Chapter 437: Insect Swarm and Demonic Infection

"So, you never planned to live from the beginning?"

Zhang Wuji looked at Baiyue in front of him and asked. Baiyue, who only had a head left, still had a calm expression: "Life and death are just past lives and future lives for practitioners, and for me, they are just changes in the form of life."

The head flew up into the air and said, "You know, I am actually a stupid person. This stupidity is not due to intellectual defects, but short-sightedness."

"The Venerable Master enlightened me and enabled me to see the truth of the world. However, with my own thinking, it is difficult for me to understand even a fraction of the Venerable Master's wisdom. He taught me the way to study the nature of things, and I have been able to focus on people's livelihood, develop science and technology, smelt steel, and build machinery."

"In the past few years since I entered Southern Xinjiang, the army I have built using the art of studying things alone is enough to sweep away countries outside the Middle-earth Dynasty."

He showed a bit of madness: "You may not know that a sophisticated device and solid armor are enough to bridge the gap between an ordinary person and a veteran soldier. When the sword in your hand can't cut through the external defense, when the smoke of gunpowder ignites on the battlefield, the advantage in numbers is already negligible."

"I once led a 300-man musketeer group to attack a Miao village deep in the mountains. The casualty ratio reached 1:120, and that was when the Miao witch from the village took action."

Baiyue suddenly sighed: "Unfortunately, when I excitedly took these things to see the Venerable, he told me that I was on the wrong path!"

"The scientific way of studying things is not wrong. I am the one who is wrong. He told me that there are still immortals in the world, and the sword light of the immortals is enough to wipe out tens of thousands of fully armed elite soldiers in an instant. I tried to create a tool to fight against the practitioners, but he said..."

"The method I teach is a special teaching outside the sect. Although it is the fundamental way, it cannot be copied in its entirety. If it were in the last days of the Dharma and the age of no souls, it would naturally have a place for ordinary technology. But in this heyday of cultivation, it is nothing more than a wreck under the sword light."

Bai Yue repeated, and said to Zhang Wuji: "The Venerable even pointed out several avenues for me, psychic technology, magical creation, deep resonance, talisman communication, mechanical ascension..."

He kept talking, and Zhang Wuji felt confused. Who was the venerable one? He knew about the study of things, and he also knew about the musket, but how could the musket with its erratic trajectory have effective killing effects? Not to mention the various great ways behind it.

But he could tell that there was something wrong with Baiyue, who only had a head left. The head flew around a few times and muttered to himself: "So after obtaining the second batch of information, I sealed up the technology, found a new village, and started new research. That was the predecessor of Nanzhao Kingdom."

"Too great, all that knowledge is pouring into me like a tide. Rituals, magic arrays, engravings, resonances, research, summaries, and arguments. Science has only countless reincarnations, and the study of things will never end."

Baiyue sighed, "The Venerable Master taught me the true method, 'The Heavenly Demonic Spiritual Treasure'. Even though I am dull, I still managed to break through the barriers layer by layer. That method planted a spiritual seed, which was nourished by the soul and watered by thoughts. After only a few years of hard work, my consciousness is strong enough to fight against the souls of scattered immortals. In a single thought, I can move mountains and fill the sea, and my body and spirit can travel."

"Unfortunately, my power is too weak to handle everything, but there are still endless projects waiting for me to sort out. I thought it would be great if someone could help me."

He looked at Zhang Wuji: "Guess how I solved this problem?"

Zhang Wuji was silent for a moment: "Nanzhao."

Baiyue nodded: "Yes, Nanzhao, at that time my spiritual power was already difficult to control, and the balance between spirit and flesh was broken, causing my body to dry up. Although the spiritual nourishment fed back to the body, it was still too slow."

"Once the Heavenly Demon Spiritual Treasure is cultivated, it cannot stop. It will forcibly capture the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and use the thoughts of the human world to enhance itself until its spiritual power expands infinitely, and finally the whole person explodes into a ball of flesh and blood fireworks."

"This is a path of quantitative sublimation, but quantitative change cannot produce qualitative change. Once the physical body cannot keep up with the speed of spiritual power growth, it is on the road to death. I am not afraid of death, but I don't want to die like this."

"So I split my mental power and gave it to several people in Nanzhao to delay my death and increase the number of experimental assistants to help me."

"Unfortunately, I underestimated Baolu's power and misjudged the importance of mental strength," Baiyue shook his head. The shadow of the Nanzhao Kingdom began to appear. The people of Nanzhao, who had been mostly destroyed by the Red Flame Taoist soldiers, resurrected and groups of people poured out.

But they all had blank expressions, and their eyes when they looked at Zhang Wuji were a little cold, like a researcher looking at experimental supplies.

