Chapter 247: Siblings: We Urgently Need Massive Investment!
Yuan Zhu cast an Evil Detection on the brother and sister each, gaining some understanding of their physical conditions, and asked: “So, does that mean both of your cultivation progress has stalled?”
Seeing that her younger brother was not talkative, the little girl took the initiative to step forward, pushing her younger brother behind her, and said: “Actually, it’s not completely stuck. My talent is not as good as Xiao Tiao’s. I’ve now cultivated 16 meridians and can still continue to improve. But the current True Qi is already more than enough for Alchemy and Alchemy, so I shifted my focus. My younger brother has cultivated 28 meridians, with an unprecedented foundation! Unfortunately, the two of us exhausted the primal energy of the Holy Light Magic Worm, so we have nothing to continue with.”
“But the slowdown in True Qi does not mean we are stagnating and wasting time. On the contrary, my younger brother and I shifted our energy to the more technically demanding Alchemy and Armor Forging. We studied the Technician’s secret techniques to compensate for our own deficiencies. At the same time, we used the reduced production of Holy Power (Holy Cough) from the Holy Light Worm to maintain our realm without regression, improving control and utilization of True Qi. Our strength is even greater now!”
Seeing the little girl’s high ideological awareness, he couldn’t even encourage her and could only praise: “Great! Follow me into Cockroach Village. I’ll give you two a physical examination to get to the bottom of it.”
What he was now considering was, if he brought the two siblings back to Running, away from the unique cultivation environment of the Eclosion World, would they suffer water and soil incompatibility and die on the spot? If they luckily adapted to the pure environment and survived, what would become of their future?
Immigrating from the Eclosion World to the Du Ling Star to continue Qi Refining was out of the question.
The brother and sister’s current core True Qi-Meridian-Acupoint-Primordial Spirit system seemed possibly convertible to the Knight System, Kunlun, or Rogue Immortal? But it seemed they couldn’t switch.
Should they continue searching for pure Spiritual Energy as a substitute for Polluting Energy? Or further enhance, expand, and consolidate the Holy Cough attributes on the two of them, following his Holy Cough Breathing Technique path? Or sign an Anti-Law contract to reverse their attributes back to Shadow Pollution?
There seemed to be many optional paths, but none seemed suitable? If they couldn’t continue cultivating and improving, what was the point of him going to all that trouble to bring them out?
With a mind full of thoughts and confusion, Yuan Zhu took the lead into the Domain’s Inner World; the brother and sister also had the authority to enter and exit freely, happily following behind.
The brother and sister were full of trust and expectation toward Boss Yuan.
Their younger brother’s stalled cultivation progress could finally break through the bottleneck.
…
First, they handed their physical bodies to the Reverse Growth Mulberry Tree for proper safekeeping, then the three projected their mental consciousness into the Dream Prototype.
Here, they could communicate through consciousness. Much information content that language symbol systems struggled to describe could be intuitively conveyed and presented, achieving perfect understanding and reducing errors caused by misunderstandings.
The little girl’s current progress was relatively slow and had not reached a bottleneck, so she shifted most of her energy to researching Alchemy; another hidden reason for doing so was that the total output of Holy Cough Particles from the Domain was limited.
If she gave up cultivation, those resources would transfer to her younger brother, allowing him to fully unleash his supernatural talent and continuously break through. Thus came the traditional story of the elder sister’s kindness and younger brother’s filial piety: ‘the sister doesn’t love cultivation (mom loves eating fish heads).’
So Yuan Zhu had the younger brother project his cultivated Dao Seed (Dantian)-Meridian-Acupoint System in 3D into the Dream.
The younger brother focused inward and soon projected all the mysteries of his own cultivation without any concealment.
20 main meridians intertwined with the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, meridians spreading throughout the body, showing flesh activity, and consciously extending rugged branches like ‘capillaries,’ looking more complex than the Traditional Chinese Medicine meridian chart.
On this basis, there were 8 uniquely created Hidden Meridians, like winding mountain ranges, penetrating the body in irregular ways, making the original meridian system even more complex.
