Chapter 117 - 114: Repair, Evolve! Devising a New Cultivation Technique

Chapter 117: Chapter 114: Repair, Evolve! Devising a New Cultivation Technique

Wilderness Mountain Range, Snake Valley Base.

GURGLE! GURGLE!

Continuous sounds echoed from within the Nurturing Pool, which boasted a diameter of fully two hundred meters and a depth exceeding fifty meters. Three gigantic figures floated in the center of the highly energetic fluid. The largest among them, naturally, was the corpse of the Flood Dragon King, Ao Hua.

Its hundred-meter-long body lay horizontally in the pool. Countless fine tentacles were connected to its flesh, repairing the corpse while simultaneously analyzing its bloodline genes. The originally shattered Dragon Scales had basically healed, and even the massive gash on its abdomen had been smoothed over. However, compared to its past appearance, the Flood Dragon’s body had noticeably grown much more ferocious.

The Insect Race’s iconic exoskeletal armor and spikes had sprouted on its back, head, and other areas. The heart that should have stopped beating had begun to pump once more. Yet, its eyes remained tightly shut; it was still fast asleep within the depths.

Flanking the Flood Dragon King were the Seven-Colored Spirit Deer and the Mountain-Splitting Demon King, occupying two slightly smaller flesh chambers. The corpses of these two Demon Kings were equally heavily damaged.

The Mountain-Splitting Demon King had inflicted the most damage on the Insect Swarm, but it had also suffered the most tragic end. The Seven-Colored Spirit Deer had died from being pierced by Needle-spine Crawlers, killed in a single strike. In contrast, the Mountain-Splitting Demon King had been continuously bombarded by the Insect Swarm and subsequently drowned by the Insect Tide. There was hardly a good piece of flesh left on its body, and even its basic skeleton was shattered.

The only fortunate thing was that its core Demon Pill remained intact, allowing the Insect Swarm to continue repairing it. However, the subsequent Insect-like mutation of its restored form was also the most extreme.

According to the Great Wei Demons and Monsters Record, the Mountain-Splitting Demon King’s race was the Jade-Horned Monster. Standing fifty feet tall, it resembled a red leopard with a white jade single horn on its head, covered in dark red Scale Armor, and sporting five tails akin to steel whips.

But at this moment, its body had expanded significantly. All of its Scale Armor had transformed into an exoskeleton, rendering its physique thicker and more robust. Spikes grew out of its five tails, turning it into an absolute killing machine.

The three Qi Sea Realm Great Demons were all mending their bodies in the Nurturing Pool. The various-sized tentacles connected to their corpses modified and optimized their bloodlines while transferring substances.

The bloodlines of these three Demon Kings were all incredibly powerful, especially that of the Flood Dragon King. While the Red Feather Demon King possessed a trace of the Three-legged Golden Crow’s bloodline, this Fish Dragon was the son of the Bishui River Dragon King—a true Dragon Prince. Its body contained the Dragon Race bloodline. If it could evolve once more, it could Transform into a Dragon.

During the analysis, the Insect Nest could clearly sense a "lock" existing within its bloodline, preventing the direct acquisition of the knowledge contained within.

The Dragon Race, along with a few other powerful races, were born remarkably mighty precisely because they possessed something called "Bloodline Inheritance" in their genes. This inheritance contained memories implanted by Dragon Race Great Powers since ancient times. It encompassed everything from the most Basic survival memories to the inheritance of powerful Secret Techniques.

This was one of the secrets behind the formidable might of the Dragon Race. Because of this lock, even with the Insect Nest conducting a bloodline analysis, it could not directly obtain its inherited knowledge.

Yet even so, the Dragon Race’s inherently superior genes provided tremendous benefits to the Insect Swarm. The most obvious example was the Profound Flood Dragon within the Insect Swarm. After absorbing the Dragon Race genes, a new variant emerged with its Water Control Ability, physical build, size, and strength all drastically Enhanced.

Besides these three Qi Sea Realm corpses, various units—such as the Thunder Roc, Four-winged Black Thorn Eagle, Cockroaches, and Poison Burst Insects—were all undergoing optimizations and adjustments to varying degrees.

