The quality of the Silver Moon Grass and Sun-Kissing Fruit Trees began to rapidly improve, soaring from Rank Four to Rank Five, then to Rank Six, all the way up to Rank Nine.
Once a spirit plant evolved to Rank Nine, if Yang Hong happened to notice it, he would promptly store it within the scale space on the back of his hand.
*Crack~*
A loud, resonant crack echoed, jolting Yang Hong from his spellcasting.
"A pity, it shattered so quickly."
Sighing with slight regret, Yang Hong swiftly collected the Rank Nine and Rank Eight Silver Moon Grass and Sun-Kissing Fruit Trees. He didn't even dare to venture far before retreating rapidly, vanishing from the secret realm.
*Crackling~ Crackling~*
As Yang Hong disappeared, the entire secret realm began to collapse at an accelerated pace. Within mere breaths, the entire realm shattered, torn apart by spatial storms.
*Thud~*
The moment Yang Hong exited the secret realm and regained his footing, before he could even catch his breath, the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground startled him, causing him to leap forward.
After flying for a hundred miles and confirming that no spatial rifts or turbulent currents had appeared, he flew back to the exit.
"Huh! Such good fortune, to have produced a World-Breaking Stone!"
Yang Hong exclaimed, flashing forward and scooping up a silver-gray crystal the size of his fist.
"I'm truly lucky to have obtained a World-Breaking Stone on my first attempt at destroying a secret realm space. This is a treasure with only a one percent chance of formation."
In the cultivation world, the most precious spatial treasures were not the Rank Eight or Rank Nine Profound Void Crystals, but rather World-Breaking Stones.
Profound Void Crystals could be mined in places with spatial turbulence or chaotic spatial energies. Though scarce, they could be continuously extracted.
However, World-Breaking Stones had only one origin: the destruction, even the annihilation, of a secret realm space, and even then, the chance of formation was only one percent.
Often, it took tens of thousands of years for a single World-Breaking Stone to form.
The primary function of a World-Breaking Stone was to escape various sealed spaces!
Back when he was sealed within Puji Bodhisattva's sealed space, if he had possessed a World-Breaking Stone, even a Rank One World-Breaking Stone, he might have been able to escape that sealed space!
This was the wonder and power of a World-Breaking Stone!
"Alas, this World-Breaking Stone appeared a bit too late. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been so much unexpected trouble and sorrow."
Muttering to himself, Yang Hong inspected the World-Breaking Stone in his hand. It was only a Rank Five.
Yet, even a Rank Five World-Breaking Stone was capable of easily escaping large spaces up to ten thousand miles in area. For colossal spaces exceeding ten thousand miles, it offered a significant chance of escape if completely burned.
It was an ultimate life-saving treasure for exploring secret realms.
"Right~ I almost forgot the main business!"
Pushing aside his joy, Yang Hong unleashed his divine sense to its fullest, extending it downwards into the ground.
As expected, three miles beneath the shattered Kunwu statue, which stood at a height of three hundred zhang, lay a massive natural cavern. Multiple formations were currently in operation.
Around the cavern, eighty-one blood pools were distributed. Countless Gold-Devouring Ants swarmed out from all directions, tossing the corpses of various creatures into the blood pools. In the blink of an eye, these creatures were dissolved into bloody water.
Even massive creatures hundreds of zhang long would be completely dissolved within thirty breaths by a blood pool only thirty zhang wide, before even fully entering it.
"Hiss~ The Blood Demon Sect's Nine Nether Blood Dissolving Pool is truly terrifying. Even a Mahayana Realm cultivator at Rank Nine would likely turn into bloody water if thrown in?"
Upon seeing the eighty-one blood pools, Yang Hong immediately abandoned his idea of directly tunneling in.
Although the entire underground cave was now devoid of people, the formations were still active. If he wasn't careful, even with his powerful cultivation and robust physique, he would be turned into bloody water!
In the center of the eighty-one blood pools were channels crafted from special materials. The blood water refined by the Nine Nether Blood Dissolving Pool was used as ink to draw demonic formations on the cave floor.
At the heart of the formations was a colossal queen ant, hundreds of zhang tall and nearly a thousand zhang long.
The entire underground cavern was dedicated to nurturing and demonizing this queen ant.
Typical queen ants resembled plump caterpillars. This queen ant, however, had transformed into a demonic dragon covered in ferocious bone spurs!