Yuan Zhu could tell just by observing that this thing had exceeded the scope of Classical Medicine. Carefully imagining, an Insect Cultivator’s ‘meridians’ were not meridians, but another set of ‘Insect life system’ developed symbiotically from Insect Eggs (Dao Seeds), forcibly shaped into the appearance of ‘meridians’ to operate True Qi.
Realizing this, Yuan Zhu curiously asked: “Are these Meridian Structures a unified standard, or do they vary from person to person?”
The little girl replied: “The core meridian paths of the Twelve Main Meridians and the Eight Extraordinary Meridians are standard. But specific details and branch extensions vary from person to person. They alienate based on the cultivator’s body structure and behavior habits. As for Hidden Meridians, each one is unique and closely related to the cultivation technique, endowing True Qi with special powerful attributes.”
The Underground World’s Qi Refining Cultivation Method was created by the Technician Alliance, but its core ideas originated from the Kunlun Immortal Sect’s immortal cultivation methods. To escape Kunlun’s control, they substituted ‘Insect Dao Seeds’ for ‘plant Spiritual Roots’; they also stole the Knight Breathing Technique to simulate True Qi.
Ultimately succeeding in fusing three teachings, birthing a super mishmash belonging to the Insect System Pollution.
The best in this aspect was the Great Red Heaven supernatural system of the Super Dragon Empire, the eastern superpower on Geng Continent. It was said to have stitched together Yellow Heaven, Kunlun, Knight, Law, Alchemy, and many other pollution systems, yet perfectly fused them, birthing an independent ultimate Pollution Root Great Red Heaven, uninfluenced by any party (Origin).
The current Qi Refining System showed potential in this aspect, making Yuan Zhu somewhat tempted. He began to guess that the Captain (Mao Mao King) was gradually shifting focus to the Eclosion World to systematically steal this ‘ownerless fruit’?
But ‘fake insect cultivator’ and ‘luxury children’s wear’ didn’t match him. Could it be Luxury Special Effects Children’s Battle Suit?
…
After a hundred years of changes in the Eclosion World, the earliest version of the Qi Refining Cultivation Method had been continuously perfected and supplemented, now differentiated into a vast number of Qi Refining Cultivation Methods of varying quality.
Each type of Insectoid Race Dao Seed had dozens of matching mind methods, plus even more Martial Arts.
Ordinary versions could only cultivate the Twelve Main Meridians; more advanced methods included Twelve Main Meridians enhanced version + Eight Extraordinary Meridians (starting with 2 meridians). Further up, the second generation in the Lower Urban Area could, on top of Twelve Main Meridians + Eight Extraordinary Meridians, additionally cultivate Hidden Meridians, gaining even more plus Supernatural Ability blessings and passive buffs.
The brother and sister obtained a large amount of the Insect City’s top secret methods not passed outside from the Captain. Combined with cultivation talent and massive resource infusion (the core factor), they forcibly pulled seedlings to help them grow, breaking through to their current realm.
Facts proved that having talent wasn’t scary; piling on resources was the kingly way!
Yuan Zhu looked at the little brother: “You additionally cultivated eight Hidden Meridians; what abilities did you awaken?”
Younger Brother shook his head desperately, indicating nothing had awakened. His eyes were full of guilt and self-blame.
The little girl hurriedly explained for her younger brother: “Of course it’s not visible now. It can only be said that his physical qualities are 3 times those of cultivators at the same realm, with higher quality and greater quantity (four times+) True Qi. But the extra Supernatural Abilities require enlightenment to refine all the ‘acupoints’ of the Hidden Meridians to truly awaken; that’s after Earth Rank and Heaven Rank.”
“Acupoints, huh.”
Yuan Zhu sighed, looking at Younger Brother’s ‘meridian chart’ projected in the Dreamland. The currently only condensed ‘acupoint’ was right above the Dantian.
Named Acupoint or Acupuncture Point, it was actually a small Dantian (insect nest, flesh tissue) reconstructed from ‘Insect System Meridians.’ A Qi Refiner condenses at least 30 acupoints on each meridian.
Ultimately Twelve Main Meridians = 360 acupoints, True Qi storage surges, Qi Threads number surges. With Younger Brother’s current foundation, at least 840 acupoints (small Dantians) to start. Each acupoint can additionally condense Qi Threads.
