These eight evolved Soul-Devouring Corpse Wasps were obtained from Jiang Guixian. He couldn't even tell their gender, so how did a Queen suddenly emerge?
As the thought crossed his mind, the information panel within the spatial casket shifted again.
[Queen (Newborn)] [Egg-laying Capacity: Unactivated]
Reflecting on it, the one the Casket identified as the Queen was the very first wasp to plunge into the python’s meat. Whoever ate first, ruled. A simple, brutal rule that perfectly suited these insects.
Gensheng looked at the remaining seven wasps hovering expectantly and gave the command: "Eat your fill. Everyone gets a chance."
Without a shred of hesitation, the seven wasps dived into the massive gashes of the Black-Scaled Python and vanished. The gluttonous feast began.
Gensheng walked to the serpent's head, tearing the massive skull from its neck. Reaching into the severance, he felt around for a moment before pulling out a fist-sized, emerald-green orb. A Foundation Establishment stage Demon Core. Whether sold in the Abode of Ten Thousand Pills or kept for himself, it was a significant fortune.
The advantages of having six arms were on full display here. Two hands were busy skinning—the dark green hide was incredibly tough, perfect for crafting soft armor. Two hands disassembled the skeleton—each bone was harder than fine iron, ideal for refining artifacts. The remaining two hands sliced the prime essence-meat into neat portions.
Li Simin stood silently at the island’s edge, acting as his sentry. Her hollow Void-Watching Eyes scanned the murky swamps. Man and corpse moved in silent, perfect synergy, like a single entity. The only sounds in the deep swamp were the skritch-skritch of insects devouring flesh and the wet tearing of bone from meat.
Three or four hours later, the designated Queen was the first to emerge. Her body had grown significantly larger, her abdomen swollen as if it might burst. She flew to the pile of meat Gensheng had prepared and vibrated her tail.
Poof.
A grain-sized, grey-white egg was deposited. Then a second, a third... In the span of a single incense stick's burning, she had laid over a hundred eggs before diving back into the carcass to feed again. The other seven wasps followed suit, completing their first meal and emerging to begin their own cycles.
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The eggs laid on the serpent meat hatched at a visible speed. Grey-white shells cracked, and nail-sized white larvae wriggled out. They lacked eyes, following pure instinct to gorge themselves on the high-energy spiritual meat.
The meat vanished. The larvae inflated like balloons, shifting from white to grey, then to black. Within half a day, the first batch of larvae had formed hard black cocoons.
New Grade-2 Corpse-Miasma Wasps crawled out, shook their wings, and joined the bloody carnival. With an endless supply of Foundation-level serpent meat as fuel, these newborns evolved and bred at a terrifying rate.
Lay, hatch, eat, cocoon, emerge. The cycle repeated.
The serpent meat dwindled. The black cloud of insects on the island expanded geometrically.
A month later, the final scrap of meat was consumed. The massive python was nothing more than a bleached, picked-clean skeleton. Perched upon those bones was a swarm dense enough to give anyone with trypophobia a terminal heart attack.
Gensheng stood up and took a deep breath. New information flooded his mind.
[Soul-Devouring Corpse Wasps (Grade-3 Low-Tier): 521] Note: Composed of 8 mother-bodies and several elite specimens; the core combat force.
[Corpse-Miasma Wasps (Grade-2 Low-Tier): 2,834]
Total: 3,355.
His first true army. His own personal legion.
With a thought, over three thousand wasps took to the sky, swirling above him into a massive black tornado that blotted out the sun. The pressure—a mix of death qi and corrosive aura—made the entire swamp tremble. Gensheng opened his mouth, and the black vortex turned into a flood, pouring into his maw to be stored in the Casket.
It was a strange, intoxicating feeling. He was no longer a lone "bug."
However, Qi Condensation Level 10 remained his greatest weakness. If he encountered a master like Bai Jingzi who simply ignored his tricks and nuked him with a treasure-sword from a distance, he’d still die instantly. His main body was too fragile.
But assuming I'm not directly targeted... just how strong am I now?
Gensheng leaned against the coffin and ran the numbers.
First, Li Simin. With 108 apertures unlocked and a soul-link, she was his strongest shield and sharpest spear. With the power of a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment master and a body like a treasure-tool, she could handle a buffoon like Bai Jingzi one-on-one with ease.
Second, the Ashen Butterflies. 320 of them. His trump card for dissolving shields. Their only drawback was that their powder was a non-renewable resource—he couldn't use them lightly.
Finally, the Wasp Legion. Over 3,000 strong. Quantity was their quality. A few were a nuisance; three thousand were a sky-covering catastrophe. Even if they couldn't kill a high-level master, they could blind them, drain their energy, and sow utter chaos.
He began to run simulations in his mind. Against one Bai Jingzi? Li Simin alone could snap his sword. A guaranteed win. Against two? Li Simin stalls one; the swarm overwhelms the other. With his six arms, he could coordinate the swarm and the puppet simultaneously while setting traps. 90% win rate. Against three?
Gensheng shook his head. Too risky. Unless all three were idiots who stood still, once they coordinated a focused attack on his fragile main body, it would be game over.