Chapter 123: 【cockroach Village Far From The Mortal World】
Yuan Zhu led his two generals on a tour around the eerie and desolate Shadow Domain, looking at the territory with zero development progress, continuously conjuring cards from the void, verbally describing various vivid and expressive PPTs, bombarding the two with chicken soup for the soul, and promising a bright future.
Uncomprehending but impressed by terms like ‘sink down, dig deep, empower…’ and other Earth brainwashing jargon in rapid succession, it delivered a dimensionality reduction strike to the natives with limited exposure living in the Underground World. It left the two dazed and bewildered.
They both decided to go all out for their dreams, contributing their own strength to add bricks and tiles to territory construction.
Commander Zuo spoke first: “My lord, I believe our territory urgently needs to build an Incinerator. To incinerate Magic Worms.”
Yuan Zhu then recalled a scene he saw in Cicada City. A massive hemispherical building spewing thick black smoke drifting toward the Dream Hole suspended in mid-air.
So he asked puzzledly: “Why not just dump the Magic Worms directly into the Dream Hole? Why go to extra trouble.”
Commander Zuo replied: “My lord may not know, but the Incinerator can extract trace amounts of Bug Gold from the bodies of Magic Worms. This substance is a transformation of ‘Iron Poison’ combined with the ‘polluted Spiritual Essence’ within Magic Worms, becoming Active Metal. It only appears in Magic Worms and Demonic Giant Insects, an essential element for Armor Casting, precious and scarce.”
“Bug Gold? Active Metal?”
He immediately thought of the Undead Knights ravaging the Surface.
That was a transcendent legion that once killed a Kunlun Earth Immortal and felled the Immortal Realm Tree, leaving the Bubble World after completing their conquest. His teammate Miss Zhou Chu’s Red Knight Armor was the orthodox power of the Knight System, now subdued by the Law and taken for his own use.
He learned from the exchange list in the Space of Gods that the Knight System does not emphasize individual might, following a team route, with strength determined by Cluster Power.
It could be multiple ability users jointly accepting Knight System power modification to form a team, bursting forth with Cluster Power and Legion Power. Or a lone individual becoming a Knight, then using the Knight System’s power to enfeoff numerous Retainers, forming a private Knight Order and continuously growing the scale.
Both were essentially the same, with the former’s leader following a co-governance model, while the latter leaned more toward dictatorship.
Regardless of the type, the Legion grew stronger in Cluster Power with increasing numbers. Individual will would gradually be swept up… and submerged by collective will.
If one could not become a soul leader with will as strong and unyielding as steel, excellent and perfect leadership decision-making ability, continuously commanding the legion to victory after victory, then even the ‘leader’ would be devoured and replaced. Because the Legion, from beginning to end, pursued expansion and growth.
That Knight Order that once tore through the sky and descended upon the Bubble World. After killing the Earth Immortal and plundering the world’s essence clean, it left behind numerous Knight remnants.
Now, these remnants turned into polluted curses, becoming the Calamity Knights ravaging the Surface. Following the most primal ‘Legion Killing Instinct,’ they waged a century-long meaningless war, killing, plundering, and destroying all living things moving on the Surface.
And giving rise to calamities like Black Storm, Corrosive Iron Rain, Earth Tremors, Iron Poison Dust, continuously destroying the Surface ecology, adding bricks and tiles to prolonging the apocalypse.
The ‘metal pollution’ released by the Undead Legion permeated the atmosphere, rainwater, groundwater… everywhere, severely eroding the Root Network and breeding large numbers of Magic Worms.
The natives, through continuous trial and error, plagiarized the Knight Breathing Technique to develop the Source Qi Breathing Method to counter and suppress the Iron Poison’s erosion of flesh.
The Technician Alliance also developed the Incinerator, refining Magic Worms through centralized incineration to obtain Heat Energy and Bug Gold simultaneously. The polluted waste gas after incineration was discharged into the Dream Hole, earning a cut from the Nightmare hands.
Unfortunately, Bug Gold’s output was scarce and monopolized by the major Insect Cities. They were derivative products of Knight System pollution, core elements for Heavenly Realm powerhouses to cast armor and complete eclosion transformation.
…
The Qi Refining System of the Underground World had long sewn the three systems of pollution into one body. The foundationless Insect System needed to rely on Root Tendril pollution (Spiritual Energy) and Active Bug Gold (Armor Casting) to continuously evolve.
Commander Zuo proposed building the Incinerator, with 30% for perfecting the camp’s basic functions, but the remaining 70% was selfish motive. He was about to break through to Heaven Rank and had to face Armor Casting, thus urgently needing Bug Gold! He had to urge the boss.
Yuan Zhu didn’t care about any ulterior motives, because he realized this Bug Gold was absolutely valuable.
Besides being essential for Heavenly Rank Cultivators’ Armor Casting, it was an advanced derivative product of the Knight System. The Knight System in the Main World was also very mainstream, especially on the East Coast and the Western World of Geng Continent, one of the mainstreams.
