Chapter 140: 【seal Casting】
Yuan Zhu stood beneath the shattered starry sky, with remnants of withered wood as tall as skyscrapers by his side, and more than 20 subordinates kneeling on the ground praying before him.
He had no Dao Seed and used [Holy Cough] to forcibly simulate a ‘pseudo breathing method,’ which extremely consumed mental effort and life (self-combustion), yielding negligible benefits, so he simply stopped.
From the hands of the Moon Worship followers, he took a [Original Mao Shi Worm] that had already ‘formed a cocoon’ and observed it carefully.
The [Moon Worship Ceremony] continued… If not interrupted by accidents, it could last for several hours.
‘Moon Worship’ sounds grand, but the actual operation is simple with no threshold restrictions. It only requires setting up a temporary magic array and establishing a connection with ‘withered wood.’
This allows the withered wood to serve as a receiver, drawing in moonlight, integrating it into true qi, tempering the spirit, and enhancing the foundation.
If not for the harsh surface environment, severe pollution, and rampant natural disasters; and the difficult and dangerous paths from the underground world to the surface, with high mortality rates.
Otherwise, performing ‘Moon Worship’ once a month would be quite good. It has no side effects, accelerates getting stronger, and even improves aptitude.
Yuan Zhu suddenly thought that if he could open a stable ‘surface passage,’ he might turn [Moon Worship] into a territory benefit: a genius children’s training class.
In fact, the lower urban area already has similar service projects, arranging strong experts to escort the ‘insect second generations,’ regularly going to the surface to bask in the moonlight, accelerating cultivation progress.
Dispelling the messy thoughts in his mind, he continued observing the ‘crystal silk cocoon’ in his hand, which resembled a handicraft.
The [Mao Shi Worm] that had formed a cocoon now had two paths to take:
1 is to leave it alone, letting it mutate and develop inside the cocoon. Ultimately transforming into a crystal demon moth or butterfly, then laying more localized (true qi-affine) eggs.
Following this pattern, after several cycles of ‘hatching, farming, Moon Worship, egg-laying.’
The [Mao Shi Worm] might be deeply assimilated by the native ‘true qi (insect system) pollution system,’ gradually evolving toward native ‘insect’ directions.
Even! It could give birth to a ‘Mao Shi. Primal Dao Seed,’ which, when implanted into natives, would generate a meridian system, creating true qi dependants belonging to the [Mao Mao King]: the [Mao Clan]!
At that time, the quality of ‘insect silk’ might undergo a round of mutation and ascension. But it would require time and energy for cultivation and guidance.
Yuan Zhu valued the [Shadow Yuan Shi Worm] so much, sparing great effort to specially cultivate the [Yuan Shi Worm], not without the intention of replicating a version of the [Yuan Shi. Spiny Caterpillar Dao Seed].
If truly successful, the [Yuan Spiny Caterpillar Dao Seed + Source Qi Breathing Method] could serve as the core hardware for the [Shadow System. Cultivation Technique (soul program)], loaded into every [Ghost Companion].
Allowing the inherently garbage ‘ghost companion goblins and eggplant head ghosts,’ who see no potential or future, to gain a share of ‘everyone like a dragon, everyone cultivates, breathing and exhaling upgrades, shatter the void’ hope.
Thus, he, as the ‘act as a tiger’s henchman’ [Tiger King], would have some demon king prestige.
As for the second path, it was to immediately crush the transforming ‘Mao Shi Worm’ in the cocoon, recycle this ‘crystal silk cocoon’ as raw material for the [Mao Mao King]’s children’s wear, collect them on a large scale, and submit to the company to complete the main mission!
Seeing that there were still large batches of ‘Mao Shi Worms’ queuing for ‘Moon Worship reinforcement’ by the 20 subordinates, and not lacking this one, Yuan Zhu immediately exerted force with his fingertip, crushing the crystal cocoon in his hand.
