493: Chapter 493 A Guilty Scheme

After all, she knew the exact cultivation level of Daoist Wan Shi.

As fellow Soul Transformation experts, if she were to fight Daoist Wan Shi one-on-one, the odds would be two to eight.

Two-tenths for her and eight-tenths for him.

Yet, not even ashes of Daoist Wan Shi were left behind.

"Moreover, the nuclear weapons they are preparing this time are even more numerous than last time."

Gu Mother's hand withdrew from the insect chrysalis.

She looked around her surroundings.

The insect nest was pitch black, with only those threads of Spiritual Qi emitting a faint glow, extending one by one from behind her spine, spreading across the entire cave like a spiderweb.

The number of insects connected by these threads was still decreasing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

From the start of the battle until now, more than half of the outer Swarm had died, and they were still dying.

The advance speed of that group of steel Puppets was ridiculously fast, just like harvesting crops.

Gu Mother was not afraid of the insects dying.

Even if the insects all died, she could raise them again.

What she feared was another matter.

They were already looking for her.

Among the messages sent back by the parasites, one made her heart sink straight to the bottom.

The opponent had already used some method to lock onto her general location.

Once she was precisely located,

it would be a sky full of white light.

The same fate as Daoist Wan Shi.

Gu Mother took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled it.

She did not want to die.

She fell from the Upper Realm into this ghost of a place, endured for a hundred years, and finally managed to recover her Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivation; how much hardship she had eaten and how much grievance she had suffered, she knew better than anyone.

She definitely did not want to throw her life away in this Lower Realm where there was no Spiritual Qi at all.

"I cannot wait anymore."

Gu Mother opened her eyes, her gaze carrying something she herself was not very familiar with.

That was the ruthless drive of being cornered against a wall.

She went over every path she could think of in her mind.

Run?

Where to run?

This world was only this big, and she did not have the ability to teleport across Realms.

The opponent's iron birds flew all over the sky; the moment she showed her head, she would be a live target.

Hide?

As she had just said, she could not hide for long.

Fight head-on?

Ten thousand steel Puppets, plus two Golden Core Stage Cultivators, plus that pile of nuclear weapons that could blow a Soul Transformation Cultivator into ashes.

Even if she had Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivation, she could not defeat this combination head-on.

After Gu Mother blocked off all the paths, her gaze fell back onto a single point.

Su Mingyuan.

From beginning to end, all the battles, all the decisions, and all the nuclear weapon deployments of these Mortals were issued from this person's mouth.

He was the opponent's fatal weakness.

Capturing him would make everything different.

But how to capture him?

Gu Mother's mind spun rapidly.

Parasites?

She subconsciously rejected it.

The previous seven parasites had been exposed after being activated, so Su Mingyuan's side must already be on guard.

Moreover, parasites were only effective against ordinary people with low Spiritual Qi; Su Mingyuan was a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, so even if the parasites burrowed in, they might not be able to control him.

Even if he was controlled, so what?

A Puppet controlled by parasites would speak and act differently from his actual self; the group of people around him were not blind.

By then, his power would be hollowed out, and the launch authority of the nuclear weapons would be transferred to someone else; what was the point of her going through so much trouble to capture a useless chess piece?

Gu Mother shook her head and rejected this path.

Then only one path remained.

She would go personally.

From the level of Divine Sense, directly crush his Sea of Consciousness defense and control his mind.

Gu Mother had mixed in the cultivation world for hundreds of years and had seen all sorts of crooked and evil paths, but when it came to Divine Sense manipulation, she had genuine skills.

The Foundation of Gu arts lay in Divine Sense.

She manipulated hundreds of millions of insects relying not just on Spiritual Qi, but on Divine Sense.

The life and death of every single insect and the transmission of every command were all completed through Divine Sense threads.

Her application of Divine Sense was much more meticulous than the vast majority of Cultivators in the same Realm.

For a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator to open their Sea of Consciousness in front of her was no different from opening the main door and inviting her in.

But the problem was that she only had Nascent Soul Early Stage cultivation right now.

Crushing the Foundation Establishment Stage with a Nascent Soul Early Stage Divine Sense was not a problem.

But it was not stable enough.

In case there was something unexpected in the opponent's Sea of Consciousness, the Foundation of the Nascent Soul Early Stage might not be enough.

Gu Mother bit her lower lip, and her gaze slowly lowered, falling onto the insect chrysalis beneath her.

When she was in the Upper Realm, her cultivation was at the Soul Transformation Stage.

After falling into the Lower Realm, her cultivation directly dropped to the Late Golden Core Stage.

Over the past hundred years, relying on the vital essence of the Swarm, she climbed up little by little, and only managed to crawl back from the Late Golden Core Stage to the Nascent Soul Early Stage with great difficulty.

