Chapter 1515: Gathering Once Again

The cultivators cried out, "What have you done to us?!"

They could sense something strange happening to them.

Zhang Lie crossed his twin blades. The blood moon resonated with the blade in his left hand, and the black sun with the blade in his right.

The black sun's flames strengthened Zhang Lie's attacks and burned away Li Feng's. As the realms of reality and illusion inverted, Zhang Lie simultaneously slashed forward with both blades, forming a huge celestial web.

𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The cultivators deeply regretted having provoked someone like Zhang Lie.

The battle ended in the blink of an eye. Four hunters of Team Zenith had expended the majority of their reserves; only Sun Mengmeng and Zhang Lie had spare energy left.

The cultivators, unable to defend against their overwhelming might, spread out and ran, but Sun Mengmeng and Zhang Lie took down the majority of them in one fell swoop.

Zhou Ying rushed up in excitement and grabbed Sun Mengmeng's hands.

"Sun Mengmeng, you're finally here! You don't know just how harrowing our experience was. We had all manner of fighting over the last few days. It's been tough."

Yang Ze rolled his eyes. "It was worse at the start, let me tell you that."

Sun Mengmeng asked, "Just what happened to all of you? You were chased by a group of cultivators, and then another group blocked your path!"

Li Feng replied, "As far as we know, those were two different groups."

"We were chased because of the bone talismans," Yang Ze added.

Li Feng shrugged. "As for the group blocking our way, we don't know how we offended them, or what we did to deserve that."

Zhang Lie headed over. "At any rate, we didn't lose out. We now have six bone talismans in our possession."

"What are these bone talismans?" Sun Mengmeng asked.

Yang Ze explained the situation briefly as Sun Mengmeng nodded in understanding. "No wonder all of you were being chased."

Li Feng turned to Zhang Lie. "Captain, what are our next steps?"

"Let's rest for a moment," Zhang Lie replied. "After a few major fights, I'm sure everyone's tired. We can hand the two remaining pupae to Zhou Ying and Sun Mengmeng, then head straight into the heart of this realm."

"We'd miss a few resources that way," Li Feng replied.

"There has to be a reason that some cultivators suddenly appeared to stall us. Although I don't have any evidence, I keep thinking back to the black-robed man who rescued the Immortal King's substitute. I feel like he's particularly sinister, and might do something untoward at the heart of this realm."

"I agree with our captain's proposal."

Everyone turned to Sun Mengmeng, who had just spoken. Sun Mengmeng pointed toward the hole in the crystal barrier left behind from Zhang Lie's attack as they sought entry through it, which was steadily expanding.

"The crystal barrier likely won't last for long," Sun Mengmeng continued.

"Let's find a place to rest and prepare to advance to the heart, then. I have a feeling we'll have a major battle up ahead," Zhang Lie said.

The safe zone wasn't particularly large, but the hunters managed to find a spot that was particularly defensible. They rested to recover their mental and genetic energy, all of them being exhausted from the multiple days of fighting. Sun Mengmeng, who had the least expenditure, guarded the other hunters as they rested.

Then, Zhang Lie handed the remaining two pupae to Zhou Ying and Sun Mengmeng.

Zhou Ying frowned. "It looks like the lifeforce within has been damaged..."

"It must have been from the shockwaves from our attacks as we fought to make it through the crystal barrier."

"I can attempt to heal them with natural energy, but whether it'll work will depend on the lifeforms within."

Zhou Ying cupped the pupae with her hands. Her long hair fluttered in the wind, the color of crystalline jade. It gave off motes of vitality. She was so beautiful no one could take their eyes away, and golden leaves whirled around her. The tips of her hair produced gray fog.

The gray power gathered around Zhou Ying's forehead, which cracked apart. A gray eye budded from her flesh. It opened up to reveal a chaotic opal iris, which seemed to be able to penetrate flesh, soul, and space.

Each leaf was like a miniature sun, orbiting around the woman's body. To her back was a pair of golden wings. Above those wings was a glowing sun, giving off a radiant, holy light.

Her jade-green eyes were flecked with gold, and she seemed to have become one with the land. The vitality radiating from her was visible to the naked eye. Stellar light surrounded her as though she were a goddess given form.

Black energy formed a gauzy dress around her, sticking closely to her limbs and revealing her curvaceous features—no, making them even more curvaceous than they originally were.

Two root-like tendrils writhed under her dress; her body radiated a seductive charm.

Zhou Ying seemed to simultaneously exhibit the charm of a holy priestess and a charming succubus.

Natural energy condensed, combining with the pupae's innate vitality. They shone like two pieces of jade, giving off green motes of light as though they were surrounded by fireflies. The light wasn't eye-catching, but seemed to provide a gentle warmth.

Quickly, all that natural energy receded once more. Zhang Lie asked, "How is it?"

Zhou Ying shook her head. "The two lifeforms within these pupae aren't organic in origin. Someone used their own intuition—or knowledge, say—to create them within this special realm. They might as well be knowledge constructs rather than true life."

Yang Ze frowned. "So did it work or not? I don't quite understand what you said."

"Put simply, the pupae aren't living beings as we know them. Although the cultivation insights they embody are similar to mine, they're not the same. I wasn't able to heal them much."

Yang Ze rolled his eyes. "So you wasted your efforts?"

Zhou Ying shook her head. "Not quite. At the very least, they're better off than before."

Zhang Lie broke them off. "Alright. Why don't you split them among yourselves now?"

Zhou Ying held the two pupae up to Sun Mengmeng. "Which would you like, Sun Mengmeng?"

Sun Mengmeng casually chose one of the two. In a flash of purple flames, a bug appeared from the pupa, about the size of her arm. It was burning with purplish-black flame in the shape of a phoenix.

The phoenix floated in the air, mysterious but palpably strong.

Just as Zhou Ying had promised, despite still being a bug monarch, the bug that had emerged from Sun Mengmeng's pupa was evidently more powerful than the bug monarchs that Yang Ze and the others had obtained. It was at least half a step toward a bug emperor.

It attempted to run the moment it saw Sun Mengmeng, but was unable to escape from her grasp.

Zhang Lie said, "Consuming this bug monarch should have a noticeable impact."

"I have to eat this?"

Sun Mengmeng frowned, somewhat resistant to the notion of eating bugs. Yang Ze said, "You can wait until you get hurt before you consume it."

"I'd rather eat it now. I'd feel even worse if I had to eat it after being injured."

Sun Mengmeng had eaten all manner of vile lifeforms in the dimensional realm; this wasn't any worse.

She opened her lips wide and swallowed the bug monarch whole, wrinkling her nose as if she had just ingested some vile-tasting medicine.