The Rise of a Family: Starting from Daily Intelligence - Chapter 428 (Patreon)

Chapter 428: Lightning Tempering, Infinite Evolution, Fate Pattern Prohibition

“To cross this desert safely will be harder than climbing to the heavens.”

Fu Changsheng hesitated for a moment.

He decided to exchange a round of intelligence first.

At once, his mind stirred. “Exchange intelligence.”

Hum!

The panel trembled.

A flood of yellow light surged.

Next—

Scenes unfurled one after another, each annotated with lines of text.

His gaze fell on the first scene.

Hum!

A Thunder Marsh Pool came into view.

In the pool, a familiar figure surfaced:

“Huh, that’s actually Changlei.”

Bare to the waist, Fu Changlei’s cords of muscle stood out. Fine silvery lines rippled across his skin—the starforce body-guarding veil induced when the Nine Heavens Starry Technique circulated—which at this moment intertwined with lightning, flaring in blinding blue-violet radiance.

“Changlei is…”

Fu Changsheng blinked.

Not long ago,

he had used the system to deduce the Marrow-Refining section of the Nine Heavens Starry Technique. He had barely taught it to Changlei when the latter immediately began cultivating it here in the Kunlun Minor World.

“Most cultivators shy away from thunder, yet he’s using it to temper his body.” Fu Changsheng murmured, pupils reflecting the figure swallowed by lightning in the pool.

“Since Golden Sun Wood is hard to find, I’ll use thunder in place of fire!” Fu Changlei’s eyes snapped open.

His hands flew through seals. The thunder in the pool seemed tugged by invisible threads, turning into hundreds of electric serpents that drilled into his pores. Agony swept through him in an instant. His bones creaked under the strain—yet his brows did not so much as twitch, and he guided the lightning into his meridians.

There was a boom.

In the next heartbeat,

he forcibly blasted open the “Marrow Sea Acupoint” recorded in the Nine Heavens Starry Technique.

[1: Fu Changlei used the thunder power of the Thunder Marsh Pool to break through to the Marrow-Refining stage of the Nine Heavens Starry Technique.]

The Marrow-Refining stage corresponded to a third-tier body refiner—roughly the Purple Mansion tier.

Fu Changsheng stared. “Traditionally you nourish the marrow gently with Golden Sun Sacred Water. He went the other way—detonating destructive lightning inside his body. The marrow is pierced like by ten thousand steel needles, then, out of the char, new life bursts forth. This…”

Fu Changlei had found a new path, using lightning to temper the flesh—and even succeeded in breaking through.

“Seems my thinking’s still too rigid.”

However,

Fu Changlei was a mutated thunder spiritual root; only someone like him could walk this road.

Golden Sun Wood was already in hand.

Next,

he could cultivate step by step. If he used the system’s Practice Room, it shouldn’t take much time.

[2: Beneath the desert before you, three thousand zhang down to the northwest, there is a secret passage that leads straight to the far side.]

Oh?

Fu Changsheng’s eyes lit up.

If so,

he didn’t have to fight this swarm of Spirit-Devouring black-armored beetles to the death. “But… will Yao Yao also pass through this desert?”

He exchanged several more pieces of intelligence in succession, and when his contribution points dropped to ten thousand five hundred, he finally stopped.

But—

there was nothing about Yao Yao. “Good thing I gave Yao Yao the Dragon-Blood Heart-Guarding Talisman.”

That talisman could block a full-force strike from a Golden Core peak. With it—and her own trump cards—she should make it through.

He waited at the desert’s edge for several days.

Still no sign of Yao Yao.

Moreover,

no one else had reached this desert in recent days. Hoping to have others scout ahead was wishful thinking. “If I don’t go now, I’ll run out of time.”

Fu Changsheng immediately urged the Azure Flood Dragon to dive underground.

What he saw made him freeze.

