Ice Silkworm

Han Sen put away his energy and immediately retreated, and then used his Jadeskin to unlock his gene lock.

Although Dongxuan Sutra and Jadeskin were comparable after opening the gene lock, there were still some notable differences. Jadeskin also focused on enhancing the seventh sense, although although it wasn't as detailed as the Dongxuan Sutra, it had a greater range. The range of the Dongxuan Sutra's enhancement to the seventh sense was limited to the length of the dongxuan aura.

Han Sen scanned the bamboo forest with alertness, as if he had activated god mode. With his senses, he was able to determine that something was traveling towards him at a rapid pace. It was currently three miles away, but that distance was sure to close fast.

Han Sen could sense its approximate size, and deduced it was around the size of an average household cat. Its shape was circular, like the grubs he had just harvested. What it wasn't, was slow. Unlike said bugs, what was coming towards him was very fast. Like a mad rabbit, it came running.

"Is it a sacred-blood Dark Silkworm?" The thought of this made Han Sen quite happy.

As time ticked by, the unseen menace closed the gap between them. When it emerged, Han Sen was finally able to see that it was an extra-large grub. Its body glistened like ice. A frost aura encompassed it, and it left a trail of ice in its wake.

Han Sen switched his gene lock over to Dongxuan Sutra and took a reading of the icy fiend that had approached. Its lifeforce was far stronger than mutant, and was indeed most likely a sacred-blood class silkworm.

The happiness in Han Sen's heart had taken root, and so he retrieved his peacock crossbow and loaded it with a z-steel bolt. He took aim at the bamboo forest, and when it was close enough, he'd pull the trigger and swiftly end its life. More than anything, he wanted to see if there was a beast soul to be obtained from it.

As the distance between Han Sen and the ice silkworm got smaller and smaller, however, he started to feel as if something wasn't quite right. The closer it came, the stronger the lifeforce of the silkworm became. It soon exceeded the measure of any sacred-blood creature he had dealt with before.

"Is it a super creature?" Han Sen's face changed. He scanned it multiple times to gain a more accurate reading, but it still left him as puzzled as ever. It was definitely not a super creature.

"Berserk sacred-blood, perhaps?" Han Sen squinted his eyes. He rarely encountered berserk sacred-blood creatures out in the wild, so he was surprised at his discovery of one here, of all places.

Watching the ice silkworm draw nearer and nearer, it had now come within one thousand meters of Han Sen. He refocused his peacock crossbow, but then heard more noises from the bamboo forest.

Rustle! Rustle!

It now seemed like an entire choir of creatures were frantically racing through the forest. At this, Han Sen's face changed. Now, he was seeing a large number of icy silkworms emerge from somewhere in the bamboo woods. From his quick, initial tally, he managed to count a hundred of them.

"Impossible! How can there be so many berserk sacred-blood creatures in one spot?" Han Sen was rightfully shocked. They didn't frighten him, as he knew they were of no match for him—he just thought the number of them was scary.

Han Sen could accept the presence of a dozen sacred-blood creatures, but berserk sacred-blood creatures were far rarer. The ratio of sacred-blood to berserk sacred-blood was somewhere in the ballpark of 100:1. But now, berserk sacred-blood creatures were emerging as a massive group. If there were that many berserk sacred-blood creatures, then there had to be thousands of ordinary sacred-blood silkworms someplace in the area, as well.

Still, such an occurrence had to be impossible.

The ice silkworms he was currently sensing were stronger than most sacred-blood creatures. The strength of their energy flow was not too far off the blood-horned shura he had encountered not too long ago.

One silkworm was ahead of the rest, and the gap between it and Han Sen was now under five hundred meters. He pulled out his peacock crossbow, took aim, and pulled the trigger.

Instead of guessing, Han Sen wanted to kill one and find out the truth.

The hardlight string moved and the z-steel bolt took flight. It was like a beam of light, traveling five hundred meters in the blink of an eye. It pierced through the ice silkworm's body and pinned it to the ground.

Han Sen was delightfully surprised, thinking the silkworms were easier to kill than he initially imagined they would be. If it was a berserk sacred-blood creature, he expected it would be able to react or even evade the bolt. But it didn't; it was struck and it died, simple as that.

"Mutant Creature Hunted: Dark Silkworm. The beast soul has not been acquired. Consume its flesh to obtain a random numeric amount of mutant geno points, ranging from zero to ten."

Han Sen suddenly froze with his jaw agape. He was like that for quite a bit.

"This isn't right. That can't be right. How can that be a mutant silkworm? How can a mutant-class creature possess such a high lifeforce?" Han Sen couldn't believe the fat ice silkworm was the same creature as the Dark Silkworms from earlier.

But the announcement in his head could not be incorrect. It was a rule of the world he inhabited. If it said he killed a mutant creature, then he did indeed kill a mutant creature.

Seeing more and more silkworms approach, Han Sen ran ahead to kill them all. They were mutant-class Dark Silkworms, same as the ones he had killed inside and outside the bamboo shoots earlier.

Han Sen was perplexed, and not yet able to think of a reason why their bodies would be so vastly different. The lifeforce in their bodies was far stronger, and there was no discernible reason why these mutant creatures could possess such strength.

"This isn't right. It really isn't right! This is strange. It's crazy. These things are weird. How can the silkworms inside the bamboo breathe ice, too? Even sacred-blood creatures can't do something like that. There must be an external force affecting these little icy blobs, one that I have not yet been made aware of. Whatever it is, it's imbuing them with frightening strength." Han Sen killed the hundred big silkworms that approached and managed to obtain one additional beast soul.

Han Sen quickly summoned it to take a look. Its definition was the same, but its physical appearance was different. The head was bigger and the body was practically ice.

Han Sen threw it at a wall like before to check it out. It was much more powerful than the others, and the icy fog it unleashed had a radius of three meters. The frosty air itself was far more powerful, too.

"If they are both mutant Dark Silkworms, why is there such a clear difference between the two? If I killed baby ones earlier, and mature ones just now, it shouldn't affect the beast soul I just received. Beast souls do not factor in the age of a creature. This mystery is getting deeper; I wonder, what is the cause for this curious anomaly?" Han Sen observed the bamboo stalks with a bewildered face and inquisitive heart.

"I have to examine and analyze this further. I need to go deeper and I need to find out what is affecting these strange silkworms. Silkworms have great genes, but it is a large race and they cannot all be mutant-class, surely. There have to be ordinary ones out there, too. The fact that all these are mutant-class Dark Silkworms is nigh unbelievable." Han Sen pondered the matter a little more, but then decided to hail for the silver fox to come down and join him. With the silver fox, he traveled deeper into the bamboo forest.

In fear of the silver fox, all the silkworms went into hiding. If they couldn't escape, they'd hide in their bamboo shoots and shiver, which even made the stalks themselves quiver, producing noise like the rustle of leaves in the wind.