“`
At the heart of the Red Cloud Realm mountains.
In the eyes of Justine and Scented Butterfly, after Ivan absorbed that pale black energy orb, he stood frozen in place for a long time without recovering his wits.
“Miss Justine, is Sorcerer Ivan all right?”
“Sorcerer Ivan is of course all right, let’s not disturb him for now.”
Justine was even more worried than Scented Butterfly, but through their connection, she sensed that the main body was not experiencing any problems and seemed to be receiving some inheritance, with the situation looking quite favorable.
“A clone? Interesting—you bear the aura of that great one—what do you want?” After a moment of silence, the Black Scythe Lord spoke again, this time addressing Justine.
“May I ask who that great one is?” Justine hesitated before asking.
“A great being.” The Black Scythe Lord did not provide a direct answer, and with that, his voice fell silent.
Justine looked intently and saw that there was no longer any throne or figure atop the giant worm’s head, only its mountainous carcass was faintly discernible.
There was also a bubble and a bead, swiftly drifting toward them.
The bubble was transparent, encapsulating something within, drifting in front of Justine; the bead was of a rich blood color, containing a large amount of Bloodline Essence Power, landing right before Scented Butterfly.
“The Black Scythe Lord has rewarded you with this—you just need to consume it.”
Seeing Scented Butterfly hesitating, Justine spoke up, knowing that Ivan would surely say the same.
Such blood-colored beads, once merged into the body, could improve one’s potential by leveraging the Bloodline Essence Power, posing an exceptionally tempting allure to Scented Butterfly, who refrained from swallowing it immediately as a result of her restraint.
“Let’s wait a bit longer, I’ll decide after Mother arrives,” Scented Butterfly said as she eyed the blood-colored bead for a few seconds, then slowly shook her head.
“As you wish.” Justine did not insist further, she too did not move towards the bubble in front of her, within which seemed to be a long-handled scythe.
At that moment, a distant, ancient insect chirping sounded ahead of them, the surrounding mist around the giant worm’s carcass violently transformed, numerous bubbles, beads, and crystals emerged, shooting out towards the surroundings.
Seeing this, Justine and Scented Butterfly took no action, having already received their reward, one must not be too greedy.
Their primary mission now was to protect Ivan, to prevent others from disturbing him.
At the same time, not far from the central mountains, Locke hurriedly made his way with the Silkworm Queen, limited by the speed at which the black chains coalesced, their progress was not high.
“Ah, the boss has gone up for a while now, and we’re still moving slowly, it’s really maddening.”
“Locke look, look, something’s flying over here—it’s the good stuff I told you about.”
As Locke muttered to himself, the Silkworm Queen, with her sharp eyes, spotted something flying towards them rapidly and quickly spoke up to point it out.
The fluttering objects were colorful and eye-catching.
“Gold signifies King’s Power, white relates to space, and blood color represents Bloodline Essence Power—we can ignore the rest, right?” Locke’s eyes brightened as he fixed his gaze ahead.
“Mm-hmm, precisely so,” the Silkworm Queen concurred.
Just as they prepared to make their big move, more phantoms appeared in the poison mist below the chains, their size evidently a notch larger than before, rapidly ascending.
Both Locke and the Silkworm Queen, being of notable strength, naturally did not fear the attack of mere insect beasts but had to split their focus and strength to deal with them.
The power crystals were widely scattered and moved swiftly, leaving Locke and the Silkworm Queen with few gains in the end.
Elsewhere, as an Insect Control Master, Justine’s landing spot was towards the center.
However, when the phantoms in the mist rapidly multiplied, she gave up on advancing and curtly connected with the Cloud Realm power, leaving without looking back.
Unlike Justine, Pearney cultivated rapid wood silkworms but did not count as a pure Insect Master, and her arrival spot was naturally more towards the periphery.
It was not difficult to see that the more outward the position was, the harder it was to obtain any gains.
“Regardless, I, Pearney, cannot leave empty-handed.”
