“Experiment Log #28.”

  “The forest formed by the network of spores has entered the stage of a dense jungle. Evident signs of vegetation were discovered…

  “Regenerative factors have exceeded the bounds of the independent variables and exhibited signs of self-sustenance. Amputated limbs have confirmed data of regrowing at the neural level…”

  “Verified the observed symptoms in multiple subjects. Statistical data show a strong corretion between each subject’s stages of growth. These stages are cssified as vivre, parasitic, forest, fullbloom…”

  “A symptom worthy of caution: The test subject in the fullbloom stage has lost most of its inherent qualities as an arachnida, becoming immobile and exhibiting symptoms of myco-heterotrophs...”

  With a furrowed brow, Bubai absorbed the grim implications of his research.

  The goal of the scorpion experiments had always been to comprehend the effects of his mysterious green Qi, hoping to predict its impact on his own body.

  Now, his research had opened the portal to the end game. The ultimate destiny of his source was a pnt-like existence!

  “Will this… also be my end?”

  Admittedly, the effects on the scorpions wasn’t a completely accurate reflection of his own future.

  But Bubai wasn’t delusional enough to just sweep these warning signs under the rug and hope it would not be the case.

  In fact, he could already notice signs in his own body.

  His photosynthesis physique was the clearest sign, and the spores running in his veins could cssify him to be in the parasitic stage.

  It seemed he was far from reaching the end, but it was never a matter of whether he would reach it, but how long he had.

  "A decade? Two? Or could it be mere years, or sooner?"

  The time was still unconfirmed and would need more data to verify, but Bubai knew for a fact: this wasn’t a process he could stop!

  Each time Bubai used his green dew, it exacerbated the transformation.

  Even if Bubai refrained from using the dew for the rest of his life, the process would still be ongoing because as long as he says hello to the sun, his photosynthesis would kick in.

  The only way to possibly stop this photosynthesis would be to hide in darkness and never absorb sunlight for the rest of his centuries-long life.

  “Well, how is that possible?"

  Perhaps Bubai could have done it in his previous life, where the internet and a world of fantasies provided endless distractions, but in this life, locking himself away would only drive him mad.

  Of course, thanks to the extended lifespans of cultivators, it wasn’t uncommon for them to go into closed-door cultivation for long durations.

  As, cultivators have set foot on the road of immortality, but at lower realms, they were still social animals that require sustenance from the external world.

  Thus, unless it was a cultivator nearing the end of their life, a normal cultivator’s indoor seclusion was restricted to a percentage of their lifespan, usually limited to years or decades.

  As for centuries… that’s an entirely different matter.

  Those old monsters who could lock themselves up for centuries or millennia, waiting for rebirth or breakthrough, were a different breed.

  It wasn’t just a matter of patience, but strong will and borderline eternal soul!

  Bubai, like most other cultivators, obviously had yet to self-cultivate his heart and soul to that stage.

  So, detaching himself from the world just to suppress the growth of his own golden finger was just seeking death… literally.

  "Well, just let nature take its course…” Bubai put away the harrowing report, letting his mind shift gear, “It’s not entirely a bad thing anyway."

  On the bright side, his regeneration factor would continue its growth alongside the transformation of his physique.

  Once this transformation reached a critical point, he might gain the convenient power of regenerating limbs! If so, he will have an additional way to deal with...

  Bubai’s eyes drifted down to the prayer bead bracelet on his wrist. Some things were just a temporary compromise, all to gain the necessary conditions for both his survival and growth.

  Speaking of conditions for his growth…

  Bubai made his way over to the corner of the cell serving as the prison of his pals that were responsible for his upcoming growth.

  Bubai scans over the tank with scorpions packed within before setting his sight on another tank containing a lone scorpion.

  This lone scorpion was an utterly baffling sight. Unlike its counterparts in the other tank, this scorpion’s body was a hotbed of grass! It was more a pnt than a scorpion!

  On top of this strangeness, Bubai felt a vague connection with this scorpion, simir to the one he felt with the scorpion entrenched in his own heart!

  Facing this sense of familiarity, Bubai couldn’t help but wonder in his own heart: Had it been assimited?

  "Well, there’s only one way to find out."

  Bubai slid open the gss, reaching down to pick up the dormant scorpion.

