Chapter 2283 - 2281: Inner World

The progress of refining Edgeless City by Zi Ying is rapidly improving. According to her estimate, it should be completely refined within three days.

Lu Ye has actually been worried all along, concerned that Moon Howl might suddenly return from the inner world.

For this reason, he has dispersed all his doppelgangers far from this place, but if anything untoward happens, he would immediately teleport away with Zi Ying.

Fortunately, this worry didn't come true.

At this moment, Lu Ye is chatting with Zi Ying. He has already helped Zi Ying to refine her physical body once and is waiting for her to refine Edgeless City so he can refine her soul body.

The conversation suddenly halted, and Lu Ye turned sharply to look towards the location of the insect hive.

"What happened?" Zi Ying's expression changed.

Although there is Dark Butterfly stationed at the insect hive, along with her two direct descendants of the Insect Race, Chen Gushan and Ho Linglong are still there, which makes her anxious when Lu Ye reacts like this; she thought an enemy was attacking.

"It's not an enemy, it's just..." Lu Ye's expression was dazed, "Dark Butterfly has disappeared!"

"Dark Butterfly disappeared? How did it disappear?"

In the insect hive, Lu Ye's Talent Tree Avatar was originally hiding in the shadows, but now it steps out.

Ya Yi and Ku Zhi's eyes widen, staring at the empty space before them.

Chen Gushan and Ho Linglong, who were resting, also walked over from their places.

The five silhouettes were lined up, standing here, each with an ambiguous expression.

"Where is Dark Butterfly?" Chen Gushan turned to look at the Avatar, wondering where such a large Dark Butterfly went. Clearly, just now, the Dark Butterfly was here, but somehow it disappeared without a trace.

No one saw her leave.

Only the Avatar witnessed the bizarre departure from beginning to end.

Because when this strange event occurred, the main body felt it through the Chains of Life, so the Avatar was the first to focus on it.

One could say, Lu Ye saw with his own eyes as Dark Butterfly's huge body gradually became unreal, transparent, and then disappeared.

This scene seemed familiar!

More than a month ago, Moon Howl disappeared just like this, silently, without a trace.

The Avatar doesn't know where Dark Butterfly went.

But from the perception fed back from the main body, Dark Butterfly was clearly still here, but at an incredibly far distance, so far that the connection through the Chains of Life became almost imperceptible!

When the anomaly with Dark Butterfly appeared, Lu Ye's main body sensed that his connection with Dark Butterfly was rapidly weakening, as if in an instant, she went to a faraway place.

She's here...

Yet she's not here...

This matter is very uncanny, completely inexplicable.

Just as everyone was feeling uncertain and suspicious, Dark Butterfly's figure suddenly and mysteriously reappeared, as if time had reversed to the moment she disappeared. Her figure went from blurry and unreal to gradually solid.

Even more peculiar is that as her figure reappeared, suddenly several Dao Fish appeared swimming beside her; those Dao Fish seemed to be swirled by her body, transforming into Dao force that dissipated, making the Dao force inside the insect hive more abundant.

"Phew..." A long sigh was heard from Dark Butterfly's direction, like a drowning person surfacing; her massive body kept trembling from some inexplicable emotion.

"Dark Butterfly!" Lu Ye called out, he is now eager to know what exactly Dark Butterfly has done and where she went.

"Brother Ye!" Dark Butterfly's voice rang out, and her seductive soul body walked out from her body, her eyes full of excitement and exhilaration, as if she had discovered something incredible.

Several pairs of eyes turned to look at her; Ya Yi and Ku Zhi were full of concern and worry, while Lu Ye's Avatar, Chen Gushan, and Ho Linglong were perplexed.

"What just happened?" the Avatar asked.

"Just now..." Dark Butterfly recalled, like a child who found a new toy, "I actually don't know what's going on either. I was cultivating and suddenly entered a strange state, feeling like I was constantly sinking down, then when I opened my eyes, everything around me had changed, and you all were gone!"

"Sinking down?" The Avatar frowned, "Where could you sink? This is neither an ocean nor a lake." "What did you see?"

"Nothing special, just like the outer Void, but in that place, the Dao force was much, much richer than here!"

Her words reminded Lu Ye of the Dao Fish that suddenly appeared just now.

He had seen Dao Fish twice before: once shortly after leaving Qing Palace, when he encountered Madam Qingyu and others, and another time within Branlan, when he received a mystical blessing from Star Abyss, gaining a substantial amount of Dao force.

He has always been curious about where Dao Fish comes from, as they appear without any sign, not being living creatures, but condensations of Dao force.

Dark Butterfly now says that the place she went to had much denser Dao force than here.

Could it be that the place where the Dark Butterfly went is where the Dao Fish appear?

"Brother Ye, I suspect that place might be..."

The core of Edgeless City.

The main body is synchronizing the information on the Dark Butterfly to Zi Ying. After listening, Zi Ying pondered deeply and spoke quietly, "Brother Ye, the place where the Dark Butterfly went might be the inner world!"

