“Surely it’s not that outrageous.” Chen Feng found it hard to believe. 

“Not at all. Our bug race’s summoning technique is very unique. It is a power of the soul. Every Divine Bug created is under the control of the female bug. The power of the soul. It is a power that transcends the boundaries of space-time. This power cannot be obstructed by objects or energy. It is inexhaustible, capable of existing forever,” the female bug explained. 

Chen Feng nodded. 

“Do all female bugs have this summoning technique?” Chen Feng asked again. 

“Theoretically speaking, yes. However, while it is called a summoning technique, it is actually just a soul link between the female bug and the bugs it created. Naturally, while the bugs that are faraway could instantly receive this summon, they would still need some time to make it back,” the female bug said. 

“So, what’s going on here?” Chen Feng asked. 

“It is probably an evolution,” the female bug said. 

“Evolution? You mean the Slaughterer Bug Empress is about to evolve?”

“According to my analysis, that is how it is. During this evolution process, the female bug would grow weak. So, it would summon all of its brood back to defend it. If there is a battle, the female bug would not summon the bugs that are far away. Those bugs won’t be able to return in time,” the female bug said. 

“A period of weakness. However, it caused such a large stir. Wouldn’t this attract some enemies over?” Chen Feng grew curious. 

“Firstly, when compared to the vast universe, even a trillion Slaughterers moving together would not appear particularly striking to anyone but those from the bug race. For the other races, even if they were to encounter this, they would not know what is going on. Additionally, with so many bugs defending it, even True Monarchs would have a hard time breaking in.”

Chen Feng patted his head. That was true. When he heard that the Bug Empress would become weak for a time, some plans had begun forming within his mind. However, looking at the hundreds of billions of Slaughterers before him, he knew just how unattainable his plans were. 

“Young Master, what should we do?” the Starlight Overlord Beast said. 

“Since we’re already here, if we fail to get something, we’d be losing out.” Chen Feng smiled and briefly informed the Starlight Overlord Beast about the speculation that the Ancient Divine Bug informed him. As expected, hearing that left the Starlight Overlord Beast gaping. At the same time, however, he also felt somewhat excited. 

“If that’s true, doesn’t this present us with a good opportunity? If we can capture the Bug Empress while it is weak, wouldn’t we be able to gain control over a formidable army of Slaughterers?” the Starlight Overlord Beast said excitedly.

“You think so too? Still, look at the Slaughterers before us. Their number is already close to 200 billion. Just their True Immortals and Heavenly Immortals are enough to flood us to death, but they also have a high number of Gold Immortals. For a Paramount Gold Immortal, creating these Ageless Gold Immortals is an easy thing,” Chen Feng said. 

“But this is an opportunity that would only appear once in a thousand, no, in a hundred million years. It is worth the risk,” the Starlight Overlord Beast said. 

“You’re right. It is worth the risk,” Chen Feng replied. 

“When do we take action?” The Starlight Overlord Beast became somewhat apprehensive. 

“Why are you so impatient? The evolution process of the Bug Empress will take a very long time. We will take action when the other party is at its weakest. Naturally, that is all under the assumption that we can find the Bug Empress.” Chen Feng pointed at the distant army of Slaughterers.  

“There are so many Slaughterers defending it. Looks like some strategy and luck are needed,” Chen Feng then said. 

“In the face of absolute power, luck would rarely come. It’d be good if some other people come to stir up trouble.” The Starlight Overlord Beast shook his head. 

“On the one hand, I am hoping that some people would come to stir up trouble. On the other hand, I also hope that they do not discover the Bug Empress here. Still, no hurry. We have time to prepare. Either that or go stretch a little,” Chen Feng said with a smile. 

“Stretch?” The Starlight Overlord Beast did not understand what Chen Feng meant.

“Go.” Chen Feng then pointed at a certain spot and the Starlight Overlord Beast immediately understood. 

Somewhere five billion kilometres away from them, an army of Slaughterers was leisurely making its way through the starry space. The number of Slaughterers in this army was relatively small at only 100 million Slaughterers. These Slaughterers had come from distant places, having spent a long time flying to this place. 

There were only five billion kilometres left to go before they could reunite with their brood. But it was then that they came under attack. 

The Starlight Overlord Beast’s body grew to a length of half a million kilometres as he charged towards the Slaughterers.

Chen Feng unleashed everything he had. The 400 Gold Immortals that he brought along with him appeared before him through the use of a summoning technique. More, he also released all of the Divine Bugs. 

Chen Feng did not sense any other living creatures within the surrounding space. His objective here was to gulp down the 100 million Slaughterers, every last one of them. 

It had to be said. This army of Slaughterers was not that strong, with only several Gold Immortals in their ranks. Killing them all was not an issue. What Chen Feng needed to do was to completely cut them off. 

The 400 Gold Immortal stage unique creatures and the Starlight Overlord Beast were in charge of attacking the Slaughterers while the hundreds of thousands of Divine Bugs formed a defence line to kill off any Slaughterers that tried to escape. 

“Let me fight,” the female bug in Chen Feng’s sea of wisdom suddenly said. 

