When he thought about the huge gains that he was able to reap this time, he did indeed need to thank this kid. The sloppy old man twisted his head to s.h.i.+ft his gaze to Miao Yi, looking as though he would let what happened be. He waved his hand and said, "It's a waste to give the third grade transcendent artifact to a brat like you. How about this. Later, as long as you help me obtain the little mantids, I will personally help you refine a good transcendent artifact."

Miao Yi asked curiously, "You know how to refine transcendent artifacts? From what I know, there are not many cultivators who know how refine them."

"Hehe! I can only say that you are a lucky brat! Can't you see who I am? You can go ask around in Flowing Clouds-" The sloppy old man was proudly boasting halfway, before coming to an abrupt stop. He quickly corrected himself, "So I said, you need to honestly help me obtain the little mantids. When the time comes, I will not treat you poorly."

After the both of them haggled over the conditions for some time, the sloppy old man nodded his head to say, "It's not wise to stay here long. Let's make a move!"

Miao Yi reached out his arm, letting the twenty little ones descended onto his arm. He turned to point at the kneeling corpse of the Azure Ape. "You don't want his skin? If you don't want it, then I won't be holding myself back!"

What a joke, a Third Grade Yao cultivator's skin was worth quite an amount of money. It was such a waste to throw it like that.

The sloppy old man threw a glance back, staring at the Azure Ape's corpse as he sighed, "Although we're not considered friends, we knew each other for several hundred years. This time, if not for you going overboard making me the scapegoat, he would not have wanted to kill me, and I would not have killed him. Brat, let him die with dignity."

Once he finished, he waved his hand. The bar mace transformed into a mult.i.tude of speckled stars that wrapped around the two, before launching them into the air at great speed.

"WAIT!" In mid air, Miao Yi's weird shriek came travelling. "My mount!"

"You d.a.m.n brat. The dragon steed is too big so bringing it to soar through the skies for a long distance will heavily exhaust my transcendence energy. Besides, that fat w.i.l.l.y is chubbier than ordinary dragon steeds. I won't be able to manage it."

"No! He has shown his face at the mountain fortress and his distinctive features are too conspicuous. Even if he were to mix in with a herd of dragon steeds, he wouldn't be able to hide as he's gloriously radiant. You can see him at a glance. If we don't bring him along, then he will die. Those bunch of demons will never spare his life."

"Why do you have so many issues? If you make noise again, I will slaughter you."

"Whatever. If you don't want to get the eggs, then be my guest and kill me!"

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d, are you treating me like manual labor…"

Finally, even though the weak is unable to dissuade the strong, when met with a person who was persistently stubborn, he also had no other choice.

From the ball of red light flying in mid air, another ray of red light came streaking out. The other bar mace shot out, instantly turning into numerous specks of red light and coiling Charcoal into the air in an instant.

"Wait!" Miao Yi once again shouted out.

"Brat, can you cut it out already? Haven't I already given you face? Do you not want it?!" The sloppy old man was infuriated.

"I won't increase your burdens. I still have one more thing that I forgot to keep." Miao Yi replied meekly.

The sloppy old man was slightly dubious. Why did he feel like this brat had suddenly become abnormally diffident? He couldn't resist the urge to ask, "What is it?"

His words had just finished coming out of his mouth, when he could suddenly hear a wave of buzzing sounds flying in their direction. Turning to look, his mouth was instantly agape. He was completely at a loss for words.

There were still sixty little mantids hiding nearby that had yet to reveal themselves. Since he was about to leave already, there was no way that Miao Yi could abandon them in the Sea of Constellations.

With his cultivation becoming increasingly higher, Miao Yi already realized that the effective range of telepathy to communicate with the little ones had increased. Yet, he still couldn't contact them from an unlimited distance. If he was too far away, then he wouldn't be able to communicate with them, so naturally he needed to bring them along.

"There were still so many more…" After the sloppy old man swallowed the lump in his throat, his face turned sour. He glared viciously at Miao Yi, gritting his teeth as he said, "You haven't been honest. What else are you hiding from me?"

"They're mine so what reason would I have to take everything out and let others see?" Miao Yi withdrew his neck before replying feebly, "Um, senior. Open a path and allow them in."

The red light wrapping around them had a defence mechanism. If the small mantids tried to forcefully break their way in, they would definitely be crushed into pieces.

With regards to this, the sloppy old man did not have any objections. He immediately opened a hole to make a path, welcoming them with open arms.

The few dozen little mantids immediately dived into the hole. Miao Yi spread open his hand and all of the little mantids went back into the storage ring.

The sloppy old man was instantly furious. "You wastrel! Are you trying to kill them by keeping them in the storage ring?"

"They're quite special. Once they enter the storage ring, they will promptly enter a state of Deep Sleep so they can't die. I have always been doing this."

Miao Yi casually explained.

The angry old man was taken aback. His eyes soon gleamed brightly as he overflowed with excitement. Didn't that mean that he would be spared quite a great deal of trouble? This time, he really had run into a great treasure.

Rubbing his hands excitedly, he impatiently shouted loudly, "Let's go!"

He steered the red light to quickly cut through the sky, the red light binding Charcoal quickly followed suit.

In the night sky and over the vast sea, two rays of red lights streaked across; one in front and the other behind. They were almost like a meteor, and much faster than the time when Miao Yi had used the s.h.i.+p.

Obviously, Charcoal was not used to this kind of flying art where his four limbs did not touch the ground. He kept twisting around as he looked in all directions.

This was also Miao Yi's first time experiencing a flight through the sky. His eyes were wide open as he paid close attention to what the flying red lights carrying them actually were.

After looking closely, he finally understood. There were tiny black silk threads which were so fine that the naked eye couldn't even see, and were faintly suffused with red light. They were spinning at a great speed.

Miao Yi of course knew what these black silk threads were. They were refined from the essence powder which had been extracted from Black Crystals.

The countless black silk threads bundled around the two were all spinning. As a result of their spinning, a stream of air naturally formed within, supporting the people inside.

This apparent state of levitation, where their four limbs did not touch the ground, made them feel as though they were treading on air. The exterior was similar to the glowing shroud of an egg sh.e.l.l.

When the sloppy old man steering the flight changed to fly in different directions, the numerous black silk threads also immediately spun in a different direction.

Realization dawned on Miao Yi. It turned out that when flying, the crucial point in rapidly changing directions was on the adjusting the movement of the spinning black silk threads. Not only that, the faster the black silk threads spun about, the greater the speed of flight would become.

Using these things as a shroud on the exterior also had an advantage while flying. They could use it as a sort of defensive s.h.i.+eld. When the old man man had been in the fierce battle with Commander Yuan before, Miao Yi had already seen it first hand.

Miao Yi recalled the golden phantom that he had seen from Fairy Hong Chen and the lady boss previously. In all likelihood, the logic must be similar, except that they must have used the transcendent artifact refined with the essence powder from Gold Crystals which have a stronger connection with transcendence energy.

"Senior, dare I ask for your name?"

Seeming to recall something, Miao Yi suddenly turned his head to ask.

The sloppy old man replied expressionlessly, "Didn't I tell you before? Yao Ruoxian!"

"Uhm…" Miao Yi knew he didn't want to reveal it - Where in the world would someone have the surname Yao? So he could only sigh, "Senior Yao, I wish to consult you about something."

"Out with it!"

"In the past when I saw people soaring through the skies, the illusion of their protective form was a bird. Why does yours look like an egg sh.e.l.l?"