Sage of Humanity

"Is this for storage?" Lu Ye asked, holding the ring.

Lü Yingying nodded, "This is a storage ring, only cultivators above the Constellation Realm can craft it." She felt curious inside, this human is evidently so powerful, why does he seem so inexperienced? He doesn't even recognize a storage ring.

Lu Ye had no idea what a storage ring was. The appearance of cultivators in the Constellation Realm in the Nine Provinces was only a recent development, and no one had been able to craft them. Everyone commonly used storage sacks instead.

He was initially puzzled about why the Loathesome Aphid didn't have a storage sack, but it turned out they had something more advanced.

The restriction lock on a storage sack is generally not complicated because of the material of the storage sack, so for locksmiths, the restriction lock on a storage sack is not difficult to crack. Lu Ye had also specifically worked as a locksmith for some time to familiarize himself with the construction and decryption of spirit runes.

But as for the restriction lock within this storage ring, he was hesitant to tackle it lightly because it was too complex, and one wrong move could destroy it.

"I... I can do it!" Lü Yingying suddenly said in a small voice.

"What?" Lu Ye was puzzled.

"I can help you unlock the restriction lock inside here; the Fairy Race is naturally endowed with such means."

Lu Ye tossed the storage ring to Lü Yingying without hesitation and turned around to dive back into the Blood Sea.

Due to the disturbance caused by the Loathesome Aphid, he hadn't entirely wiped out the Insect Race bodyguards inside yet.

Continuing with his previous actions, he assassinated one Insect Race bodyguard after another in his sweep, taking nearly another hour to completely eliminate the bodyguards.

With the Blood Sea retracting, the core space of the insect hive was strewn with corpses, the elite forces accumulated by the Insect Race over millennia utterly annihilated. Yet, this was not the end; as long as the insect hive stood here, the Insect Race could return, so to root them out entirely, he not only needed to destroy this insect hive but also to eradicate the Insect Race from the entirety of the Insect Race Tree World.

Lu Ye found himself with a headache. He hadn't considered so much when he charged in with passion, only intending to kill as many of the Insect Race as possible. But every task needs a beginning and an end. While killing was a thrill, the conclusion needed to be handled beautifully for the job to be complete.

Lu Ye contemplated his next actions, gradually forming a vague plan.

Meanwhile, Lü Yingying had already unlocked the restriction lock on the storage ring. Lu Ye took it back, eagerly investigating only to find nothing much of value inside; just some basic supplies for survival, cultivation, and healing.

It did, however, resemble his storage sack in its simplicity.

Thinking it over, Lu Ye understood that the Loathesome Aphid must have had a storage space opened up with Void Spirit Runes as the core, just like him, and all the truly valuable items were kept there, which were now likely lost with the Loathesome Aphid's death.

A bit disappointed, yet it was no big deal, as he hadn't really counted on it.

The storage ring itself wasn't a very valuable item either, and it appeared quite unremarkable. Lu Ye dared not use it recklessly, for fear it might catch the attention of some powerful individual connected to the Loathesome Aphid and thus invite unnecessary trouble.

While recovering the consumed spirit force, Lu Ye also retrieved the three spirit beast sacks.

These were the three gains from the Insect Race's side. As for what was inside, Lu Ye had some guesses, and they shouldn't be too far off.

The spirit beast sacks also had restriction locks, but they weren't too complicated, and he could break them easily.

As the first spirit beast sack was unlocked, suddenly an exotic beast with a snow-white, flawless body, adorned with shimmering spots and a single horn on its head, appeared with astonishing beauty.

No sooner had the snow-white exotic beast appeared than it grew larger against the wind, suddenly expanding to the size of a water buffalo, its horn emitting a brilliant white glow that carried an extremely dangerous aura.

Lu Ye just quietly observed it, while Lü Yingying fluttered up to it, calling out loudly, "Wait, wait!"

The snow-white exotic beast seemed momentarily stunned upon seeing a fairy, as it was different from what it had anticipated. It had thought that upon reappearing, it would be surrounded by the Insect Race, ready to fight to the death!

The white glow on its horn gradually retracted, as Lü Yingying flew up to it and chatted a bit, though Lu Ye couldn't tell what they were saying. The snow-white exotic beast occasionally glanced at Lu Ye, its two eyes gradually growing gentle and filled with gratitude.

It stepped forward, nodding twice at Lu Ye in gratitude. Lu Ye waved his hand in response.

He had no idea what species this single-horned exotic beast belonged to, but the Insect Race had been plotting here for years, all for some rare species residing in the Tree World. This single-horned exotic beast must have been captured in its Tree World and brought here.

The Loathesome Aphid had come to take away decades of harvest from the Insect Race Tree World, only to meet Lu Ye, sealing its fate in death and oblivion.

Lu Ye opened the second spirit beast sack, cautious after his earlier experience.

But surprisingly, after waiting for a while, nothing emerged from inside.

Could it have suffocated? Lu Ye cautiously reached his hand in and soon retrieved an item from the spirit beast sack.

