Silently and without a trace, the Illusory Realm vanished, and when Lu Ye regained his senses, he found himself inside the insect hive, staying in the same insect sac where he had stayed before.
He glanced at the bloated mound of flesh nearby, but Lu Ye remained silent.
The Dark Butterfly had obviously silently compromised; having let him out of that Illusory Realm, it likely wouldn't bother him for a while, nor did he have any intention of entangling with it.
Everything on him was still intact. Lu Ye immediately took out all the Dao Bones from his storage ring, piling them beside him.
It had been over half a year since he was taken, and according to the agreement he previously made with Yan Yong, the Yan family was supposed to provide him with two hundred Dao Bones each month.
Thus Yan Hong brought over a thousand Dao Bones this time, as a way to make up for the missing amount during this period.
Lu Ye knew well that this wasn't due to his own charm being particularly great, but because the Yan family wanted to probe him for some relic-related information. While the Dao Bones were numerous, the Yan family, with their profound base, could still provide them. If they could uncover any secrets from Lu Ye, it wouldn't be a loss for them.
It's just that the secrets of the relics are not minor, and Lu Ye wasn't planning on revealing them to anyone for now.
The Talent Tree's power was activated, and the remaining Dao force within the Dao Bones was ravenously consumed.
Lu Ye quickly noticed that there was indeed a sign of the Dao force within these Dao Bones dissipating, yet he wasn't sure how long Yan Hong had been waiting for him in the relic.
The harvest was significant, but not as massive as imagined.
Deep within the insect hive, the Dark Butterfly had been quietly observing Lu Ye's side. Seeing him suddenly take out so many Dao Bones was surprising, but upon recalling Lu Ye's strength, she quickly became indifferent.
A shocking event occurred, as it didn't take long for those Dao Bones to turn into powder and disappear.
If she hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn't have believed that an Enter the Path cultivator could refine Dao Bones in such a manner. Even she, the Insect Matriarch, using the insect hive's specialties to refine them, was slightly slower.
Yet recalling Lu Ye's uncanny power... comparing to him having the strength of a 100th Dao while being an Enter the Path, such a bizarre refinement speed seemed not to be surprising anymore.
Lu Ye knew clearly enough that refining Dao Bones so blatantly wouldn't escape the Dark Butterfly's awareness, but it didn't matter anymore. There were already too many things revealed in front of the Dark Butterfly, these didn't concern him.
Not rushing to refine the Dao Bones, Lu Ye inspected himself.
This trip brought him four Star Abyss Blessings, and the benefit from the last one seemed to be peculiar, something he had never encountered before.
Under his perception, a strange entity was lurking within him; since the Talent Tree hadn't burned it away, it meant this thing was not harmful to him. Rather, along with this peculiar arrival, any anomalies on him had mostly been incinerated.
Upon further inspection, Lu Ye felt puzzled because it wasn't energy nor a tangible thing. He wanted to refine it but could not find a way.
After a large portion of the day passed, he was still confused. He glanced at the Dark Butterfly, and her voice immediately echoed: "Brother Ye, is there something wrong?"
Lu Ye's mouth twitched.
This fellow was indeed silently observing him all along; otherwise, she wouldn't have responded so promptly.
"Nothing." Lu Ye dismissed the idea of asking her for advice.
He once again examined the mysterious entity, attempting to infuse it with Dao force, and unexpectedly, this time he got it right. Lu Ye distinctly felt that the mystery suddenly dissolved, seeping into his body, seemingly being activated by the initiation of Dao force.
He was slightly startled, and before he could react, an unexpected change occurred.
Abundant Dao force suddenly surged in from all directions, drawn by the mystery, uncontrollably pouring into Lu Ye's body, lifting the golden hue of leaves on the Talent Tree one after another.
Lu Ye was greatly surprised and instantly understood the true purpose of the mystery—it could rapidly enhance his Dao force.
Yet, this seemed undeniably odd.
Just like how nature's spiritual energy permeates every corner of a domain, Dao force exists throughout the Star Abyss. Cultivators can assimilate it slowly through painstaking cultivation, but this method is highly inefficient, often taking many days to refine even a sliver of Dao force.
Even Lu Ye's method, using the Talent Tree's power for arduous cultivation, could only yield a sliver of Dao force in a single day. It's not that the Talent Tree isn't powerful, but the concentration of Dao force in the Star Abyss is too low for the powerful tree to perform beyond its capacity.
But what was this current situation?
In a short period, Lu Ye's Dao force increased incredibly quickly; where was this Dao force coming from? It couldn't just appear out of thin air.
Moreover, Lu Ye felt peculiar with his current state. Everything around him suddenly seemed illusory, his vision distorted and blurred. The womb of flesh he originally saw vanished, even the insect sac he was in faded to grey.
A fish swam past him but was quickly lured by the mystery within him, transforming into pure Dao force and integrating into his body.
"Dao Fish?" Lu Ye widened his eyes, glancing around to find not just one Dao Fish, but many. They emerged from unknown places, congregating around him, drawn by the mystery, transforming into his own Dao force.
Lu Ye finally understood where the abundant Dao force was coming from.
