Chapter 136: Heading To The Surface
After listening to Lu Yan’s introduction to the Moon Worship Ceremony, Yuan Zhu also developed some interest in the matter.
First, after descending into this world, he had been circling around the Underground World and had never gone to the Surface for exploration. Therefore, he was somewhat curious about the Surface World and wanted to go take a look.
Second, he was not only interested in Moon Worship, but his own Original Mao Shi Worm also had an unavoidable need to receive moonlight exposure, so he must arrange for someone to go to the dangerous Surface.
Therefore, Lu Yan came up with the idea of his own lord.
Originally, the most suitable candidate was naturally the very capable Commander Zuo. The other party had rich experience in long journeys and going to the Surface for Moon Worship. He should lead a batch of cannon fodder to the Surface for Moon Worship, helping the Caterpillars accelerate transformation and enter the silk-spinning stage.
Now that Commander Zuo was trapped in Cicada City under investigation, working hard to clear his suspicions, the most suitable candidate naturally became himself.
Unfortunately, he was cowardly and afraid of death, lacked long journey experience, and had neither the courage nor confidence.
So he falsely claimed that his tasks were heavy, working hard to develop the Animal Husbandry Village, and had to personally supervise the deployment of the Worm Control Array on the front lines, unable to free himself. Only then did he reluctantly turn his idea to Yuan Zhu.
This boss seemed reckless, brainless, brave but without strategy, daring to directly assault Cicada City? And even retreat unscathed. Since you’re so brave, then leading the team to the Surface to bask in the moonlight should be a low-difficulty task that’s no big deal, right.
After all, going for Moon Worship was a key link in the other party’s Caterpillar breeding. Yuan Zhu’s emphasis on Caterpillars was ranked first; even if the camp exploded or the Dream Hole collapsed, he would ensure the smooth growth of the Caterpillars.
…
“My lord’s strength is extraordinary. If you can lead a team to safely escort and complete the Moon Worship and return. Whether it’s the strength of the camp members or the Spirit Insects taken to the Surface, they can all experience a leap forward, greatly enhancing our foundation.”
According to the other party’s explanation, to get stronger in the Underground World: rich people rely on consuming Pills to refine Spiritual Essence; nobles rely on unique Bloodline Inheritance, innately superior; the core seeds of the Technician Alliance not only have great potential but also possess secret Cultivation Technique treasures.
As for the poor? Besides betting on extraordinary innate aptitude, those mediocre ones can only go to the Surface for Moon Worship… exchanging risk for rapid improvement.
From the Underground Safe Zone to the Surface, one must pass through pollution zones and forbidden zones. Then arrive at the dangerous Surface, encountering attacks from various Demonic Calamities and hunts by the Undead Knights. Finally, successfully staying for 6 hours and receiving enough moonlight exposure can bring a small improvement.
Repeating this, sending heads once a month, strength can advance by leaps and bounds. This is the cheapest, lowest-threshold Path of the Strong.
Of course, it can’t be ruled out that some people are born with extraordinary aptitude, have endless Pills and advanced Cultivation Techniques, bear dual Bloodline Inheritance from paternal and maternal lines, and are damn particularly diligent and motivated, with strong protectors by their side, going to the Surface to bask in moonlight every month.
Hmm, no comparison there. No matter how inspirational a commoner’s rise, it can’t beat this kind of cheat; no wonder they’re invincible underground.
“If my lord wants to develop the Animal Husbandry Village well, talent is indispensable. Why not select a batch of promising materials from those orphans and send them to the Surface to receive the moon’s Blessing.”
Yuan Zhu agreed with the other party’s statement and asked: “Does it start from tomorrow?”
Lu Yan nodded: “Yes, although the true full moon is only one day. But the Full Moon Period effective for Moon Worship can last more than 3 days at most. The Surface World environment is harsh, with Black Storms frequent, each appearance blocking out the sky and sun; Moon Worship can only wait for the right moment. Receiving moonlight exposure within the Full Moon Period counts as success. If it can last multiple days with continuous rituals, the effect will undoubtedly be better.”
Yuan Zhu: “Alright. During full moons, how many people does Cicada City arrange to go to the Surface for Moon Worship? And how many Spirit Insects do they carry?”
“Lower Urban Area residents have dedicated leaders taking teams; they are experienced and strong, carrying sufficient Supplies, usually around 10 people per team, with extremely high safety. Such teams are few and require payment to join. Central Urban Area folks form groups spontaneously, mostly those whose strength has hit a bottleneck, with some self-protection ability, hiring a Guide to try their luck on the Surface. Upper City District usually draws 1 in 30 for forced teaming, 30 per team, carrying large numbers of Spirit Insects to the Surface, with the highest casualty rate. As for Spirit Insects, naturally the more the better.”
“Arrange a Guide for me; I’ll select 20 people shortly. You prepare the needed Supplies; we depart tomorrow.”