A cold, highly elastic texture transmitted from his fingertip, and a crisp cracking sound like thin potato chips being crushed came from inside the cocoon.
He tried to release mental perception to sense the changes inside the cocoon, only to find that the ‘Mao Shi Worm’ was extremely fragile before completing its transformation, shattering with a pinch. Those tiny fragments immediately turned into liquid, seeping into the surrounding ‘crystal silk cocoon,’ elevating the quality of these crystal threads once more, gaining a cold, clear spirit attribute enhancement.
Looking at the ‘crystal silk cocoon’ whose temperament grew increasingly ethereal, exhibiting semi-transparent virtualization traits, Yuan Zhu suddenly felt that this [Mao Mao Worm] was somewhat interesting. The ‘mental trait’ and ‘semi-virtualization’ it (cocoon silk) displayed now were not entirely due to moonlight, but more from the inherent characteristics of the ‘insect eggs.’
Then, he thought of the [Shadow Yuan Shi Worm]’s one-time semi-virtualized shadow threads, which bore some similarity to these permanently existing ‘crystal threads.’ Even the ‘Yellow Springs Aura’ carried in his shadows could, to a certain extent, substitute for the soul attribute in [moonlight].
He felt that his [Shadow Pollution] seemed somewhat complementary to this [moonlight]?
“Hey!”
Yuan Zhu suddenly raised his hand and patted the subordinate closest to him, interrupting the other’s ‘Moon Worship cultivation.’
The other stopped breathing and exhaling, opened his eyes, and looked at Yuan Zhu: “Master, what are your orders?”
“Pause the nurturing reinforcement for these caterpillars, first nurture these few bugs.”
With that, he flung out several [Yuan Shi Worm. Shadow Stinger Moth Larvae (Yuan Spiny Caterpillar)] that were innately close to him. He wanted the other to nurture a batch first, to see if they could form cocoons?
“Got it!”
This employee gladly accepted the order, using qi threads to draw the four ‘shadow stinger moth larvae’ into his palm, then continued closing his eyes to breathe and exhale, injecting true qi infused with moonlight into the [Yuan Shi Worm].
Yuan Zhu also observed distractedly, and the spiny venomous-haired wriggler did absorb this ‘nutrient,’ but showed no impulse to spin silk and form a cocoon; instead, it slightly expanded?
Through the feedback from this ‘venomous hairy worm,’ he realized that the caterpillars polluted by his own shadows had no intention of [cocoon formation], but continued accumulating ‘insect system pollution’ toward directions of larger size, longer body, and more venomous hairs.
And with enhancement, there were two different mutation directions:
If biased toward ‘true qi pollution,’ it would break free from [Shadow Pollution], evolving toward localized ‘bugs,’ and one day give birth to ‘shadow attribute’ [insect egg. Dao Seed].
If biased toward ‘Shadow Pollution,’ it would further shadowify, transforming from insect body into a shadow creature, more intimate with the tiger demon. Even if massively devouring and absorbing ‘datafied shadow pollution,’ it could directly transform into a tiger demon dependant.
The former would make the [Yuan Shi Worm] gradually lose control and escape control. The latter would revert to the old path of shadow species, completely losing the potential of the [Qi Refining System].
…
The Moon Worship Ceremony thus continued for several hours, and all the [insect eggs] brought by this mission had hatched and received moonlight reinforcement.
Those caterpillars that had grown to their limit all formed cocoons, while the later batches that hadn’t reached their limit also absorbed moonlight to remove hidden restrictions. After returning to the underground world, they could still smoothly grow to the limit, then form cocoons, transform, and lay eggs.
Thus, Yuan Zhu separated half of the ‘crystal cocoons’ and crushed them all as stress-relief toys, harvesting a batch of ‘spirit system. cocoons,’ planning to bring them back to [Happy Home] to turn in the mission.