Throughout the continuous battles, Qin Yu had realized a glaring issue: as combatants grew stronger and reached the Qi Sea Realm, they all gained the ability to fly. This forced him to invest more resources into flying units.

The Thunder Roc boasted strong offensive capabilities and could execute combined attacks, but its attack range was too short. The Four-winged Black Thorn Eagle’s Blade Insect attacks reached further, yet they still slightly lacked in sheer power. Ground units also lacked anti-air capabilities, leaving the base’s defenses inadequate. These problems had to be resolved one by one.

Based on the current genes, the Insect Nest was already searching for suitable solutions. For instance, using the Three-legged Fire Crow gene as a prototype, it aimed to breed a more massive creature that would allow the Microscopic Insect Nest to nurture far more destructive Blade Insects.

For ground defense, it created the Spore Crawler—a conventional, stationary defense unit synthesized by modifying the Needle-spine Crawler and combining it with the Microscopic Insect Nest gene. Because it connected directly to the Fungal Mat, there was no need to worry about Energy consumption. The Spore Crawler could spew out an astonishing number of Blade Insects in a short amount of time, packing much greater firepower than the Four-winged Black Thorn Eagle.

Furthermore, another massive suicide-attack unit remodeled from the Poison Burst Insect was currently in development. This project Name was designated as the "Self-destructive Flying Mosquito." Once activated, hundreds and thousands of Self-destructive Flying Mosquitoes could instantly swarm out from ground hives. Their instantaneous lethal force would be unbearable even for Qi Sea Realm experts.

However, none of this was Qin Yu’s main focus right now. His gaze fell upon a specific area lined with densely packed flesh chambers. Over three hundred Clones, perfectly matching his physical build and appearance, lay inside.

Among these experimental subjects modeled after him, a portion were directly Cultivating acquired Cultivation Techniques. These included over a dozen Five Poison Sect techniques like the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture and the Toad Gu Poison Swallowing Scripture, as well as manuals purchased from the Treasure Pavilion such as the Wind and Thunder Treasure Mirror, Blazing True Flame, Thick Earth Unmoving Technique, and Water Dragon’s Roar.

By combining conventional Cultivation methods with the Insect Race’s assistance, he was rapidly gathering Cultivation data on these techniques to allow the Insect Nest to better deduce their mechanics.

But the vast majority of the Clones were Cultivating fused techniques deduced by the Insect Swarm! Some tested the fusion of the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture and the Wind and Thunder Treasure Mirror; others tried blending the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture with the Blazing True Flame. There were integrations of two, three, and even more diverse Cultivation Techniques.

By extracting the essence and discarding the dross, they aimed to deduce the most powerful and superior Cultivation Technique.

Even the Demon Demon Technique obtained from the Mountain Demon King, the Blood Demon Ape Body Forging Technique, was undergoing deduction and fusion.

Thanks to the Blood-Drinking Breaking Saber acquired from the Treasure Pavilion, the Insect Nest now had a definite understanding of the so-called Evil Qi. Such a technique also served as an excellent supplement for the Insect Swarm.

The methods of Refining Essence and Blood and Blood Coagulation into Evil squeezed out a being’s life potential, sustaining combat through combat and tempering the body with blood. This was highly suitable for the Insect Swarm’s Basic units. It could grant the evolving Basic units of the Insect Swarm an additional Evil Qi ability, vastly increasing their probability of breakthrough and evolution.

The idea was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

When Qin Yu turned his attention to the experimental subjects Cultivating the fused techniques, the scene was simply gruesome. The Clones occasionally let out shrill, agonizing screams.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Suddenly, a muffled sound echoed as the body of one of the experimental subjects abruptly burst apart.

In an instant, Qin Yu understood what had happened. This subject was Cultivating the fusion of the Blazing True Flame and the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture, only to find that the technique deduced by the Insect Swarm contained a minor Energy conflict. As a result, during Cultivation, this Energy conflict spiraled out of control within the body, causing the Clone to explode. In the words of a Martial Artist, this was Qigong Deviation!

Creating any new Cultivation Technique was exceedingly perilous. At best, it would damage the meridians and internal organs; at worst, it led to the horrific scene currently playing out before him.

