Devouring Stars: Master of Evolution

Chapter 72 Martial Artist Breakthrough

When Qin Mu dragged the mutilated body of the Azure Dragon of the East Sea to a mother nest hidden thousands of meters deep in the sea, ten high-level lord-level nine-headed hydra dragons came to greet him from around the mother nest.

The mother nest is located in a well-hidden spot, within an underwater cave dug out by the swarm of insects within an underwater mountain range.

Thousands of meters below the surface of the ocean, it is pitch black, and it would be very difficult to find this mother nest unless you were specifically looking for it.

The underwater mountain range is now covered with a thick layer of fungal carpet, which is covered with all sorts of strange underwater plants. Some wounded Zerg units are receiving treatment from the mother hive on the fungal carpet.

The body of the Azure Dragon of the East Sea was placed by the Hydra Dragon on a relatively flat open space in the underwater mountain range. The surrounding fungal carpet spread and gradually enveloped the entire Azure Dragon of the East Sea.

"This Azure Dragon of the East Sea is truly difficult to subdue!"

Looking at the nearly dead Azure Dragon of the East Sea, Qin Mu's eyes were sharp, able to see clearly even in the pitch-black depths of the sea.

This Azure Dragon of the East Sea was the most difficult one Qin Mu had ever tamed, far more difficult than the Flame Giant Lizard.

At first, Qin Mu only used his mental power, but as a fourth-order planetary-level monster, the Azure Dragon of the East Sea had powerful mental power. Under constant resistance, Qin Mu was unable to subdue it quickly.

After mobilizing the combined mental power of 500,000 Zerg, and repeatedly shattering the soul consciousness of the Azure Dragon of the East Sea, it finally succeeded in transforming into a Zerg.

After the last time he used the combined mental power of a million insect swarms to launch a combined attack, Qin Mu suffered from headaches for several days before recovering.

Now that it has broken through to the planetary level, it can easily coordinate a million-strong swarm of insects to attack without causing much harm to itself.

However, dealing with a single Azure Dragon of the East Sea doesn't require a combined attack of the mental energy of a million insect swarms.

If it weren't for the fear of delaying too long and attracting the attention of other monsters in the ocean, Qin Mu could have subdued them by force using only his mental power, though it would have taken quite some time.

After mobilizing the mental power of 500,000 insect swarms, the will of the Azure Dragon of the East Sea was easily shattered.

However, the Azure Dragon of the East Sea resisted too resolutely. Even though its soul was shattered, its will remained strong. But no matter how strong it was, it could not resist its own fate.

After the Azure Dragon of the East Sea was successfully transformed into a Zerg, its injuries were extremely severe, and it was barely clinging to life when it was dragged back to the mother nest.

Hovering above the mother nest, Qin Mu felt a surge of joy.

As long as it's alive, that's enough. As long as it has a breath left, the mother hive can save it.

Once the fourth-tier planetary-level Azure Dragon of the East Sea recovers from its injuries, the swarm's expansion will likely reach a new level.

Just as he was feeling overjoyed, Qin Mu suddenly felt a surge of heat in his body, and his genetic energy began to spin rapidly within him.

"We're about to break through!"

After this period of expansion and reproduction, the number of insect swarms has exceeded fifty million. With this continuous feedback, Qin Mu's physical qualities have long since reached the peak of the advanced war god.

When I got excited, I naturally broke through.

They quickly descended to the seabed, entered the underwater cave where the mother nest was located, and sat cross-legged.

As his consciousness immersed itself in his body, the genetic energy in every cell of Qin Mu's body began to converge. At first, it was just like small water droplets, then the droplets converged into a stream, and the stream converged into a river!

Throughout his body, streams of primal genetic energy continuously converged at the dantian point in Qin Mu's abdomen.

These genes can rotate at high speed, constantly expanding and contracting, just like the eggs of a swarm hatching Zerg units. Each expansion and contraction makes them stronger.

Until, Qin Mu seemed to hear a deafening roar in his mind.

A planet burning with black flames was born in the dantian. Similar to when a spiritual master breaks through, this planet is also a unified whole formed by the aggregation of a large number of six-sided crystals.

The difference is that the origin of a spiritual master is the sea of ​​consciousness in the head, while the origin of a martial artist is the dantian in the abdomen.

After taking shape, the miniature planet burning with black flames began to rotate continuously, while emitting strange fluctuations.

As this strange fluctuation spread, wisps of black flame energy flowed and spread throughout his body.

A transformation even more ferocious than that that occurred when a spiritual master awakened began.

"Click click click—"

In an instant, every cell in Qin Mu's body underwent a profound transformation; his internal organs, muscles, bones, skin, and even his blood and hair all transformed.

Qin Mu felt his body breaking apart and then constantly rebuilding itself. The broken tissue was expelled from his skin, and his body became stronger through this constant breaking and rebuilding.

This transformation is far more powerful than the breakthrough in mental power.

When it comes to modifying the body, genetic energy is the most suitable, far more so than mental or psychic power.

As the miniature planet burning with black flames in his dantian continuously emitted genetic energy, Qin Mu felt his body getting hotter and hotter, as if it were about to catch fire!

Do not!

It wasn't just a feeling; Qin Mu's body really burst into flames!

A raging flame erupted from Qin Mu's body, burning from the inside out.

Even in the deep sea, the black flames continued to burn without any effect.

