New concept of the mysterious way to ascend to immortality

Chapter 146 Disease vs. Demonic Insects
"You're still a long way from ascension! However, being able to feel a 'collapse' in a human form within a 'haunted house' that already has a layer of isolation is something that definitely needs to be taken seriously. After examining your 'data-driven soul program,' I've roughly found the crux of the problem."

Little Spicy Strips actively mobilized the [Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture. Client] to repeatedly scan Yuan Zhu, and finally found the answer.

Yuan Zhu asked curiously, "What's the reason?"

"It's because the Tiger Demon is overloaded! To be precise, the Chang Gui Divine Power is severely overloaded, plus the Inner Universe has swallowed several 'big guys,' ultimately causing the Tiger Demon's 'mass' to exceed a certain threshold. Even though the Boss Template has shrunk into the depths of your soul, it is still 'rejected' by the Spirit Planet, giving you the illusion that you are about to fall into the shadows."

"Overloaded?" Hearing the spicy snack's response, Yuan Zhu suddenly understood. "That makes sense!"

The next second, he activated the [Tiger Demon] form, and the 'pulling and collapsing feeling' originating from the Spirit Planet became even stronger.

The tiger demon, now even larger, squeezed the 'floor mirror' into a corner of the attic as soon as it appeared, its enormous body carefully curling up and trying to shrink and compress its size.

Looking down, one could see that its limbs were indeed firmly planted on a solid board, causing the wooden floor to creak. This was the pressure from the tiger demon's immense weight.

At the same time, he could feel the entire [Tiger Demon] sinking into the shadows, like placing a heavy barbell plate on a trampoline. The originally level surface of the trampoline began to sag, but not to the point of sinking completely beneath it.

"Squeak squeak squeak!" "Buddha Buddha Buddha!" ​​"Buzz buzz buzz!" "Chee cheese cheese!"...

The shadows around the Tiger Demon began to spread, and soon four familiar eggplant ghosts emerged first, returning to the familiar Shadow Haunted House. They immediately connected with the shadow eggplant roots that had seeped into the walls, roof, and floor, regaining control of the entire Haunted House and establishing an energy pathway in the Shadow Layer.

Then, one after another, enormous 'Shadow Demon Insects (Chang Gui)' crawled out of the shadows. Some were as small as a garbage can in the living area, while others were as large as a three-wheeled motorcycle. The attic was simply not big enough to contain this group of gods.

Then an eggplant-headed demon decisively jumped out, opened the stairwell door, and used the 'shadow vines' that sprouted from the floor to point out a path, guiding the demonic insects to 'rumble' their way up to the second floor.

Suddenly, the haunted house, which had a "No Entry, Consequences at Your Own Risk" sign on its door, began to emit eerie roars and screams once again, continuously... sending chills down the spines of nearby residents and causing their evaluation of [Fire Fang]'s exorcism abilities to plummet.

As the Shadow Insects separated from the Tiger Demon's shadow, the 'collapse and pulling' it felt rapidly weakened, and it said to its tail, "As expected! You guessed right."

After expelling all 20 different species of 'Shadow Demon Insects' from his body, the Tiger Demon felt much lighter, and the previously clearly perceived 'sinking sensation' had disappeared. However, he was still in a 'super-weighted state,' remaining closely connected to the [Shadow Layer].

He only temporarily released all of the [Changgui] 4 eggplant heads + 20 demonic insects, but [Fuli Qiankun] did not make room and was also stuffed full.

Tiger Demon: "The feeling of collapse has disappeared, but I'm certain that the connection between the [Tiger Demon] and the [Shadow Layer] is even stronger. The 'Shadow Aura' I'm drawing from every moment has increased at least fivefold! In a word, [powerful]. I have a feeling that if the strength of the [Boss Template] can be further improved, I might be able to 'shatter the void!'"

Blood-red light flickered in the skull-like snake's eye sockets: "Shattered Void? Is it the kind of 'Shattered Void' from the underworld?"