“`
Pearney’s attitude was nothing like Justine’s defeatism; she was significantly stronger than the latter and had persistently moved inwards, holding her ground until a crystallized power wafted her way.
She seized the opportunity and snatched up a blood-colored bead.
The force of the Bloodline Essence Power within the bead was diluted, nowhere near the same quality as the one near Scented Butterfly.
Compared to most people, Pearney’s gain was still quite impressive.
On the land of Moon Pincer Peninsula, there were actually few Insect Control Masters; even sorcerers who bred insect species were rare, leaving no doubt that many who entered the Red Cloud Realm were mere pretenders.
The Cloud Realm was even more dangerous than before, not only rendering the efforts of these individuals fruitless but also exposing them to considerable peril.
For most sorcerers of the Moon Pincer Peninsula, the insect creatures, which posed no threat to Ivan and Locke, could very well spell mortal danger, not to mention the need to guard against foul play from others.
The once comparatively peaceful Red Cloud Realm, this time, one couldn’t tell how many lives it would claim.
…
At the heart of the mountain range, Ivan remained motionless for a long while, eventually coming to his senses.
“Your Excellency, so long as I, Ivan Marichadon, am alive, I shall not disappoint the trust you’ve placed in me.” Gazing into the empty space, he uttered a firm and powerful statement.
The value of his belongings this time was simply immeasurable.
The life’s metamorphosis of the Black Scythe Lord, written with his own life, was not only useful for developing the Insect Breathing Method but had many other purposes.
Most importantly, he had grasped the transformation of life at Level 4 through this method; he had prematurely touched upon powers at the Level 4 realm, which was clearly advantageous for his future cultivation plans and his advancement to Level 4.
For any Level 3 Sorcerer, this was undoubtedly an extraordinarily rare opportunity.
At the moment, Ivan also had a strong premonition; he now had a much clearer approach to deriving the Meditation Method from the “Black Beard Chapter,” as though he had dispersed the fog to see the clear moon.
“What’s this?”
Ivan turned around and noticed several unfamiliar sorcerers’ cadavers in the distance, while a bubble floated near him beside an exceptional-quality blood-colored bead.
Pearney, Locke, swamp ants, and others were all present.
Pearney, Scented Butterfly, and swamp ants stood guard near him, while Justine and Locke eyed the distance fiercely, deterring anyone from approaching.
Pearney softly explained a few things to Ivan, letting him understand what had happened; to deter any ill-intentioned people, Justine and Locke had not refrained from making an example out of some, thus no outsiders dared to disturb this place.
“Keep what’s given to you.”
With a casual wave of his hand, Ivan brought the blood-colored bead to Scented Butterfly’s mouth, who then swallowed it.
He reached into another bubble and drew out a Mystical Black Long-handled Scythe, over three and a half meters in handle length and over a meter in blade length, heavy and unwieldy, not quite fitting with human handling habits.
“It’s actually a magic artifact.”
Ivan’s eyes flickered with interest.
The so-called ‘magic artifact’ was actually a weapon above high-level magicalized items, tapping into the powers of the elements domain at Level 4, usually controlled by sorcerers of Level 4 or higher.
The material of the blade looked like it might have come from some sharp part of the Black Scythe Lord – it could have suffered damage, and with the decay over time, this long-handled scythe was somewhat broken, only a damaged low-level magic artifact.
Even somewhat damaged, on the Chanay Continent, it would still be enough for Level 3 Sorcerers to vie fiercely for it.
“Justine, this is what the Black Scythe Lord has left for you.”
“No need, I have my own methods and have no use for this scythe.”
Justine, able to command a multitude of Pan Iron Roots, felt the long-handled scythe was completely burdensome and declined without hesitation.
Seeing this, Ivan unceremoniously placed it into his own Space Ring.
His Space Ring, expanded by his own efforts, had grown from its original 1 cubic meter to 160 cubic meters, made of materials won in the small appreciation contest, that pearl cultivated by the star-patterned turtle.
The space inside the ring was ample; he easily stored the Mystical Black Long-handled Scythe within.