  When his hand contacted the critter, its fibrous, grassy texture brushed against his palms, almost like freaks of nature worming against his skin.

  For others it might have been a rather creepy feeling, but Bubai actually didn’t feel much repulsion because to him, it felt more like a pet nuzzling its owner.

  Observing the grass-infested scorpion in his palms, Bubai’s eyes gradually sharpened.

  Just like he had done countless times, Bubai instinctively opened the tunnel to his storage space...

  Immediately, Bubai felt the suction force acting upon the creature in his hand.

  The resistance was heavy, as if he were tugging on a rock, but this time... something was different!

  This time, Bubai could feel the living target actually budging, inching closer and closer until it was eventually warped by the spatial force and dragged into his storage space!

  Bubai’s heart shook when he found the small pnt-scorpion appearing in his storage space, plopping down atop a box and drawing a gnce from the nearby An Jali who was busy stoking a brazier’s fire with a stick.

  “Success!” Bubai’s eyes lit up, almost not believing how it easy it was!

  His storage space could now store living creatures—or at least, that’s what he hoped to be the case.

  To confirm his theory, Bubai stepped over to the ceramic jar that held the flies serving as feed for his pet scorpions.

  Lifting the lid and sticking his hand in while avoiding the dirty filth inside, his fingers cmped onto one of the flies like a pair of chopsticks.

  Holding the buzzing fly between his fingers, Bubai opened the connection to his spatial storage once more.

  The familiar suction force returned and acted on the fly, but Bubai’s excitement was doused when he felt the usual resistance—a boulder that showed zero signs of budging.

  "Normal fly still doesn’t work…” This let Bubai solidify the conjecture in his mind.

  The key is assimition… or he must first transform the target into a pnt life?

  Bubai frowned at the thought, realizing the feat would be incredibly difficult. This had to do with another discovery he made in the past.

  Flies – their popution were so big. How could these nasty little critters escape Bubai’s experimental radar?

  But his trials with them were quickly shelved because the flies proved to be unfit test subjects.

  A certain iconic character once said, “Size doesn’t mean everything.”

  But Bubai learned: size did matter. Sadly, the flies’ little bodies were unable to handle the influence of his green Qi.

  Feeding them even a single strand of his Qi caused them to implode, entering a frenzy mode and buzzing all over until it died.

  On the case when he lowered the limits and merely fed a partial strand equivalent to the smallest wisp of Qi, it still excited the fly, prompting it to furiously breed the next generation until it buzzed out to infinity and beyond…

  Well, it definitely wasn’t a wholesome sight – a memory permanently etched into his dark history... but at least it keyed him in on the fact that the flies were too small to withstand his Qi.

  Next came the scorpions, and they fitted the bill, but even then, the injection had to be done gradually.

  This reaffirmed his theory: His Qi was like a stimunt, and a rger mass was required to bear his Qi’s influence.

  This made sense. The rger the body, the less dramatic the effect of his Qi would be.

  For humans, it would be akin to diluting a drop of stimunt in an ocean.

  This expined why there were no extreme transformations in his women, not even in the mortal twins, despite all the nourishment he had given them. At most, they were healthier and had their scars healed.

  Consequently, this led Bubai to conclude that the rger the body, the more dew it required to assimite.

  If he wanted to bring living creatures like humans into his storage space, the cost would be heavy.

  As, even if Bubai could, he might not want to.

  Unless it’s a st resort, Bubai certainly didn’t want to transform his women into vegetative pnts like his test subjects. What’s the point of keeping them if he only gets a shell?

  Shaking his head, Bubai resolved, "Experiment more. I'll eventually find a way with the best of both worlds. For now…"

  Focus on self-improvement. To survive, his own strength was the most important.

  Of course, the scorpions were still an important key to unlocking the mysteries of his own power. So, no survivors can be wasted.

  Bubai’s consciousness locked onto the scorpion ying peacefully on a box in his storage space.

  "Before, I intended to get rid of it. But now, I can put it through a final spree of experiments…"

  There were many intriguing questions still waiting to be answered.

  What are the extents of its regenerative capabilities? What would happen if its most important organs were removed? Can it still live if it had only its head left?

  Life - sometimes surviving only means even worse has yet to come.