Swallowing the Stars: 100x Return for Teaching Apprentices

Chapter 111 The Time-Scented Insect
"The Law of Time!"

Qi Yuan was slightly taken aback.

The attack from that thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect actually triggered a trace of the power of the law of time!

The Law of Time, as one of the two most difficult superior laws to comprehend in this universe, is something that even some ordinary world lord geniuses may not be able to understand.

However, now this power has been used by a strange insect that is suspected to be a parasite, how could he not be shocked!
However, as surprised as I was.

Compared to Qi Yuan, who had gained a considerable understanding of the laws of time, the trace of time-law power contained in the opponent's attack was somewhat insignificant.

"Om~"

The wisp of world power that Qi Yuan had invaded the golden-haired, unicorn-like youth's sea of ​​consciousness only trembled slightly before easily breaking free from the shroud of that invisible force.

Then, this wisp of world power directly split into thousands of fine threads, which quickly wrapped around the thousand-winged and thousand-legged alien insects floating above the three giant star fireballs!
"Hiss~"

"Hiss~"

The strange insect's mouthparts opened and closed, and a shrill, mournful cry of its soul echoed throughout the entire sea of ​​consciousness.

At the same time, the countless silver threads floating beneath its belly were like living tentacles, twisting rapidly to block it.

An invisible force permeated the silver threads, making the trajectory of all the threads unpredictable and elusive.

However, no matter how bizarre the abilities of this alien insect are, its energy level is only at the stellar level.

Under the suppression of Qi Yuan's powerful world force, all its resistance became futile.

Countless fine threads, formed from the power of the world, easily broke through all obstacles and directly wrapped around the almost transparent, dreamlike body of the thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect.

All the energy filaments tightened instantly!
"Chi chi chi~~~"

Under the powerful suppression and erosion of the world's power, the body of the thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect began to break apart in large areas, and a silver liquid resembling blood gushed out rapidly from the broken parts!

"Hiss hiss~~~"

The thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect screamed in agony!

And with that shrill scream, a bizarre scene unfolded—

The gushing silver liquid rapidly twisted and distorted as it splashed.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of brand-new silver alien insects appeared in this sea of ​​consciousness!
Apart from being much smaller and being entirely silver-white, these alien insects were almost identical in appearance to the giant thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insects that shrouded the three star fireballs!
The moment these small silver alien insects appeared, the silver threads that were originally rooted in the surrounding void and spreading to who-knows-where detached at the other end from under the giant alien insect's abdomen and quickly connected with these small alien insects.

Then, these small alien insects were pulled by these silk threads and quickly disappeared into the surrounding void!
"Want to run?"

Although Qi Yuan did not know the reason for the strange insect's change, he could not just stand by and watch it do so.

With a thought, tiny, almost imperceptible purple arcs of electricity shot out from his wisp of world power!

"Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!"
The dozens of small silver alien insects that were about to disappear into the surrounding void, drawn by the silver threads, were struck by tiny purple electric arcs and instantly torn apart and annihilated into nothingness by the intense energy contained in the arcs!

As the small silver insects dissipated, the giant thousand-winged, thousand-legged insect, which had been bound by the power of the Qiyuan World, seemed to have suffered a severe blow, and its aura immediately became extremely weak.

Qi Yuan seized the opportunity—

The countless threads of world power that were wrapped around the giant alien insect twisted and intertwined rapidly, transforming into strange symbols that were continuously imprinted into the alien insect's body.

As one strange symbol after another was incorporated, the consciousness of the thousand-winged, thousand-legged insect was continuously suppressed and sealed.

At that moment, another consciousness, which had been suppressed by the giant alien insect, rapidly revived.
Maple Moon Star in outer space.

The location of that silver-gray cargo spaceship.

"call!"

Qi Yuan waved his hand and directly stored the floating silver-gray spaceship into the world ring space he carried with him.

Seeing this, Samonka's eyes lit up with joy, and he quickly asked:
"Mr. Qi Yuan, is this... is it resolved?"

"That's right"

Qi Yuan nodded. "Well, the parasite is temporarily under control, but we don't know if those who are controlled can be rescued."

