CHAPTER 25: AFTER MODIFICATION: CHAPTER 23 - THE MYTHICAL ERA OF SETTING SAIL!

"Grinding medicine, feeding the octopus."

"Grinding medicine, feeding the octopus."

In the dream, at the port, Zhu Zhengwei continuously carried out this simple and crude experimental process.

Qi Eating Skill is a path I developed initially, the simplest and most straightforward way. Essentially, it’s the process of "consuming soul energy to strengthen one’s spiritual power."

Only in this four-dimensional world, soul energy diffuses in the heavens and earth in the form of qi.

"Then here comes the problem: Zhang Zhi once accidentally ate a hundred servers, gaining a massive amount of soul energy and terrifying spiritual power, which resulted in becoming an immortal. What about this octopus then?"

"Directly give it one hundred, two hundred, three hundred...."

Zhu Zhengwei endlessly experimented.

Yet, Zhu Zhengwei quickly discovers.

The octopus’s body capacity is very, very small, just 3 server units of energy before it’s full.

But would Zhu Zhengwei be satisfied? Never.

Continue pouring!

Pour to the limits!

This approach is extremely low cost-effective.

He found that after spending dozens of server units, it squeezed from 3 to a capacity limit of 3.1.

But Zhu Zhengwei didn’t care about that, considering now the server sources are quite abundant, unlike before when they were so scarce.

Tap tap tap tap!

During the process of grinding medicine, Zhu Zhengwei was very focused, enduring loneliness.

"Hey?"

"Wow, did I also enter this pharmacy scene? The architectural style, the port ships, have an epic fantasy taste."

"Lately, this sleep scene appears so often, the game development team is slacking off."

Tap tap tap tap!

Grinding medicine.

"Wow, this ASMR sleep aid sound, the sound of grinding medicine, really sounds so good, I’m about to fall asleep."

"Quickly come bless me."

Tap tap!

Grinding medicine.

"Ah, refreshing!"

"It’s this kind of excitement, handsome guy hurry hurry! Ah~~"

Although during the process of grinding medicine, in the ears always countless plants utter evil, desecrating, indescribable, illogical, mysterious and horrifying strange mutterings.

"It seems that making the Elixir of Immortality also needs to bear incredible side effects, the dreadful mental pollution." Zhu Zhengwei mumbled.

And after a long time, he harvested another two hundred units of energy, barely squeezed from 3.1 level to 3.9 level, having nearly four units making the octopus undergo severe mutation.

Zhu Zhengwei felt the octopus’s entire cells becoming active, injected with soul matter.

Hungry!

Hungry!

Hungry!

A crazy hunger surged from the octopus.

Zhu Zhengwei invested a large amount of food.

"As expected!"

Zhu Zhengwei couldn’t help but smile.

As he imagined, animals basically have no "mind", easily penetrating the brain.

"Their physiques, start getting nourished by soul energy, becoming powerful!"

Zhu Zhengwei clearly felt this.

But the side effects were also obvious:

Because they have no brain, they’re still beasts.

Even if Zhu Zhengwei chose the animal world’s most amazing octopus with nine brains and three hearts, it still seemed not too smart.

Creatures like octopus have one main brain and eight auxiliary brains, eight auxiliary brains being on each arm.

Brains are numerous, but the quality is too low!

In the years that followed, Zhu Zhengwei switched to other biological cultivation templates, initiating the soul injection experiment, giving them "qi."

Crabs, conches, tuna.

Their limits were even lower, only 0.6 soul units, even if breaking through the limit fills the body with qi, it’s only 0.8 units at most.

"Indeed, my first impression was correct."

"They are, even more stupid than octopus!"

"But I can’t consider dolphins and alike, high intelligence is like humans, bottlenecks are huge, only pick the middle range."

On this day, Zhu Zhengwei continuously cultivated octopuses in the water tank, researching their body structures.

And over the years, the little dark-skinned girl from the Zhong Family grew up, sent her brother to the academy schooling, the brother worked hard, and gradually the family became prosperous.

"This is, giant octopus? Such a big octopus!"

Miss Zhong observed the water tank, noticing numerous abnormalities.

She looked at this writhing octopus, sliding tentacles, and suddenly felt a strange sensation, wanting to be wrapped, devoured, enjoying the warm embrace of its tentacles.

That was a kind of magical power.

Which seemed like a massive soul creature, attracting smaller soul creatures.

"Be cautious, this octopus is very dangerous."

Zhu Zhengwei, holding herbs, disclosed himself as a biologist from the Bronze Kingdom, having obtained ancient civilization book materials, conducting a special biological experiment.

The other party believed him.

Zhu Zhengwei casually revealed some fisheries knowledge, allowing them to become prosperous, and began harvesting tuna.

A decade went by, their family prospered extraordinarily within a mere decade.

They had control of several independent sailings, with numerous crew under their command, becoming one of the top modern wealthy families in You Kingdom.

They established towers of tuna pointers’ clock towers standing tall above the ocean, emitting ghostly light guiding the way and informing the travelers of time, and were named by the port people as the "Tuna Family" "Ocean Clock Family."

Their lineage quickly expanded massively, carrying the ocean clock emblem with tuna pointers as the family crest.

And they were very grateful, providing Zhu Zhengwei with sufficient financial resources for his research.

Zhu Zhengwei already had a laboratory on an island.

...

Civilization is like the calendar on a painting, turning one page after another.

New Era 271.

