Chapter 45: Orphan

When the seven clones jumped in through the spatial vortex, Su Chen felt his consciousness lurch mightily.

Seven points-of-view appeared before his consciousness perception.

They were in a boundless region of pitch-black space that seemed to be completely empty. At the center of the void was a lonely patch of land surrounded by chaotic torrents of wind.

That was Origin Energy.

The wild, violent Origin Energy surged uncontrollably like a gale of wind.

Four of his clones disappeared on the spot.

By relying on the vision of the three remaining clones, which were slightly stronger, Su Chen saw an even more frightening scene unfold......

“AHH!”

Su Chen cried out as he clutched at his head.

“Su Chen, are you alright?” Patelocke hurriedly asked.

“All of my clones were killed by that thing, but I didn’t expect that it could not only swallow my consciousness fragments but also attack me by tracing the consciousness strands connecting me with the clones. Dammit, the Origin Bone Scepter didn’t say anything about this!” Su Chen said as he remained kneeling on the ground, pain still shooting through his head.

“The scepter is not omniscient.”

“Of course I am aware of that.” Su Chen slowly stood up. Blood was slowly dripping from his nose, and he looked like he was in quite the sorry state. “This guy made me lose fifty units of consciousness power just like that. Fifty units! Do you understand? Its consciousness winds are simply too frightening.”

“What is that thing anyways?” Patelocke was stunned.

An existence that could even wound someone like Su Chen, who possessed an astounding three thousand units of consciousness power, was simply too frightening. Only Astral Elders probably would have been able to achieve a similar effect.

“It’s a lair, a lair that is constantly producing those bugs. Now I know where those bugs are coming from,” Su Chen replied. “No wonder the danger is contained within that strange realm. Inside is a wasp hive that cannot move, and most of the wasps it produced have been finished off by me.”

“How could that be?” Patelocke asked, stunned. “How come the realm which the Gold-Devouring Ape died in is suddenly populated with such frighteningly powerful bugs?”

“It must be the work of the Harpies,” Su Chen replied.

“How do you know?”

Su Chen replied, “Because that bug hive exists in the center of an elemental windstorm. It lives totally alone and isolated from everything else. What kind of insect have you heard of that can survive in the midst of an elemental tempest on its own for tens of thousands of years? That’s not a naturally-occurring situation at all.”

Patelocke immediately understood.

Tens of thousands of years was more than enough time to wipe out many lifeforms. Apart from the legendary World Tree, no organism could live for that long under normal circumstances, let alone in that kind of a harsh environment.

There was only one possible explanation, which was that the hive had only appeared recently! This made it incredibly likely that the Harpies were somehow involved.

“So the Harpies came all this way just to take care of a hive of bugs?” Patelocke asked, surprised.

“That depends on what they were planning on using these bugs for,” Su Chen replied. “Right, have you ever wondered why the Harpies’ Moonstones would suddenly run out so soon?”

Patelocke replied, “It should be because of these bugs. Since they can burrow through the walls of the tunnel, they should also be able to excavate and extract ore from the walls as well.”

Su Chen nodded. “That’s right. However, I didn’t see any metallic substances in that strange realm.

“This is really too strange!” Patelocke simply couldn’t wrap his head around what was happening.

“The Harpies wouldn’t come here to raise a bug nest for no reason. There must be something else hidden in the strange realm, not just elemental winds. I must think of a way to go inside and have a look in order to clarify the situation for myself.”

Patelocke was badly startled. “Are you crazy? The prediction already told you that you would die if you went in. That thing can even use your clones as a bridge to attack you!”

“I know, but that’s only given the current circumstances. Since it cannot come out, I have more than enough time to experiment.”

“Perhaps you should inform the Zhu Clan. Thought-Manifestation Realm experts might be able to resist the consciousness attacks from those bugs.”

Su Chen immediately shook his head. “No, there’s no way he will be able to withstand the attack either. I am very clear just how powerful those waves of consciousness attacks are. This existence is on the same plane as the Lord of the Dreamrealm and Menelaus the Wise. Even Emperor-Realm cultivators would probably have a hard time withstanding the attack.”

Patelocke was stunned.

On the entire Primordial Continent, those two individuals possessed the most powerful consciousnesses. Now, a bug hive had appeared that could actually stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. This was truly a bit inconceivable.

“All the more reason for you to be even more cautious. There is no way you will be able to withstand those bugs.”

“That might not be true,” Su Chen said with a mysterious smile. “Even if strength cannot solve the problem, my wits might be able to. Have you ever wondered? If the bug hives were placed here by the Harpies, then there’s no way they just abandoned it, right?”

Patelocke understood what Su Chen was saying. “That’s right! It’s impossible that they set this thing up just for their own amusement. They must be using that environment to foster something, which means that there is something they would take away...... But how could they possibly withstand such shockingly powerful consciousness attacks?”