"Inner world?" Lu Ye raised his eyebrows.

"Remember I told you before, I had some clues about the inner world? Just many things weren't confirmed yet."

Lu Ye nodded; before coming to Edgeless City this time, Zi Ying indeed mentioned this.

"The Dark Butterfly said that during cultivation, she suddenly entered a bizarre state, and then she sank downwards. I experienced this once before, but I interrupted it timely. Even so, I felt the end of sinking seemed like another space. Therefore, I suspect that space is the inner world!"

Lu Ye seemed dazed, after a long pause, he said, "So, the inner world isn't a place that requires a specific channel to enter?"

Or there might be a channel, just not detectable due to lack of capabilities and cultivation.

"The Dark Butterfly can enter the inner world, and someone like Moon Howl thrives in the inner world. If so, the Dark Butterfly might have already touched the threshold of Dao Harmony." Zi Ying spoke, feeling somewhat urgent.

Although there's no open competition between her and the Dark Butterfly, the first to Dao Harmony would undoubtedly hold greater power, so she doesn't want the Dark Butterfly to precede her.

"Brother Ye, once we refine the core of Edgeless City, assist me in sending it into Banlan; the refinement of the soul body will depend on you."

Once the soul body is refined, she would also begin her path to Dao Harmony.

"Of course, no problem." Lu Ye nodded, feeling intrigued, as he could only glimpse the situation of the inner world through the Dark Butterfly's descriptions, but her time in the inner world had been short, so her understanding wasn't profound.

Lu Ye also wanted to explore the inner world, not to mention, the presence of the Dao Fish was compelling enough. If he could cultivate in the inner world, the efficiency of acquiring Dao force would surely greatly increase.

Not only for him, but also for those in the insect hive who are in Dao Fusion.

In the following days, Zi Ying continued refining the core of Edgeless City, while within the insect hive, whether Ya Yi Ku Zhi or Chen Gushan and Ho Linglong, all were attempting to enter the inner world.

Though Veterans Chen and Ho had no hope for Dao Harmony anymore, and their lifespan is running short, the inner world posed an unknown desire for exploration to see its mystique.

With the Dark Butterfly's guidance, they indeed successfully entered the inner world!

Moreover, the two appeared alongside the Dark Butterfly in the inner world, without separation, but the scenes inside the inner world were entirely different from the outer world.

In the outer world, they were in the interior of a desolate planet, which is the Dark Butterfly's new insect hive.

But once inside the inner world, their appearance location was a Void, with a big sun burning fiercely nearby.

When they returned from the inner world, they still appeared at the place where they had disappeared.

Ya Yi Ku Zhi had no clues.

Lu Ye equally had none.

The few Peak Dao Fusion members could smoothly enter the inner world, but Lu Ye and two direct descendants of the Insect Race couldn't even get a grasp, even with the Dark Butterfly diligently guiding them without reservation...

Lu Ye realized that it probably has to do with cultivation realm; only when one's cultivation realm is adequate can one qualify to enter the inner world, insufficient cultivation realm means unable to enter.

Ya Yi Ku Zhi is merely at the 5th or 6th Dao Fusion, and although Lu Ye's power isn't weak, in terms of realm, he's merely at Enter the Path!

This situation is rather frustrating.

Today it appears, Peak Dao Fusion can enter the inner world, but not those at 5th or 6th Dao Fusion. The threshold within this range remains undetermined.

Further puzzling to Lu Ye was that within the inner world, there seemed to be no Dao Fish.

Initially, he thought the inner world would be full of Dao Fish swimming around, easily refined for Dao force, but through descriptions of the Dark Butterfly and others, it's known that Dao force within the inner world is indeed exceedingly dense, yet no Dao Fish exist.

However, upon returning from the inner world, the Dark Butterfly and the veterans indeed had Dao Fish appearing at their side, witnessed firsthand.

Lu Ye pondered and deduced one plausible explanation for this anomaly—every time they returned from the inner world, they would carry some of the inner world's Dao force back. This Dao force is excessively dense, thus in the outer world, it condenses and manifests as Dao Fish.

It's akin to water vapor condensing into dew on leaves in the summer morning.

This leads to a thought: the Dao Pool found alongside Madam Qingyu and others, which might be a weak point connecting the inner world with the outer world, hence during specific times, Dao force from the inner world escapes into the outer world, resulting in the manifestation of Dao Fish.

There must be more than one Dao Pool in the Star Abyss, and currently, his cultivation realm is lacking, and entering the inner world on his own isn't feasible. But what if he relied on the Dao Pool?

Can he use this weak point to enter the inner world?

Of course, Lu Ye was merely speculating; he doesn't necessarily need to verify this.

To acquire Dao force, Banlan remains the priority, and entry into the inner world isn't urgent. Once his cultivation realm is sufficient, naturally, he can venture in and admire the inner world's mystical allure.