Emperor Shiguang Changshou was assassinated and went missing, causing national turmoil.

All the powerful figures searched for the whereabouts of Emperor Shiguang Changshou, eager to obtain the "power of royal authority."

The two elderly emperors of the Bronze Kingdom and the Seaside Ghost Kingdom secretly went to the Slave Dynasty, using ’Qi’ to sense the whereabouts of Emperor Shiguang Changshou, intending to steal the "power of royal authority" belonging to the Slave Dynasty.

New Era 275.

A piece of news that shocked the entire world spread out.

The Bronze Emperor and the Empress of You Kingdom were exposed in the Slave Kingdom and were assassinated, ambushed by thousands of elite troops from the Slave Dynasty empire.

"Audacious!"

"How audacious!"

"That mortal of change, he actually anticipated the two emperors to come secretly, abandoning the search for Emperor Shiguang Changshou, choosing instead to exhaust all effort, set up an ambush on the border, unexpectedly wielding the Godslayer’s scythe for a second unexpected hit!"

"Who would have thought!!"

"Who would dare to think like this???"

"Crazy! Absolutely insane!"

"How did he dare? He actually continuously challenged three human gods of the Swallowing Wind and Eating Qi!"

"This is the first man in human history to dare to wield a blade against all gods and demons!"

"No wonder it’s the Slave Dynasty, we have witnessed history again! A more ruthless tyrant is on the rise!" someone shouted, considering this to be a more malignant tyrant, disrespecting the divine, and urging the two countries to send troops early to eliminate him.

But there were also those who marveled, realizing this was a terrifying tactic:

"This is retreat as advance! The Slave Dynasty, now in tumult, was exactly the opportunity for the other two countries to invade, but he used such an unimaginable ambush method to curb the other two countries’ attacks. The two injured elderly emperors return, and the forces within the countries would definitely eye them covetously, with precedents, these forces may not dare to slay gods like him, and the two emperors must establish a new king in advance, but hate! They no longer have the energy to send troops to the Slave Dynasty!"

...

"Brilliant! What a brilliant tactic! History is always like this, every chaotic era births a hero." Zhu Zhengwei clapped and laughed, listening to the evil plant mutterings in the laboratory, again remembering the calm appearance of that middle-aged traveler, clearly a mortal, yet so bold, couldn’t help but feel amazed,

"He actually caught two big ones, launched a sneak attack, showing no martial virtue, no wonder he’s an expert in Immortal Jump, he’s very skilled."

Zhu Zhengwei finally learned the name of the middle-aged traveler from the people’s mouths, Chong Dao.

Was it a phrase from ancient civilization books?

Repetitive mistakes?

Not sure if it’s a mockery of the world or holds a deeper meaning.

New Era 283.

The three countries in turmoil each face an era of new-old transition.

At the port, the Tuna Clock Family takes the opportunity to rise, leaping to become a wealthy family.

New Era 293.

The Empress of You Kingdom hanged herself.

She passed the torch of civilization to the next generation, the "royal authority" transferred to a little girl.

"The new civilization begins with the three hundred concubines of the god, inherited in the hands of You Kingdom, it is the power bestowed by the gods, the mighty power bestowed upon civilization, we are the rightful rulers of the world!"

"Civilization and history are already the past, civilization and history remain the future."

The little girl wailed while holding the old one’s corpse.

She Swallowed Wind and Ate Qi, marked a tear mole, bore the crown, and took on this weight.

...

Zhu Zhengwei paid attention to the outside world but did not stop his experiments.

"New progress!"

He discovered that with long-term cultivation, the giant octopus finally entered its second development stage.

The octopus’s body continually expanded, growing to half a meter in size, but only acquired the simple intelligence of a small dog, and progressed no further.

"Is it over just like this?"

Forty years had passed, and Zhu Zhengwei tried various methods to stimulate it.

He discovered that no matter what, it was no more than a somewhat robust fierce beast of an octopus.

Qi had given it a terrifying body, in terms of combat power, it was not inferior to those "Witches," but its brain remained simple.

"Is this the price?"

Zhu Zhengwei murmured, stopping the solution he was holding.

"Normal humans, Qi is in the brain, their wisdom is terrifying, but the body is weak."

"These animals, Qi is in the body, their physique is terrifying, but the brain is simple."

The two are opposites.

Zhu Zhengwei was somewhat unwilling, but multiple attempts yielded no result.

He hoped for his success!

Because in reality, Qi was also gathered in his brain, not passing below the neck, leaving the body fragile!

He was like that "Emperor Shiguang Changheng," possessing powerful mental hypnotic abilities, yet having a body so weak it was laughable, easily susceptible to close proximity assassination.

Qi could not circulate throughout the body!

This seemed to be the threshold on the road of cultivation, the real distinction between the mundane and the extraordinary!

"What a pity."

Zhu Zhengwei sighed.

He released crabs, sea snails, tuna, and octopuses into the sea, allowing them to reproduce on their own.

"Though unsuccessful, there is somewhat of an appearance of extraordinary creatures, the road is taken step by step, a preliminary design of the extraordinary race has emerged, the seeds have been sown, just waiting for the times to change on their own."

Zhu Zhengwei looked at this vast ocean, knowing it was the beginning.

"Alright then, the experiment is over, it’s time to leave."

On this day, Zhu Zhengwei quietly left, leaving the bewildered Tuna Clock Family and a woman who delivered food every day.

The woman saw a herb left for her, as a gift.