Qi Threads are the transformation of Essence, Qi, Spirit essence; after breaking through Heaven Rank, they can diffuse to form Insect Nest Barrier (Martial Dao Domain); they can gather and weave into Martial Dao Dharma Image, transform into Martial Dao Primordial Spirit, escape into Insect Armor to shatter the void (Nightmare Layer), exploring different time and space.
Younger Brother was now stuck at this first Acupoint, unable to advance an inch.
With his current knowledge reserve + insight, Yuan Zhu didn’t see the problem and directly asked: “Younger Brother, what’s your situation? I see no issue with your Meridian Foundation.”
Compared to the little girl, the little brother’s current strength had stepped into Dao Seed, but not fully established, lacking just this Acupoint. Lighting the first acupoint, formally standing in Earth Rank, would meet the Dao Seed standard.
Though the acupoint wasn’t condensed, Younger Brother’s combat power could already hand-tear ordinary Earth Rank. The foundation of 28 meridians gave him strength to hand-tear high rank.
The little girl spoke on behalf of her younger brother: “The problem is in our ‘meridians, True Qi,’ and body alienation.”
Under day-and-night persistent Breathing and Exhaling of Holy Cough Particles, their bodies were thoroughly purified by Holy Light (Holy Cough). The residual Immortal Zombie Tendrils, Iron Poison, Corrupt Spiritual Energy in their bodies, and even True Qi transformed from Essence, Qi, Spirit, were all viciously twisted and eroded (purified) once over.
Thus their Holy Cough True Qi became increasingly pure, incompatible with the Underground World’s greater environment; meanwhile, pollution hazards in their bodies were replaced by Holy Light Pollution. The Meridian System was likewise deeply sanctified.
This causes the brother and sister’s cultivation techniques, which were originally perfectly suited to Cicada System True Qi, to now be suited to Holy Cough True Qi; the development of their meridians and organizations also conflicts with the cultivation techniques.
When breaking through to Earth Rank, cultivators need to feed a large number of ‘natal spirit insects’ with Qi Threads, pollute them with True Qi, nurture them to the limit, then reversely extract the insects’ essence, qi, and spirit through Qi Threads, plundering their essence and spiritual essence to nourish the Dao Seed.
It’s equivalent to humans swallowing and absorbing everything from more of the same kind of insects through the symbiotic insect meridians in their bodies, with ‘life nutrients’ nourishing the body to nurture a second insect nest (acupoint); ‘spirit nutrients’ nourishing the soul, being eroded by insect system pollution, strengthening the primordial spirit, and comprehending the ‘insect artistic conception’.
When Younger Brother reaches this step, his demand for Holy Light Particles is enormous. Not only do he and his sister need them, but the Holy Light Cicadas and Holy Light Beetles they use for cultivation also need more Holy Light Particles to cleanse their physical bodies, shed the mortal body and exchange the bones, and mutate into sanctification…
With so many problems piling up, he lacks sufficient ‘holy insects + Holy Cough True Qi’ to drive the condensation and development of ‘acupoints’.
In addition, the forced insertion of Holy Cough also breaks the original balance of Insect System-Kunlun-Knight.
After Heaven Rank, the spiritual energy concentration in the Underground World is limited. The heaven and earth environment no longer supports Qi Refiners refining higher quality True Qi.
To become stronger, one must use Dream Holes to communicate with the outside world, draw new, higher-quality ‘pollution’ from the Nightmare Layer, and temper ‘Innate True Qi’. This step is opening the Heaven and Earth Bridge (Dream Hole) to absorb heaven and earth spiritual energy. From ‘three mixtures’ to ‘four mixtures’.
However, the brother and sister absorbed Holy Light Particles for True Qi cultivation already at Human Rank. This behavior is equivalent to a Heavenly Rank Cultivator drawing a kind of ‘heaven and earth spiritual energy (foreign pollution)’ from the world outside the Dream Hole, prematurely refining ‘pseudo-Innate True Qi’.
Therefore, this high-quality Holy Cough True Qi can alienate True Qi, alienate meridians and organizations, and alienate body pollution, making the two incompatible and beginning to not adapt to the Underground World environment.
