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

Chapter 6 Transformation

When Zhou Li woke up again, his primary feeling was one of crowding.

The once spacious ant nest was now cramped and narrow. He subconsciously moved his body and opened his eyes. Looking at the nest again, he felt a clear difference.

From large sand and gravel to small dust particles, the textures of everything are clearly visible.

"A deep well of knowledge, a glimpse of the subtle... this is the initial stage of Qi cultivation!"

Zhou Li suddenly realized that he had learned from his senior brother's lecture that Qi cultivation was divided into four stages: initial glimpse, minor success, major success, and perfection.

The ability to perceive subtle clues and the initial arising of spiritual thoughts are the symbols of entering the first stage of Qi Refining.

I have spent four years trying to draw qi into my body with my ant-like body, only to be able to linger at the threshold of qi refining. Now, thanks to my senior brother's qi-replenishing pill, I can finally step into it.

Zhou Li looked around and saw that his whole body was covered by a thick layer of old shell.

It was so heavy, perhaps from countless molts. Zhou Li tried to sit up.

"Splash!"

Its molted skin split open, breaking into seven or eight pieces, revealing a brand new shell underneath.

Its carapace was jet black, with faint dark gold patterns visible; its abdominal segments were distinct, with gold rings interlocking at the joints; its six legs were also thicker, and the claws at the tips of its feet were even sharper.

Looking at those upper jaws again, they are now as thick as pincers, with a cold glint in them as they open and close.

The most astonishing thing is its body length.

Zhou Li slowly stretched out his body, which was actually two inches long!

Even the strongest soldier ants are only half an inch long, so his size already makes him an anomaly among ants.

Zhou Li excitedly shook his whiskers, and as they swayed up and down, he suddenly felt a moment of clarity in his mind.

Although he couldn't see it, he could sense that a worker ant was dragging a grain of rice back to the nest three zhang away.

As if the mist had just lifted, his perception of the ant colony suddenly became incredibly detailed, and he could even clearly know the state of each individual ant.

The soldier ant guarding the entrance had a hidden injury on its carapace, the worker ant carrying food had a slight limp in its forelegs, and the queen ant laying eggs was barely breathing...

All information flowed into the sea of ​​consciousness of Zhou Li like a gentle stream.

Even more remarkably, when he focused his mind on a particular worker ant, he was able to directly transmit commands, instead of only being able to provide vague guidance as before.

"Lift that piece of worm meat and bring it over."

The thought was transmitted, and the bewildered worker ant suddenly paused, then precisely used its mandibles to clamp up the piece of meat mentioned in Zhou Li and steadily delivered it to the anthill.

"Is this... the wondrous use of spiritual thought?"

Zhou Li recalled the Qi-refining texts he had read before: Once the spiritual mind is opened, wherever one goes, it is as if one sees with one's own eyes and hears with one's own ears. Furthermore, one can transmit sound across the distance and control objects to cast spells.

Although I am far from reaching that level, I have already achieved some basic ability to transmit sound across space, but this is only in relation to the ant colony.

It is likely due to the ant's racial innate abilities that this caused a slight change, leading to the premature development of this ability.

"I don't know when I'll be able to speak again."

Zhou Li calmed his mind and let his spiritual thoughts spread out like a net, enveloping the entire nest.

In an instant, all the worker ants and soldier ants stopped what they were doing, turned to his location, and quietly waited for orders.

This feeling of being able to command and obey orders is far more efficient than previous command methods.

Zhou Li understood that from this day forward, this ant colony was no longer a loose group, but rather, in the truest sense, his subordinates.

The joy of breaking through the barrier was quickly overshadowed by an intense hunger.

Zhou Li's transformation into a mortal consumed a massive amount of his vital energy, and he was now extremely hungry. His spiritual thoughts stirred slightly.

In a short while, dozens of worker ants dragged various kinds of food over, including a few bamboo leaves covered in morning dew, which were obviously just picked from the forest.

"That's thoughtful of you."

While eating, Zhou Li also ordered the ant colony to expand their nest so that he could easily enter and exit.

He looked at the busy ant colony and thought to himself that although these kin were not intelligent, they were his original foundation in this world.

