Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 126 Cultivating New Insects: Iceborne Insects

"But there's no rush. I need to stay here and study the insects properly before that."

Aburame Shisei sat in the chair, finished the rest of the food, and then continued to study the insects in the petri dish.

The main reason is that the insect nest here is about to die, and if he doesn't take action now, he'll have to rebuild it.

As for Hirashino Sawa, he had already run off to meet his elder brother, Seiichi, to arrange an identity for his lord.

After all, they are brothers on the surface, while Chengche, who is related by blood, becomes father and son.

After he left, Aburame Shisei walked to the edge of the insect nest and placed his hand on the ice wall. Sage Chakra seeped in, sensing the insects slowly gnawing at the solid ice.

"This variant... is interesting," he murmured. "Its adaptability to extreme low temperatures, its ability to devour and convert ice-attribute energy... although its development is slow, its vitality is tenacious."

He closed his eyes and pondered for a moment, quickly coming up with a plan to improve the insect.

The primordial energy is transformed into the purest, most solid ice environment. Local drought-resistant insects are used for secondary gene fusion and cultivation. Then, the process is accelerated to select variants with extremely high survival rates...

Without hesitation, he raised his hand, and the illusory petri dish solidified in his palm. The first layer of space inside began to change continuously after energy was injected, eventually turning into a miniature ice block.

Afterwards, he used a psychic scroll to summon the experimental table. Although the environment was simple, it did not affect his time at all.

A few days later, after 27 sets of experiments, two insect species were successfully selected and added to a petri dish, with the time adjustment accelerated.

Fifty years later, the first group was eliminated...

One hundred years later, the second group of experiments completed an evolution... After that, the rate of evolution slowed down, accelerating to five hundred years later...

A completely new species of insect has emerged, the Ice Beetle, also known as the Ice Protozoan. They are the result of the evolution of this type of destructive insect branch to its limit.

Their bodies are almost entirely composed of chakra and solid ice, and they survive by absorbing the cold air from glaciers. In addition, the swarm of insects can also cast techniques that cause frostbite.

It is highly likely that their only drawback is that they cannot survive in high temperatures, otherwise their bodies would melt into a puddle of water, causing mass deaths.

With these insects around, the construction of the Ice and Snow Palace proceeded extremely quickly. Three days later, the circular underground level had become the third underground level, and it continued to expand downwards. The temperature also dropped sharply, reaching minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius.

However, this temperature was still bearable for Shisei Aburame. He had already released the ice silkworms and summoned earth-building insects at the bottom. He quickly formed hand seals and controlled them to use practical ninjutsu to build houses, which were actually insulated rooms.

In an instant, they swarmed in large numbers, and the dead congealed into mud. A huge stone chamber appeared in the third layer, with an insulating layer in the middle, and the surface was planted with algae and fungi that could raise the temperature.

This caused the temperature inside the stone house to gradually rise to a level that was acceptable to ordinary food-eating insects.

"Almost there!" Aburame Shisei looked around and formed hand seals again: "Summoning Technique: Box of Bliss".

In an instant, the Box of Elysium, which was originally located on Ghost Lantern Island, was summoned here, along with the mutated insects that had devoured it.

Sensing a faint spiritual fluctuation, they paused temporarily, stopping their eating. As if sensing that the spirits had come to their master, they slowly resumed eating. However, the cold environment meant that even if they were to rebuild it, a group of people would still die.

There's nothing we can do about it. But if we wait until the underfloor heating system is built and the underground space is utilized, it will create a stark contrast between hot and cold.

The surface is ice and the ground is fire, so the temperature in the middle will be more suitable. At that time, three different underground attractions can be built on a large scale: the Ice and Fire Palace is close to the surface, the ordinary underground palace is near the center, and the Flame Palace is further down.

If nothing unexpected happens in the future, he plans to settle here and cultivate three different kinds of insects using the unique environment.

At the very least, one must perfect one's own immortal insect, because natural energy is not limited to just wind.

Several days later, he was to discover a tiny insect in the underground ice layer that could withstand the severe cold.

After careful observation, he finally took a packet of insect sacs into his hand: "I'll take it back for research and cultivation. This variant is very valuable; it might be able to establish a new food chain in extremely cold environments."

Three days later, in the capital of the Snow Kingdom.

This is a stone city built on an ice field. The houses are low and sturdy, and the streets are paved with non-slip gravel. There are not many pedestrians, most of whom are wrapped in thick furs and hurry along.

At the city gate, the guards stopped a sled.

There were two people in the car: a young man wrapped in a gray robe and a boy who was blind in one eye—the boy was naturally Hirashino Sawa, and the young man was Aburame Shisei, who had fully mastered the art of immortality.

Perhaps due to the effect of wind-attribute natural energy, his hair had changed from dark green to jade green, giving it a warm and lustrous appearance, and it was very shiny in the sunlight.

In addition, he had previously taken a pill that refined White Zetsu's body, making his skin extremely fair, which, combined with his hair color, made him look like an elf.

Upon seeing the newcomer, the guard suddenly bowed respectfully, for this blind boy was indeed an important figure.

But the necessary procedures still had to be followed. He reached out and said, "You were introduced by an official, a traveling merchant, right? Could I see the goods manifest?"

Hirashino Sawa was about to lash out, after all, this was someone he had brought in, but he didn't expect the guards to dare to come.

Yu Nu Zhicheng stopped him, saying, "He's just following the rules and regulations; don't make things difficult for him."

He then smiled and handed over a piece of paper, which listed the contents of the medicines for this trip.

As for the goods on the carriage, they were genuine. Ryuji Ida was one of the top traveling merchants in the human world, and there was no goods he couldn't obtain.

These precious medicinal materials were what he used to cultivate insects or research medicines, and they had been kept in the sealed scroll.

This time, however, the goods will be used temporarily, and the identity he has given him is that of a traveling merchant.

The guard took the list and looked at it line by line. It listed: nourishing pills, cold-dispelling powder, beauty cream, deer antler and ginseng slices...

He smiled, bowed, and returned the list: "Where does this gentleman come from?"

That's right, he respectfully addressed him as "Sir," a treatment that no other traveling merchant received.

"The Land of Waterfalls," Aburame Shisei said gently, "We couldn't stay there because of the war, so we came here to beg for food."