"The Locust God enters life."

High above, the Locust God raised the banner, and the locust evil god on the flag surface actually leaped out, merging with the Locust God's figure.

The dark yellow clouds boiled like a cauldron, corroding the cloak to reveal the bizarre body underneath.

With a vaguely human-shaped head, the locust's cranium was grotesque and fierce—seldom seen even among Devil Cultivators. Yet, it wore a dark yellow royal robe that fused strangeness and majesty into one.

Knowing he could not escape, the Locust God boldly chose to confront Jiang Li. Descending in his true form, he dispersed into countless locusts, creating a swarm. But before the swarm could descend, fires already ravaged the skies from below.

The Fire Qi elongated, igniting everything, leaving no material unburned. The intense Innate Fire Qi turned the locust swarm to ash, using it as tinder to form a cloud of fire. A boundless Qi Mechanism rose from the cloud, as a palm reached out directly to grasp the center of the locust swarm.

"I'll see which member of the Ji Family you are."

The Nine Insect Technique was created by King Yue, Ji Wen. To date, Jiang Li had only seen two who could wield this Cultivation Technique: one was the Fourth Prince, slain by Jiang Li's hand, and the other was this Locust God, soon to meet his demise in the palm of Jiang Li.

Such an eerie technique, originating from the "Form Tomb," surely cannot be passed on to anyone but those close to the King of Yue. The Locust God's real identity is likely another member of the Ji Family.

In response to Jiang Li, came a weird, insect-boned hand.

"Nine Insect Technique, Sore Swelling Paralysis."

The hand, moving in unthinkable angles and changes, met Jiang Li's palm. The dark yellow Qi enveloped him. Jiang Li felt a numb itch, as blood flesh bumps appeared about to burst.

Jiang Li's senses detected that the dark yellow Qi was actually myriad tiny rune particles, each smaller than insects, only visible as a cloud when gathered. If dispersed, they would be nearly as clear as air, able to permeate the skin directly into the body.

The Locust God's Nine Insect Technique was far more profound than that of the Fourth Prince.

But still—

Useless!

Concentrated Innate Fire Qi surged from his palm. Every drop of blood, every bit of flesh, was filled with Innate Qi. This was the essence of Jiang Li's Qi Body Origin.

Before the rune particles could spread, they were incinerated by the Fire Qi. Jiang Li caught the bizarre hand with a backhanded grip, flooding it with Innate Fire Qi, simultaneously pulling down the Locust God from mid-air and striking across his chest with his elbow.

"Xu—"

The Locust God screeched shrilly like a bug. Its other limb-like hand tried to block the elbow, never anticipating the overwhelming force to be unstoppable, the insect exoskeleton cracking under the pressure.

"Nine Insect Technique, Qi and Blood Stasis."

The wicked True Qi shook the Essence Blood, causing Qi and blood to mix; however, the Primordial Qi within the blood rebounded, causing even the Locust God's blood to roil tumultuously.

Qi Body Origin, the deep integration of Innate Qi with the physical body… to destroy the body, one must first extinguish the Qi; to extinguish the Qi, one must first break the Essence Element. Through the unification of Essence and Qi, Jiang Li's body grew more divine, touching upon the mysteries of bloodline within the flesh.

The rebound caused the Locust God's Qi and blood to roil, and with both his hands constrained and injured, Jiang Li struck upward from below, hitting the Locust's head's chin, shaking his head wildly, then turned his palm into a claw, gripping the throat.

Snap!

His claws struck down, revealing yet another thick layer of insect exoskeleton. The whole being of the Locust God seemed transformed into an insect, presenting a bizarre form.

But Jiang Li simply switched from claw to slap, shaking lightly, and the exoskeleton shell instantly shattered. He grabbed the throat again.

As his hand was about to clutch the neck, the Locust's head opened its mouth, and suddenly, the blood reversed direction, shocking the entire body.

"Three Corpses Curse, Evil Luo Annihilation."

The Essence Blood and Essence Element stirred, then began to contract toward the center. Accompanied by the withering of limbs, all the Essence converged to a point, and then—

Jiang Li, holding its neck, pushed downward.

"Boom!"