The remaining half was naturally kept for egg-laying, continuing the next round of farming operations. Moreover, the cocoons after hatching wouldn’t disappear and could also be turned in. However, these cocoons, without prematurely crushing the ‘caterpillars’ to absorb essence, would be one grade lower in quality.
…
During the ceremony, a small number of ‘individual. demonic giant insects’ that could survive in the harsh surface environment were also attracted by the moonlight gathered by the withered wood, moving toward it from different directions.
Since qi refiners could absorb moonlight to enhance spiritual essence; and it could similarly help spirit insects enhance spiritual essence; then as ‘magic worms’ birthed from human cocoons, they could naturally absorb moonlight even better.
Thus, in the surface world, dormant magic worms successively awoke, crawling toward the nearest ‘withered wood remnants.’
On Yuan Zhu’s side, he observed from afar 4 magic worms approaching bit by bit from different directions.
Among them, the largest was even bigger than a tourist bus, like a moving small hill, a cricket with not very agile movement.
Its body was too large, its plump abdomen affected by gravity, dragging on the Gobi, severely impacting its movement speed. Thus, this giant fat cricket could hardly jump anymore, instead growing a layer of thick heavy exoskeleton on its surface.
Not just this one, the demonic giant insects from other directions, regardless of type, all developed toward ‘heavy exoskeleton’ directions. This should be related to the ‘knight system (metal) pollution’ pervasive on the surface.
The smallest lone magic worm was still van-sized. Much larger than the ‘shadow magic worms (small fry)’ he cultivated.
To prevent his subordinates’ cultivation from being interrupted, Yuan Zhu naturally took action personally. He successively used [Tiger Demon Stance] to battle the largest magic worm.
In this round of combat, he didn’t choose to exterminate them, nor go all-out to trade injuries. Instead, his tactics were very sneaky, mainly kiting, leading over a dozen magic worms in harassing surround attacks, using human intelligence to bully the dumb magic worms.
Outnumbering, bullying the weak, remote harassment, and taking turns testing the upgraded [Tiger Demon Divine Ability]. Space severance claws, shadow swamp collapse (shadow manipulation), shadow tentacle entanglement (shadow manipulation), magic worm group beating (ghost companions), summon wind (pure atmosphere), snake demon strangling whipping tearing biting…
Ultimately, he successfully used a ‘magic worm cough explosion’ to heavily injure the low-IQ, simple-patterned dumb magic worms. And at the gaps in its ground-hugging abdominal armor, he tore several large holes, with ink-green organs and blood spilling everywhere.
He himself emerged unscathed, retreating intact, and by the way, carefully refined the ashes after the ‘shadow magic worm’ self-exploded. Compared to the tension and awkwardness when assaulting [Cicada City] before, it was worlds apart. There was a shameful composure like beating a retarded child.
Under the stimulation of intense pain and the threat of death, this giant magic worm decisively detoured, no longer approaching the withered wood, but digging underground to escape. And it left behind a large pool of flesh mixed with pheromones.
Subsequently, he used his near [Heaven Rank] tiger demon strength to dispel, repel, and devour the threatening demonic giant insects; finally switching back to human stance, using [1 Seal. Holy Light] approaching Great Perfection to battle the weakest van-level magic worm.
Next came another evenly matched, exhilarating beating-the-child battle!
He calmly faced the native demonic giant insects, unleashing various self-created ‘Holy Light unique skills’ in turn:
[Holy Cough Blessing (adhesive erosion), upper respiratory holy light infection (proliferation), lungs purification (high-temperature carbonization), holy force field seal, cubic body internal explosion (refinement)… garbled breathing. Great Blessing Technique (mental shock)!]
This [Holy Light] lived up to being an idealist unique skill; as long as it conformed to Holy Light’s basic nature and [Sanctuary]’s attributes, his exclusive Holy Light could manifest as he wished.
As [Seal Casting] was about to end, his Holy Light, influenced by [Sanctuary], exhibited ‘sturdy’ and ‘space’ traits, able to condense into one-time force field barriers, excelling in defense, shielding isolation, sealing, and such domains.
