Chapter 174: The Worm Stage

Chapter 174: Larval Stage

His strength had increased significantly; he hadn’t even exerted much effort just now.

Old Wang tried to hop on one foot, and his body felt as light as a feather, rising two meters off the ground. He nearly hit his head on the ceiling but managed to catch himself with his hands in time.

The Cyclops Heavenly Soul Pearl continued to emit a soothing aura that made his soul feel comfortable. The ‘fusion’ was merely an unexpected bonus; the true power of the Heavenly Soul Pearl lay in nourishing his soul, making it increasingly strong!

A steady stream of soul force was now surging from his body, completely under his control. Damn, he could make a fortune with this.

Soul seeds determined the attributes of one’s soul, while the soul itself was the source of power. With the Insect God Seed, this was truly his real ‘face.’

Unfortunately, he was still only at the first stage of the Insect God Seed—the larval stage. Couldn’t he just skip straight to the final form?

The Insect God Seed was the most arrogant among all soul seeds in the Nine Heavens, with the strongest growth potential and concealment. According to the principle of conservation, its growth difficulty was SSSS level. Unlike other soul seeds, which required life-and-death trials to advance, the Insect God Seed simply needed nurturing. In short, if you can lie down, don’t stand; if you can eat, don’t go hungry.

However, nurturing the soul came at a high cost. With his current resources in the Nine Gods world, it seemed impossible, but the Heavenly Soul Pearl had given him a glimmer of hope.

As long as he didn’t take unnecessary risks, the future looked promising.

"Brothers of the Nine Heavens world, get ready to tremble! Your father is here!"

...

Outside the mermaid capital city of Alonso, on the grand sacrificial platform hundreds of meters high, a flash of light appeared. The soul crystals that had been glowing for days suddenly went dark, and the arcanists standing at every step seemed to lose their energy, collapsing to their knees or sitting on the ground, panting heavily.

The magnificent body shuddered slightly, and the vacant eyes cleared, revealing a pair of bright yet tired eyes.

The chase in the Soul Realm was exhausting, but returning was even harder. Someone was interfering with her return.

Even though she couldn’t identify them in the Soul Realm, Kerliu Na guessed that the person who used teleportation powers to disrupt her journey back was none other than Long Kang of the Nine Gods, the arrogant emperor. Only he would do such a thing.

This was expected, but...

Her tired eyes suddenly lit up, almost excitedly.

That golden light that had raced ahead of everyone, moving at an incredible speed, reminded her of the legendary Grand Ancestor’s Great Freedom Teleportation Technique!

Although the Supreme Saint cursed the sea race, they did not hate him because his power had already conquered them. They were his subjects, so they called him the Grand Ancestor.

Could the Grand Ancestor, who shattered the void, have returned? But... that was impossible. Could it be his... descendant?!

During her journey back, she could still faintly sense the presence of the newly emerged Heavenly Soul Pearl, but just now, that sensation vanished.

Clearly, the Heavenly Soul Pearl had chosen its master and thus concealed its original brilliance.

But this made things even stranger.

With that unparalleled teleportation speed, the person must have left the Soul Realm immediately after obtaining the Heavenly Soul Pearl, without any interference. Yet, in reality, several days had passed, and they hadn’t claimed the Heavenly Soul Pearl right away. Instead, they waited until today...

What kind of fearlessness was this, not worrying about being discovered by anyone?

To master the Grand Ancestor’s teleportation technique and act so boldly, treating the Heavenly Soul Pearl like a toy and disregarding all the powerful beings who possessed it—what kind of extraordinary individual could this be?

"Your Majesty!"

The four guardians knelt before her, despite their deep fatigue. They were more concerned about the complex expression in the queen’s eyes.

Entering the Soul Realm was a luxury even for the wealthy mermaid clan. However, if the mermaids could possess both Heavenly Soul Pearls, it was said that a wondrous reaction would occur, allowing the queen to surpass the other two royal families and become the new Sea Queen.

But judging by the queen’s expression, it seemed she hadn’t succeeded.

They dared not say more, remaining kneeling.

Kerliu Na glanced at them indifferently, waved her hand, and uttered a cryptic command: "Prepare everything. Gather all the royal bloodlines. I have a task."

The Great Freedom Teleportation Technique was just her speculation. No one knew what it truly entailed since it had been lost. As the mermaid queen, she had only read about it in ancient texts.

The world was becoming restless, but for breaking the curse, another clue had emerged. A faint smile played on Kerliu Na’s lips.

...

Meanwhile, deep within the capital of the Nine Gods Empire, a peculiar order was issued.

"Find out all transactions involving α7-level soul crystals or higher across the continent in recent days."

Not just these two places; overnight, almost every major power in the world seemed to issue similar orders. However, those capable of such large transactions were not easily traceable.

...

The rumors of the Rose Genius, Blade Darling, and Light of the Holy Sanctuary finally reached the Ice Spirit Kingdom’s Holy Sanctuary today.

Frankly, the process was incredibly simple, so simple that Old Wang found it astounding. It was merely Snow taking him to press a fingerprint.

In essence, it was a backward, perfunctory, and unregulated process, but Old Wang loved this backwardness.

Unlike Aurora, the Ice Spirit Kingdom had no concept of democracy; ultimately, the monarchy ruled. This gave Old Wang a taste of the convenience of power, but...

The disciples watching him along the way had strange looks in their eyes, as if they were looking at a dead man. One girl even started crying inexplicably!

Come on, it’s my first day. Can’t you give me some good luck?