But... why are Dao Fish here?
He had encountered them before; shortly after he began wandering the Star Abyss, he met a small human race group led by Qing Yu, and in the course of interaction with them, he came across Dao Fish.
Those Dao Fish appeared in the Dao Pool, marking Lu Ye's first Dao Fusion kill.
In retrospect, those Dao Fish materialized out of nowhere, similar to the current scenario.
A faint calling voice sounded near his ear, yet Lu Ye couldn't hear it clearly as the sound was weak and far away...
Time drifted by, and he wasn't sure how much had passed when the distortion around slowly stabilized.
The faint and distant voice suddenly drew near, turning clear.
"Lu Ye!"
"Lu Ye!"
Lu Ye was momentarily dazed, all the anomalies vanished at this moment, as if everything just now was merely a dream.
"Lu Ye!" Dark Butterfly was still calling out.
"Stop calling!" Lu Ye responded, his brows furrowed tightly.
"What are you doing?" Dark Butterfly seemed a bit nervous.
She had never called Lu Ye by name, usually calling him Brother Ye, and sometimes, to intentionally annoy him, she called him husband.
But now she addressed him by his name, clearly frightened.
"I..." Lu Ye also didn't know what he was doing. If it weren't for the increased Dao force on the leaves of his Talent Tree, he would have almost thought he was dreaming just now.
But the increase in Dao force told him that all of it was a real experience.
The Dao force hadn't increased much, only about two thousand, not even enough to refine a Dao Bone once.
But on second thought, for any cultivator who's just Entered the Path to gain two thousand Dao force, it would be enough to soar into the sky. So, this wasn't much only in his case.
Lu Ye roughly understood that the mysterious experience he had never encountered before worked to allow cultivators to rapidly gain Dao force.
Compared to the slight enhancement of the physical body, Lu Ye undoubtedly preferred this benefit.
But recalling his earlier experience, he couldn't help but be secretly terrified.
"What did you see?" Lu Ye asked.
Dark Butterfly pondered for a moment: "You seemed to have entered another world, very far away from me."
It turns out that not only did he have such a feeling, but Dark Butterfly also did.
Yet he was clearly right here.
Truly a strange event!
"You..." Dark Butterfly spoke again.
"What?" Lu Ye asked.
But Dark Butterfly said, "Nothing." She suddenly thought of a possibility, but then remembered that Lu Ye had just Entered the Path, even if he had the strength of the 100th Dao, such a thing shouldn't have happened.
Moreover, this is Banlan!
"How odd!" Lu Ye muttered, clearly Dark Butterfly had something to say, but since she didn't, Lu Ye didn't bother to ask more.
This experience was very peculiar, perhaps next time there will be more discoveries.
A long time ago, Qing Yu had told him that the Star Abyss Blessing's benefits were diverse and couldn't be generalized. Lu Ye had received the Star Abyss Blessing several times, but the most common benefit was a slight enhancement of the physical body, and he had also experienced the one-shot success in polishing a Dao Bone. Today was the first of its kind.
Who knows if there are other benefits.
Having accumulated considerable Dao force, Lu Ye immediately refined a Dao Bone.
In the ruins, with the help of those five Stellar Fruits, he gained the strength of the 118th Dao.
Once Lu Ye nearly exhausted his Dao force, he increased by three Daos, reaching the strength of 121 Daos.
The increase in strength wasn't very large, but the path is taken step by step. Compared to other cultivators Entering the Path, his growth was already rapid.
The only thing that made him feel melancholic was that the Dao force required to refine a Dao Bone was increasing. At this current level, refining a single Dao Bone required six to seven thousand Dao force, how terrifying!
He had predicted earlier that one day refining a Dao Bone might require over ten thousand Dao force, and such a thing might really happen.
"Brother Ye." Dark Butterfly's voice came again.
As soon as Lu Ye heard, he knew there was nothing good, naturally, he was reluctant to respond.
But how could Dark Butterfly let him have his way, she kept calling tirelessly, stirring Lu Ye's mind!
"Enough already!" He finally couldn't bear it any longer.
A string of silver bell-like laughter sounded, crisp and pleasant.
"Just say it if you have something to say." Lu Ye gritted his teeth, of course, he knew what Dark Butterfly wanted, related to the method of leaving Banlan, he wouldn't easily reveal it to Dark Butterfly no matter what he said.
He had a plan in mind, but it was still vague and required discussion with Jiu Ying and Jiu Ying's cooperation.
"Brother Ye, have you forgotten what you promised me earlier?"
"What?" Lu Ye frowned, had he promised something before? He truly had no memory of it, though it couldn't be ruled out that Dark Butterfly was deliberately changing the subject to lower his guard.
"Little Butterfly is really saddened. Clearly, I trusted Brother Ye so much, but you didn't consider me at all." Dark Butterfly was really aggrieved, speaking with a sobbing voice.
Seeing Lu Ye ignoring her, she had to up the ante a bit: "It's all fiery... Brother Ye."
Fiery what fiery, I'm really pissed right now!
But hearing her say so, Lu Ye finally remembered.
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