"Are you dreaming? The Ascension of the Divine Spirit type points to the Spirit Realm. Only the Second Ascension of Gods and Demons can allow them to enter the Nightmare Bubble Layer. But my 'Shattered Void' points to only one thing: the Shadow Layer beneath my feet!"

Tiger Demon patted a shadow on the floor, his tone and composure showing signs of breaking down.

...

Is the decision by the Great Wilderness Immortal Scripture to kidnap the Shadow Demon God a stroke of genius, or a brain-dead one?

He now finally realized that, compared to other mature sources of pollution, [Shadow Pollution] was nothing but a weakling. Perhaps because of its weakness, low strength, and insufficient potential, it was easily hijacked and had some of its divine and demonic qualities refined by the [Immortal Scripture].

This allowed the Tiger Demon to wield the power of pollution with ease, never encountering any bottlenecks, and his cultivation speed was incredibly fast.

But its success also stemmed from the shadows, and its downfall also came from the shadows.

This thing is weak; it can't beat anyone at the same level. It's incredibly difficult to refine other corrupted monsters with my own [Changgui Divine Power], but it's very easy for my own Changgui to be corrupted in the opposite way. (Even after refining the [Shadow Demon Insect] with all its might, over 40% of other corruption still remained. [Unyielding Pride])
Nowadays, even Tiger Demon's career path is different from others.

Other pollution systems, regardless of their strength or size, will all trigger an "ascension impulse" once their "pollution concentration" reaches a certain level. That is the true stage for all powerful (polluted) beings in the real world.

Yuan Zhu guessed that even this [Garden of Disease] was a 'small fragment' peeled off from the [Spirit Realm Layer] and hidden in the mortal world. As for the [Shadow Layer]... let's not even mention it. He now understood how low the 'Brother's rank was.

[Shadow Dimension] Exists in all worlds and dimensions, large and small. If we consider a world or space/dimension as a collection of goods of varying sizes...

So, the "shading layer" is like a protective film, sticker, or shrink wrap on a product; no product is without its outer packaging. Even an apple needs a mesh bag. At the very least, it serves to insulate against sound, dust, and water...

The sycophantic girl quickly began to flatter, "Your Majesty, do not be discouraged! After the Tiger Demon ascended to the Shadow Layer, it's not like he can't ascend to the Spirit Realm. Since the Demon God has a 'second ascension,' why can't Your Majesty have '1.5 ascensions + 2.5 ascensions'? Your Shadow Shattering is a 'half-step Shattering Great Perfection' that surpasses and leads other cultivators!"

"Moreover, while other polluters find it difficult to break through the Spirit Realm layer, breaking through the Shadow Layer is easy for you! With the potential of a strong individual, you can be the first to enter the Kindergarten (Shadow Dimension), dominate the surrounding areas, cultivate an invincible heart, and accumulate enough resources before breaking through and ascending to the Spirit Realm layer. Compared to other competitors, you'll be ahead of the game from the very beginning!"

Tiger Demon's dejection vanished instantly, and he regained his confidence, raising his head high and proudly flicking his skeletal tail.

He exclaimed, "Well said! [Shadow Shattered] It's not that I'm too weak; it's that I'm too strong. I have an extra 0.5 layers of ascension potential compared to others!"

"Yes! You are definitely not a lame tiger, but a tiger king with 1.5 times the length of a tiger!"

...

After a brief moment of pleasure, the Tiger Demon rallied his spirits and commanded a pair of Shadow Insects to follow him into the Garden of Disease.

It wanted to see how the new version of the Changgui would perform in the face of a new 'source of pollution (disease)' after leaving the [Foam World].

The Eggplant-Headed Demon's raw material was garbage, so the ghoul garbage couldn't defeat the 'Disease Pollution' and was instead polluted; however, it placed high hopes on the 'Demon Insects' that had lived in triple pollution since childhood. As a result, when the two Demon Insects crawled into the [Disease Garden], they were immediately stunned! Is this a bustling otherworldly metropolis? It's so extravagant!

