Cultivation: I Can Traverse Otherworlds

After settling the juniors, the two of them rode the Qingfeng and sped onward, following the lingering scent of the Rock Armor Demon Crocodile.

SHHHIIINNG...

An invisible object cut through the void, grazing past Zhu Ju's body and leaving a shallow gash on his arm.

His Body Refining Third Realm physical body and the self-activating protective Magic were completely useless against it.

"Void fissures!"

Zhu Ju slowed down, his face filled with dread.

"These wandering void fissures are truly dangerous. If one passed through your head, I'm afraid even a Golden Core Grandmaster would die."

The key was that they were hard to detect.

By the time you noticed one, it was often too late. Even he hadn't been able to dodge it completely.

"Yes."

Pei Jingque nodded, a red glow blooming in her eyes.

"The Jade Void Sect's Fire Separation Golden Eye Technique can see through illusions and also illuminate void fissures."

"Unfortunately..."

"It wasn't passed down to the Bright Void Sect."

The Pupil Technique she cultivated was a simplified version of the Fire Separation Golden Eye Technique. At full power, she could barely make out a few hints of them.

But as for clearly identifying all the surrounding void fissures, her ability fell short.

"I've heard there's a type of Spiritual Water that can greatly enhance the power of a Pupil Technique when dripped into the eyes," Zhu Ju said.

"I wonder if it's true?"

"Such Spiritual Water does exist, and more than one kind," Pei Jingque nodded.

"The Profound Clarity Sect's Bright Clear Spiritual Water can do it, but it requires years of continuous use to be effective."

"Hmm..."

"The scent is starting to fade."

The two were now beside a small, babbling creek, where various smells mingled in the air.

"As you said, Senior Sister, the Rock Armor Demon Crocodile is an Earth Element Demon Beast. It often travels underground, so it's normal for its scent to be faint."

Zhu Ju surveyed his surroundings.

"Is there any way to keep tracking it?"

"I have a Spiritual Medicine that can enhance one's sense of smell," Pei Jingque said, taking out a vial of medicine with a hesitant look.

"I've already used this a few times. There are two doses left. I'm not sure if that's enough."

"Let me," Zhu Ju said, holding out his hand.

"When it comes to the perception of the Physical Body, I should be stronger than you, Senior Sister."

He was at the Body Refining Third Realm of Cultivation and had linked his Essence, Vigor, and Heroic Three Spirits, making his perception extremely keen.

"That's not necessarily true," Pei Jingque said, raising an eyebrow. Still, she handed over the Spiritual Medicine.

"I have a technique called the Nose God Rush Jade Dragon Technique that can greatly enhance one's sense of smell. Junior Brother, memorize this Spell."

"Alright!"

Secret Techniques like this were easy to learn.

This was especially true for Zhu Ju, who was already a master of Magic. With just a little practice, he could circulate his True Essence to activate it.

Nose God Rush Jade Dragon!

At the spell's guidance, his nasal passages flew open.

A swarm of bizarre, strange smells from the surroundings rushed in.

Even with Zhu Ju's high tolerance, his vision still swam, and he swayed for a moment before steadying himself.

"This technique..."

"It's incredible!"

"A legacy of the Jade Void Sect," said Pei Jingque.

"The Jade Void Sect has Secret Techniques related to all the orifices—eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Every single one is a wondrous art."

"The Jade Void Sect..." Zhu Ju's voice was filled with emotion.

"Who would have thought that the once greatest Major Sect in the world would also see a day of ruin."

Shaking his head, he uncorked the vial in his hand.

CLICK!

As the cap came off, a pungent, foul odor assaulted his nostrils. Immediately, his sense of smell sharpened once more.

Zhu Ju gently flared his nostrils. The previously faint and barely perceptible scent instantly became crystal clear.

He could even...

...piece together the Rock Armor Demon Crocodile's recent movements in his mind based on the varying intensity of the scent.

"This way!"

Zhu Ju pointed, and the two continued their pursuit, following the scent.

「An hour later.」

The pair appeared before a pitch-black cave.

"This should be the place." Flaring his nostrils, an unprecedentedly strong scent rushed toward him.

Zhu Ju lowered his voice.

"Senior Sister, should we go in?"

"We've come all this way. We can't possibly turn back now, can we?" Pei Jingque shook her head, performed a Finger Technique, and entered the cave.

Zhu Ju glanced back one last time, sighed softly, and followed her inside.

*

*

*

The lair of a Tier Three Demon Beast was saturated with its potent aura.

For a Dao Foundation Cultivator, it was like a mouse entering a cat's den; their bodies tensed instinctively.

Danger seemed to lurk everywhere.

Every step sent their hearts pounding.

The cave was pitch-black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. The walls on both sides were covered in some kind of sticky substance.

