Born as an ant, I was summoned to ascend to immortality.

Chapter 20 A Masterful Cunning

"A great opportunity!"

Yuwen Ji's gaze sharpened, and he stopped chasing the heavily injured Ji Qingshan. Instead, he swayed and lunged at the two spirit bodies.

He picked up the female spirit with his left hand, not even glancing at Ji Qingshan and Yuwen Zhao, and crushed a small teleportation talisman with his right hand.

"Trying to leave?!" Ji Qingshan's eyes were bloodshot as he raised his fist to attack again. He knew that Yuwen Ji only had the strength for one more strike, so he tried to disrupt the teleportation talisman.

A ruthless glint appeared in Yuwen Ji's eyes. He made another hand seal, and the remaining three bolts of lightning from the Five Thunder Talisman struck down together.

Under the simultaneous attack of the three thunderbolts, a blinding burst of blazing white lightning exploded where the thunderclouds were shrouded, slamming Ji Qingshan and Yuwen Zhao hard into the ground.

"Ji Qingshan, I've left you a spirit body. If you dare seek revenge, my cousin Yuwen Zhao was killed by you, and the Yuwen family will not let this go!"

Before he finished speaking, Yuwen Ji had already disappeared from the cave, leaving only the rolling air waves stirred up by the teleportation talisman.

As the Five Thunder Talisman's spiritual energy was exhausted, the thunderclouds slowly dissipated, and the place returned to darkness, leaving only a mess on the ground.

"Cough cough..." Ji Qingshan knelt on one knee and coughed up a large amount of black blood. Although he was a body cultivator, he had spent a lot of energy to break the cocoon shell. In addition, the power of wood and lightning had already caused him to break his cultivation. He was still able to stay awake at this moment because of his deep foundation.

He struggled to lift his head and look at the other side.

The light screen of the mustard seed bowl was shattered, and the bowl fell to the ground with a clatter, its surface losing all its luster.

Yuwen Zhao was pale and staggered a few steps, unable to stand steadily. Although his injuries were minor, he no longer had the strength to fight Ji Qingshan.

In the center of the cocoon, only a male spirit remains.

There still aren't enough to go around.

Their eyes met in mid-air.

Ji Qingshan slowly straightened up, his charred right arm hanging limply at his sides: "Brother Yuwen, what a clever scheme."

Yuwen Zhao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, bent down to pick up the now-dull mustard seed bowl, and whispered, "I was only trying to survive."

"Survival?" Ji Qingshan grinned. "Then do you know that you still lost to your brother? He left behind a spirit body, which he gave to my Ji family. I will definitely kill you, but I can't make this public."

"Your mustard seed bowl is ruined, and your spiritual power is exhausted. Although I am seriously injured, I am still a minor realm higher than you."

He walked forward step by step, leaving a bloody footprint with each step: "Yuwen Zhao, for the sake of our many years of friendship, I'll give you a quick death."

"Sigh..." Yuwen Zhao suddenly sighed softly.

"Brother Ji, we are bosom friends, and I have always considered you my best friend. If you leave now, I will pretend that today's events never happened."

"You're about to die, and you still want to be stubborn?" Ji Qingshan's killing intent was palpable.

But then Yuwen Zhao suddenly closed his eyes and stopped speaking.

Ji Qingshan assumed that Yuwen Zhao was closing his eyes and waiting for death, and took two steps forward to finish him off.

In that very instant!

The lid of the spirit-taming jar suddenly exploded open!

A streak of dark golden light shot out, moving so fast that it left a trail of afterimages.

The spirit-taming jar was placed close to Ji Qingshan's body, and at this moment he had no time to react, not to mention that his movements were much slower due to his serious injuries.

The dark golden light had reached his throat when Ji Qingshan felt a chill in his throat.

Only then did he realize that it was the precious insect that Yuwen Zhao had just given him, its mandibles flashing with cold light as they opened and closed.

The timing and force were perfect. Ji Qingshan roared inwardly, "Impossible! Even with a blood pact, how could an ant possess such intelligence?"

"Hah...hah..." He tried to ask for clarification, but his trachea was broken, and he could only make a sound like a broken bellows.

Blood gushed from his neck. He stared at Zhou Li with disbelief, even though he had just been protecting this ant during the Five Thunder Talisman attack.

