Devouring Stars: Master of Evolution

Chapter 184 Burning! The Bloom of Life!

The seventh trial tower, seventh floor.

The space blurred for a moment, and Qin Mu entered the seventh floor.

Unlike his usual nonchalant demeanor, he was now covered in blood, his body adorned with strange, blood-red patterns.

His muscles trembled involuntarily because the forced modification of his bloodline had brought his body to the brink of collapse, causing it to tremble uncontrollably.

The human body simply cannot withstand the golden horned beast's innate markings; at this moment, every cell in its body is enduring excruciating pain!

This pain is enough to drive anyone mad and make them weep uncontrollably.

This pain is far more painful than taking the Bloodline Evolution Agent!

But Qin Mu held back.

Before that, he had been carving patterns on his body with each sword strike.

Even being torn to pieces wouldn't be enough to describe the sheer agony!

This process lasted a whole day!

At this moment, his body exuded an extremely tragic aura, filled with a desperate and frantic outburst.

Qin Mu's eyes were filled with madness, yet also with absolute rationality.

He knew very well that this level absolutely could not be a war of attrition; only a swift victory would give him a slim chance of winning.

If this drags on, the Zerg Queen will collapse on her own without the Zerglings' body needing to intervene.

This still hasn't activated the patterns on the body, unleashing the Golden Horned Beast's combat talent—Enhancement!

Once the enhancement talent is activated, this body will die within three minutes at most due to the burning out of its life force.

It lacks the tenfold genetic life essence of the Golden Horned Beast and doesn't have the enormous body's energy consumption.

If you want to unleash your talent enhancement, there's only one way!

Burn your life!

This burning will be irreversible; once it starts, the body will surely die within three minutes!

On the sixth level, facing the colossal star beast "Cang", Qin Mu kept his distance and kept moving around, but this time...

He must take the initiative!

Before the Zerg hive has hatched too many Zerg warriors, use overwhelming force to blast the entire hive to pieces!

Otherwise, if there is even the slightest delay, he will be surrounded by swarms of Zerg warriors.

At that time, even if I unleashed my full power, I probably wouldn't even have a chance to get close to the mother nest.

As the Zerg Overmind, no one knows the Boom better than him.

With unwavering confidence, Qin Mu looked out at the endless desert.

On the green land in the distance of the desert, there are spheres with a diameter of 200 meters and a pitted surface, with some venom flowing on their surface and faintly emitting poisonous gas.

A 200-meter-tall queen nest isn't particularly tall for Qin Mu's swarm. But for the queen's queen nest, it's an incredibly terrifying size.

Even the mother nest of a peak world lord level is only 800 meters in diameter!

When Qin Mu appeared, suddenly, from all the pits and craters on the surface of the giant mother nest, emerged triangular-headed, bluish-green insectoids covered in bluish-green armor.

These insectoids have two antennae, large compound eyes, and a muscular body. They have two hind limbs supporting their bodies, as well as four forelimbs that resemble battle blades. They also have two translucent wings on their backs.

Almost instantly, 3000 Zerglings surged out of the surface of the mother hive.

In three consecutive rounds, approximately 9000 Zerglings emerged, all of them being 'Blue Mantises'.

In the final round, instead of the Blue Mantis, a swarm of red, crustacean-like insectoids emerged, totaling 1000—these were Blood Mantises.

The Blue Mantis is one of the most common cannon fodder among the "combat-type Zerg".

If they're called cannon fodder, they're cannon fodder in the outer battlefield. Fortunately, the strength of the entire "Zerg Mother Nest" has been adjusted, otherwise these Green Mantises would at least be at the Domain Lord level.

Even after the adjustments, each of them is stronger than a cosmic-level being! Each one is stronger than the mechanical puppets on the fifth level!

9000 blue mantises!

The Blood Mantis is far more ferocious than the Azure Mantis insectoid. Each Blood Mantis is comparable in strength to the sixth-level Starry Sky Beast, Cang!

Blood Mantises also appear on the seventh floor of the fifth and sixth trial towers, but they will only appear when the Mother Queen hatches the second or even the third batch.

But now, among the first batch of Zerg, there are a full 1000 Blood Mantises!

Blood Mantis is not only more powerful in combat, but even more terrifying is its leadership ability.

While the average Zerg warrior is extremely unintelligent, there are Zerg who serve as 'leaders' among the various Zerg factions.

Blood Mantis is the leader who often leads small teams of Green Mantises. Compared to the 10 Green Mantises led by Blood Mantis, who are as unified as a single entity, the latter is far more terrifying!

Led by 1000 Blood Mantises, the 9000 Green Mantises can easily slaughter the ten Starry Sky Beasts on the sixth floor!

