I Outworked the Entire Cultivation World
Chapter 407 - 366: Surviving Insect Valley
The Insect Valley is located in a low basin surrounded by mountains, with heavy humidity and perpetually shrouded in a thin mist. The sound of insects buzzing and fluttering is incessant all year round.
There are also plants in the Insect Valley, most of which are highly poisonous. They have formed a balance with the various insects within the valley, coexisting symbiotically.
At this moment, rustling sounds can be heard in the surrounding forest and grasslands of the valley. Various exotic flowers and plants can be seen, even little trees dragging their roots, traveling from all over the Ten Thousand Wood Forest.
A white deer, tall as a pony, bathed in a holy soft light, stands proudly at the entrance of the valley.
Various Little Grass Demons scream and rush towards it, pressing forward. The white deer retreats a bit, impatiently calling out, while the Little Grass Demons scream even more fiercely.
Occasionally, the white deer lowers its head among the Little Grass Demons, sniffing, and chooses one with a decent scent to take a bite and casually chew.
"Ahhh, Lord Luling has eaten me! I’ve been eaten by Lord Luling ahhh!!"
The bitten Little Grass Demon trembled wildly, proudly holding its tattered leaves high, while the surrounding Little Grass Demons reached out with their branches and leaves to rub against the bitten one.
Yo~
The entrance to the valley is heavily congested. The white deer, impatient, lowers its head, using its deer horns like shovels to push the group of Little Grass Demons into the Insect Valley.
Shouts erupt continuously, and Jiang Yuebai watches from afar, thinking these grasses have gone mad.
Being bitten by the white deer at the entrance, doesn’t that mean losing a lot of nutrients? So what’s going to happen inside the Insect Valley?
Jiang Yuebai’s mind shifted, quickly urging the innate demon art taught by the Orchid Herb Clan to her by Tian Nanxing.
Disguise!
As the demonic power coursed through the Cloud Mushroom Grass, Jiang Yuebai transformed from a Little White Grass into a Yellow Gentian with green leaves and yellow flowers, emitting a bitter scent.
Shaking the leaves, Jiang Yuebai pulled her roots out of the soil, walking towards the valley entrance like an octopus.
As she passed in front of the white deer, Jiang Yuebai paused, watching as the deer suspiciously lowered its head to sniff. She shook her small yellow flowers to intensify the bitterness, even extending a leaf towards the white deer.
Come, take a bite, it won’t kill you with bitterness.
The bitter scent was overwhelming, and the white deer shook its head, lifted its hooves, and retreated, indicating refusal.
Jiang Yuebai felt refreshed, her roots tapping the ground like tiptoeing, leisurely entering the valley.
Her Spiritual Wisdom far surpassed those Little Grass Demons who lived by instinct. With the innate demon art of the Orchid Herb Clan, she could play countless tricks.
Yo~
A cry from the deer sounded, and a large shadow suddenly descended from above. Jiang Yuebai was caught off guard, stepped on by a deer’s hoof, the heavy pressure weighing down from the white deer, and the massive deer head approached again, this time sniffing at her roots.
Not good!
She didn’t know what the roots of Yellow Gentian looked like, she was exposed!
Indeed, the white deer exhaled a breath of white mist at Jiang Yuebai, and she instantly revealed her true form.
A brilliant light shot from the white deer’s eyes, opening its mouth to bite at Jiang Yuebai’s lush, juicy leaves, plump like a baby’s hand.
Jiang Yuebai performed a backward flying kick, her roots and White Vine shot out, tightly wrapping around the open mouth of the white deer, her two leaves slapping the deer’s face left and right, then she ran!
The white deer, stunned by the slaps, angrily cried out at Jiang Yuebai, galloping to give chase.
A green leaf emitting a faint golden light appeared out of nowhere, landing on the deer’s nose. The deer hesitated, revealing a guilty expression, standing at the valley entrance, reluctantly watching the fleeing Jiang Yuebai.
Yo~
The crisp cry of the deer carried a sense of grievance, as it licked its mouth, the taste of that little grass lingered.
Jiang Yuebai may not yet know, but her body carried a natural hidden fragrance, possessing a powerful attraction to high-level bloodlines like Ao Juan and the white deer.
Just like in the Ancient Times with Immortal Ganoderma and Green Lotus, their mere appearance could incite bloodthirsty battles between demons and humans, leading to the eventual extinction of these two clans in the Earth Spiritual Realm.
Inside the Insect Valley, exotic flowers and plants flaunt their beauty, each an extremely dangerous species. The pollen mixed in the thin mist could not hide the smell of decay and moisture.
Colorful venomous snakes slithered onto trees, blending in with ground flowers, striking like lightning to drag away passing insects.
