Chapter 8: A Cooperation (Part 1)

Li Ran and the six others looked into the distance. Thanks to Lan Landai’s defensive shield, they hadn’t emitted any soul waves yet, so they hadn’t noticed the Void Worms in the far distance. All they saw was a cluster of dark dots flying in the distance. After fighting against the Void Worms for some time, it was clear they were a group of them.
Guo Shier said, “That’s right. Those are Void Worms.”
Lan Landai exclaimed, “Oh my god, so many Void Worms… This is the first time I’ve seen so many of them! Hehe, I’ll go catch them!”
Guo Shier asked, “Can the Hui Ning Ring defend against the attacks of Void Worms?”
Lan Landai replied promptly, “Of course! Void Worms use the power of void, and the Hui Ning Ring is the best equipment to defend against void attacks! The Xu Xing is the same!”
Guo Shier smiled immediately and said, “Everyone, get ready. Let’s go catch some worms too!” Along the way, they had occasionally seen some Void Worms, but very few could be caught. As soon as they appeared, those worms would quickly vanish into the void, as if knowing these people weren’t easy to fight against. So they hadn’t caught many worms. They had already planned to give up, but unexpectedly, they encountered a large group of Void Worms here.
After trading a batch of Void Worms, each of them hoped to encounter more. Without powerful defensive equipment like the Hui Ning Ring, they could only avoid these worms temporarily when encountering them. Now that they had such a valuable weapon, they certainly wouldn’t miss this chance to catch them.
Lan Landai was very curious about how Guo Shier and the others caught Void Worms. She still hadn’t come up with an effective method yet.
While Lan Landai activated the defensive shield, Li Ran turned on the Hui Ning Ring, enveloping the seven of them. They had already figured out that the Hui Ning Ring’s energy source was spiritual jade, and they had enough spiritual jade to recharge it. Thus, under the glow of the Hui Ning Ring, the seven of them charged straight at the swarm of worms. As for those spatial rifts, with the Hui Ning Ring in place, they were no longer a major obstacle.
Watching the spatial rifts dissipate outside the glow of the Hui Ning Ring, the seven of them felt deeply moved. The spatial rifts that had once terrified them could be eliminated so easily, which made them realize their own shortcomings in certain areas. The Void Worms had originally been targeting them, relying on their numbers to completely eliminate these seven annoying people.
Lan Landai was the first to act, rushing into the swarm of worms first. Guo Shier glanced at her and said, “Oh no, she’s not just catching worms—she’s wiping them out!”

Sure enough, Lan Landai let out an angry cry. She couldn’t catch even one Void Worm—whenever she reached out to grab one, it would instantly collapse and die in her hand. Helpless, she looked around at all the precious Void Worms, yet couldn’t catch a single one.

Looking at Guo Shier and the others, Lan Landai was stunned. That was how they caught worms—hundreds at a time. Especially Guo Shier’s Soul-Calming Cauldron, as countless Void Worms disappeared into its mouth; it was clear it was a powerful tool for catching worms.

After just over ten seconds, Lan Landai grew impatient. She rushed forward to the seven of them with a flattering expression and said, “Let’s work together!”

Li Ran asked, “How?”

Lan Landai replied, “I’ll drive the worms over, and you give me a share! What do you say?”

Qi Wu Zhen smiled and said, “We can catch them without you driving them over. Why should we give you a share?” She was delighted—having this domineering woman lower her stance on her own was truly satisfying. This woman was too strong, constantly suppressing them with her aura.

Seeing that soft tactics didn’t work, Lan Landai directly threatened, “I can help you or cause trouble… You decide!” She had no choice—the seven of them caught worms too fast. If she didn’t reach an agreement quickly, she might end up getting nothing.

Guo Shier smiled and said, “Fine, go drive them over. Remember, they might flee into the void—don’t let them get away!”

Lan Landai perked up at this and said cheerfully, “Great! No problem. But… how much will I get?” Her eyes gleamed greedily, and the image of a graceful, noble woman she had built among them crumbled completely. Was this her true nature?

Guo Shier replied promptly, “A thousand!”

Lan Landai’s heart skipped a beat. A thousand Void Worms was already a large number in her mind, so she was quite satisfied. But bargaining was still necessary. She said, “Two thousand…” Then she regretted it, as doubling the amount was an excessive request by usual trading standards. Yet there were nearly a hundred thousand of these Void Worms, and she only wanted two thousand—was that too little? From the start, she had miscalculated, not realizing there were so many. A thousand sounded like a lot, but compared to the entire swarm, it was insignificant.

Guo Shier replied cheerfully, “Deal!”

Lan Landai couldn’t help but slap her own forehead forcefully, cursing herself for being foolish. But she wasn’t the kind to go back on her word—immediately she rushed at the swarm of insects and began sealing off the void.

