Cultivation Starting from Full Talent-Chapter 159 - 157: Survival of the Fittest

Chapter 159: Chapter 157: Survival of the Fittest

“Tame!”

Ning Daoran used his Commanding All Beasts talent again, and this time he finally succeeded.

In an instant, he established a connection with the Divine Soul of the Fire Devouring Ant, even feeling its exhaustion, grievances, fear, reluctance, and restlessness.

“Are you very afraid?”

Ning Daoran squatted in front of the Chi Long Ding, conversing with the Fire Devouring Ant.

“Squeak~~”

The Fire Devouring Ant gently swayed its antennae.

It knew that consuming Ning Daoran’s forty-two Flying Star Centipedes was a grave mistake, pleading only for Ning Daoran not to kill it.

“So…”

Ning Daoran narrowed his eyes, “That Blazing Flame King Worm was actually defeated by you long ago, wasn’t it? You ordered it to distract my attention so you could sneak into Qiongbi Peak and consume the Flying Star Centipedes?”

“Squeak!”

The Fire Devouring Ant outright admitted its guilt.

“Hmph…”

Ning Daoran laughed bitterly, “Quite clever, but unfortunately, your time is short.”

He felt a bit regretful; even if the Fire Devouring Ant wasn’t mature, it must not have been far from maturity, otherwise, it couldn’t have subdued that Second-stage Late-stage Blazing Flame King Worm.

Its strength must be about that of the Early Stage of the Golden Core.

It’s just such a pity that it has only a month left to live and will soon die.

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But what was worth celebrating was that it was already pregnant, with an unknown number of newborn Fire Devouring Ants gestating in its bulbous abdomen.

And Ning Daoran had initially intended to feed spiritual insects and build a spiritual insect army solely loyal to him; this Fire Devouring Ant’s arrival was quite timely.

It was on its last legs, but its offspring would surely be in their prime.

“Alright, now you have no other choice.”

Ning Daoran said, “Come back with me, after your death, I will treat the Fire Devouring Ants you birthed well, especially in terms of feeding. I believe you’re well aware of my resources.”

“Squeak~~~”

The Fire Devouring Ant gently nodded its antennae, having already scoped out the situation, nearly unable to resist jumping into the pond to eat the Spirit Fish.

Ning Daoran couldn’t help but feel a bit scared.

Fortunately, Chen Weimo and Chen Yuzhu were weak in cultivation, otherwise, this Fire Devouring Ant about to give birth might have been starved enough to eat humans as well.

“Let’s go, come home with me.”

“Squeak~~”

The Fire Devouring Ant lightly jumped, hopping into the Spirit Beast Bag on its own.

…

Ning Daoran was in high spirits, returning to Qiongbi Peak with Big Stupid Deer.

Insect Room.

Ning Daoran reconstructed the Insect Room and set up ten layers of prohibitions around it. Additionally, he arranged a Blood Transformation Soul Chasing Array outside the prohibitions, creating a nested structure.

With this, if any living creature attacked the prohibitions, it would directly trigger the Blood Transformation Soul Chasing Array’s backlash, thus forming a dual insurance, shifting from purely defensive measures.

“Squeak~~~”

Inside the Insect Room, the Fire Devouring Ant lay on the shelf, its antennae rhythmically swaying, signaling its hunger.

At this point, its stomach seemed to have swelled even more, as the gestation of newborn Fire Devouring Ants required a substantial amount of spiritual food, which was also why it had devoured the Flying Star Centipedes and the Blazing Flame King Worms.

“Old Lu, bring the Spirit Fish.”

“Roar~~”

Big Stupid Deer ran back and forth, carrying struggling Spirit Fish impaled on its antlers.

Ning Daoran took the fish, tossing them to the Fire Devouring Ant.

“Squeak~~~”

The Fire Devouring Ant, in high spirits, started feeding immediately, turning into a streak of firelight and spiraling around the Spirit Fish. “Sizzle sizzle sizzle” – after a few circles, not even the bones were left, as the fish were devoured completely!

