Ever since the first wave of attack from the God Slaying Winged Insects, the immortal lords were all defending themselves vigilantly.

Many straggler immortal lords had teamed up into groups of 10 or 20 to increase their defenses.

At present, there was not even a sign of the ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King. Hence, there was no need for these immortal lords to fight against each other yet.

Wu Yu was well-protected while hiding with the eternal phoenix tribe. He had no need to worry about his own safety.

No one spoke, for worry that a teeny bit of sound would affect their senses, causing them to miss the flapping of the God Slaying Winged Insects’ wings and in turn allowing these tiny insects to get close to their bodies and kill them.

These immortal lords waited at their current spot for a few days. However, there did not seem to be any more God Slaying Winged Insects. Within these few peaceful days, many immortal lords chose to leave and explore other areas.

At this point, there was still no sign of any more God Slaying Winged Insects. Many of the immortal lords naturally deduced that there was no more God Slaying Winged Insects left.

"Let’s go." The Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord made her decision to leave as well. They picked a direction and the whole tribe headed in that direction cautiously.

The Zhao Immortal Tribe and the Ruling Sky Immortal Tribe had left at the same time, though in different directions. Anyway, they were all surrounded by darkness. This was a gamble of luck to see who would be able to find the ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King first.

And it was a known fact that the test here would definitely not stop at the attack of these God Slaying Winged Insects. There would be more difficult tasks to come.

If not for the sudden appearance of a 10th-grade Mark of an Immortal King, this battle and competition for a ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King would be the most vicious one in the entire Great Void Immortal Path.

Wu Yu was in no hurry as he followed the eternal phoenix tribe’s advance into the endless darkness. However, there was a chattering Tuo Yu Immortal Lord beside him. This made the situation slightly different. This immortal lord was testing Wu Yu’s patience.

The Tuo Yu Immortal Lord was treating Wu Yu as his wife and naturally would be close to him. While being in public and surrounded by others had restrained Tuo Yu Immortal Lord’s displays of affection, his actions continued to make Wu Yu uncomfortable and even disgusted.

As time passed, Wu Yu became irritated.

"God Slaying Winged Insects!"

After they started moving, the God Slaying Winged Insects reappeared in less than one day’s time. Obviously, this meant that there was more than one swarm of God Slaying Winged Insects hiding in this dark space.

"On guard!"

Luckily, the eternal phoenix tribe had advanced with caution. Hence, when these God Slaying Winged Insects reappeared, they could withstand the barrage of attacks. Unfortunately, they were still slightly caught off guard with the sudden attack. Also, the God Slaying Winged Insects in this swarm outnumbered their tribe members. Thus, some phoenixes failed to put up their defenses in time and died horribly here.

There would definitely be casualties in the contest for Marks of an Immortal King in this Great Void Immortal Path, especially when fighting for a ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King. Any immortal lord who had the courage to enter the Great Void Immortal Path had to be prepared to die. Hence, no one would blame the Eastern Sublime Gracious Divine Emperor for setting such fatal tests.

Of course, no one would even dare to blame him.

After surviving this wave of attacks, the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord hurried her tribe forward. This attack was proof that there would be more God Slaying Winged Insects. These insects might keep appearing with no end to them. Who could tell if the next swarm to appear would be larger, with thousands instead of hundreds of God Slaying Winged Insects?

If that were the case, then they were doomed.

The best way to survive from the attacks of these terrible Spirits of the Universe was to find a safe place as soon as possible. There had to be somewhere safe within this endless darkness.

After experiencing the second wave of attacks from the God Slaying Winged Insects, the eternal phoenix tribe was on the move again, but more cautiously this time. They were prepared to defend their lives at any moment.

"Don’t worry, the others will definitely be attacked as well. Perhaps they will suffer more casualties."

"I agree. We have hundreds of tribe members protecting each other, whereas they have teamed up in haste. They have no coordination nor battle formations. Their groups will never make it."

"This way, our Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord will have a higher chance of obtaining the ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King."

They, as phoenixes, naturally were still very proud even after experiencing such horrifying attacks.

While Wu Yu was safe on the journey, he was very irritated. On one hand, he had no idea of how he was going to resolve the issue of Nangong Wei’s death and could only watch as the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord lived well and happily. On the other hand, the 8-realm immortal lord Tuo Yu Immortal Lord kept bugging him, showering him with unwanted concern and attention. Wu Yu was very tempted to give him a tight slap and ask him to scram.

"To be honest, with such tight protection from her tribe members, you have little chance of getting to the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord. You have to capture her and even keep her in captivity in order to research her powers. This is the only slim chance of a possibility of reviving Nangong Wei. Forgive my directness, but I think that she’s truly dead. There is no hope of bringing her back," Ming Long said.

"Alright, I know that."

Wu Yu was depressed. Actually, he knew that Ming Long was right. However, he was just not ready to give up yet. Hence, he was still stubborn in his goal to bring Nangong Wei back. He was even not afraid of having the intention to harm the daughter of the Provenance Phoenix Empress.

He had to try. This was to bring closure to Nangong Wei, and to bring closure to himself.

Hence, each time when no one was paying attention to him, he glared at the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord with blood-red eyes of resentment. She was really an exact copy of Nangong Wei, and it was this degree of similarity that infuriated Wu Yu.

As they searched for a way out, the eternal phoenix tribe suffered a few more waves of attack from the God Slaying Winged Insects. The largest swarm to attack them had nearly 500 God Slaying Winged Insects. During that attack, they were forced to stop moving and focus fully on survival. The few 9-realm immortal lords acted as though they were faced with some great mortal enemy and killed viciously, standing in the forefront of the battle. In the end, while there were some casualties, the core of this team remained unharmed.

