vncnus Chapter 155 The Three-Tiered Underground Palace's Annual Energy Exhaustion Leads to Experiment
Chapter 155 The Three-Tiered Underground Palace's Annual Energy Exhaustion Leads to Experiment
Forty-two years, in the Land of Snow, in an underground insect nest.
Aburame Zhicheng stood in the center of the laboratory, in a circular atrium that connected the three underground palaces.
This three-palace structure took four years to complete.
The First Palace: The Frozen Underground Palace.
The area is composed of solid ice and frozen soil, and is home to cold-resistant insects such as frost moths, ice fleas, and frozen soil ants.
They feed on microorganisms in the underground ice layer and can remain active even at temperatures as low as minus seventy or eighty degrees Celsius.
Second House: Normal Soil Earth House.
This is the core of the insect hive.
The temperature is kept constant at 15 degrees Celsius, the air is dry, and the walls are made of specially made sound-absorbing material.
Trillions of earthworms crawl through the tunnels, responsible for decomposition, transportation, and recombination. Their secretions act as a natural adhesive, enabling the nests to self-repair.
At the center of the thermosphere is a circular space with a diameter of thirty meters, where the Six Noble Phantasms, the Box of Bliss, floats.
Four years ago, Shisei Aburame secretly transported this box from Hozuki Castle, where billions of Erosion Insects gnawed at it day and night. But progress was slow—the material of the Box of Bliss was beyond imagination, and the Erosion Insects had eaten away less than one-tenth of the total volume in more than four years.
"It's not that simple after all. But it'll be quick." Shisei Aburame placed his hand on the surface of the box, and could feel the terrifying chakra fluctuations within.
He left the center and headed toward the surrounding laboratories.
Gene editing room, insect hybridization area, magic analysis table... twelve laboratories are arranged in a circle. The door of the deepest one is inscribed with the word "forbidden".
Upon entering, one finds only a stone platform inside, upon which lies a body.
To be precise, it is an aggregate of insects.
It resembles a human in shape, but it is not made up of flesh and blood, but of countless tiny, translucent insects.
They wriggled slowly, maintaining their basic shape, with a fist-sized crystal in their chest cavity emitting a pale green light.
Insect clone Zero.
Aburame Shisei's project, which he started three years ago, is to create independent clones based on insects.
In theory, the clone shares all the memories of the original body, and can therefore be considered a backup for resurrection and to extend life.
But in reality, he encountered a very tricky problem: the transfer of his soul and its compatibility with the body.
Indeed, Shisei Aburame also encountered the same problem as Orochimaru: he was not proficient in ninjutsu related to the soul, or even completely ignorant of it.
"It seems the focus from now on will be on collecting soul ninjutsu." He paused for a moment, then turned and left.
In fact, transferring body consciousness was just a backup plan; he still preferred his original body.
After being transformed by the energy of immortal arts, the lifespan of this body has been greatly increased. Unfortunately, the wind attribute natural energy can no longer increase the body's lifespan or improve its strength. It seems that it has reached the peak of cultivation.
Therefore, he must quickly refine the next kind of immortal insect and accept the next kind of natural attribute.
Furthermore, he discovered that the Sage Technique he had mastered seemed to be different from the Sage Techniques of other people in the ninja world, and he no longer had any so-called transformation form.
Therefore, as long as he doesn't merge with the immortal insect, all his escape techniques carry some natural wind energy, and it seems that his five elements have been partially replenished, allowing him to use wind escape immortal techniques.
Aburame Shisei carefully placed the body before heading to the final palace.
The third house is the Rock Fire Palace.
The temperature at the core suddenly rose to over 300 degrees Celsius.
The walls here are made of a specially made heat-resistant aluminum-steel alloy, but even so, the surface is still glowing red from the heat. Aburame Shisei only stopped at the entrance and did not go any further.
Only three magma layers have been explored so far. It's not that we don't want to continue, but rather that we lack suitable tool worms.
Most insects cannot withstand high temperatures.
The worm will die at 200 degrees Celsius, and the frost moth will melt at 10 degrees Celsius.
The only ones that can survive are the Ice Silkworms, insects that live in the extreme cold of the Land of Snow. After being modified by his primal energy and chakra, their bodies can generate a fat-like liquid similar to antifreeze at absolute zero.
By sheer coincidence, they were able to survive longer in the magma.
"It seems we can only rely on the Ice Silkworm, but unfortunately we don't have enough energy now," Aburame Zhicheng murmured as he retreated to the constant temperature layer.
In the past two years, because the ninja world has been developing peacefully and there have been few wars, very few ninjas have died. In addition, in the three countries he controls, very few people are buried with insects after death.
Therefore, the energy that the Golden Finger can obtain is decreasing, and by the beginning of this year it was completely exhausted, with only three months' worth of energy remaining.
The lack of primordial energy brought almost all of his experiments to a halt. It wasn't that he couldn't continue the research, but the time and cost required increased tenfold or even a hundredfold.
He now has to consider where to get extra energy.
Aburame Shisei clutched his chest as a warm, petri dish-shaped round box appeared in his hand.
This contains a record of all the insects he has cultivated and collected over the years.
First, there's the long-outdated Oil Woman series: Parasite Worm, Corpse Worm, Eliminate Worm, Phosphorus Worm, and Parasite Giant Worm.
These insects are almost exclusively used for genetic breeding or as material for the reproduction and evolution of other insects, and have no other purpose after that.
The next group consists of insects he cultivated and used in his earlier years, which are still going strong, but are no longer the front-line insects in his wars.
These are the stinking bug, the corrosive bug, the recording scout bug, the mimic bug, the planktonic bug, the floating bug, and the mimicry monitoring bug.
Among them, the Stink Bug and the Corrosive Bug are exemplary models of hard work. Firstly, they are the foundation of his illusion system. Secondly, the Corrosive Bug is the cornerstone of almost all the insect genes in his possession, accounting for as much as 80% of his genes.
The third group consists of construction insects and resource insects, namely, construction insects, aluminum-iron insects, carpet mycelium insects, firefly insects, and ice field insects.
The fact that his insect hives are now so large and numerous is largely thanks to the construction insects. As for the carpet mycelium worms and glowworms, they provide a good living environment for the underground palace. Although they have no combat power, their contribution is still significant.
As for the Ice Primal Worms, although they are a rising star, they have been making great strides in recent years, and have even integrated into schools and students, giving birth to a brand-new ninjutsu system.
That is because with the presence of Ice Primal Worms and Ice Silkworms, students from the Land of Snow can still use Ice Release even after leaving the icy and snowy environment, although the power and range are much smaller.
Finally, we must mention the unsung aluminum-iron bug. It was the first to fully differentiate, but nowadays, 90% of the aluminum-iron alloys in the ninja world are made by it.
That's right, ordinary steel is outdated and has been completely replaced by it. Shuriken and kunai made of aluminum-iron alloy are lighter, have a longer throwing distance, and are more durable and wear-resistant.