Chapter 3: The Ant Colony (Part 2)

The ant nest, dozens of meters high, was covered densely with entrances and exits. As those few flying ants entered, a large number of ants immediately crawled out, and soon tens of thousands of flying ants swarmed over.
Guo Shieru summoned the Soul-Calming Cauldron and said with a smile, “Now, I’m not afraid of a gang fight at all.”
Whenever a group of flying ants approached, they were drawn into the colorful light of the Soul-Calming Cauldron. Wherever the light passed, a significant number of flying ants disappeared.
Soon, all those flying ants were trapped inside the Soul-Calming Cauldron. The old man with a handsome appearance laughed and said, “That’s quite good. Are you planning to raise ants?”
Guo Shieru replied, “No… uh, it’s actually a good idea. There’s no shortage of places to raise flying ants—just keep them in the Soul-Calming Cauldron… But I don’t know what they eat.” He didn’t intend to use the flying ants as talismanic insects but rather as food for spirit beasts. Spirit beasts weren’t picky eaters, and once flying ants multiplied, there would be thousands of them, providing a continuous supply.
The old man said, “Flying ants eat anything. In the future, when dealing with the corpses of mutated or alienated talismanic beasts, you don’t even need to burn the leftovers—just throw them into the ant colony. Hehe, that will save a lot of trouble.”
Inside those ant nests, each as big as a small mountain, there were countless ants. Guo Shieru didn’t retreat far but stayed a few hundred meters away. Whether it was ants flying over or those crawling from the ground, they were all trapped in the Soul-Calming Cauldron. As more and more ants emerged, he grew increasingly excited.
The mutated ants were not very powerful, only around level six or seven. Though their numbers were huge, they posed no threat to Guo Shieru.
Layer after layer of colorful light swept through, eliminating groups of ants after groups. The old man laughed and said, “These mutated ants are really unlucky to encounter such a freakish treasure user. Hehe, nearly a hundred thousand ants have disappeared. I estimate that each of these ant nests has over a hundred thousand ants… Hmm, enough to feed a spirit beast for a meal…”
Guo Shieru smiled and said, “It’s not enough for all the spirit beasts to eat. One ant is so small—it’s not even enough as a snack for them. My main goal isn’t the ants…”
The old man asked in surprise, “Then what is?”
Guo Shieru replied, “Two things… the queen ant and the ant eggs.”
The old man was puzzled. “The queen ant… I understand. That thing must be trapped in the Soul-Calming Cauldron to form an ant nest. But what do you want with the ant eggs?”

Guo Shier swallowed hard and said, “Eat!” He had had this hobby in his past life—whether it was bee pupae, silkworm pupae, or ant eggs, he would never miss them. Those things were not only highly nourishing but also tasted excellent. So when he saw an ant nest, he had no intention of letting it go. He now had the strength to collect them.

Fortunately, no particularly abnormal ants came to trouble him, allowing Guo Shier to focus on catching all the ants that flew at him. Ant nests varied as well—there were soldier ants specialized in fighting, flying ants, and ordinary mutated ants. No matter what kind of ants they were, Guo Shier threw them all into the Soul Suppressing Cauldron.

The interior of the Soul Suppressing Cauldron was vast, providing enough space to hold them. The captured ants were gathered in one corner, surrounded by runes and restrictions that made it impossible for them to escape. Even if they managed to break free from these restrictions, they wouldn’t survive—there were nearly a million Spirit Beasts outside, and any living creature that stepped out would be doomed.

More and more ants poured out, especially after Guo Shier destroyed an entire ant nest mountain, resulting in an endless stream of ants. The ants that came this time were clearly of a higher rank, with the largest ones over a meter long, charging at him frantically. Guo Shier cheerfully pushed them into the Soul Suppressing Cauldron one by one.

The handsome old man, bored, propped his chin in his hands, with half of his body buried in the altar. He tapped his cheek with a finger and said, “Catching ants… It’s fine to catch ants… Sigh, it’s boring. They’re all ants of low rank. If there were a few stronger ones, it might be a bit more interesting.”

But Guo Shier continued collecting ants tirelessly. He had an idea in mind—although these ants weren’t very combat-effective, they had one advantage: if he left this world someday, they could serve as food for the Spirit Beasts. Though ant meat was small, it was still meat. Of course, the most important thing was that their souls weren’t weak at all—this was why he refused to give up on them.

The ants from more than a dozen ant nests were almost all captured. Although there were countless ants, there was still a limit. Gradually, fewer and fewer ants came out. Guo Shier smiled and said, “That’s about it.”

The handsome old man laughed and asked, “Are we going to dig up the ant nests now?”

Guo Shier’s eyes lit up as he said, “I guess there should be something good inside the ant nests. Hehe, after all, it’s a nest of mutated ants.” Having lived in this world for so long, along with his inheritance and experiences, he knew that even though they were just ants, if they mutated, they would have some special qualities.