Beneath the whole desert there wasn’t a grain of sand; instead, layer upon layer of Spirit-Devouring black-armored insects writhed and heaved! Each bug was pitch-black, its carapace etched with blood-colored witch-patterns, each about the size of a fist. A ghostly green gleam burned in their compound eyes. They squeezed and gnawed against one another, making tooth-aching chittering sounds, a living sea of black. Worse, deeper in the swarm lay the half-digested remains of demon beasts—white bones still clotted with witch-corroded scraps of flesh.

“Not good!”

The instant he revealed himself,

millions of Spirit-Devouring beetles opened their compound eyes together, witch-patterns blazing!

Then—

like a tide, they surged toward him—endless, without end in sight. If he were swallowed, there’d be no chance to turn things around.

“Xiao Qing, up!”

Roar!

The Azure Flood Dragon flicked its tail.

Just as the black-armored insects engulfed them, it shot skyward.

However,

the swarm pursued close behind. From afar it looked as if heavy, seamless banks of black cloud trailed beneath the dragon.

Worse—

once inside the desert,

dull booms thudded ahead.

Tens of thousands of insect clusters erupted from underground like a reversed meteor shower, weaving a sky-spanning net. Midair they broke apart into spinning black cyclones that wrapped the Azure Flood Dragon round and round.

As the two torrents were about to collide—

Fu Changsheng’s will moved.

Without thinking, he slipped straight into the Five Elements Space.

“BOOM—!!!”

The collision of the two swarms unleashed shockwaves that swept the wastes. The desert’s surface split open into a canyon ten li long, exposing the deeper hive—where a mountain-sized broodmother sprawled, its belly pulsing, yellow sacs gestating new spawn.

“This…”

The broodmother’s aura far exceeded Golden Core.

A chill raced through Fu Changsheng—fortunately he’d been quick enough to hide in the Five Elements Space. If that broodmother had fixed on him, he’d have had no hope of survival.

Moments later, the tide receded into the depths. Wind and sand skimmed over; the desert smoothed, and only a few strands of dragon fur drifted down.

Buzzz—buzz!

Fu Changsheng’s eyes fell to the Spirit-Devouring Insects inside the space, and they brightened. “I’ve got it!”

Though his Spirit-Devouring Insects were golden, their aura was somewhat similar to the desert beetles. If his insects devoured the black-armored ones, they would evolve and match the aura even better. Then, with the mysterious robe over him and the Spirit-Devouring Insects wrapping his body, he might just pass for one of them. If not, he’d duck into the Five Elements Space and wait for the tide to disperse.

Plan set.

Fu Changsheng tapped the tens of thousands of golden Spirit-Devouring Insects hovering before him. With a hum, he picked one and flung it out of the Five Elements Space to meet a lone black beetle in the desert.

“Go.”

At his word, the golden bug pounced!

The black beetle sensed it too. It shrieked, spewing a beam of soul-corroding witchlight—but the golden insect’s wings vibrated, forming a devouring vortex that swallowed the light whole. In a blink it latched onto the beetle’s carapace, its sharp mouthparts stabbing into a seam.

“Chiii—”

A tooth-aching hiss of corrosion. The black carapace melted at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into black mist the golden insect drank down. The golden bug’s body swelled slightly; the golden tracery on its shell took on a dark-green tint, and a ghostly gleam rose in its compound eyes.

Fu Changsheng focused his senses.

He found that this insect’s aura now matched the black beetles by half—and the devouring seemed to have awakened a latent gift: blood-red lines emerged along the wing edges, and each beat stirred faint ripples in space itself.

“It can evolve after all!”

He had first reared Spirit-Devouring Insects in the Beast-Taming Tower. After obtaining the Five Elements Space, their breeding exploded. The scale was vast, but he lacked a way to push them to third tier.

Thus,

over half the swarm in the Five Elements Space was still at second tier. “Finally, a chance to smash the bottleneck.”

Light flashed in Fu Changsheng’s eyes. He released the entire swarm from the Five Elements Space. The tens of thousands of insects had barely appeared when—

“Screee—”

The desert’s black beetles sensed the trespass into their domain and screamed in fury. Tens of thousands of compound eyes lit at once; blood witch-patterns slithered over carapaces and turned into a rain of soul-corroding beams that lanced toward the Spirit-Devouring swarm.