An explosion echoed in the air, a dark yellow blood mist erupted from the body of the Locust God, blasting outwards, only to be repelled by an overwhelming force pressing it back.

From explosion to inward condensation, the compressive force forcibly crushed the dark yellow blood mist into a small sphere, floating above Jiang Li's hand.

The forbidden self-destruct move of a Fifth Grade Practitioner was suppressed by him in such a manner.

This scene caused the archer watching from the distant mountain to constrict his pupils, not hesitating to manipulate the Qi to flee through the air without any inclination to stay.

"Aren't you chasing?"

A wave of Divine Sense emanated from between Jiang Li's eyebrows.

"No need."

Jiang Li replied softly, slowly landing on the mountain peak, "Whether I kill him or not, it won't affect the overall situation. It's better to let him call for reinforcements... A few fifth-rank practitioners are not enough to establish authority."

As he spoke, Jiang Li reached out and grabbed, and the Dao Fruits of Xiang Huaiyi and Wan Dingtian that had been separated were drawn toward him through the air.

Then, a sword light arrived carrying a corpse, which fell to the ground and revealed the form of the Great Circle Sword.

This was the corpse of the hemp-clothed assassin.

Several streaks of light flew out from the body, manifesting as shadowy figures.

Fifth Grade Dao Fruit·Shadow God Suo Guan, Sixth Grade Dao Fruit·Shadow Stepping Gu, Seventh Grade Dao Fruit·Short Fox, Eighth Grade Dao Fruit, Assassin, and...

Although Jiang Li was not familiar with the earlier Dao Fruits, they didn't particularly concern him, only the Ninth Grade Dao Fruit caught his attention slightly.

Ninth Grade Dao Fruit, Mohist.

Just from the name, it was evident that this Dao Fruit was related to the Mo Sect.

Like the Daoist Dao Fruit he had absorbed, which was also akin to a mark of identity, one required three years of initiation to advance to a Daoist, and the Mohist also needed to understand the Mo Family's philosophy, undergoing a significant period of study.

Basically, anyone with the Mohist Dao Fruit was inevitably connected with the Mo Sect.

"The Mo Sect... Another power with a third-rank strong person has gotten involved. It's just unclear whether this is an individual's idea or a decision by the Mo Sect Master."

Jiang Li murmured, producing a jade talisman and carefully storing each of these Dao Fruits.

Then he turned his attention to the dark yellow sphere of blood in his hand.

Next up was the Dao Fruit of the locust god.

He waited for quite a while, but...

"No?"

Jiang Li's eyebrows lifted slightly.

In today's world, any cultivator who died would disperse their Dao Fruit. The absence of a Dao Fruit could only mean one thing—the locust god was not dead.

"Is it some kind of avatar? Or is there a fallback, such as splitting off a part of the Divine Soul?"

Jiang Li muttered to himself.

...

...

Guan Yushan strained to control his Qi, disregarding his energy depletion, fleeing dozens of miles before finally landing due to his True Qi nearly being exhausted.

He landed on a small hill, first finding a secluded cave to rest for a moment, recovering some True Qi, then retrieved a talisman and ignited it with True Qi, letting it transform into a streak of yellow light that shot out of the cave.

About fifteen minutes later, bolts of lightning could be heard outside the cave, followed by a long-bearded elder stepping into the cave.

Seeing the elder, Guan Yushan approached him as if granted an amnesty, bowing, "Yu Shan pays respects to Zong Zheng."

"On the talisman, you mentioned that aside from yourself, no one survived, including the locust god?" the elder waved his hand, gesturing that there was no need for formalities, while asking.

"Including him."

Guan Yushan recounted everything with a wry smile, unable to suppress a sense of fear when he spoke of Jiang Li's triple kills.

How could there be such a formidable fifth-rank in this world, almost a Monster?

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, Guan Yushan would have found it impossible to believe such a person existed.

As for the elder, his face did not show disbelief, only becoming increasingly grim.

"Nurturing a scourge! Nurturing a scourge indeed!"

After listening to the account, Zong Zheng sighed deeply, his resolve apparent.

"This child must not be spared."

"The Jiang family's scourge, even if it costs me my life, I shall rid our clan of this calamity."

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