Chapter 70 - 69: Gu Insect System, Mountain Demon and Flood Dragon Demon

Chapter 70: Chapter 69: Gu Insect System, Mountain Demon and Flood Dragon Demon

Gu Insects!

They were not lifeforms born naturally of heaven and earth, but creations meant for combat and cultivation, transformed through secret techniques, elixirs, minerals, and even special environments.

Masters skilled in cultivating Gu Insects could even breed the exact variants they needed according to their own desires.

Whether for direct combat, personal enhancement, healing, or assisting in cultivation—the results varied wildly. The Gu Insects ultimately obtained differed based on the secret techniques and methods used to nurture them.

In a sense, this was somewhat similar to the Insect Swarm.

It was also a modification of life, an exploration of vitality in this world, even if this path wasn’t the mainstream under the martial arts cultivation system.

In a world where absolute power was attributed to the individual, these were often regarded as external objects!

They were merely a method to increase combat power. A pure auxiliary tool.

After all, compared to painstakingly cultivating Gu Insects, the vast majority of geniuses and powerhouses preferred to strengthen themselves.

"The methods of refining Gu Insects in this world serve as an excellent supplement for the Insect Swarm’s cultivation and evolution. It can add an entirely new system to the Swarm’s evolutionary path," Qin Yu murmured as he stood up and walked over to a gestating Evolution Chamber.

His gaze pierced through the Evolution Chamber’s hard outer shell, "seeing" a Gu Insect being born inside—the Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu!

In the "Ten Thousand Poison Gu Refining Scripture", the evaluation of the Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu was very unique.

It required the heart as a nest and blood as feed. The host had to endure heart-piercing agony, but once successful, its power was absolutely astounding. It could be controlled as easily as an extension of one’s own body, capable of Breaking Gang and piercing armor.

This was a Gu Insect that was ruthless to oneself, and even more ruthless to one’s enemies.

Cultivating it was also extremely difficult. First, it required one Three-bladed Heart-devouring Snake. This was a rare Exotic Snake Species, no more than a foot long, pitch-black like ink, with scales as hard as iron.

Once this Three-bladed Heart-devouring Snake was found, one had to refine the snake according to a specific Secret Technique. The live Three-bladed Heart-devouring Snake had to be placed in a specially made Poison Tripod and soaked in the essence of a hundred deadly poisons for three hours every day.

This forced it to adapt to and absorb various toxins until its scales turned from black to dark gold.

This process took a full year. During this time, the slightest mistake would result in the Mother Gu’s death.

Then came the second step: cultivating multiple elixirs, blending them with one’s own essence blood, and using a special Secret Technique to engrave patterns on its body, thereby establishing a mental connection to achieve Gu Control.

Only then could it be integrated into the body.

This step was even more perilous. One needed to enter a secretly prepared Blood Pool and circulate the Heart Method of the "Ten Thousand Poison Gu Refining Scripture" to guide the Heart-devouring Snake into the human body.

This process took a full seven days. The slightest carelessness would lead to death and the dissipation of one’s cultivation.

When these three steps were completed and the Gu Insect entered the body, the Mother Gu would devour the host’s Heart Blood and fuse into one entity.

Then, by nourishing it with one’s own essence blood, Child Gu would be gestated!

Through the mental connection between the Mother Gu and the Child Gu, one could control the Child Gu to unleash explosive attacks.

The Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu, cultivated at such a massive cost, naturally possessed extraordinary might. During combat and slaughter, one could open their mouth and spray it out like a cloud of red mist, which would instantly transform into a sky full of flying Triangular Gu Insects.

The Triangular Gu Insects were incredibly fast and possessed extremely strong Armor-Breaking Abilities, able to effortlessly pierce through ordinary Protective Gang Qi and Iron Armor.

Furthermore, once they burrowed into the enemy’s body, they could instantly inject deadly poison. At the same time, their bodies would burst open, causing secondary damage.

More importantly, the Mother Gu could improve alongside its master’s increase in strength.

The one in front of him was precisely the Heart-devouring Mother Gu cultivated by the Insect Swarm!

Snake species like the Three-bladed Heart-devouring Snake already existed among the Snake Gu here. After all, this Snake Valley was highly likely left behind by Old Monster Youlin, and Li Tianyi was merely a latecomer.