As long as he continues to expand his clan, he will surely be able to leave this bamboo forest and even travel all over Ziyun Peak.

Just as he was pondering this, a rapid fluctuation of spiritual thought came through.

Not far from their nest, a swarm of ants surrounded a weakened wasp, pleading for reinforcements.

Wasps? It was this guy?

Zhou Li, with his six legs, burst out of the anthill, just as the morning light was just right.

On the open ground at the edge of the purple bamboo forest, a dense swarm of ants formed several circles.

In the circle, a wasp about an inch long was darting left and right, but its movements were obviously slow. Its right wing was torn in half, and its abdomen was also injured, with dark yellow body fluid constantly seeping out.

Even so, the stinger remained sharp, piercing a worker ant with each strike.

Zhou Li had long known that there was a beehive outside the courtyard of this side room, but the ant colony and the wasps usually kept to themselves.

Today, the wasp must have been attacked and wounded. It wandered into the territory and was already at its last gasp, which is why it was discovered by the ant colony that went out to forage for food.

Zhou Li was eager to test the strength of this newborn wasp, but even a cornered beast will fight, so he still needed to be cautious.

He walked slowly forward, and the besieged ant colony seemed to sense his presence and quickly parted to make way for him.

Zhou Li then planted his six feet on the ground and suddenly plunged into the circle, facing the wasp head-on.

The wasp suddenly saw an ant of similar size attacking it, its aura carrying a kind of oppressive force that made it instinctively uneasy.

But its ferocity as an aerial hunter remained undiminished; its tail stinger contracted and extended, transforming into a blur as it pierced straight at Zhou Li's head.

Swift as the wind!

"Well done!" Zhou Li said without flinching or dodging.

After gaining initial insight into Qi Refining, his perception became several times sharper, and the trajectory of the needle was clearly visible in his compound eyes.

Just as the needle was about to pierce his forehead, Zhou Li tilted his head to the side.

"laugh!"

The tail stinger grazed the carapace, and Zhou Li's upper jaw opened at that moment.

Without any probing or fancy moves, Zhou Li, carrying the power of four years of arduous cultivation and his rebirth, fiercely bit down on the wasp!

"Snap!"

With its upper jaws slicing through the wasp's thorax and abdomen like cutting tofu, the wasp's exoskeleton was powerless against Zhou Li's bite.

The initial glimpse of Qi Refining brings not only the accumulation of spiritual power, but also a comprehensive leap in the hardness of the carapace and the strength of the muscles. The force of this bite is no less than dozens of times the combined force of ordinary soldier ants.

In excruciating pain, the wasp thrashed about with its six legs, flapped its stinger wildly, and frantically vibrated its wings, trying to take off, but it could not break free from the mandibles that were clamping it down.

A cold glint flashed in Zhou Li's eyes, and he added three more points of force to his upper jaw.

At the same time, it slightly twisted its body and tore along the texture of its shell, actually biting off the wasp's abdomen.

The wasp's dark yellow bodily fluids splattered and pooled on the muddy ground. Its remains twitched a few times on the ground before finally ceasing to move.

The worker ants were extremely excited and swarmed forward, crawling into the wasp's body through the wound Zhou Li had bitten open, tearing and dismembering it. In no time, the mangled body was covered by the ant swarm.

Zhou Li watched the ant colony devour the wasp quietly, his heart unmoved.

The law of the jungle prevails over good and evil.

If I hadn't made a breakthrough today, this ant colony would probably have suffered heavy losses.

He raised his head and looked up at the purple bamboo.

The tattered spiderweb swayed in the wind, but the spiny-bellied spider was nowhere to be seen, perhaps hiding in its nest and spying.

Killing the wasp seemed easy, but what if it were that spiny-bellied spider with its hunting instincts, or that vicious wire snake?

Zhou Li thought to himself, "I'm afraid it's still a bit lacking."

The initial glimpse into Qi Refining is ultimately just the most insignificant step. In this vast Purple Cloud Peak, one is still just an ant that can be crushed at will.

Just as I was pondering this, a clear voice rang in my ears:

"Brother Ant."