Of course, death was still a great blow to the phoenixes. Many eternal phoenix tribe members were scared. No one knew when the test would end, or if they would perish in the process.

"Why did we take part in this Great Void Immortal Path in a moment of foolish bravery? We gain nothing. The Mark of an Immortal King will never be given to us. Aren’t we just here to be fodder?"

Some of the tribe members were starting to grumble.

Of course, these complaints were made out of earshot of the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord.

Luckily, at this moment, light greeted the eternal phoenix tribe. They saw that there was a dim, white, glowing sphere in front of them. That glowing sphere was about 10 zhang in diameter and shone with white light. However, most of its light was swallowed by the surrounding darkness. Hence, they could only see this glowing sphere when they were about a few hundred zhang away from it.

After they spotted the glowing sphere, everyone was still careful and moved very slowly towards it. When they were close enough, they realized that the light from this glowing sphere covered a range of 50 zhang. When they entered this range, their surroundings brightened up a lot.

"God Slaying Winged Insects!"

Suddenly, they heard the flapping of the insects’ wings again, and this time, they were in large numbers. Everyone was in shock and hurried to form defenses around this glowing sphere. They were now very experienced after surviving so many waves of attacks.

However, something unexpected and different happened this time. The large swarm of God Slaying Winged Insects suddenly turned back upon reaching the glowing sphere. They did not enter the range of the white glowing sphere.

They simply flew off and disappeared into the darkness.

"Are we safe? Are these insects afraid to approach this glowing sphere?"

The eternal phoenix tribe could not hold back a celebratory cheer. They had endured a few nerve-wracking days and had finally found a safe place.

"Don’t drop your guard. White Sun Immortal Lord, gather a few phoenixes to form defenses within the range of this glowing sphere. Another group will study this glowing sphere with me. We shall see if it leads us to the ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King."

"Roger that."

The Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord was majestic and domineering. The phoenixes were all submissive before her and acted on her orders. Such a ruling aura could not be formed in a day or two. It was formed over hundreds of thousands of years. This could only mean that she had been in such a powerful and high position since young. This was the main difference between her and Nangong Wei - Nangong Wei could not be as domineering as her.

Next, another swarm of God Slaying Winged Insects flew towards them but still did not dare to enter the glowing sphere’s range.

Hence, they could be quite sure that they were safe now in the glowing sphere. However, the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord still arranged for some of them to be on guard duty while a group of elites from their tribe mainly focused on studying this glowing sphere.

Wu Yu was nearby too. This glowing sphere was a type of immortal design and had to be deciphered before they could uncover what it was hiding.

That was the reason why the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord and her tribe members had to study the immortal design. While Wu Yu could not really tell what immortal design it was at first glance, he was well-read in immortal designs and could study it on his own.

"Yin Er, what’s going on with you? Why have you ignored me for so many days?" The Tuo Yu Immortal lord was free and started pestering Wu Yu again.

Wu Yu was annoyed. If he had known how clingy this Tuo Yu Immortal lord would be, he would have devoured another person. Now he had his own personal pest who kept bothering him. Besides, they were stuck together in this protection bubble formed by a group of 9-realm immortal lords protecting the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord, so there was no way Wu Yu could get away from him.

Hence, he decided to give up on the identity of the Yuan Yin Phoenix Lord. Anyway, after these few days, Wu Yu realized that this identity was useless to his goals.

The decision to abandon this identity was also largely because of the Tuo Yu Immortal Lord.

Unbeknown to the others, Wu Yu used Fulgurating Shadows and instantly disappeared, leaving the range of the glowing sphere. He plunged into the dark surroundings alone. Of course, he did not venture far from the glowing sphere. If there was danger, he could use Fulgurating Shadows again to instantly return to the safety of the sphere.

After he came out, Wu Yu intended to explore the place using his true face. However, on second thought, he decided against it. After all, he intended to take the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord. He replicated a 8-realm immortal lord that he had devoured previously. This was a middle-aged immortal lord with a sage-like appearance. Such a character would not be suspicious here.

After replicating into this individual, Wu Yu explored his surroundings. He thought that other than the glowing sphere, there might be other secrets hiding in the darkness.

He had a great advantage in this test once again, and that was his doppelgangers. He had already formed hundreds of his doppelgangers and sent them out to roam this dark space freely. They might discover something.

His doppelgangers spread out and explored the darkness.

It was then that Wu Yu realized something very interesting.

The God Slaying Winged Insects did not seem interested in his doppelgangers at all.

"That makes sense. The God Slaying Winged Insects like to eat autonomous realms and immortal spirits. My doppelgangers do not have any autonomous realms, nor do they truly have immortal spirits. Their source of power could only be considered as imitations of immortal spirits. They do not really have souls or memories. That is why the God Slaying Winged Insects are not interested in them."

If that was the case, then his doppelgangers were in no danger in this dark space. Hence, Wu Yu spread out more doppelgangers to act as his eyes. They searched the surroundings diligently. This way, Wu Yu would be more familiar with the place compared to the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord, and this knowledge would benefit him in his goal to control her. Secondly, he was not disinterested in the ninth-grade Mark of an Immortal King too, if he could find it.

While his doppelgangers spread out, Wu Yu’s real body was near the eternal phoenix tribe. He realized that the Dancing Flame Phoenix Lord and her tribe members had no idea how to decipher that immortal design. Hence, they were still studying it. They would need some time to truly decipher this immortal design.