Chapter 2287 - 2285: The Last Three

Concerning Dark Butterfly, Lu Ye always possessed complete control. He initially intended to use Dark Butterfly, then find a way to deal with her, as she is, after all, the Insect Matriarch, not of our race.

Yet, after these days of interaction, Lu Ye indeed gained some benefits from Dark Butterfly, which somewhat diminished his previous intentions.

Lu Ye actually hadn't decided how to handle Dark Butterfly. If she wanted to leave, he wouldn't insist, but the Chains of Life wouldn't be removed. If they never met again, so be it. However, if they did, he could use the Chains of Life to restrain her.

But at this moment, Dark Butterfly's attitude and actions led him to make a decision.

Since she had shown such sincerity, he shouldn't be too ruthless and unforgiving.

"You have my gratitude," Lu Ye nodded.

At the critical moment of Dao Fusion, Dark Butterfly was actually willing to give up a portion of her Soul Power to him, which Lu Ye hadn't anticipated. As a result, it would take Dark Butterfly at least several years of recuperation to attempt Dao Fusion again.

Without further ado, Lu Ye focused his thoughts and began to dissolve the Chains of Life.

Dark Butterfly immediately sensed this and felt a surge of joy. It was indeed true that sincerity pays off, and she cooperated right away.

Moments later, a chain appeared on the surface of their soul bodies, connecting them. With the breaking of this chain, the invisible restraint was utterly gone.

Dark Butterfly felt a sudden lightness, her heaving chest rising and falling fiercely.

Finally... liberated!

"If you encounter the human race later..." Lu Ye began slowly.

Before he could finish, Dark Butterfly interrupted, "Rest assured, Brother Ye. If humans do not offend me, I will absolutely not attack first!"

That would be enough.

"Go," Lu Ye waved.

Dark Butterfly gazed deeply at him, then said, "Take care, Brother Ye. Little Butterfly is leaving!"

Her soul body dissipated.

Outside the insect hive, Yayi and Kuzhi guarded Dark Butterfly's physical body as they flew away into the distance.

Even though Dark Butterfly did not show it, the two direct descendants of the Insect Race could sense the joy in their Insect Matriarch's heart.

Dark Butterfly indeed felt joyful because, through exploration and trials over this period, she discovered something frustrating: the existence of the Chains of Life was a huge obstacle to her Dao Fusion.

In other words, as long as the Chains of Life existed, she would never achieve Dao Fusion, because the process required her to enter a state of absolute freedom, and the Chains of Life inherently represented bondage. How could she achieve Dao Fusion in such a state?

She wanted to ask Lu Ye to dissolve this Dao Rune, but didn't know how to bring it up.

It wasn't until this opportunity arose that she seized it to impress Lu Ye, even at the cost of sacrificing part of her Soul Power. It was a significant sacrifice, but it indeed bore fruit.

This wasn't deception, just a minor calculation combined with sincerity to receive the deserved reward.

Gazing once more at the desolate planet where she temporarily resided, Dark Butterfly knew that after this farewell, it would be difficult to meet again.

Within the desolate planet, Lu Ye sat upright as if he were a living corpse.

The Illusory Realm had yet to dissipate, and the intensity of Lu Ye's soul body continued to increase, albeit very slowly. The last gift from Dark Butterfly was indeed substantial.

Estimating quietly, this enhancement meant at least a ten percent improvement to his soul body. If he had had to achieve it through hard cultivation, who knows how much time and effort it would have required.

Slowly opening his eyes, Lu Ye felt something different about himself.

Moreover, he suddenly felt as though he could continue refining his Dao Bone!

Last time in Edgeless City, after killing several who had achieved Dao Fusion, he received considerable Star Abyss Blessing, allowing him to refine one Dao Bone, but after that, progress stalled.

The root cause was still the insufficiency of his foundational strength.

Now that his soul body had improved significantly, this also counted as an enhancement of foundational strength.

Whether it would satisfy the requirements for refining a Dao Bone, Lu Ye couldn't say for sure.

He decided to try and see!

Shortly thereafter, after expending some Dao force, a satisfied expression appeared on Lu Ye's face.

Indeed, he successfully refined another Dao Bone!

Now, only three more Dao Bones were needed to achieve Dao Bone Great Perfection for his entire body.

With the matter in Edgeless City concluded and Banlan continuing its drift, his path was now quite straightforward.

He would hunt down those who had achieved Insect and Blood Races Dao Fusion, leveraging the Star Abyss Blessing to enhance his foundational strength, and finish refining those three Dao Bones. Thus, he could attempt Dao Fusion!

The difference between Enter the Path and Dao Fusion was just one realm, yet the disparity in strength was vast. Entering the Path involved increasing one's power gradually.

However, Dao Fusion brought an exponential surge in strength in proportion, especially as one's cultivation progressed further, this proportional surge would continue to amplify.

In such a scenario, the greater a cultivator's Basic Strength, the greater the amplification.

And his Basic Strength was incomparable to any who had Entered the Path. It was hard to imagine how the Dao Runes' enhancement would enable his growth after advancing to Dao Fusion.

After a few days of delay, Banlan had already drifted some distance away. Lu Ye took another day to catch up.

