Chapter Sixty-Five: The Flame Crystal

Dust and smoke rose from the earth, and through the haze, a flickering silhouette could be seen. The ground trembled violently, its speed and intensity enough to inspire terror. So fast! The frequency was astonishingly high! What kind of strength was required to achieve such a feat?

...

Within the swirling smoke, Lu Sheng waved his hand. On the ground lay a creature resembling a dead fish—a twin-headed serpent, rendered completely motionless by Lu Sheng’s relentless blows. Compared to before, the earth now bore two deep pits, each one engulfing a serpent head entirely. The twin-headed serpent’s heads were mangled beyond recognition, a grotesque mess of blood and flesh, not a single spot left intact.

A card and a source orb appeared atop the serpent’s body. The source orb was of the fourth tier, which Lu Sheng collected with practiced ease.

[Flame Crystal]
Quality: Green
Tier: Third
Function: Fire-element material; when placed, raises the ambient temperature within a hundred meters.

A decent item, he thought. With this, he could finally cultivate his True-Eye Moth. He stowed it away, finishing up his work.

The area damaged by the twin-headed serpent wasn’t extensive. As soon as it began its rampage, Lu Sheng had emerged and subdued it, leaving little opportunity for destruction. Only a few buildings were wrecked, along with the battlefield’s center, which had been swept by the serpent’s tail.

He approached Li Kuang, examined his injuries—nothing too severe.

“I’ll leave this to you. I’m going back to sleep.”

“Yes, sir,” Li Kuang replied, unconsciously adding the respectful title. In these chaotic times, “sir” was how the weak addressed the strong.

Lu Sheng nodded and strode away, returning to his own room. The Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes were still unfed; he had no intention of wasting time here.

...

Once Lu Sheng had departed, Li Kuang resumed his duties as leader: delegating tasks, organizing rest for some, and directing others to tidy up.

“Lei Yan, get a team to skin the twin-headed serpent. Tomorrow, ask Lord Lu Sheng how to handle it. That skin is valuable—even if he doesn’t want it, we shouldn’t pretend not to notice.”

With Li Kuang’s precise instructions, each task was swiftly carried out. These details proved he was a competent leader.

...

Lu Sheng returned to his room and dove straight into the sub-dimensional space.

This time, he had expanded the pool to ten thousand meters; it was already excavated when he entered. Now, all that remained was to feed the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes.

Feeding them with Fangtooth Pigs was too slow. Though it only took about half an hour to sate the mosquitoes, Lu Sheng still found it inefficient. The issue lay in the low tier of the Fangtooth Pig. Even though the Fangtooth Boar was third tier, its summoned counterpart was merely first-tier perfected. The mosquitoes required a large quantity of such low-tier blood.

Previously, Lu Sheng might have spent half an hour feeding them. But now, he had a superior option—the early fourth-tier Twin-Headed Serpent! As a fourth-tier monster, its blood contained far more energy than that of the first-tier Fangtooth Pig, enabling the mosquitoes to absorb enough much more quickly.

[Wind-Fire Twin-Headed Serpent]
Quality: Green
Tier: Early Fourth
Skills: Fire Bomb, Phoenix Tornado, Flame Dragon Tornado
Evolution Requirements: Third-tier blue fire-element spirit fruit x1, third-tier blue wind-element spirit fruit x1

[Bloodthirsty Mosquito]
Quality: White
Tier: Early Third
Skill: Super Bloodthirst
Evolution Requirement: Absorb 1 liter of green-quality blood

The mosquitoes’ evolution requirements were simple, but Lu Sheng had no interest in evolving them, nor did he want to waste precious blood. As long as they continued to breed, that sufficed.

He summoned the twin-headed serpent—a colossal beast nearly thirty meters long, standing silently in place. He ordered the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes to feed.

To his surprise, the mosquitoes couldn’t penetrate the serpent’s defenses, unable to extract any blood. Its surface was covered in scales; the mosquitoes’ mouthparts bent, unable to pierce through.

With no other option, Lu Sheng assisted, using the Frogman Spear to create a wound. The flesh on either side was tender and pink, and blood streamed from the puncture. The mosquitoes seized the opportunity, quickly inserting their proboscis.

Yet the wound was too small.

Just then, a thought echoed in Lu Sheng’s mind.

“Master, please grant us a swift end.”

“You’re two consciousnesses?”

“Yes.”

Lu Sheng glanced at the serpent, not thinking too much. Since he'd already decided to use it as food, there was no reason for mercy. He drove the spear through both heads, killing them instantly.

If he’d used this method before, perhaps he could have dispatched the serpent more quickly.

Suddenly, a question arose in Lu Sheng’s mind—now, perhaps, he could find an answer.

He summoned the twin-headed serpent again and asked, “Are you still the same two consciousnesses as before?”

“Yes...”

Having received confirmation, Lu Sheng felt he understood. The soul was the original one, but what about the new body?

“How did you acquire this new flesh?”

“That... we don’t know.” The twin-headed serpent gazed at the corpse that once belonged to “them,” its eyes reflecting complex emotions.

The answer wasn’t unexpected; if they had known, Lu Sheng would have been surprised. He returned the serpent to its card and used the Frogman Spear to slice open the corpse before him.

He urged the Bloodthirsty Mosquitoes to speed up.

The green-quality fourth-tier blood was indeed potent; one gulp was enough to satisfy the mosquitoes, who then darted off to spawn more.

There was no need to elaborate further.

Lu Sheng isolated space for mosquito breeding, keeping them separate.

Next, he summoned the True-Eye Moth and placed the Flame Crystal, finding a spot to keep them together and encourage reproduction. The moths’ diet was simple: greenery and water.

He was eager for their rapid proliferation. The True-Eye Moth had a skill—Shared Vision. Would this sharing allow him to see what they saw?

Yet, with his current strength, even if he could, spatial traversal might still be impossible. Previously, when he was fifty meters from the twin-headed serpent, the ability drained a third of his energy after use. Any farther, unless his energy kept pace, he’d be unable to traverse.

Energy—Lu Sheng’s newfound understanding. At first, he thought it was merely stamina, but as the Chrono Ants grew stronger, this energy became more apparent. Through inquiry, he learned this was what the Life Card generated, usually stored within the body. The stronger the Life Card, the more energy it could store.

Using Life Card skills consumed this energy.

But summoned monsters from blank cards didn’t use his energy, as raising their tier didn’t strengthen him, and thus, they didn’t draw from his power. They stored energy themselves, expending it when battling or using skills.

With all this done, Lu Sheng could finally sleep.