Chapter 207: Restarting the Insect Race Army Plan, Silently Making a Fortune

Chu Sheng quickly found the first nearby Demon Beast: a Fourth-Grade Middle Stage Earth-Splitting Giant Ape. He easily killed it with his Soul-Bursting Flame Feather.

Looking at the corpse on the ground, he immediately activated his system’s function—Reclaim Life Essence!

This was the "reclaim" function from the [Nether Flame Insect Nest—Insect Swarm Evolution] interface. It could convert the corpses of any energy-containing creatures into Life Essence.

Life Essence could be used to upgrade and modify the Insect Beast underlings in the Nether Flame Insect Nest!

Ever since arriving on Hong Kong Island, Chu Sheng had been focused on raising his Qi Blood and Mental Power levels at Hong Kong Island University. His original plan to build an army for the Insect Race had been temporarily put on hold.

And now, the Demon Beasts in this Secret Realm were the perfect resources to restart that plan!

"System, reclaim!"

Instantly, the Earth-Splitting Giant Ape’s corpse was engulfed in the Soul-devouring Nether Flame. In a flash, it transformed into a stream of energy that was absorbed by the system.

[Reclaim Successful. Life Essence +4,500]

Nice!

’A Fourth-Grade Demon Beast’s corpse is pretty valuable.’

[Current Life Essence: 4,500]

The last time he’d upgraded most of his Insect Beasts to the Peak of Second-Grade, he had used up all his Life Essence. The Life Essence used to create the New Roach Battle Treasure had also come from a small amount reclaimed on the spot, and that too was gone.

Chu Sheng opened the [Nether Flame Insect Nest—Insect Swarm Evolution] interface and checked the current status of his Insect Beasts.

[Current Insect Beast Capacity: 32,000. Insect Beasts Owned: 32,000]

[Breakdown: 15,437 Peak of Second-Grade Insect Beasts, 563 Second-Grade Early Stage Insect Beasts, 16,000 Insect Beast Larvae.]

’Insect Beast Larvae?’

Chu Sheng was stunned for a moment, but then he realized what had happened. ’I almost forgot about the Spirit-Devouring Worms’ insane reproductive ability!’

The Insect Beasts in the Nether Flame Insect Nest were almost all Spirit-Devouring Worms, and their reproductive ability was astounding. Previously, the Nest hadn’t been upgraded and could only hold 16,000, so they couldn’t multiply. To his surprise, after the Nether Flame Insect Nest was upgraded and its capacity expanded, they had bred another 16,000 overnight!

’This is great! The Spirit-Devouring Worms’ reproductive trait means the Insect Nest will never run out of Insect Beasts, and I won’t have to go around capturing them! Otherwise, with a shortfall of 16,000 Insect Beasts, I really wouldn’t have known where to get them on such short notice.’

’However, these newly bred Insect Beasts are just larvae, after all.’

’There are two ways to make them grow. First, I could release them into the outside world to develop naturally. Second, I could use Life Essence to mature them rapidly!’

’Once the Insect Beast larvae mature into adults, their strength is about the First-Grade Middle Stage.’

’All in all, the Nether Flame Insect Nest has a huge problem right now. The Insect Beasts’ levels are too low; they can’t keep up with my current power and combat ability!’

’I have to hurry and reclaim a ton of Life Essence for a massive wave of upgrades!’

...

After closing the system interface, Chu Sheng was about to leave when he suddenly froze.

’Wait a minute.’

’Did I forget something?’

’Oh, right! The Inner Core!’

But... Chu Sheng looked back at the spot where the corpse had been. The Earth-Splitting Giant Ape’s massive body had vanished without a trace after being reclaimed. How could there be an Inner Core left?

Not even a single hair remained!

’In that case... what if I kill a Demon Beast, take its Inner Core first, and *then* reclaim the body? I’ll see how much of a difference it makes to the Life Essence.’

No sooner said than done.

Chu Sheng soon found another nearby creature, a Shadow Spirit Python, and dispatched it skillfully.

’Perfect, another Fourth-Grade Middle Stage Demon Beast!’

Chu Sheng first cut open the creature’s head and removed a red Inner Core before activating the reclaim function again.

[Reclaim Successful. Life Essence +500]

’Holy shit!’

’The amount of Life Essence is so much lower when the Inner Core is removed!’

’But it makes sense, I guess. A Demon Beast’s Inner Core contains its essential life energy. Without the core, the body is just flesh and blood with a bit of Spiritual Qi.’

’So, can the Inner Core be reclaimed?’

[Reclaim Successful. Life Essence +3,000]

[Current Life Essence: 8,000]

’It can be reclaimed!’

’But reclaiming them separately seems to cause a loss. It’s not as efficient as reclaiming the entire corpse at once.’

’If that’s the case, it looks like I can’t have both the competition Points and the Life Essence. I was getting ahead of myself.’

’So, should I prioritize reclaiming to upgrade my Insect Race underlings?’

’Or should I prioritize the competition, keep the Inner Cores, and earn Points for the Beast Taming Academy?’

’Is that even a question? The former, of course!’