SPLAT!

Something fell from above, landing in a pile of mush.

"Demon Beasts..."

Zhu Ju gently shook his head.

"A Tier Three Demon Beast already has intelligence comparable to a human, yet it can tolerate an environment like this."

"It's probably habit. Demon Beasts aren't human, after all. We can't judge them by human standards," Pei Jingque said, stepping around a puddle of mud. A faint red glow flickered in her beautiful eyes.

"We should be getting close."

In the pitch-black tunnel, her eyes were the only source of light.

Her pretty pupils were filled with countless symmetrical patterns, like a pair of fire jades, making one want to steal a few more glances.

Sensing Zhu Ju's gaze, a flicker of unease crossed Pei Jingque's eyes. She changed the subject, reminding him, "Junior Brother, watch your step."

"Mm."

Zhu Ju averted his gaze and slowly floated up, gliding over the mud puddle.

Suddenly.

BUZZ...

A sound like the beating of wings echoed out. The two of them froze, immediately stopping and holding their breath.

'What was that?'

'I don't know, but it seems... we disturbed something.'

They exchanged a look, and only continued forward after confirming there was no further movement.

The deeper and further down they went, the wider the tunnel became, until they arrived in a cavern filled with a cold, white glow.

The space was nearly a thousand square meters, scattered with countless cold, white pinpricks of light.

With the perception and eyesight of Dao Foundation Cultivators, they could clearly see that the white light came from the abdomens of creatures that resembled flying ants.

They were like fireflies.

But smaller.

The cavern was teeming with these flying ants. They were clustered densely on the walls in massive swarms, their numbers likely reaching a million.

Or even more!

The flying ants were tiny.

Their auras were even fainter, and they seemed harmless.

But for some unknown reason, watching them dance in the air sent an unconscious chill down one's spine.

"What are these?"

Zhu Ju asked in a low voice.

"Some kind of unknown insect?"

BUZZ...

The sound of beating wings rose again. Countless cold, white flying ants swirled and turned toward Zhu Ju.

Zhu Ju froze, his body going rigid. A chill shot up his spine to the back of his head.

Danger!

A sudden, inexplicable premonition of danger welled up in his mind.

Fortunately, the swarm of ants merely flapped their wings, flying about aimlessly. When he remained motionless, they seemed to lose their target.

'They can't 'see'.'

'Do they lock onto targets by 'hearing'?'

"I feel like I've seen these things before," Pei Jingque's beautiful eyes scanned the area as she transmitted her thoughts in a low voice.

"But I can't recall where at the moment."

She used a Secret Technique to transmit her thoughts. The sound was concealed, and in theory, no one but Zhu Ju should have been able to hear it.

But.

The situation changed in an instant.

BOOM...

The flying ants in the cavern erupted as if they'd been provoked, lunging violently toward Pei Jingque.

"Watch out!"

Zhu Ju reacted instantly.

"These things don't react to sound! They react to True Essence and Magical Power!"

A moment ago, when he had lifted off the ground without speaking, he had also alarmed the flying ants because he had been circulating his True Essence.

Speaking would also alert them, but their reaction was mild.

In contrast, Pei Jingque's thought transmission, which was powered by True Essence, had completely triggered their frenzy.

BOOM!

A ball of Fierce Flame exploded out of thin air, sweeping in all directions.

A pattern lit up between Pei Jingque's brows as Fierce Flames coiled wildly around her. She looked like a soaring Fire Phoenix spreading its wings.

The temperature in the cavern skyrocketed.

The next moment.

Countless points of suction appeared out of nowhere. The Fierce Flames swirling in the area shrank and vanished at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"This is bad!"

Pei Jingque's heart pounded.

"They can devour Spiritual Qi!"

Although the Magic she had unleashed burned some of the flying ants, more of them swarmed forward, and the Fierce Flames were rapidly devoured.

There were too many of them!

Countless flying ants covered every surface. With numbers in the millions, they filled nearly every corner of the cavern.

A terrifying suction force drained the Spiritual Qi from the area in an instant, and even began to devour the True Essence within their bodies.

The Magic of the Dao Foundation Cultivators had just been cast, but before it could even display its power, it was devoured completely.

ZING!

Flashes of saber light flickered continuously.

Zhu Ju flicked his wrist, and the Cross and Vertical Saber unleashed a thousand strikes in an instant, lashing out wildly in all directions.

But it was no use.

The saber light was initially incredibly powerful, but the moment it made contact with the ant swarm, its brilliance began to diminish rapidly.

The saber glow that should have streaked for hundreds of feet only advanced a few feet forward before being completely devoured.

Although he killed some of the flying ants, the number was negligible in the face of their terrifying population.

"What the hell are these things?"

