Finally, with a grim expression, Dean Wu waved his hand to dismiss the meeting. As it concluded, he said to Han Ning,
"Xiaohan, come with me."
Dean Wu led Han Ning over to the field of slain Soul Beast corpses from the Red Centipede Tribe.
About a dozen of the less powerful academy teachers and students patrolled vigilantly among the massive insect corpses. These bodies, piled high as mountains, were the academy’s most precious asset right now—spoils of war won with their very lives and blood.
"Go ahead and take some resources first. See if you can help the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm break through to the next Level. While you’re at it, help your other Soul Beasts recover their Physical Strength," Dean Wu said, gesturing to the dense piles of insect corpses. "Most of the others’ Soul Beasts were killed, so they have no immediate need for these Soul Beasts’ Crystal Stones."
"I understand, Dean Wu. I’ll increase my strength as quickly as I can. If I make any progress, I’ll notify you immediately," Han Ning replied, his expression earnest.
"Do your best. There’s still a lot to deal with now that the battle is over, so I’ll leave you to it."
"Right. You should go."
After seeing Dean Wu off, Han Ning walked straight into the towering mountains of insect corpses.
It was no exaggeration to call them mountains. These corpses must have been from the Red Centipede Tribe’s elite swarms. Even the smallest insect was over three meters long, and every single one was a Fire Type. A scorching heat still radiated from their bodies, even in death. As Han Ning walked among them, the temperature rose sharply, making it feel like he was in an underground cavern of roiling magma.
Though he was mentally and physically exhausted, time was short. Han Ning forced himself to rally and, together with Yin Yi, followed the residual Spiritual Energy fluctuations from the corpses to several that were at the Extraordinary Level.
Extraordinary Level insects were considered top-tier combatants in the Red Centipede Tribe’s battle swarms. Anything of a higher Level would be the exclusive combat Soul Beast of an Insect Master.
Channeling the last trickle of his Spiritual Power, he tried to awaken the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm.
At the same time, Han Ning had Yin Yi slice open the body of a giant centipede that resembled a Flame Fire Vermilion Centipede.
Vermilion insect blood flowed from the wound onto the ground, releasing a wave of intense heat.
Han Ning thought about how difficult it must have been for the academy’s Tree Spirits and Tree Demons to fight these swarms, which could spew high-temperature flames, at a severe elemental disadvantage. They could only sacrifice themselves, relying on the unceasing vitality of the Wood Type to desperately hold back the enemy’s assault.
’Sigh...’
As Han Ning let out a soft sigh, the dormant All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm seemed to catch the scent of blood. Its body twitched slightly as it awakened from its deep slumber.
"Gumi~"
The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm stirred.
With a nudge of his Spiritual Power, Han Ning let the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm crawl out from his body. He stroked the tiny, skinny silkworm resting on the back of his hand and said gently, "Go on, eat your fill. Devour every last bit of these Soul Beast corpses for me."
"Gu~"
The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm cried out in excitement, its body shooting forward like a flash of lightning and instantly burrowing into the giant centipede’s corpse.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~
The All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm acted like a high-pressure pump, frantically siphoning the power from the centipede’s blood.
The surging Blood Qi formed a vortex, funneling into its body.
Meanwhile, Han Ning directed Yin Yi to dig out the Fire Type Soul Crystals and Insect Crystals from the surrounding Soul Beast corpses one by one. She handed them to him, and he began to absorb the Energy within.
Fire Type Soul Crystals were completely unsuitable as evolution materials for Yin Yi, but they could be used to help Egg Pancake break through to the War General Level.
...
One by one, Yin Yi cut out the Soul Crystals and tossed them into Han Ning’s hands.
He summoned Egg Pancake. As he drained the Energy from the Soul Crystals, he handed the empty, Elemental Particle-rich husks over for Egg Pancake to eat.
Having rested for a while in the Soul Beast Space, Egg Pancake had already recovered some of its Physical Strength.
It didn’t share the somber sentimentality of humans. Waking up, it was its usual cheerful self, tirelessly munching on the "Egg Cake Joy Stones" its master tossed over.
[Energy +124]
[Energy +142]
[Energy +36]
[Energy +78]
...