Therefore, this Bug Gold was absolutely a high-value rare material, an advanced resource that could sell out in the Space of Gods. And the raw material for refining it was just the ubiquitous, rampant small Magic Worms.
This business was a must!
He hurriedly asked: “In that case, building the Incinerator is indeed necessary. Is construction difficult? Or as long as the temperature is high enough and the flames fierce enough, melting the Magic Worms can refine Bug Gold?”
Zuo Fan: “It requires special technology, held by the Technician Alliance’s Armor Casting Division, Iron Armory, and Alchemy Room—three families.”
The three names he mentioned were exactly the Technician Families the brother and sister most wanted to join. One mastered the artifact refining industry, one continuously researched Armor Casting techniques, and the last deeply cultivated Alchemy craft.
Shopkeeper Lu muttered: “The simplest way to build an Incinerator is to hire a Technician Family to come to our territory and build the Incinerator. Best to also install a large Tube Worm Purification Array to continuously provide Spiritual Energy. If we can contact the Reverse Life Immortal Sect, we can set up a Reverse Life Garden for planting food, making the camp completely perfect and self-sufficient.”
Yuan Zhu praised: “You think very thoroughly. If I dared to do that, this little foundation would have been swallowed by them long ago!”
He didn’t believe that the local Immortal Sects and Technician Oligarchs would remain unmoved upon seeing the brand new version of Shadow Domain + Shadow Dream Hole, and still trade normally?
If he were them, he would definitely wipe him out first, occupy the camp, and claim it for themselves.
Zuo Fan: “My lord, we can change strategy, infiltrate Cicada City or other Insect Cities, secretly kidnap technicians with Incinerator construction skills, bring them back to the camp, control them with the Shadow Domain, pull them onto our chariot to serve us. Worm Control Array, artifact refining, Alchemy… same principle. The Underground World also has mobile trading Black Markets detached from Insect Cities, controlled by Nomadic Families, providing slave trading services.”
Yuan Zhu was delighted to hear this: “I very much want to participate in trading to buy talent, but I have no money.”
Commander Zuo gritted his teeth: “Then go rob! Go kidnap!”
For his own future, he felt he could go all out and play big.
Yuan Zhu held the same attitude. He came to this mere Bubble World not to obey laws and save the world by playing management and construction.
This broken world was unsalvageable, better to shatter it and reshape order: “You’re the local snake in this area, you formulate the plan, then hand it to me for approval. You don’t want to have the Dream Hole, bridge Heaven and Earth, only to be stuck lacking cultivation resources later, right?”
“Leave it to me, one night! Just one night, and I can formulate a plan that will satisfy my lord.”
The shop owner on the other side broke out in cold sweat listening. How in just a few words had they so decisively decided to commit a major crime?
No wonder he wasn’t reused; his awareness was insufficient. He lacked the guts to go out and court death, but he had the skill for internal exploitation. So he decided to go all out in ‘internal affairs construction’ to gain favor, and humbly advised: “My lord, calm down, our forces are still a bit thin.”
Yuan Zhu agreed with his view: “Precisely because they are thin, we must take proactive action to dig up talent and grow the team stronger.”
“But we don’t even have enough manpower to dig up talent.” Rely on that brother and sister pair? To rob a Technician Family’s Black Market operation?
Yuan Zhu comforted: “Don’t worry about that. Commander Zuo goes ahead with the plan, but no rush to complete it; we can continue discussing optimizations. And I will cultivate 5 super warriors (Ghost Companions) in the shortest time, forming the initial startup team configuration, right? And for the crime, no need to rush high difficulty. Start small. Don’t abstain from small evils.”
Commander Zuo picked up: “My lord is right, we can start from inside Cicada City. I provide terrain maps, patrol schedules, marked locations, and cover; my lord cooperates with Shadow Escape to acquire important camp construction resources imperceptibly, accumulate related experience. Then replicate to other Insect Cities.”
“Great idea! Safe and efficient. List the detailed plan, hand it to me tomorrow together.”
Why challenge a high-difficulty five-star mission right away? With an inside man coordinating, poaching from Cicada City walls wasn’t both sweet and easy? And accumulate work experience; this was the real commercial warfare.
Then, he said to the shop owner: “Old Lu, go now to the outskirts of the Upper City District and acquire kids for me. Not too many, first batch 20, mainly orphans. Bring them back abducted, you teach them, first impart the Shadow Breathing Technique; then hand to Little Spicy Stick to manage, raise worms together to get rich.”
…
After assigning work to the two, Yuan Zhu returned inside the Shadow Dream Hole and found that after combining with the Shadow Domain, the internal space had expanded a full four times, with the shadow barrier in contact with the Nightmare Layer even more solid, upgraded from the original fluctuating membrane to the current sturdy Black Organic Glass.
