Chapter 44: Strange Insect Ninth: Heaven-Flying Soul-Eating Butterfly

"Heaven-Earth Strange Insect Ranking?"

Wang Ping muttered.

The first page of the Spirit Insect Notes recorded a list, which listed the strange insects that have appeared in the cultivation world since ancient times, and made them into a list.

The characters on the entire Spirit Insect Notes differ from any country's script of the Hundred Nations Alliance, but rather resemble the Spirit Realm's script.

After mastering the Spirit Realm's script, ten years ago, Wang Ping also bought many related language books; he occasionally read and studied them during the ten years, which could be considered a small gain.

Now, combining the Spirit Realm's script and his own years of research insights, Wang Ping can see that it goes smoothly.

The first two pages of the notes record sixty-two kinds of insects; the author lamented that he never had the chance to see the true Heaven-Earth Strange Insect Ranking, which is said to record two hundred and forty kinds of Heaven-Earth strange insects.

Wang Ping leaned against the cabin wall; he had roughly read through this book in ten days.

This author is called the Spirit Insect Old Ancestor, and was among the first cultivators to reach the Spirit Transformation stage after the ancient war ended.

In his lifetime he cultivated sixty-two kinds of insects, which can be called terrifying.

When he was about to ascend to the Spirit Realm, he recorded this notebook.

"Spirit Insect Cultivation Notes" can be preserved for nearly ten thousand years, related to the characters on the paper.

Spirit Transformation cultivators are already the pinnacle of this cultivation world; their every move bears great dignity.

Every horizontal and vertical stroke, every left-falling and right-falling dot of this note, which embodies his painstaking effort, contains the aura of a Spirit Transformation cultivator.

However, after tens of thousands of years, the aura on the book has become very faint.

Wang Ping could sense it, firstly because he could understand the text in the notes, and secondly because he read it attentively.

Only by combining both could he sense the aura of the Spirit Transformation cultivator that was about to dissipate.

Wang Ping concluded that when it first appeared, the Spirit Transformation aura it contained was probably already scarce; otherwise, it wouldn't have ended up being auctioned off by a group of Qi Refining cultivators.

For Wang Ping, sensing this trace of Spirit Transformation cultivator's aura, his realm was just right.

During these ten days, he immersed himself in the strange insect world depicted by the Spirit Insect Old Ancestor's notes; each insect's cultivation method was eye-opening.

Each time he successfully cultivated an insect, the Spirit Insect True Person felt joy in his heart when recalling it.

Wang Ping could feel it in between the lines.

Today, the Spirit Transformation aura in his hand has completely dissipated.

The book that had been preserved for nearly ten thousand years in Wang Ping's hand slowly turned into fine dust; a blow of the river wind made it vanish without a trace.

At some point, Wang Ping stood with his hands behind his back on the bow of the boat, silently gazing at the distant river.

Ten days of sensing the Spirit Transformation aura did not improve their cultivation realms in the slightest, but Wang Ping's spirit power circulation became smoother, and his control over spirit power seemed to have risen another level.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

As the buzzing sound rose, a circle of continuously flowing green light suddenly appeared around Wang Ping.

The green light circle that originally would have taken some time to master again is now reappearing.

Now, Wang Ping's green light circle is mostly synthesized through spirit power control, which differs from the previous method of synthesizing it through mental power control.

But its power is equally astonishing.

Wang Ping extended his right hand flat, fingers spread; with a thought, the green light circle appeared in his hand.

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

Wave after wave of dull buzzing sound produced sound waves that rippled tiny air waves in the air.

"Go!"

Wang Ping gave a low shout.

The green light circle vanished in an instant.

The green light circle moved so fast that even Wang Ping couldn't see it clearly; besides hearing the buzzing sound, he could only know its location through spirit power and mental connection.

For Wang Ping, synthesizing the green light circle through spirit power control is undoubtedly an unexpected joy.

Spirit power control method and mental power control method can actually be combined into one.

But currently it's almost impossible to do so.

Wang Ping had experimented several times; a light circle formed by three sword lights could simultaneously bear the infusion of spirit power and mental power, but could only withstand one-tenth of Wang Ping's spirit power and one-thirtieth of his mental power.

In terms of power, it is obviously more than five times stronger than spirit power or mental power alone, but it is still quite weak.

Simply put, the three sword lights cannot accommodate more than one-thirtieth of mental power and one-tenth of spirit power infused simultaneously.

Currently, for Wang Ping, a single control method is still more effective against enemies.

