Chapter 4640: Just One Step from the Summit
After becoming an undying spirit, the Shadow Bugs became traitors to their race. Under their guidance, the number of Shadow Bug swarms under Lin Moyu's control grew rapidly.
When his swarms numbered more than a hundred, Lin Moyu decisively ordered them to merge and form a Shadow Bug King.
A hundred swarms buzzed and began fusing.
In fact, Lin Moyu later learned that it wasn't strictly necessary to have a hundred swarms to make a king any number over ten would suffice, but the resulting king would be weak.
Only by merging a hundred full swarms, each containing a million Shadow Bugs a total of a hundred million could the king reach its peak form.
Fusion was the bugs' instinct; normally unused, it would trigger passively only when facing a powerful threat.
Now, under Lin Moyu's control, they fused of their own accord.
During fusion, the swarms would shift into another dimension, halting their usual spacetime rotations so that no normal method could reach them.
The process went smoothly; in just moments, the fusion was done.
A giant bug, over ten thousand meters long, appeared a hundred million Shadow Bugs had joined into one massive, uniquely formed king.
The Shadow Bug King radiated an unusual aura, fluctuating in strength and spanning across different spaces and times, sometimes visible, sometimes not.
Staring at the king, Lin Moyu muttered, "I bet few in the world have witnessed a Shadow Bug King..."
Chaos Child interjected, "We saw a few back then but most who saw it got killed. This thing's scary."
Lin Moyu carefully studied it. While it was still a Shadow Bug, every part and every ability was now utterly transformed.
His soul communicated with it and received some information.
The King now possessed a faint sense of self, just beyond mere instinct while not intelligent, it could at least express simple ideas.
"Its body actually exists in multiple times and spaces at once..."
Lin Moyu was astonished; a body in multiple dimensions was one thing, but for cultivators, their bodies would instantly collapse if split between times.
But the Shadow Bug King could do it its body divided into thousands of regions, each in a different time, yet interconnected in a bizarre way.
If one area were attacked and destroyed, the rest remained unscathed, and the damaged region could heal in another space time.
So, to kill the King, one would have to destroy most of its body at once, across various dimensions a nearly impossible task.
Not just the flesh even its soul was split among ten timespaces, and only if the majority of them were destroyed would it die.
Lin Moyu saw that his previous use of the Flame of World Annihilation against regular Shadow Bugs had been a wise choice. Had he tried it against the King, it would only have injured, not killed.
If Little Tree were present with its spacetime control, combined with the flame there might be a chance to kill the King.
That's why even Sovereigns dread Shadow Bug Kings; ordinary Sovereigns stand no chance.
Then again, the King couldn't kill Lin Moyu either.
He could stand there and let it attack, and nothing would happen.
The King's attacks were vastly stronger than those of normal Bugs. It could kill peak full power warriors and even threaten Sovereigns with just its basic attacks.
Another ability: the King could command regular Shadow Bugs, as their ruler. It could direct Bugs in a wide area, far greater than Lin Moyu expected.
Within its soul was a giant web; whenever a Bug appeared within it, the King could sense and command it.
So Bug swarms kept rushing to Lin Moyu, summoned by the King.
His army kept growing, and in just a few days, he had another hundred swarms enough for a second King.
Lin Moyu's ultimate goal was a Shadow Bug Queen, for which he needed a hundred Kings so he still had a long way to go.
He didn't mind spending time; by his estimate, it would take just a few years to gather enough for a Queen.
"I really have to thank the world's laws for sending me here," Lin Moyu joked.
Thankfully, the laws have no consciousness; if they did, they'd be infuriated by his words.
Chaos Gem said, "Everything in the world has two sides."
Lin Moyu replied, "By your logic, things beyond the world have no duality?"
Chaos Gem: "So far, everything I've seen beyond the world is dead silence, no duality, not a single exception."
All supreme beings who leave the world die in the "forbidden zone of life" none survive, and there is no duality.
There is always a glimmer of hope in the world, but not in the forbidden zone.
When supreme beings realize their world is doomed, they do everything to extend its life, but as their methods fail, only two paths remain:
the forbidden zone of life, or the wall of the world.
No one, not even the legendary Emperor Pochang, could break through the wall by force.
So inevitably, they have only one route to enter the forbidden zone.
They make every preparation, leave themselves all kinds of retreats, and enter resolutely; in the end, without exception, they fall.
And all their escape plans fail.
When they die, the world they've refined and controlled collapses with them, turning to wreckage.
That's why everything Chaos Gem has seen outside the world is nothing but endings.
Lin Moyu: "The longer you live, the less you want to die; the higher you climb, the more you want to keep ascending. I think all the supremes know there's another path ahead."
Chaos Gem: "Yes, Emperor Pochang once said, 'I've seen the summit; I'm just one step away, and I must take it.' He tried and failed."
His words told everyone no matter how strong, to reach the top, there's just one step left.
But that step lies within the forbidden zone it's an insurmountable chasm, stopping everyone.
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