Sage of Humanity

Ever since cultivators from two different domains broke into the insect hive's core, the screeches of the Insect Race have never ceased. Under the dance of Lu Ye's long saber, almost every few breaths would see an insect bodyguard perish.

To Yuk Yaorao, his actions matched the definition that the world has for combat cultivators, which is to ignore everything in battle and just charge forward with brute force.

But in fact, Lu Ye's battle style, rather than being recklessly bold, is more of an aggressive approach, a habit he's cultivated since his weaker days.

When dealing with enemies, especially those with comparable cultivation, the first thing to do is to overpower them with momentum. If one can't even do that, how can one kill?

Moreover, although his actions seemed reckless, he never truly puts himself at risk.

The number of bodyguards inside this insect hive core is large, likely due to the experiences from past generations. It's important to know that this Fairy Tree World was visited not only by him and Yuk Yaorao.

Every hundred years, the doppelganger of the Reincarnation Tree will enter a cycle, attracting monsters from major domains of the stellar space. Often, monsters from different domains are sent into different tree worlds by the Reincarnation Tree to participate in such trials.

Almost every time, the Fairy Tree World is never missed because the Insect Race's plotting against the Fairy Race has never stopped!

In other words, even if this time Lu Ye and Yuk Yaorao help solve the issue in the tree world for the fairies, it won't be long before a new batch of Insect Race returns to build a new hive here and continue their invasion of the Fairy Tree World.

The fairies have long been accustomed to this life. As long as they hide themselves well, the insect race, with little spiritual intelligence, will never find them, let alone capture them.

As for what becomes of the other parts of the Fairy Tree World, they couldn't care less.

After all, the insect hive here has been eradicated countless times in history…

The new insect hives will naturally hatch more insect bodyguards to prepare for the centennial destruction!

Theoretically, two monsters from different domains would have to join forces, putting in great effort to tackle the insect hive here, which meets the standard level of this test.

But the Reincarnation Tree has clearly underestimated Lu Ye's strength. Even though it is a stellar space supreme treasure existing for unknown years, having seen many demonic figures, it's ultimately not human, lacking a clear understanding of human limits and bursts of power.

With such an insect hive, even without Yuk Yaorao's assistance, Lu Ye alone could flatten it.

When killing enemies, he never lets himself get surrounded by the insect bodyguards. Although he has the capability to handle it alone, being truly surrounded wouldn't end well.

His strategy is to quickly kill a bodyguard with two or three strikes, then maneuver and shift his position.

Without the fairy's blessing, relying solely on his Sharpness spirit rune, he couldn't swiftly slice through with such ease. To kill such insect bodyguards, one must strike their weak points or deliver more strikes.

In battles this intense, even if you strike an enemy one extra time, it changes the entire situation.

Lü Yingying's blessing gave him the capital to quickly resolve enemies.

He couldn't help but wonder if Huang Tongtong and Lü Yingying being selected was simply bad luck or a deliberate choice by Jin Shanshan?

One blessing focused on the flesh, the other on the weapon, clearly tailor-made for him and Yuk Yaorao.

But one must admit, even though the fairies are timid, they are quite dutiful. Lü Yingying's screams have never stopped, yet she always manages to renew Lu Ye's Boulder Mountain Saber's blessing at the most appropriate moment.

The number of insect bodyguards gradually dwindled, and the situation began to clarify.

Yuk Yaorao had many sentiments. Although she wasn't entirely pleased that the combat cultivator didn't cooperate with her, the overall result was satisfactory. Moreover, comparing the number of enemies killed, the combat cultivator had the majority, an unavoidable fact. As a magic cultivator, she wasn't as crisp and efficient at killing, especially when their Cultivation Realms were nearly equivalent.

By this stage of the battle, there was little suspense left, with the remaining insect bodyguards less than thirty percent of the initial count. With their combined strength, it wouldn't take long to finish them off.

This is the advantage of collaborating with combat cultivators; they often simplify complex matters. While they may seem reckless, they're relatively efficient.

That being said, if given a choice, Yuk Yaorao still wouldn't want to work with Lu Ye. There are just too many uncontrollable variables.

Magic cultivation may be more tedious, but it offers stability.

From the time the two of them charged into the insect hive core, until about one hour had passed, when the last insect bodyguard was slain, the intense spirit force fluctuations suddenly calmed down.

Along with it, Lü Yingying's screams also subsided.

The little fairy had been clinging tightly to Lu Ye's hair and lapels, now swaying and dizzily, almost falling off Lu Ye's shoulder as if drunk.

Her eyes were watery, with clear tear marks at the corners, and her mouth was pouting...

