Evolution Spirit Array

When Heavenly Insect arrived on the main platform and met the senior figures of the Flying Salamander Domain, he could clearly see the surprise in their eyes.

"Hehe, I never imagined City Lord Heavenly Insect would be such a talented young man!" A dark gleam flashed through Tian Yuan's eyes, and the scroll in his hand detailing Heavenly Insect's background vanished.

"My respects, Lord Domain Lord!" Heavenly Insect bowed solemnly.

"Thank you for your praise, Lord Domain Lord. I hardly deserve it."

"Don't be so modest, young man. With the strength you've shown, you're more than qualified to receive the Domain Lord's praise."

It was Chi Li who spoke again, his eyes likewise filled with undisguised admiration.

"That sword qi of yours just now-did you unleash it through an Ancient Sword Butterfly?"

This was the question Tian Yuan cared about most at the moment.

Heavenly Insect nodded calmly. "You're correct, Lord Domain Lord. It was indeed an Ancient Sword Butterfly."

His words once again brought looks of shock to everyone around him.

An Ancient Sword Butterfly! They had only heard of such a spirit insect and had never owned one themselves. Who would have thought a youth like this would obtain one?

Moreover, that savage burst of sword qi had unquestionably exceeded the strength of a Sovereign.

How had a mere Heaven-reaching Realm youngster managed to subdue an Ancient Sword Butterfly?

Tian Yuan nodded slightly. He did not care how Heavenly Insect had obtained the Ancient Sword Butterfly; he only needed to confirm that the young man possessed such a sovereign divine insect.

"I've read your records. To think you're also a talented descendant of our Twelfth Branch. In that case, we ought to get better acquainted. How about this? Once the arena contest ends, stay in Flying Salamander City for a few more days."

At these words, quite a few people around them looked envious.

It seemed the Domain Lord truly valued this boy, even asking him to stay behind personally. After this, Heavenly Insect would probably soar onto a branch and become a phoenix!

But looking at the youth before them, who appeared to be only eighteen or nineteen, then recalling how he had defeated a first-grade Sovereign with a single sword strike, it was only natural that the Domain Lord would value him so highly...

With the Domain Lord's resources to nurture him, this youth would probably surpass old hands like them within three years and become the new face of the Flying Salamander Domain!

"Thank you, Lord Domain Lord!"

"Mm. Go and rest for now..."

Tian Yuan did not say much more to Heavenly Insect before dismissing him.

Whatever this young man's purpose might be, Tian Yuan held the initiative for now, so he did not mind leaving the boy out in the cold for a while.

Likewise, Heavenly Insect felt no urgency whatsoever.

After all, he had never expected a mighty Domain Lord to see him in a new light right from the outset.

Sure enough, over the next two days, Tian Yuan did not rush to summon Heavenly Insect. Everything proceeded according to plan.

However, after Heavenly Insect displayed such powerful strength and was summoned by the Domain Lord on the first day, the challengers all knew he was someone the Domain Lord valued. Besides, his formidable sword qi was not something an ordinary person could withstand. Thus, not a single person challenged him over the following two days.

Heavenly Insect was happy to enjoy the peace. He simply treated himself as a spectator and began watching the battles in the other arenas.

It had to be said that the challengers this time were generally quite strong. But since every one of them was proud and ambitious, looking down on the smaller cities, most of the arenas they chose ranked in the lower-middle range.

Cities like Flying Spirit City drew the most attention. As a result, several arenas near Heavenly Insect's were challenged three times in succession over those three days. Aside from a handful of city lords with genuine trump cards, seven or eight cities actually changed hands...

Heavenly Insect had never imagined the elimination rate would be so terrifying.

When the arena contest ended, every arena winner received a reward from the Domain Lord's residence. Heavenly Insect even received an excellent high-grade offensive spiritual art, the Demon Sound Illusion-Slaying Melody!

This was an extremely powerful spiritual art performed through the Spirit Insect Flute. It used spiritual energy as a catalyst to draw upon the vicious, baleful energy between heaven and earth, driving the flute's notes to transform into sharp blades, insect soldiers, and other attacks that killed the enemy.

Such sound-killing spiritual arts were exceedingly rare in the Great Thousand World. Even the Flying Salamander Domain could only find Spirit Grade sound-killing arts. As for higher-level Divine Grade arts, there might not be any in the entire Heavenly Meridian.

After the assembly ended, the city lords began leaving Flying Salamander City one after another. Only a few lords of major cities, with sufficient strength and resources, remained to participate in the upcoming auction.