’If I wait too long to reclaim the Inner Cores, the Life Essence will slowly dissipate anyway.’

’Increasing my strength is what matters most. As for the academy competition? Heh, this Lord Mosquito has other ways to handle that.’

...

And so, Chu Sheng went on to kill two more Demon Beasts in succession: one at the Fourth-Grade Early Stage and another at the Fifth-Grade Early Stage.

He obtained 9,000 Life Essence from reclaiming them.

[Current Life Essence: 17,000]

Furthermore, from that point on, whether he was killing a Demon Beast or reclaiming Life Essence, Chu Sheng would first activate his [Nether Vision]. He’d scan the area for surveillance devices or other people, only making his move when he was certain no one was around.

The Shadowland was vast, so even though the school had set up many surveillance devices, it was still quite easy to find a blind spot. Moreover, the teachers who were patrolling and filming were mostly in the outer regions at the moment.

’This won’t do. It’s too slow and inefficient!’

Chu Sheng was about to hunt down the next Demon Beast, but he stopped.

He did a quick calculation.

’First, to mature the 16,000 Insect Beast larvae to adulthood (First-Grade Middle Stage), each one requires 2 points of Life Essence.’

—That’s a total of 32,000 Life Essence.

’Next, to upgrade these roughly 16,000 First-Grade Middle Stage Insect Beasts to the Peak of Second-Grade, each one needs 3 points of Life Essence.’

—That requires 48,000 points of Life Essence.

’At that point, all 32,000 Insect Beasts in the Nether Flame Insect Nest will be at the Peak of Second-Grade.’

’Then, to upgrade the 32,000 Peak of Second-Grade Insect Beasts to the Third-Grade Early Stage, each one will also require 3 points of Life Essence.’

—This step will require 96,000 Life Essence.

’To continue upgrading all of them from the Third-Grade Early Stage to the Peak of Third-Grade, each one will need 5 points of Life Essence!’

—And that’s another 160,000 Life Essence.

’And the higher the grade, the more Life Essence is needed for an upgrade!’

’My goal is to get them to at least the Fourth-Grade Early Stage!’

’To upgrade all the Insect Beasts from the Peak of Third-Grade to the Fourth-Grade Early Stage, it’s a jump from a Low Grade Realm to a High Grade Realm. Each one needs a shocking 20 points of Life Essence.’

—That’s 640,000!

’You’ve got to be kidding me!’

’Added all together, that’s nearly a million Life Essence!’

The sheer number made Chu Sheng’s head ache.

’Killing them one by one is way too slow. The academy competition will probably be over before I can even save up a million Life Essence!’

’I even doubt there are enough Demon Beasts in the entire Shadowland for me to kill...’

’No way!’

’I need a new strategy.’

Chu Sheng thought for a moment. ’When it comes to killing Demon Beasts, my underlings from the Nether Flame Insect Nest can help.’

’But my underlings are too weak right now. In this inner region, they’d be insta-killed by Demon Beasts the moment they showed themselves.’

So, he decided to head to the outer region.

’The Low-Tier Demon Beasts in the outer region also have Life Essence. If I can kill enough of them, it will add up to a considerable amount. Most importantly, my Peak of Second-Grade Insect Beast underlings will actually be able to help there.’

’I’ll go to the outer region first, harvest the Low-Tier Demon Beasts, and use the Life Essence for an initial wave of upgrades for my underlings.’

’Once they’re upgraded, they’ll be even more helpful. Then I can lead them to harvest High-Tier Demon Beasts... That’s it! I’ll grind and grow at the same time, pushing toward the inner region bit by bit!’

With his plan set, Chu Sheng decisively activated his Boundless Wings—Spatial Movement!

SWISH—his figure vanished on the spot.

...

「The Shadowland, outer region, the very edge.」

Chu Sheng’s figure appeared abruptly, and a brief wave of dizziness washed over him. This time, he had used Instant Teleportation to travel twenty thousand meters, instantly draining 2,000 points of his Mental Power!

After landing, Chu Sheng activated his Nether Vision again to observe his surroundings. ’Hmm, this place is pretty remote. There’s basically no one here. The few people I can see are far away and heading toward the inner region.’

’And the school didn’t install any cameras here, either.’

’Alright, let’s get started right here!’

Chu Sheng immediately summoned all his Insect Beasts, the vast majority of which were Spirit-Devouring Worms, and issued his commands.

"Find all nearby Demon Beasts!"

"If you can overwhelm them, kill them, then quickly break down and reclaim the corpses." (The reclaiming could be done either by the Insect Beasts’ decomposition or by Chu Sheng himself—the effect was the same.)

"If you encounter one you can’t beat, lure it back to me. I’ll take care of it and reclaim it myself!"

"If you run into any insect-type Demon Beasts, keep them occupied and wait for me to come and absorb them into the swarm!"

’And with that... move out! Go, go, go!’

Under Chu Sheng’s command, the dense swarm of Spirit-Devouring Worms flew out in all directions, organized and disciplined.

However, what Chu Sheng didn’t know was that at that very moment, a pair of eerie eyes was witnessing everything...