Hum!

The golden swarm did not dodge. The front ranks beat their wings furiously, condensing miniature vortices in the air that swallowed the oncoming witchlight.

“Roar—”

The beetle army changed first, fusing by the tens of thousands into a hundred-zhang-long black serpent.

The battle raged for nearly an hour.

Corpses piled like hills across the sands.

The black beetles’ remains and the golden insects’ husks mixed into a grotesque mound, reeking under the sun.

But this was a war of attrition.

The black beetles were numberless. When Fu Changsheng judged it enough, his mind moved at once. “Collect!”

The Five Elements Space yawned open with invisible suction that swept the field. Thousands of surviving golden insects turned into streaks of light and vanished within, and the heaps of corpses followed. Inside the space, the swarm droned, restless and fevered, as if they scented the chance to break through.

Fu Changsheng willed it.

At once, the survivors threw themselves onto the carcasses.

—Crunch, crunch—

Gnawing sounded like a downpour. Black carapaces were torn open, flesh sucked dry; even fallen kin were devoured to the last scrap. The swarm plunged into a frenzy of evolution, each insect fighting for the most essence-rich morsels.

Gradually, the swarm differentiated—

The weak swelled as they fed, then burst when they could no longer bear the energy; the slightly stronger barely stabilized, their shells gleaming dark-gold; but the truly terrifying thirty-six drank like bottomless pits, plundering madly as blood-golden radiance erupted from them.

Suddenly—

“Buzzz!!!”

Thirty-six pillars of dazzling light speared upward; space shuddered! Their shells shattered inch by inch, then re-knit in an instant. Dark-gold tracery transformed into ancient sigils. With each stretch of their wings, hairline rents tore in space. Their auras climbed and climbed, until—

“Boom!”

Third-tier might swept across the Five Elements Space!

A smile tugged at Fu Changsheng’s lips.

Done.

This desert venture—

though it cost tens of thousands of insects—had birthed thirty-six fully mature third-tier Spirit-Devouring Insects.

That was equivalent to the Fu Clan gaining thirty-six Purple Mansion combatants at once.

Enough to leave jaws hanging.

“Even just these thirty-six third-tier Spirit-Devouring Insects make this Kunlun expedition a huge profit. Not to mention the other spoils I’ve taken.”

At the same time,

the familiar mechanical chime rang in his mind: “Ding.”

“You have raised your clan’s overall foundation and gained five thousand Family Contribution Points.”

Then,

the panel total changed to fifteen thousand three hundred.

Joy stirred in Fu Changsheng’s chest. He eyed the evolved insects—their aura now eight or nine parts similar to the black beetles.

“Whether this works—comes down to this attempt.”

With a sweep of his sleeve,

the mysterious robe draped over him, his figure vanishing at once.

His will moved.

Hum!

All the Spirit-Devouring Insects swarmed over, and in a blink they lacquered the robe tight. From afar, he was only a mass of golden insect-cloud.

Hum!

Fu Changsheng slipped out of the Five Elements Space and ghosted into the earth.

The surrounding beetles seemed to sense something. Their buzzing cut off. Countless heads turned his way, ghost-lights flickering in their eyes as they chirped suspiciously.

“Hooked!”

Seizing the chance, Fu Changsheng dove deeper. Sand and stone streamed past his sides, a pale cyan glow sheathing him as he slid through like a fish.

At three thousand zhang down, a sudden brightness—

An ancient barrier lay ahead, its surface rolling with dim witchlight. Veins of patterns pulsed like blood vessels, exuding a hair-raising oppression.

“Good thing I came prepared.”

He flicked his sleeve. A No-Boundary Talisman inscribed with spatial sigils drifted forth. As he sent a spell into it, the talisman kindled in silver flame and turned into a streak that struck the barrier.

“Wong—”

The barrier quivered and parted like a water curtain, revealing a winding passage down.

The inner walls were smooth as mirrors. Fine sigils were carved within, untouched by ages. The air was cold and dry, free of rot—threaded instead with a faint sandalwood, as if someone had once burned incense and chanted here.

