Chapter 121: The Book (The fifth update is here, still begging for collections!)

In the blink of an eye, the Spirit Insect had already been inside the Black Light Barrier for half an hour. During this half hour, Zhang Nuo was almost driven mad; he could neither sit nor lie still, his hands constantly rubbing against each other, and he even felt a sense of regret in his heart!

Looking at the size of the Black Light Barrier, it was not particularly large. Even if the Spirit Insect were searching for something inside, it shouldn't take this long. Could something have happened?

However, through the faint connection of their minds, Zhang Nuo could still confirm that the Spirit Insect was alive! This point gave him quite a bit of comfort!

"Can you still sense the existence of the Spirit Insect?"

Inside the Sword Box, Chunyangzi was equally concerned about the Spirit Insect. After all, the life or death of the 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect' had a direct bearing on him. When he originally chose to help Zhang Nuo, it was precisely because he was the host of the Spirit Insect; if the Spirit Insect died, this host would be of no use at all. Everything Chunyangzi had done before would have been in vain.

In terms of aptitude, Zhang Nuo was not an exceptional person, and in terms of methods, Zhang Nuo was even less of a match for Zhuge Qing. Would Chunyangzi still pin his hopes on the body of someone who could basically be described as useless?

"I can!"

Zhang Nuo's answer was simple, yet very effective. Chunyangzi in the Sword Box set his mind at ease. As long as Zhang Nuo could still feel the existence of the Spirit Insect, it meant the Spirit Insect had not died, and he would still have hope of being reborn with the help of the Pure Yang Body.

After uttering these two words, Zhang Nuo did not speak again. He stood upon his Flying Sword, his eyes slightly closed, keeping his mind in constant connection with the Spirit Insect.

After another half a stick of incense worth of time passed, Zhang Nuo's eyebrows suddenly twitched. Immediately, his eyes snapped open, and two rays of light shot from his pitch-black pupils. The giant sword beneath his feet flew diagonally downward, reaching the area directly above the swamp in the blink of an eye.

"What happened?"

Seeing Zhang Nuo's abnormal behavior, Chunyangzi was also startled.

"The Spirit Insect is coming out! But I feel its movements are very slow!"

With his brows slightly furrowed, Zhang Nuo said with a hint of excitement. Upon hearing this, Chunyangzi was also exceptionally happy, though he was somewhat surprised to hear that the Spirit Insect's movement speed was very slow.

The flight speed of a 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect' was not inferior to that of a Foundation Establishment Mid-stage cultivator; how could it have suddenly slowed down? Was it injured? Or was it carrying some heavy object!

Many conjectures rose in the minds of the two, but before the Spirit Insect came out, no one knew what the real answer was!

Zhang Nuo could now hear his own heartbeat. He tried hard to restrain his emotions, not wanting the fluctuations of his mood to affect the connection between him and the 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect'.

Just as both were very nervous about the safety of the Spirit Insect, the swamp beneath Zhang Nuo suddenly moved. Following that, waves of ripples spread out, and a semicircle less than a foot wide slowly bulged on the surface of the swamp.

Upon seeing the semicircle appear, Zhang Nuo's heart almost jumped out of his chest, his gaze fixed firmly on the semicircle. Very quickly, the area of the semicircle continued to expand, and in the blink of an eye, it was already a foot in size.

The moment the semicircle bulged, Zhang Nuo felt a huge Spiritual Pressure coming from beneath the swamp. His expression changed in shock, and his figure could not help but retreat several zhang away.

He had seen the backlash of the Black Light Barrier's Restriction before. Although he was concerned about the Spirit Insect, for the sake of his own safety, he chose to dodge.

Just as Zhang Nuo's figure had finished flying out, a ray of Golden Light broke through the air from the bulging semicircle. At the same time, his mental connection quickly sensed the existence of the Spirit Insect!

"The Spirit Insect has come out!"

Zhang Nuo was so excited he almost cried. Just as he was about to fly over to catch the Spirit Insect, the swamp below shook, and the mud and water surged up instantly.