He sighed and casually instructed, "Alright, I'll take this spaceship with me to study it and see if I can find a way to rescue them. You should arrange for someone to comfort their families. Also, don't spread what happened on the spaceship, so as not to cause panic among the ordinary citizens."

"Mr. Qi Yuan is truly benevolent to his subjects!"

Samonka chuckled and praised, "Don't worry, I'll handle the matter you entrusted to me."

"kindness?"

Qi Yuan smiled but didn't say anything more.

"Alright, you handle the rest. I'm going back now."

He gave one last instruction, then immediately released a dark blue spaceship and quickly entered it.

The dark blue spaceship accelerated continuously, soon surpassing the speed of light and traversing directly into the dark universe.

Within the space contained by the World Ring.

On the open grass, the blond, one-horned youth stood there, looking somewhat lost and dejected.

call!
The space rippled slightly, and Qi Yuan, clad in a golden armor with secret patterns, appeared directly in front of the blond, one-horned youth.

The moment Qi Yuan appeared, the blond, one-horned youth, who had been lost in thought, had a slight flicker in his eyes, which instantly ignited with excitement. "Lord, Lord!"

The blond, one-horned youth quickly knelt down before Qi Yuan, "Longji thanks Lord Qi Yuan for saving my life!"

After bowing respectfully in thanks, he looked up at Qi Yuan and asked somewhat cautiously, "Lord, do you know anything about my companions?"

However, Qi Yuan, meeting his expectant gaze, only shook his head slightly and sighed.

"You should get up first."

"Yes, yes."

Upon hearing Qi Yuan's tone, the blond, one-horned youth had a vague sense of unease.

However, he couldn't lose his composure too much in front of Qi Yuan, so he could only stand up and nervously to the side.

"Tell me first what happened to you, and why you got infected by these insects?" Qi Yuan asked in a low voice.

According to the information that the AI ​​assistant Xiao Ai just searched through the virtual universe network, the Saga insect is no ordinary creature.
The Time-Scented Insect is an extremely rare insect species, appearing very few times throughout the entire recorded history of humankind.

It is unknown where it was born or how it reproduced.

Every Shisuo insect mentioned in the records seems to have appeared out of thin air.

Compared to its mysterious way of survival, the special abilities possessed by the Sagamushi are even more bizarre.

It, or rather they, are not only naturally in harmony with the laws of time, making it extremely easy for them to comprehend the power of the laws of time, but they can also differentiate into countless sub-entities.

Each offspring can reside in the consciousness of a cultivator, drawing upon the essence of the cultivator's soul to supply the mother body, thereby making the mother body grow stronger and continue to differentiate into more offspring.

Once the soul essence of the cultivators to whom these parasitic entities reside is depleted, these entities will automatically detach and continue to seek other hosts to parasitize.

Unless the mother of the Time-Swept Insect is killed directly, it can recombine even if a large number of offspring are killed.

Every time a Time-Scented Insect grows up, it is a catastrophe for soul-like life forms.

According to human records, there was once a Time-Swept Insect that secretly grew to the level of a Realm Lord. It actually parasitized and controlled more than half of the Realm Lords and Domain Lords in a certain star field, allowing these Realm Lords and Domain Lords who held a lot of power to collect and raise 'delicious food' with powerful souls for it.

Fortunately, when it greedily tried to capture a genius mentalist, it attracted the attention of a powerful immortal teacher behind that genius, who then discovered the existence of the Scorpion Worm and completely annihilated it.

Otherwise, once this Time-Scented Insect accumulates enough power and successfully breaks through to the Immortal level, who knows what kind of chaos it will cause!
When Qi Yuan learned that the thousand-winged, thousand-legged alien insect parasitizing the consciousness of the blond, unicorn-like youth was such a terrifying existence, he naturally felt immense fear.

Fortunately, this Time-Scented Insect has only just reached the Stellar level and has not yet truly grown up.

Furthermore, by sheer coincidence, the mother of this Time-Scented Worm was trapped inside the spaceship and was thus temporarily suppressed by itself.

Otherwise, his territory could really be in trouble.

