Chapter 1596: Breeding Attempt Pt.2

There were two methods for cultivating Star Devouring Silkworms. The first involved planting a type of mulberry tree called Celestial Origin Mulberry and harvesting its leaves to feed the silkworms; the other method utilizes the World Origin Source, allowing the silkworms to feed on the world itself.

At first glance, the former method may seem more conventional, but in practice, most cultivators prefer to use the World Origin Source

That was because the roots of the Celestial Origin Mulberry had to enter the World Origin Source in order to nourish the tree. After the tree matured would the leaves be used to feed the Star Devouring Silkworm.

Though silkworms cultivated that way had longer lifespans and produced silk over extended periods, their growth cycle was also longer. Cultivators often had to wait over a decade, or even decades, to harvest silk from a batch of mature silkworms.

Moreover, the Celestial Origin Mulberry absorbed even greater quantities of world origin over such long periods. Besides supporting the growth of its leaves, the Celestial Origin Mulberry was a top-tier spiritual treasure. In Essence Worlds, after the tree was nourished by world origin for hundreds of years, it could even form a rank seven Mulberry Heartwood.

Although both the Star Devouring Silk and Celestial Origin Mulberry are of extremely high-quality and were rare spiritual treasures, producing either one would consume an excessive amount of world origin. If cultivated on a large scale, they would easily weaken the foundation of the world.

That was also why many people would only cultivate a few batches of Star Devouring Silkworm when absolutely necessary. Once they obtained enough Star Devouring Silk, they would kill off all mature silkworms and only keep the larvaes. In order to save resources they would also feed the silkworms world origin directly rather than plant a forest of Celestial Origin Mulberries.

Shang Xia was able to understand the cultivation of the Star Devouring Silkworm so clearly not only because Zhuo Gudao was forthcoming with information when giving him the larvae. It was also he because he had been collecting information on breeding Star Devouring Silkworms the entire time.

He might have failed to find any Star Devouring Silkworm larvae; the information he collected through various channels confirmed the authenticity of the intelligence provided by Zhuo Gudao.

After various considerations, Shang Xia decided to cultivate the silkworms through the first method.

What he chose to do wasn’t to cultivate Azure-level or Spirit-level Star Devouring Silkworms. Instead, he planned to cultivate Essence-level silkworms on his first attempt.

As for the world origin of Essence Worlds required... Shang Xia, who had drawn close to half the world origin contained in the World Origin Source connected to a continent of the Essence Ping World was not lacking in any.

In his secret cabin that was covered with many layers of formations, Shang Xia even activated a Five Element Restriction in order to prevent any leakage of world origin before superimposing a Six Harmony Restriction on it.

After making ample preparations, Shang Xia began to unseal the box layer by layer, revealing about 30 flat, button-sized silkworm larvae.

Taking a deep breath, Shang Xia placed the opened box on a wooden table that was several feet in front of him. Creating another seal around the table, he slowly started to pour world origin from the Essence Ping World into the box.

Since the world origin came from the Essence Ping World that stood at the peak of its level, it was of the best quality. As it poured into the box, the concentration of energy started to rise and Shang Xia could feel as though the Star Devouring Silkworm larvae had awakened. They started to swallow world origin and started to grow in size.

As the density of world origin increased, so did the growth of the Star Devouring Silkworms. After an hour, Shang Xia could faintly sense pin-sized vortexes swallowing world origin in the box.

As another hour passed, the density of world origin in the box became similar to that of the World Origin Source. The only difference was the quantity it held.

Finally, Shang Xia stopped injecting world origin into the box.

After observing quietly for a moment and seeing that the larvae wouldn’t actually grow into mature silkworms, but they would eventually succeed, Shang Xia knew that he wouldn’t be able to watch the entire process as he couldn’t stay for long. In the end, he left his cabin to look for Sun Haiwei.

After briefly explaining the situation in his secret cabin, he quickly instructed while ignoring her surprised gaze, “You have to check on them every 4 hours. I’m afraid they’ll be able to consume all the stored world origin before I return and destroy the restrictions I left behind, revealing them to the world.”

Sun Haiwei couldn’t help but interrupt him before he could continue, “Are these Star Devouring Silkworms really that powerful?”

Shang Xia thought for a moment before he replied, “Weaker Star Devouring Silkworms might not be a concern, but the Essence-level Star Devouring Silkworms we are nurturing are of another level altogether. It won’t hurt to be cautious. After all... These creatures are hated by the wills of all the worlds. Moreover, their gradual extinction suggests they may have once caused irreversible damage to many worlds, perhaps more than once!”

Sun Haiwei’s eyes widened in shock. “Are they really that powerful?!”

Shang Xia waved his hand and sighed, “It’s just my speculation. Besides, if there really is such a threat, we’ll destroy them before they can fully mature.”

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Nodding slowly, Sun Haiwei understood that with their combined strength, 30 or so silkworms wouldn’t be able to pose a threat. She then asked about the gathering outside the Spirit Observation World and Shang Xia summarized some key points for her.

Falling deep into thought, she eventually mumbled in a low voice, “So... We’re still going to be probing the Essence Ping World. Wouldn’t that mean that we won’t be of much use?”

Shang Xia quickly smiled and reassured, “Don’t worry, there will be a time for you to shine once we start the real expedition on the Essence Ping World. All you need to do now is to stay hidden and prevent anyone from detecting you. Even though it seems that all of us reached an agreement to fight against the Star Origin Lord and the Essence Ping World, the undercurrents are surging. Forces from worlds outside our Heaven Observation Field may have also sneaked their way in through the Spirit Abundance World and Spirit Mammoth World, so we cannot be careless.”

To that, Sun Haiwei simply smiled. “Relax. Instructor Chu has also come this time. She placed down a massive network of formations in the asteroid belt. Even a high-level True Immortal won’t be able to enter this area without alerting us. Well... If they choose to force their way in, it’s another matter altogether...”