A steady stream of Energy flowed into his panel, and Han Ning quickly converted it into Attribute Points, prioritizing the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm.
WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~ WHOOSH~
Like a ravenous beast that could never be satisfied, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm darted frantically from one corpse to another. Its body grew larger and larger, transforming from a skinny silkworm no bigger than a fingernail into a fat one nearly two meters long.
An eerie, red glow of blood and an ink-black mist now swirled around its purplish-red body.
On the system panel, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s Level broke through to the War General Level without any resistance.
Its breakthrough was so incredibly smooth, advancing successfully just by eating and drinking. Even Yin Yi, floating nearby, was rather envious.
[
Race: All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm
Gender: Male
Talent: C
Level: War General Level I (1/6000)
Talents: Intermediate Activated Parasitism, General Mimicry, Dark Seal
Soul Techniques: Dissection (Perfection), Blood Qi Burst (Shadow Form) (Perfection), Demonization IV (3548/5000), Blood and Flesh Demon Seed I (1/6000)
Power: 214
Body: 847
Agility: 0.1
Spiritual Energy: 252
Insect Type Affinity: 248
Elemental Affinity (Dark): 90
]
[Activated Parasitism]:
In addition to helping its host reconstruct their body, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm can use the essence of flesh and blood to create two All-Encompassing Subordinate Insects for parasitizing a target’s brain.
The parasitized creature will fall under the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s complete control, unless the target’s Spiritual Power exceeds that of its Beast Master.
Creating one Subordinate Insect takes 10 hours. New Subordinate Insects cannot be created beyond the maximum limit until an existing one dies.
If the host dies, the Subordinate Insects will die as well.
The current connection range between the Subordinate Insects and the parent is 35,000 kilometers.
[General Mimicry]: Mimicry ability enhanced. When mimicking a non-Insect Type Soul Beast of the same Level, it possesses 50% of the target’s abilities.
[Blood and Flesh Demon Seed]: Plants a seed containing the essence of life, flesh, and blood inside a target creature. When the creature is injured, the Seed of Flesh and Blood automatically emits Blood Qi Power to accelerate wound recovery. When the creature suffers critical damage such as severed limbs, a detached brain, or ruptured organs, the seed will forcibly reattach the parts based on the creature’s biological information. However, it cannot heal spiritual damage or cure illnesses. (The longer the Seed of Flesh and Blood resides within a body, the more effective its repairs become.)
The Blood and Flesh Demon Seed can also be manipulated by the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm. By infusing it with corrupting Dark Energy, the silkworm can detonate the seed at any time, releasing the Blood Qi and Dark Energy within to cause significant explosive damage. It simultaneously becomes a potent contaminant; the exploding fragments of flesh will attach to all surrounding life forms, rapidly siphoning their Qi and Blood Power and corroding their flesh.
After advancing to the War General Level, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s appearance had changed.
Intricate, dark purple patterns now adorned its previously plump, segmented, purplish-red body. Its skin had also gradually faded to the normal white of a silkworm, but the color of the patterns had become exceptionally eerie.
"Gumi~"
Finally full, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm stopped eating. It rolled onto its back, showing off its round belly, and let out a satisfied burp. It chirped softly at Han Ning as its bloated body began to shrink inch by inch.
"Gugumi~"
Once it had shrunk back to its previous chubby, palm-sized form, it happily hopped onto Han Ning’s shoulder and nuzzled its master’s neck with its plump cheek.
"Congratulations. You’ve gotten stronger."
Han Ning managed a faint smile. He stroked the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s resilient body while examining the new abilities the little guy had gained after its breakthrough.
’Just as I thought. After breaking through to the War General Level, the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm can already create two Subordinate Insects and control two advanced life forms.’
It was only logical for its Talents to improve as it grew stronger, so Han Ning wasn’t particularly surprised.
The newly acquired Blood and Flesh Demon Seed, however, was an impressive surprise.
’If the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm had awakened this Soul Technique earlier... fewer people might have died today.’
Han Ning sighed to himself.
Despite the All-Encompassing Spiritual Silkworm’s plump and endearingly naive appearance, he felt that the little guy’s abilities were becoming more and more sinister.