In the blink of an eye, the Fire Devouring Ant consumed about a hundred jin of Spirit Fish.

It conveyed to Ning Daoran that it was only thirty percent full at the moment.

Naturally, Ning Daoran wasn’t stingy and commanded, “Old Lu, I appoint you as the Supply Transport Brigade Captain of the Ning Family Army, responsible for transporting Spirit Fish to feed the Fire Devouring Ants until they are full!”

“Roar roar roar~~”

Big Stupid Deer, multitasking and a key figure in the Ning Family Army, was overjoyed and kept running back and forth, sending batches of Spirit Fish to their demise.

In the fish pond.

A splash churned the water.

Little Blackie’s formidable head emerged, growling, asking Brother Lu when it would end, as most of his harem of concubines had been eaten already, asking if some could be spared?

“Yo yo~~~”

Big Stupid Deer emitted a deer call, taking on Brother Lu’s air of authority, you’re really clinging to that, huh?

Little Blackie was shocked and hastily nodded in agreement, indicating the harem of concubines was a gift from the big brother, and now the Fire Devouring Ant was the darling in front of the big brother – oh no, the darling insect – it could eat as much as it wanted.

Thus, over one night, approximately three thousand jin of Spirit Fish from the pond were consumed.

Fortunately, with several dozens of acres in size, there were plenty of Spirit Fish in the pond to satisfy the Fire Devouring Ant’s appetite.

On the third day, Ning Daoran led two Spiritual Sheep to feed the Fire Devouring Ant, which were quickly reduced to skeletons, not a speck of meat left.

On the fourth day, Ning Daoran led an ox with blooming spirituality into the enclosure, and when it emerged, only the skeleton of the ox was left.

The pregnant Fire Devouring Ant had an enormous appetite, it was a wonder how its small body could consume so much spiritual meat.

But this was the Cultivation World, where some seemingly illogical things just didn’t matter.

…

Half a month later.

The Fire Devouring Ants began to reproduce.

Puckering its wasp waist and plump buttocks, it exerted significant effort. Ning Daoran released his Divine Sense, so keen that he even saw sweat beads on its forehead.

Beside it, Big Stupid Deer also widened its deer eyes to watch the little creature give birth.

“Push harder, it’s almost there!”

“The head is visible now, keep pushing!”

“Aow~~”

“Aow aow aow~~~”

The man and the deer cheered it on.

The Fire Devouring Ant shivered its buttocks. It finally laid its eggs, tiny insect eggs densely packed onto the Spiritual mulberry leaves, laboriously dragging itself as it moved nests.

Several days later.

The Spiritual mulberry leaves were covered with insect eggs.

Ning Daoran observed carefully, controlling the room’s temperature and humidity.

In a few more days, tiny black heads appeared on the eggs. The new generation of Fire Devouring Ants had begun to gestate.

At that time, the hardworking mother’s life finally reached its end.

“Rest assured and go on.”

Ning Daoran said, “Leave the children to me; I’ll take good care of them.”

“Squeak…”

The Fire Devouring Ant’s head tilted, and it died on the spot.

It let out a cry before dying, telling Ning Daoran, you’re a good person, if there’s another life, I’ll still follow you.

Ning Daoran’s emotions were affected, feeling somewhat saddened. He tossed the body of the Fire Devouring Ant beside the insect eggs so that when the new ants hatched, they could consume their mother.

Anyway, that’s what was recorded in “Spiritual Insect Parenting Handbook” and another book “Three Thousand Questions on Spiritual Insect Knowledge” from the Book Collection Pavilion at the top of the Chaotic Sect.

…

Several months later.

The new batch of Fire Devouring Ants grew strong and robust. Their size was almost identical to the previous generation, but their aura and combat power were far inferior.