In this short battle lasting less than one hour, it was undoubtedly the most thrilling experience of her life, enough to make her have nightmares for decades.

Yuk Yaorao flew down from mid-air. Unlike Lu Ye, whose blood Qi surged as he stood with his saber, she remained unperturbed; the battle hardly affected her except for some consumption of her spirit force.

Alongside her, Huang Tongtong also seemed untroubled, her expression unchanged, as she glanced sympathetically at Lü Yingying, who seemed like a lost soul.

Only feeling fortunate to be assigned to the female cultivator's side, had she been with the male cultivators, she'd have suffered the misfortune.

At the center of the insect hive was a huge flesh pouch, which typically stored vast amounts of vitality, sometimes even forming a vitality core.

This was the energy source for the Insect Race to hatch new members.

As long as this flesh pouch was destroyed and set ablaze, the insect hive would be eradicated.

Lu Ye looked up at Yuk Yaorao, who nodded slightly.

Lu Ye raised his saber and slashed down, as if slicing through a water pouch; the flesh wall shattered, but contrary to expectation, the vitality didn't spill out. Instead, it collapsed inwardly, with no trace of a vitality core.

This left both Lu Ye and Yuk Yaorao puzzled.

Both having dealt with the Insect Race and ventured deep into many insect hives, what they saw now seemed rather different from past experiences.

In the blink of an eye, a swirling vortex appeared before them, with faint, strange energy wafting through from the other side.

Lu Ye raised an eyebrow: "A portal?"

Yuk Yaorao was quicker to react: "It must be a portal to the Insect Race Tree World!"

Lu Ye pondered briefly and roughly understood the situation.

The Reincarnation Tree's domains are numerous, each clan that seeks its refuge is arranged into a domain, logically, the Fairy Tree World should only house the Fairy Race.

Yet, the woes within the Fairy Tree World owed to the fact that the Insect Race Tree World managed to invade, clearly using some means to connect two domains.

This is why the Fairy Tree World suffers constant insect attacks; as long as this passage to the Insect Race Tree World remains, the problem can't be fundamentally solved. They might have cleared the insect hive this time, but once they leave, more will come through the portal to establish a new hive.

Lu Ye wasn't sure how domains could connect, he only wondered: "Could non-intelligent insects achieve this?"

Yuk Yaorao explained: "Low-level insects certainly can't, but the Insect Race is characterized by plunder and invasion. Within them, there are some highly intelligent beings, akin to the difference between demon beasts and the Demon Race. Ordinary demon beasts aren't very intelligent, but once they awaken and become part of the Demon Race, they're just like humans."

Lu Ye couldn't help recalling the Insect Matriarch from the Great Secret Realm of the Nine Provinces Insect Race. It undoubtedly had spiritual intelligence despite never displaying it, only uttering a bizarre phrase when dying during the Nine Provinces cultivators' siege.

It turns out, the insects he encountered were mostly low-level entities, unrelated to strength, but due to low spiritual intelligence. Nonetheless, some within the Insect Race did awaken their spiritual intelligence and represent the true Insect Race.

This portal was undoubtedly tied to the true Insect Race.

In seeking to plunder the Fairy Race, they naturally had to find a way to connect two domains; possibly, the Insect Race's attacks on rare races don't just target the Fairy Tree World, perhaps more domains experienced invasions too!

Gazing at the swirling portal, Lu Ye's expression turned inscrutable.

Yuk Yaorao was slightly startled: "Junior Brother Lu, you wouldn't be thinking of…"

Lu Ye looked at her, unmasking his intentions: "What does Senior Sister Yuk think?"

Yuk Yaorao said: "Our trial solely involves the Fairy Tree World. It's mostly completed now, the remaining task is to clear out the scattered Insect Race from the Fairy Tree World, then we've passed the test."

She didn't elaborate, but the meaning was clear.

Lu Ye nodded slightly: "Makes sense!"

The other side is presumably the Insect Race Tree World, filled with countless insects—charging in recklessly is unwise, risking getting overwhelmed by the insect tide.

This was Yuk Yaorao's concern; a test is just a test, she was willing to take it under manageable conditions, but recklessly risking one's life needed careful consideration.

As they conversed, the two fairies didn't express much; Lü Yingying hadn't yet recovered her senses, whereas Huang Tongtong seemed indifferent, well-accustomed to the choices of the helpers.

It's certain that not only Lu Ye and Yuk Yaorao faced this choice; surely many geniuses from various domains stood here before, facing the same decision, but given the Insect Race's ongoing invasion of the Fairy Race, their choice is beyond question.