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

Chapter 14 Mustard Seed Bowl

This space is not large, only about ten zhang square, and you can see the end of it at a glance.

All around were gray walls, and a thick black cloud pressed down overhead, occasionally emitting bursts of rumbling.

Mustard seed bowl?

Zhou Li recalled the spirit-raising jar that Gu Siwei and Ruoshui had mentioned, and he guessed that this mustard seed bowl should be something like the spirit-raising jar, like a place for cultivation.

Before they could even marvel at the wonder of the Taoist artifact, the dark clouds overhead suddenly lit up.

A very thin bolt of blue lightning struck down from the clouds, hitting Zhou Li squarely on the back of the neck.

"Snapped!"

Zhou Li's body suddenly arched, and an indescribable pain spread throughout his body.

The pain was not just physical, but a lash that went deep into the bone marrow. Fortunately, the lightning only lasted for a moment before it disappeared.

Zhou Li collapsed to the ground, his six legs twitching weakly, a charred mark remaining on his carapace where he had been struck.

"This is just an appetizer," Yuwen Zhao's teasing voice came from above. "My mustard seed bowl is far superior to those spirit-raising jars used to nurture spirit insects."

"This place is a world unto itself, inscribed with a heavenly lightning array that will unleash heavenly lightning from time to time. If you can survive it, you'll be reborn; if you can't..." He smiled slightly, "then blame your bad luck."

After he finished speaking, silence returned to the mustard seed bowl, leaving only the hazy sky and Zhou Li's rapid breathing.

Zhou Li lay on the ground for a long time before recovering, and then realized that he had finally regained control of his body.

"At least there's some good news..."

He struggled to his feet and began to assess his situation.

The dark clouds overhead kept churning, and the timing of the thunderbolts seemed completely unpredictable.

Sometimes there's a full incense stick's time between them, sometimes half an hour, and sometimes two consecutive bolts of lightning are only a breath apart.

Moreover, the intensity of the heavenly lightning is also changing.

Some lightning bolts were as thin as a hair, while others were as thick as chopsticks; when they struck, the entire space trembled.

Zhou Li was once struck by a very thick bolt of lightning. His body was thrown three feet into the air by the powerful force of the wind and lightning, and he lost consciousness on the spot. He didn't know how long it was before he slowly woke up and found that half of his body's shell had been shattered.

Fortunately, Yuwen Zhao would occasionally throw in some bait, and the space was rich in spiritual energy. Zhou Li was able to slowly recover from his injuries by circulating the Qi-guiding technique during the intervals between lightning strikes.

Yuwen Zhao was right; this was indeed a trial.

The spirit-raising jar is used to feed spirit herbs and nurture spirit insects, while the mustard seed bowl is repeatedly forged using heavenly thunder.

Those who survive will become more resilient in both body and will; those who don't will die inside and turn into a pile of charred remains.

The gray, misty ground and walls seen in Zhou Li's account may well be the charred ashes of countless spirit insects that died here.

This is Yuwen Zhao's way of taming insects.

"Since we can't avoid it, then... let's endure it. Enduring it is itself a form of cultivation."

Zhou Li had always longed for a place of his own for cultivation.

Abundant spiritual energy, free from external enemies, and needing no struggle for sustenance—this very reality was achieved by Yuwen Zhao.

It would be even better if there weren't those rolling thunderbolts overhead.

But not long after, Zhou Li discovered something.

After being struck by lightning, his meridians became more resilient and his body became more robust through spiritual energy repair.

"Is this... body tempering?"

Zhou Li's heart stirred. No wonder the centipede couldn't bite through its scales back then; it must have undergone such tempering and refinement.

However, this method of cultivation is too painful, and ordinary insects simply cannot endure it. But he is different; he has intelligence and the "Qi-guiding technique," making him much stronger than those dull and stubborn insects.

It hurt, it really hurt, but Zhou Li pulled through.

It wasn't because he was so powerful, but because he didn't want to die.

He rose from an ordinary ant to where he is today, finally succeeding in cultivating his Qi, finally growing wings, and finally seeing the hope of immortality. How could he be willing to die in this broken bowl?

Time becomes meaningless in a mustard seed bowl.

Zhou Li didn't know how long he had been inside; maybe a month, maybe two months, maybe half a year.

His body is no longer what it used to be.

The dark gold patterns on the carapace became increasingly deep and intricate, and a touch of crimson even appeared on the edge of the upper jaw.

And his eyes, tempered by the lightning day after day, underwent a strange change.

Among the countless individual eyes that make up the compound eye, a few are permeated with the power of thunder, and there are faint flashes of lightning in the pupils, like lightning sealed in amber.

He didn't notice the change at first.

One day, during a lull in the lightning strikes, he suddenly discovered that he could see the trails of lightning in the clouds.

The originally chaotic lightning bolts transformed into clear veins in his eyes, and wherever the energy was drawn together, streaks of azure lightning condensed.

When Zhou Li infused his eyes with spiritual power, his pupils, tempered by heavenly lightning, were able to see things that were invisible to the naked eye.

His eyesight seemed to penetrate the dark clouds and see directly into the truth.

With this ability, Zhou Li could predict when and where the lightning would strike, and could use the lightning to temper every part of his body.

This ability was something he gained through countless lightning strikes; it was the first supernatural power he acquired on his path of cultivation.

"Since it is a supernatural power obtained from tempering the eyes with heavenly lightning, let's call it 'Heavenly Lightning Eye'."

The Heavenly Thunder Eye granted Zhou Li new abilities, but it wasn't enough for him to escape this world. He needed to continue training and wait for an opportunity.

I don't know how much time has passed.

That day, Zhou Li suddenly heard a noise above his head.

He looked up and saw that the sky had cracked open, and then another spirit insect was thrown in from outside.

It was a bright red mosquito, twice the size of Zhou Li.

Its mouthparts were long and sharp, its abdomen was bright red and dripping with blood, and a strong smell of blood filled the entire mustard seed space.

Zhou Li had been in the mustard seed bowl for so long that Yuwen Zhao seemed to have forgotten about him. Today, he suddenly threw in a blood mosquito, and the meaning couldn't be clearer.

Yuwen Zhao is going to use him to fight insects.

The Soul-Binding Crystal is inside his body. If Yuwen Zhao wants to retrieve the Soul Jade, he either has to wait for him to die or for him to be eaten.

Yuwen Zhao made him fight the blood mosquitoes, not really caring who would survive in the end.

Both insects were in the mustard seed jar. The winning insect ate the losing one, and the soul jade naturally went into the body of the winner.

If the Blood Mosquito wins, all the better; its potential is definitely greater than that of an ant. If Zhou Li wins, then throw in another one, until a sufficiently ferocious spirit insect is raised.

Zhou Li had only one way to survive: to keep fighting, keep winning, fight again, and win again.

He gritted his teeth in hatred: "That bastard Yuwen Zhao is using me to refine poison."

But he didn't have time to curse anymore, because the blood mosquito had already set its sights on him.

The blood mosquito fluttered its wings and took flight, its eyes fixed on Zhou Li. Its mouthparts were slightly open, revealing a slender needle.

With a low buzzing sound, the blood mosquito swooped down.