Okay. Of course, the 'Changgui Demon Insect' doesn't have that level of intelligence.

Even though they have been transformed into mindless ghouls and severed their karmic ties with the 'magical giant insects' of their past lives, a few traces of their weak understanding of the 'world' still remain in their shriveled brains. They are still stuck in the impression of the extremely barren 'underworld,' and their desire for 'food' is already etched deep into their blood.

Now, these two 'Shadow Demon Insects' are in the eye of the disease garden, where the vitality (disease vitality) is excessive. Even after becoming ghouls, they are momentarily stunned, and then burst forth with a strong appetite and desire.

They sent signals to the tiger demon that it was 'eager to eat and wanted to devour the whole world'.

What kind of paradise is this? Even the soil has turned into fat, black, oily chunks of meat, and the deformed flowers and plants are full of vitality—they look absolutely delicious! Everywhere you look, there is food, without a trace of 'iron poison, immortal zombie tendrils, or miasma'—it's so clean!
The intelligence of the 'Changgui Demon Insects' is only slightly higher than that of normal insects. Their bloodline information contains no warning information other than 'spiritual root, metal, insect type', and they believe that the [Disease Garden] is all clean food.

Then, bursting with excited chirping, they pounced on the tiger demon without hesitation after receiving its command, and began to feast.

...

Soon, a large number of diseased plants were swept into the storm of [Shadow Demon Insects], devoured, digested, and began to swell in size, ushering in a new round of growth.

Similarly, the disease contamination spread rapidly, penetrating the semi-shadowed 'alienated tissues,' and the intensity of the contamination began to surge. Just as the 'Shadow Goblins' were quickly contaminated before, it was still within expectations.

Soon, the Tiger Demon discovered that the demonic insects, who had already reached the limit of 'Changgui', were experiencing a new round of rapid improvement in their strength, breaking through their limits. However, the cost was that the proportion of [Insect-type True Qi Contamination] remaining in their bodies was plummeting at the same rate.

Originally composed of 'pre-meridian Dao seed tissue' and refined by 'Chang Gui supernatural power', the 'mutated tissue (Chang Gui wet component)' rapidly proliferated and mutated (became diseased) after devouring, digesting and absorbing diseased plants.

The balance within the [Changgui Demon Insect] was disrupted once again, with new [Disease Pollution] components appearing. Simultaneously, the [Spiritual Energy] originally composed of [Kunlun, Knights, and Insect Element] elements rapidly dissipated. The [Disease Garden] lacked 'polluted spiritual energy (miasma),' and the iron poison and spiritual root tendrils received no compensation, being entirely replaced by [Disease].

The bio-alloy shell (insect metal), originally belonging to the [Knight type], was diluted, reduced in quantity, and became less hard during the expansion of the demonic insect, but a completely new [Disease type] mutated shell was added...

The underlying principle is simple: the 'Demon Insects' have escaped the polluted environment of the [Underground World]. Deprived of the replenishment from the [Kunlun Roots and Knight's Iron Poison], and impacted by new [Disease Pollution], the 'Pollution Structure' of the Changgui begins to collapse. Specifically, the black, sturdy carapace and skeleton remain intact, but the black, shadowy flesh and blood tissue begins to dissolve. The 'Demon Insects,' which should have gradually died, are reborn through the mutations brought about by the 'Disease Pollution'.

Fortunately, their cores were transformed into [Shadow], and their [Insectoid Biological Tissue] was refined by the Shadow. Therefore, the [Tiger Demon] intervened in time and survived successfully with the continuous supply of 'Shadow Contamination', and completed the mutation of the 'Shadow Alienation Tissue', which became even more bizarre and bloated in appearance.

The insect's carapace grew large and small chitinous tumors, which split open to reveal tiny eyeballs that dripped and swirled; the pores on the insect's carapace even emitted coughing sounds, spraying out pathogens.