A terrifying alien insect that can silently parasitize and control a large number of lives can easily cause great chaos!
"A worm that rubs against the ground?"

Upon hearing Qi Yuan's question, the blond, one-horned youth looked slightly puzzled, but then he recalled and spoke haltingly.

"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics myself. Our merchant guild was tasked with exploring trade routes in the Qiya Star Region. In this regard, I've always preferred to bypass those prosperous commercial planets and venture directly into some relatively remote star systems to seek out untapped opportunities."

"Before the accident, I remember we arrived at a planet called Qian'e Star, but shortly after arriving, I vaguely lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I found myself on the spaceship, and my companions, too, had also been in an accident."

His expression was grave as he continued, "My consciousness was only clear for a moment before I succumbed to it again. Before losing consciousness, I ordered the spaceship's auxiliary intelligent door to be locked and the self-destruct sequence to be initiated, but I don't know why the spaceship ultimately returned to the vicinity of Maple Moon Star."

Listening to the blond, one-horned youth's description, Qi Yuan sighed inwardly, not expecting that even the youth himself didn't know what was going on.

However, what truly interested him was not the plight of the one-horned youth and his group, but the strange 'Time-Scented Insect' parasitizing his sea of ​​consciousness!
Qi Yuan felt a mixture of apprehension and curiosity about the insect.

According to the system's prompts at the time, the 'Time-Scratching Insect' even had a multiplier displayed, and the base return multiplier was as high as 58 times!
It should be noted that even Mireya, his most talented disciple, only has a base return multiplier of 53.

The parasitic alien insect, however, had a return multiplier of 58 times, which was much higher than that of Mireya!

However, Qi Yuan was somewhat troubled about how to deal with it.

Are you suggesting he take an insect as his apprentice?
Even disregarding the 'infamous reputation' of the Satsuki at that time and the fate of the blond unicorn youth and his dozens of companions, the Satsuki itself didn't seem like it could communicate normally back then.
However, ruthlessly killing it would also have significant consequences.
There are two things I need to make clear to you in advance.

Qi Yuan sighed as he looked at the blond, one-horned youth.
"First, although I have temporarily suppressed the consciousness of the 'Saozhi Insect' at that time, it cannot last for long. Soon, as the energy I left behind dissipates, the consciousness of the 'Saozhi Insect' will revive, and your own consciousness will be suppressed again and fall into depravity."

"Secondly, I could also directly kill the Worm of That Time, but now the Worm of That Time, you, and your companions seem to be in a special symbiotic state of souls. If it dies, you and your companions will also have your souls collapse and perish."

"Oh no, how... how could this happen?"

Upon hearing Qi Yuan's words, the blond, one-horned youth, who had thought he had survived the ordeal, suddenly showed an extremely surprised expression on his face.

According to the lord, is he completely beyond saving?
They either become controlled, their consciousness sinking into a state of mindless stagnation, or their souls collapse and they die.
If only he were to die, that would be one thing, but he also dragged dozens of his fellow merchants down with him.
You should know that more than half of the members of those merchant groups are their own relatives!

Inside were his elders, his brothers, his childhood playmates, and even a few outstanding juniors who were being groomed as the future of the tribe, learning and broadening their horizons alongside him.
They could have had a happy and stable life, but because they believed in themselves and made their own willful decisions, they have to pay this price!
At this moment, he couldn't help but feel endless regret.

If it weren't for me, the merchant group's spaceship would never have stayed on that strange planet, and none of these events would have happened!
But now that things have come to this, it's too late to say anything.
"My lord."

He looked at Qi Yuan expectantly and asked with great trepidation, "Is there really no other way, sir? I'm willing to pay any price to save my companions, I'd even die for you!"

At this moment, a wisp of Qi Yuan's consciousness was rapidly browsing some information that the intelligent life form, Xiao Ai, had just collected.

Upon hearing the question from the blond, one-horned youth, he pondered for a moment before carefully answering:

"It's not that there's absolutely no way out."

Hehe, everyone, guess what will happen next? What kind of opportunity will this wave bring?
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(End of this chapter)