"I split the mental power, and the individuals who received it didn't have any unusual symptoms at first, until I brought them into the gate of studying things," Baiyue said. "They quickly adapted to their new life and knew all the experimental data like the back of their hands, as if they were copies of myself."

"We have disassembled each other and analyzed each other before. Thanks to their current state, as long as I am alive, they will not die, but will just fall into a deep sleep. Is there any better experimental material than myself?"

Baiyue smiled slightly, and behind him was a Nanzhao citizen dressed in red and extremely indifferent: "In the end, we came to a conclusion that the same spiritual power made everyone begin to converge. Although the memories, emotions, and cognitions are different, the essence has begun to assimilate."

"At the same time, their mental power surged, and their bodies became difficult to restrain. I had no choice but to seal their original consciousness, allowing their subconscious to surface, and construct a thick outer shell and a surface consciousness to suppress the growth of their mental power."

Baiyue glanced at Zhang Wuji and said, "Human power is limited. The flesh brings us too many shackles. Our first task is to solve the problem of the flesh. Therefore, a project called race sublimation came into being."

"Humans, immortals, ghosts, demons, and Buddhas, in my opinion, are nothing more than transformations and upgrades of life forms, and the most suitable for us are Buddhas and demons!"

"To be precise, they are the Buddhas who have attained the fruition and the inner demons and heavenly demons. Buddhism is not like Taoism. Taoism is about cultivating and refining qi, thereby promoting the growth of Taoism and building an immortal body, with essence, energy and spirit. Buddha and demons, on the other hand, are about cultivating thoughts."

"Buddhism does not value the body. One is dedicated to discarding the stinking skin and seeking clarity of mind, and then using the mind to distort reality. The devil is even more intangible. It only needs to infect the mind of the practitioner to knock down his or her Tao fruit. All the Tao and spiritual roots will be taken away by the inner devil. This is called the devil taking over the Tao."

"Buddha was originally a demon. There are monks who have been possessed by demons, or demons who have laid down their butcher knives. After twists and turns, they transform into each other, and their cultivation has not been diminished at all. In fact, they are all cultivating thoughts, and the transformation between them is nothing more than the manifestation and change of thoughts."

"The Buddha is in the sacred mountain in the upper realm. He only knows how to chant and study the sutras. He does not get involved in the cause and effect of the world. He emphasizes the purity of the six senses. In fact, he has cut off all emotions and desires. It is even more difficult for demons to enter the mortal world. Only practitioners who have entered the calamity of the inner demon have them. Before I could get the news, they were killed by fellow elders long ago, and no bones were left."

Zhang Wuji's eyes turned cold, and he heard Bai Yue say: "Fortunately, there is always a way out. You, a demon, appeared. Even among the demons, an existence that is an alien creature appeared alive in front of us."

"Unique cases are more valuable for reference. Our race sublimation plan has finally reached the last piece of the puzzle, so..." Baiyue's face showed a hint of madness: "So I brought the entire Nanzhao National Special Forces to seek death, just to see you, Brother Zhang. Human ability has its limits. Weak flesh and short life span. I have learned from my short life that the more a person schemes, the more likely he is to fail in unexpected situations. The more you want to pursue something, the more you have to give up other things."

Zhang Wuji was ready: "You..."

Baiyue's head suddenly exploded: "So, I am not a human being anymore!"

Endless blood shot out from his head and connected to every citizen of Nanzhao. The bodies of the Nanzhao people gradually disintegrated, leaving only a little spiritual light that rose into the sky like a starry sky.

The blood threads hooked onto the stars and wrapped them, then turned into blood cocoons. Before Zhang Wuji could make any move, the blood cocoons exploded, blasting out balls of starlight.

"The inside of the blood cocoon is empty?"

Zhang Wuji thought about it in his mind, but immediately denied it. He did not believe that what Baiyue said was all lies. It was even more foolish to pin the victory on the enemy's mistakes. He activated his magic power, focusing it in his eyes, and the figures of the Red Flame Soldiers appeared behind him.

His eyes flashed with intelligence, and he could finally see what was born from the blood cocoon. It was a group of blood-colored flying insects, but they had human faces on them. In the blink of an eye, the insects disappeared, leaving only figures wrapped in blood.

Fire flew out, and the magic power of the Red Flame Taoist soldiers gathered on Zhang Wuji. He slashed with a fire sword that condensed most of the magic power of the Taoist soldiers, but it was difficult to kill the figures.

"It's useless. Ordinary spells have no effect on us. Have you ever seen a demon that can be killed by an ordinary sword? Our confrontation is at the level of consciousness. What you see in front of you is just a consciousness of ours. You will only see it if we want you to see it."

