Chapter 352: The Path of Breaking the Cocoon, The Way of Ascension (Thanks to Na Nian Na Shi)

Discovering a special item with the potential to ascend into a Rule, Li Zheng immediately took interest.

But it was merely interest.

Near the "Bloodstone Furnace" at the bottom of the valley, numerous Stitched Ones and "Evil Gu Warriors" forged by the furnace were active.

Among them, the Stitched Ones generally possessed Hunting Ranks between 80 and 130.

Although the Evil Gu Warriors possessed relatively pure bodies, serving as future life vessels for the Evil Gu Insect Clan, their current Life Ranks were all around 50.

They were all test versions.

Every batch of flesh casting represented an optimization of life structure.

The Evil Gu Insect Clan wished to use this method to forge the most perfect life form.

Although he could not consume the Rule, Li Zheng had already placed a map marker here; once he gained sufficient strength, he would definitely return to test his luck.

The hunting mission was not yet over.

He decisively withdrew from the area containing the Bloodstone Furnace to explore the surrounding regions.

Hunting, fighting, recovering... for the next several days, Li Zheng spent his time alternating between hunting and relocating.

However, his series of hunting actions also attracted the attention of the Evil Gu Insect Clan; under the Insect King's control, the number of Stitched Ones coming to surround and block him grew increasingly large.

Li Zheng gradually began to feel the strain.

Just as he prepared to withdraw from this region and head toward the border areas to slow the pace of hunting, a sound of tearing wind came from the sky.

Whipping his head around to look at the sky, his pupils contracted sharply.

A massive Stitched One with a domineering appearance was shooting toward him.

It possessed three heads: on the left was the rotting head of a Nitchao Veteran, eyes bulging in rage; on the right was the skull of a Compassionate Heart Clan Priest; and in the center was a main head carved entirely from blood crystal. Twelve vertebrae fanned out behind it like a peacock's tail, with barbed chelicerae protruding from every bone seam.

Its torso appeared to be crudely smelted and cast from the bodies of dozens of powerhouses from different races, with liquid blood essence flowing between the muscle textures.

Boom!

When the monster landed, the entire valley trembled.

It did not attack immediately, but instead locked onto Li Zheng simultaneously with six eyeballs of different colors; the vocal cords wrapped in blood crystal vibrated, producing words that sounded like metal grinding:

"You... are... very... complete. We need you."

"Need your mother!"

Li Zheng, with Gang Qi attached to his body, responded by exploding forward with a punch.

The Gang Wind condensed at his knuckles into a drill-shaped vortex, slamming solidly into the Stitched One's abdomen.

The force, sufficient to easily pierce a city wall, only caused the Stitched One to retreat a small half-step; the liquid shell formed perfect buffering ripples at the point of impact, even reversing to wrap around Li Zheng's fist.

Crack!

The Stitched One's chest cavity suddenly split open, revealing a gear-shaped rotating bone saw inside.

The instant Li Zheng pulled his hand back, terrifying pressure bore down, the earth shook violently, and the ground abruptly sank by a section.

At this moment, the chelicerae behind the monster stabbed forward like rain.

The tip of each chelicera shimmered with energy of different attributes.

Lightning, ice, poison mist... in battle, it was as if hundreds of killing arts had been stuffed into a single body.

Li Zheng felt no fear whatsoever; his Battle Will Soul Trait activated.

Immediately, his Gang Qi surged wildly, and he raised his hand to unleash a punch imbued with a Critical Hit trait.

Boom!

Both figures retreated simultaneously.

At this moment, Li Zheng also activated his Analysis Scan.

He discovered the opponent's rank was actually 117, yet he fully possessed the strength to fight.

Although he had not yet returned to his base to activate the "Tyrant Dharma Aspect" function, he had previously evaluated his own combat power to be around Hunting Rank 120.

At this moment, the Stitched One attacked again.

Li Zheng decisively met the charge; his Rune Weapon transformed into golden gauntlets, and his knuckles collided with the Stitched One's bone blades.

The exploding shockwave cracked the rock walls within a radius of ten thousand meters with spiderweb-like fissures.

The muscles of his right arm knotted, and Gang Qi surged through his meridians like boiling magma; every punch he threw carried a sky-rending sound like a dragon's roar.

"Kill."

Two years of arduous training, from brawls with hooligans in the cafeteria to the subsequent cultivation of war killing arts.

Direct confrontation had always been his area of expertise.

He spun and swept a whip kick toward the Stitched One's head; the leg wind tore through the air, carving a trajectory through the blood mist.

The Stitched One's three heads recoiled simultaneously, and scarlet rays suddenly erupted from the eye sockets of the blood crystal head, colliding with Li Zheng's leg Gang.

Boom!

Blinding light exploded; Li Zheng was blown back by the rebound force, twisting his body mid-air to adjust his posture, his feet plowing two scorched trenches into the rock wall.

