A complete transformation!

In the blood-red room.

Yang Yu opened his mouth, and a flood of blood-red mist immediately poured in. The nearly liquefied mist choked him as soon as it entered, as though he were drowning. The entire study had vanished from his sight. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothing but blood red!

It was as though he were submerged in a sea of blood!

The intense sensation of drowning did not last long. After only a moment, Yang Yu finally adjusted, and his breathing returned to normal.

But the blood-red mist seemed to come alive as well. Like countless tiny crimson snakes, it coiled and danced around Yang Yu. Those restless little snakes kept drawing closer, trying to enter his body.

A few breaths later, the first crimson snake twisted its way through Yang Yu's open mouth and nostrils, burrowing deep into his body.

"Aaaah!!!" Yang Yu suddenly let out a roar of agony!

At that moment, he had only one sensation left.

Throughout his brain and his entire body.

There was nothing but pain!

Pain!

Pain that pierced his heart and bones!

Yang Yu clenched his fists so tightly that his nails tore through his skin and dug into his flesh!

Amid the crimson radiance filling the room, the countless little blood-red snakes still lingering around Yang Yu seemed to find their signal in that roar. They all stirred violently, plunging into his body in frenzied waves.

They entered through his mouth and nostrils, through pores across his body, and even through his most private places!

It was like being trapped in the deepest depths of hell.

Like ten thousand ants gnawing at his bones!

That was what Yang Yu felt at that moment.

"Aaaaah!! Raaagh!!" Yang Yu roared without stopping!

Growls and roars echoed through the study shrouded in blood-red mist, but the sound did not travel far. As it passed through layer after layer of mist, it was quickly worn away. Not the slightest disturbance could be heard even outside Yang Yu's rented home!

At that moment, Yang Yu even thought of dying!

Under the unimaginable agony, every muscle in Yang Yu's body, even every cell within him, began trembling at high frequency. The savage snakes of blood-red mist rampaged inside him, scouring every nerve, tearing apart his internal organs, and instantly destroying the cells of his bones and muscles!

An ordinary person would have died in an instant under such conditions.

But Yang Yu was different now... Although the terrifying energy of the blood-red mist tore holes throughout his body, an endless surge of vitality burst from that same energy a moment later. Like sweet dew, it showered every corner of his body.

The horrific injuries inside him healed immediately.

Then the even more violent energy of the blood-red mist tore them open again!

The cycle repeated endlessly.

Amid boundless agony, Yang Yu's bones, muscles, and every cell in his body began to change!

The transformation began at the most fundamental level!

An astonishing transformation at the genetic level!

An evolutionary leap!

If Yang Yu had been examined with anatomical instruments at that moment, they would have revealed that although his outward appearance remained human, the very essence of his life had begun evolving toward a nonhuman species!

The pain grew ever more terrifying!

Every moment pushed it to a new peak!

Whenever Yang Yu felt he could no longer hold on, whenever the endless pain brought his mind to the brink of collapse, a gentle power that seemed capable of nourishing all things immediately emerged within him, granting him a brief respite.

This happened again and again. The hands of the clock on the wall had already ticked through five full minutes.

Yang Yu now felt that not only had his body become tougher, but his mind had undergone an indescribable change as well.

As his body rapidly grew stronger and more resilient under this inhuman torment, Yang Yu finally began to adjust to the horrific pain... It was not that Yang Yu no longer feared pain. Rather, as his body strengthened, his muscles, bones, and internal organs finally became barely capable of withstanding the surges of blood-red mist energy. They were no longer torn apart as easily as they had been at the start.

As the destruction within his body slowed, the pain naturally began to lessen.

At the same time, Yang Yu sensed more and more of that energy that seemed able to nourish all things being produced continuously deep within his body.

Wrapped in that gentle energy, his body felt much more comfortable as well.

Pain on one side, comfort on the other.

Agony and pleasure together.

Time passed...

The contorted expression on Yang Yu's face grew calm. He sat quietly cross-legged in the study, while the blood-red mist around him thinned to a fraction of its former density.

