Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects

Deep in an unnamed mountain, a strange flower grew in the middle of a secluded pool.

Though the strange flower had yet to bloom, it had already begun to give off a faint, unusual fragrance.

Chen Ming hovered above the pool, a mass of deep-blue Spirit Water gathered in his hand. He used a Secret Method to slowly nourish the strange flower.

Once the Spirit Water in his hand had been completely absorbed by the flower and vanished, Chen Ming's figure also disappeared from above the pool.

"Gather the essence of 9,999 kinds of flowers and herbs, then use a secret incantation to refine them into Spirit Water."

"Then find a strange flower of the yin variety, one that contains spiritual energy. Nourish it with a Secret Method and Spirit Water for eighty-one days, and transform it into a Fragrance Lure!"

"Then use that Fragrance Lure to refine the Secret Method 'Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects.' My cultivation will surely advance another step!"

Chen Ming stayed beside the pool, regulating his breathing to recover the magic power he had just expended, while thinking through the method for refining the spell.

This was a world inhabited by gods, demons, monsters, ghosts, and cultivators.

Before Chen Ming transmigrated, he had been on a self-driving trip when he passed through a village and spotted an abandoned temple.

For some reason, he had felt compelled to get out and take a look. The temple no longer had a statue of a god; all that remained was a Lotus Platform.

The Lotus Platform was carved with intricate patterns. The moment Chen Ming reached out and touched it, he transmigrated to this world.

Once Chen Ming regained consciousness and absorbed the memories of this body, he learned that its original owner had been a cultivator in the Qi Gathering Realm.

In an attempt to break through, the original owner had used a Magic Art obtained from who knew where to draw a formation that would draw in spiritual energy. He had hoped to condense his soul into a Divine Soul and enter the Contemplation Realm.

But something went wrong. The spiritual energy scattered his soul, leaving only the body behind, and Chen Ming had transmigrated into it, reborn.

After Chen Ming had fully merged with the body, he noticed that the formation the original owner had drawn looked very similar to the patterns carved into the Lotus Platform in that temple.

When Chen Ming tried to cultivate, a phantom Lotus Platform unexpectedly appeared in his mind.

The patterns carved into the phantom Lotus Platform peeled away and turned into the incantations of a Secret Method called "Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects." Then it fell silent.

This Secret Method, "Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects," recorded that it had been created from the Daoist insight of a Great Divine Power User: he had glimpsed how a single drop of water held 84,000 tiny lives, cycling through birth and death to form a world of their own. From this insight, he had created a secret art to protect the Dao.

The original owner's cultivation method was extremely crude. Even after cultivating for a long time, Chen Ming was still in the Qi Gathering Realm and could not break through.

So he decided to first master the Secret Method "Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects." Once he had the means to protect himself, he would seek out an opportunity to break through to the Contemplation Realm.

The strange flower in the mountain pool had originally contained only a trace of spiritual energy. It would have taken at least a century to mature.

But after Chen Ming found it and nourished it with Spirit Water, refining it with his Secret Method, it had long since become something entirely different.

"Eighty-one days have passed. It should be ready!"

Chen Ming recovered his magic power, then vanished into the shadows and waited quietly.

Before long, the strange flower in the middle of the pool began to tremble slightly, like a beating heart.

Suddenly, the flower stopped trembling, as if it had frozen in place!

In an instant, the strange flower burst into bloom. Its petals were fine as silk, unfurling like claws and red as blood.

A stream of peculiar fragrance wafted out, seeping straight into the Divine Soul and dragging living creatures into its thrall, helpless to resist.

As the fragrance spread, all kinds of strange noises began to rise from the mountain.

Venomous insects and poisonous creatures, some hideous and others bizarre, came swarming toward the flower.

Its fragrance seemed to exert a fatal pull on them. They ignored every warning instinct and came rushing toward it, heedless of their lives.

Before long, the area around the pool was packed with countless insects.

Exactly 108,000—not one more, not one less!

Most had only a trace of spiritual energy, and some were poisonous only because their bodies contained unusual venom. Yet gathered together, they were enough to make one's scalp crawl.

There were enough of them—108,000 insects.

The fragrance began to draw inward, gathering around the strange flower in the middle of the pool.

The 108,000 insects charged forward as if possessed and plunged into the pool.

"Now!"

Chen Ming silently recited the secret incantation and changed the Magic Art hand seals. Clear ripples spread across the pool, and its surface shimmered.

Under the influence of Chen Ming's Secret Method and the strange flower, the 108,000 different insects began to tear into one another in the pool.

The entire pool turned blood-red, giving off poisonous fumes that made one's heart tremble.

The pool had become a cauldron of Gu, where poisonous insects were constantly being bitten to death and devoured.

The poisonous insects that remained grew ever more formidable, their venom growing stronger by the moment.

Even Chen Ming was somewhat alarmed.

As the number of poisonous insects in the pool dwindled, the strange flower's fragrance grew ever more intense.

The scattered poisonous blood and fumes were swallowed not only by the surviving insects but also absorbed by the strange flower.

Instead, the water in the pool grew clearer and clearer.

The 108,000 insects dwindled in number, leaving only those with great spiritual energy and enough strength.

As if it had reached its limit, the strange flower in the middle of the pool exploded with a boom!

It turned into a cloud of blood-red mist, enveloping the remaining poisonous insects.

"Pfft!"

"Pfft!"

The sound of poisonous insects' bodies bursting came from within the blood-red mist.

Then, gradually, everything fell quiet. The cloud of blood-red mist floated serenely above the pool, writhing without end.

Only then did Chen Ming step out of hiding.

He kept changing the Magic Art hand seals, then spat out a mouthful of blood essence, which flowed into the blood-red mist!

"Bind!"

Chen Ming shouted. The blood-red mist writhed and changed rapidly, shrinking again and again.

Seeing this, Chen Ming circulated his magic power and chanted an incantation.

The blood-red mist abruptly stopped, contracting and condensing into a crystal-clear Blood Bead.

"It's finally done!"

Chen Ming beckoned, and the Blood Bead fell into his hand.

The bead felt cold to the touch, and Chen Ming could sense a connection between it and his mind.

With a thought from Chen Ming, the Blood Bead burst apart, and a thumb-sized red insect leaped out.

On its forehead, if one looked closely, was the imprint of a flower petal.

The red insect took a few "crunch, crunch" bites and devoured the broken bead.

When it had finished eating, the red insect rubbed against Chen Ming's palm. It gradually turned transparent and vanished.

"Hm?"

Chen Ming sensed something, so he immediately sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, calmed his mind, and searched his Sea of Consciousness.

Sure enough, the red insect was hiding in his Sea of Consciousness, nestled atop the phantom Lotus Platform there.

Before he could examine it more closely, Chen Ming suddenly sensed an aura approaching from outside. He returned to his senses and went on guard.

The commotion from refining the spell must have drawn someone here. I wonder if they're friend or foe!

Since transmigrating, Chen Ming had devoted himself to cultivating the Secret Method and had not yet met any other cultivators. He could not help feeling a little uneasy.

The newcomer moved incredibly fast. In just a few breaths, he had reached the pool.

The newcomer was a Daoist with a goatee, called Ling Yangzi.

He surveyed the pool and muttered,

"How strange. My senses can't be wrong. A moment ago, poisonous energy was gathering right here. How come there's not a trace of it left?"