But before he could even land, the ground suddenly exploded, and another Stitched One burst forth from the earth.

This one was even more ferocious than the previous; its torso was spliced together from the remains of different fierce beasts, and six tentacles covered in barbs extended from its spine, each tip embedded with a still-rotating eyeball.

It directly opened its massive maw, and a corrosion energy cannon, condensed to the extreme, came roaring forth.

Li Zheng's pupils contracted sharply; he overlapped his palms, and Gang Qi condensed before him into a thick blood shield.

The moment the energy cannon struck the qi shield, the soles of his boots plowed two deep grooves into the ground, the skin on his entire arm cracked from the shock, and blood dripped from his wrists.

"There's more?!"

Just then, another Stitched One descended from the sky.

This one had a slender figure but emitted a terrifying mental spiritual pressure; an Analysis Scan revealed it was a Stitched One assembled from the remains of several spiritual cultivators.

Its Hunting Rank had reached 135.

Talismans-like dark blue threads coiled around its fingertips, and with a raise of its hand, it pressed down with a binding spiritual might.

Li Zheng roared fiercely, burning his Battle Will Soul to the limit; the Gang Qi, amplified several times over, transformed into crimson flames, forcibly resisting the binding of the formation.

He suddenly shattered the ground beneath his feet, his body shooting forward like a cannonball toward the nearest Stitched One; fists, elbows, knees, shoulders—every inch of his body became a weapon of slaughter, and every collision exploded into a large puff of blood mist.

A round of furious attacks utterly crushed the Stitched Ones blocking his path.

But there were too many enemies.

A fourth, a fifth... more and more Stitched Ones appeared from different directions; they were not in a hurry to assault forcefully, but instead acted like a net gradually tightening, step by step compressing Li Zheng's evasion space.

Just as Li Zheng shattered the head of the third Stitched One, a bone spike glowing with dark light pierced through his shoulder from behind.

Amidst the shocked barrage of comments from players in the live stream, Li Zheng instantly felt numbness spread throughout his entire body.

Looking down, he saw the bone spike being withdrawn, while all the surrounding Stitched Ones ceased their movements.

They stared at him silently, as if evaluating a perfect material for evolution.

Li Zheng grinned, his blood-stained teeth forming a grim smile:

"You've messed with the wrong person."

The next second, his consciousness was swallowed by darkness.

Before completely losing consciousness, he had only one thought: he had to cheat and find a way to get the Gold Coin Chamber of Commerce to teleport him back.

To continue the unfinished trial mission.

I don't know how much time had passed; when Li Zheng awoke from his coma, he found himself bound in a vast sea of blood, unable to move even slightly.

He summoned the function panel to check the time and discovered that half a day had already passed.

He was somewhat dazed.

Had he been imprisoned?

Filled with doubt, he glanced at the live stream comments, then raised his head to look at the Guiding Water Orb floating beside him:

"Brother Guide, have I become a living research subject?"

Facing the inquiry, the Guide opened its sleepy eyes:

[That's correct. You are the most perfect pure body, the research subject most coveted by the Evil Gu Insect Clan. They hope to glimpse the true meaning of life through you.]

Hearing these words, Li Zheng couldn't help but roll his eyes:

"Can that actually work?"

[It really can. They were already not far from success; you are the key for them to break through the final threshold.]

"Ah, that works too?"

[Why wouldn't it? The life structure of a player's pure body inherently lacks any detection limitations. Back then, the Nitchao Legion's organ modification detailedly studied your life structure. However, the Nitchao Legion simply could not apply your pure body to reality. Organ transplantation is easy, but replacing life structures requires reaching the microscopic level of Spirit Vein particles, a level of life replacement the Nitchao Legion could never achieve.]

[But the Evil Gu Insect Clan is different. They are already conducting research on life reshaping; what they want is to replace themselves from insect bodies into entirely new life forms. Your pure body is exactly the perfect template they desire. Although they may not deduce much from it, understanding even a part will aid them in creating a new life form with infinite growth potential.]

[However, such creation inevitably comes at a cost; they cannot possess the Challenger System's support like players do.]

"I'm done for. I'm a prisoner now. It seems the only way to escape is to self-dissolve."

Just as Li Zheng prepared to self-dissolve to escape, the sea of blood suddenly trembled violently.

In the outside world, invisible to Li Zheng, the Stitched Ones controlled by the Evil Gu Insects rushed from different directions of the region toward the "Bloodstone Furnace" like swallows returning to their nests.

The entire sea of blood instantly boiled.

Hundreds of millions of Stitched Ones surged out from canyon fissures, crawled up from piles of corpses, and peeled away from the shadows of rock walls.

Advancing wave after wave, like moths rushing into a flame or pilgrims paying homage, they threw themselves into the Bloodstone Furnace without hesitation.

