The Seven Mysteries Gate had missed something the past half year. They had known that maintaining a connection with the people outside the mountain range was still important, and Miao Mei was their designated liaison. But she had returned half a year ago to focus on her cultivation for a breakthrough. With no other Elder up to the task, they had missed the recent news.

  Lu Qingshan suspected something big must’ve happened. He ordered his sect to perform a careful and hidden search of the landmarks nearby. Sure enough, they discovered many other groups wandering around.

  The sudden influx of martial explorers immediately made him suspect they had discovered the special feeling of the spiritual land. What made his guess more certain were the various insights he observed from both Li Fanghua and Qin Ye’s cultivation. They greatly preferred to go deep inside the spiritual land and had come to him for help on some occasions. Enough time had passed to allow expert cultivators to arrive in the area, and they would surely be able to discover something was special here.

  Lu Qingshan felt that the city would have crouching tigers and hidden dragons too. Sending Miao Mei back to gather information didn’t seem to be the best idea. Either he stepped in personally or they abandoned the city for now.

  Lu Qingshan was more inclined to defend his current territory. He didn't want to lose another piece of sect ground like last time. His gaze fell to Li Fanghua’s house. Perhaps the demonic cultivator’s jade would give him a surprise.

  He returned to grinding the Blood Pulse Technique, keeping track of the overall situation. More and more powerful experts appeared over time. A week later, Li Fanghua rushed to him in excitement, booklet in hand. She took the spirit stone from his hand and left him to his own devices.

  The demonic cultivator's technique was just what he needed at this time. Insect Harmony Mantra. Upon seeing these words, Lu Qingshan immediately stopped practicing Blood Pulse and ingrained the new technique into his mind.

  The book was written from the perspective of an Embryonic Breathing realm cultivator, but the spell could be useful in the Qi Refinement realm as well. It apparently required their internal qi to perform. But Lu Qingshan disagreed.

  As long as the spell was registered on the stone slab, many things could change. His successful practice of the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique had already hinted at this possibility. Even when not performing the technique in the way the manual described, he could grind for experience, and Lu Qingshan knew the power he could unleash with it was steadily growing.

  So he sat down with a source of confidence and began reciting the mantras written in the text. They were odd, unfamiliar, seemingly resembling the clicks and hisses of insects instead of human speech. Lu Qingshan's persistence was rewarded once his rhythm and tempo perfectly aligned with what was written.

  Knowledge filled his mind, and suddenly, the mantra no longer felt weird to recite. Instead, it was as if he was a natural at making insect noises. Lu Qingshan knew that if he had a cultivator’s internal qi, he would be able to manipulate insects to do his bidding. But since he didn’t, he could only keep chanting the same words to raise his proficiency.

  Two months passed like that. Lu Qingshan usually stayed cooped up in his room, chanting the mantra to raise his proficiency. He occasionally went outside to check everything was fine with the bears and his sect.

  Once the mantra hit level two, Lu Qingshan went over to the swarm of insects guarding the medicinal field and began reciting the mantra right in front of them. His words seemed to cause the insects to flutter their wings, but didn’t appear to have much of an effect. Still, it was worth it to sit here and practice.

  Another month flew by in a flash. Lu Qingshan looked at the proficiency and smiled.

  Insect Harmony Mantra (Level 2, 3259/10000)

  He could grind for experience anytime he wanted, simply by speaking. It was admittedly faster to do it in front of this swarm of insects, which he had finally found out was made up of flies. They were a species of flies incredibly voracious for any type of meat.

  The Insect Harmony Mantra could attract a few stray flies over to him if he stood there chanting long enough. These were the ones going for food, away from the rest of the swarm, and his speech would prevent the flies from attacking his flesh. Instead, they simply landed on his skin, tickling it. Each fly was pretty large - one of them almost reached the size of his knuckle.

  Once Lu Qingshan stopped his recital, some of them bit down, while others flew away. He registered their average power as one of Flesh Tempering — horrifying considering their size. A cluster of bugs could tear open his enhanced skin and cause him to bleed. If the swarm latched onto him, even the Stoneskin Technique at its limit would not help. He called them Bloodseeker Flies.

  Something came up when he was on a routine inspection of his sect. It was the White Jade Sect, who had finally managed to calm down their territory, albeit with a few losses from the Seven Mysteries Gate's prime. They too had sent warriors to explore the mountain ranges, and were recruiting more from the outside world.

  Miao Mei's report came at an opportune time. While it wasn't like Lu Qingshan could stop every martial artist, he could definitely use this opportunity to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys. Losing an entire group of Bone Tempering experts meant a raise in the bare minimum level to explore the mountain ranges, reducing the chance that one of these people would stumble across the spiritual land.

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  Lu Qingshan made his plans known to his sect Elders and they agreed. Disciples were sent to watch every move made by their enemies. Their old camp was used as their primary observation post, while he returned to gaining control over the fly swarm as quickly as possible. His proficiency climbed rapidly the more flies he attracted over to his body.

  The White Jade Sect finally made a move after another month, and Lu Qingshan had three weeks left to go before hitting the next level of the Insect Harmony Mantra. He sighed. At least the personnel they recruited weren't too much for them to handle, though he definitely preferred to have reinforcements.

