Big Data Cultivation

Xia Nichang blushed slightly at Feng Jun’s words and couldn’t help but explain, "It’s not that I lack patience. The key point is that there are over thirty True Immortals and nearly a thousand Golden Core cultivators waiting for the Insect Race’s reaction. The pressure is a bit overwhelming for me."

Feng Jun understood this feeling very well — it’s like "wasting others’ time is tantamount to murder for gain." He still shook his head and spoke seriously, "Only with sufficient patience can a better eruption occur... The pre-determined strategy should not be changed lightly."

Xia Nichang’s words seemed prophetic; not even a day later, a squadron of the Insect Race flew over.

The Insect Race in the Folding Ruler Galaxy was relatively relaxed, but there was still vigilance. However, generally speaking, they only maintained alertness above the planet, rarely venturing deep into outer space.

This Insect Race squad belonged to absolute elite forces, with two Golden Core Insect Tribe members and five Dust Removal Insects, clearly heading straight in.

"Use the Plan B," the command was issued by the Yuangang Sect’s True Immortal.

The Plan B meant all cultivators, except the True Immortals, should withdraw, including those Dust Removal cultivators disguised as miners.

Other plans had options for creating conflict, but there was no need for that now; they would wait for the other side to discover them actively.

In reality, it wasn’t surprising that the Insect Race could detect anomalies in the stone from a distance. Energy Stone Mines naturally emitted a presence, and the cultivators had also designed a rotation for this stone, consistently releasing its presence towards the Insect Race’s star system direction.

The seven Insects truly came on orders, as a Nascent Soul Bug from the Insect Race sensed the abnormal presence. However, due to the distance, it couldn’t confirm if it was real, so it sent its underlings to investigate.

The Insect Race landed on the rock and easily found the mine shaft, which was hastily buried. This could only suggest that the Human Race’s small mining team didn’t want others to discover the Energy Stone Mine.

This situation wasn’t uncommon. Although Energy Stone Mines were controlled commodities within the Federation, there were always people who would take risks for wealth.

The seven insects conferred among themselves and then sent a signal. Approximately two days later, seven or eight more members of the Insect Race arrived — one Nascent Soul, one Dust Removal, and the rest all Golden Core Insect Tribe.

The Nascent Soul insect was a scorpion, and after observing the mine shaft, the base of its tail glowed with light.

A day and a half later, a Guolou Nascent Soul arrived, bringing ten Golden Core and seven or eight Dust Removal Insects.

Feng Jun observed and nodded secretly: As expected, this is the standard setup for the Insect Race when mining in outer space. The last sudden battle in the starry sky also involved this number.

Seeing him nod, a True Immortal from Xuanhuang used their divine sense to ask, "Can we attack now? Ensure not a single one escapes."

"We’ve waited so many days, and only two Nascent Souls showed up," Feng Jun couldn’t help but ask, "Do you think it’s worth it?"

His divine sense was spread out, so someone immediately replied, "I don’t think it’s worth it. Let’s keep a steady pace."

The response came from the Formation Path’s True Immortal, a short female cultivator who rarely spoke and appeared somewhat withdrawn.

Most people actually agreed it wasn’t worth it, so they waited silently.

The two Insect Race Nascent Souls were oddly interesting; they actually spent a day stopping the stone’s rotation, with the mine’s entrance precisely facing away from the star system direction. This meant those six insect-populated planets could no longer observe the mine shaft.

"They want to keep the spoils for themselves," many Human Cultivators secretly sighed.

Of course, they were just making a comment. Many in the Human Race did things this way, and the Insect Race, who relied more on instinctive behavior, was no exception.

After adjusting the mine shaft entrance, the Guolou Nascent Soul flapped its wings and left, while the scorpion Nascent Soul disappeared into a stone crevice.

The other insects fulfilled their roles: some handled vigilance, some focused on mining, while two insects laid in ambush, seemingly planning a stealth attack.

They entered a state of inactivity, making it convenient for the Human Race to deliberate. Everyone discussed how to handle these fish that had taken the bait.

Ultimately, the collective decision was to wait, because the Insect Race would soon send the harvested Energy Stones back.

Sure enough, two days later, the insects had mined almost four hundred thousand tons of Energy Stones. A Golden Core beetle with storage ability opened its shell, and other insects spewed out the collected stones, pouring them into its shell.

Then, the insects dispatched one Golden Core and five Dust Removal members; seven insects disguised as a patrol squad escorted the beetle to fly grandly towards the planet.

Two days later, another squad of ten insects arrived, some responsible for transporting and others began participating in the excavation.

It was time! All the cultivators made similar judgments. Thus, a True Immortal eliminated the two ambushing hidden posts, and then everyone struck simultaneously, ending the battle in an instant.

The most aggrieved was the scorpion Nascent Soul; it was idly hiding in a stone crevice. Yet, the Formation Path’s True Immortal had silently deployed a formation nearby, and a spell activated the formation, instantly capturing it.

