Mortal: Fairy Song Yu has issued you a task.

On the riverbank, several pure white ice toads leaped in panic, fleeing downstream in haste. However, they were no match for the small purple cloud of insects behind them, and were instantly engulfed. They futilely spat out a few icicles, which vanished amidst a sickening gnawing sound.

Hidden to the side, Lin Jingchu watched the purple cloud fly away, then glanced at the riverbank—it was empty, without even a trace of debris.

Two days had passed since he killed the queen ant. During these two days, the Crystal Ant swarm, now without its queen, went completely berserk, like a destructive purple storm, frantically hunting and plundering everything within a 500-mile radius that contained spiritual energy.

Lin Jingchu withdrew his gaze, pondered for a moment, and then created a clone. Now that the queen ant was dead, and the Heavenly Crystal Ants were "unrecognizable to their own kind," it was best to continue acting through clones.

The clone used the "Concealment Technique" to hide its form and stealthily moved through the river until it reached the foot of the enormous waterfall. After searching carefully at the bottom of the river for a while, it found its target on a section of the riverbed.

A skeleton dressed in tattered red clothes lay quietly in the mud. Not far away, the black spear and the Heaven-Burning Mirror were stuck in the mud, but both had lost their spiritual light.

Ignoring the discarded items, the clone reached down and removed a perfectly intact storage bag from the skeleton's waist. It probed inside with its divine sense to count the contents; the spirit stones alone amounted to a staggering seven thousand!

In addition, all sorts of rare materials, spiritual herbs, and elixirs... were on display, their value difficult to estimate at the moment. In short, it was an incredibly lucrative opportunity.

"The Panlong Jade Token!" A look of joy flashed in the clone's eyes. "The remaining three tokens are all here!" With these three jade tokens, plus the one in his own hand, all four tokens would be gathered together, making it easy to sense the exit of the secret realm.

Moreover, without the Panlong Jade Token, the teleportation altar cannot be activated at all. The Demon Flame Sect has truly suffered a double loss.

The clone took the storage bag and immediately returned to the main body's hiding place. After the handover was completed, the clone set off again, heading to the cave behind the waterfall.

However, after passing through the water curtain, they discovered that the Heavenly Crystal Ants were busy hunting wildly outside and had not bothered to clear the tunnel that had been destroyed by the cultivator surnamed Zhao.

Lin Jingchu pondered for a moment, then manipulated his clone to turn towards the mountain wall where the ant swarm had suddenly emerged the day before. He spread his divine sense and carefully examined all the cracks and passage entrances within a radius of two or three miles.

After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he finally discovered the tiny traces left by the crawling of the crystal ants at the edge of a hidden crevice in the rocks.

The clone burrowed into the crevice, which was about the height of a person, and went deeper inside. After twisting and turning several times, the familiar, huge cavernous insect nest reappeared before its eyes.

Without the queen's control, the Sky Crystal Ants acted entirely on instinct, and there were no proper guards at the cave entrance. The clone easily stepped into the nest.

Dodging the celestial crystal ants that were flying haphazardly inside the cave, his clone returned to the ten-zhang-tall crystal tower in the center. He floated lightly upwards and quietly arrived at the top of the tower.

Looking through the translucent crystal wall, among the densely packed, sesame-seed-sized white insect eggs in the egg chamber, one anomaly stood out—it was a pale purple, about the size of a thumb, and lay quietly in a pool of pure white.

Seeing that it had not yet hatched, Lin Jingchu's clone simply sat cross-legged on the flat top of the tower and waited quietly. Now, the fifth level of the "Moon Gazing Technique" could keep the "Mirror Flower Water Moon" clone for about a day, which was more than enough time.

Time passed slowly. The purple halo on the surface of the queen ant egg grew brighter and brighter, and began to contract and expand rhythmically like a heart.

Half a day later, a very faint "click" sound was heard, and a thin crack appeared on the surface of the insect egg.

The egg trembled for a moment, and a tiny ant, about the size of a thumb, struggled to crawl out of the crack, its shell tucked under its head.

Just as most of its body had emerged from the eggshell—

A glint flashed in the eyes of the clone sitting cross-legged atop the tower! The Embroidered Spring Blade, already tightly gripped in his hand, unleashed a streak of bright, cold moonlight.

scoff!

The crystal tower, whose hardness was comparable to that of a top-grade magic artifact, had its tip sheared off, instantly exposing the insect egg chamber to the air!

The newborn queen ant was still in a dazed and confused state when a hand scooped her up with lightning speed and threw her into a palm-sized dark gold iron box, then closed the lid.

