Transformation

Yang Yu was hard at work in the spacious study.

By now, Zhao Zixuan was nowhere to be seen.

Before Yang Yu stood a pitch-black Insect Cocoon encased in a thick shell. Life Energy shimmering with aqua-blue light surged into it like water rushing through opened floodgates.

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

Yang Yu kept grunting, his face somewhat pale.

His cultivation was still shallow, after all, and he had little Life Energy within him... transforming a Blade Queen consumed an enormous amount, even at the lowest level.

Under this continuous, heavy drain, Yang Yu desperately squeezed every last bit of potential from every cell in his body.

Even so, he could barely hold on!

"Almost there."

"Just a little more!"

"Hold on!" Veins bulged on Yang Yu's forehead, and his clenched teeth had bitten the corner of his mouth bloody. With both hands pressed against the Insect Cocoon before him, he forced out another torrent of Life Energy and poured it inside!

A full four or five hours had passed since he began transforming Zhao Zixuan.

The transformation had finally entered its last stage!

He absolutely could not give up at this critical moment or allow anything to go wrong!

Otherwise, the transformation would not merely fail.

Zhao Zixuan would die as well.

Everything would fall apart at the last hurdle, all his efforts wasted... and he would have antagonized the Ghost Infant Sect for nothing.

"Hold on!" Yang Yu growled!

Time passed.

Half an hour later, Yang Yu abruptly released his hands, and the aqua-blue light that had been pouring from his body finally dissipated.

"Phew~~~~~~~~"

"Phew!"

"It's finally done. I succeeded." Yang Yu slumped to the floor, a smile on his pale face as he looked at the enormous Insect Cocoon before him.

From this moment on, Zhao Zixuan would be "incubated" inside this enormous Insect Cocoon, two meters across and two and a half meters tall.

Three days later, he would emerge from it utterly transformed!

Then Yang Yu would have a Postnatal Earth Rank expert under his command!

His first Blade Queen!

By the time Zhao Zixuan's transformation was complete, it was late at night, and the exhausted Yang Yu lay down and fell asleep.

Normally, two hours of rest were enough to leave Yang Yu fully refreshed, but this time, he overslept...

When he woke again, it was already broad daylight.

He had slept straight through until morning, at least seven or eight hours!

"Mmm... that was a good sleep!"

"I haven't slept that well in ages..." Yang Yu climbed up from the study floor. Beside him stood the enormous black-shelled Insect Cocoon containing Zhao Zixuan.

He had been so exhausted the night before that, once the transformation was finished, he could not even be bothered to return to his bedroom. He had simply lain down on the floor and spent the night there in the study.

"Grrrr." After sleeping until broad daylight, Yang Yu rubbed his belly. His terrifying, tyrannosaur-like stomach was protesting, letting out a series of monstrous growls that would make anyone's scalp prickle.

"Hungry?" Yang Yu lowered his head, held his stomach, and blinked.

"My current resources are still far too limited... without the high-energy food supplied by the cosmic cultivation world, I have to eat hundreds or even thousands of pounds of ordinary food every time."

"It's too much trouble, and I get hungry far too easily."

"I'm only at the acquired human rank, and it's already like this. Once I reach the acquired earth rank, the acquired heaven tier... or even become an innate being, eating alone will probably take up a huge amount of time every day, and the amount of food I consume will be astronomical."

"This can't go on."

I have to find a way to solve this soon, Yang Yu thought.

As he cultivated, his body grew stronger and stronger, and the energy he needed to obtain from food to sustain its daily expenditure increased as well.

Although his pores constantly absorbed Cosmic Force from the void to replenish his energy... the amount they absorbed was far, far too little. Until his strength surpassed the Planetary Realm and reached the point where he could live without food, his body's natural absorption of the free-floating energy in the universe would fall far short of its expenditure.

At this stage, his main source of replenishment had to come from outside... either by eating high-energy food or absorbing natural spirit treasures containing vast amounts of energy!

There were no shortcuts around this problem. Everyone in the cultivation world had to face it.

On the path of cultivation, money came first!

Without substantial financial resources, even a fortuitous encounter would not allow someone to complete their cultivation.

The daily cost of feeding a cultivator alone was enough to bankrupt an ordinary person.

Ordinary cultivators generally began eating specially selected beast meat containing Cosmic Force once they surpassed the mortal level and reached the acquired stage.

A single small piece of meat from these specially reared beasts, which contained Cosmic Force and energy at least at the acquired level, could sustain a cultivator's expenditure for an entire day.

For one thing, it was convenient.

For another, eating it over the long term was better for the body than ordinary food... it could even temper the body's strength and make the power within it purer!

After all, digesting beast meat containing Cosmic Force, breaking down and absorbing that foreign Cosmic Force, could also hone the strength of the body's cells.

"Those unlucky fellows from the Ghost Infant Sect mentioned that, besides their sect, Shangjing City has a terrifying organization of extraordinary standing called the Ten Thousand Layers Tower!"

Yang Yu pondered, recalling everything he knew about the Ten Thousand Layers Tower.

"The Ten Thousand Layers Tower isn't just based in Shangjing City. It has branches in many provinces across the country... and even in quite a few major economic hubs abroad!"

"It stands far above the rest... and has always done business with cultivators!"

"As long as they have money, cultivators can buy and sell all sorts of things at the Ten Thousand Layers Tower... from high-energy food and drink for daily use to all kinds of Mortal Shedding Treasures. With enough money, they can even buy transcendent treasures!"

"That's the Ten Thousand Layers Tower."

"It's essentially a department store for cultivators!"

"The high-energy food containing Cosmic Force that I need, and even the precious natural materials required to unseal the Insect Codex, can all be purchased at the Ten Thousand Layers Tower."

"As long as I have enough money." Having sorted out his thoughts, Yang Yu immediately decided to visit the Ten Thousand Layers Tower as soon as possible.

As he thought, Yang Yu looked toward a corner of the study.

A huge canvas bag lay there quietly, its gray surface bulging unevenly.

It was the very bag Yang Yu had brought back from the Immortal Spirit Ghost Market, filled with antiques and Mortal Shedding Treasures!

Yang Yu had already exhausted the money he originally possessed.

Now that he urgently needed money, his only hope of funding himself lay in what he had obtained from the Immortal Spirit Ghost Market. He had a rough idea of its value; once he carefully tallied everything, it would probably be quite substantial.

"A pillow just when I need to sleep."

"This really came at the perfect time... let's see just how much I gained." An inscrutable gleam flickered in Yang Yu's eyes as he walked toward the gray canvas bag.

Whoosh~~~~~~~~~

With a wave of Yang Yu's hand, power surged, and a gust of wind whipped away the cloth covering the gray canvas bag!

P.S. Thanks to "LM Flowers Bloom, Rain Falls" for the donation! Please also send recommendation votes and add this to your favorites. There'll be another chapter shortly. Something came up today, so the updates were delayed until evening. Sorry, everyone.