"The first wave of Zerg has 10000 units, led by 1000 Blood Mantises. They're leaving us no way to survive!"

Qin Mu gritted his teeth.

When we reached the seventh level of the fifth trial tower, the first batch of Zerg only numbered 3000!

The Zerg hive in the Trial Tower is a weakened version; when you enter the Trial Tower, the first batch of Zerg warriors are all pre-bred.

For example, the first batch of the seventh floor of the fifth trial tower had 3000 heads, the sixth tower had 5000 heads, and the seventh tower directly reached 10000 heads.

Of course, in reality, the fertility of a mother's ovary is not that poor.

Otherwise, how could they easily occupy a star system or even a star field? But if there were countless Zerg warriors from the beginning, then this assessment would be meaningless.

At the celestial level, no race could possibly defeat the countless Zerg.

In the Trial Tower, it takes time for the mother hive to spawn the Zerg. Based on the Zerg mother hives in the previous Trial Towers, the next batch will be in 20 minutes.

Of course, it's possible that this could be enhanced, for example, to produce a batch every ten minutes.

"End the battle in five minutes! Win or die in five minutes!"

Qin Mu made a decision instantly: when the second wave of Zerg appeared, he would be defeated without a doubt!

"The Wheel of Myriad Phenomena - Heaven-Burning Sword Prison!"

Qin Mu unleashed all his power, starting with a powerful move, while the core mother wheel of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel behind him spun wildly.

Within the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, the four strongest sub-wheels emitted streams of light, converging in the void to form a massive, dark golden sword with a diameter exceeding one thousand meters, burning with flames.

"kill!"

Qin Mu roared, his body following the thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword as he charged madly toward the location of the Zerg mother nest.

With his full power unleashed, the veins on his already fragile body bulged, and fine lines appeared on his skin, as if he might shatter at any moment.

Just as Qin Mu charged forward with the thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword, the Zerg queen in the nest let out a sharp cry.

All the Zerg warriors roared in unison.

"Sizzle—"

An invisible soul shock pierced directly into Qin Mu's sea of ​​consciousness from the void.

Soul Combo!

The Zerg Queen was extremely experienced in combat. Upon discovering that the dark golden greatsword might pose a threat to her, she instantly gathered ten thousand Zerg warriors and launched a soul-combined attack!

Within Qin Mu's sea of ​​consciousness, the combined soul attack of the Zerg Queen and ten thousand Zerg warriors surged into the depths of his consciousness.

Within his sea of ​​consciousness, countless soul chains danced, firmly protecting his soul within.

However, these soul chains proved incredibly fragile before the combined attack of ten thousand Zerg warriors, shattering at the slightest touch.

The countless soul chains collapsed within Qin Mu's sea of ​​consciousness.

Faced with this terrifying attack, Qin Mu remained completely calm.

In reality, he wouldn't be afraid of even the most terrifying soul attacks.

The swarm is composed of a soul network, especially when it hatches soulless rock lifeforms and energy lifeforms like the Rock Zerg and the Demon Slayers. His swarm is completely immune to soul attacks.

But this is in a virtual universe!

Qin Mu had made ample preparations for this battle of geniuses!

"Disillusionment is eternal!"

Qin Mu let out a low shout, and within his soul sea, countless soul chains formed an indestructible eternal lock.

The fourth and highest level of "Illusion and Soul Lock".

This layer is not very helpful against soul attacks, but it can form an indestructible eternal lock to protect the soul from all harm!

"boom--"

A terrifying explosion resounded within Qin Mu's soul sea.

The combined souls of the Zerg Queen and ten thousand Zerg warriors collided violently with the Eternal Chains composed of countless soul chains.

"It's blocked!"

Qin Mu breathed a sigh of relief, but the next moment his expression changed slightly. Fine cracks appeared on the supposedly indestructible Eternal Lock!

Even the so-called indestructible has its limits!

After all, it's just a basic level of secret technique. Even if you cultivate it to the highest level, it's impossible for it to be truly immortal!

"It can withstand a maximum of five combined soul attacks! Then the Eternal Lock will shatter! The battle must end before the Eternal Lock breaks!"

Qin Mu came to a conclusion.

However, before Qin Mu could make a move, the Queen in the Zerg hive, seeing that the Soul Strike had failed to eliminate her opponent, immediately commanded ten thousand Zerg warriors to launch an attack.

The ten thousand insectoids were divided into a thousand combat teams, each led by a Blood Mantis and nine Green Mantises.

Led by Blood Mantis, they began to systematically surround and strangle Qin Mu.

"boom--"

A thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword crashed into a Zerg squad in the void.