It was a tree!

As Lu Ye took it out, he clearly saw that a tiny eye was furtively peering out from the tree's trunk, cautiously observing the surroundings.

Lü Yingying approached and began explaining the current situation to it.

Lu Ye recognized it; this tree was of the Wood Spirit Race, the same race that the Fairy Race had previously transformed into!

Gradually, the wood spirit relaxed its vigilance and sprouted limbs, speaking in human language, "Thank you, Fellow Daoist, for your rescue. I am Mu Kui of the Wood Spirit Race, eternally grateful!"

Lu Ye still waved his hand, saving the other was merely an accidental gain, so there was no need to pay too much attention to it.

He then opened the third spirit beast sack.

The two spirit beast sacks that Lothesome Aphid handed to him contained the snowy exotic beast and the wood spirit, while the third one was kept in his hand. From this, it seemed that the most important one was inside this third spirit beast sack, otherwise, Lothesome Aphid wouldn't have made such a choice.

Lu Ye was quite curious to see which race was given such importance by Lothesome Aphid.

The spirit beast sack opened, but it was silent for quite a while. However, Lu Ye could feel there was a small thing inside. After waiting for a moment, a small head peeked out from the spirit beast sack, timidly observing its surroundings.

Lü Yingying was extremely surprised, "Hong Dandan?"

"Hmm?" The small head turned its direction and upon seeing Lü Yingying fluttering aside, exclaimed in surprise, "Lü Yingying!"

Hong Dandan was thrilled and dashed out of the spirit beast sack, rushing to Lü Yingying's side, and the two little fairies immediately embraced each other, both crying and laughing.

It turned out that inside the third spirit beast sack was actually a fairy!

Lu Ye was quite stunned because if there were a missing member within the Fairy Race, why hadn't Jin Shanshan mentioned it? It must be known that the Fairy Race only has a little over a hundred members in total, and the disappearance of any one is quite apparent.

Jin Shanshan not mentioning it might be reasonable, maybe because she didn't expect herself to reach the Insect Race Tree World, hence not counting on him to rescue the captured member.

But Lü Yingying not mentioning it was particularly odd.

She had come here with him, she ought to know about this, yet she seemed genuinely surprised at seeing Hong Dandan just now.

The reunion of the two little fairies was lively, and it took quite a while for their emotional excitement to settle down.

Lü Yingying then asked, "Hong Dandan, how did you end up here?"

Hong Dandan, feeling quite aggrieved, replied, "You really forgot about me..."

Lü Yingying looked embarrassed, "We thought you were summoned by the Tree God for duty."

Hong Dandan burst into tears, "I wasn't, I was captured by the Insect Race. They locked me up for such a long time, waahhh..."

Lu Ye stood aside, speechless.

Over a hundred members in total, yet one was missing and the entire tribe was oblivious. From this, it's clear how unreliable the Fairy Race was.

Lü Yingying's voice rose, "Stop crying, your crying is making me want to cry too, waahhh..."

The snowy exotic beast and Mu Kui nearby, upon seeing the scene, either felt touched or for some other reason, also began crying, making the scene highly lively.

Lu Ye felt a headache forming and quickly walked to the core of the insect hive, raising his knife to slash down.

To destroy the insect hive, its core had to be obliterated; only then would the hive lose its ability to hatch new members.

In the Fairy Tree World, when he and Yuk Yaorao destroyed the insect hive core, a passage to the Insect Race Tree World appeared. He had thought the situation here would be similar, but when Lu Ye broke open the insect hive core, he discovered an exotic item inside.

A section, entirely snow-white, resembling lotus root, was placed right in the center of the core, brimming with a peculiar power throughout.

Curious, Lu Ye examined it carefully and soon gained insight into its purpose.

This item turned out to be the root cause of establishing passages through the Tree World.

Lu Ye had been curious about how the Insect Race managed to open passages to different Tree Worlds. Logically, the lower-level insects with little spiritual intelligence couldn't have such a capability.

Now it seemed, the insects themselves indeed lacked this capability, but there was a treasure that had it!

The more advanced Insect Race in the Insect Emperor World had a group of insects bring this treasure to the Tree World. Utilizing the power of this treasure, they slowly opened passages to other Tree Worlds and then carried out invasions and plundering.

Whether it's the snowy exotic beast or Mu Kui, or even Hong Dandan, they were all victims of this.

There must surely be more victims, considering the Insect Race had plotted here for tens of thousands of years.

As it's the Insect Race's scheme, no need to be polite! Lu Ye immediately retrieved the treasure. Without this thing, the Insect Race could no longer attempt to invade other Tree Worlds in the future, solving the problem truly from its root. This was even more effective than eliminating the insect hive here.

Of course, the insect hive still needed to be eradicated, it couldn't be left to take root and sprout here.

Toying with the lotus root-like treasure in his hand for a bit, Lu Ye clearly felt that this item indeed had some inexplicable connection with numerous Tree Worlds, and he could easily use it to open the passages to those Tree Worlds.