Still able to choose penetration direction, with built-in frosted glass effect, effectively isolating and blocking external ‘mental pollution distortion.’ But still unable to view the Nightmare Dimension scenery with the naked eye.
He re-entered Tiger Demon Stance, released the four Ghost Companions, stored them in four Worm Pillar Town Stones for idle upgrading. Three healthy ones were instilled with complete Shadow Qi Refining Technique by Little Spicy Stick, forcibly operating Shadow Power with Breathing Method without Dao Seed, Meridians, or True Qi, attempting cultivation.
The remaining one, the Eggplant Head Ghost with its head severed and critically injured near death, came back to life under the Worm Pillar’s nourishment. Expected to fully revive in one to two days.
At that moment, a healthy Ghost Companion forcibly operating the Breathing Method caused lung explosion, spewing a mass of viscous black asphalt, health dropping sharply, but quickly revived by Shadow Pollution injected from the Worm Pillar.
Confirming the Ghost Companions wouldn’t die, he stopped paying attention, letting them create new surprises for themselves.
…
After settling the Eggplant Head Ghost, the Tiger Demon dragged a Earth Rank death row prisoner into the Shadow Dream Hole, itself acting as Ghost Companion Refinement Program, the Domain spontaneously drawing Miasma and Magic Worms from outside for fuel, driving the upgraded Shadow Space to refine the sacrifice.
The process was similar to refining Human Pillar, but this time the target was Ghost Companion. The Tiger Demon continued controlling the pollution to first forcibly empower the sacrifice, then inject Nightmare to activate the Shadow Dream Hole.
Once everything was on track, the Tiger Demon checked the Shadow Dream Hole’s feedback time; this refinement mission estimated 3 hours. So the Tiger Demon peacefully closed its eyes and began dream cultivation.
In a daze, its spirit experienced a familiar sensation, suddenly lightening as it detached from the body, appearing in a foggy desolate land.
“Where is this?” The Tiger Demon looked down at its hands, “Eh? Human Stance, no! This is a Dream?!”
Human-form Yuan Zhu suddenly jolted mentally, recalling this sensation—it was clearly the experience of drinking Yellow Millet Echo and escaping into Yellow Millet Town in the dream.
Now, without drinking, just falling asleep brought him back into the dream. And this was… his own ‘Dream’!
He hurriedly looked around, finding the misty land extremely small, returning to the start after a few steps. All around was gray-white mist, underfoot a small patch of soil.
He drew an X on the ground with his toe, then casually chose a direction and walked forward. In no more than ten steps, he sensed a looping sensation, seeing the X ahead again.
No matter the direction, a few steps brought him back in front of the X. So this ‘Dream’ was a finite-area ‘circle’; exceeding the boundary made one appear from the other end.
Not only that, he gradually perceived his control over the Dream, and sensed the ‘Dream’s connection to reality—accurately, to the Shadow Domain. He detected several blurry life signals, not asleep yet, so unable to pull them into the dream.
Suddenly, a high-appearance silver-haired girl appeared beside him, bouncing and punching the sky twice, exclaiming: “Boss, I have a body again! What is this place, sniff sniff… such a novel feeling. Feels just like dreaming.”
“You are indeed dreaming; this is a dream derived from the Shadow Domain. I suspect it’s related to the Nightmare Power fed back by the Shadow Dream Hole. This misty space now is a dream space co-created by the Tiger Demon and Shadow Domain. It seems it can further expand and grow by absorbing more ‘dreams.'”
“Dream? Something similar to Yellow Millet Town?” Little Spicy Stick suddenly realized, “This is part of the Nightmare Layer? We’ve entered the Nightmare Layer?!”
Yuan Zhu sensed the ‘Dream’s condition while answering: “We’re still inside the Bubble World, protected by the world. But similarly in the same dimension as the Nightmare Layer. Think of the Nightmare Dimension as the Sea; we’re now on an ‘isolated island,’ and can take the step into the sea via the Shadow Dream Hole.”
“If refusing to go to sea, we can still develop and expand this ‘Dream’ inside the Bubble World, relying on the Shadow Domain to absorb more dreams, creating a small ‘dream network’ within the world, like how Yellow Millet Town projects Du Ling into the Real World.”
Little Spicy Stick excitedly said: “Build our own Yellow Millet Town? Does that mean this private Shadow Dreamland can connect to Du Ling’s Yellow Millet Town via the Nightmare School’s ‘paths’? Thus bypassing Happy Home, directly using the Nightmare Path to communicate with the Underground World? Opening a smuggling goods route.”
Yuan Zhu: “I think it’s possible, but still need to consult professionals: Yellow Millet Town and Nightmare School!”
“Boss, name this place!”
Yuan Zhu: “Let me think…”
He suddenly saw, as the ‘Dream’ area slowly expanded, Worm Pillar statues appearing in various positions, replicating a small ‘dream version Shadow Domain.’
The nearest to him was a Cockroach Town Stone, so he blurted: “…How about calling it Cockroach Village Far From the Mortal World!”