The powerful Blood Mantis was the first to be struck and killed by the thousand-meter-long dark gold giant sword. The other nine Green Mantises were also imprisoned in that vast domain space, their bodies pierced by the unparalleled sword energy.

A Zerg combat squad was wiped out instantly.

But this is just one combat group; the Zerg Queen has 999 more combat groups like this!

In the distance, squads of Zerg spewed out energy attacks imbued with primal laws, which converged into a single point in the void.

When all the energy converged, it exploded towards Qin Mu's location.

boom--

A terrifying energy surge crashed into the 3000-meter radius of the kilometer-long dark gold giant sword, clashing with its domain and creating a deafening roar.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One after another, loud noises rang out, and bursts of combined energy erupted.

The once unstoppable thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword was slowed down and even cracked!

This move, the Burning Heaven Sword Prison, which combines the four fundamental laws of metal, fire, earth, and space, can kill ten giant star beasts, but it cannot contend with the Queen Mother Insect Swarm!

Not only did they attack from a distance, but some Zerg squads, led by Blood Mantis, fearlessly charged into the domain of the thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword.

Some Zerg squads even went directly to Qin Mu himself, who was hidden behind the thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword.

"Spatial Barrier! Guardian Domain! Open!"

Qin Mu calmly used a defensive technique, enduring the attacks to get a little closer to the Zerg mother hive.

As for soul attacks, there's no need to use them; they won't have much impact on these Zerg warriors.

"Just a little closer!"

"It's time!"

When they were only ten kilometers away from the mother nest, the kilometer-long dark golden giant sword was about to break, and Qin Mu roared madly.

"Innate Secret Technique - Enhancement! Activate!"

His entire body shimmered with golden light as he roared.

An extremely powerful force instantly appeared in his body, doubling his physical strength and soul strength!

His telekinetic amplitude reached an astonishing 600!

However, a tearing pain came from the depths of his body and even his soul, and his body began to disintegrate.

His skin was torn apart, and blood sprayed out, turning into a blood-red mist.

The immense power unleashed when the innate secret technique is activated is simply beyond the capacity of the human body to withstand.

His eyes were cold, and his pain was suppressed by his strong will.

In the blood-red mist, he was like a demon god bathed in blood.

"Spatial Mastery! Lock the Void!"

In the demonic whisper, invisible spatial fluctuations emanated from his body.

The speed of the nearly broken kilometer-long dark gold giant sword instantly doubled, while the speed, strength, and other attributes of the Zerg warriors who were constantly attacking within the domain were forcibly reduced by half!

The "Space Control" technique is a high-level secret technique that Qin Mu selected from the Zerg heritage.

"Spatial Control" has three levels.

The first level is called "Locked Void".

The second level is called "Prison Suppression".

The third level is called "Control".

The first level, "Lock the Void," once mastered, can reduce the enemy's speed by half and increase your own speed by double, whether it's flight speed or burst speed.

This is just the beginning. Once mastered, one can directly seal off or even freeze space!

When Qin Mu was selecting the Zerg secret techniques, he chose this one.

However, this secret technique, though extremely powerful, is very difficult to master.

Even now, Qin Mu has only barely grasped the basics, and the only reason he can successfully execute it is because of the enhancement of his innate secret technique.

With the activation of the secret technique, Qin Mu was now only five miles away from the Zerg Queen's nest in an instant!

"Three minutes?! No need! One strike and you're done!"

Qin Mu roared, his mental power oscillating 600 times. In the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, apart from the four major sub-wheels of metal, fire, earth, and space that had already been activated, the six major sub-wheels of water, wood, wind, lightning, light, and time rotated simultaneously!

An invisible force erupted from the core mother wheel of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, connecting all ten subsidiary wheels simultaneously for the first time!

Qin Mu's blood-soaked body shone with dazzling light. Under Qin Mu's impetus, his insights into the ten fundamental laws of metal, wood, water, fire, earth, space, wind, lightning, light, and time surged wildly into the ten sub-wheels of the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel.

Ten sub-wheels erupted simultaneously!

The thousand-meter-long dark golden giant sword, which was on the verge of collapsing, reformed.

With the power of the ten sub-wheels, the dark golden longsword burning with flames actually shrank a bit, only eight hundred meters in diameter, but there were wisps of lightning flashing on the blade.

The domain, spanning three thousand meters in radius, suddenly doubled in size, with faint ripples of time reverberating within it.

A gentle breeze blew through the area, and it seemed as if leaves were falling, with droplets of water clinging to them, their surfaces shimmering with light.

The Zerg warriors, whether they were Green Mantis or Blood Mantis, were all slowed down by the faint ripples of time. An invisible breeze blew, and their bodies were scattered like sand.

Beneath the falling leaves, seeds instantly sprouted and burst forth from their bodies.

