If the Soul-Devouring Insect King were to mutate and break through here, it would inevitably affect Qi Zhiheng's tribulation.

Yang Yitian certainly couldn't let an accident happen, so he could only keep a close eye on these insects.

Qi Zhiheng has already undergone thirty-two lightning tribulations. Although the lightning was quite powerful, it has not gone too wrong so far under the protection of the formation. This world is too dangerous, and Qi Zhiheng dares not leave too much damage on himself, lest the violent spiritual energy take advantage of him later.

After the final lightning tribulation, the mountaintop, previously concealed by the hidden formation, had been leveled. Qi Zhiheng sat upright amidst a pile of rocks and debris, looking extremely disheveled.

The divine feedback arrived as expected; his injured body healed inch by inch, and he quickly recovered.

After recovering from his injuries, Qi Zhiheng did not immediately get up and go down the mountain to find Yang Yitian. Instead, he condensed the threads of rules, added the Primordial Purple Qi he had gained to them, and finally endowed them with the rules of spacetime.

This is his most urgent matter at the moment.

Yang Yitian, who was outside the formation, saw that the thunder and rain had stopped and immediately stood up. He paced back and forth outside the formation, wondering what was going on with Qi Zhiheng inside. He was quite anxious, but he didn't dare to go in and disturb him.

Qi Zhiheng spent a considerable amount of time working on the Line of Rules, while Yang Yitian waited outside for five days before entering the formation.

After entering the formation, he was finally able to confirm that the tribulation lightning had passed. He led a group of insects inside and saw Qi Zhiheng on the rocks. Qi Zhiheng was still creating the lines of rules, so Yang Yitian had to wait another half a month.

During this time, he was not idle. He checked all the formations he had set up. Except for the outermost hidden formation, all the other formations he had set up had lost their function under the lightning tribulation. The formation he used to filter spiritual energy also suffered the same fate.

The first thing Qi Zhiheng did upon waking up was to check his newly acquired abilities.

Within the bounds of the rules, he raised his hand, and a small black spatial rift appeared in the space. However, the rift did not last long and disappeared into the air.

Seeing this ability, Yang Yitian was somewhat envious: "With your ability, can you take us out?"

Qi Zhiheng smiled at Yang Yitian who was walking towards him: "Of course not. For now, I can only use this ability within the rules I control. Besides, the crack I can make is so small, how could anyone be stuffed into it?"

However, if used properly, this ability can kill without leaving a trace. Although his stomach is still small, it doesn't stop Qi Zhiheng from being satisfied with this ability.

After changing his clothes, Qi Zhiheng restored the mountain, which had been flattened by the lightning tribulation, to its original shape. Although the mountain would not be restored to its original state, at least it would not be noticeable to anyone that a mountain had disappeared.

Seeing that Qi Zhiheng was alright, Yang Yitian turned his attention to other things: "How's the effect of the talisman array I set up?"

Qi Zhiheng nodded in response: "Under the tribulation of lightning, your talisman array will take about three hours to activate. During this process, your body will be affected to some extent because the effects of the talisman are fighting against the violent factors. Being on the battlefield, you will inevitably suffer some injuries to your skin, but it will definitely not be more serious than the damage caused by the tribulation of lightning."

"How long can it last?" Yang Yitian asked again. If it could only last a day or two, he would be at a huge loss.

Qi Zhiheng reassured him: "Without absorbing a large amount, you can last at least eighteen days. That's enough time for a cultivator to survive until the tribulation is complete."

“But your tribulation took at least a month, which is still a bit short. I’ll go back and improve it.” Yang Yitian muttered to himself, taking out another stack of talismans.

Qi Zhiheng said, "I'm just making a conservative estimate. That spiritual energy can last quite a long time. Even with the lightning tribulation constantly striking, it can last until my tribulation ends. I absorbed the spiritual energy later because it would be a waste to keep it."

Yang Yitian nodded: "It seems I have to try it myself. The data you got here isn't very reliable."

"You want to try?" Qi Zhiheng picked at his ear, wondering if he had misheard.

Yang Yitian nodded and said, "Yes, I'm already at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, what's so difficult about breaking through?"

What's so difficult about it?

What's so difficult about it...?

Qi Zhiheng was infuriated by this nonchalant "What's so difficult about it?" It's true what they say, comparisons are the thief of joy!

"Let's go, let's try another mountain to break through." Accepting reality, Qi Zhiheng had no choice but to continue searching for a mountain that Yang Yitian could break through to.

After some exploration, the two decided on another mountain.

Qi Zhiheng said earnestly, "Actually, I still don't quite agree with you breaking through now. I only broke through not long ago, and I can't guarantee that if you continue to break through, it won't attract the attention of others."

"Really?" Yang Yitian looked at Qi Zhiheng with some skepticism. Actually, he didn't quite believe Qi Zhiheng, thinking that Qi Zhiheng just didn't want him to break through so quickly. The reason, of course, was that he didn't want Yang Yitian to surpass Qi Zhiheng so soon. Ha! Such a petty scheming!