Fu Changsheng did not dare be careless. At a thought, the golden swarm flowed over him, forming a living, rippling carapace.

As he went deeper, the passage narrowed. The sigils on the rock grew denser, finally weaving into a brilliant star map. Ahead, a pale, wan daylight glimmered.

That meant the exit was close at hand.

“Almost there…”

Just as his guard relaxed—

“Crash!”

Space twisted at the tunnel’s end, and a Corpse Puppet clad in bronze armor floated out of thin air!

Over a zhang tall, its cuirass was blotched with dark red rust. In the hollows beneath its helm, two green soul-fires leapt wildly. It dragged a broken heavy sword that scraped sparks across the stone.

“Trespassers… die!”

A rasp ground out of its throat.

“This is…”

Sensing the surging late–Golden Core aura within,

Fu Changsheng’s pupils shrank.

He had never expected a Golden Core guard in the passage itself.

Thoughts flashed.

If he turned back now, he would still face the black beetles.

And time was already too tight.

The exit was right there. “Fight!”

Fu Changsheng slapped a Thunder-Guiding Talisman onto himself.

“Boom!”

Lightning exploded—yet the corpse puppet didn’t dodge. Its broken sword swept out. Sword qi arced like a blood rainbow; the insect-armor around Fu Changsheng shattered with a crack, and the shockwave slammed into his chest—

“Thump!”

His Darkvine Spirit Cuirass burst with azure light; vine-veins writhed like living things, diverting seven-tenths of the force into the ground. Even so, he was blasted back over ten zhang, a coppery sweetness rising in his throat.

“Cough… such brutal strength!”

The corpse puppet thundered after him, each step a quake. The sword lifted high, its edge spitting blinding blood-light.

In that instant,

Fu Changsheng felt like an ant.

He didn’t hesitate.

He flung out the Xuanpin Pearl he’d seized from the Octagonal Pavilion.

Intelligence had said

this pearl could briefly seal a late–Golden Core’s spell attacks.

Boom!

The Xuanpin Pearl detonated midair.

A mysterious wave burst out, forming a gentle sheen that wrapped the corpse puppet.

Hum!

The puppet’s heavy sword halted three inches from Fu Changsheng’s nose.

“It works!”

Lightning from the talisman still crackled over Fu Changsheng’s body.

In the next breath,

he moved like a bolt, vaulting past the corpse puppet.

“Raaah—”

As he shot through the passage,

the puppet’s furious howl chased him.

Thudding quakes followed, but ended at the barrier—the puppet clearly could not pass through.

“Whew.”

Fu Changsheng let out a long breath.

He turned—

and the sight before him stunned him.

“This is the true Void-Heaven Hall?!”

Above nine flights of jade steps, the hall’s glazed golden roof pierced a sea of cloud, seventy-two dragon-pillars propping a palace like a crouching behemoth.

It was the most magnificent hall

he had seen to date.

“Eh?”

Looking closer,

he saw the entire palace was shrouded in a half-transparent Profound-Yellow barrier, countless ancient sigils flowing over its surface. “There’s a barrier too!”

Even he could not gauge its grade.

To break it

would take those Golden Core Real Persons. “What in the world is hidden in the Void-Heaven Hall?”

The thought had barely formed

when a surprised voice sounded overhead.

He looked up,

ripples spread through the air, and Master Mu flashed into view. “Haha, worthy of being this seat’s good disciple—you cleared faster than even I did.”

Master Mu landed. Finding no one else around, he flicked his sleeve, and an ancient jade slip drifted to Fu Changsheng. “This is the cultivation method I practice—a sixth-grade Earth-rank Technique. It can be cultivated straight to Nascent Soul. The one in your hand goes up to Golden Core only. Once we leave this hall, I’ll personally head to Wu Province. We’ll hold a formal master-disciple ceremony; I’ll give you the Nascent Soul section then.”

An Earth-rank Technique—

in Great Zhou,

only the imperial clan and true high nobility could cultivate such things.

The Fu Clan had one, yes, but you can never have too many.