The Spirit Insect, wrapped in Golden Light, seemed to be holding something beneath its body. Its wings flapped rapidly as it rushed toward Zhang Nuo, but the Spirit Insect's flight speed remained very slow, as if the thing beneath it were extremely heavy.

Just as the Spirit Insect began to fly, a black hand the size of a zhang suddenly grabbed out from the swamp at the spot where the Spirit Insect had emerged, its target being the fleeing 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect'! The black hand was covered in a dark luster, as if it were something conjured into existence.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Nuo could not help but gasp. With a movement of his Divine Sense, two Flying Swords flew out one after another from the Sword Box on his back, rapidly slashing toward the black hand that was grabbing at the Spirit Insect.

'Swish! Swish!' With two soft sounds, the Flying Swords instantly slashed the hand that was about to grab the Spirit Insect into several pieces, which then turned into specks of black mist and vanished into the air.

Overjoyed, Zhang Nuo drove the Flying Sword again to reach the side of the Spirit Insect and grabbed it in his hand. The moment he grabbed the Spirit Insect, Zhang Nuo's body, standing on the Flying Sword, sank violently, and he almost fell off the sword.

At this moment, the Spirit Insect's body was exceptionally heavy, as if he were holding a small mountain in his hand. Before Zhang Nuo could figure out what was going on—

With a 'whoosh' of wind, a black hand exactly the same as the previous one suddenly appeared beneath the swamp. However, this time the hand was a full five zhang in size, like a black cloud in the sky, and it grabbed wildly toward Zhang Nuo.

Seeing this, Zhang Nuo moved his Divine Sense, and the giant sword beneath his feet shone with brilliant light. With a 'whoosh', it flew out several dozen zhang. The black hand missed its grab, but it suddenly elongated significantly and slapped toward Zhang Nuo once more.

Feeling the waves of Spiritual Pressure coming from the hand, Zhang Nuo found even breathing difficult. Seeing that he was about to be unable to dodge this attack, he hardened his heart, suddenly turned his body, looked up at the rapidly descending black hand, and let out a soft whistle. Eight White Threads shot out consecutively from the Nine Dragon Sword Case!

The sound of breaking air rang out continuously. The eight White Threads intertwined over the black hand, and in the blink of an eye, they slashed the black hand into several pieces. By attacking with eight Flying Swords simultaneously, Zhang Nuo also consumed quite a bit of Spirit Power.

With a movement of his Divine Sense, he instantly recalled all the Flying Swords, threw the Spirit Insect into the Spirit Beast Bag, and flew toward the shore of the Dark Swamp without looking back.

All of this happened very quickly; from the appearance of the Spirit Insect to the attack of the two black hands, it was only a matter of a few breaths. Zhang Nuo fled as if his life depended on it, yet a trace of joy appeared on his face!

Although he did not know what the black hand that attacked him was conjured from, at least while he was fleeing at full speed, the hand's speed could no longer catch him.

After flying continuously for nearly a day, Zhang Nuo finally flew out of the Dark Swamp. After landing, he glanced back at the swamp behind him, only to see that it had returned to calm. The black hand that had attacked him earlier had never appeared again after being destroyed the second time.

There was no time to think about the black hand. Zhang Nuo impatiently took out the Spirit Beast Bag from his bosom and released the 'Mysterious Heaven Gold-Devouring Insect'. At this moment, he saw that the Spirit Insect was still wrapped in Golden Light, and beneath its body, it was actually holding a book!

This book was a foot long and half a foot wide, its surface pitch-black, with nothing special to be seen. When Zhang Nuo took the book from the Spirit Insect's embrace, he was surprised to find that this book had no weight at all!

Why had the Spirit Insect's weight increased so much just a moment ago? He reached out and grabbed the Spirit Insect in his hand, and only then did Zhang Nuo realize that what was heavy was not the book, but the Spirit Insect itself.

After a moment of contemplation, he felt that something was wrong. In the past, no matter how much metal the Spirit Insect ate, its own body weight would not increase. Why had it become heavy this time? And it was heavy to an absurd degree!