Huo Yuhao kicked the white-purple worm under his feet. According to the manual, the three fangs in its mouthparts could inject a gene-targeting virus.
Seeing its foot attacked, the worm wriggled, its head facing Huo Yuhao, its mouthparts widening as if it were exhaling.
"Hagen's here!"
"I need Dass!"
Unlike the Thunderous Hell Vine, Huo Yuhao had no liking for this almost irrational, ugly, and morally corrupt soul beast.
Why did he say they were almost irrational? Because Huo Yuhao had just directly attacked the 30,000-year-old Ice Demon Worm with his mental power.
To Huo Yuhao's shock, the king of that Ice Demon Worm was actually a lowly beast!
Its brain lacked any rationality befitting an intelligent life form, completely filled with the instincts of a wild animal.
Even the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm in its spiritual sea had never seen anything like this before.
"This is impossible!"
"A ten-thousand-year-old soul beast must have developed intelligence by now!"
"Even my brother, with the lowest bloodline, an ice silkworm, gained intelligence immediately after consuming ice marrow underground and reaching ten thousand years of age!"
"How could this happen?"
"How could a pure, irrational soul beast cultivate to thirty thousand years? This doesn't conform to the laws of nature!"
Huo Yuhao didn't understand this situation; after all, he was human, not a soul beast.
The golden tortoise raised its head, a hint of sadness in its golden eyes, and gently raised its golden head to Huo Yuhao, saying,
"Yuhao, perhaps this old tortoise knows the reason."
"Brother Tianmeng, you ate and slept your way to becoming a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast."
"This old tortoise bets you were sleeping when you advanced to ten thousand years of age."
The golden-haired hooded child, the incarnation of the Tianmeng ice silkworm, scratched its head sheepishly, clearly having been correctly guessed by the golden tortoise.
The golden tortoise continued in a deep, muffled voice,
"Yuhao and Brother Tianmeng, actually, soul beasts can choose not to develop intelligence when they advance to ten-thousand-year soul beasts."
"For example, when I, Old Turtle, advanced to a thousand-year soul beast, I had the option to develop intelligence."
"Normal life forms certainly wouldn't refuse to develop intelligence, because once they have intelligence, soul beasts are no longer just wild beasts controlled only by instinct." "
Or rather, in the soul beast world, only those soul beasts that have developed intelligence can truly be considered members of the soul beast race."
"Those soul beasts that haven't developed intelligence, the Beast King won't treat them as its own kind."
"They're just simple food or slaves."
"My elders once told me that intelligence is a gift from heaven and earth."
"It's proof of cultivation, a ladder to evolution!"
"A ten-thousand-year soul beast without intelligence cannot advance to a hundred-thousand-year!"
"This is an ironclad rule!" This
was the first time Tianmeng Ice Silkworm had heard such a statement; this guy had lived a long time but had the least experience.
"Since intelligence is so important, why did the Ice Demon Worm abandon it?"
Before the Golden Tortoise Shell could answer, Huo Yuhao spoke first.
"Self-deprecation."
"It looks down on itself."
"Ha, that's why I say they're a bunch of lowly beasts!"
Huo Yuhao made no attempt to hide the disdain in his eyes, forcefully kicking the century-old Ice Demon Worm that was breathing on him.
"If they had even a little ambition to fly again."
"If they had even a little courage to roar at the world again."
"I would look at them with more respect."
"They possessed the noblest bloodline, once holding the crown of evolution."
"Now they've corrupted themselves."
"Their souls and appearances are the same—ugly and twisted!"
"I take back what I just said."
"Di Tian's reaction to them wasn't anger, but humiliation! A humiliation that struck his very soul."
Huo Yuhao genuinely despised these soul beasts; self-degradation was the behavior he hated most!
Life can be destroyed, but it must never be defeated.
In his view, life could be lived in humiliation, but it should be a period of hardship and perseverance, all the preparation for roaring at the world again!
In his previous life, he had so strongly supported the wandering plan, happily munching on nutritional paste and dried earthworms every day.
Even after being told there was a very high probability of death, he still volunteered for the final rescue mission, believing that humanity could overcome this most difficult time.
To restore the blue sky to the planet in a new home, and to let humanity's voice roar across the universe once more.
"Yuhao..."
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and Golden Tortoiseshell felt Huo Yuhao's anger for the first time.
Hearing Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and the others calling out, Huo Yuhao calmed himself down slightly.
"Heh, huh."
"It's alright, Brother Tianmeng, I'll extract the virus now."
Huo Yuhao looked at the hundred-year-old Ice Demon Worm at his feet and mercilessly used his telekinesis to pry open its mouthparts. Huo Yuhao's
spiritual eyes precisely locked onto three terrifying, dark purple fangs, then placed three test tubes made of golden glass unique to the Douluo Continent beneath them.
He used his mental power to pressure the Ice Demon Worm, causing it to instinctively secrete venom due to the danger.
Soon, the three test tubes contained a transparent liquid, which, by sight, appeared to be similar to water.
"Elder Yi, may I borrow your divine sense?"
Huo Yuhao's mental power couldn't yet reach the microscopic level, and he didn't have a microscope, so he used his more convenient divine sense instead.
"Of course, no problem."
Elder Yi interrupted his alchemy research, handing over control of his divine sense to Huo Yuhao.
Using Elder Yi's divine sense, Huo Yuhao clearly saw what was inside the transparent liquid.
"These viruses somewhat resemble the form of the HIV virus."
"However, it seems some kind of golden energy flows within them."
After roughly observing the virus's form with his divine sense, the hundred-year-old Ice Demon Worm finished secreting its virus.
The three test tubes collected a total of one milliliter of viral liquid.
Huo Yuhao opened the Martial Soul Furnace and attempted to use his mental power to transmit information about a Martial Soul into one of the test tubes.
However, he failed; only a portion of the information was transmitted because the amount of liquid was too small.
Nevertheless, the Martial Soul Furnace could indeed identify this virus as a carrier.
"That makes things easier,"
Huo Yuhao said, kicking the drained Ice Demon Worm aside.
Three Soul Rings appeared around Huo Yuhao, the golden Soul Ring belonging to the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm beginning to shine, and his telekinetic power began to spread.
The once calm oil lake began to churn, the black oil being swept up by an invisible force, and numerous Ice Demon Worms were suspended in the air, carried by the oil.
The ten-thousand-year-old Ice Demon Worm instinctively began to roar, but due to the mental power shield, it couldn't find Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao, annoyed by its loud voice, directly used his Spirit Eye Kaleidoscope to cast an illusion.
This irrational beast was immediately controlled and slumbered at the bottom of the lake under Huo Yuhao's control.
The worm's fangs were too large, and Huo Yuhao didn't have matching golden glass test tubes.
Looking at the hundreds of ice demon worms, some ten or even a hundred years old, before him, Huo Yuhao waved his hand, and a large number of test tubes appeared from his storage soul tool.
They proceeded to the fangs of the ice demon worms, collecting the spirit carriers.
(End of Chapter)
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