Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 179: Destructive Search

After some time battling the crab robots, Song Lu Tian finally gave up on the frontal approach. Hed very slowly smashed up three of the bots, damaging some of their pincers, some of their sensor eyes, and bending the barrels of their cannons. Each of the three was in a slightly different state of damage, but even so they were still quite functional. Seeing how well they still worked even after it took him so much energy and effort to damage them meant destroying them would be very inefficient. Instead, Song Lu Tian gave up on conquering the warehouse and focused on treasure. Before, he was trying to destroy the crabs, but now he merely used his prodigious physical strength to throw them into each other. Using the crab robots to slow down the approach of their own backup forces.

Then he flew from shelf to shelf, randomly smashing different crates and drums, scooping up their contents into his many storage rings. He had no idea what any of them were, but by targeting the ones that seemed to have slightly different shapes, colors, and patterns on their labels he hoped that something among them would be valuable. After a few minutes of avoiding the robots and stealing their stuff, he finally left. Traveling on the same route he used to get there in the first place, Sage stuck around a few minutes longer to watch the behaviour of the crab robots once Song Lu Tian had left. Already he was pleased to see that the cases didnt destroy their contents like those ones on that whale ship. Despite being not able to gather anything of his own at the moment, it was a probable place to send the insect army to. Sage only caught a few glimpses of the things in the boxes that Song Lu Tian snatched, but some of them seemed to look remarkably like spare parts or electronic boards.

After Song Lu Tian left, there must have been some sort of silent or remote signal as all the crab robots spread out and started to work. The damaged ones limped their way to a gap between the warehouse shelves and passed into a hidden entrance. Only one of them had most of its legs damaged, but one of the unhurt robots dragged it into the door before coming back out and returning to work. Sage hadnt seen what they were doing before, but now that Song Lu Tian was gone he had a chance to observe. The crab robots would extend their legs and pincer like clamps to pluck crates or drums off the shelves. Then theyd take their cargo to a large conveyor belt at the far end of the warehouse.

Sage controlled the Twin Soul to stay hidden in the ceiling, choosing to leave Song Lu Tian for now in order to explore the possibilities of this place. After some time following the trail of the crates, he saw a different set of robots unpacking, cleaning and sending them over to a third set or robots. The second set of robots looked somewhat like robotic arms on wheeled chassis, but the third set were much like giant robotic flies. Sage even picked one at random and started to follow it until he realized it was heading far away. Not wanting to lose track of Song Lu Tian, Sage was lucky enough to see one of the robot flies that had landed at a nearby location. One of its front arms ignited with a bright flame, using its other arms to maneuver a part into place upon a metal pillar it touched the hissing flames to the parts.

The flies must be maintenance drones. Its probably welding or soldering something.

With that mystery solved, the Twin Soul went back to look for Song Lu Tian, sticking to his shadow as he continued to explore the many danger zones. In the meantime, the ant army had finally grown to a useful level and the Charming Lance Beetle was now the size of a horse, having just reached rank 3. With its armored carapace and the assistance of the ants it should now be capable of handling most of the beasts in Thunder Mountain Bridge, so Sage put it to work. The ants began to migrate, the whole colony covering the Beetle like a fur coat. In less than a minute the whole of the colony had disappeared, their entire operation now housed within the internal space of the Charming Lance Beetle.

Just as there was a space inside a cultivators body that practiced the Insect Immortal Index, there was also a space that could be created within their linked insects body. This space wasnt only limited to the cultivator or his linked insect, it was actually quite similar to the functionality of a Beast Bag. The difference being that it was within his own body, so if anything were to go wild or cause mischief it could also damage him internally. With such danger it was no wonder that this space was used almost exclusively to store linked insects or very valuable possessions.

Just like an armored personnel carrier, the Charming Lance Beetle carried off an army of ants towards the places that had been marked down by Sage as containing valuables that Song Lu Tian overlooked. Along the way swarms of ants would crawl out and clear up swathes of vegetation, furthering the growth of their colony. The Charming Lance Beetle, commanded by Sage, would stop at the special resources and, with the help of the ants, collect the valuable resources into the single storage ring they brought. The only unfortunate thing was that they only brought a single ring. Not wanting to lose a large amount of resources or wealth, Sage didnt expect any of this to work so hed only sent an expendable team.

While the ants and beetle cleaned up the place the Twin Soul, while following Song Lu Tian, ran into something too enticing to pass up. From what hed heard, the Thunder Mountain itself was off limits. These young geniuses were to keep away from it and instead brave the dangers to harvest treasures only upon the bridge. The rumor was that anyone who actually reached Thunder Mountain would have their souls drained away, turning them into little more than vegetables. Since this was essentially a disposable soul, Sage was eager to find out whether or not the rumors were true. Hed already followed Song Lu Tian through half of the unexplored sites and the man had only gathered a few minor injuries along the way. It was probably quite safe to say that nothing here would be able to stop the muscle bound geniuses.

The Twin Soul forged off on its own, Thunder Mountain growing larger and larger as he approached closer. This mountain was easily a dozen miles tall, and when considering its most likely non-natural nature it was astounding to imagine just how many resources would be consumed to build such a monstrosity. The air around Thunder Mountain seemed to crackle with static, something that made the spirit type body of the Twin Soul very uncomfortable, but surprisingly didnt harm it. In most cases, lightning was a very yang natured element. It was known for its excessive speed, instantaneous destructive might, and finally for its ability to purify evil spirits, creatures with a very heavy yin nature.

Amazingly, the lightning attracted to Thunder Mountain was an equal mix of both yin and yang natured lightning. They seemed to balance each other out, which made approaching nearer uncomfortable for the Twin Soul, but not fatal. Moving closer a fog had formed around the base of Thunder Mountain, hiding the point where the bridge would meet it. Drifting closer, the small spirit form flew down low to conceal itself in the fog. It was only after sometime did it finally seem to approach the true border of Thunder Mountain. Somehow, the large metal fence at the edge of the bridge wasnt the only obstacle. Sage suddenly felt things starting to get blurry and hazy.

What is this, why is the mist getting thicker from out of nowhere?