"Ling~"

Han Ning leaned against Liu Zhiran’s side, closed his eyes, and mobilized the last vestiges of Spiritual Power in his mind, activating his Spiritual Surge Talent.

WHOOSH~

A wisp of green flame began to burn silently.

Over a hundred meters away.

Yin Yi, who was hovering in mid-air, suddenly glowed with a bright green light.

At that moment, its Body was covered in a dense web of cracks.

Wisps of silver-white light seeped from the fissures, preventing the wounds from healing.

At some point, the silver mantis opposite it had lost half its body.

Its lower half had vanished into thin air, exposing pale green organs that squirmed slowly in the open, enveloped by a silver glow.

Bolstered by the Spiritual Surge Talent, Yin Yi’s spirit rallied, and eighteen rapidly spinning Emerald Flower Thorns materialized before it.

The silver mantis seemed to sense something and crossed its silver-white forelimbs, which resembled gleaming longswords, in front of its body.

Two flashes of brilliant silver light erupted as it took the initiative, slashing down at Yin Yi!

It was like a master Swordsman with profound Sword Technique. Each swing unleashed a powerful, sharp wave of air, the aftershocks of which sliced any weak insects in the distance clean in two.

CHAK!

SWISH!

A silver streak shot through the air, shattering seven or eight Flower Thorns before it was blasted into a shower of light by the ones that followed.

Empowered by the Spiritual Surge, another ten Emerald Flower Thorns rained down upon the silver mantis.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

But no matter how sharp the silver mantis’s blades were, they could not withstand the immense destructive force of the enhanced Emerald Flower Thorns.

After struggling to destroy a full ten Flower Thorns, it could no longer endure the power of their Spiritual Energy explosions. A fine web of cracks spread across the surface of its silver blades.

Then...

With a loud CRACK, its pair of chillingly sharp forelimbs shattered.

A rapid series of explosions erupted from ahead.

BOOM!

An Emerald Flower Thorn rapidly filled the silver mantis’s vision.

A green light exploded.

A Silver-White Crystal Stone, wreathed in light, was deftly swept up into Yin Yi’s vines.

"Ling!"

Yin Yi didn’t linger for a moment. Its emerald-green leaves quivered rapidly as it shot toward the last surviving Insect-man, trailing the wisps of silver light that still clung to its body.

"Hiss~ Hissss!"

While Yin Yi was locked in fierce battle with the silver mantis, the Insect-man had seen that things were going badly. He had already commanded the rest of the swarm to envelop him and retreat toward the Blood-colored Grassland.

A look of terror and desperation crossed his face as he played his Insect Flute without pause, commanding the swarm around him to attack Yin Yi.

But Yin Yi was completely fearless. Any insect that flew before it was instantly pulverized into a bloody mist by the Emerald Flower Thorns orbiting its body.

The distance between them closed rapidly.

"Ling!"

Yin Yi let out a sharp cry. With a flick of its Vine Whips, two Emerald Flower Thorns shot forward with terrifying power, piercing through a large swarm of insects blocking the way.

They flew right up behind the frantically fleeing Insect-man before a brilliant light bloomed.

BOOM!

Han Ning watched the firework of flesh and blood bloom in the distance, then looked away, unable to stop himself from bending over and gasping for breath.

’Whew... Not a single drop left.’

His vision was starting to go dark in waves, and a constant buzzing of insects rang in his ears.

He tried to communicate with Yin Yi using his Spiritual Power but found he didn’t even have enough left for that. Left with no choice, he could only shout to the approaching Yin Yi:

"Yin Yi, clean up the rest of the swarm, then go back into the forest and help Tianhe and the others."

"Ling~"

Hearing this, Yin Yi nodded and turned to start clearing out the other fleeing swarms.

Without the influence of the Insect Flute, they had completely lost their will to fight and fell into disarray, scattering in every direction.

"Han Ning, are you alright?" Liu Zhiran reached out and steadied the swaying Han Ning.

"Whew... Let me rest for a bit. I’m not gonna die, just exhausted too much Spiritual Power. You’ll understand once your own Spiritual Power gets stronger."

With Yin Yi’s help, dealing with the remaining swarm shouldn’t be difficult.

Han Ning leaned directly against a tree trunk and sat down, closing his eyes to quietly recover his energy. Liu Zhiran stood beside him, diligently protecting him.

"Jiji!"

Just then, Egg Pancake and Silver Lotus Wood ran up to Han Ning, pushing three large mud balls.

"Egg Pancake, I have a mission for you. Keep a close watch on these three people. Don’t let them escape," Han Ning said weakly, his eyes barely open a crack.

"Ji!"

Egg Pancake nodded emphatically. It dug its claws into the ground, its body tensed, and stared intently at the three nearly two-meter-tall mud balls before it.

...

「Half an hour later.」

With Yin Yi’s help, everyone had managed to annihilate all the insects inside and outside the forest, except for a swarm of small black flying bugs.

As for this swarm of small black bugs, which Spiritual Energy couldn’t affect, they had been encased in layers of mud by Egg Pancake and were temporarily unable to cause any trouble.

Han Ning had rested for half an hour and felt a bit better. As long as he didn’t use his Spiritual Power, basic movement was no problem.

Over 200 teachers and students, along with Silver Lotus Wood, moved through the forest, collecting the corpses of the dead insects.

The slightly stronger insects had formed Crystal Stones of various sizes inside their bodies.

Even the weaker ones were a good source of Energy. In the words of his pre-transmigration world, they were packed with protein.

Even if the humans didn’t eat them, they were a high-quality supplement for Silver Lotus Wood or other Soul Beasts.

「In the pitch-black forest.」

"Ah Chen, how’s your Heavy-Armored Tree Spirit doing?" Han Ning, having just recovered some of his strength, walked over to Luo Chen and asked with concern as he looked at the Heavy-Armored Tree Spirit, which was enveloped in green light.

At that moment, Yin Yi had extended over a dozen vines, which were attached to the Heavy-Armored Tree Spirit’s body, helping it repair the wounds left by the blade attacks.