Chapter 584 - 388: Sun and Moon High Above: The Slaughter

’I can’t get any closer. The resonance field from that massive fragment is too strong. If I continue, I’ll definitely wake all the Soul-Devouring Insects.’

A few Soul-Devouring Insects seemed to sense something, and their flight paths suddenly became erratic.

They turned, their compound eyes "staring" directly in Ian’s direction.

But in his Crescent Form, Ian existed in the rift between reality and the Dream Realm. The Soul-Devouring Insects couldn’t truly perceive him; they could only instinctively feel that "something was nearby."

Ian observed the Soul-Devouring Insects for a full hour.

He recorded their behavioral patterns, the frequency of their soul ripples, and their connection to the Nest’s consciousness.

Then, he made a bold decision: while in his Crescent Form, he would proactively "touch" a Soul-Devouring Insect’s soul.

Ian reached out a finger and gently touched the Soul-Devouring Insect’s soul core.

The insect he touched grew more frantic, its soul fluctuations spreading rapidly, but it still didn’t discover anything unusual.

The moment his finger made contact, Ian saw something of the Soul-Devouring Insects’ true nature.

Embedded within their soul structure were countless tiny Cosmic Subconscious Fragments, which formed a strange resonant frequency between them.

This frequency allowed them to remain hidden from the World Will’s Perception, bypass spiritual barriers, and infiltrate the depths of a target’s soul.

Ian also saw something even more important: the Soul-Devouring Insects’ base directive.

The Soul-Devouring Insects weren’t designed to kill people; they were designed to "reclaim" the subconscious fragments scattered across the Esok World.

Carlisle and Theran had died because their souls bore the mark of an outsider. The Soul-Devouring Insects perceived this, and the Nest ordered their elimination.

’Time to begin.’

Ian took a deep breath. In his Sea of Spirit, the Sun and Moon Dual Core began to spin at high speed.

The Powers of the Silver-White Dream Core and the Golden-Red Sun Core intertwined and resonated on an unprecedented scale, causing the sun and moon within his dual Domain to descend...

BOOM!!!

The rock layers above the entire spiral Nest were forcibly torn apart by a formless, immense force. A great golden-red sun and a blood-red crescent moon pierced directly through several thousand meters of rock, descending above the Nest’s core.

The great sun’s light surged downward like a coronal ejection, while the blood moon’s whispers swept over souls like a tide.

Over two thousand Soul-Devouring Insects awoke almost simultaneously, their compound eyes flaring with a terrified, baleful light.

They tried to beat their wings and scatter, tried to dive into the mists of Spiritual Energy, tried to launch a Soul Shock...

But it was all too late.

The Coronal Storm had already engulfed the entire core region.

On a physical level, the extreme heat vaporized their shells and flesh. On a spiritual level, the blood moon’s whispers tore apart their conscious structures.

This dual destruction of body and mind gave these soul-eating monsters their first taste of complete Annihilation.

HISS...

Silent soul-screams echoed within the cavern, but they were sealed tight by the Domain.

One by one, the Soul-Devouring Insects melted and dissipated, not even leaving Ashes behind.

The one-meter-diameter golden crystal trembled violently, its surface covered in countless cracks, but it did not shatter.

Ian raised his hand and made a grasping motion. Gravity formed an invisible hand, forcibly stripping the crystal from its resonance field and pulling it into his palm.

The moment the crystal touched his hand, a flood of information about the Rules, as vast as a Star Sea, poured into his consciousness.

The panel vibrated violently, and the golden text at the edge of his vision began to refresh frantically...

[Acquired High-Purity Cosmic Subconscious Fragment (Small). Analyzing...]

[Estimated completion progress for Ten Thousand Realms Projection Descent Technique: 50%]

’What a treasure!’ A glint flashed in Ian’s eyes.

The information about the Rules contained within this fragment far surpassed all his previous gains combined.

If he could fully absorb it, the dimensional concealment and cross-world communication abilities of his Ten Thousand Realms Projection Descent Technique would undergo a qualitative change.

He put away the crystal and was about to turn and leave when his Perception caught a trace of an abnormal Spiritual Energy fluctuation at its very edge.

It wasn’t a lucky survivor from the Insect Race, nor was it a Soul-Devouring Insect. It was an unfamiliar Summoner.

Ian’s figure flashed, and he appeared at the edge of the ice field.

