Chapter 1092: Going Deep Into the Chasm

Following months of Lu Ye’s hard work, the United as One Ward Nexuses became ubiquitous among the cultivators of the Grand Sky Coalition in Bing Zhou. Besides Bing Zhou, other Zhous also started benefiting from the items. However, since the supply was limited, the penetration rate in other Zhous wasn’t as high as that in Bing Zhou.

After all, Lu Ye was the one who made the items, so they had to satisfy the needs of Bing Zhou first before supplying the items to other Zhous.

It was believed that the situation would become better in a few months. That was because Lu Ye and his Soul Clone could make the items at the same time, so the supply had increased tremendously.

Those from Thousand Demon Ridge were not blind, so they could see the changes in the Grand Sky Coalition. Moreover, they had already planted some moles on each other’s sides.

Those from Thousand Demon Ridge were aware of the existence of United as One Ward Nexuses. They even got their hands on some ward nexuses and tried to make copies of the items.

Unfortunately, they were unable to do that. Back then in Blood Refinement Boundary, even a top artificer like Ouyang Zi couldn’t achieve that. If he were to make the items, he could only hope for a small success rate after a lot of failed attempts.

Therefore, even though those from Thousand Demon Ridge had gotten their hands on United as One Ward Nexuses, they were unable to mass-produce the items. They were naturally jealous.

Although Lin Yue wasn’t an important figure within Thousand Demon Ridge, she was a Pass Leader, after all. As such, she had heard about United as One Ward Nexuses and even shared the information with Li Taibai.

Now that she had brought it up, it was apparent what her intention was.

A well-prepared Lu Ye nonchalantly tossed a Storage Bag at her.

While suppressing her shock, Lin Yue took the bag and looked inside. Soon, she appeared astounded, for there were exactly a hundred United as One Ward Nexuses within the bag.

Lu Ye said, “Since we’ve agreed to collaborate, I think we should be frank with each other instead of beating around the bush or being calculative. What do you say, Cultivator Lin?”

After a moment of silence, Lin Yue let out a sigh. “You’ve been frank and honest, Cultivator Lu. I’m ashamed of myself.”

She had intended to get some benefits from Lu Ye through the collaboration. The United as One Ward Nexuses were her targets. That was why she brought up this topic at this point. Much to her surprise, the other party had already prepared the items before she even said anything.

Lu Ye watched Lin Yue leave a moment later before continuing to work on the defences.

United as One Ward Nexuses were strategic resources, so they weren’t supposed to be given to anyone else without permission. Nevertheless, Lu Ye was the one who made the items, so it was fine for him to give someone else a hundred pieces. Moreover, when the collective power of Dark Moon Forest Pass was strengthened, the situation at the chasm would become better.

Lin Yue was swift to take action. Half a day later, she brought around 200 cultivators from Thousand Demon Ridge to join Lu Ye. They were responsible for building the defences and fighting the insectoids.

With so many new helpers, the situation at the chasm soon became stable.

Everything was successfully set up a few days later. Whenever some insectoids crawled out from the chasm, they would immediately be killed by the cultivators from the two Passes. Even insectoids in the Divine Ocean Realm weren’t spared the same fate.

They hadn’t come across any great insectoids, though. After all, it was rare to see more than ten great insectoids emerging at the same time like what happened during the previous insectoid attack.

Lin Yue approached Lu Ye and said, “Cultivator Lu, I need you to head to Dark Moon Forest Pass and build a Teleportation Ward.”

“Sure.” Lu Ye nodded. They had agreed on it previously, so he naturally wouldn’t turn her down.

Without delay, he flew towards Dark Moon Forest Pass.

At the same time, Lin Yue sent a message to Li Taibai to inform him about it. She told Li Taibai to look for a suitable spot for the Teleportation Ward and keep an eye on Lu Ye.

They couldn’t keep their guard down just because both parties had collaborated. They were from opposing sides. When the insectoid plague was over, they would be at war again.

Lin Yue was willing to trust Lu Ye, but she still had to be careful as she didn’t understand him fully well.

She could be considered a responsible Pass Leader in this regard.

When Lu Ye arrived at Dark Moon Forest Pass, he came together with his Soul Clone and chose a spot to build a Teleportation that would be connected to the chasm. Through the Teleportation Ward, he returned to the chasm. It only took him around two hours to complete his task. There was no doubt his actions were swift.

With the source of the insectoids under control, there were hardly any new insectoids within a radius of a thousand kilometres around this area. Some insectoids would come over from other faraway chasms, but they were only a small number. At this point, the defences of the two Passes could be considered impenetrable.

The soldiers no longer had to form groups and look for insectoids. They just had to stay at the chasm and wait for them to appear. It saved them a lot of time and energy.

Another month later, the situation at the chasm became fully stable, and it was unlikely that anything would go wrong. Only then did Lu Ye look for Lin Yue.

“Are you going deep into the chasm?” Lin Yue glanced at him in shock.

“Yes, I’d like to go in and have a look, so I’ll leave the matters here to you, Cultivator Lin.”

“It’s not safe in the depths of the chasm. Not only are there insectoids everywhere, but the Yuan Metal Force Field will become even more impactful as you go deeper. It’s a hostile environment for cultivators like us. Over the past few years, many powerful cultivators from both Thousand Demon Ridge and the Grand Sky Coalition had explored the chasms but couldn’t find anything useful. Some of them were injured or even lost their lives.”

