Devouring Stars: Master of Evolution

Chapter 246 Choice: The Path of Human Evolution

Anze City, the abyss of purgatory.

This enormous demon city, with its walls alone reaching tens of thousands of meters high, is now in ruins.

The city walls, built of dark red boulders, are now covered with dark brown patches.

That's a scene that only appears after the blood has repeatedly dried and congealed.

Part of the city wall has been completely destroyed, and a group of demons are urgently repairing it. These demons, who usually fight each other whenever they meet, have actually become unusually well-behaved.

But if you look outside the city, you'll understand why this is the case.

Anze City stands in a vast sea of ​​lava, surrounded by rolling lava and rising heat.

However, at this moment, most of the churning magma was covered by a thick layer of fungal carpet, which was at least fifty meters thick.

Beneath the fungal carpet, countless vine-like roots extend deep into the magma, drawing upon its fiery energy.

Lava, a high-temperature liquid, is virtually harmless to both the swarm of insects and the demons.

For example, the Blazing Insects in the Zerg swarm and the Balrogs in the Demons can both consume lava.

Billions of demons and the swarm of insects are locked in a fierce battle, with countless lives disappearing every moment.

But neither side clearly showed any intention of backing down.

Above the creep, the battle cries of the insect swarm and demons echoed through the sky.

Corpses piled up like mountains, and blood flowed like rivers.

Even with the rapid absorption and conversion speed of the fungal carpet, it couldn't keep up with the absorption of all the corpses and blood.

The sky, the earth, and even the lava were all battlefields.

In this battlefield stretching for millions of miles, nearly a hundred colossal star beasts with peak bloodlines and incredibly large bodies are active.

Its 90-kilometer-long body is like a living mountain peak; a single strike could slay tens of thousands of demons.

Even those of a higher level cannot withstand their attacks head-on.

Their size is too large to inflict a fatal wound with a single blow.

As long as they are not killed, no matter how badly injured they are, they can quickly recover and rejoin the battlefield once they retreat to the vicinity of their mother nest, tens of thousands of miles away.

Tens of thousands of miles behind the Zerg battlefield, several mother nests, each as tall as 190 kilometers, unfolded, their creep densely covered with hatching chambers of all sizes.

Every moment, massive numbers of Zerg are hatched and continuously join the battlefield.

Join that bloody battlefield, like a meat grinder.

Even more terrifying, however, lies near these mother nests, where enormous creatures nearly a thousand kilometers long lie.

Creatures a thousand kilometers away are impossible to see clearly unless you are far enough away.

That's amazing.

They did not join the battle; they simply lay there, ensuring that the mother nest would not be destroyed by the demons.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the demon castle, a steady stream of demons were being driven over.

Within the city, an incomparably powerful aura erupted, its majestic presence suppressing the entire city.

However, it is clear that after several months of war, the number of demons has become scarce.

Even though there was a blood-red vortex tens of thousands of kilometers long in the sky, emanating an alluring aura that attracted demons from the entire abyss of purgatory to come and provide support.

In a mother hive on the front lines, Qin Mu gazed at the battlefield with a satisfied look in his eyes.

This war should have ended long ago. All it would have taken was for the twelve peak-bloodline world lord-level star beasts to swarm in, destroy the Demon City, and kill the demon leader.

But Qin Mu stubbornly delayed it.

A battlefield of this scale is extremely rare and perfectly suited to the Zerg's current strength.

Normally, with the power of the swarm, it would be quite difficult to defeat all the demons and kill that immortal-level demon leader.

However, with twelve world lord-level star beasts possessing peak bloodlines, coupled with the decision to stop conserving resources and focus on troop production, they managed to turn this war into a stalemate.

However, when the battlefield converged on the demon city, a massive number of demons were mobilized from all directions by the demon commanders, and the blood-red vortex that appeared in the sky blocked the swarm's advance.

No, it can't be said that it hindered the swarm's progress. Rather, Qin Mu felt that the battlefield at this level was too suitable for the swarm's evolution, so he didn't end the war quickly.

"The number of newly evolved units in the swarm has reached 323. Among them, many main units have evolved, doubling their strength."

After retrieving the battle data, Qin Mu nodded in satisfaction.

For a long time, the various units in the swarm had not experienced real combat and had various shortcomings.

Some of these flaws were difficult to expose, but they were all revealed during this prolonged and high-intensity battlefield.