  Twenty Bone Tempering martial artists, four Marrow Tempering, and dozens of Flesh Tempering treasure seekers were their enemies. Lu Qingshan alone could hold them off, but he couldn't prevent them from running away. Fortunately, his Elders had already come up with an attack plan.

  Liu Yingting had concocted a new series of poisonous gas after hearing about their plight. A few of the herbs discovered in the spiritual land contained poisonous fumes amplified by some of his previous theories. The man had become much happier in the past few months, having gained the chance to show off his prowess.

  A few additional surprises made the impending battle much easier. Li Fanghua had learned a spell recorded in the Lesser Qi Sensing Technique, and Qin Ye had also managed to reach Mind Purification with a few spells of his own. The genius looked eager to contribute.

  Dong Qianyu was the first to reach Marrow Tempering, thanks to his weapon refining services over the years. Few pieces of monster beasts were wasted due to his diligent efforts. He would be supported by Miao Mei and Wu Ruoling as the vanguard.

  Another disciple had also reached Bone Tempering as well during the past few months. And Lu Qingshan had the bears he could employ as well. The little cubs had the combat power of peak Bone Tempering experts, and the mother bear matched a peak Viscera Tempering stage. They were slow, though, meaning he would need to think about where to place them. He left this task to Li Fanghua.

  The sect became very busy in the next few days. Lu Qingshan waited patiently near their old camp for the arrival of their enemies. Insect noises were constantly coming out of his mouth, stirring up a few stray centipedes, flies, and ants in the forest. Most of his disciples had backed off, looking at him weirdly.

  They heard their enemies before they saw them. A signal fire burned bright in the sky, and Lu Qingshan leaped into motion. He soared into the trees and zigzagged into the heart of the enemy force.

  Vials of poisonous gas fell onto the ground at lightning speeds, shattering. With a thunderous roar, Lu Qingshan began a massacre.

  Seven steps took down seven martial artists. No matter their realm, anybody in front of Lu Qingshan's attack died, without exception. At the beginning, the Marrow Tempering experts were still shouting to fight back, but there was only the sound of wailing and panicked running a few breaths later.

  His disciples rushed to the fray after Lu Qingshan had butchered two Marrow Tempering experts. Another burst of seven steps brought down another seven bold martial artists, and the rest ran for their lives. The Seven Mysteries Gate worked to cut off the paths of retreat.

  Qin Ye appeared high in the sky standing on a tree branch. The words on his lips slowed down to a hum, and a burning fireball fell onto a group of Flesh Tempering martial artists led by a peak Bone Tempering master. Only ashes remained once he disappeared.

  Behind the White Jade Sect, Li Fanghua emerged with the bear family. Her first spell broke the neck of a Bone Tempering expert. Her second crushed the knee of another, and her third tore off the ear of the last. The bears rushed in and cut off the screams of the rest.

  Lu Qingshan swept the last Marrow Tempering expert off his feet and continued to chant the Insect Harmony Mantra. Swarms of insects rose from the forest to cover the man underneath their dark bodies. A single Bloodseeker Fly he had brought from the swarm descended onto his face, drowning out his screams.

  He chased after the largest group of experts who had escaped. A few flashes of seven steps later, and there was no one left alive. Lu Qingshan continued to have the insects devour their corpses in the area. He knew this would definitely enrage half the sects in the province if they found out who was behind the deaths of their disciples. But with enough strength, they wouldn't dare to retaliate.

  Soon his disciples returned with word of their success. A few of the escapees had put up a good fight, inflicting injuries, but the Seven Mysteries Gate was eager to participate in this battle. It was easier than fighting monster beasts and still provided that life and death feeling.

  The Elders reconvened for another meeting because it was clear the enemy wouldn't stop with just one wave of experts. They expected a few Viscera Tempering martial artists to lead the next time. Lu Qingshan had also taught them about the Aperture Tempering stage, so they could come up with plans against such an expert.

  Most of the Seven Mysteries Gate was looking at him weirdly since Lu Qingshan never stopped chanting the Insect Harmony Mantra if he could help it. So he decided to step away from the planning. His input didn’t have much of an effect on the overall situation now that they knew everyone’s capabilities. He trusted his Elders for the task.

  Lu Qingshan thanked the bears for their help and began another session of chanting at the Bloodseeker Fly swarm. The battle had propelled his understanding of the mantra to another small level. His current proficiency now enabled him to keep a small group of flies buzzing around his hand. He could bring two pieces of flesh, and control the flies from eating one of them.

  He couldn’t prevent their hunger entirely though, until about a month later when he accumulated experience to break through to level three. Now he could place an entire feast before the flies and they wouldn’t eat it. In total, the mantra affected a cluster of a hundred Bloodseeker Flies at a time.

  But only ten of them continued to follow his previous instructions once he stopped chanting the mantra. The rest scattered to go back to what they were doing after a brief period of confusion. This was still huge progress though.

  Lu Qingshan could now walk straight into the medicinal field and none of them would attack. If he went to harvest an herb, the flies currently feeding on it would fly away to another. He didn’t even have to chant the mantra to gain this benefit.

  Lu Qingshan used the time to harvest as many medicinal plants as possible before he had to return to the sect. He gathered a pile and sent them to Wu Ruoling and Liu Yingting for processing. But before he left, Liu Yingting stopped him.

  "Something needs your attention," he said. "There's been a change in the area we mentioned to you a few months back. The spiritual land there is gradually moving."