Even before entering the depths of the Insect Valley, Jiang Yuebai saw several little demons formed from ordinary Spirit Grass, dead in the mouth of black caterpillars, and next to them, large groups of black ants snatching food from the caterpillars and cutting the leaves of the Little Grass Demons to carry away.
Jiang Yuebai continued to use her disguise demon art, her two leaves coming together to mimic the pattern of their natural enemy, the toad, even carrying a faint scent of the toad.
Passing by, the black caterpillar swarm and ant swarm indeed no longer attacked her.
Over the next nine days, Jiang Yuebai needed to find a place to root, and if she could endure until the end of the nine days and leave the Insect Valley intact, she would be victorious.
Going deeper into the Insect Valley, Jiang Yuebai saw some Orchid Herb Demons disguised as the existing poisonous flowers of the valley, hiding among the real poisonous flowers to lower their presence.
There were also several Little Tree Demons, relying on their sturdier bodies, choosing areas with fewer insects to root, standing tall against wind and rain, preparing to hold out for nine days.
Among them was a Little Osmanthus Tree, attacked by swarms of Wood-Eating Ants, yet standing firm. No matter how many wounds were gnawed into it, they quickly healed.
As its roots grew more stable, and somehow, it caused several nearby Little Tree Demons to wither rapidly, while it quickly bloomed into a mass of milky white flowers.
A strange osmanthus fragrance wafted out, and immediately a buzzing sound came from nearby. Bee swarms clad in green armor flew in from all directions, capturing Wood-Eating Ants on the tree and building a nest among the osmanthus blossoms.
"Could this be a descendant of the Ancient Divine Tree, the Laurel Tree?"
Jiang Yuebai speculated, distancing herself from the Little Osmanthus Tree, relying on her disguise demon art to avoid the constantly appearing insect swarms.
Elsewhere in the Insect Valley, there were plants emitting an enchanting glow like the Dongming Grass, Ghost Ganoderma with natural ghost faces, Flower Baby Mushroom with umbrella-like tops resembling babies and emitting sharp sounds, and Dream Soul Vine blooming with red flowers with a peculiar fragrance...
And also Red Crispy Grass, which every hour emitted different liquor aromas that intoxicated anyone who smelled them.
"I should bring some Red Crispy Grass back for the Supreme Elder when leaving the Demon Realm."
The Insect Valley isn’t large, yet Little Demons from the Ten Thousand Wood Forest and surrounding areas almost filled it up. Cries of agony could be heard everywhere, indicating many Little Demons were off to a difficult start.
Amidst the tense atmosphere, Jiang Yuebai found a clearing beside a puddle, with only a cluster of Sleeping Lotuses and a yellow frog resting on a lotus leaf.
The Sleeping Lotus was also here for the selection; Jiang Yuebai couldn’t gauge its depth for now, as its roots were all in the puddle.
Jiang Yuebai marked her territory, rooting herself next to a cluster of colorful mushrooms.
As soon as her roots entered the soil, Jiang Yuebai’s Divine Thought was jolted.
The soil contained no nutrients typical of real earth; this wasn’t real soil. Jiang Yuebai quickly extended her roots to explore the surroundings, ultimately discovering that everything in the Insect Valley was made by demon art, including the insects.
It was unbelievably realistic, and the habits of the insects and plants conformed to natural laws, with a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Suddenly, Jiang Yuebai felt a chill up her stalk. If the one who crafted the demon art valley intended to take her life now, wouldn’t it be easy?
Despite her fear, another thought emerged in Jiang Yuebai’s mind: if she could also learn to craft an area using demon art, deceiving others to enter and then exterminating them, that would be formidable!
But now was not the time to learn new things. Without nutrients in the soil, she could only rely on nature’s spiritual energy to survive. Jiang Yuebai tried to absorb the spiritual energy, but it was futile.
All the spiritual energy in the Insect Valley world was locked into the surroundings; the entire valley was intricately formed, seamlessly integrated, with no loopholes.
To survive here for nine days, wouldn’t she have to resort to... interspecies plundering?
Jiang Yuebai was startled, this was practically Raising Gu!
But after spending time as a plant, she thoroughly understood the nature of grass and wood: plundering was inherent in their nature.
Morality exists only among the Human Clan, in nature, it’s survival of the fittest.
As Jiang Yuebai pondered strategies, a thin root silently reached her roots.
In an instant, Jiang Yuebai’s entire Original Essence Qi was quietly siphoned away. Usually, she plundered other grasses; this was the first time she was plundered by another grass.
Moreover, despite its thin appearance, the root’s power to plunder was unbelievably strong, making it difficult for Jiang Yuebai’s Divine Thought to resist, leaving her feeling drowsy.
The Grass and Wood Demon Clan from the Ten Thousand Wood Forest truly hid talents far beyond what meets the eye!