Heavenly Insect naturally stayed in Flying Salamander City as well, waiting for the Domain Lord's next summons.

During this time, he did not remain idle. He visited the city's major trading houses, searching for the things he needed.

Now I have both the Golden Crystal Jade Lotus and the Illusory Demon Stone. Along with three drops of a sovereign spirit insect's blood essence and a hundred drops of supreme spirit liquid, that should be enough to evolve my Blade Mantis into a Six-Eyed Blade Mantis, right?

Heavenly Insect carefully recalled the method for raising a Six-Eyed Blade Mantis that his original body's father had left in his memories, pondering silently.

A fully mature Six-Eyed Blade Mantis was a genuine third-grade sovereign divine insect, comparable to a third-grade Sovereign Divine Beast. Its combat strength was not much weaker than an Ancient Sword Butterfly's.

But bringing a Six-Eyed Blade Mantis to full maturity was not something mere words could accomplish. The first thing Heavenly Insect needed to do was evolve his Blade Mantis step by step.

Heavenly Insect had obtained a Golden Crystal Jade Lotus in the Spirit Butterfly Fairy's ruins, then spent a hundred drops of supreme spirit liquid at the Flying Salamander Trading House to purchase an Illusory Demon Stone. Together with the Azure Mystic Ice Octopus blood essence he had obtained when he killed Wu Xiao, he had fully met the requirements for the Blade Mantis's first evolution.

Since he had the opportunity now, Heavenly Insect planned to have his Blade Mantis complete its first evolution.

As for how far the Blade Mantis would develop after this evolution, truthfully, Heavenly Insect had no precise idea. He could only make his own judgment based on certain pieces of information in his original body's memories.

"If it successfully evolves into a Six-Eyed Blade Mantis, it should reach the level of a first-grade sovereign spirit insect. As for its later evolution into a divine insect, that really won't be easy."

The difficulty of evolving a spirit insect into a divine insect would be no less than what the Nine Nether Sparrow had faced when evolving into a Nine Netherworld Sparrow. He could only leave that for later and plan carefully.

Still, even gaining another first-grade sovereign spirit insect would be an enormous improvement for Heavenly Insect, especially since he intended to compete with the talented descendants of the Twelfth Branch next!

Leaving the city, Heavenly Insect found a reasonably safe, secluded valley in the surrounding barren mountains. He then began gathering spiritual energy to inscribe the evolution Spirit Array.

Inscribing spirit insect evolution Spirit Arrays was an exceedingly rare skill even within the Spirit Insect Tribe. Moreover, the arrays varied enormously in level depending on the level of the spirit insect's evolution.

The memories left by Heavenly Insect's original body included the evolution Spirit Array needed for the Blade Mantis's first evolution. However, this array was somewhat complex, comparable to a fifth-level Spirit Array in the outside world. Only a top-tier Spirit Array Master could set it up.

In Heavenly Insect's memories, his original body's father, Tian Qu, had not been a powerful Spirit Array Master. His evolution Spirit Arrays had all been completed by the original body's mother.

Although his original body's mother did not bear the Heavenly Meridian's main surname and came from only a small family, her family had once been quite famous for its expertise in various spirit insect strengthening and evolution Spirit Arrays.

Later, however, certain events had led to the destruction of her family. His original body's father had saved her, and the two had eventually come together.

It was a very clichéd tale of a hero saving a beauty and the beauty pledging herself to him, but such stories truly played out constantly in many places throughout the Great Thousand World.

Of course, these rescued beauties did not all end up with their heroes because of love at first sight or a desire to repay their kindness. More often, they made that choice because they wanted a secure pillar of support.

After all, a hero capable of saving a beauty was certainly no weakling. Wasn't he the perfect haven for a woman with no one to rely on?

Of course, none of this was meant to suggest that there had been some scheme behind the union of Heavenly Insect's parents. The point was that although his original body lacked cultivation talent, he had fully inherited his mother's gifts for Spirit Arrays and was highly talented in that field.

Now that Heavenly Insect had crossed over and been reborn in this body, he had inherited that talent despite having his flesh reconstructed. Thus, he could now set up this evolution Spirit Array through his own efforts.

Of course, this applied only to Spirit Arrays related to spirit insects. Heavenly Insect had not yet studied the various offensive Spirit Arrays used by someone like Mu Chen, nor did he know whether this talent would carry over...

He took out the array foundations he had prepared in advance and buried them separately underground. This would greatly reduce the difficulty of setting up the Spirit Array.

Heavenly Insect then spent a long time inscribing the ground before finally completing the Spirit Array. His hands began moving rapidly, and Spirit Seals appeared one after another before sinking into the array on the ground.