Three hours later.

Whoosh!

Yang Yu's eyes snapped open, his face calm. He had absorbed the last trace of blood-red mist energy surrounding his body.

His eyes were now entirely black, their whites having vanished. Although he still looked human, he resembled a terrifying evil spirit that had stepped out of a horror film, a sight that sent chills down the spine!

"Whew..." Yang Yu let out a long breath.

"I finally absorbed it all. Absorbing that blood-red mist was unbelievably painful. It tore my body apart from the inside out no fewer than three hundred times. An ordinary person would have died long ago, no matter how many lives they had... Luckily, luckily my body had some aptitude and was fairly compatible with the cultivation power of the Insectoid Civilization, allowing it to produce a trace of the most primitive life energy. Only that let my body heal and reconstruct itself each time it was torn apart. That was how I survived."

"That was truly dangerous."

"Sure enough, great opportunities always come with enormous risks." Yang Yu smiled.

"But... thanks to that, the strength of this body now far surpasses that of an ordinary person!"

Life energy was the very foundation of the Insectoid Civilization's power!

When the Insectoid Civilization still existed, every Insect Race Citizen cultivated this special power.

It was precisely this Life Energy that allowed them to freely modify, and even create, all kinds of powerful monstrous beasts. They could easily create and control an immensely powerful, utterly loyal army to wage war for them!

That was why the Insectoid Civilization had been so overwhelmingly powerful and invincible!

Back then, even its most ordinary citizen could easily rival a transcendent powerhouse who had entered the Divine Realm!

Yang Yu's knowledge of the Insectoid Civilization's specific circumstances was limited.

While absorbing the blood-red mist, Yang Yu had also received some inherited information, learning quite a bit about how it had risen. But that information was only the most basic of the basics, extremely rudimentary.

As for the destruction of the Insectoid Civilization, no information remained at all.

The blood-red mist Yang Yu had absorbed had no particularly extraordinary origin. It was merely a Well of Power sealed away by the Insectoid Civilization, which had left behind the Insect Codex inheritance. All of that blood-red mist was extraordinarily concentrated "cosmic force," extracted from the depths of the universe through the Insectoid Civilization's inconceivable abilities!

Cosmic Force was the supreme power that could promote the evolution of all life and bring about evolutionary leaps!

In this universe, most cultivating races, along with many technological races that had reached a certain level of civilization, naturally came to understand how to use Cosmic Force.

This power was extraordinarily versatile.

Every race that encountered Cosmic Force experienced a tremendous surge in strength!

This was the crucial dividing line that determined whether a civilization was strong or weak!

Those who did not understand the force, whether individuals or civilizations, were nothing but ants in the universe, easily wiped out at a whim!

"The vast universe..." Yang Yu emerged from the inherited information in his mind, longing now filling his eyes.

The universe was not silent and cold, as Earth Civilization perceived it.

On the contrary, it teemed with activity!

Deep in the universe, countless seeds of civilization blossomed. At every moment, vast numbers of races perished while countless others rose.

It was incomparably vibrant, with uncountable supreme powerhouses drifting and struggling within it, lost in dreams and indulgence!

That was the stage on which a life could create the most dazzling miracles!

"I really hope that one day, I can venture into those strange and dangerous regions of the universe, filled with countless hidden treasures, and have an adventure of my own."

"But my strength right now is far, far too weak." Yang Yu shook his head, dismissing the unrealistic thoughts in his mind.

"Only after unlocking the restrictions on at least five pages of the Insect Codex will I possess the bare minimum qualifications to travel the universe."

"Until then, it's all empty talk."

"For now, I should see just how far this body of mine has evolved."

PS: Thanks to "Hidden in the Wind" for the 1,888 tip! Thanks to "Relaxed Green Pine" for the 588 tip! Thanks to "Departed—Solo Dance" for the three five-star rating votes! Thanks to "Sahara Ocean," "Pseudo-Otaku Lolicon," "Live for Myself," and the other readers for their tips!