The dissolution of each Stitched One caused the blood light within the furnace to grow brighter by a degree.

The ancient runes on the surface of the furnace lit up one by one during this period, like a hungry giant beast awakening.

Although trapped in the depths of the blood sea, Li Zheng could still feel a life fluctuation that made one tremble.

"What is happening now?"

"Through our study of you, the Evil Gu Insect Clan has officially crossed the final shackle of life and is now preparing to enter the experimental phase. The cost is using our entire clan as fodder to forge that perfect body we have idealized; this vessel will carry the fused consciousness of all Evil Gu Insects. Henceforth, there will no longer be a hive mind, but a single, independent self-awareness."

"Not even running a test first? That's far too reckless."

"In the past when you were not watching, the Evil Gu Insect Clan has waited for too long; you are the opportunity we have been longing for."

Hearing these words, Li Zheng was rendered speechless.

Always, it was they, the players, who went out seeking opportunities; never did he expect that he, as a player, could be the opportunity for another race.

At this moment, in the center of the Bloodstone Furnace, a blurred figure was taking shape.

It drew upon the most essential parts of billions of stitched-together bodies; all materials were constantly purified, blended, and sublimated under the smelting of the bloodstones, becoming part of it.

Gradually, a heartbeat sound emerged from within the furnace.

Like raindrops falling upon a Firefly Lake surface.

Then it grew heavier and heavier, like war drums beating, or like thunder roaring.

Until the entire valley began to tremble in rhythm with this beat.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

More and more stitched bodies leaped into the furnace, transforming into the final fodder; blood light shot straight into the sky, dyeing the cloud layer crimson.

Beneath that scarlet sky, a humanoid figure slowly opened its bewildered eyes.

"Who... am I?"

In an instant, billions of voices sounded in unison within its mind.

Weaving together the hive memory unique to this new life.

And also, a story of climbing to the peak.

As more and more memory information flooded in, the humanoid new life closed its eyes once again; in an instant, memory scenes surged forth like a torrent.

Countless voices echoed within its mind.

Who am I?

In that ancient minor world, nearly forgotten, our ancestors were the most wretched maggots.

The world was dim and putrid; thick miasma hung like an eternal haze, shrouding every inch of land.

Scarce resources were delicacies fought over by various factions.

The earth was covered by layers of rotting corpses, the remains of life left behind by endless years of war.

Every piece of rotting flesh, every white bone, emitted a nauseating stench, yet they were the hotbeds upon which we relied for survival.

We struggled to twist our bodies within the folds of rotting corpses, dodging energy shockwaves that could bring destruction at any moment, or sudden attacks from other fierce predators.

Although this world was full of rotting remains, they were still resources that had to be acquired through competition.

Those gigantic Rotting Flesh Demons lived by devouring all matter; wherever they passed, corrosive fluid splashed, crushing our clansmen in droves. Then there were the Bone Spirits parasitic within the white bones; they gained power by devouring bones and would manipulate those bones to attack us. Once entangled by their bone tentacles, we would be drained of all vitality in an instant...

In this world, we existed at the very bottom.

With food extremely scarce, fierce slaughter often broke out among our own kind over a single mouthful of blood-stained bone fragments, using our tender, fragile teeth to tear at each other's bodies.

Until one day, an ancestor, while gnawing on a strange crystal, suddenly awakened to intelligence.

It felt its own existence and realized the miserable predicament of our race.

"Why can we not be like them, becoming predators that devour other races?"

It posed this question to itself, and even to this world, followed by rage at the injustice of our fate.

It was precisely this single question that opened a brand new future for our Evil Gu Insect Clan.

From that moment on, we embarked on an endless path of climbing.

We faced ruthless competitors, constantly evolving, finally killing our way through the layer of rotting flesh to reach the surface.

Yet we discovered the world outside was far more vast and complex than imagined; not everything was immersed in putrid stench.

The very first opponent we encountered nearly caused our extinction.

This was a faction called the "Crystallized Vine Clan."

They did not rely on flesh and blood to survive but fed on life energy, and could secrete a kind of crystallizing venom.

Whenever they appeared, the vegetation across the entire region would wither at a speed visible to the naked eye—a sign that energy was being forcibly extracted.

Once our clansmen were entangled by their vines, their carapaces would instantly crystallize and shatter; the fluids within their bodies would be sucked dry into transparent crystal blocks, leaving behind only a light, hollow shell that scattered at the slightest breeze.

Then there was the "Singing Sand Clan."

Their bodies seemed composed of flowing golden sand; usually lurking beneath dried riverbeds, they would transform into sandstorms and sweep forth the moment they sensed living creatures.

The roaring friction of sand grains could shatter our consciousness; clansmen caught within would be ground into powder by millions of grains of golden sand, leaving behind not even fragments of their carapaces.