Zhou Li looked at Ji Qingshan, who was slowly dying, and thought to himself, "Why are you glaring at me? My body is not under my control. It was Yuwen Zhao who did it. He had this intention when he gave me to you. Neither he nor his cousin are easy to deal with."

Yuwen Zhao walked up to Ji Qingshan and squatted down. He raised his hand and wiped Ji Qingshan's eyelids, but Ji Qingshan's eyes were still wide open.

He stared into those unsettling eyes for a long while, then said in a low voice, "Blood contracts can indeed communicate with intelligent spirit beasts, but above that, there is the Soul Jade of the Spirit Control Pavilion. No communication is needed; a thought is all it takes to control them like an arm... The human mind is naturally stronger than that of an insect."

Yuwen Zhao's hand stroked down again, and it was unclear whether Ji Qingshan understood what he was saying, but his eyes finally closed.

Ji Qingshan is dead.

Yuwen Zhao felt no joy whatsoever. If he could choose, he would rather his cousin Yuwen Ji die.

Thinking of his seemingly kind and caring cousin, Yuwen Zhao gritted his teeth in hatred: "What a hypocrite..."

He moved with difficulty toward the cocoon.

The three came together, but now one is dead and the other has escaped, all for this Five Elements Spiritual Body.

Is it really that precious? A greedy glint flashed in Yuwen Zhao's eyes. He reached into his robes, fumbled for a moment, and then took out another Spirit Binding Crystal.

Unlike the grain of rice that Zhou Li swallowed, this Spirit Binding Crystal was as big as a pigeon egg.

In fact, the Soul Jade of the Imperial Spirit Pavilion was only the size of a pigeon egg. The Yuwen family spent a huge sum of money to buy the Soul Jade for Yuwen Zhao, not so that he could gamble on insects, but to enable him to form a spirit beast.

However, Yuwen Zhao was obsessed with the chess insect and his mind was always on how to form a spiritual connection with it. Seeing that the centipede larva could not swallow such a large piece of soul jade, he ordered someone to carve out a piece the size of a grain of rice from the binding crystal for it to eat.

"Fortunately, this Spirit-Binding Crystal hasn't been used yet." Yuwen Zhao's face showed a look of relief.

He approached the male spirit and pressed the Soul Jade into the spirit's mouth, guiding it to slowly dissolve into the spirit's body.

As the Soul Jade entered his body, the spirit body shone with a brilliant five-colored light. Yuwen Zhao dared not be negligent and formed hand seals, pouring all his remaining spiritual power into the spirit body.

He actually wanted to construct a spiritual core within the spirit body!

To create an ordinary avatar, one must at least reach the Nascent Soul stage, cultivate divine consciousness, and use the technique of splitting the spirit to control the avatar.

Yuwen Zhao, using the Soul Jade as a medium, actually intended to control this spiritual body from the Qi Refining stage!

Although controlling the clone through the Soul Jade cannot truly achieve one soul with two bodies, the idea itself is bold enough.

No wonder Ancestor Yuwen doted on this grandson so much. Even though Yuwen Zhao's mind was on the chess game, his intelligence in the path of cultivation was far superior to that of Yuwen Ji.

The cave was silent except for the faint hum of spiritual energy flowing through it.

Yuwen Zhao was completely focused. The first time the Binding Spirit Crystal was used to construct the Spirit Pivot, it required precise control. The slightest carelessness could damage the Soul Jade and harm himself.

But he had no choice. Although Yuwen Ji had temporarily retreated, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't return. Although Ji Qingshan was dead, the Ji family would eventually find out about this place.

He must control a spirit in the shortest possible time, escape this place, and then heal his wounds.

In the shadows three zhang away from Yuwen Zhao, a barely perceptible ant was slowly moving.

Zhou Li lay prone on the cold ground, his six feet pressed tightly against the stone surface, each step as light as a feather.

From the moment Yuwen Zhao took him out of the mustard seed bowl and controlled him to attack Ji Qingshan, he had been waiting for this opportunity.

After killing Ji Qingshan, Yuwen Zhao did not return him to the Mustard Seed Space because the spiritual energy of the Mustard Seed Bowl was greatly damaged.

Perhaps in Yuwen Zhao's eyes, where could a tiny ant possibly escape to? With the Soul Jade in hand, finding Zhou Li would be a piece of cake.

But he never dreamed that there was a person inside the ant, who was even more intelligent than him.