Chapter 104 - 68: Exotic Insect? Exotic Treasure!

Chapter 104: Chapter 68: Exotic Insect? Exotic Treasure!

Inside Li Yinsheng’s Bamboo House on Bamboo Forest Peak.

After his Soul emerged from his Flesh Body, Li Yinsheng’s Divine Sense became significantly sharper. Sweeping it over the area once more, he quickly realized what was wrong with the mountain.

Because the Spirit Vein was shattered, tens of thousands of small Spiritual Eyes were scattered across the peak, with a stalk of Cloud Bamboo planted at each one.

Logically speaking, the location of a Spiritual Eye should only emanate Spirit Charm and the aura of the Cloud Bamboo. Yet in his current perception, a third aura was mixed deep underground at every single Spiritual Eye.

Compared to the Spirit Charm and the Cloud Bamboo, this aura was extremely faint, almost completely masked by the other two. This was exactly why, before his Soul Emergence, he could tell something was amiss on the mountain but couldn’t pinpoint the root cause.

Even if ordinary Cultivators stood right in front of a Spiritual Eye and projected their Divine Sense deep underground for a thorough investigation, they likely wouldn’t notice this incredibly concealed third aura. Even Li Yinsheng had to admit to himself that, as he was now, he probably wouldn’t pay any mind if he only sensed one or two of these extremely faint auras by the roadside.

But now, it was impossible for him to ignore them. Though faint, there were simply too many of them. The number of these hidden auras perfectly matched the number of Spiritual Eyes on Bamboo Forest Peak. It was an exact one-to-one ratio.

"These auras seem alive, just extremely dormant..."

With a flicker of thought, Li Yinsheng submerged directly into the ground, heading toward the nearest Spiritual Eye. Although he didn’t know the Earth Escape Skill, his Soul form was naturally unhindered by vegetation, soil, or stone.

Only after diving his Soul underground and spreading his Divine Sense did he realize just how massive the root systems of the Cloud Bamboo truly were. The subterranean roots of the mere ten thousand bamboo stalks had completely intertwined into a single expanse, enveloping the entire surface of Bamboo Forest Peak like a massive dome.

Furthermore, these rootlets reached several meters deep. The taproots located at the Spiritual Eyes plunged over a dozen meters down, extending far deeper than the physical bodies of the Cloud Bamboo above ground. If the above-ground and underground parts of Bamboo Forest Peak were flipped, these combined roots would form a primeval forest so dense it blotted out the sun.

Ordinary bamboo would wither and die in swaths after flowering and bearing fruit. Li Yinsheng couldn’t help but wonder if the Cloud Bamboo would similarly wither like mortal bamboo after bearing Cultivation Fruit, or if it would continue to grow. He figured it would likely keep growing; if it underwent a cycle of life and death every ten years, it wouldn’t have developed such a spectacular root system.

Arriving before the nearest Cloud Bamboo, Li Yinsheng extended his Divine Sense to locate the exact source of that faint aura. Diving several meters deeper underground, he finally found the culprit behind the bizarre aura near the lower half of the Cloud Bamboo’s taproot.

It was a round egg the size of a goose egg, sporting the same dark brown color as the surrounding soil. Its surface was as smooth as if it had been coated in oil.

"What in the world... is this?"

Li Yinsheng focused his Divine Sense, piercing through the round egg and probing inside. He quickly realized that this wasn’t an egg at all, but a cocoon.

Curled up inside the hard, smooth, dark brown shell was an Exotic Insect that resembled both a cicada and an ant.

Under the protection of the hard shell, the Exotic Insect’s outer body was still soft. However, if everything went expectedly, its exterior would rapidly harden once it broke out of the cocoon, potentially even sprouting membranous wings. The most peculiar feature was its mouthparts. It seemed to possess traits of both cicadas and ants, featuring both a slender tube and mandibles lined with sharp serrations.

"There’s no way Fellow Daoist Liang and the others are raising these things themselves, right?" Li Yinsheng muttered, shaking his head.

He had never heard of any Daoist Temple having a fondness for toying with insects, and Huang Bamboo Temple certainly didn’t have such a reputation. This was especially true given that these insects, despite hiding within their shells, were still absorbing Spirit Charm and the lifeforce of the adjacent Cloud Bamboo at an incredibly slow rate to strengthen themselves.

Huang Bamboo Temple would never cultivate something so detrimental to the Cloud Bamboo. Moreover, even though he couldn’t identify the species of this Exotic Insect, its aura alone felt damp, murky, and sinister. No matter how he looked at it, it couldn’t be anything good.