Even in a Nascent Soul battle, no matter how disparate the combat strength, it’s impossible to capture the opponent so easily unless it was too arrogant, allowing the Formation Path’s True Immortal to set up the formation nearby. Thus, this result was predictable.

After defeating the Insect Race, someone disrupted the energy flow, and then everyone continued to hide.

Two days later, the squad that left last time returned. This time, there were nine bugs, including two storage beetles, but they were all in the Mundane Stage.

Obviously, they didn’t know their entire battalion had been annihilated. The bugs that should have returned last time still hadn’t returned.

Even worse, the True Immortal of the Way of Painting created an illusion with his art; the nine Insect Races were captured again without any defense.

"This is getting interesting," Ji Buseng said with a joyful smile, "Although the efficiency is a bit low... The other side is bound to react soon, right?"

The Guolou Nascent Soul was sure to react. Two days later, it came aggressively with a Bewitching Butterfly Nascent Soul and thirty Golden Core Insect Tribe members. It wanted to know whether the scorpions had embezzled and escaped, or if other insect race forces had intervened to seize its Energy Stone Mine.

Then, very unfortunately, it found nothing in front of the mine. In a fit of rage, it screamed, "Damn scorpion, when I catch you, I’ll eat you alive!"

It didn’t even consider the possibility of a Human Race attack, as there were no traces. How could it have been an attack? If other bugs were aware of this place, there would be countless clues from their conflict.

Also, if other bugs wanted to seize the mine, why weren’t any bugs digging for stones right now?

So, the scorpion was up to no good!

The Guolou Nascent Soul didn’t consider whether the Energy Stones were worth a Nascent Soul escaping. It simply said, "Continue excavation, stay sharp... Dig more mines to produce more, so we can hire more guards!"

It felt that the guard forces here were somewhat weak. However, there was no choice; with this production level, hiring a bunch of bugs as guards wouldn’t be worthwhile, so it decided to dig a few more mines and give it a try.

To prevent scorpions from returning, it and the Bewitching Butterfly could not leave.

Running a private mine is tiring, whether for the Human Race or Insect Race; you always have to guard against theft.

However, the two newly opened mines had barely been dug when suddenly the scene changed. The bugs found themselves in a forest with a subtle white mist, "Oh no, there’s an enemy!"

By now, it was a bit late to say this. The True Immortal of the Formation Path took action, easily controlling the bugs for a time.

She enveloped most of the bugs, but some insects were patrolling and on alert outside.

These bugs couldn’t withstand the focus fire from the Human Cultivators, but some bugs managed to make some disturbances, and when Guolou Nascent Soul arrived, it instructed a few bugs to pay attention here.

These bugs certainly noticed something was wrong, but the key issue was that on this planet, Guolou Nascent Soul and the scorpions were somewhat close, and even the Bewitching Butterfly wasn’t that close. Now, with incidents happening, these little underlings didn’t know whom to turn to for help.

Some small bugs had been placed under restrictions by the Guolou Nascent Soul. When Guolou Nascent Soul was killed, they gained freedom, so on that same night, several bugs fled.

However, bugs under restrictions usually had unique traits, and even if they escaped, they’d be enslaved by other Insect Races.

Therefore, some of the more savvy bugs ran to other Yuan Ying Old Ancestors, offered information about the Energy Stone Mine, seeking shelter, thus alerting two Nascent Soul Bug Races.

The Energy Stone Mine was too tempting for the Insect Race. The two Nascent Soul Bug Races gathered their friends and went there for investigation, nearly clashing when they met.

Fortunately, the two Nascent Souls had enough prestige to suppress their teams. A discussion ensued about how to mine there.

Especially with an unknown force that had dismantled the Guolou Nascent Soul and the scorpions, having such a potential enemy, how could the two factions fight?

As they were negotiating, the True Immortal of the Formation Path struck again, and a fight erupted.

This time, each Nascent Soul Bug Race invited two more Nascent Soul Bug Races, making it six Nascent Souls. There were nearly a hundred Golden Core Insect Tribes as well—they knew the Guolou Nascent Soul had already fallen, so how could they not prepare?

Such a large insect race was difficult to annihilate. Although during their negotiation the cultivators divided their targets, with the bugs spread out like that, instant extermination was essentially impossible.

So Xia Nichang stepped up with style, not targeting the Nascent Soul Bug Races but choosing two of the most peripheral Golden Core Insect Tribes instead, as some other True Immortal Nascent Souls did, aiming for a one-hit kill.

However, human plans couldn’t keep up with celestial changes. Some Insect Races indeed had special abilities, good at breaking paths and warning others.

After about ten seconds, the ambush was complete, and the combat waves erupted here spread outward.

Especially the Insect Races on the fifth planet, always monitoring their own Yuan Ying Old Ancestor’s situation, how could they not pay attention to such fierce battle eruptions?

In fact, Nascent Soul Bug Races on the fourth and sixth planets also faintly felt these waves.