Zhu Ju's heart hammered in his chest, and sweat beaded on his forehead.

"They even devour Sword Qi!"

Faced with the swarming ants, he didn't dare stop, madly swinging his saber in a desperate attempt to hold them back.

But this was not a sustainable solution.

The omnipresent devouring force had turned the cave into a Desolate Land. It was also frantically draining the True Essence from his body. In just a few breaths, Zhu Ju began to feel exhausted. He feared it wouldn't be long before he was sucked into a dried-up corpse.

SWISH!

A dark red Flying Sword shot out from Pei Jingque's palm. A moment after it entered the ant swarm, it fell to the ground as a piece of scrap metal.

'They eat Magical Artifacts too?'

Zhu Ju's eyes constricted and his heart pounded wildly. He had the sudden urge to hide in the Otherworld to wait out the storm.

"I remember now!"

Pei Jingque suddenly exclaimed.

"Spirit-Devouring Ants!"

"They're Parasitic Demon Insects that live on the Rock Armor Demon Crocodile! Spirit-Devouring Ants can devour anything that has spirit in it."

"The Rock Armor Demon Crocodile's hide grows continuously. The Spirit-Devouring Ants help it by eating the excess growth, preventing it from growing so large that it can't move."

"The pure physical strength of a Tier Three Demon Beast is even greater than a Golden Core Grandmaster's. A Parasitic Demon Insect that can devour the excess growth of a Rock Armor Demon Crocodile's hide would be fatal to us."

"What do we do now?" Zhu Ju asked urgently.

"Is there a way to counter them?"

"Once they're full, they'll naturally stop sucking. But I'm afraid they won't be full even after they've sucked us dry," Pei Jingque said.

"Also..."

"Spirit-Devouring Ants identify foreign objects by sensing Spiritual Qi. As long as you conceal your aura, you won't alarm them. That's what the book said."

?

Zhu Ju was speechless.

"Senior Sister, isn't it a bit too late to be telling me this now?"

The two of them were already locked onto by the Spirit-Devouring Ants. The slightest lapse in concentration would get them sucked dry.

Concealing their auras...

...was just asking for death!

"We can lure them away."

Pei Jingque's face showed a hint of apology.

"If I can get a moment's respite, I can take you into the Realm of Profound Void and evade their senses."

Her Profound Void Body was best at concealing auras.

The Realm of Profound Void was one of its Innate Divine Techniques. With enough distance, it could even evade the senses of a Golden Core Grandmaster.

"Lure them away?"

A flicker of understanding crossed Zhu Ju's eyes.

"Senior Sister, get ready."

SWISH!

Before his words had faded, he suddenly waved his long sleeve, and a long scroll painting appeared out of thin air.

The Hundred Professions and Thousand People Painting!

He had created this painting to practice the Skin Painting Technique. It had over a thousand portraits on it, and each one could be transformed into a tangible illusion.

Although they had no attack power, there were a lot of them.

"Go!"

Zhu Ju performed a Finger Technique with a flick of his fingers, pointing at the scroll.

HUMMM...

Ripples spread across the surface of the painting, and countless figures emerged from it, rushing out in all directions.

Instantly.

The Spirit-Devouring Ants in the cavern stirred, and countless ants pounced on the figures, leaving the area around the two cultivators empty.

An opportunity!

Pei Jingque's beautiful eyes lit up. She reached out, grabbed Zhu Ju's wrist, and with a gentle pull, the two of them stepped into the Realm of Profound Void.

Zhu Ju felt a slight chill run through his body, and then everything before his eyes became dim.

It was as if a transparent film had covered his senses, isolating him from the outside world.

'So this is the Realm of Profound Void?'

'As expected of an Innate Divine Technique from a special Dao Body. It truly is amazing,' Zhu Ju mused, looking around.

Let's go!

Pei Jingque gave him a look, pulling him deeper into the cavern.

After moving forward for a short while, they had gone about a third of a mile deeper when an unusual cave appeared before them.

The previous caverns had all been extremely spacious, which made sense given the size of the Rock Armor Demon Crocodile.

But the cave before them was different.

It looked more like a Cave Mansion inhabited by a human.

The two exchanged a look. Pei Jingque let go of Zhu Ju's wrist and cautiously approached the cave entrance.

The scene that met their eyes made them both overjoyed.

"Skeletal remains!"

"Innate Spiritual Milk!"

Pei Jingque's attention was immediately drawn to the skeletal remains sitting cross-legged on a stone platform.

As for Zhu Ju...

...he instantly spotted the Innate Spiritual Milk in the corner, which was trickling down from a stone pillar into a trough below that was nearly overflowing.

Innate Spiritual Milk could hatch the Primordial Spirit Stone Embryo he possessed!

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