From the Underground Safe Zone, crossing the Root Network to the Surface, straight-line distance just 20km. With a Map and Guide, not fearing dangers along the way, it still takes at least a dozen hours to reach the Surface… more tiring than climbing Everest. And this is for superhumans with True Qi blessing; for ordinary people, they’d be exhausted to death long ago.
…
Lu Yan went to gather people and make preparations, while Yuan Zhu opened the Shadow Dream Hole server and accessed the Caterpillar breeding data.
He found that both the Original Mao Shi Worm and the Shadow Yuan Shi Worm were growing and developing very well, evolving into two completely different species:
After receiving True Qi nourishment, the Original Mao Shi Worm successfully hatched. From young, they grew eating local Spirit Insect food rations, enjoying True Qi nourishing their bodies, removing pollution, accelerating development…
Therefore, this batch of Caterpillars exhibited a high dependence on the True Qi System, showing a tendency toward assimilation and transformation into Spirit Insects.
In just a week, they rapidly expanded from the size of a black ink dot from a neutral pen tip to an average length of 3-4cm. Such heaven-defying growth speed was the effect of locals exhausting True Qi to nurture and nourish them.
Equivalent to a human cultivator slowly and gently injecting a whole day’s Qi Refining essence into a dozen larvae. Such excessive nutrients forced them to accelerate growth by more than ten times.
The current Original Mao Shi Worm had extremely high appearance value, overall presenting a semi-transparent sapphire texture, shape highly similar to silkworm babies. In the semi-transparent Gem insect body, no Internal Organs could be seen at all, like a handicraft carved from crystal, exquisitely beautiful.
After consuming large amounts of Underground World’s Kunlun System plant food rations, a silk-like network structure similar to leaf veins appeared inside their bodies, flowing with crystalline glow, making them even more beautiful.
The only flaw or issue was that after growing to 3-4cm, they suddenly stopped developing. Like frozen in that state, no matter feeding rarer food rations or delivering True Qi with Qi Threads, no response.
So Shopkeeper Lu guessed that this alien Insect species had begun localizing; but due to being non-native, it was stuck at the critical transformation period, traditional Qi Thread stimulation ineffective; needing the Moon Worship Ceremony to cross the key step to spin silk and form cocoons, obtaining the textile raw material Yuan Zhu wanted.
Setting aside the handicraft-like Gem Silkworm, he looked at the Shadow Yuan Shi Worm, meticulously cared for by the brother and sister, now thoroughly permeated and eroded by Shadow Pollution.
Not the expected black crystal silkworm baby, but a low-appearance value, pitch-black eye-sore, covered head to tail in spikes and poisonous hairs, a Spiny Caterpillar.
Yuan Zhu used the Shadow Domain to retrieve a Yuan Shi Worm from the breeding room; sensing the ancestor source of Shadow Pollution, this thing excitedly wriggled toward him with croaking sounds.
When the Yuan Shi Worm approached, he found this ugly thing no longer fully belonged to the category of living creatures.
Underground World’s Magic Worms and Demonic Giant Insects, no matter how polluted or bizarre, were standard Insects, a type of living creature. But the Shadow Worm only retained half biological characteristics, the other half gradually Shadowification.
Their connection to the Immortal World Tree Root Tendrils was weakening, residual Insect Pollution inside, other parts starting to be replaced by Shadow Pollution. If continued cultivating, they might burrow into the Shadow Dimension, dwelling in the Inner World opened in the Shadow Domain for survival, shedding the roots and evolving into a new species.
This reminded him of the Shadow Eggplants rampant in the Little Xihong Realm, and those wild half-finished pre-made Demonic Creatures.
Yuan Zhu currently could not directly manipulate this Shadow Worm because it was not a Ghost Companion, and no direct affiliation had been established between them.
But through the Shadow Pollution connection, they felt a strong sense of closeness. Or rather, as the high-ranking Pollution Source, even in Human Stance, he naturally suppressed his Dependants.
He touched this ugly Spiny Caterpillar with his fingernail; the other excitedly reared up half its body, happily twisting around, wanting to climb onto his finger.
Smack!
A wisp of faint Holy Light flashed, flicking with bent finger. The severely injured dark Worm’s whole body poisonous hairs trembled, resonating through spike poisonous hairs, emitting a shrill scream.
Then around the spikes on its back, large amounts of thread-like Shadow Threads sprayed out, flexibly weaving a black insect cocoon around its body, presenting a viscous asphalt-pulling texture. Giving him a déjà vu of Venom symbiote.
“This is…”
Little Spicy Stick hurriedly replied: “It’s the threads sprayed from the Shadow Uniform!”
Unfortunately, the pulling asphalt from the Spiny Caterpillar couldn’t persist long in the air; about ten seconds later, these threads naturally decomposed and dissipated, failing to leave any physical substance.
At the same time, the Shadow Worm looked greatly depleted, half-dead, lying motionless. Only the poisonous hairs on the spikes still trembled slightly, sensing the direction of the Pollution Root, wanting a bite of the warm stuff.