However, this didn't last long. The newly formed [Shadow Disease Demon Insects] reached a certain limit again and could no longer grow.

Having been separated from their original living environment and transformed into ghouls, they lost the potential to expand infinitely like normal [magical giant insects], and are now locked up.

The Tiger Demon waited a while longer, confirming that the two demonic insects had reached their limit by simply 'binge-eating' and digesting the flowers, plants, and oily, lumpy soil of the disease garden. Then, it regained control of them, exited the garden, and returned to the haunted house for a second test.

...

Before this 'Foam World Mission', excluding the [Boss Template], Yuan Zhu was just a newcomer who had just begun to explore the extraordinary system. He had only just started cultivating [Holy Light] and his understanding of this world was not profound; he felt that everything was a mystery.

But after this mission, he broadened his horizons and gained confidence.

Still facing the haunted house and the 'Garden of Disease' behind it, he was no longer as nervous as before, worried that the mysterious force behind the garden would come to settle scores with him. Especially after witnessing the 'Root Network,' the 'Underground Insect City,' and personally creating a 'Small Camp,' he felt that he was a worldly-wise 'township-level entrepreneur' who had weathered many storms, confident and capable of facing the 'Garden of Disease' squarely.

If before, he treated the [Garden of Disease] like he had suddenly found a huge sum of money, suspicious and afraid to sell it, worried that the victims would come knocking, and unclear about the upper and lower limits of the [Garden]; now, he can calmly make reasonable guesses and analyses about the strength and pollution attributes of the [Garden].

Ignoring the potential for development through [Disease Contamination], the garden's inherent strength far surpasses his own fledgling [Shadow Domain], but is far inferior to any random [Insect City]. Having personally fought his way in and out of [Insect Cities], he is no longer afraid of this mere [Garden]. He is confident he can control it and prevent it from spiraling out of control.

As for the demonic insect, [Shadow-type Pollution] is indeed garbage. His [Changgui Divine Power] has only truly refined the second-rate 'Eggplant-Headed Monk', successfully refining it into an [Eggplant-Headed Ghost] (100% Shadow-type Changgui) with the characteristics of 'Buddha Eggplant').

However, once the [Mortal Giant Insect] reached a certain rank, it could not be completely refined, as the Shadow Demon Insect retained a heavy amount of 'insect-type' and 'metal-type' residues. Now, by devouring 'disease' to replace 'root contamination,' it has undergone secondary development. In addition to becoming stronger, the [disease contamination] that he was more familiar with has also rapidly eroded and suppressed all contamination, including the [Shadow].

If the two Shadow Insects are allowed to linger in the garden and feed at will, then the next time they meet, they will be two super Shadow-attribute Disease Insects, transformed by the garden itself!

To prevent the loss of his personal property, he must bring the [Disease Demon Insect] back to the haunted house and study it slowly.

...

Leaving the attic and arriving at the spacious second floor, Yuan Zhu felt a headache coming on as he looked at the group of shadowy demonic insects wandering around aimlessly.

They are 'Chang Gui' unable to reproduce smoothly, and their growth limit is 'temporarily' locked. At the same time, they cannot transform into shadows like the eggplant ghost and smoothly merge into the body of the [Tiger Demon]. The packaging of the [Inner Universe] is too heavy, which causes them to have the [Sinking (Ascension) Impulse], affecting their quality of life.

But he was also somewhat unhappy about simply leaving them idle and unattended. How could he make these 'magical insects' create value, instead of just being a bunch of decorations?

Spicy Strips: "Send them into the sewers to provide talent for society, and have them hunt and capture goblins for us? To purify the underground environment of Running City."

Yuan Zhu shook his head: "They are [Chang Gui], unable to move freely, and must stay within the [Tiger Demon's] WiFi range. Or, they are temporarily residing in the 'Haunted House (weakened and closed shadow barrier)' refined by the 'Shadow Eggplant Roots'."

(End of this chapter)