But contacting and possessing ‘pseudo-Heaven Rank’ characteristics early also leads to an incorrect state when crossing into Earth Rank. The ‘acupoints (insect nests)’ that were originally easily condensed and nurtured now become difficult to form due to the excessively high quality of the ‘True Qi’.
Yuan Zhu looked at Little Girl and asked, “So what do you think Younger Brother should do now to break through the ‘first acupoint’?”
Little Girl fell into thought, and after a moment, she said, “First, Big Brother you need to provide enough Holy Magic Worms and Holy Light Particles to accelerate Younger Brother’s ‘spirit insect nurturing’. When condensing the ‘acupoint’, perhaps some additional method is needed to let the ‘meridians’ ascend to heaven in one step, also possessing Heaven Rank characteristics!”
The two of them are stuck at this acupoint hurdle precisely because their realm is too low, merely Human Rank. If they can over-level at Human Rank to condense the acupoints of a Heavenly Rank Cultivator, they can naturally pass smoothly!
Hearing this analysis, Yuan Zhu also used the Immortal Scripture to connect to the database on the Qi Refining System and ran a simulation. Feeling that Little Girl’s analysis was flawless, he nodded and promised, “Don’t worry, I’ll contact the innate cultivators in Cicada City right away to come cooperate. Help your younger brother get through this checkpoint.”
The highest-level research subject in his hands, Commander Zuo, is only an Earth Rank powerhouse. Cicada City has fewer than two digits of Heaven Ranks, five of whom hold Dream Holes, while the rest use Dream Holes or share Dream Holes. To figure out the mysteries of their physical bodies, he still needs to rely on the captain’s face.
Yuan Zhu looked at Little Girl again: “What about you? Any bottlenecks or troubles?”
Little Girl immediately nodded: “Yes, yes! Still too few Holy Light Particles. Although I can use standard alchemy furnaces, I urgently need a dedicated Alchemy Furnace that matches my Holy True Qi! And the first step in refining an Alchemy Furnace is cultivating a natal magic worm! We can’t even afford small spirit insects, let alone big magic worms!”
With that, she also transmitted to Yuan Zhu a summary she had made of the alchemy essentials.
Alchemy can be divided into: pharmacology, medicinal herb processing, corpse seed (planting studies), Alchemy Furnace, pill fire, prescriptions… refining techniques, pill incantations, pill fusion secret techniques, and other links, many of which can be omitted.
But the Alchemy Furnace is always the core element that cannot be bypassed. And due to the scarcity of resources and rampant pollution in the Underground World, a unique ‘alchemy culture’ has formed.
Among them, the most core Alchemy Furnace is also called insect furnace, sourced from Demonic Giant Insects after cultivators lose control and demonize. This type of magic worm has a huge body; if persistently fed with ordinary pollution magic worms, its body strength will continuously upgrade, and the bug gold (iron poison pollution) content in its carapace will continuously increase.
Finally, a fully matured Demonic Giant Insect is slaughtered, and using immortal path artifact refining methods, it is continuously compressed, refined, and forged, ultimately turning a van, bus… or even larger giant insects into a proportionally shrunken insect-type Alchemy Furnace.
At that time, its carapace density will be thoroughly metallized, becoming an insect-type Alchemy Furnace. The internal organs are compressed and alienated, able to store ‘spirit medicine’ in the various organs of the five viscera and six bowels for processing, and finally perform alchemy in the abdominal cavity.
This kind of insect furnace is indestructible while having an extraordinarily complex internal structure, innately possessing the five elements, and refining pills with divine assistance.
For Little Girl to obtain such an insect furnace, she must raise a Demonic Giant Insect. Just like cultivators nurture spirit insects with True Qi, continuously and uninterruptedly feeding and assimilating magic worms. Only then can the refined Alchemy Furnace match herself and directly recognize its master.
After hearing her introduction, Yuan Zhu gave a thumbs up and said: 6!
This Underground World really develops the utilization value of corpses to the extreme. Used for planting medicine, for alchemy, for armor casting… who knows what else it can be used for?
