After waiting a moment, the Blood Bead continued spinning wildly in midair, as if playing around.
Chen Ming wasn't about to indulge it. He barked, "Are you coming out or not?"
The Blood Bead jerked to a stop and stopped spinning.
"Crack! Crack!"
Cracks appeared all over the Blood Bead.
With a "whoosh," it shattered into powder.
"Huh?"
Chen Ming cried out in surprise. He hadn't expected that what emerged from its rebirth would still be the Red Spirit Worm, unchanged in appearance.
"How could this happen?"
"No, that's not right!"
Chen Ming sensed it carefully and immediately spotted the problem.
The Red Spirit Worm had indeed been reborn, but without the Root Qi, it hadn't completed its transformation.
But that Root Qi was inside Chen Ming.
The Root Qi was the foundation of Chen Ming's Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects Secret Method.
For the Red Spirit Worm to complete its transformation, it had to swallow that Root Qi.
If Chen Ming stripped the Root Qi of the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects Secret Method from himself, he would no longer be able to freely use the method's miraculous powers.
But the Red Spirit Worm had been created through Chen Ming's own Demon Refining Method. No matter how it changed, it remained utterly loyal to him and under his control.
Helping the Red Spirit Worm achieve its transformation was, in truth, helping his own Supernatural Ability.
Though he couldn't use the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects' Supernatural Ability directly, he could still do so through the Red Spirit Worm as a medium.
Chen Ming was decisive. Once he had made up his mind, he didn't drag his feet.
He circulated his magical power and stripped the Root Qi of the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects Secret Method from himself.
The Root Qi of the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects emerged. Under Chen Ming's control, it settled on the Red Spirit Worm's brow.
The flower-petal mark between the Red Spirit Worm's brows flashed, and its body stiffened.
A crack split open along its back.
A beam of red light shot out from the fissure, and a baby crawled out.
As the red light faded, the baby saw daylight and began to grow.
In no time, it had become a boy dressed in red.
The Red-clothed Boy stood and bowed to Chen Ming. "Hong Ling pays his respects to the True Person. Thank you for helping me achieve this transformation!"
The Red-clothed Boy was the Red Spirit Worm transformed, having become a demon and taken human form.
Though he looked like a child, he had absorbed countless Incense and Fire Thoughts, whose tangled human nature had given him a mature Spiritual Intelligence.
"Good. This is your good fortune!"
"You once protected my Dao Path. Now that you've taken human form, this too is a fortunate opportunity!"
Chen Ming looked at the Red Spirit Boy. His aura and strength were much like Qing Ling's. He could summon Poisonous Smoke and Myriad Poisonous Insects, and wield the wondrous powers of the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects Secret Method.
But when he wasn't using his Supernatural Ability, he looked like a handsome, refined immortal boy.
Chen Ming drew the Spirit Devouring Jar over. He urged his Spiritual Sense and magical power together to refine it, incorporating both the Golden Light Divine Flame and the Great Yin Demonic Water Lightning into it.
The Spirit Devouring Jar's aura surged, and it looked more and more like a Magic Treasure.
"This Spirit Devouring Jar is your dwelling place, and your bond with it runs deep. Now that you've taken human form, you have no Magic Tool of your own, so the Spirit Devouring Jar is yours to wield!"
Chen Ming handed the Spirit Devouring Jar to Hong Ling, bringing things to a satisfying conclusion.
Hong Ling knew the source of his birth and understood that Chen Ming had given up his own Secret Method to bring him into being.
He hadn't expected to receive the Spirit Devouring Jar as well. This truly was an immense stroke of fortune.
Still, Hong Ling didn't stand on ceremony. Chen Ming was the very source of his existence.
With the Spirit Devouring Jar, his strength would grow, and he could protect Chen Ming's Dao Path even better.
"Yes. I won't fail the True Person's trust!"
Hong Ling held the Spirit Devouring Jar, his expression solemn.
"All right. Like Qing Ling, you're one of my disciples. Be sure to get along from now on," Chen Ming instructed.
"Yes, True Person!"