After examining the nearby constellations and confirming the direction was correct, Lu Ye finally entered Banlan.

The place of appearance was near Edgeless City, he flew directly into the city.

There was no change in Edgeless City, but the emotions of the various cultivators in the city were a bit more stable. For now, Chen Gushan was stationed there, but Ho Linglong's whereabouts were unknown.

Sensing Lu Ye's presence, Zi Ying immediately came forward: "Brother Ye, send me out."

She had nothing to do here; next, she needed to fully commit to the Path of Union. Now that the Dark Butterfly had left, Chen Gushan and the others had no hope of achieving Dao Harmony. So, if all goes well, she will become the first cultivator in Banlan's history to achieve Dao Harmony.

Lu Ye, of course, wouldn't refuse, and flew with her towards the nearest ruin entrance.

Though he could freely travel to any corner of Banlan by virtue of being its master, that freedom was limited to himself and did not extend to others.

On the way, Lu Ye informed Zi Ying about the Dark Butterfly's departure and that Banlan had begun to drift again.

If Banlan had remained in one place, Zi Ying could have found somewhere nearby to cultivate in seclusion, but now that it was drifting again, she would need to keep following to avoid being left further behind.

This was easily managed—she just needed to find a piece of floating land and have it drift in the same direction and at the same speed as Banlan. Zi Ying could cultivate within the floating land.

In this way, she could always maintain a certain distance from Banlan and seek refuge inside Banlan if any danger arose.

"By the way, Sister Zi Ying, is it true that you can't enter the inner world from within Banlan?" Lu Ye suddenly remembered something.

"How did you know?" Zi Ying was surprised.

She had nothing much to do in recent days and had planned to explore the inner world. However, she found she couldn't enter it, not just her, but even Veterans Chen and Ho, who had previously entered the inner world, were unable to do so.

This made them realize that one couldn't enter the inner world from within Banlan.

"Because if you could enter the inner world, there wouldn't be no legends about the inner world in Banlan. Those who can enter the inner world through Dao Fusion would have long since left Banlan."

Using the inner world, one could escape the prison of Banlan; the restriction set by Jiu Ying inside Banlan couldn't have overlooked this.

When Lu Ye first learned of the mysteries of the inner world, he had been thinking about this. Upon reflection, this was the only explanation that made sense.

He was merely seeking Zi Ying's confirmation of his speculation now.

The two of them arrived at the entrance to the ruins and smoothly entered. Inside the great hall, Lu Ye made some arrangements so that even without his presence to activate it, Zi Ying could freely enter and exit the ruins.

Of course, this privilege was limited to her alone.

Just as Lu Ye was about to take Zi Ying away, he remembered something else, motioning, "Sister Zi Ying, follow me."

He then headed in the opposite direction.

Curious, Zi Ying followed along and soon stood outside a tightly closed door. Lu Ye pushed the door open and proceeded forward, stopping atop a Teleportation Array.

"Where does this lead?" Zi Ying asked.

The state of the ruins was something she had never thoroughly explored, as her visits were always fleeting. She genuinely had no idea there was a Teleportation Array here.

"To a medicinal garden!" Lu Ye chuckled. "It's something left behind by Banlan's previous owner; there's not much of value left, except one remaining Enlightenment Tea Tree."

"An Enlightenment Tea Tree!" Zi Ying's eyes lit up. Though she had never heard of such a tree, it must be something special if left by Banlan's former owner.

With the array activated, the two disappeared from view.

A moment later, they stood before a trembling tea tree.

Zi Ying turned to Lu Ye, silently asking with a glance, "What's going on?"

She could sense that the tea tree had developed spiritual intelligence and was undoubtedly capable of shape-changing. However, it was clearly afraid.

"She's very timid!" Lu Ye mouthed silently in reply.

Zi Ying almost laughed out loud.

Looking at the tea tree, Lu Ye hesitated. In terms of strength, the shape-changing power of this tea tree was formidable. It had once almost cost him dearly, yet being so timid was rather peculiar.

Without waiting for him to ask, the tea tree shuddered, and a dozen or so leaves fell.

Lu Ye quickly gathered them up, signaling Zi Ying to leave with him.

Only after they had left for quite some time did the tea tree twist and transform, taking human form. Its mouth drooped, looking aggrieved, as it produced a mirror from somewhere, inspecting the top of its head carefully.

A moment later, the mirror fell to the ground.

The tea tree's eyes were hollow, it hugged its knees, burying its head within them.

The slender shoulders shook, finally unable to hold back, it raised its head and wailed abruptly.

"These tea leaves have a remarkable effect; they can save some Dao force when polishing the Dao Bone. I believe they might be helpful for advancing to a higher realm. Sister Zi Ying, use them first. If they prove effective, we can get more later."

"Sure, I'll use them then." Zi Ying agreed.

They arrived at the exit and left together.

Leaving Banlan, Zi Ying realized, just as Lu Ye had said earlier, that Banlan had indeed continued to drift.

The two promptly found a piece of floating land nearby, using their powers to make it follow behind Banlan, maintaining the same speed and direction.

The floating land was large, and its interior was hollowed out. This way, Zi Ying could cultivate in secret within it, and if danger did arise, she could always infiltrate Banlan for safety.