In fact, Yang Yitian had always known that Qi Zhiheng had a bit of a male chauvinist streak, and that he considered being Qi Zhiheng's Daoist partner as an obligation.

Yang Yitian didn't really care about any of this, but he could tease him a bit at this moment.

Qi Zhiheng closed his eyes slightly, pretending not to have heard anything.

Yang Yitian was amused by his reaction and began to work on the formation to conceal the lightning tribulation.

As soon as the outer formation was set up, the Soul-Devouring Insect King hurriedly crawled inside, and the tribulation clouds slowly gathered in the sky.

Upon seeing this scene, Yang Yitian immediately cursed, "Holy crap!"

He had only just finished setting up the first layer when an insect beat him to it!

Qi Zhiheng pulled Yang Yitian away from the area that the lightning tribulation might affect.

When the two reached the foot of the mountain, Yang Yitian said indignantly, "Your insects have gone too far! Did you order them to attack?"

Qi Zhiheng genuinely felt wronged: "I really didn't. Although we can communicate in our minds, the content we talk about is definitely not this. It just consumed too much spiritual energy in this world and couldn't suppress it after suppressing it for too long."

If it cannot be suppressed, it will naturally have to endure the tribulation of lightning.

Since things had come to this, Yang Yitian didn't dwell on it any longer: "Since your bug has gone to break through, it should take a long time. I need to go into your space and take a look at how to extend the duration of the talisman."

Qi Zhiheng did not object to this. After putting Yang Yitian away, he began to meditate and cultivate.

After being tempered by the violent spiritual energy for a long time, the violent spiritual energy here can no longer have any effect on his body, whether it damages his meridians or tears his body apart.

In addition to being widened, Qi Zhiheng's meridians were also strengthened several times over, all thanks to the violent spiritual energy.

Once things have reached a certain point, he should shift his focus to the western region, where the spiritual energy is most abundant and intense.

Qi Zhiheng meditated for several days and finally consolidated his original cultivation level. When he opened his eyes, he was shocked by what he saw.

The spirit-devouring insects that had been sitting around him carried the spirit herbs to him like ants carrying food.

Qi Zhiheng's gaze turned to his contracted insect—the dog-headed strategist insect, Erhei.

Erhei noticed its master's gaze and looked up at Qi Zhiheng with a somewhat blank expression.

"What are you doing?" Qi Zhiheng looked at these silly insects carrying over the spiritual herbs and immediately realized that they lacked the ability to distinguish between them, mistaking these useless herbs for normal ones. After all, you can't tell the difference just by looking at them.

Erhei understood its master's meaning and took the initiative to lift a ten-thousand-year-old Blood Jade Lingzhi into Qi Zhiheng's hands.

Upon acquiring the Blood Jade Spirit Mushroom, Qi Zhiheng immediately noticed something amiss and blurted out, "This spirit herb doesn't contain any violent elements?"

Erhei explained in his mind: Yes, but they were eaten.

Qi Zhiheng asked in surprise, "You ate the violent factor inside?"

Erhei: It can temper the body.

Qi Zhiheng roughly understood what the signing of the Soul-Devouring Insect agreement meant. He had quite a few mutated Soul-Devouring Insects, but none of them had undergone the baptism of lightning tribulation. Precisely because of this, their survival rate after mutation was very high.

However, this also has its drawbacks, one of which is that their physical condition is not as strong as that of normal mutants.

Now is the best opportunity. The mutated spirit-devouring insects can devour the violent factors in spirit objects, and the violent factors can also help them temper their bodies.

Qi Zhiheng felt like he had struck gold!

He had been heartbroken because he could always see these spiritual herbs but never use them! He never imagined that the solution had always been right beside him, but he had overlooked it for so long.

Qi Zhiheng really wanted to pick up Erhei and give him a big kiss. But remembering that Erhei was a married man, he calmed down.

The most important thing now is to collect these medicinal herbs.

Erhei bargained, and half of the price had to be food for their spirit-devouring insects!

Qi Zhiheng suggested, "It's such a waste to just eat it all. Give me 30% of it, and I'll help you refine the pills."

Erhei immediately agreed! The effects of the elixir were far greater than those of consuming the medicinal herbs. Of course, it would agree!

Qi Zhiheng quickly packed up the spirit herbs that the spirit-devouring insects had brought and put them away safely.

The spirit-devouring insects, having lost their spiritual herbs, were about to scatter when Qi Zhiheng reminded them, "Don't pick the ones that are too young. Pick the older ones, like thousand-year-old or ten-thousand-year-old spiritual herbs. If you really can't find ten-thousand-year-old ones, then find the ones that are several thousand years old. If they are several hundred years old, then you can pick some that are close to a thousand years old."

I used to think it was a waste to have so many spiritual herbs, but now I don't have to worry about it at all.