When Qin Muxian saw the Spirit-Slaying Sword Talisman come to a halt, he immediately tried to activate it again, wanting to re-lock its aim onto the Mother Insect!

To his horror, no matter how he tried to activate it, he couldn’t make the Sword Talisman lock onto the Mother Insect. It was as if the creature had become completely untargetable!

Qin Muxian recalled how the Mother Insect had just used all its patterns to form a decoy insect to collide with the Sword Talisman, and he immediately guessed the reason:

’Could this be a substitution technique?! Impossible, that’s a Divine Power! How could it appear on a Tier Two insect!’

The substitution technique allowed one to pay a great price to have another entity take a tribulation in their stead, thereby nullifying a single, otherwise fatal disaster.

This was a Divine Power that only cultivators at the Golden Core or Nascent Soul Realm and above had a sliver of a chance of comprehending!

But the reality was undeniable. The Mother Insect could no longer be killed by the Sword Talisman, which made Qin Muxian want to cough up blood in frustration!

If the Mother Insect wasn’t killed, didn’t that mean the Spirit-Slaying Sword Talisman had been wasted?!

"Master, the Mother Insect seems to have lost its fighting strength! It’s fleeing!!!"

Zong Ziqi’s panicked shout snapped Qin Muxian out of his gloomy mood. Only then did he notice that the Mother Insect’s aura was now weak, its patterns were completely gone, and even its body showed signs of shrinking. It was obviously more than just a little weaker than before!

"Haha! This Mother-Child Spirit-Devouring Insect is now meat on the chopping block! Quick, after it!"

Qin Muxian no longer bothered with the Sword Talisman. He beckoned, summoning the Beast Nether Sword, formed a new Sword Technique, and locked onto the Mother Insect with his Divine Sense. The Beast Nether Sword shot toward it!

The substitution technique was not without its limits; it was not an invincible art. It could only block a single calamity. Having already blocked the Spirit-Slaying Sword Talisman, it offered no protection from any other dangers.

And so, the weakened Mother Insect was struck down by the rapidly approaching Beast Nether Sword, its entire body cleaved in two!

To be safe, the arriving Qin Muxian and Zong Ziqi brandished their swords and hacked the bisected Mother Insect hundreds of more times, dicing it into a paste. They only stopped after Qin Muxian burned it to a crisp with his Innate True Flame.

Only after confirming the Mother-Child Spirit-Devouring Insect was truly dead did Zong Ziqi cease his actions.

He watched the last of the Mother Insect’s ashes drift away. Beyond the satisfaction of revenge, he felt as if a great weight had been lifted from his heart, and his Sword Intent had even improved slightly.

’If I had killed this Mother Insect by myself without Master’s help, my Sword Intent would have progressed immensely. Still, at my current rate of improvement, killing that Mother Insect alone would have been a Hell-level difficulty.’

"The road of life is long and full of obstacles. You’ll face many more hardships in the future, so you needn’t worry about a lack of opportunities to temper your Sword Heart."

Qin Muxian was also in high spirits.

Although he had paid a great price, the final outcome was good, so he didn’t consider it a loss.

Now he could focus all his energy on the Secret Realm.

All he needed was to find a Treasure Medicine capable of repairing his Qi Sea.

Then he and Zong Ziqi could continue their fate as master and disciple!

Except...

The two of them had no idea.

Behind the crown of the giant tree, a tiny, rice-grain-sized insect was flying off into the distance.

The insect’s body shimmered with silver light, and upon it were faint golden threads of a pattern.

...

’Seems like things have gone quiet... which makes sense. I’m already over three miles away. It’d be strange if I could still hear anything!’

Jiang Xu felt he had gone far enough and finally stopped.

’I wonder if those two have found the Mother-Child Spirit-Devouring Insect yet. But can they even beat it? I have a feeling it’s going to be a tough fight for them...’

Jiang Xu had a nagging feeling that even Zong Ziqi’s master might not be able to win.

It was mainly because Zong Ziqi couldn’t even defeat a Tier One Spirit-Devouring Insect.

So, wouldn’t it be normal for his master to be unable to defeat a Tier Two Mother-Child Spirit-Devouring Insect?

’Let me see if those two have perished yet.’

Jiang Xu took out another of Zong Ziqi’s old belongings and began to cast the Seeking Technique.

At the Mastery level of the Seeking Technique, all sorts of aura connections would appear on the object used for the seeking.

When different people or things came into contact with this item, it would form a unique link with them, becoming stained with their aura and thus creating a connection.

The stronger the aura of the target, the thicker the aura connection would be.

Jiang Xu filtered through the connections based on his criteria, found the one belonging to Zong Ziqi, and saw that it hadn’t changed much. It looked like he wasn’t in any mortal danger.

’Have they not found it yet? Are they that incompetent? It seems they really can’t manage without me.’

Jiang Xu shook his head.

He didn’t have any items connected to Qin Muxian, so he wasn’t trying to locate him.

The Seeking Technique was not all-powerful.

Besides the casting item needing a connection to the target...

...it also couldn’t be used to find experts of a high Realm.

This was because they could control their own aura, preventing it from easily leaking out.

Even if their aura did leak and the Seeking Technique formed a connection, they would sense it and could, in turn, track the caster, making it extremely dangerous.

However, that was a concern for cultivators at the Golden Core Realm and beyond. At his current stage, Jiang Xu had no contact with figures of that level, so it wasn’t something he needed to worry about.

’Let me see if that Mother Insect is still in the distance.’

Jiang Xu took out a Sub-Insect and once again activated the Seeking Technique.

After filtering the conditions, Jiang Xu was instantly dumbfounded.

’What’s going on? This thread is so weak it’s about to snap! No way, is it about to be killed already?

As expected, experience counts. An Elder is an Elder, truly beyond comparison for us small-timers!

This is great. A huge weight off my mind is finally taken care of. Phew—’

However, after Jiang Xu calmed down, he noticed something strange.

He had already been casting the Locating Spell for several minutes.

But not only had the Mother Insect’s aura not completely vanished, it remained in this state and even seemed to be strengthening, albeit imperceptibly.

’Hmm...?’

Jiang Xu couldn’t make heads or tails of it.

’What are those two doing?’

’Could it be that they’re like some villains, who love to ramble on before delivering the final blow?’

’But it’s just an insect! It wouldn’t understand you even if you cursed it out!’

’Better to just end it with one strike and be done with it.’

But alas, Jiang Xu was too far away from them to have any way of reminding Zong Ziqi and his master.

Besides, why did Jiang Xu have a feeling that the insect wasn’t stationary, but was constantly on the move?

’Is it...?’

’It escaped?’

’What a waste. It looks like I’ll have to handle this myself. If I ignore it and let it get away, it’ll just cause more trouble down the line!’

Jiang Xu released the Sub-Insect, letting it fly toward the source of the aura, and followed closely behind it.

Perhaps the Mother Insect also knew that heading toward the Inner Area with its current strength would be suicide.

Thus, its escape route led toward the outer area.

Coincidentally.

Jiang Xu was now heading directly toward the Mother Insect!