Everyone frantically collected the Void Insects. This time, they weren’t afraid of spatial rifts anymore, as the Void Insects’ greatest weapon had lost its effectiveness. Thus, they collected them even faster. In particular, the Soul-Sealing Cauldron acted like a giant glutton, swallowing everything in its massive maw.

They swept back and forth through the swarm. In about fifteen minutes, the insects became sparser. Some tried to escape, but Lan Landai drove them back. With her around, the Void Insects couldn’t flee at all. Even if they hid in the void temporarily, they couldn’t escape Lan Landai, as she could enter the void as well.

Driving the Void Insects toward the seven people, Lan Landai felt envy for the first time. These people were strong, but probably slightly weaker than her. She couldn’t understand how they could collect so many Void Insects so easily.

In less than an hour, there were no more flying Void Insects in the sky. Aside from the few thousand killed by Lan Landai at the beginning, the rest were collected by Li Ran and the others.

Guo Shier collected the most Void Insects. The other five combined didn’t even match his amount. His Soul-Sealing Cauldron was incredibly powerful, allowing him to collect thousands of Void Insects at once. The handsome old man helped seal them inside the Cauldron. Thanks to his research, the sealing process accelerated greatly. By the time Guo Shier finished collecting, he had already sealed most of them.

Disappointed, Lan Landai went over to Guo Shier and said, “Two thousand Void Insects… Hehe, can you give me a bit more? You’ve gotten way too much.”

Guo Shier tossed her a pouch of talismans and said, “How about this amount?”

After taking a quick look, Lan Landai was overjoyed—Guo Shier hadn’t given her two thousand, but a full eight thousand Void Insects. She thought about becoming friends with him and said, “Thanks, hehe!” She was beaming with happiness.

Guo Shier didn’t want to be an enemy of such a woman at all. Thinking about her fight with Xing Yunzi made his scalp tingle. Becoming friends with someone like her was a good thing from every perspective. He said, “You’re welcome.”

Lan Landai said, “As far as I know, the passage you’re going to has several sections that have collapsed. Be careful when passing through. Also… be cautious at the exit of that passage too. I remember it’s a defensive outpost. I’m not sure what it defends against, but… that area belongs to the United Spirit Kingdom, a very domineering alliance. Try not to get into conflict with them.”

Li Ran asked, “The United Spirit Kingdom? What level is it?”

Lan Landai smiled and said, “It’s a level 7 star nation! A very powerful one.”

Li Ran shook his head slightly and said, “Level 7… indeed not easy to deal with.”

Guo Shier asked in confusion, “What’s a star nation?”

Li Ran explained, “It’s an ancient classification. Level 1 is the lowest, and level 9 is the highest. But as far as I know, there seems to be no level 9 star nations. The strongest are level 8, and level 7 is also extremely powerful. Such star nations not only have a considerable number of experts but also vast resources and planets. So, Lan Landai, is this level 7 star nation more focused on cultivation or technology?”

Lan Landai replied, “It relies on technology and machinery. It’s a very powerful star nation, quite domineering.”

Li Ran frowned and said, “A defensive outpost… it must be filled with detectors. What are they defending?”

Lan Landai said, “I don’t know. I only know a little. Our system is different from theirs. We’re a star nation based on cultivation.”

Guo Shier asked curiously, “What level is your star nation? Level 8?”

Lan Landai smiled and said, “Actually, we’re not really from a star nation. We’re attached to one. Of course, that star nation doesn’t dare to show us any disrespect…”

Li Ran suddenly understood and said, “You’re from some secret clan?”

Lan Landai nodded. “That’s right. We’re from a secret clan. The star nation we’re attached to is a level 8 star nation.”

The so-called secret clans are families of super experts with great powers. They possess immense potential and extremely strong experts. They almost always hide from the world, and no one can find them. These secret clans secretly control the world to obtain cultivation resources. They are a group not to be trifled with.

Lan Landai said, “With your strength, if you were exposed in the greater world, secret clans would surely come to recruit you. Hehe, do you want to join my secret clan? There are many benefits.”

Suddenly, someone appeared out of thin air and said, “Don’t listen to her nonsense!”

Lan Landai flew into a rage and shouted, “Xing Yunzi, you bastard! You’re the one talking nonsense!”

Xingyunzi said, “If you want to join the Secret Clan, joining us is the better choice.”
Lanlandai, furious, raised her hand ready to fight, but Xingyunzi calmly said, “Fighting here—this space simply can’t withstand it. This is a node; if the node collapses, the entire space will collapse too!”
Li Ran and the others were shocked. Lanlandai retorted, “Nonsense! Of course I know this is a node. If nodes were that easy to collapse, they wouldn’t be nodes! Do you think I don’t understand?”
Xingyunzi said, “You stupid woman, this is the only node! How can you guarantee that it won’t be affected by our battle?”
Lanlandai also knew this wasn’t a place for fighting. She said, “Give me that spiritual spring!”
Xingyunzi chuckled and said, “It’s gone already. I traded it long ago. Hmph, even if it were still in my hands, I wouldn’t give it to you.”