The figure of Baiyue reappeared: "To be honest, I have high hopes for you, but look at your current state. You only know how to gather magic power, but don't know how to explore the secret of magic power, don't pursue the truth, and can't even see the essence of the devil."

He stepped in front of Zhang Wuji and said, "You have been imitating humans for too long and have forgotten that you are a demon. Why should a demon learn human magic step by step? Do you still think you are not an alien?"

"Then take a good look at what an alien is!"

Baiyue opened his arms, and his whole body turned into pieces and plunged into the starry sea with points of spiritual light. The blood and energy disappeared, but the spiritual points began to gather and eventually turned into bloodworms all over the sky.

"We are ten thousand, but also one. We are indistinguishable from each other, yet distinct from each other. We coexist and co-exist. We are a swarm of insects, called neurozoa."

The neural worms in the sky gathered into the shape of a human brain, then dispersed into a large net. After a while, they condensed into a human shape. The faces kept changing. Zhang Wuji could see Baiyue and other familiar faces.

As soon as the swarm of insects appeared, it began to absorb the spiritual energy around it and continued to expand. One of the insects flew over and changed into the shape of worshiping the moon.

Zhang Wuji swung his saber silently, and Baiyue was beheaded instantly with a smooth movement. But the next second, another identical figure appeared.

"You still don't understand. The swarm is me, but I am not the swarm. We share consciousness, but we merge with each other and eventually form a common consciousness. It's just that this consciousness shows me worshiping the moon."

Baiyue said: "We have transcended individual existence and become a civilization. My brain is connected to consciousness. Infinite knowledge is shared, sparks of wisdom are constantly colliding, and technology has begun to rapidly iterate. Now, the material machinery that I was once proud of is not worth mentioning. It has become the food of the insect swarm and the cornerstone of science, pushing me to keep moving forward."

Another fire blade flew over. This one was more solid and more crimson. Fire was surging on it and red flames were raging. Even if a casual immortal was hit by this blade, he would be seriously injured.

Baiyue raised his hand, and a hexahedron appeared in his palm. The surface of the hexahedron cracked and turned into a six-sided diamond shield, which was attached with extreme coldness, like a huge snowflake.

The fire blade hit the shield, causing a stalemate for a moment, but Baiyue and Zhang Wuji knew that the two would consume each other and it was inevitable that they would be completely destroyed in the end.

"My shield is the product of consciousness distorting reality, and it is also condensed from one breath. I call it the 'Extreme Cold Protection Shield'. Of course, according to the terms of this world, you can also call it the Mysterious Ice Frost Shield."

Bai Yue put away his shield and let the fire pass through his chest. His body was annihilated, and another figure walked out: "Now, I have achieved what I wanted. What about you? Brother Zhang, do you still want to use these magical powers to stop me? Even if it is futile, don't let me underestimate you, and don't let me feel that what I said to you is in vain."

Zhang Wuji lowered his head as if turning a deaf ear to what was going on. Finally, he sneered, and the red flame Taoist soldiers behind him returned to his body. "You keep saying that you want to wake me up, isn't it just to see what I, the so-called demon, can do? Is it for the so-called experiment? Data? Proof?"

"Well, I've been pretending for so long that I'm getting a little impatient. I guess I got the name of this emotion right?"

His magic power was dormant, his spiritual thoughts were sinking, and his vitality was restrained, just to return to the state in the womb. Taoists call it the innate state, but Zhang Wuji wanted to use this to recall the state before the spiritual womb was born, when his demonic nature was natural.

In an instant, it was as if everything stopped. A black light shot out from Zhang Wuji's body and enveloped him. Then, thousands of black air were released, mixing together and converging into a human figure.

The figure looked no different from Zhang Wuji, except that his figure was vague and his body was in gaseous form. A red lotus with red fire inside bloomed on his chest, and a black pearl floated on the lotus platform.

"Don't stick to magic or supernatural powers, just take one thought as the root and Qi as the body, is that right?"

Zhang Wuji opened his mouth, and his voice overlapped, as if the devil's sound pierced his ears. There was no living creature here. If there were one or two cultivators here, they would be polluted by the devil's sound, and their nature would be distorted, eventually giving birth to a demon in their heart that would take over their bodies.

There are no living creatures here, but there is a swarm of insects. Zhang Wuji's voice created layers of sound waves. When the sound waves swept past, countless neural insects were twisted into devil insects with red eyes and black armor. He even dispersed into a ball of black gas, which wrapped the neural insects and infected them with evil. The neural insects pounced towards Zhang Wuji, feeding on the evil energy on his body, capturing his thoughts, and transforming them into new neural insects. For a moment, the black gas and the blood-colored swarm of insects mixed and transformed into each other, becoming indistinguishable from each other.

(End of this chapter)