Lin Jingchu used his clone to cast several spells to seal the Hidden Void Box. Then, before the rampaging Heavenly Crystal Ants could surround and attack, he raised his hand and hurled the iron box outwards.

After doing all this, the clone turned into specks of spiritual light and dissipated.

The Hidden Void Box transformed into a dark golden meteor, tracing a precise arc before disappearing into the passage it had come from. It rolled several times on the ground before settling down quietly.

The queen ant inside the box desperately rammed against the iron wall, but the Hidden Void Box completely isolated her from all movement and presence.

The frenzied swarm of crystal ants scurried wildly through the nest, searching for the missing newborn queen. In the end, they even overturned the ten-zhang-tall crystal tower, scattering eggs and larvae all over the ground, but found nothing.

After some time, the new clone quietly arrived using the Concealment Technique, picked up the Hidden Void Box, and silently retreated.

Hundreds of miles away, in a hidden cave firmly protected by multiple layers of formations.

Lin Jingchu sat cross-legged, with the Hidden Void Box containing the newly born queen ant placed in front of him. He planned to take advantage of this undisturbed opportunity to transform the Heavenly Crystal Ant Queen into his own spirit insect.

He opened the Hidden Void Box. The queen ant, seeing the light of day again, immediately fluttered her delicate crystalline wings, attempting to escape. Lin Jingchu's fingers flew, and a restriction was cast into her body. The queen ant's body stiffened, and she fell back into the box.

Next comes the crucial part.

Lin Jingchu's expression was solemn. He extended his right index finger and pointed it at his brow. With a low shout, a drop of crimson life essence blood was forced out from between his brows.

With a drop of blood on his fingertip, he swiftly traced a complex crimson rune in the air. This was a secret technique from the "Insect Control Technique" "gifted" by Liu Yu—using blood essence to draw a "Blood Pact Talisman."

This talisman, once planted, not only exerts a strong restraining force on spirit insects, but also naturally makes them feel close to and dependent on their master.

Once the blood talisman was formed, it immediately entered the queen ant's body. The queen ant's body trembled slightly, then returned to calm.

Lin Jingchu released the restriction. The queen ant shook her head and got up, but instead of showing affection and dependence as described in the "Insect Control Technique," she flapped her wings again, ready to fly away.

A cold glint flashed in Lin Jingchu's eyes. With a slight thought, he activated the blood pact talisman he had planted. The ant queen froze, ceasing her struggle.

"It's not that easy after all..." he muttered to himself. "However, this blood talisman was only meant to temporarily control you before the Soul Separation Technique takes effect."

Lin Jingchu took out a bottle of recovery pills and swallowed them. He then sat cross-legged and circulated his energy throughout his body until his vital energy was restored to its peak state.

He took a deep breath, his expression more solemn than ever before, and began to perform an extremely ancient and profound incantation. His fingers flew like butterflies, flashing with spiritual light.

A moment later, his face turned pale, and he let out a soft groan. A tiny, faint green light, smaller than a dandruff, drifted from his nostril—it was a wisp of his divine soul that he had separated.

This single trace was enough to turn Lin Jingchu's face deathly pale, and fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

He dared not delay and immediately guided the wisp of divine soul into the queen ant's body. Only when he sensed the wisp of divine soul quietly infiltrating the depths of the queen ant's nascent consciousness did he breathe a long sigh of relief.

After doing all this, Lin Jingchu put the hard-won Heavenly Crystal Ant Queen into his spirit beast pouch. He then swallowed several pills, preparing to calm his mind and recover his depleted vital energy and soul.

Suddenly, he paused, his brow furrowing slightly.

"Did I forget something?" he murmured, then shook his head. "Never mind, since I can't remember, it probably doesn't matter."

……

Hundreds of miles away from the cave.

On the banks of a wide river, more than two hundred feet wide, Liu Yu was running frantically and desperately.

Her hair was disheveled, and her white shirt was torn in many places, revealing her fair and delicate skin in stark contrast to the bloodstains. Behind her, seven or eight ferocious, two-headed demon wolves with dragon-like heads were hot on her heels, occasionally spewing out fine ice needles and violent wind blades.

In that vast lake, spanning six or seven hundred miles in circumference, within the secret realm.

The man surnamed Xu was deathly pale, clutching his giant white-scaled python tightly. The python was frantically thrashing its body, trying to carry its master toward the shore.

Behind them, in the lake, a huge shadow was closing in at an alarming speed.

As for the man surnamed He, he was also busy running around on another part of the lake...

Everyone is busy with their own lives, which makes the years seem beautiful.