Yuan Zhu didn’t disappoint the Yuan Shi Worm; his uniform separated a Shadow Thread connecting to the Worm, infusing trace pollution, and it quickly livened up again, continuing to wriggle toward him croakingly.
“Pretty cute, huh?”
Little Spicy Stick nodded against its will, perfunctorily humming: “Mm-hmm!”
Even a veteran bootlicker was so reluctant to agree insincerely; one could see how ugly this dark Spiny Caterpillar was.
“The Original Mao Shi Worm eats local food, receives True Qi to wash marrow and change tendons, has begun localizing, naturalized to the Bubble World, needs Moon Worship to spin silk and form cocoons to continue growing; while the Yuan Shi Worm grew up eating Shadow Pollution from young, half-step Shadowification, naturalized to the Boss Template. No ties to local at all, even starting to spin silk already?”
Yuan Zhu was pleasantly surprised by the dark Spiny Caterpillar’s growth progress, continued browsing the breeding records, puzzled: “Strange, why no record of Shadow Silk-spinning?”
Spicy Stick quickly read the brother and sister’s Breeding Log and replied: “The Mao Shi Worm has no signs of spinning silk yet, only eats without spinning, but poops a kind of unknown-use Crystal Sand, collected up, which can be asked to the Mao Mao King later if this thing has value? Does the Mao Mao King accept poop?”
“As for the Yuan Shi Worm, though young it can spray Poisonous Hair Threads through poison stings, but can’t collect them. Little Girl once tried; the Shadow Threads sprayed by Yuan Shi Worm slowly naturally degrade after detaching from the body, ultimately returning to shadows, impossible to collect. They are one-time products, ignite shortly after air contact, losing the Insect Silk properties.”
According to Little Spicy Stick’s analysis, the former Mao Shi Worm, though affected by local pollution, was still the Mao Mao King’s bug, containing the other’s pollution rules.
But the latter, after erosion by datafied Shadow Pollution, had severed ties, taken over by the Boss Template. Its core rules fully overwritten and twisted by shadows, losing original attributes. Thus even if spinning silk, it’s not what the Mao Mao King needs; qualitative change has occurred.
“If Mao Mao King doesn’t accept, then raising more is meaningless if can’t sell.”
Looking at the ugly Yuan Shi Spiny Caterpillar, Yuan Zhu felt a bit disgusted, unsure whether to continue cultivating? Maybe a Shadow Cockroach meat chicken matrix has more potential?
But Spicy Stick said: “I suggest continuing cultivation; it doesn’t cost much anyway, all raised by Little Bug and her younger brother. Reasons: two points. First, it’s of the same lineage as the Mao Mao King, a testament and crystallization of our Boss Template dominating the Mao Mao King. Useless now perhaps, but cultivating further to steal and replicate the Mao Mao King’s Children’s Wear tech, who knows we can’t knock off an alternative Shadow Uniform for the Tiger Demon?”
“Second, this world’s Dao Seed originates from Insect Eggs, and it’s a Heaven Rank Cultivator’s post-transformation exclusive Insect Egg. So, can our mastered Mao Shi Worm develop toward Dao Seed or pseudo-Dao Seed? If continue infusing Shadow Pollution, making them develop stronger, perhaps refine into Insect System Ghost Companion wetware?”
…
Temporarily setting aside the two different Mao worms, Yuan Zhu seized time for Seal Casting, and exited seclusion at the appointed time.
This time, he didn’t extract the Shadow Dream Hole a second time, carrying it with him.
Not only because the Shadow Dream Hole deeply fused with the Domain, becoming the foundation of the Inner World and Dreamland, unable to be extracted; more because the Boss Template’s major Update and Improvement gave him confidence to confront Surface dangers with strength, leading the team back unscathed.
Soon, 20 camp members of various ages, both excited and somewhat reserved, carrying Packages full of Spirit Insects, appeared at the camp’s central Plaza, awaiting Yuan Zhu’s speech.
The Chicken Soup for the Soul to say had already been poured in the Dream. Every member’s heart was filled with hot blood, but facing the hellish Surface, still somewhat uneasy inside.
So Yuan Zhu directly summoned 20 newly bred Shadow Magic Worms for full escort, using powerful lineup to steady hearts.
Seeing Magic Worms whose size equaled strength one by one, the employees’ mentality became even more uplifted: this wave is solid!
Then, Yuan Zhu summoned a batch of free-range Magic Worms from the camp. Supplementing those employees without exclusive war pets yet, on-site master recognition and binding.
Next, he took out large amounts of bottled Pills from the Shadow Dream Hole, no nonsense, distribute!
On-site handing out money, Pills, equipment, Mounts/war pets… nothing more morale-boosting.
Yuan Zhu: “Depart!”
With one command, all mounted three-wheeled cart-sized Magic Worms, covering bodies with Shadow True Qi, fully concealing presence to lower sense. Then under the Guide’s lead, burrowed into tunnels with increasingly thick Pollution Miasma, heading toward the Surface.