He spent another moment checking hundreds of other Cloud Bamboo stalks. Beside the taproot of every single one, without exception, lay a similarly cocooned Exotic Insect.

Could the Cloud Bamboo be suffering from a pest infestation?

This thought surfaced in Li Yinsheng’s mind but was quickly dismissed. Spirit Plants attracting pests was nothing out of the ordinary, but what kind of pest infestation was this meticulously organized? Exactly one insect sat beneath each stalk of Cloud Bamboo—no more, no less. Even if these insects were incredibly polite, loved each other dearly, and absolutely refused to fight over the Spiritual Eyes and Cloud Bamboo, how could the numbers align so perfectly?

It was far more likely to be man-made. But who would do this? Who even *could* do this? And where did these insects come from?

Li Yinsheng released his Divine Sense again, conducting a meticulous investigation. He scoured the entirety of Bamboo Forest Peak over and over, hoping to unearth a new clue.

After a thorough sweep, he finally discovered something new.

Deep within the mountain, in a place untouched even by the sprawling roots of the Cloud Bamboo, there was a vague fluctuation in aura. It was a Concealment method that, to him, seemed remarkably advanced—at least far superior to the Shadow Concealment Array. Had he not been certain that these insects were unnatural and searched so carefully, he likely would never have found it.

Raising his guard, he let his Qingxuan Divine Light and Magical Power flow through his Soul. After casting Concealment over his Soul, he approached the anomaly and went straight into a hollow space about three meters wide.

The hollow was only the size of a small cellar. Its irregular walls suggested it was naturally formed. However, planted right in the center of this small hollow was a three-foot-tall, pitch-black, triangular Command Flag. The Command Flag was entirely black without a trace of any other color, fluttering despite the absence of wind.

Resting beneath the Command Flag was an insect the size of a hand.

This insect looked completely different from the ones in the cocoons. It was plump, completely pale, and somewhat resembled an oversized silkworm, save for the intimidating, steel-needle-like mouthpart at its front. In Li Yinsheng’s perception, not only was this insect alive, but the aura it emitted was frighteningly pure.

He could feel incredibly pure Primordial Energy radiating from it—energy that far surpassed that of the Crane Egg Daoist Huang He had gifted him previously. Moreover, aside from the Primordial Energy, it also contained a strand of intensely pure and condensed energy. If one were to refine it, it would likely be equivalent to twenty or thirty years of arduous Cultivation.

In terms of sheer volume alone, it far exceeded the peach his Junior Sister had eaten before. However, while this power was pure, it was also highly condensed, meaning the Refinement process would likely be far more difficult than that of the peach.

Had the insect been here by itself, Li Yinsheng would have noticed this pure aura long ago. But the pitch-black Command Flag isolated and concealed all surrounding auras, causing Li Yinsheng to overlook it until he got close.

At the same time, the presence of this Command Flag proved his theory right: this was absolutely man-made.

"I’ve heard of and seen Magical Artifacts that conceal auras," Li Yinsheng said, avoiding getting too close to the Command Flag. "But deceiving my current Divine Sense... I doubt a mere Magical Artifact could pull that off. Could it be... a Magical Treasure meant for aura Concealment?" His eyes lit up.

Counting the White Rainbow Sword, this was the second Magical Treasure he had ever seen in his life. If he only counted intact Magical Treasures, then this would be his first.

"To employ a Magical Treasure, this must be the handiwork of a Daoist," he murmured.

Looking at the plump, pale insect, Li Yinsheng had a sudden realization. "This insect is clearly being raised as a Spirit Medicine to increase Cultivation and Magical Power. That’s why it has practically no sentience to speak of; at the end of the day, it’s just a living Spirit Medicine.

"No wonder its aura is so pure and dense, yet so difficult for ordinary Cultivators to refine. It was likely prepared by the Daoist who left this setup for their own personal use.

"For a Daoist, refining this insect would naturally be effortless."

But what were the cocooned Exotic Insects outside meant for?

He could sense that this plump insect and the Exotic Insects in their eggshells outside shared a fundamentally similar aura. More precisely, those Exotic Insects in their eggshells were probably all spawned by this big, plump insect.

It was just like the relationship between a queen bee and her swarm, or an ant queen and her colony. The queen ant gave birth to the colony, and the colony provided for the queen.

However, Li Yinsheng hadn’t seen the Exotic Insects outside crawling over to nourish this Mother Insect.