As the Spirit Seals continued to fill it, the once-dim Spirit Array suddenly shone with dazzling light. Heavenly Insect then began placing various materials in the positions he had left open beforehand...

First came the Golden Crystal Jade Lotus, which looked as though it had been carved from golden jade. Next was a fist-sized stone that shimmered with a mysterious blue-violet sheen-the Illusory Demon Stone.

Heavenly Insect then summoned his Blade Mantis and had it stand at the center of the evolution Spirit Array. Using the sovereign spirit insect's blood essence, he began drawing mysterious blood-red patterns over its body.

Once everything was finished and ready, Heavenly Insect took out the Seven-Colored Glazed Glass Cup. He extracted a drop of supreme spirit liquid from it and put it directly into the Blade Mantis's mouth.

What would happen when a high-level spirit insect swallowed supreme spirit liquid?

Watching the Blade Mantis cry out mournfully, its body swelling continuously as though it might burst at any moment, Heavenly Insect felt the corner of his eye twitch.

Sure enough, a creature like Golden Cicada, who could devour anything regardless of its energy level, was a freak!

Fortunately, the special Blood Talisman Spirit Array on the Blade Mantis's body suppressed it, preventing it from exploding and dying immediately.

But Heavenly Insect knew very well that this state could not last.

He had to make the Blade Mantis complete its evolution as quickly as possible!

Without the slightest hesitation, Heavenly Insect immediately began activating the evolution Spirit Array beneath his feet...

Next, Heavenly Insect discovered that the Golden Crystal Jade Lotus and Illusory Demon Stone he had placed inside the array were melting into golden and blue-violet liquids at a speed visible to the naked eye. Following the array's patterns, they slowly gathered at the Blade Mantis's feet before flowing upward and spreading across its entire body.

This process continued for a quarter of an hour. Heavenly Insect noticed that the Blade Mantis's condition was clearly improving, while the aura around it grew stronger at a terrifying rate!

Heavenly Insect watched the changes within the array with burning intensity. Whenever he saw signs that the Blade Mantis's body was about to recover, he fed it another drop of supreme spirit liquid, and it began enduring tremendous pain all over again...

The process repeated over and over, until Heavenly Insect felt that even the tortures of the Eighteen Hells could hardly be worse.

No wonder this evolution method had a success rate below thirty percent. Even though Heavenly Insect had prepared thoroughly and employed all sorts of supporting measures, the Blade Mantis's chances of evolving successfully were still below fifty percent.

Now it all depended on how long the Blade Mantis could endure.

Time slowly passed, and three days went by in the blink of an eye.

By now, Heavenly Insect's expression had become exceptionally grave. Sweat even beaded on his forehead from the tension.

He had already fed the Blade Mantis dozens of drops of supreme spirit liquid, and the creature standing at the center of the array had undergone a complete transformation.

Its once-slender, well-proportioned body had stretched to a full thirty feet, making it a giant compared with its former self.

The sharp blades of its two forelimbs had grown even larger. Heavenly Insect could even faintly sense terrifying blade qi gathering within them. If unleashed, it would undoubtedly be an earth-shattering attack.

More importantly, the Blade Mantis's formerly dull wings were now covered in strange patterns. In particular, the six blue-violet markings resembling eyes lent it an even more eerie and terrifying appearance.

Aside from its two outrageously large blade limbs, those six eye-like markings were the Six-Eyed Blade Mantis's most distinctive feature, as well as one of its strongest means of attack.

"Has it finally succeeded...?"

Only at this moment did Heavenly Insect's tension ease slightly.

A burst of golden light emerged from his body, and Golden Cicada's voice rang out in Heavenly Insect's mind.

"Huh? You wasted so much supreme spirit liquid just to raise this thing? You'd have been better off letting me devour it instead, so I could break out of my cocoon sooner.

"Once you have the great Golden Cicada by your side, why would you need to suffer all these hardships and rack your brains fighting for an Insect World quota? You'll be the ruler of the Spirit Insect Tribe! If anyone dares resist, or you simply dislike the look of someone, just say the word and I'll go devour him!"

"Oh, give it a rest!"

"I have no desire to become the enemy of the entire Great Thousand World. I wouldn't even know what killed me!"

Until his strength had truly grown, or until he found a sufficiently powerful backer, he would absolutely never expose Golden Cicada.

Otherwise, given the sins committed by the Six-Winged Golden Cicada in ancient times, who knew how many terrifying ancient remnant clans would come seeking revenge on him!