After all, the previous generation was a “semi-mature body” comparable to the early stage of a Golden Core.

This generation… obviously was lacking, mere early-stage Qi Refinement weaklings.

Ning Daoran counted and found that over two thousand Fire Devouring Ants had survived. He was unsure when they would mature, but indeed, the consumption of Blood Food had greatly increased.

The Spirit Fish Pond needs further expansion!

So, Ning Daoran made a trip to the Outer Sect, handled the necessary procedures, and directly expanded the fish pond at Qiongbi Peak to fifty acres!

As for the cost, just a few dozen pounds of Purple Jade Spirit Rice, petty cash.

For a time, rumors about this Foundation Establishment Elder of the Outer Sect in the Chaotic Sect grew more abundant.

“I heard that Uncle Ning expanded his fish pond to fifty acres. He cultivates fish and farms every day, and after eighty years of Foundation Establishment, he still remains in the early stages… ”

“Uncle Ning Daoran cultivates the Evergreen Technique, which is said to have reached above the Fifth Layer. He’s nearing 120 years but still looks like a youth.”

“Humph, a 110-something-year-old at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. Uncle must have given up on Core Formation long ago; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so laid-back.”

“Exactly, what cultivator spends his days raising fish and farming all day?”

“Shush, I heard Uncle isn’t into women. You all know Han Bing, Chief Disciple of Purple Cloud Peak and the late-stage Foundation Establishment Uncle, right? They say that long ago, Han Bing approached Uncle Ning herself, proposing to become his Daoist couple but got rejected!”

“Could such a thing have happened? Han Bing is a True Disciple of our Purple Cloud Peak and the potential candidate for the next Peak Master. And she took a fancy to Uncle Ning, who just farms and raises fish?”

“Who knows? Maybe it was just Han Bing being young at the time. If it were now, hmph, even if Uncle Ning kneeled and begged Han Bing for Dual Cultivation, she probably wouldn’t give him a second glance.”

“Indeed, Uncle Ning is not well-known. If it weren’t for seeing his name on the Elder nameplate in the Outer Sect, who would remember there was such a person in the Sect?”

…

Several months later.

One clear morning, the moment Ning Daoran stepped into the Insect Room, he was stunned.

The room was littered with remnants and severed limbs of Fire Devouring Ants. Overnight, these newly matured ants had begun to kill each other.

Survival of the fittest, the weak were eaten.

In just one night, of the more than two thousand Fire Devouring Ants, only four remained!

These four ants now displayed faint fiery red ring-shaped patterns on their bodies, and their aura had significantly strengthened.

“Only four survived.”

Ning Daoran frowned slightly, but it was also expected. He had known from the texts that Fire Devouring Ants, a rare top-tier Spiritual insect, evolved and grew by devouring one another.

Survival of the fittest was the unbreakable law among the Fire Devouring Ants.

He didn’t pay it too much mind.

With a wave of his hand, he tamed the four remaining ants that had prevailed, finding that they were all pregnant.

The father of the children was unclear.

Perhaps it was asexual reproduction, after all.

Soon, the four Fire Devouring Ants began to reproduce, and the Insect Room once again teemed with thousands of Fire Devouring Ants.

Following the pattern: feed, let them kill each other, and let the strongest survive.

The more robust Fire Devouring Ants would become numerous and stronger, ultimately becoming one of Ning Daoran’s trump cards.

He smiled faintly. Tending to Spiritual insects seemed so simple under his talent for Commanding All Beasts!

…

Thus, Ning Daoran stayed on the mountain, raising Fire Devouring Ants for an entire year.

One day, he finally decided to go down the mountain to buy some fish fry.

Yellow Dragon Square, the autumn day was bright and pleasant.

A man and a deer arrived at Xiyu Pavilion. After making the necessary purchases, Ning Daoran, accompanied by Big Stupid Deer, left. Little did he know that shortly after his departure, a monumental incident occurred at Xiyu Pavilion!