However, to the Insect Swarm, this was not an unbearable consequence. The shattered human tissues were swiftly collected by numerous surrounding tentacles, then broken down, digested, and absorbed. A larva rapidly metamorphosed into an egg within the nutrient-rich Energy fluid. In less than half an hour, a brand-new Clone emerged and subsequently resumed Cultivation.

Regulated by the Insect Nest’s super-biological computer, they would not make the same mistake twice. Errors were marked and then optimized. Coupled with a massive number of fearless experimental subjects conducting the deductions, the efficiency was naturally astronomical.

Compared to extreme cases like Qigong Deviation leading to self-destruction, most experimental units only encountered minor issues like damaged meridians. With the Insect Swarm’s restorative capabilities, such minor problems could be healed rapidly to restart the experiments. Those constantly letting out agonizing screams were experiencing precisely this scenario.

While physical injuries could be fixed swiftly, the pain was inescapable. To gather data accurately, the Insect Nest hadn’t diminished their sensory perceptions; it had amplified them. This made the Clones far more sensitive, ensuring they would detect even the slightest discomfort.

Pain wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It served as the body’s warning system for abnormalities, enabling the experiments to identify problems with much greater precision.

Among the multitudes of experimental subjects, the highest number of deductions revolved around combining the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture, the Wind and Thunder Treasure Mirror, and the Five Poison Dragon Transformation Technique. There were over twenty subjects Cultivating in various directions based on the Insect Nest’s deductions.

Within these flesh chambers, blinding Thunderbolts were injected into them through the attached tentacles, making them even stronger under the tempering of the lightning.

The Wind and Thunder Treasure Mirror was a very peculiar Cultivation Technique, serving as an inherent Body Refining method. It comprised nine layers in total. Breaking through to the seventh layer allowed one to reach the Qi Sea Realm. During Cultivation, it required drawing the Nine Heavens Wind Evil and the Earth Vein Thunder Evil into the body to temper the muscles, bones, skin, and internal organs.

Furthermore, it required the assistance of treasures like Wind Spirit Stones and Thunderstruck Wood. Once mastered, the physical body would become incomparably tough, intrinsically possessing Wind and Thunder traits, and boasting reaction speeds and explosive power far surpassing Body Refiners of the same tier.

Because these two types of power perfectly suited Qin Yu’s needs, he invested the most resources into them. Upon mastering its Basic Cultivation data, the Insect Nest began optimizing it.

The Wind and Thunder elements were well understood; these were precisely the forces controlled by the Thunder Roc and the Four-winged Black Thorn Eagle. Things like the Nine Heavens Wind Evil and the Earth Vein Thunder Evil were merely different applications of power.

When the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture, the Wind and Thunder Treasure Mirror, and the Five Poison Dragon Transformation Technique initially began their fusion, various issues cropped up incessantly. However, they were conquered one by one.

Qin Yu directed his gaze toward the Clone exhibiting the most perfect fusion; its physical durability was already double that of Qin Yu himself! Qi Blood circulated within its body, and it was entirely wreathed in lightning. Its speed, strength, and reflexes were comprehensively Enhanced. Furthermore, the circulation of the new Cultivation Technique progressed without a hitch.

Although the trade-off was a decrease in the toxicity of the Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture, this reduction was something Qin Yu could fully accept. Compared to the diminished toxicity, the Power of Dominator over the Insect Swarm allowed him to withstand far greater forces. This was the core source of Qin Yu’s power and what enabled him to fight above his tier.

"Excellent. The new Cultivation Technique uses the Beta-level Low Grade Spirit Snake Shadow Poison Scripture as its core, comprehensively Enhances the musculoskeletal foundation with the Five Poison Dragon Transformation Technique, and integrates the Wind and Thunder Power from the Wind and Thunder Treasure Mirror for Body Refining.

"By adopting strengths and compensating for weaknesses, it forms a technique focused on Wind and Thunder Body Refining, while simultaneously wielding potent poison and extreme speed!

"The new Cultivation Technique will be Named the Wind and Thunder Poison Dragon Technique!"

"Continue the experiments! Once confirmed that there are no remaining issues, I can proceed to switch my Cultivation to the Wind and Thunder Poison Dragon Technique!"