Fu Changsheng had not expected Master Mu to be so generous. For a heartbeat he almost believed the man truly wanted to pass on his legacy. Schooling his thoughts, he cupped his hands. “Many thanks for the reward, Master!”

After such a windfall,

calling him “Master” wasn’t too much.

Master Mu beamed; this was the first time Fu Changsheng had addressed him so. Stroking his beard, he said, “Disciple, once inside the Void-Heaven Hall, simply stay by your teacher’s side. Those old fossils wouldn’t dare touch you.”

At the same time,

the familiar voice chimed in Fu Changsheng’s mind:

“Ding.”

“You have added a sixth-grade Earth-rank Technique to your clan and gained two thousand Family Contribution Points.”

The panel total changed again—to twelve thousand five hundred.

Elsewhere,

no sooner had Master Mu finished speaking

than the air trembled.

Ripples spilled through the void; two more figures flashed out—

Granny Yunhua and Master Tie. Seeing that Fu Changsheng had arrived before them, surprise flickered in their eyes. Upon landing, Granny Yunhua beckoned; with a hum, the inner armor on Fu Changsheng’s body tore free, turning into a streak of azure that fell into her palm. A sweep of her gaze confirmed it was undamaged. Only then did she nod in satisfaction.

“What a pity.”

Fu Changsheng watched the inner armor vanish into her pouch, a bit reluctant.

But

worry soon pushed that aside.

As more and more people cleared the trials, he still did not see Yao Yao’s figure. A vague unease pricked at him. “Don’t tell me Yao Yao…”

He was about to exchange intelligence again when—

Hum!

Three staggering figures flashed in from the northwest.

Of the three,

Cao Yuehua lay unconscious in Yao Yao’s arms. Behind them limped Elder Cao San with one arm severed.

“Yao Yao!”

Fu Changsheng flickered—

and in the next instant he stood at her side. A sweep of his spiritual sense found her injured but not badly, and he finally relaxed. His gaze shifted to Elder Cao San—whose face was etched with grief. Had the Cao patriarch fallen?

Just then Yao Yao sent a voice transmission: “When we passed an endless cliff, a Golden Core–stage Cangling flying crane attacked. Patriarch Cao stayed behind to cover our retreat, and he…”

Even recalling it,

Yao Yao still shuddered.

If not for the Dragon-Blood Heart-Guarding Talisman her father had given her, she would have perished then and there.

Boom!

A clear cry echoed from above.

All the clearance exits snapped shut. Sweeping the arena, they saw that fewer than one-fifth of those who’d entered had made it through. Patriarch Cao had fallen; even Ancestor Wu was nowhere to be seen. Clan Leader Lei’s arms were both severed; he looked withered, a far cry from the swagger he’d shown as the Seven-Commandery Prince’s grandfather.

Now

Clan Leader Lei lowered his head and moved toward Fu Changsheng and the others.

Of the seventh-rank aristocratic juniors of Wu Province who had entered the Taixu Hall, aside from those stationed at the Octagonal Pavilion, only this sparse handful remained.

At the same time,

before the Void-Heaven Hall, the five Golden Core Real Persons stood aloft, robes snapping, their auras fathomless as seas.

Granny Yunhua snorted. Her sleeve shook, and a jade ruyi hung in the air. Its surface was carved with ancient sigils; the mere appearance of it drew surrounding spiritual qi like a tide. She swept her gaze across the crowd and rasped:

“Everyone, since we’re all here, let’s not waste time. This hall’s barrier can’t be broken by one alone—let’s join forces.”

Master Tie bared his teeth in a grin, white and cold. “Just what I was thinking!”

He slapped his storage pouch. A bronze giant cauldron crashed down, its body covered in ferocious beast patterns. Dim roars seemed to rumble from within.

Master Mu nodded slightly. A green wooden seal flipped into his palm, strands of life-force twining from it that made withered grasses around them revive on the spot. He said evenly, “In that case, the old man will contribute as well.”

Wu Liangba exchanged a glance with Junior Sister Kui, and each produced a treasure. A crimson longblade appeared in Wu Liangba’s hand, its body wreathed in blazing fire that looked ready to burn the world; Junior Sister Kui brought out a profound-ice mirror whose reflected light made frost crystals form in the air.