“Well, I have to personally take a look. Maybe I’ll discover something.”

“Do you trust me so much, Cultivator Lu?” Lin Yue glanced at him in puzzlement. “If you’re gone, those from Surging Waves Lake Pass will be leaderless.”

Lu Ye shot her a look. “What can you do, Cultivator Lin? Kill them all? What benefit will it bring to you and Dark Moon Forest Pass? It’ll only add one more blood feud between both sides and increase your pressure when dealing with the insectoids. I reckon that since we’ve gotten off to a good start, we can have a happy ending as well.”

After a moment of silence, Lin Yue dipped her head. “I’m only a woman, so I’m not as bold as you are. I can only wish you a safe journey and hope you’ll come back unharmed. Don’t worry about your soldiers here. I can’t guarantee they’ll surely be safe, but whenever there’s danger, I’ll protect them like they’re my soldiers.”

“Thanks.”

After they agreed on this matter, Lu Ye summoned Yu Huang and told him about his decision. Yu Huang quickly dissuaded him by saying, “Sir, going deep into the chasm is no laughing matter. The Yuan Metal Force Field is everywhere. The deeper you go, the more your cultivation will be suppressed. Why would you take such a risk?”

Lu Ye had only summoned him to tell him to obey Lin Yue’s orders after he was gone, not listen to his dissuasion. As such, he ignored him and gave him some orders.

Although Yu Huang was anxious, he knew he couldn’t stop Lu Ye.

A moment later, the cultivators of both sides watched as Lu Ye leapt into the chasm and disappeared into darkness.

As he went further down, some insectoids detected his aura and came pouncing on him. He directly killed them. Considering his cultivation, it wouldn’t take him much effort to destroy these ordinary insectoids. He could even easily kill insectoids in the Divine Ocean Realm. Only great insectoids would pose a threat to him.

Anyway, they were nothing more than a bit of disruption. As long as there weren’t too many great insectoids, he could deal with them.

The deeper he went, the darker it became. There came a moment when he couldn’t see any light at all.

Luckily, he was a Divine Ocean Realm Master. As long as he could use his Divine Ego, he could even close his eyes and scan his surroundings.

He had asked Tang Yi Feng about the environment in the chasm because the latter had explored many of them in the past few years. Therefore, he wasn’t ignorant about it. He just had to personally take a look. Since he had some moves that others didn’t possess, he might be able to discover something useful.

He could move three kilometres into the chasm smoothly, but after that, he started feeling that his Spiritual Power became sluggish. He had only been mildly affected, though. He wouldn’t have discovered it if he never paid close attention to his condition.

Usually, such a thing would only happen when cultivators accumulated too much Pill Poison within their bodies. They just had to get rid of the Pill Poison.

Naturally, there wouldn’t be any Pill Poison in Lu Ye’s body. It happened because he had entered the coverage of Yuan Metal Force Field at this depth.

Yuan Metal Force Field was invisible, and it was the nemesis of cultivators. Before Lu Ye opened up any Spiritual Points, he had made use of Yuan Metal Force Field to kill a manager from Evil Moon Valley, after which he became a cultivator.

At that time, the Yuan Metal Force Field caused that person’s Spiritual Power to be sluggish. Certainly, it was because the manager was weak. If he were stronger, he might have been able to kill Lu Ye.

As Lu Ye went further down, the Yuan Metal Force Field became more powerful, and he could feel that the sluggishness within his body had intensified. It was like an invisible force had disrupted the flow of his Spiritual Power.

This weakened his power, but fortunately, it wasn’t so severe yet.

When he was nine kilometres into the ground, his cultivation had been suppressed to that of a new Divine Ocean Realm Master.

If he kept going deeper, his cultivation would plunge below the Divine Ocean Realm. There was no doubt it would be dangerous for him.

At this depth, Lu Ye finally discovered a huge passageway.

According to Tang Yi Feng, it was the insectoid passageway. The insectoids crawled out from an unknown depth through the passageways and left the chasms to devastate everywhere in Jiu Zhou.

There was an insectoid passageway below every chasm. They were located at different depths, but they were mostly nine kilometres beneath the ground.

Supposedly, as long as they moved along the insectoid passageways, they would eventually find the insectoid nest. By destroying the insectoid nest, they could solve the insectoid plague from the source.

Unfortunately, no powerful Divine Ocean Realm Masters from the two sides in Jiu Zhou had been able to go deep enough so far.

This was a predicament because the further down they went, the weaker they became. Even a mighty cultivator like Tang Yi Feng would be left with little power when he arrived at the place where the insectoid nest was located.

This was the fundamental reason why they hadn’t been able to solve the crisis ever since the insectoid plague broke out several years ago.

If the cultivators of Jiu Zhou could easily find the insectoid nest, they would’ve destroyed it long ago.

Lu Ye didn’t enter the insectoid passageway on a whim. There were already a lot of insectoids in this location, and many of them were in the Divine Ocean Realm. He could replenish his power quickly along the way, but it took time for his physical strength to recover.

As such, he had to ensure that he would be able to protect himself when falling into danger.