal with, but he should be back soon," Shuang Bai replied.

Yi Jiao was just about to respond when she suddenly turned an alarmed gaze toward the largest of the surrounding spatial rifts, while Shuang Bai had already vanished from her side and was racing toward the same spatial rift.

However, before he was able to get there, a mountain that was around a thousand feet tall had already flown out of the rift to appear in the Extraheavensphere.

As opposed to recklessly opposing the oncoming mountain herself, she rose up into the air while instructing the giant scorpion down below to raise its massive pincers in a defensive posture.