A massive hand made of void symbols descended, and with a loud crash, an ant nest was torn open. Although there were no ants left outside, thousands of them crawled out after the nest was opened, only to vanish as the colorful light from the Soul-Calming Cauldron swept over them. Soon, Guo Shier had torn open another ant nest. A huge cavity appeared, and at that moment, a hundred or so ant-like guardians emerged—each one enormous, four to five meters long, crawling out while making strange chirping noises. Guo Shier smiled and said, “As expected, these ants should be at level ten. Not bad.” The colorful light swept them all into the Soul-Calming Cauldron. Then, the hand of void symbols reached into the cavity and pulled hard, revealing the ant queen and piles of ant eggs. The queen was over thirty meters long—a giant white worm. Guo Shier said, “Heh, with the queen, we can breed an ant colony.” After observing carefully, he realized the queen was a mutated symbol worm at level thirteen. However, she was not good at fighting; her only strengths were leadership and laying eggs. Without delay, Guo Shier dragged the queen into the Soul-Calming Cauldron. He then contracted the altar and flew into the ant nest, carefully collecting the ant eggs. These eggs were quite large, about the size of a finger, and silver-white in color, looking quite beautiful. Guo Shier estimated there were tens of thousands of eggs, along with some newly hatched ants. Adhering to the principle of not wasting anything, he placed the eggs in the altar and the newly hatched ants in the Soul-Calming Cauldron. In moments, the ant nest was completely clean, with not a single ant left. Only then did Guo Shier dig open the soil pile below, where there was a small amount of Earth Fiend—one of his targets. Flying out of the ant nest, Guo Shier said, “It’s a pity. This is just a small ant nest—both in quantity and quality, it’s far inferior. Let’s keep searching.” By this time, his flight path had deviated from the original route. …… Halechi cursed frantically because there were now even more black-spotted mosquitoes behind him—tens of thousands of them, swarming around him. Several times he almost sent out a distress signal, but he couldn’t bear the humiliation. He was already the weakest one, having stubbornly followed along. If he sent out another distress signal, it would be utterly embarrassing, leading to contempt from others, and he might even be sent back. So he flew around aimlessly like a headless fly, refusing to send out a distress signal. He really couldn’t understand why he attracted so many mosquitoes.

Fleeing all the way, Halechi didn’t even bother to launch attacks from behind, knowing he couldn’t kill many black-spotted mosquitoes. Little did he know that this area was the habitat of black-spotted mosquitoes, with countless swarms active here. His loud flying and the fluctuations in his soul made the mosquitoes see him as a delicious feast.

When another swarm of black-spotted mosquitoes chased after him, he was on the verge of collapsing. By his estimate, there were at least 80,000 mosquitoes behind him, including many mutated符 mosquitoes of the tenth level or higher. He cursed angrily, “I hate mosquitoes…”

A group of sand rabbits, numbering in the hundreds, appeared on the ground. Seeing the overwhelming swarm of black-spotted mosquitoes, they fled in panic. These sand rabbits were quite large—about one meter small and up to two meters tall—with extremely fast speeds. In an instant, thousands of mutated black-spotted mosquitoes separated from the swarm and attacked viciously.

Halechi clearly saw two black-spotted mosquitoes pierce their sharp mouths into the back of a sand rabbit. Soon, the rabbit’s body shriveled up, and in just a few breaths, only its skin remained—likely with no bones left either. He couldn’t help but curse, “Oh, these twisted mosquitoes… This isn’t just sucking blood; it’s sucking flesh and bones…”

Then he saw hundreds of giant desert camels, each over ten meters long. Upon seeing the swarm of black-spotted mosquitoes, they fled frantically. Halechi hoped to see more of these larger mutated beasts, but after fleeing for so long, he had only encountered such a small group. As the swarm descended, only the skins of the camels remained, and the speed at which death struck was terrifying.

Halechi screamed as he fled desperately. In fact, turning around and fighting might not have killed him, but he was too scared. If he hadn’t fled at first and chosen to fight, he wouldn’t have ended up in such a desperate situation.

After circling a few more times, Halechi suddenly realized his mistake and cursed himself for being an idiot. Wandering in the territory of black-spotted mosquitoes would naturally attract huge swarms. The number of mosquitoes behind him had reached two or three hundred thousand—so dense they covered the sky like dust, with their buzzing sound resembling a roaring mockery. Halechi was drenched in sweat.

The entire swarm formed a wall that seemed ready to collapse at any moment, crushing Halechi beneath it.

“Oh my god…”

Yao Zebusong discovered a small amount of Earth Fiend mist and began collecting it carefully. This patch of Earth Fiend was hidden beneath a large sand dune; without his sharp eyesight, he wouldn’t have noticed it. The amount was sufficient to form two Earth Fiend beads, which filled him with satisfaction.
After gathering two Earth Fiend beads, Yao Zebusong took off into the air. Instead of using a altar, he flew directly through the sand dunes. With his extensive experience, he knew that Earth Fiend usually formed beneath large sand dunes, and with careful searching, he would often find something. He didn’t expect to find large areas of Earth Fiend—that was far too rare. With his methods, his gains might not be substantial, but he certainly wouldn’t return empty-handed.
By now, he had already collected seven or eight Earth Fiend beads, so he was in high spirits.
Buzzing…
Yao Zebusong pricked up his ears, wondering, “What is that sound?”