"The chain mutation of the swarm units has also yielded a massive amount of data. Among them, the one with the most mutations has successfully transformed from the lowest-level Zerg unit into a second-tier cosmic behemoth with the [Li] attribute of fire."

Qin Mu's gaze fell upon a Zerg unit that was about ten kilometers long.

This is a colossal beast from the [Li] starry sky, covered in wounds yet exuding a fierce aura.

Unlike ordinary cosmic behemoths, this one, emerging from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, possessed an even more powerful aura. Its giant lizard-like body was half submerged in magma and half covered by a fungal carpet that healed its wounds.

"This must be the king unit of the Devourer Zerg."

Qin Mu chuckled softly.

The Devourer Zerg have two hatching methods.

The first method involves mass-producing weaker Zerg units.

Then, they were allowed to fight amongst themselves, devouring each other. The weak died, the strong lived, and the strong devoured the weak to become even stronger. When a large group of Zerg warriors were all wiped out and only one remained, that one was the best.

Not all Zerg warriors are of the same caliber; some have greater potential, while others have less.

This method eliminates all those with poor potential, and the peak Zerg that emerges from endless slaughter are ten times stronger than ordinary peak Zerg warriors of the Realm Lord, and can be called kings!

The second method is the normal cultivation method.

In the past, Qin Mu was always raised normally.

However, unlike the Devouring Zerg, if Irina were to train the King Zerg, such as the King Tiger Beetle, it would be different.

Then it will hatch a massive number of tiger beetle races, let them kill each other, and in the end just select the tiger beetle race with stronger potential and strength.

But things are different now.

This insectoid creature was initially just a low-level Blazing Insectoid.

It evolved continuously in battle, gradually transforming from an ordinary Zerg into a cosmic behemoth like the Blazing Beast.

Then, from the blazing behemoth, it evolved into [Li], who possessed the bloodline of a domain lord!

"Although the efficiency was a bit low, the results were indeed quite good!"

Qin Mu nodded with some satisfaction.

The evolution system within the Zerg swarm units is quite complete, allowing them to evolve from the lowest-level Zerg units to the [Separate] level of cosmic behemoths.

Then, Qin Mu turned his gaze to the other side.

They were a group of humanoid insectoids.

Or rather, they were a group of experimental subjects replicated from human bloodlines.

However, their forms are now quite different from what they were at the beginning. After multiple evolutions, their body sizes have changed significantly.

Their bodies have been mutated, making it difficult to recognize their original appearance.

Some of them grew horns on their heads, while others had extra arms, tails, and scales, and their bodies were several times larger.

The most exaggerated one of them has mutated from its original size of just over one meter to a behemoth nearly a thousand meters tall.

"Unlike the evolutionary mutations of Zerg units, the evolutionary mutations of human bloodlines still need to take into account physical appearance."

Qin Mu frowned slightly.

As biological weapons, Zerg units should be as strong as possible and as ferocious as possible in appearance.

But humans are different.

If it's just one or two people, it doesn't really matter. As long as they can become stronger, what does it matter if some mutations occur?

Humans can also be distinguished by their souls.

But if the entire human population mutates, that won't work.

For example, Luo Feng, after possessing the Golden Horned Beast, still managed to create an Earthling clone.

This is, in essence, a recognition of human identity.

The human body's physical form is itself a form of culture and a legacy.

But unlike Luo Feng, who has multiple clones, using the Seed of Genes is to evolve oneself!

Cosmic-level bloodlines retain human form, while Domain Lord-level bloodlines undergo uncontrollable mutations. By the time they reach World Lord level, human bloodlines are almost entirely devoured by cosmic behemoths.

The more it is strengthened, the closer it becomes to a cosmic behemoth, and it may even mutate directly into a cosmic behemoth.

Take Earthlings as an example.

If everyone were injected with a gene seed and through continuous evolution, they would eventually all become cosmic behemoths.

Are they still human?

They can possess the talents and power of a cosmic behemoth, but they cannot actually become a cosmic behemoth.

Otherwise, billions of years from now, if humanity's leaders have all turned into cosmic behemoths, it's hard to say whether they will still be humans or cosmic behemoths.

Physically becoming two species is extremely dangerous.

In particular, most of the cosmic behemoths are bloodthirsty and brutal.