For the Insect Swarm to cultivate a Mother Gu, naturally, it didn’t need to wait for over a year. However, it still took a week.

But this was only the first time. Once successfully cultivated, the life structure of this mutated Heart-devouring Mother Gu was successfully recorded into the mother nest. It could now be spawned as a special Insect Race unit.

What came next was simple.

In the Five Poison Sect’s inheritance of refining Gu Insects, the most difficult part was Gu Refining, but the most dangerous was Gu Control. When integrating it into the body, the slightest slip-up would result in death.

However, the Gu Insects hatched by the Insect Swarm had no such concerns.

"This Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu can be integrated into the human body and grow by absorbing essence blood from the heart. But how big is a human body? How much essence blood is there to support it in gestating its offspring?" Qin Yu chuckled softly, looking at the Black Thorn Eagle that flew over and prostrated itself on the ground.

The Heart-devouring Mother Insect leaped out from the Evolution Chamber, dove into the Black Thorn Eagle’s mouth, quickly burrowed into its heart, and fused with it.

The entire process was completed in one smooth motion.

"Not only can the Black Thorn Eagle be equipped with the Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu, but other Insect Swarm units can as well.

"Large units like the Profound Armor Barbarian Bear and the Profound Flood Dragon can absolutely treat this Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu as a sort of ’plug-in’.

"This way, the Insect Swarm will not lack ranged attack methods.

"Furthermore, it can accelerate the gestation of other Gu Insects!"

This made Qin Yu involuntarily think of a term: "modularity."

It wasn’t just the Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu; the other Gu Insects from the "Ten Thousand Poison Gu Refining Scripture" could be used the same way.

The Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu was an offensive Gu Insect. Besides that, there were many functional Gu Insects, such as the Blood Shadow Gu that enhanced speed, the Vajra Gu that boosted defense, and so on.

SCREECH!

As he pondered, the successfully fused Black Thorn Eagle soared into the sky, circling at an altitude of a hundred meters.

Then, under Qin Yu’s watchful eyes, the Black Thorn Eagle’s beak opened wide.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

Three black shadows, about five centimeters long, shot out explosively. They traced an arc in mid-air and instantly pierced through the body of a sprinting Rapid Insect below.

The Rapid Insect’s body immediately went limp and collapsed.

Qin Yu’s eyes lit up.

Although Rapid Insects were not known for their defense, their exoskeletons were still extremely hard—much stronger than the defenses of ordinary Bone Forging Demon Fiends.

SWISH!

The Black Thorn Eagle spat out another Child Gu. It flew rapidly toward Qin Yu like a sharp arrow, drastically reducing its speed as it approached, before finally landing in the palm of his hand.

This was a small black snake only five centimeters long. Its head was shaped like a triangular pyramid, resembling an armor-breaking arrowhead. Most bizarrely, it had a pair of wings as thin as cicada wings, allowing it to fly at extreme speeds in the air.

The Child Gu curled up in Qin Yu’s hand, and very quickly, its Life Force faded away.

The Child Gu’s lethality was immense, but this came at a price. The price was its exceedingly short lifespan. It only lived for ten breaths!

Once detached from the Mother Gu, it would instantly erupt with all its Life Force.

"Gestate more Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu and equip them to the Swarm’s aerial forces first. The Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu is decent, but it’s still not strong enough. Combining it with the Insect Swarm can make its power even greater!" Qin Yu commanded with a thought through the Swarm’s Mind Network.

The Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu was originally designed to integrate into the human body, so its size was very small. This was a good thing for a human body, but not for the Insect Swarm.

Its overly small size inevitably resulted in a limited number of gestated Child Gu.

The Insect Swarm could optimize it, even going so far as directly gestating a Microscopic Insect Nest within units like the Black Thorn Eagle to mass-produce Child Gu.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, but as long as the first step was taken, the subsequent ones would be vastly easier.

Soon, nearly a hundred Black Thorn Eagles descended from the sky.

Around the Insect Nest, insect eggs cracked open one after another. The newly gestated Heart-devouring Mother Gu rapidly burrowed into the eagles’ bodies, allowing the Black Thorn Eagles to undergo a magnificent metamorphosis.

The resources required to gestate a single Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu were not much. A mere 20 points.

After all, the Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu’s size was too small. Its true consumption lay in the subsequent gestation of the Child Gu.