When the water droplets touched them, the bodies of these Zerg warriors were pierced through as easily as tofu.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Zerg warriors perished naturally.

Qin Mu didn't even glance at any of this; his eyes were only on the Zerg Queen hidden in the nest.

When the Ten Fundamental Laws erupted, crimson mist burst forth from his body, and even his muscles and bones began to crumble and dissolve.

But at this moment, Qin Mu's eyes were brighter than ever before.

"All phenomena revolve! All directions are extinguished! Go!"

With a chilling sound, it was as if a world had crashed down upon the Zerg hive below.

This attack incorporated the essence and power of all the fundamental laws within the Myriad Manifestations Heavenly Wheel, achieving unimaginable power.

When these ten fundamental laws unleash their full power, their strengths overlap and merge, enhancing the original Burning Heaven Sword Domain.

With the four fundamental laws of metal, fire, earth, and space at its core, and the other six fundamental laws assisting it, the 800-meter-long dark golden sword tore through the void and destroyed everything in its path.

The Zerg warriors blocking the way didn't even get a chance to touch the dark gold longsword before being dissipated by the power of the many primal laws within the domain.

All of this, though it sounds slow, actually happened in the blink of an eye.

From the moment he entered this trial space, Qin Mu unleashed all his power, rushing towards the location of the Zerg mother nest.

After withstanding a combined soul attack and numerous attacks from Zerg warriors, it suddenly unleashed its power.

Upon seeing the terrifying dark golden longsword suddenly erupt, hundreds of Zerg warriors died silently.

The Zerg Queen, whose combat prowess was terrifying, let out a shriek, realizing she was facing a life-or-death crisis, and unleashed an invisible wave of soul energy.

The remaining thousands of Zerg warriors unleashed their soul energy, launching another combined soul attack while their bodies exploded with power.

In their haste, thousands of Zerg warriors near the Zerg Queen spewed out beams of light containing primordial laws.

In the void, their powers overlapped and merged, forming a dazzling beam of light that contained the combined power of thousands of Zerg warriors.

"boom--"

The moment the dark golden sword domain, carrying the power of the ten fundamental laws, came into contact with the beam of light, the terrifying power within the beam tore through the domain and collided with the dark golden sword itself.

The terrifying shockwave radiated outwards, causing the earth to churn like waves, and throwing the Zerg warriors lying on the ground into the air.

Qin Mu's body was blasted away, and his already shattered body was reduced to fragments, as if he were about to perish completely.

The eternal chain formed by countless soul chains in the sea of ​​consciousness also cracked under the continuous attacks of the Zerg Queen, and could be completely shattered at any moment.

Even at this moment, his eyes remained bright, fixed intently on the core of the collision.

Under his gaze, the beam of the combined attack of the Zerg warriors was cleaved by the dark gold longsword, and the beam dissipated under the attack of the dark gold longsword containing the ten fundamental laws.

After piercing through the combined attack of the Zerg warriors over a thousand meters away, the dark gold longsword, though somewhat shattered, still slammed into the Zerg mother hive with an aura that could cleave the heavens and destroy everything.

A thick light barrier appeared above the Zerg hive. The Zerg queen's body is very fragile, and the hive is their armor, possessing extremely strong defensive capabilities.

But at this moment, the light barrier was pierced by the attack of that all-destroying dark golden longsword.

"Click—"

The tip of the dark gold longsword touched the mother nest, shattering its hard outer shell.

However, after breaking through the combined attack of the Zerg warriors, the light barrier defense of the brood mound, and shattering the outer shell of the brood mound, the power of the dark gold longsword was also largely depleted.

Starting from the tip of the sword, it broke apart inch by inch.

Finally, in Qin Mu's sight, a broken sword pierced into the Zerg mother nest, which was two hundred meters in diameter.

Out of the corner of his eye, Qin Mu saw thousands of Zerg warriors swarming wildly into the sky.

One of the Blood Mantis swarmed closer and came within ten meters of Qin Mu's mangled body.

However, all his power was concentrated in the dark golden longsword, and he was powerless to resist at this moment.

But at that moment, thousands of Zerg warriors around them suddenly collapsed like robots that had lost power.

In the sky, Qin Mu was enveloped in a blood-red mist. His muscles and bones were dissolving, the patterns on his skin were collapsing, and most of his body was missing. Yet, his posture remained upright, like a blood-soaked demon god.

Looking down at the Zerg hive pierced by the broken sword, a smile appeared on his lips.

The Zerg Queen's soul aura dissipated.

Chapter 1, 5.6k words, Trial Tower complete!! Requesting monthly votes! Requesting recommendation votes!!

(End of this chapter)