From the Nascent Soul Early Stage to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, there was a full minor Realm gap.

Under normal circumstances, she would still have to endure for at least several decades.

But she did not have several decades.

She might not even have a few days.

Gu Mother closed her eyes, her palms pressing against the surface of the insect chrysalis.

What was stored inside the insect chrysalis was all the family property she had accumulated over the past hundred years.

The life essence of hundreds of millions of insects—every single drop was extracted, purified, and sealed bit by bit from within the Swarm by her using Spiritual Qi threads.

Originally, she planned to keep it for slow use, steadily breaking through to the Nascent Soul Late Stage decades later.

Now, she intended to burn it all at once.

Forcefully boosting her cultivation from the Nascent Soul Early Stage to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

She knew clearly the consequences of doing this.

Once the essence in the insect chrysalis was exhausted, she would no longer have any backup plans.

If it succeeded, she lived.

If it failed, she would not even have the capital to escape.

Moreover, even if it succeeded, the forcefully boosted Nascent Soul Middle Stage would not be stable; it would not last long—perhaps a few hours, perhaps a day—after which her cultivation would return, and she might even suffer a backlash.

But she could not care about that much anymore.

A few hours would be enough.

She only needed to approach that person named Su Mingyuan, pour her Divine Sense into his Sea of Consciousness, and turn him into her Puppet.

A Nascent Soul Middle Stage Divine Sense pitted against a Foundation Establishment Stage Sea of Consciousness—

it was just like an adult pinching a child's wrist, without even any room for resistance.

Gu Mother took a deep breath and slammed both hands onto the insect chrysalis.

Her ten fingers sank in, and dark purple mucus gushed out from between her fingers.

At the same time, the inside of the insect chrysalis began to glow.

That light was dark red, as if a ball of fire was burning inside, burning brighter and brighter.

Gu Mother's body began to tremble.

The essence accumulated over a hundred years poured into her Meridians like a breached flood.

Spiritual Qi surged upward from the Peak of the Nascent Soul Early Stage, and bursts of tearing pain came from her Meridians; every single Meridian was stretched so taut by the Spiritual Qi that it was about to burst open.

Gu Mother clenched her teeth tightly, a trace of blood oozing from the corner of her mouth.

Beneath her grayish-white skin, all the dark purple blood vessels bulged, like wriggling earthworms densely crawling all over her body.

Deep within the Dantian, the Nascent Soul phantom that had just condensed not long ago trembled violently, its surface covered in dense cracks.

Like a fired piece of porcelain thrown back into the kiln, it could shatter at any moment.

Gu Mother felt as if she had been split into two halves, hurting so much that her vision darkened.

Yet she did not stop.

She could not stop.

Stopping meant death.

"Break!"

A low roar squeezed out from her throat, as if she had exhausted all the strength in her entire body.

The cracks on the Nascent Soul phantom became more and more numerous and deeper, and then it shattered with a bang.

The fragments rolled, reorganized, and condensed within the Dantian, slowly forming a Nascent Soul phantom that was even more solid and heavy than before.

It was a size larger, its outline clearer, and even its facial features were vaguely formed.

Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

The phantom shook a few times, not very stable, its edges constantly trembling like a candle flame in the wind.

But after all, it had succeeded.

Gu Mother gasped heavily, her entire body drenched, not knowing whether it was sweat or mucus.

She lowered her head and glanced at the insect chrysalis.

The originally bulging insect chrysalis had deflated, like an evacuated leather bag, lying wrinkled on the ground.

A hundred years of accumulation had been burned away in one breath.

Gu Mother stood up, feeling that strange yet familiar power within her body.

Nascent Soul Middle Stage.

A full hundred years had passed since the last time she possessed this cultivation level.

But she knew that this Nascent Soul could not hold out for long.

Half a day, at most a day, after which her cultivation would return to the Nascent Soul Early Stage once again.

"Time is enough."

The corners of Gu Mother's mouth slowly split open, revealing that row of fine teeth.

She did not need a day.

She only needed to stand in front of Su Mingyuan for a single breath of time.

A single breath was enough.

To crush the Sea of Consciousness of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with a Nascent Soul Middle Stage Divine Sense only took the effort of a single breath.

Gu Mother reached out and grabbed into the void, and countless Spiritual Qi threads shot out from her spine, piercing into the cave wall, piercing into the ground, extending all the way into the outside Swarm.

"All insects, charge south."

"At all costs, entangle their iron Puppets for me."

"Entangle those two Golden Core Cultivators."

Her voice echoed in the insect nest, carrying an indescribable gloomy chill.

"Contest for me half an hour of breathing room."

"The rest of the matter, I will handle myself."