12dz Chapter 243: The List of Strange Insects and the Art of Controlling Spirits
Chapter 243: The List of Strange Insects and the Art of Controlling Spirits
Green Robe Jiedan was severely injured and his speed slowed down. It didn't take long for him to block his way. Without the iron-winged ants and magic weapons, Green Robe Jiedan was like a tiger without claws and teeth, and was quickly killed by Liu Xing.
Liu Xing took the storage bag and pet bag from the man's waist and reduced the green-robed old man's body to ashes. He then left the place, found a hidden cave, set up a formation, and went in.
He first disposed of the land dragon's corpse and obtained a bottle of Level 5 monster blood, which he immediately refined into two bottles of Blood Evil Pills. As for the remaining flesh and blood of the land dragon, he threw it into Jiao Jiao's pet bag and it became its meal.
He refined the dragon's skin into soft armor. Its defensive power was several times greater than his previous sharkskin armor, and it was estimated to be able to withstand a blow from an ordinary Jindan cultivator. He happily donned the dragon skin armor. He also refined the dragon's fangs into two even more powerful missile cones, catching an ordinary Jindan cultivator off guard and nearly killing them. He also refined the dragon's scales into another defensive shield, the Dragon Scale Shield, which he could use alternately with the Silver Shield.
He still lacked a magical weapon for long-range attacks, so he thought about it and refined the spine of the seventh-level demon beast that Jiao Jiao had entrusted to him into a bow. He used the tendons of a land dragon as the bowstring and crafted an arrow from the beak and feathers of a wind-splitting beast. The power of this magical weapon greatly surprised Liu Xing. A single full-strength shot of the arrow was as powerful as a full-strength attack from a mid-stage Jindan cultivator. Liu Xing was very satisfied and named it the Wind-Splitting Arrow. Since he only had one arrow, he had to use it sparingly, intending to use it at the most critical moment.
After dealing with the corpse of the land dragon, he couldn't wait to take out the Green Robe Jindan cultivator's storage bag and dumped everything inside onto the ground. The collection of an early Jindan cultivator was indeed rich, but for a wealthy man like Liu Xing, this little wealth was not worth much. He was looking for what he cared about most.
After collecting hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, various magical instruments and medicinal herbs, he focused on investigating the secret manuals and jade slips. He learned that the Green Robe Core Master was actually an elder of the Yuling Sect. They had sealed off the mountain to avoid the battle, and it turned out that there were still disciples operating outside.
"Strange Insect List?" A list of various unusual insects' powers caught Liu Xing's attention, and he read it carefully. First on the list was the Gold-Eating Beetle, a creature Liu Xing had never heard of and presumably long since vanished from the world.
"The Golden Silkworm Gu ranks ninth. I wonder how many places my mutated Golden Silkworm Gu King can rank?" Liu Xing muttered, looking forward to Pangpang.
Continuing to look down, the iron-winged ant ranked over 300th, which was still very low in the ranking, but its power was already quite strong, Liu Xing thought.
Acquiring any one or two of the top 100 exotic insects is a truly remarkable opportunity, a dream for all Yuling Sect cultivators, though incredibly difficult. The entire Yuling Sect, from patriarch to apprentice, currently lacks this opportunity. It's rumored that their founder once obtained the Ironback Mantis, ranked 66th, and nurtured it to the power of an eighth-level demon beast, capable of rivaling a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator—an astonishing feat.
Liu Xing carefully studied the information on the list of rare insects several times, memorizing their patterns, characteristics, and strengths. If he was lucky enough to encounter one later, he would find a way to capture it and raise it into a pet insect. If it was an enemy, he would also know its strengths and weaknesses so that he could deal with it more easily.
The list of strange insects also mentions methods for cultivating them. The core principle is to rely on the insects biting and devouring each other to produce stronger and more numerous offspring. To stimulate the insects to devour each other, certain elixirs are needed, and the list of strange insects mentions a elixir called the Soul-Feeding Pill.
Liu Xing studied the recipe carefully and discovered that the Soul-Feeding Pills were made from some rather rare medicinal ingredients, though they were much easier to find than the spiritual elixirs consumed by human cultivators. With his masterful eye for alchemy, Liu Xing could easily discern the pill's efficacy. He hurriedly found a large bottle of Soul-Feeding Pills among the remains of Green Robe Jiedan, presumably the ones he'd used to cultivate the Iron-Winged Ants. He poured out a thumb-sized Soul-Feeding Pill, the brown liquid emitting a fishy, nauseating odor. Liu Xing put the pills away and quickly gathered the ingredients for a furnace of Soul-Feeding Pills from his own stash. With a little practice, he successfully refined a furnace of more than a dozen pills. Liu Xing nodded in satisfaction; it wasn't a challenge for him. Now all he needed were the spirit insects; otherwise, he could begin cultivating them immediately.
Undeterred, Liu Xing opened Green Robe Jiedan's spirit pet bag again and poured out numerous bottles and jars. Each bottle or jar contained a spirit insect: mosquitoes, ants, earthworms, centipedes, beetles, spiders, and so on, all rare insects ranked after 300. Liu Xing examined them one by one and was quite disappointed. However, it was already very difficult for the other party to collect such a large variety. So he put them all back and put the spirit pet bag on his waist.
Liu Xing discovered another manual on the art of controlling spirits, finally understanding how the green-robed Jindan cultivator controlled these insects. First, during the egg stage, they'd set up a master-recognition formation, feeding them with drops of blood and gradually imbuing them with their own spiritual imprint. Once the eggs hatched, they'd accept him as their master. Liu Xing had experience with this, as it was the same method he'd used to hatch the golden silkworm Gu.
The second issue is how to control the insect swarm. If the insects are few in number, direct control through spiritual consciousness is more precise and effective. If the insects are large, spiritual consciousness often cannot control them, so tools must be used. However, tools can only provide simple commands. The flute is a very good insect repellent tool, using music to guide the insects to receive the corresponding commands.
Liu Xing hurriedly pulled out the opponent's silver flute and tried playing it. It felt like an ordinary magical instrument, far inferior to his own bamboo flute. How does one control spirit insects with flute music? The book explains in detail. When the insect eggs are hatching, the soul imprint is combined with the flute music to accustom them to the meanings of different melodies. After hatching, the insects must practice repeatedly, like soldiers, to familiarize themselves with the various commands. Once the insects have mastered their coordination, they won't panic when facing an enemy. Instead, they will obey their master's unified command, unleashing a powerful fighting force.
So that's how it was. Liu Xing quickly grasped the idea. He was a master of music and had also created the Jade Flute Magic Sound, so he had a deep understanding of how music could control the spirit. He quickly comprehended the Spirit Control Technique and integrated it into his own Jade Flute Magic Sound technique.