Su Chen replied, “I don’t know, but I don’t believe that they can do it by brute endurance alone.”

The Harpies had merely sent an average Sanskrit Chanter. If she hadn’t brought any special treasures with her, then that definitely meant that there was some kind of special technique to it.

The Zhu Clan had already scoured the Rong Clan from top to bottom, and Su Chen had also examined the names list himself. He had carefully memorized all of the treasures possessed within his consciousness crystal. None of them, however, were capable of handling the situation before him.

That meant that there had to be some kind of special technique at play.

After thinking for a moment, Su Chen said, “Death’s Shadow, bring me Flowing Flame Oriole.”

“Your wish is my command, my master!” Death’s Shadow poked his head out of the darkness.

He was the first one to find Su Chen because of the consciousness tie that existed between him and Su Chen.

Upon receiving Su Chen’s instructions, he hurried back to the Zhu Clan in order to bring the Harpy female with him.

Su Chen continued to gaze closely at the spatial vortex. “Well, let’s have a look at what kind of skills you’ve got.”

As Su Chen spoke, he began to pull items left and right out of his Origin Ring.

Su Chen had been performing all kinds of research these past few years.

Even though his main focus had always been the bloodline-less techniques, his day-to-day research involved all kinds of ideas and concepts, including Ancient Arcana Techniques, his bloodline research, alchemy research, Origin Substance research, consciousness power research, etc.

Only a small fraction of those succeeded. Those success conferred powerful skills and techniques upon him, but more often than not the outcome was failure.

However, even the experience of failure was valuable.

Most of the time, these failures were useless, but there were occasions in which Su Chen’s side pursuits came into play.

Ji Ruoyu’s void-type bloodline was one such example.

Su Chen pulled out a large group of vials and selected one of them.

This vial contained a black liquid. A strangely-shaped bug was suspended inside. This bug had a long tail and a tadpole-like body.

Patelocke was taken aback. “What is that?”

He had been in the Mountain-Beheading Blade for quite some time recently, and there were some research products he had never seen yet.

“A kind of modified lifeform. I created it by combining a bloodline from one of the Hidden Dragon Institute’s students and a Demonic Beast bug living in the Darkness Forest. It has powerful regenerative properties. I tried to create useful fusion creatures in the past, and this lifeform is one of the results. Unfortunately, it’s a failure.”

“How is it a failure?”

“This creature has no consciousness of its own. It is able to regenerate itself rapidly, but it only operates on instinct and is impossible to control. Its lifespan is also incredibly short. It relies on constantly swallowing food to survive. As soon as it stops doing so, it will quickly die, so there is no value in trying to nurture it.”

“But you still kept it around.”

“It’s useful in certain situations. As long as you use them in the right place, even failed products can become successes,” Su Chen replied with a smile. “This thing has no consciousness, which means that it does not fear consciousness attacks. Let’s use it to test and see if there is some way for us to handle this nest.”

As Su Chen spoke, he pulled out the bug and tossed it into the void as he opened the spatial vortex wider. Since the bug hive couldn’t leave the strange realm, Su Chen had nothing to fear and decided to observe by opening the front door.

This was actually still a bit risky. If the bug hive’s consciousness winds happened to rush at Su Chen at the wrong time, it was possible for him to die.

However, Su Chen believed that he could close the vortex before he died, and he also activated Heart Walls in advance.

The bug instinctively sought out blood to suck, so it began to attack the bug hive as soon as it entered the strange realm.

The bug hive’s frightening consciousness attacks were totally useless against it because it had no consciousness. In some sense, this creature was like a puppet made of blood and flesh with high regenerative abilities and an extremely short lifespan.

It had to be said that this bug was extremely useful in this kind of situation as it continued to unleash attack after attack.

Even so, the scene that unfolded rendered both Patelocke and Su Chen speechless.

The bug hive actually began to make crying noises.

Not only so, but the bug hive actually began to dodge left and right in an attempt to avoid the bug’s attacks.

Based on Su Chen’s thought process, the bug hive should have possessed some kind of powerful technique that would be able to easily crush the bug that he had just tossed in.

He had never expected such a response from the bug hive.

What was going on?

Su Chen and Patelocke glanced at each other.

The modified bug continued to advance, and the bug hive continued to wail.

Not only so, but a clear strand of will actually floated through the air.

It was a plea, a request, like a child begging an adult to spare them.

Su Chen immediately understood what was happening when he sensed that strand of will.

This bug hive was still in the process of growing. It was far from having reached full maturity. Even though its consciousness power was incredibly powerful, its mind was not yet fully developed.

“I think I understand what’s going on?” Su Chen muttered to himself.

“I understand as well...... An orphan, still in the early stages of development. There’s no doubt that it will be incredibly powerful once it reaches maturity,” Patelocke murmured. “Heavens, what kind of frightening existence were the Harpies trying to raise?”

“No matter what kind of existence it is, it’s mine now!” Su Chen replied.