As the black flames burned, Qin Mu felt as if his entire body was being tempered and continuously strengthened.

"Is my physical attribute fire?"

He opened his palm, and a three-foot-tall black flame burned fiercely in Qin Mu's palm.

"In the Devouring Universe, when a martial artist breaks through to a higher level, he will awaken various special abilities."

These special abilities are mainly categorized into eight types: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, and light!

Each martial artist has unique abilities based on their attributes, and even the same attribute can be further subdivided into many categories.

The eight categories are all equal, with no distinction of superiority or inferiority.

For example, Hong represents light, Thor represents lightning, and Luo Feng represents metal.

Within any category, there are powerful abilities as well as weak ones. Through the self-development of martial artists, the final forms of these abilities will vary.

Later, when Luo Feng awakened, his special martial arts ability was the Vajra Body, which made his bones and muscles stronger than other martial artists at the same level.

For a martial artist, physical strength means stronger attacks and greater defense!

"This black flame can burn itself to strengthen its body."

Qin Mu brandished his spear, black flames clinging to it as it burned fiercely in the dark, icy seawater.

This spear was specially made for Qin Mu by the military. It was crafted from special materials obtained from a certain ruin. Although it doesn't have any special abilities, it is extremely hard and sharp.

"It can even attach to weapons, but I wonder how lethal it is?"

Qin Mu was eager to try out his newly acquired skills against an opponent.

Unfortunately, apart from the swarm of insects, there were no other marine creatures around for Qin Mu to fight.

"Um?"

Qin Mu let out a soft cry. As his genetic energy underwent a transformation and his physical abilities continued to improve, his mental power also broke through to a new level.

"My mental power has broken through to the second level of the planetary level!"

The limitation on Qin Mu's mental power improvement has always been his physical fitness. Once his physical fitness reached a certain level, the feedback from the insect swarm easily allowed his mental power to break through.

It's not just a breakthrough; this feedback is continuous. At this rate, it won't take long to advance to the third level of the planetary stage!

"Let's go!"

Qin Mu was delighted; improvements in strength always bring joy.

In the deep sea, Qin Mu stood on the Crescent Moon Disc and almost instantly burst out of the sea, transforming into a streak of light.

"The speed has exceeded twenty times the speed of sound! It can go even faster!"

Qin Mu laughed heartily.

On the sea, an incredibly terrifying black streak of light appeared, sometimes disappearing into the sea, sometimes soaring back into the sky.

"Even at sea, its speed can easily exceed 18 Sonic!"

"In terms of speed, I've far surpassed Thor; no one on Earth can rival me!"

Even Thor's fastest speed doesn't reach 5000 meters per second, which is far behind Qin Mu's.

Through continuous testing, Qin Mu gained a deeper understanding of his own strength.

When the speed reaches this level, even Hong would not be able to defeat Qin Mu.

Even at the planetary level, in a battle between a martial artist and a mentalist, the mentalist still has a significant advantage because of their much longer attack range.

Qin Mu now controls the Crescent Moon Blade on the string disc, and the maximum distance has exceeded ten kilometers, and the speed is far superior to that of anyone else.

Unless it's a confined arena or other special terrain, martial artists who are slower than Qin Mu can only passively take hits and defend when facing him.

So what if you have a domain? The scope of control is too small.

Qin Mu didn't need to engage in close combat at all.

"Let's see what this black flame does. It can even leave the body and attach itself to the Crescent Moon Blade."

Beneath their feet, the crescent moon disc was covered in black flames, and fragments of crescent moon blades burning with black flames flew out.

On the sea, a fish monster more than ten meters long was slashed by the Crescent Moon Blade. Qin Mu deliberately controlled the attack, and it did not hit a vital spot.

"Sizzle"

Black flames suddenly ignited on the fish-like monster's body, instantly engulfing its massive form.

"What fierce and domineering flames!"

Qin Mu saw it clearly: the flames ignited instantly from the outside in the moment they touched the fish-like monster's body.

"This fire doesn't just burn the body; it also has the power to burn the soul!"

When the time was right and the heavens and earth joined forces, Qin Mu's continuous breakthroughs allowed him to reach a new level of strength.

"It's a pity I'm not Luo Feng, so no one told me the specific abilities of this flame. I'll figure it out slowly later."

Suspended on the sea surface, Qin Mu pondered.

"It's about time. The rapid expansion of the insect swarm on land has attracted the attention of many King-level monsters, and they have even engaged in battle with a few King-level monsters."

Once the swarm reached a size of fifty million, its territory became so large that it was impossible for it not to attract the attention of a king-level monster.

"The new swarm units are more powerful than expected and performed well in battles against the monsters."

Not only was Qin Mu well prepared, but the military's preparations were also nearly complete, with all kinds of weapons and equipment in place and military factories producing orders at a frantic pace.

These days, even Uncle Qing hasn't had time to look for Qin Mu, because he has become the director of a military factory.

It wasn't the original one; a new military factory was opened to increase production capacity, so the old factory that was supposed to be retired couldn't be retired anymore.

After the Great Nirvana, although large-scale wars ended, small-scale wars continued, and the military was always on standby, preparing for a full-scale war that could break out at any time.

Therefore, the preparation time does not need to be too long. Once Qin Mu is in place, the military will declare a state of war.

"It's time to go to Kirishima. On Kirishima, let's gather global forces and declare war!"

It's a little late

(End of this chapter)