Additionally, the ‘basic life incineration, purification rejection’ inherent to Holy Light. As well as, during seal casting, after absorbing disease and insect system pollution, the derived ‘viscous, biological erosion, parasitism’; and the less useful ‘breathing method knowledge (invalid knowledge, requires [Dao Seed] cooperation).’
Even the most underwhelming, useless [Breathing Method] was developed by him into a ‘mental shock,’ through saturated ‘special breathing’ instinctive mental shock infusion, disrupting the victim’s breathing rhythm.
That is: uncontrollably performing chaotic ‘Holy Cough Breathing Technique,’ not only disrupting the original normal breathing rhythm, but also causing ‘respiratory system’ Holy Cough pollution to rampage, leading to hiccups, asthma, pneumothorax, coughing blood…
And Yuan Zhu preferred to turn it into [spellcasting interruption]! Even his [Breathing Method. Mental Shock] had special attack effects against Insect City cultivators.
Using [Holy Cough Breathing Technique] to impact, interfere, and disrupt the original [Insect System Breathing Method] rhythm, to a certain extent disrupting the opponent’s true qi circulation, thereby seizing combat opportunities.
While [Reverse Holy Cough Breathing Technique] could pair with [Holy Cough Particles] to cultivate latent agents among ‘Holy Cough True Qi users.’
Facing such demonic giant insects, ‘breathing method shock’ had limited effect, because magic worms lacked lungs, relying entirely on ‘air holes’ on the exoskeleton for breathing. Similarly, reverse Holy Cough Breathing Great Blessing Technique was still ineffective against magic worms, as they had no ‘meridian system.’
However, Yuan Zhu’s other [Holy Light unique skills] remained highly effective, and under successive attacks, he heavily damaged the magic worm.
Then, he spared no expense burning ‘shadow magic worms (shadow batteries)’ to draw endless [Holy Light] for his use, combined with his own minor expenditure (burning life), successfully using [Holy Light Force Field Barrier] to thoroughly refine this magic worm.
Until three hours before dawn, his ‘Moon Worship area’ suffered no further magic worm attacks. Because the peripheral areas of the ceremony were evenly scattered with magic worm internal organs, blood, and other remains, and with pheromone diffusion, other weak magic worms all detoured.
Yuan Zhu sat cross-legged in meditation, maintaining the shrinking ‘Holy Light Barrier’ throughout, continuously extracting fresh ‘magic worm ashes’ from it to complete the final [Seal Casting].
Three hours passed in an instant, and his [Sanctuary. Holy Seal] smoothly reached Great Perfection. Quality directly exceeded the original limit (7 notches), reaching a brand new 8 notches. Just one step from the known highest 9 notches of [Holy Seals].
For a Holy Light System novice who had just started, an 8-notch Holy Seal was already top-tier. In any ‘Holy Church school,’ it would be a core Holy Seal, not passed outside.
And with [Sanctuary] casting complete, his spirit and soul further deeply fused with [Holy Light], feeling the soul sublimate, and from the depths of the soul, a faint crystalline body condensed.
His mental strength and resilience both improved. Additionally, the soul’s crystalline qualitative change was very strong, and the [Holy Seal. Sanctuary] became the gateway connecting to the soul.
Now, as long as he obtained more ‘soul ashes,’ he could forcibly melt, purify, and absorb through the [Holy Seal] that essence not inferior to ‘moonlight’ [soul essence], then condense a [Space System soul crystal].
Even before the ‘soul crystal’ condensed, he already perceived that inside this [soul crystal], a cubic exclusive space would be born. And this was the core attribute [Sanctuary] itself should have.
His soul, already influenced by [Sanctuary], had birthed corresponding ‘space attribute traits.’ And he already perceived a ‘virtual’ cubic space appearing in his soul, waiting for the soul crystal to fully materialize and substantialize it.