The wind and snow howled. A lone figure stood a hundred meters away—a female Summoner.

She wore form-fitting Dark Silver armor under a tattered, dark gray cloak. Her face was hidden in the shadow of her hood, revealing only well-defined... Tentacles.

Her Spiritual Energy fluctuations were obscure yet powerful, having shockingly reached Level Four Peak.

At this moment, however, she showed no hostility, only deep exhaustion and reverence, along with a hint of pleading.

She raised her head, and her hood slipped back, revealing a face similar to those of the Essoke People. But embedded in the center of her forehead was a vertical Dark Gold pupil, a nebula-like glimmer swirling in its depths.

"Greetings, powerful one from the Otherworld." Her voice was hoarse yet clear, and she spoke in perfect Tua Language—the common tongue of the Wizard Civilization.

Ian’s gaze hardened slightly. ’She knows the Tua Language and has clearly been observing me for a long time.’

"Aren’t you afraid of death? How dare you appear before me? And besides, the Nest’s will is about to arrive."

"My name is Izera, Chief Elder of the Esok Summoner Council," the female Summoner said slowly.

"This place is special. It’s also the most difficult place for the Nest’s will to reach."

’The Council’s chief?’ Ian recalled the information he had gathered from those memories earlier.

The Summoner Council was led by seven Level Four Peak Core Elders, scattered across hidden locations throughout the world, leading the survivors in their resistance against the Insect Race.

’I never expected the Council’s chief to show herself, especially at a time like this.’

"What do you want?" Ian’s tone was calm, but the Rules around him swirled faintly, ready to unleash a thunderous strike at any moment.

Izera didn’t flinch. Instead, she took a step forward, her vertical Dark Gold pupil looking directly at Ian.

"I want to make a deal with you." Her voice carried a heavy, resolute finality.

"I will trade a piece of vital information for you... to spare the innocent Esok civilians."

Ian’s eyes glinted, and then he gave a cold laugh.

"The Essoke People can hardly be called innocent. The worlds you destroyed are the innocent ones."

Images flashed through his mind—horrifying scenes of souls being sacrificed and devoured by Summoners.

A bitter smile touched the corners of Izera’s lips.

"I know of the Summoners’ past sins. But the civilians, the children, the ordinary people who have never left this world—they shouldn’t have to pay the price of extinction for the Elder Council’s mistakes."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"The Insect Race devours the world, and you harvest the Insect Race. That should have been a good thing for us. But the range of your Domain is too vast. If you continue, the remaining survivor outposts will also be caught in the blast and annihilated."

Ian’s expression was indifferent. "What information could you possibly have that’s worth me stopping?"

Izera took a deep breath, and the light in her vertical Dark Gold pupil suddenly flared.

"The World Will... is about to awaken," she said slowly.

"But this time, it seems another, even more twisted and insane Will is awakening along with it."

She looked up at the massive, pale purple Rift in the sky.

"I can take you to the Heart of the World. There, you can see the truth."

’He could get to the Heart of the World on his own. It was her mention of another, insane Will that made him wary.’

Ian frowned slightly and began to think.

In the memories he’d acquired, the area leading to the Heart of the World was completely sealed off by dense Abyssal Mist, which not even the Insect Race’s Nest or the Summoner Council dared to enter.

If what Izera said was true—that the World Will was about to awaken along with another, twisted Will—then the situation would become far more complicated.

It likely meant that the endgame for the Esok World would far exceed anyone’s expectations.

Ian’s thoughts raced as he weighed the pros and cons. Finally, he gave a slow nod.

"Lead the way. But if you try anything..."

The killing intent in his unfinished sentence made the surrounding wind and snow seem to freeze for a moment.

Izera let out a breath of relief and turned toward the depths of the ice field.

"Follow me. The entrance to the Heart of the World is just under the ice field nearby..."

Before her words had even faded, a sudden change occurred!

RUMBLE!!!

The Earth began to tremble violently without any warning!

A fluctuation far more ancient, more chaotic, and more insane than the Nest’s will erupted from deep within the planet’s crust, spreading out from the direction of the Heart of the World!

The very ground of the Esok World began to shake, and countless bottomless chasms split open across the ice field.

The dark red clouds in the sky were churned apart by an unseen force, revealing a silvery-white fissure.

This fissure was not damage to the physical world, but a tear on a dimensional level.

The World Will had awakened!