“Fivefold Barrier-Breaking Array!” Granny Yunhua barked, and struck first.

In a flash, five treasures erupted with brilliance: the jade ruyi shot a shaft of green into the heavens; the bronze cauldron boomed with thick soundwaves; the green wood seal poured out boundless vitality; the crimson blade cleaved forth world-burning flame; the profound-ice mirror froze the void itself. Five utterly different powers braided together into a five-colored pillar that slammed into the hall’s barrier!

BOOM—!!!

Deafening thunder rocked the sky. The barrier’s sigils flared madly; profound-yellow light rippled as if bearing unimaginable pressure. Fine cracks crawled across its surface, quickly spreading like a spiderweb over the whole palace.

“Harder!” Master Tie roared. The bronze cauldron swelled severalfold; phantoms of savage beasts bellowed out and smashed into a weak point.

“Break!” the five Golden Cores shouted as one. Their five treasures turned into five streams of light that interwove into a vast formation. The lines ran like dragons, converging into a dazzling Barrier-Breaking divine ray!

“BOOM—!”

Like heaven’s punishment, the ray crashed onto the Void-Heaven Hall’s barrier!

“CRACK—”

In an instant, countless fissures marred the surface. Ancient sigils flashed frantically to mend—but what could they do before the combined might of five Golden Cores?

After only three breaths—

“BANG—!”

As the barrier shattered, a miasma of decayed spiritual breath surged out like a tide.

The true Void-Heaven Hall had opened.

Those present could no longer hold back; bodies blurred as they rushed inside.

Fu Changsheng was neither fast nor slow, flowing in with the crowd.

He stepped into the hall—

and looked down. The corridor beneath his feet was paved with endless bones. Dark-red Spirit-Devouring vines grew between the skeletons, their tendrils writhing like veins, sometimes hissing as they sucked. A thousand bronze lamps hung from the dome, each wick burning with green soul-fire that drenched the hall in eerie light.

“These bones… at least the remains of Purple Mansion cultivators.” Fu Changsheng flicked his finger; a forearm bone rose into the air, golden Dao lines etched upon it. “They trained body-tempering Techniques in life—yet were drained to husks.”

At the center stood a bronze giant cauldron ten zhang high, cinched by nine chains whose ends vanished into the void, as if binding some presence. Black fog rolled within; faint, wretched howls whispered—like ten thousand resentful souls suppressed inside.

“The first hall is for breeding gu.” Granny Yunhua sneered. “The Myriad-Gu Cauldron fed on cultivators’ flesh for millennia… You juniors have lucked out. As for the next two halls—that’s not ground you can tread.”

The five Golden Cores did not spare the bronze cauldron a glance. They became five streaks and shot down the rear corridor.

Swept along, Fu Changsheng—

became the only Purple Mansion to be taken into the second hall.

Beyond the passage, the world changed.

Starlight fell from the dome like rain, illuminating nine hundred white-jade pill platforms floating in the air. Upon each rested a single pill—some blood-red, some snowy white—whose pill patterns condensed into dragon and phoenix phantoms. Fragrance thickened into tangible mist that flowed through the hall.

“Ancient profound pills!” Wu Liangba swung his lone arm; a gust snatched toward a nearby golden pill. “That one can regrow severed limbs—”

Bang!

A blood-colored prohibition flared on the pill’s surface. Wu Liangba’s gust rebounded; his entire arm burst into a cloud of blood!

“Fool.” Master Tie scoffed without looking back. “The second hall’s pills all carry Fate Pattern Prohibitions. Those without great fortune die at a touch… and these are merely the Void-Heaven Cauldron’s failed seconds.”

Thanks for reading! That fight through the beetle sea gave me chills—hope you enjoyed the evolution payoff as much as I did. If you’d like to help me keep translating daily, please consider supporting me on Patreon; every bit keeps the lights on and the tea hot. And if you have a moment, dropping a rating or review on NovelUpdates really helps more readers find this series. You’re awesome!

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