Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 550 2 Immortal Insects Fully Deployed

Another six months have passed, and Orochimaru and Sasori's research has finally entered a new stage.

In the laboratory, rows of culture tanks contain brain tissue and soul samples of various organisms.

Orochimaru stood in the center, the scroll in front of him densely covered with data.

"How interesting." He licked his lips, turned to look at the visiting Shiseido Aburame, and said, "Shisei-kun, I've discovered the truth."

Then, he said excitedly, "The soul also has mass. And the amount of information that each mass can carry is limited."

Orochimaru pointed to the chart on the scroll, "You can think of your soul as a memory card. Every day's experiences, every memory, are recorded in your soul, and—they can't be deleted."

Aburame Zhicheng listened quietly, after all, he had already explored these things, and his primordial spirit was even more unreasonable than science.

"Therefore, how long a soul can exist depends on its total mass."

The greater the mass, the larger the storage space, the more information it can hold, and the longer it can exist.

Conversely, a soul of low quality will fill with information in a few decades and then begin to lose it.

Their soul's quality is constantly depleting, and their ability to bind information is continuously weakening, much like someone with Alzheimer's disease—remembering and then forgetting. Their memories last only a year, six months, a day, or even an hour. At that point, although the person is still alive, they no longer know who they are.

At this point, Orochimaru changed the subject: "And those truly powerful beings, Kage-level, Super Kage-level, or even higher, have souls of such immense quality that they can store information from tens of thousands, millions, or even hundreds of millions of years. They think they are immortal, but it's just that their storage cards are large enough."

"Isn't it terrifying to think about?"

Orochimaru paused, then looked meaningfully at Shiseido Aburame: "Shisei-kun, your human symbiote has a major flaw. It not only overdraws on the lifespan of your body, but also the lifespan of your soul."

If Naoto and Nanichi hadn't broken through to the Kage level, which subtly increased the quality of their souls, their souls would probably only have existed for a few decades.

Aburame Shisei's expression remained unchanged. "I know, that's why I eliminated it a long time ago."

Orochimaru paused for a moment, then laughed: "That's true. The insects in Zhicheng's hands are being updated and replaced much faster than I imagined."

Aburame Shisei didn't continue the conversation and turned to leave the laboratory.

Because from beginning to end, Orochimaru and his companion only pointed out that they had discovered a problem, but they did not find a solution to it.

To put it bluntly, the quality of one's soul cannot be relied upon by others; it can only be cultivated by oneself.

Ultimately, everyone has to walk their own path in the future. Perhaps someone can provide some help in the early stages, but whether you can reach the end depends not on the shortcuts offered by others.

After returning to her laboratory, Shisei Aburame opened her petri dish and released all the useless insects inside.

He plans to use all his energy to nourish the current immortal insects.

In fact, the twelve compartments in his petri dish have almost become the rooms for the celestial insects in his hands.

The first slot is occupied by Sheng Yang, a rhinoceros beetle with Yang-attribute chakra. It doesn't currently have a celestial palace, and he doesn't plan to build one. He's been nurturing it using primordial energy. Although it's more costly, it's more reliable.

Number Two was taken over by Scorpion Lai Lai. The Invisible Scorpion was always his capable henchman and also the first insect to follow him.

Although their current strength is far behind the top tier, their stealth, invisibility, and armor abilities are still quite high, and most importantly, they remain loyal to him.

Therefore, in his mind, Xiao Lai's position is at the T0 stage.

Number three is Big White, the guardian moth of the giant flowers on Spirit Island, and the only insect-beast in nature that can autonomously transform itself. He seems silly at first, but he is actually very wise.

Number four is Xiaobai, a harmonizing worm with no attribute in the Ice and Fire Immortal Palace. However, he is also the weakest worm at the bottom, and usually lives in the shadow of other worms. Fortunately, he knows how to form cliques.

That is, Number Five and Number Six, Little Red and the Ice and Fire Twin God Moths, who are Little White's brothers from the same mother. It must be said that the Ice and Fire Immortal Palace has always been very united when facing external threats.

And there were four moths and fairy insects.

Next is Number Seven, Dragonfly Xiaoqing. Because his mother is a seven-tailed dragonfly, he likes Number Seven. His strength is also unfathomable because he was one of the first immortal insects to become a celestial insect and learned from his mother.

With that wind magic that can manipulate celestial phenomena, one insect could easily overpower four moths.

Number eight is an Earth Fairy Insect, but the Earth Spider is currently still in a free-range state. As for its strength, it depends on its condition: underground, it is invincible, and in a one-on-one situation, it basically won't lose.

However, if he were to be knocked into the sky by other fairy insects, his fate would be uncertain, as he could not fly, unlike the other fairy insects.

Then there's number nine, Narcissus Insect Sea Monk.

This slime is quite gentle and does not live in a petri dish, but stays in its own fairy palace or on top of Yukimaru's head.

Her personality was also unassuming and weak, which is why she was deeply favored.

Next up is Thunderclap, the tenth Holy Armor, a Thunder Immortal Insect from the Thunder Immortal Palace. It has not yet transformed into an Immortal Insect, so it is not in the culture dish.

Number 11 is the Ghost Fairy Insect, that fat worm that has been eating all this time, only getting fatter and never molting. Now, it has been forcibly transformed from a butterfly larva into a long worm.

In recent years, almost every dead soul born in nature has been delivered to its mouth, but it still cannot satisfy its appetite.

Recently, he's become obsessed with his private plot of land in the demon and ghost realm, but he hasn't yet found a way to access it.

The twelfth square is the dwelling place of the Time Worm, who is also the strongest of all the immortal worms.

Time represents both the beginning and the end.

In the material world, time and space are never independent entities; they are governed by the purest physical equations.

However, while its support and survival abilities are strong, its direct attack capabilities are very weak, so weak that it is almost impossible for it to kill any Kage-level being on its own.

Now that the twelve grids are complete, Yu Nu Zhicheng has no plans to continue and instead cultivate other functional insects.

In any case, tens of thousands of people across the country are researching and cultivating new insects.

New insect species are appearing every day, and even now he himself doesn't know how many kinds of insects there are in the world, or how many insects he has never seen before.

However, he can control any insect derivatives he releases.