After experimenting with alternating the two control methods, Wang Ping nodded satisfactorily.

Now, besides the Fan Tian Seal, the green light circle is his most powerful attack method.

Once he learns the intermediate-level Azure Light Sword Technique, the power of the green light circle will likely rise to a terrifying level.

I don't know if this can be used to counter the Yin-Yang Arrows of the Nine Yin Bow.

Wang Ping cannot forget the power of the Nine Yin Bow.

Besides this gain, the content of the notes also benefited him greatly.

What makes him even happier is that the insect he encountered in the Spirit Realm he found in the notes.

Strange Insect Ninth: Heaven-Flying Soul-Eating Butterfly!

This spirit insect was nearly extinct in ancient times; the Spirit Insect True Person accidentally obtained two worm eggs, but had not yet cultivated them into mature soul-eating butterflies, and they were all lost in a battle.

The black insects Wang Ping encountered were merely the larval stage of the soul-eating butterfly.

The Heaven-Flying Soul-Eating Butterfly exclusively devours living souls of the world.

It especially likes cultivators' souls; all material attacks in the world are ineffective against it.

It ignores all material defenses and can directly break into the cultivator's sea of consciousness.

For cultivators who have not achieved Nascent Soul, encountering a soul-eating butterfly leaves them no choice but to flee.

Unless it possesses a secret mental attack technique, ordinary secret techniques against the soul-eating butterfly that specializes in devouring cultivators' souls merely reduce the escape time.

These are merely abilities that only Soul-devouring Butterflies that have evolved into mature form possess; ordinary larvae, growth-stage, and molting-stage Soul-devouring Butterflies don't have such perverse abilities.

As for the Heavenfly Soul-devouring Butterfly, ranked ninth on the Strange Insect List, it is the perfect form after breaking its cocoon to become a butterfly; no one knows how much time, energy, and spirit stones would be needed to cultivate it.

Even the Spirit Insect True Person, in his notes, wrote three consecutive exclamations: "Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!"

Just thinking about this, Wang Ping's face would show a strange smile.

The notes state that mature-form Soul-devouring Butterflies can secrete soul liquid; in the early cultivation stage, they not only need to nibble on some soul-stabilizing spirit herbs, spirit wood, and spirit medicine, but also need to devour soul liquid.

Unfortunately, the Soul Refining Palace has withdrawn from this world, the method of refining soul liquid has been lost, and finally the Spirit Insect True Person wrote in his notes, full of regret, that the Soul-devouring Butterfly is likely extinct in this realm.

Wang Ping's strange smile stems from this—he possesses soul liquid, and its quality is even better than that of the Soul Palace.

This makes him feel as if his predetermined fate has been arranged.

Thinking about his inexplicable transmigration, Wang Ping stops pondering further and buries these thoughts deep in his heart.

He then turns his thoughts to pondering the Soul Refining Palace as a force; although the Spirit Insect True Person's notes contain only a brief sentence, the information revealed is immense.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the Soul Refining Palace already appeared; that was precisely the end of the ancient era, and also the time of the Ancient War spoken of by cultivators.

The Soul Refining Palace appeared then—what role did it play in that?

The Soul Refining Heart Sutra, such a heaven-defying cultivation method, hardly seems to belong to this realm; if one were to trace its origin, the Spirit Realm would be a good place.

Now, even though he hasn't cultivated the first layer of the Soul Refining Heart Sutra to its limit, his mental power already far surpasses that of ordinary cultivators.

And the benefits brought by his mental power are gradually becoming evident.

Such a cultivation method must surely be heavily guarded; how did Black Heaven manage to replicate it on a jade slip?

He cultivates this method; if one day it is discovered, thinking of this, Wang Ping repeatedly rubs his chin, considering a possibility: if discovered, he doesn't know whether he could join them.

Under the night sky, the Canglan River is pitch black; Wang Ping sits at the bow, quietly enjoying the river breeze.

During the day, everything he thinks of in his mind seems to be blown away.

I'm just a Qi Refining cultivator—what's the point of thinking so much?

Wang Ping suddenly gives a silent grin; first, let's raise his realm to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining before talking.

With the Increase Yuan Pill, the next trip to the Spirit Realm in two years will surely allow a breakthrough.

"Pah! Jing Wuming, even if I die, you won't get my Iron Family's Forbidden Formation Classic."

While enjoying the river breeze, Wang Ping suddenly hears a name he cannot forget: Jing Wuming!