Compensating for Lack of Quality with Quantity

After instructing Chen Yaoguang to manage the factory well, Su Jie returned to his rental room in the urban village with ten thousand scorpions.

Ten thousand scorpions sounds like a lot, but their actual weight is only about thirty to forty jin.

Su Jie's physical fitness surpassed that of ordinary people, which wouldn't be enough to impress in the Tianyuan World, but he could still easily carry this amount.

Upon entering the rental room, Su Jie released the Thousand-Hand Centipede, which had been eagerly waiting.

"Go, this is all your food."

Sizzle!

The Thousand-Hand Centipede stood on its hind legs and excitedly burrowed into the box.

Instantly, the scorpions, which had been quietly lying in the box, seemed to encounter their natural predator and scrambled wildly in all directions.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede, now inside the box, excitedly twitched its antennae, as if it had arrived in paradise, emitting extremely excited pheromones.

As if eating potato chips, it grabbed a scorpion, gnawed it with a crunch, and in a few bites, crushed and swallowed it, then pounced on the next one.

Some scorpions, enraged, raised their tails towards the Thousand-Hand Centipede, and the outcome was predictable.

Although the Thousand-Hand Centipede was also an unranked Gu worm, it was from the Tianyuan World after all.

Furthermore, after half a year of cultivation by Su Jie, its strength, agility, defense, and even its venom were not something these scorpions could harm.

The scorpions that dared to attack merely became a quicker meal for the Thousand-Hand Centipede, crunched and swallowed with a crisp sound.

Perhaps Su Jie had starved the Thousand-Hand Centipede too much in the past; seeing so much food now, it was like a mouse in a rice bin, hunting frantically, its mouth never stopping.

In just over ten minutes, hundreds of scorpions were completely devoured by the Thousand-Hand Centipede.

Su Jie noticed that the luster of the Thousand-Hand Centipede's chitinous shell had changed, gradually shifting from a deep hue to a semi-translucent state.

"It's about to molt and enter a rank."

Su Jie's eyes lit up. As his natal Gu worm, he could sense its current state.

It was a signal of pent-up energy about to burst forth, a vibrant life force yearning for transformation.

Another hour passed. The Thousand-Hand Centipede had consumed at least a thousand scorpions, turning them into nourishment for its own growth.

Because it had eaten so much, the Thousand-Hand Centipede's movements shifted from rapid to lazily lying still.

Finally, it curled into a ball, its outer shell hardening into a rigid shell, and it began to struggle and twist its body outwards bit by bit.

"It's starting its rank transformation. It seems my idea was correct; I can use quantity to make up for the resources the Thousand-Hand Centipede needs."

Su Jie was overjoyed. He saw not only the Thousand-Hand Centipede's advancement and transformation but also the hope for its future growth.

The venomous creatures on Blue Star were vastly different from those in the Tianyuan World. However, in the Tianyuan World, people cultivated Gu worms by capturing insects from the wild; there was no large-scale modern cultivation.

Su Jie, on the other hand, could use an overwhelming quantity to supplement the Thousand-Hand Centipede.

Quality is made up for by quantity; modern society's abundant productivity was something the Tianyuan World lacked.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede's evolution took several hours, during which Su Jie stayed by its side.

Finally, after three hours, the Thousand-Hand Centipede, having completely finished its transformation, emerged from its old skin. Its new, tender skin was a light red, and its length had increased from fifty centimeters to about one meter and twenty centimeters.

Upon closer inspection, its shell was dark and reflective, its head mandibles were ferocious, and it exuded a menacing aura.

Furthermore, the Thousand-Hand Centipede, despite its name, actually had only 44 pale, human-like hands beneath its abdomen.

Now, they had doubled, totaling a whopping 88 pale, human-like hands.

"Haha, it's ranked! Now I also have a low-grade Gu worm."

Su Jie couldn't help but chuckle foolishly, hugging the newly born Thousand-Hand Centipede and examining it repeatedly, unable to get enough of it.

Gu worms were divided into high, medium, and low grades. Among outer disciples, those with low-grade Gu worms were not common; most possessed unranked Gu worms.

Once a Gu worm achieved a rank, even if it was just low-grade, its abilities and strength would increase significantly.

"Wait, something's not right. It's not just ranked; has it also completed a Spirit Refinement?"

Suddenly, Su Jie seemed to discover something and looked at the Thousand-Hand Centipede's forehead in surprise.

On its forehead, a pattern resembling concentric growth rings had appeared.

Between the high, medium, and low grades of Gu worms, each grade had a special evolutionary branch called Spirit Refinement.

Spirit Refinement was a special metamorphic developmental ability of Gu worms, akin to a tadpole transforming into a frog or a caterpillar into a butterfly.

Ranked Gu worms would further enhance their strength through metamorphosis, often gaining new characteristic abilities.

Each grade could undergo Spirit Refinement up to three times, hence the saying "three grades and nine refinements."

The strongest Gu worms were high-grade, nine refinements.

Because of the difficulty of Spirit Refinement, requiring resources, luck, environment, and other factors, it was a matter of chance.

It was rare for outer disciples to even have low-grade Gu worms, let alone undergo Spirit Refinement. Even just one instance of Spirit Refinement was remarkable.

Su Jie hadn't expected the Thousand-Hand Centipede not only to achieve a rank but also to complete a Spirit Refinement, making it a low-grade, first refinement Gu worm.

This starting point already surpassed most outer disciples.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede was unaware of Su Jie's current excitement. Having just evolved, it was extremely hungry, as all its nutrition had gone into its evolution. It immediately burrowed back into the scorpion box and began devouring scorpions again.

It could be seen that as the Thousand-Hand Centipede pressed its pale human hands beneath its abdomen, a large number of scorpions turned blue on their bodies. The poison entered their bodies, killing them on the spot.

This was an ability the Thousand-Hand Centipede originally possessed. After reaching a certain rank, its poison's potency and speed of action greatly increased.

Whoosh!

Several of the 88 pale human hands beneath the Thousand-Hand Centipede's abdomen suddenly broke off from their roots. As if possessing their own life, they swiftly pounced out to hunt, grabbing scorpions and delivering them to the Thousand-Hand Centipede's mouth.

Afterward, the severed arms re-entered the broken ends beneath its abdomen and quickly reattached and healed, appearing both bizarre and terrifying.

Su Jie knew this was a newly mastered ability of the Thousand-Hand Centipede, allowing its arms to detach and move independently.

The several thousand scorpions in the box were barely enough for the Thousand-Hand Centipede, whose needs had greatly increased after reaching a certain rank, to have a full meal.

Half an hour later, the scorpions in the box had been completely devoured.

Su Jie once again picked up the now plumper Thousand-Hand Centipede and placed it on his body, circulating the Hundred Poisons Gu Refining True Scripture.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede clung tightly to Su Jie's waist, and Su Jie could feel its icy touch gradually spreading throughout his body, then entering his meridians and flesh.

Gradually, the spiritual energy within Su Jie became more active.

It was like a river washing through a dry riverbed. His spiritual energy, body, and mind felt refreshed, and as if everything had fallen into place, his strength broke through to the Spirit Infusion third layer.

He had originally needed a year of hard work to advance, but with the feedback and enhancement from the Thousand-Hand Centipede, which had reached a certain rank and undergone its first refinement, he easily saved that year of arduous effort.