Hong Ling and Qing Ling, the two boys transformed from demons, answered in unison.
One held the Spirit Devouring Jar, while the other gripped the Mother-Child Void Breaker Sword. They followed Chen Ming out of the Grotto-Heaven Dojo.
The moment Chen Ming appeared, the Grotto-Heaven Dojo turned into a branch and fell into his hand.
"Hmm?"
The Creation Lotus Platform in Chen Ming's Sea of Consciousness suddenly shone with a burst of light.
The branch in his hand trembled, and something fell from it.
It was the Insect Molt left behind when Hong Ling had transformed.
Under the Creation Lotus Platform's radiance, the Insect Molt turned into a Blood Bead and fell into Chen Ming's hand.
Holding the Blood Bead, Chen Ming sensed the information it conveyed.
The Creation Lotus Platform's light had transformed the Insect Molt into a Blood Bead, making it a Magic Tool with a Supernatural Ability. It was connected to Chen Ming's aura, and as long as he released his Spiritual Sense to activate it, he could use all the methods available through the Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects Secret Method.
When Situ Yuelan saw Chen Ming appear, she stopped hiding her presence.
"Congratulations, Fellow Daoist, on your great increase in strength!"
Situ Yuelan offered her congratulations. When she saw Hong Ling behind him, she couldn't help but stare.
She herself was the Spiritual Intelligence of a Spirit Condensation Realm cultivator's Supernatural Ability, fused with its memories. One look at Hong Ling was enough to make her guess.
"Fellow Daoist Situ, why are you staring at my boy?"
Chen Ming smiled faintly and put away the Blood Bead in his hand.
Situ Yuelan's expression turned grave. "If I'm not mistaken, this boy in red was born from the Spiritual Intelligence of a Supernatural Ability, wasn't he?"
"That's right!"
Situ Yuelan sighed. "So it really is as I thought. Fellow Daoist Xuan Mingzi, do you know what you've missed?"
Her words left Chen Ming puzzled.
"I thought you knew, Fellow Daoist. I never imagined you didn't!" Situ Yuelan's voice brimmed with regret.
"Oh? Why do you say that?" Chen Ming asked.
Situ Yuelan said quietly, "To break through to the Spirit Condensation Realm, a Supernatural Ability must give birth to Spiritual Intelligence!"
"However many Supernatural Abilities you refine now, however powerful they are, you'll still be circling around in the Contemplation Realm!
Only when a Supernatural Ability gives birth to Spiritual Intelligence, and you suppress it and make it your foundation, can you gather and refine the Supernatural Ability, turn the illusory into the real, and enter the Spirit Condensation Realm!"
"Fairy Caiyi achieved the Spirit Condensation Realm by suppressing the Spiritual Intelligence of her Supernatural Ability and condensing it into a Colorful Feather Luan Bird!
She established the Chayi Sect and cultivated the Seven-Colored Clothes under her command. It wasn't just so she'd have people to work for her. Her real purpose was to have them weave colorful clouds through a Secret Method and nourish the Colorful Feather Luan Bird!"
"Your Supernatural Ability gave birth to Spiritual Intelligence, yet instead of suppressing and refining it, you stripped away its Root Qi and let it become a demon boy!
This, this, this—I've never seen anyone do such a thing!
You've thrown away the path to the Spirit Condensation Realm!"
As Situ Yuelan finished speaking, the Red Spirit Boy dropped to his knees with a thud. "Please refine me, True Person, and achieve Spirit Condensation!"
"Hong Ling was born to protect the True Person's Dao Path. How could I obstruct it? Please refine me and achieve Spirit Condensation!"
Chen Ming swept the branch in his hand, and Hong Ling rose to his feet, unable to kneel again.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Situ, for telling me the secret to Spirit Condensation."
"But I have my own way to achieve the Spirit Condensation Realm. There's no need for you to worry!"
With that, Chen Ming turned to the Red Spirit Boy and said coldly, "Hong Ling! You were born from my Supernatural Ability. Since I brought you into being, I had my reasons! How could you presume to decide what happens to me?"
Before you continue