Chapter 297: Chapter 3: New Discoveries about the Tianyuan Pig, Insect Nest Queen
The Chaotic Void is without gravity, so the dead insects’ bodies were densely packed and floated in the air, a sight that almost triggered Chen Jiuge’s trypophobia.
"Arrange for the lightly wounded Spiritual Beasts to clean up the insect corpses first, then move them to the Green Bamboo Realm," Chen Jiuge decided. After all, the feeding area for the Tianyuan Pigs was really quite small.
After arranging the subsequent tasks, Chen Jiuge fell into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Huang Kui listened to the report from his subordinate Spiritual Beast, the Seven-star Eagle, and said with some surprise, "So many Divine Beasts, Disaster Beasts, and Fierce Beasts. Could this guy be a Young Master from a prominent family?"
However, this isn’t the Heavenly Realm; your background, no matter how influential, is useless here. As long as you can withstand it, that’s what matters. Once I’ve cultivated my Great Divine Power, I should be able to defend a Star by myself. Then, becoming a Heavenly Immortal won’t be far off. Huang Kui revealed a look of longing.
...
This sleep kept Chen Jiuge unconscious for three days.
"That was indeed comfortable, but another three days have passed, leaving only twenty-seven days until the next Insect Clan attack. It’s really hard to feel happy," Chen Jiuge sighed, disheartened.
The interval is too short. If every attack involves so many True Immortal-level commanders from the Insect Clan, the Spiritual Beasts I’ve brought might not last long.
Chen Jiuge pushed open the gate of the simple courtyard, which had been constructed using Magic, and was startled by the scene before him.
The usually shy Tianyuan Pigs had all gathered at the entrance to the Green Bamboo Realm, where de-shelled insect corpses were being tossed out from time to time.
Each insect corpse incited a frenzied scramble among the Tianyuan Pigs. Chen Jiuge even saw one pig trample on the backs of others to leap up and snatch a corpse in its mouth, behaving almost like a dog.
Squeezing through the throng of pigs, he made his way into the Green Bamboo Realm.
The first thing Chen Jiuge saw was Da Bai sitting by the entrance, skillfully removing the carapaces from the insect corpses and casually tossing the shelled bodies out.
"What’s all this about?"
Chen Jiuge’s voice startled Da Bai. "Geez, Boss, you scared this beast to death! Aren’t I just collecting materials?"
"I mean, why are you feeding these insect corpses to the Tianyuan Pigs outside?"
According to Brother He’s writings in the Scripture Pavilion, feeding insect corpses was not a listed method for raising Tianyuan Pigs. After all, they were a breed of pig that grew by absorbing starlight—in other words, they grew on air.
"Oh, that, Boss? Yue Meng discovered it. Initially, there were too many insect corpses, so we planned to pile them behind the city wall before moving them all at once to the central area of the Green Bamboo Realm. But during the transfer, we found these Tianyuan Pigs sneakily eating the corpses."
"Over the next two days, Yue Meng specifically checked the condition of these Tianyuan Pigs and found no harm. Plus, since we couldn’t eat all this insect meat ourselves, we just threw it to them," Da Bai explained.
Da Bai, this beast, wasn’t always reliable, so Chen Jiuge specifically summoned Yue Meng, who was still busy with Alchemy.
As an Alchemy Master capable of crafting Immortal Pills, Yue Meng possessed considerable medical knowledge. After all, members of Yue Li’s clan were injured and sought treatment daily, so diagnosing the physical condition of a group of Tianyuan Pigs was quite straightforward for her.
"Based on my diagnosis, not only do these Tianyuan Pigs suffer no harm from consuming the insect corpses, but they actually reap considerable benefits," Yue Meng stated confidently.
"Master, come with me."
Arriving at Yue Meng’s Alchemy station, Chen Jiuge saw Little Huojing playing with a huge Tianyuan Pig they called Second Brother.
"I condensed the essence of the insect meat and formulated a special Fasting Pill. I selected one Tianyuan Pig for experimental feeding, and within just three days, its body size and Cultivation both saw explosive growth," Yue Meng said, patting Second Brother’s large pig hoof.
Chen Jiuge observed the somewhat aggressive Second Brother before him and used his Golden Finger to inspect its Bloodline. He found that the nebula within its blood had expanded several times over.
Could it be that insect corpses promote their Bloodline growth? But why wasn’t Brother He aware of such a simple feeding method? Chen Jiuge found it perplexing.
What Chen Jiuge didn’t know was that Brother He was a Body Refinement practitioner, and his subordinate Spiritual Beasts were the type to rampage blindly during a fight, paying no attention to such matters. After each battle, the leftover insect meat went into their own stomachs. The Tianyuan Pigs, at most, might get some scraps, which wasn’t enough to show any effects before the meat was gone.
"Since it’s effective, let’s feed them all insect meat," Chen Jiuge decided, opting to take a gamble. Even if it failed, he could just use Merit to exchange for another batch of Tianyuan Pig cubs. The only painful part was the price.
After inspecting the four groups of experimental pigs he had previously isolated and finding no problems, Chen Jiuge began his closed-door Cultivation to practice the remaining two Divine Skills.
Of those two long-range Divine Skills, Chen Jiuge planned to first cultivate ’Galaxy Nine Heavens,’ an Arrow Technique. This Divine Skill had a relatively low energy cost. Although it was a single-target attack, its power was quite impressive. The other technique, ’Six Harmonies Bomb,’ was more potent but had a much shorter range. Despite its greater power, its energy consumption was also higher, making it less effective than him directly executing Fatian Xiangdi and going on a rampage.
More than twenty days quickly passed. Chen Jiuge had yet to achieve initial mastery of Galaxy Nine Heavens when a new wave of the Insect Clan’s attack arrived.
Standing on the city wall and looking at the dense swarm of insects, Chen Jiuge noticed that their quality seemed to be a whole tier lower than the last attack. Previously, one could easily spot many Great Mahayana insects, but now there were scarcely any.