"What’s with those looks?" Old Wang asked Snow cheerfully. "Is it because I’m too handsome?"

"Keep a low profile!" Snow regretted bringing him. "I’m telling you, our people are fierce and bold. Don’t provoke anyone. Playing your part will benefit you."

"Alright," Wang Feng nodded seriously. "I’ll keep quiet and look at them more. If I’m this handsome, just letting them look at me without looking back would be a loss, wouldn’t it?"

Snow was exasperated. If not for the public setting, she would have strangled him. "Wang Feng, don’t forget your status. You’re a slave. Be careful, or you might end up leaving here horizontally tonight..."

"Wang Feng, how can you back down now?" Old Wang patted his chest and said with a grin, "Don't worry, don't worry. The more outrageous I am, the more fitting it is for my current status. Otherwise, there'd be even more troublemakers, and in the end, it would still be your face that loses face!"

"Hmm? That does make some sense," Xuecai frowned and thought for a moment. "Wait a minute!"

Xuecai was puzzled. It had only been one night, yet this guy seemed to have become quite fearless. Or perhaps it was true what they say—clothes make the man. He did look rather presentable in his new outfit.

"What's wrong?"

Xuecai mulled over it in her head for a while but couldn't come up with anything conclusive. She shook her head.

"Forget it, I'm too lazy to argue with you!" she said, changing the subject. "Our Ice Spirit Holy Sanctuary has eight divisions. You shouldn't go to the five combat divisions; they're mostly filled with people from Lindow. I'm afraid you wouldn't survive a single class! I've enrolled you in the Rune Division. Roses are famous for their runes, which fits your current identity... you boasted so much at the market, you must know something about them, right?"

"Sure!" Old Wang chuckled, "I'll manage!"

"Pfft, whatever. Just keep a low profile, and no one should bother you!" Xuecai nodded. She still had classes to attend today. "The Rune Division is under my watch. They'll know you're mine, but just in case!"

Xuecai sized up Wang Feng. At the time, she had impulsively come up with this idea, but now she realized there were many issues. Oh well, let's see how long he can last. After all, it's just pocket money.

"I'll go to the Rune Division whenever I don't have other classes. If I'm around, I'll help you out. But if I'm not, use my name and my sister's to scare them off. Oh, and Jina as well! If scaring them doesn't work, try to stall for time. As long as you wait for me or my sister to arrive, no one will dare hit you in front of us!"

"Mm-hm, if scaring them doesn't work, I'll stall, and if stalling doesn't work, I'll run!" Old Wang patted his chest. "Don't worry, I'm good at it!"

"That's right... Wait a minute!" Xuecai's eyes widened. "What do you mean by 'if stalling doesn't work, I'll run'? I told you yesterday not to be a coward. How could you back down now? If you really run away, how will we pull this off? You should stall until things get messy. Then, someone will always step in to help you for a few minutes. Be smart. In the Ice Spirit Holy Sanctuary, as long as you're not stupid, you'll be safe!"

After finishing her instructions, Xuecai hurried off. She had a forging class to attend. Who would have thought such a small girl, barely weighing anything, would be into blacksmithing...

Old Wang held the map Xuecai had given him and leisurely made his way to the Rune Division.

To be honest, the Rune Division here was much livelier than at Roses, since it wasn't solely focused on research like the Rune Division at Roses.

Roses' Rune Division only accepted top-tier talents or special assignments like Yin Fu, and didn't usually hold regular classes. However, the Rune Division at the Ice Spirit Holy Sanctuary aimed to educate everyone, similar to an elective course, to provide a basic understanding of runes rather than training rune masters.

Of course, besides the large number of students, the variety of peculiar appearances also caught Old Wang's attention.

The Ice Spirit Kingdom primarily consisted of two major groups: the Ice Spirit Clan and the Lindow Clan. Though they were considered human, they carried unique bloodlines that were hard to explain. For example, the Lindow Clan was once rumored to be a hybrid of beasts and humans... Of course, those who dared to spread such rumors are mostly dead now.

Besides these two major groups, the Ice Spirit Kingdom had dozens of smaller clans. At the bottom were clans like the Mao Clan, Mountain Clan, and Snowback Clan, treated almost like slaves. These clans lived in remote snowy mountains, struggling to survive and lacking citizenship. Most of them had animal-like features, such as the mane on the back of the Mao Clan or the snow monster appearance of the Snowback Clan.

In the middle were clans like the Quaidi Clan and the Guadel People, who looked human but varied greatly in height and racial abilities.

Earlier, Old Wang had seen several Guadel People, standing about 1.2 meters tall, with thick limbs, solemn faces, and always seeming to be in a hurry. This race was highly creative, especially skilled in forging soul weapons and various tools. After the Ice Spirit Kingdom connected with the Holy Sanctuary, the Guadel People showed remarkable talent in runes, surpassing other races in the kingdom, producing several master-level figures.

Therefore, despite their average combat abilities due to their height, their talent in rune forging made them the primary recruitment target for the Ice Spirit Holy Sanctuary.

Finally finding the place, the class had already started. Old Wang glanced inside; there were about forty to fifty students in the rune class, taught by a Guadel instructor, standing about 1.3 meters tall, with a yellowish, bushy beard, short and stout limbs, a small stature, a stern expression, round black-framed glasses, and a formal white shirt and black vest, making him look somewhat comical.

Seeing Old Wang holding the stamped document from the administration office at the classroom door, everyone turned to look at him.