A single battle might require gestating over a dozen, or even dozens, of Child Gu. And they were all single-use.

But it was well worth it.

FLAP! FLAP! FLAP!

The first batch of Black Thorn Eagles, having completed the implantation of the Heart-devouring Mother and Child Gu, flapped their wings and took flight, soaring toward the distant sky.

There were no Tier Two aerial units in the Insect Swarm yet. The reason was simple.

The Insect Swarm hadn’t successfully hunted a Flying Qi and Blood Great Demon yet.

For example, atop one of the mountain peaks, the Swarm had discovered a Thunder Wing Roc.

In order to encircle and kill this Thunder Wing Roc, Qin Yu dispatched the Black Thorn Eagles on several consecutive siege missions.

However, if their numbers were too high, the target would simply flee. If their numbers were too low, they would be counter-killed.

A few encirclement campaigns not only failed to kill it but also cost the Swarm fifteen Black Thorn Eagles.

This was the advantage of Flying Demon Fiends! They fought when they wanted to and left when they didn’t. They were utterly unstoppable when fleeing.

Deep within the Wilderness Mountain Range.

While the Insect Swarm was expanding comprehensively, inside a certain large cavern in the valley where the Mountain Demon Tribe resided, the Mountain Demon King—who stood nearly twenty feet tall with a green face, a red nose, and crimson eyes—sat on a stone throne, roaring in fury.

If Qin Yu had been here, he would undoubtedly have been astonished. For at this moment, this Mountain Demon King was actually speaking human language.

Demon Fiends naturally possessed intelligence and their own language. Otherwise, how would the Blood Demon Sect communicate with them? It was just that Demon Fiends capable of speaking human language were exceedingly rare.

"Investigate! Just what kind of tribe dares to make an enemy out of my Mountain Demon lineage?!"

"My King, this is a foreign tribe. A foreign tribe we have never seen before. Furthermore, they are not a single species, but a mixture of many. There must be a powerful entity ruling behind them," a smaller, elderly Mountain Demon below the throne spoke with a hoarse voice. "During these recent days, our boys have suffered no small losses, though we did manage to kill a few exotic wolf-dogs. However, the enemy has support from Demon Fiends in the sky, leaving us at a great disadvantage."

"Hmph! Flying Demon Fiends! Go find that Thunder Wing Roc to the west, as well as those Blazing Flame Fire Crows to the east. These outsiders are not only making an enemy out of us, but they’ve also slaughtered several weaker Demon’s Nests.

"They will certainly clash with them, too!

"Have them help find the lair of those invaders. I will personally tear it to shreds!" the Mountain Demon King roared.

Demon Fiends were not stupid; they would also join forces when facing an invincible enemy.

And the Mountain Demon King was among the most intelligent of them all.

"Yes! Your Majesty!"

The elderly Mountain Demon prostrated himself, then spoke with a hint of hesitation.

"Your Majesty, what about the Flood Dragon King? He demands that we hand over our tribe’s Hundred Fruit Brew. We have already stalled for over half a month. If we delay any longer, he will probably lose his patience..."

The fury on the Mountain Demon King’s ferocious face grew even more intense.

The Hundred Fruit Brew was made by their tribe gathering Spirit Fruits from the mountains and brewing them with the flesh and blood of Demon Fiends. Drinking it could strengthen the physical body, and the tribe only possessed a very small amount of it.

"A while ago, that Flood Dragon Demon returned with a body dripping in blood. I don’t know where he was so heavily injured. And apart from increasing strength, the greatest effect of the Hundred Fruit Brew is healing injuries..."

The Mountain Demon King’s expression flickered with uncertainty, revealing a touch of wild ambition and greed.

He wouldn’t dare offend a Flood Dragon Demon at full strength, but against one severely wounded, he didn’t necessarily fear him!

If he could seize this opportunity while the dragon was severely wounded to slay him, swallow his flesh and blood, and devour that Dragon Pearl, he might just be able to break through to the Qi Sea Realm.

That would be a true metamorphosis. He would no longer need to fear those few powerful entities residing in the deepest parts of the mountain range.

"Go! Finish off that group of invaders first! The people from the Blood Demon Sect should be arriving in a few days as well. If they want us to join them, it won’t be that easy unless they offer sufficient benefits!"