“Will a problem arise from doing that?” Chen Feng grew concerned. At any rate, there was a Bug Empress at the Paramount Gold Immortal stage. It would be bad if the other party were to discover the female bug.  

“Don’t worry. The other party has begun its evolution process. It is now in its period of weakness. It would not dare to carelessly take action. Besides, they might not be able to sense me.” Even as the female Ancient Divine Bug spoke, its body began shaking and sharp blades emerged from every part of its body. It would appear that this female bug could no longer hold back its desire for battle. 

“Very well.” Chen Feng nodded. This female bug was a Divine Monarch, after all. Its combat power should be very formidable. 

Chen Feng had only just said that when the female bug appeared in the battlefield. When compared to the other bugs, the female bug was practically the equivalent of a massive harvesting machine. Everywhere it went, the Slaughterers around it would be shredded by countless blades. Next, the shredded bits would all be devoured by the female bug. 

The female bug was like a moving mountain, advancing steadily to leave a stretch of empty space behind it. By the time Chen Feng recollected himself, the female bug had already killed off over a million Slaughterers. 

“So fast!” Chen Feng widened his eyes. Next, however, his body pulsed to transform into his Chaos Gold Body. He instantly unleashed his triple power mode as he charged towards an area with a high number of Slaughterers. 

He used the Longevity Bow to first take down the several Gold Immortal stage Slaughterers in the enemy side. With that, the remaining Slaughterers were no longer a threat. Killing them all off was just a matter of time. 

The performance of the other Divine Bugs also exceeded Chen Feng’s expectations. The defence line they formed appeared scattered, but not a single one of the Slaughterers was able to escape. Additionally, most of them chose to stupidly stay behind and fight. Very few of them would choose to escape. 

Suddenly, Chen Feng saw the female bug unleash a black-coloured halo, which then enveloped the entire battlefield. Seeing that surprised Chen Feng until he received the female bug’s message.

“The Slaughterers sent a distress signal. I intercepted it.”

Hearing that, Chen Feng secretly felt alarmed. He had actually failed to sense the distress signal. Thankfully, he had the female bug. If the Slaughterers had successfully sent out the distress signal, more Slaughterers would come. 

Finally, the 100 million Slaughterers were all killed. The female bug devoured all of their crystal cores and corpses. After Chen Feng and his team left, that very stretch of space quickly returned to tranquillity. Not many energy waves were left in the aftermath of the battle. 

Unbeknownst to Chen Feng, after they left, a divine sense scanned the place, searching around for a while before disappearing. 

“Strange, the aura of Divine Bugs. I wonder which branch they belong to. Hopefully, they are not targeting me.”

After having harvested 100 million Slaughterers, the female bug began making more bugs. In but 10 days, another 100,000 bugs were produced. Naturally, not all of the energy devoured was used to create the bugs. Under Chen Feng’s request, the female bug devoured one third of the devoured energy. While making a high number of bugs was indeed important, improving the female bug’s strength was even more important. 

If it weren’t for the fact that Chen Feng needed an army of Divine Bugs, he would have directed all of the energy towards the female bug’s advancement to the next level. 

Following that, Chen Feng roamed the surrounding star regions. He would specifically target the Slaughterers that were summoned over. Naturally, he only targeted those that were within his abilities. When it came to armies that were far too big, Chen Feng gave up on taking action. Even if he were to attack, he would not attack using the Divine Bugs. He did not want to expose the existence of the female bug. 

Chen Feng set the limit at around 100 million Slaughterers. It must not exceed 200 million, otherwise the situation would spiral out of control. Should any of the Slaughterers succeed in escaping, they would end up with unnecessary troubles. 

And so, Chen Feng became a hunter within the starry space. Within one year, he managed to kill off four armies. As a result, the female bug was able to devour a total of 600 million Slaughterers.

In the following years, however, the number he could hunt down became smaller. It had become very hard to find suitable targets. Several times, the armies he found had one billion Slaughterers each. Due to that, he could only evade them. Once, the Slaughterers actually dispatched an army of 10 billion Slaughterers to surround him. Immediately, Chen Feng realized that the headquarters of the Slaughterer brood had noticed him. 

And so, Chen Feng kept his forces and hid alone in a secluded location for several years.

When Chen Feng re-emerged from hiding, he found that the starry space there had become even quieter. Going out to explore for a while, he found no Slaughterer. With that, he knew that almost all of the Slaughterers had arrived. 

Meanwhile, the army of Divine Bugs under Chen Feng had – throughout the years – increased several times in size. The number of Heavenly Immortal bugs had risen up to 800,000. The number of True Immortal bugs was even higher, at over 10 million. There were also 100,000 half-step Gold Immortal bugs. However, there were no new Gold Immortal bugs.

The past Chen Feng wouldn’t have dared to even think about possessing such a force. At present, however, he did not feel satisfied at all. The situation was so chaotic while the opposing forces were too strong. 

Although the number of Divine Bugs was very high, in a straight-up fight against the Slaughterers, they would be easily overwhelmed.