Molting the Mortal Coil

Chapter 221: Nursery

Growing and breeding insects was not an activity without its own costs. The Insect Immortal Index techniques required quite a bit of energy and one of the most powerful abilities of the technique was being able to use the energy directly from a Spirit Stone. Instead of having to expend his own energy and then refill it with a stone, he could directly crush the stone and transform it to feed the insects. Expending and recovering ones Qi over and over again would strain the meridians and fatigue the mind. It was also a form of training, but like most types of training it had limits. If he had to abide by those limits theres no way he would have been able to mature insects so quickly, let alone grow a whole army of them like hed done in the past.

That said, while using Spirit Stones saved a lot of time, it was also expensive. The more powerful he was, the more powerful the Spirit Insects he could mature. The more powerful they were, the more energy they took to raise. The number of Spirit Stones required rose at an exponential rate as their rank increased. A rank 1 insect could start as an egg and be brought to full power with a single spirit stone. Now that he was rank 4, it took eight spirit stones. For a few insects it wasnt a big issue, but when he was planning on breeding dozens of generations with hundreds of eggs it was a crippling expense. It was for this reason that the better choice was to create an energy gathering array. It would require expensive materials to create, but it would save him a lot of money in the long run.

Unfortunately, hed already tried to create a large scale energy gathering array inside the Universe Ring, but was disappointed. The energy density inside the Universe Ring was immense, but after building an array he found out that the energy within was replenished at a constant rate. The array let him pull all the power into a central location, which was quite good for cultivation, but there was still a limit to how much he could gather. On the plus side, by gathering and storing it, the energy density in the Universe Ring was lower and it allowed more to seep in from the mist walls. In the long term, it was a great source of energy, but in the short term it was not enough.

Sage had already left the Shihu Kingdom, heading north towards the Dou Kingdom. At this time he was out in the untamed wilderness. To the north of the Dou Kingdom were the Eightfold and Tianren Kingdoms. The border between them was a mountain range, extending north from the immense mountain formation that started at the sea and made up most of the Holy Flame Province. As the mountain range moved northward it thinned out into a single line of mountains that divided up these two kingdoms.

To the west, the Tianren Kingdom was made up of Demi Humans. Tian ren meant heaven man. They considered themselves to be a mix of human and divine. Officially they considered themselves different, but not superior to humans, but in practice most of the high ranking ones were extremely arrogant and looked down on normal humans. Each of the provinces were controlled by a different type of half-beast. Due to their beast heritage, they were all far more powerful than regular humans at birth, most of them already born as the equivalent of a rank 1 or 2 cultivator. Fortunately, their lack of unity between the species kept them from conquering the nearby nations.

On the east of the mountains, where Sage was located now, was the Eightfold Kingdom. The eightfold path was the path to nirvana, and the Eightfold Kingdom was controlled by the Suiren Temple. From what Sage had learned so far they seemed very much like Buddhist monks with monasteries set up in every province. They controlled all the other sects and clans, allowing them freedom but ensuring unity.

At the moment, Sage was near the border of the two Kingdoms, traveling underneath thousands of miles of open wilderness. Kingdoms in this world were about 100,000 miles wide. Doing a rough calculation, each kingdom was about fifty times the surface area of the entire Earth, or a third of Jupiter. Without cultivators and their superhuman powers and methods, there was no way he could even think about traveling across such extreme distances. It was also the reason that civilizations were spread out so very far apart. Each kingdom built their capital on a place with the most resources and the provinces as well as the cities did the same. Filtering out to the most valuable spots and leaving the rest of the world rough and filled with danger.

Neither kingdom even bothered to guard their borders, devoting only a few scouts and a town to supply them. Otherwise, the border areas were completely wilderness for thousands of miles, filled with Demon Beasts and untapped resources. He had the Warp Worm climb to the top of a mountain and started to search for a large and defensible valley. Hed stopped near this mountain because he sensed the temperature in the ground had risen. It was a very subtle change, but the Warp Worm was quite sensitive to such changes and he had it move closer. Beneath the nearby mountain there was what the locals called an Earth Flame vein. Volcanic activity. None of these mountains were active volcanoes, but there was a lava flow somewhat near to the surface. It was an excellent source of energy.

Eventually, Sage saw a suitable area between two mountains and had the Warp Worm head over to investigate. He just picked the area that seemed the most impossible to travel through and tunneled over. Then they tunneled around for the better part of a day before finally finding an area to his liking. It wasnt all that large, only about a mile wide, but it was a very hard to access canyon. Due to how difficult it was to access, it was a haven for birds. There was a large body of water in the center, a hot springs fed by underground water, heated by the nearby lava flow. The number of mammals and large ground animals was quite small. The canyon was filled with insects, snakes, and lizards. Food for the sea of birds that lived here.

He already started doing calculations and referencing his formation diagrams to plan how he was going to build an energy array. Burrowing back underground with the Warp Worms, Sage suddenly had to stop everything and hold back his apprehension when he felt a huge wave of power wash over the canyon. Thankfully he was already underground or he would have been frozen in place by fear.

That thing must be at least level 59 if not 60. Its only a sliver away from breaking through and being as powerful as that Spectral Terror Roc.

A few minutes later, Sage and the two dozen Warp Worms were still unmoving and waiting cautiously. Thankfully, they had already descended deep enough that the beast would have to smash up half the canyon to get to them. Being that powerful, it had most likely already sensed them, but it didnt make any moves so Sage had them start off again. He burrowed under the canyon and up into a nearby mountain. Avoiding some of the inner caves he found a vantage point far away and he hopped out of the worm to take a look.

A huge hawk sat nestled up against the side of the hot springs. What before had looked like a small grassy clearing surrounded by bushes, now showed its true purpose. The hawks body was about thirty feet long about the same as the width of the clearing. At this moment, it was using the small clearing and bushes as a nest. The thousands of small birds in the area flew over to it and nested all around it, like a monarch and its court. The hawks coloring was not the usual shade of brown like others. Instead it was a tan or sandy color with highlights of green, grey, and yellow. From afar as it laid down it looked somewhat like a field of tall grass.

On the other hand, it had a few highly visible features that Sage saw while it was moving. Beneath each eye there was a sharp slash of brilliant blue color, just as there was along the leading edge of its wings. Additionally, its beak and talons were transparent with a blue tint like crystal or glass.

No way, a Breach Hawk!