Blood Lice, Two-Legged Silkworms, Iron-Eating Ants, Silver-Lined Hexagonal Spiders, Overlord Bees...
Every wine jar bore the name of some wondrous or monstrous insect, most of which Yang Kai had never even heard of, save for one or two that rang a faint bell.
And those rare ones he did recognize were without exception terrifying creatures that made warriors tremble at the mere mention of their names.
Yang Kai's mind stirred, a daring hypothesis beginning to take shape.
At that very moment, the interior space of the Insect-Taming Bracelet suddenly flared with a brilliant light. Within that radiance, something resembling an ancient tome slowly materialized before Yang Kai's Divine Sense.
Curious, he directed his spiritual consciousness to examine it.
On the front cover of the tome, several large characters were inscribed in seal script: "Scripture of Wondrous Insects!"
"A Divine Sense Book!" Yang Kai exclaimed inwardly.
There existed in this world certain supremely profound techniques and secret arts that did not take physical form. Instead, they were recorded in hidden places in a manner invisible to the naked eye. This method of inscription prevented precious knowledge from falling into the wrong hands easily, and was a common practice among the mighty before their great finality arrived.
A Divine Sense Book was precisely one such method.
This Divine Sense Book within the Insect-Taming Bracelet had likely been authored by the Insect Emperor, because Yang Kai detected the Insect Emperor's aura within the Scripture of Wondrous Insects. Though many years had passed, he still remembered that distinctive spiritual fluctuation.
Yang Kai moved his Divine Sense once more, opening the Scripture of Wondrous Insects and reading through it carefully.
The Scripture had indeed been written by the Insect Emperor. On its very first page was a preface composed in the first person, but Yang Kai had little interest in that. He scanned it once and flipped to the next page.
"The Wondrous Insect Rankings!"
Three bold characters immediately seized Yang Kai's attention, and he leaned in with renewed focus to study them.
The Insect Emperor had divided the rankings into a Heavenly Board and an Earthly Board. Every creature that earned a place on these lists was an extraordinarily rare and formidable existence.
Thirty-six on the Heavenly Board, seventy-two on the Earthly Board—one hundred and eight wondrous insects and monstrous beasts in total. Each entry came with a detailed description and ranking.
Yang Kai quickly located the entries corresponding to the insects sealed within the wine jars.
Blood Lice: Earthly Board, thirteenth. Attracted by the scent of blood. Microscopically small, virtually undetectable. A victim's entire blood supply would be drained, leaving behind a desiccated husk.
Two-Legged Silkworm: Earthly Board, twenty-seventh. Entirely snow-white, standing upright on two legs. Its ice-element venom was unrivaled in all the world. No cure existed for its poison.
Iron-Eating Ant: Earthly Board, thirty-sixth. Lives in colonies. Devours iron and steel, counters all Artifacts under heaven.
Silver-Lined Hexagonal Spider: Heavenly Board, nineteenth. Silver patterns adorn its back. Its venom is devastatingly potent—even Emperor Realm powerhouses cannot withstand it.
Overlord Bee: Heavenly Board, twenty-first. The venom in its tail stinger is paramount, ranking among the ten greatest poisons in the world. Now extinct.
...
The list went on, covering a wide variety of creatures.
Within the Heavenly Board, Yang Kai found the entry for Soul-Devouring Insects.
Soul-Devouring Insect: Heavenly Board, eleventh. Feeds exclusively on the power of the soul. The natural bane of spiritual consciousness. In its infancy, Divine Sense Fire can annihilate it, and overwhelming spiritual power can suppress it. However, once it matures, it becomes extraordinarily difficult to handle—even the Emperor Realm cannot subdue it.
Among the Wondrous Insect Rankings, the Soul-Devouring Insect held an imposing position at eleventh on the Heavenly Board. The ten insects ranked above it were creatures Yang Kai had never even heard of.
According to the Insect Emperor's annotations, those ten strongest wondrous insects had all gone extinct and no longer existed in the world.
Of course, this was merely his personal opinion. Whether they had truly all perished, no one could say for certain.
Yang Kai had a nagging suspicion that the Soul-Devouring Insect's high ranking had much to do with its tremendous potential for growth.
Just as the Insect Emperor's notes indicated, the Soul-Devouring Insect was not particularly difficult to deal with when it was weak. Divine Sense Fire could destroy it, and powerful spiritual consciousness could suppress it. But once it matured, it became an absolute nightmare.
The sacred war within the Spirit Holy World was proof enough of that.
Suddenly coming upon such a remarkable book, Yang Kai's interest was thoroughly piqued, and he read through it with relish. Since the Insect Emperor had taken "Insect" as his title, it stood to reason that his research into wondrous and monstrous insects was virtually unparalleled. This knowledge of his was perhaps unique across the entire Star Boundary. With it in his possession, should Yang Kai ever encounter any creature from the Heavenly or Earthly Boards in the future, he would not be left completely without countermeasures.
Beyond the rankings themselves, the Scripture of Wondrous Insects provided detailed introductions to every species—their habits, methods of taming, and techniques to counter them.
Most wondrous insects and monstrous beasts had specific counters. Take, for example, the Blood Lice ranked thirteenth on the Earthly Board. Despite being attracted to blood and so minuscule as to be invisible—even Divine Sense might struggle to detect them—they had an intense fear of fire. Any fire-attribute secret art or divine ability would be more than sufficient to drive them away.
Or consider the Iron-Eating Ant, ranked thirty-sixth on the Earthly Board. Though it was the bane of all Artifacts, it feared a peculiar stone called Moonlume Rock. If an Iron-Eating Ant ingested one, it would dissolve into a puddle of foul liquid within moments, dying completely and cleanly.
The key was that Moonlume Rock was not particularly rare—merely a luminescent stone with no significant value of its own. Across the entire Star Boundary, it could be found in many places.
Yang Kai deliberately sought out the countermeasures for the Soul-Devouring Insect.
The Insect Emperor had provided only two methods. The first was to use Divine Sense Fire to destroy them while they were still weak. The second was suppression. Once the Soul-Devouring Insect grew to the point where it no longer feared Divine Sense Fire, it was essentially unkillable. Suppression was the only recourse.