Most terrifying of all, they could release an invisible, tempting sound wave that lured countless clansmen step by step into traps of death.

Facing these powerful enemies, we suffered heavy losses.

In struggle after struggle that nearly led to extinction, we learned to unite more closely.

We utilized tunnels hidden beneath the rotting flesh to conduct guerrilla warfare, crafted weapons from spikes dropped by demons, and refined collected corrosive fluid into poisons capable of briefly paralyzing our foes.

Our life forms also constantly evolved to adapt to war.

Every victory was accompanied by the sacrifice of countless clansmen, yet our desire to escape the predicament of the lower strata grew ever more firm.

Since we had stepped onto this path, we would walk it all the way to the peak.

To become the masters of this world, to become the devourers at the top of the food chain as our Old Ancestor spoke of, never again worrying about safety.

That path of climbing was filled with endless enemies; we climbed upward, stepping on the corpses of our own kin.

Each generation served as a stepping stone for the next, the sole fulcrum for evolution beneath the feet of those who came after.

This was a heart-rending history of evolution.

To survive the venom of the Crystallized Vine Clan, we gnawed on rotting grass containing anti-toxin genes, watching the bodies of our kin swell and burst in spasms, green juice splattering against the rock walls... until the carapaces of the survivors seeped with a faint green hue—that was armor precipitated from toxins settled within their bodies.

From then on, the tips of our chelicerae began to secrete substances capable of neutralizing crystalline venom, and this became our weapon to defeat the Crystallized Vine Clan.

To resist the tempting sound waves of the Singing Sand Clan, we learned to adjust the resonance frequency of our carapaces to specific bands.

Countless clansmen suffered mental disintegration during resonance evolution experiments; some carapaces shattered on their own under high-frequency vibrations, some tentacles stiffened like withered branches, until finally, the auditory systems of our clan evolved the ability of "sound wave filtration."

To resolve our chaotic clan control system, we evolved a hive mental network capable of bearing the thoughts of all our clansmen.

When we defeated these powerful enemies, we discovered the challenges were not yet over.

Every time we overcame a powerful foe, an even stronger faction would appear.

When we became the strongest faction in that region, what awaited us was the challenge of "Higher Intelligent Beings."

They were smarter than us.

This was also the first time we learned that intelligence itself could be a weapon.

Our evolution relied on memory fragments within our genes, while their evolution relied on inheritance; they would write knowledge onto paper or carve it onto information crystals.

They could also pass the wisdom of several generations down to their descendants through language.

A young intelligent being, having just left their clan grounds, could utilize traps and mechanisms left by their ancestors, whereas we needed to sacrifice countless clansmen to gain a sliver of survival experience.

Compared to them, we were too weak.

But on the road to climbing the peak, we had never given up.

Since we could not compete in terms of intelligence, we would evolve absolute, overwhelming power.

In ceaseless confrontation, the development of our clan fell into a vortex of death, once again facing the crisis of extinction.

Different factions within the clan evolved in different directions, all seeking a path that could defeat our opponents.

Until a Insect King proposed the "Theory of Parasitism": using the power of strong enemies to defeat strong enemies.

The first batch of testers paid a terrible price.

Our clansmen were crushed by immune systems within the host's flesh and blood, unable to parasitize effectively at all.

But through constant attempts, we still found the knack for parasitism.

We learned to parasitize within the gaps of the nervous system, wrapping around the host's body like vines around a tree trunk, borrowing the host's form to act.

When the first parasitized intelligent being raised its own longbow and fired an arrow that precisely struck the heart of its own kin, we saw fear in the eyes of intelligent beings for the first time.

It turned out that for Higher Intelligent Beings, emotion was a weapon sharper than pain.

Evolution accelerated in the years of slaughter that followed.

We no longer obsessed over forging harder carapaces; to parasitize better, we made ourselves as thin as hair, capable of easily penetrating skin, bone, and even the gaps in armor.

A parasitized host would retain complete memories and skills, yet would be controlled by our consciousness at critical moments, like a puppet on strings.

A silent infiltration plan was brewing.

Their dearest friends, laughing and talking about the future one second, would plunge a poison-coated dagger into their brains the next.

An experienced hunter would lead an entire clan straight into the traps we had set.

This tactic of "killing with a borrowed knife" was a hundred times more efficient than brute force, yet it also caused us to be thoroughly reviled as evil insects by intelligent beings.

But this was not enough.

A parasitized host would eventually die, and the rotting of flesh and blood would cause us to lose our hotbed.

Thus, the clan began researching preservation techniques.

We secreted a special mucus that could keep dead bodies active; under the nourishment of this mucus, the nerve endings would never wither.

When the first corpse of an intelligent being, wrapped in mucus, appeared in the manner of "resurrection," we witnessed the collapse of our enemies.