Yang Hong once again scanned the entire cave meticulously with his divine sense, confirming the absence of any demonic cultivators. He then probed the queen ant, which was already exuding Rank Nine aura, and ascertained that no Nascent Soul demonic cultivator had entered. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.
"It seems the demonic cultivators who were overseeing the formations here were scared away. My act of destroying the Heart Demon Sect's secret realm was the right move!"
From Ziyi's memories, Yang Hong knew that the Heart Demon Sect had two Rank Nine Supreme Elders. One guarded the secret realm, and the other was in the underground cavern responsible for modifying the Gold-Devouring Ants.
If it were anyone else, they would have likely destroyed the ant modification facility underground before seeking the secret realm entrance.
However, Yang Hong, having read Ziyi's memories, knew that this underground cave was a laboratory jointly constructed by the Corpse Demon Sect, Bone Demon Sect, Blood Demon Sect, and Heart Demon Sect.
Even Ziyi of the Heart Demon Sect was unaware of the formations and traps within. It was possible that even she, upon merging with the queen ant, could have died here, dissolved into bloody water.
Therefore, Yang Hong acted counter-intuitively, creating a diversion.
If the demonic cultivators in the underground cave discovered a secret realm had been compromised, they would undoubtedly flee in terror without daring to linger.
Even if some returned to reinforce the secret realm, they would be trapped and killed by the formations he had prepared!
"Heh heh~ If it were Immortal or Buddhist cultivators, they might have left a few to hold the line. But for demonic cultivators, selfishness is etched into their very genes. The moment they sense something is amiss, they bolt faster than rabbits."
After repeatedly confirming the absence of demonic cultivators in the underground cave, Yang Hong still did not venture deeper. He simply used his Earth Evasion technique to reach a layer of soil one mile above the cave and stopped.
"Divine Sense Sword, Slash!"
Carefully calculating the position, Yang Hong used eighty percent of his divine sense to execute a Divine Sense Sword strike.
"Roar~ Grr~"
The massive queen ant, subjected to a sudden attack, emitted strange roars, a cacophony of dragon, elephant, and wolf-like sounds that were jarring and sharp.
Even Yang Hong, who had been mentally prepared, felt his head spin and quickly employed a sound-isolating spell to block the noise.
However, a chaotic and violent surge of divine sense swept towards him.
But against Yang Hong, this divine sense attack was like a trickle against a boulder, unable to cause even a ripple.
Hiss~ Hiss~ Hiss~
Almost instantly, countless Gold-Devouring Ants were summoned. The minuscule ant noises converged, forming a deafening roar.
Seeing this, Yang Hong's eyes brightened, and he unleashed another Divine Sense Sword.
Roar~ Grr~
The queen ant's roar intensified, and the divine sense fluctuations it emitted became even more chaotic.
Yang Hong observed nearby Gold-Devouring Ants, their twelve legs digging furiously, abandoning their established tunnels to charge directly towards the underground cave.
"Haha~ It's just as I thought! The Gold-Devouring Ants are commanded by divine sense, and there's also a communication method, faster and further than divine sense, like pheromones."
Noticing that many worker ants were heedlessly stepping into the blood pools and being dissolved, Yang Hong's plan became even more refined.
He first used Earth Evasion to reach the surface, clearing the path for the approaching Gold-Devouring Ants, allowing them to rapidly excavate the entire underground cave.
"Trying to escape? Did you ask me first?"
As the worker ants dug, Yang Hong detected the queen ant rapidly undergoing metamorphosis. It was slowly shrinking, and twelve pairs of wings began to appear on its sides.
He remained on the surface, continuously unleashing Divine Sense Sword strikes!
What began as broad slashes transformed into surgical incisions, slicing apart the queen ant's immense divine soul piece by piece.
The Gold-Devouring Ant swarm descended into complete chaos. Some engaged in infighting, others rampaged and destroyed the terrain, and some even attacked the queen ant.
Rumble~ Rumble~
The forbidden formations within the underground cave were triggered one by one, unleashing terrifying magical fluctuations.
Yang Hong's objective had been achieved!
The modified Gold-Devouring Ants were difficult for ordinary cultivators to kill, but the demonic cultivators who modified them had methods and had prepared formations to prevent such scenarios.
As the formations were extensively triggered, Yang Hong decisively retreated a thousand miles, observing from a distance with his divine sense.
"If nothing unexpected happens, the Gold-Devouring Ant plague in the Li Huo Desert should be resolved."
Watching the flashes of bloody light erupt in the distance, Yang Hong smiled with relief.