Qin Mu only wanted their talent and potential, not to actually turn them into giant star beasts.

Such problems must be nipped in the bud, rather than being dealt with after they occur.

But here's the problem: the strength of human genes is limited.

Below the Domain Lord level bloodline, Qin Mu can perfectly fuse human genes and star beast genes, with human genes as the dominant factor.

Aside from being stronger and having some unusual markings on their bodies, they don't undergo any other mutations.

But even if it's stronger, it's hard to guarantee.

For example, when Qin Mu was researching the perfect divine body, he discovered that human genes have limitations.

Once a certain level is reached, various forms of alienation will inevitably occur.

For example, becoming gigantic!

A body only two or three meters tall cannot contain the ferocious power and genes of a peak-blooded star beast.

Therefore, Qin Mu enlarged the body of the first stage of the perfect divine body, which is now the body of the insect hive tyrant, to a kilometer!

In fact, after collecting 12 kinds of peak bloodline star beasts, Qin Mu has already begun the second phase of perfect divine body.

It is estimated that to accommodate so many superior genes from top-tier bloodlines, the size would have to be at least over 10,000 meters!

This is inevitable.

Meanwhile, the Hive Tyrant is no longer human. Although it uses Qin Mu's genes as a carrier, it has almost no relation to its original appearance.

"Two options."

Qin Mu's mind raced. Over the past few months, he had considered many options and ultimately settled on two relatively reliable and feasible solutions.

The first method involves fusing the genes of different humans with those of giant cosmic beasts. The human body is still enlarged, but as far as possible, no abnormal state occurs.

In short, it's about enlarging the body to fuse the genes of a giant cosmic beast with a larger body.

While maintaining overall stability, it possesses the talents and potential of a star behemoth.

This has a great advantage: once they become immortal, their divine bodies will become even larger.

However, achieving this will be very difficult.

There are billions of human races; there are far too many races to list.

It is extremely difficult to fuse their genes with those of a cosmic behemoth without causing significant mutations.

The second type is even simpler and more direct, creating a second form, or rather, a combat form.

Normally, it has a normal body, but when it unleashes its power, it can rapidly expand and mutate.

This wouldn't be too difficult for Qin Mu.

Leaving aside the shapeshifting abilities of the Iceberg Behemoth, many races possess the capacity to transform and rapidly expand into larger forms.

For example, the most classic example is the Moyun vine.

This plant life can transform into any shape, such as armor, or expand to entangle and bind enemies.

Or perhaps star-eating grass.

Before it blooms, it looks just like a real blade of grass, very small in size.

But once activated, it can grow thicker and longer in a crazy way, and in an instant, it becomes a true 'giant celestial body'.

With these characteristics, Qin Mu could completely integrate the genes of the Starry Sky Beast and design a combat form.

It doesn't matter if the fighting form is ferocious, as long as the combat power is strong.

Anyway, it usually looks normal.

However, this also presents a significant problem. Aside from the fact that their normal form is weaker, their true genetic fusion form is actually their combat form.

The usual appearance is actually a disguise.

When he is weak, it's fine, but once he becomes immortal and possesses a divine body, he will definitely focus on combat.

At that time, there would still be a danger that all of humanity's high-ranking officials would turn into cosmic behemoths.

"We still need to find a way to strengthen human genes and allow them to evolve."

Qin Mu shook his head, feeling a bit of a headache.

If the human genome becomes stronger, then there will be no need to worry about these issues.

Humans certainly have genetic potential; after all, Luo Feng could enhance human genes through the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual, so theoretically, Qin Mu could also do the same through research.

Simply optimizing human genes would be extremely difficult; for example, only one person in the entire universe can cultivate the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual.

This is different from what Qin Mu had in mind.

"Hmm? How about we have Luo Feng fuse with the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual, and then I'll study Luo Feng?"

Qin Mu's eyes suddenly lit up.

Eh!

You know what, it's actually a great idea!

Luo Feng has a clone of the Demon Slayer Clan, so he won't die anyway, and his success in cultivation is inevitable.

The extraordinary aspect of the Nine Tribulations Secret Manual lies in its ability to break the rules of the universe and is not limited by genetic multipliers.

Once Qin Mu has the experimental data after the transformation, it's no different from cultivating a ninth-order secret manual.

This way, there's no need to worry about the entire swarm turning to ashes.

Plans are in place!

(End of this chapter)