Born as an ant, I was summoned to ascend to immortality.

Chapter 13 Yuwen Zhao

Above Ziyun Peak, clouds are piling up at a visible speed.

Before long, the first drop of rain fell.

Soon, the sound of rain became continuous, turning from a drizzle into a downpour, and Ziyun Peak was enveloped in a curtain of rain.

Zhou Li was helping the ant colony move when he suddenly noticed that the shells of several soldier ants carrying larvae faintly revealed dark gold patterns.

Although it was still very faint, the patterns became clearly visible after being washed by the rain.

Zhou Li was stunned for a moment, then realized what was happening.

A few days ago, he shared his shed skin with the soldier ants.

That layer of shed skin contained abundant blood and spiritual energy. He had only tried it out with a "let's give it a shot" attitude, but he never expected it to actually work.

The carapaces of these soldier ants became even harder under the nourishment of spiritual energy. Although they were far from being considered spiritual insects, they were already a powerful fighting force capable of changing the fate of their colony.

"Good, good, good!"

A surge of joy welled up in Zhou Li's heart as he used his own strength to give back to the ant colony, enabling the entire colony to embark on a journey of transformation.

The power of a single ant is ultimately limited, but what about a thousand or ten thousand?

He suppressed his excitement and continued to direct the ant colony to move to higher ground.

The rain continued to pour down, thunder rumbled in the clouds, and lightning flashed intermittently, turning the entire bamboo forest a stark white.

Just then, Zhou Li's body suddenly stiffened, and a warm sensation surged from the depths of his mind.

It's that Spirit-Binding Crystal.

At this moment, it is emitting a certain fluctuation, like a resonance at the level of the soul, as if someone is calling out to it...

Yuwen Zhao has arrived!

This thought exploded in Zhou Li's mind, accompanied by a thunderclap from the sky.

Zhou Li flapped his wings and flew through the rain, with only one thought in his mind: hurry to his senior brother's room.

The rain poured down from Zizhu Peak, striking Zhou Li's newly grown, thin wings and causing him to stagger.

But he dared not stop.

Zhou Li quickly flicked a few bamboo leaves, then passed through the window. Lu Changye's bamboo couch was right in front of him; all he had to do was get past the screen...

Suddenly, his body froze.

A power at the level of the soul firmly held his consciousness.

His body no longer belonged to him.

Zhou Li's proud spiritual sense, the little spiritual power he had painstakingly cultivated, was utterly powerless in the face of this force.

In that instant, Zhou Li experienced what despair truly meant.

Like a puppet on a string, he was obediently turned around by the invisible threads within his body, passing through the rain curtain under the eaves, skimming over the busy ant colony, and flying towards the blue stone path outside the courtyard.

Zhou Li glanced at Lu Changye's door one last time. He knew in his heart that even if his senior brother came out of seclusion now, he couldn't save him.

Is this the power of the Soul Jade...?

Two people stood on the path shrouded in rain and mist.

One old and one young.

The boy was about twenty years old, dressed in fine clothes and a jade belt, with a water-repellent silk robe over it. Raindrops bounced off the robe a foot away.

He had a handsome face, but his eyes and brows carried a frivolous air. At this moment, he was staring at Zhou Li, who was slowly flying towards him in the rain, from afar.

The old woman stood half a step behind the boy, leaning on a cane. Her ordinary cloth dress was spotless, and a chilling glint occasionally flashed in her cloudy eyes.

Zhou Li was pulled and flew about a foot in front of the young man, hovering in the rain.

That controlling force still held him firmly in place, preventing him from even twitching his beard.

Yuwen Zhao looked down at Zhou Li, the playful smile on his lips gradually fading.

"Tsk, an ant?"

He muttered something, his tone clearly carrying a hint of disappointment.

"I thought it was some kind of extraordinary spirit insect that could kill my flying centipede, but what happened? It was just an ant, an ant that I could crush with a flick of my wrist."

Although the flying centipede was only a larva, he had bought it at a high price; it had pure blood and considerable potential.

He had originally planned to nurture the centipede and make it a star in the game of chess, but before he could even show off, the centipede died and was swallowed by an ant. How could he not be angry?

Yuwen Zhao took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and stuck out a finger, poking heavily into the outer shell of Zhou Li.

Zhou Li was unable to move and could only let that finger manipulate his body.

"Grandma, tell me, how did this thing kill the flying centipede?" Yuwen Zhao asked without looking up.

The old woman's cloudy gaze fell on Zhou Li, and she said, "Although the flying centipede is a larva, its shell is tough, and ordinary insects can hardly harm it. This insect has spiritual energy fluctuations on its body, so it must have obtained some kind of opportunity and gained sentience."

"Ants gaining intelligence? Unheard of." Yuwen Zhao scoffed. "Since the Spirit Binding Crystal has already fused with it, let's keep it for now. But I can't just let it go after killing my spirit pet."

He flicked Zhou Li's palate with his fingertip and said slowly, "Grandma, if we refine it properly and send it to the Chess Insect Gathering, I wonder how many rounds it could last?"

Zhou Li, trapped inside his own body, listened to these words, his heart surging with boundless anger and fear.

The old woman didn't reply, but instead reminded him, "Young master, this place is not safe to stay long. After all, Ziyun Peak is Changtian Sect's territory. We should just search quietly. If we alert others..."

"Mother-in-law, you're overthinking it." Yuwen Zhao waved his hand casually. "Siwei and I are good friends. I came to Ziyun Peak to look for a lost item. So what if the Changtian Sect finds out?"

When he spoke of Siwei, there was a hint of youthful pride in his tone, as if being able to call out "Siwei" was the greatest honor.

The old woman tightened her grip on her cane slightly and said, "Young master, our Yuwen family needs to be more discreet in the Northern Continent. The relationship between the Changtian Sect and the Yuling Immortal Pavilion..."

"So noisy!"

Yuwen Zhao interrupted the old woman without any politeness.

Feeling somewhat impatient, Yuwen Zhao lost interest in teasing him further.

He reached up and took a palm-sized bowl from his waist. The bowl was completely black and looked like an ordinary pottery piece at first glance.

But Zhou Li only glanced at it before feeling a sudden panic.

The thing felt to Zhou Li like a claustrophobic cage, cold and oppressive, exuding a suffocating atmosphere.

With his other hand, Yuwen Zhao made a hand seal, and the patterns on the surface of the alms bowl lit up one by one. It was covered with densely packed talismans, and there was even a faint flow of lightning.

"This is the Yuwen family's mustard seed bowl. Little one, go in and enjoy yourself."

Before Yuwen Zhao finished speaking, Zhou Li felt the force controlling him suddenly pull forward, and his body involuntarily flew towards the opening of the mustard seed bowl.

The mustard seed bowl was only the size of a palm, but as Zhou Li approached, its diameter kept expanding, as if it had turned into a bottomless black well.

Then Zhou Li's body passed through an invisible barrier, as if he had fallen into another world.

With a sudden dizzying sensation, Zhou Li regained his senses and found himself in a hazy, gray space.