Chapter 89: Tiny World Enslavement Plan
The warning left behind by the two Ascendant Realm cultivators did not immediately leave Clayne’s mind after their deaths.
Although he had crushed their bodies as easily as crushing insects and watched their souls become absorbed into the strange Mother Mantis crystal, he was not foolish enough to dismiss everything they had said.
Ever since the apocalypse began, Clayne had survived largely because he remained cautious. He was not the strongest existence around. He was not some invincible protagonist blessed by fate.
Every advantage he currently possessed came from careful observation, experimentation, and exploiting opportunities that others failed to notice.
As he stared at the miniature world resting before him, he gradually realized something troublesome.
Silent River Hill was becoming increasingly famous.
At first, only a few cultivators had noticed it.
Then nearby sects became interested.
Soon afterward, powerful Nascent Soul cultivators arrived.
Then Soul Transformation cultivators.
Then Ascendant Realm experts.
At the current rate, even stronger existences would eventually appear.
The cultivation world reminded him of a lake.
The moment a small fish struggled, nobody cared.
The moment a giant fish surfaced, every predator in the lake immediately became interested.
Silent River Hill had become that giant fish.
The crystal’s current phenomenon only made the situation worse.
Every second that passed caused larger waves to spread throughout the cultivation world.
Eventually, beings far beyond the Ascendant Realm would likely notice.
When that day arrived, even Clayne did not know what would happen.
His gaze slowly shifted toward the countless creatures currently being dragged toward Silent River Hill.
A thought suddenly appeared inside his mind.
Cultivators were troublesome, cultivators lied, cultivators schemed, cultivators plotted and cultivators never stopped thinking about benefits.
Even when begging for mercy, they were secretly calculating opportunities.
The beasts were different, the insects were different, the demonic creatures were different.
Many possessed instincts far purer than human greed.
If he could control enough powerful beasts, perhaps he would not need to worry about armies of cultivators.
The idea immediately began growing inside his mind.
Without wasting time, Clayne stretched out his finger and began drawing across the map of Silent River Hill.
Massive lines appeared throughout the territory.
The mountains became formation anchors, the rivers became channels, the forests became connecting pathways, and valleys became gathering nodes.
The taming formation he had learned from Ling Taiyin had originally been designed for ordinary beasts and Gu creatures in the real world. However, after observing countless formations inside the miniature world and spending days studying the information hidden inside the Soul Transformation elder’s memories, Clayne decided to try it in the miniature world instead.
After all, the things he put there became magical. What if his techniques he learned from there actually have more powerful effects too?
Now that he overlooked the entire territory from above, his advantages became even more obvious.
Ordinary formation masters needed to travel throughout mountains and valleys.
Clayne simply pointed.
Ordinary formation masters needed spiritual materials.
Clayne used the entire territory.
Ordinary formation masters required helpers.
Clayne had Silent River Hill itself.
The green lines expanded continuously and runes appeared one after another.
Some were hidden beneath rivers, some were buried beneath mountains, and others stretched through forests and plains.
Eventually, an enormous formation capable of covering the entire territory took shape.
The moment it was completed, a faint green glow spread throughout Silent River Hill.
It did not activate immediately.
Instead, it quietly waited.
Patiently.
Like a hunter setting a trap, like a spider waiting beside its web, and also like a predator waiting for prey to step into its territory.
Meanwhile, above the Mother Mantis crystal, the heavenly tribulation continued without pause.
The thunderclouds had already grown several times larger than before.
Dark clouds churned violently.
Golden lightning surged through the heavens.
Each thunderbolt descended with enough force to annihilate powerful cultivators.
The impact of every strike shook the miniature world.
Mountains trembled.
Forests bent beneath the pressure.
Rivers surged wildly.
Yet the crystal refused to break.
Every strike merely caused the yellow-green glow inside the crystal to intensify.
The crystal seemed alive.
It seemed hungry.
It seemed to be devouring the heavenly tribulation itself.
The attraction force surrounding it became increasingly terrifying.
Entire flocks of spiritual birds were pulled from distant regions.
Demonic beasts were dragged across mountains.
Countless creatures abandoned their territories and unconsciously moved toward Silent River Hill.
The phenomenon continued expanding.
And somewhere far beyond the lands known to most cultivators, another existence sensed it.
...
Across a distant continent forgotten by most maps, a colossal desert stretched beyond the horizon.
The sky above it constantly shifted between strange colors, spatial cracks occasionally appeared and vanished and storms carrying fragments of shattered laws roamed the wasteland.
Ordinary cultivators would die within moments of entering such a place.
Even powerful experts rarely dared approach.
Yet within that dangerous region existed a hidden sanctuary.
A sanctuary created through thousands of years of effort, a sanctuary belonging to a single demonic beast.
Kiarma.
For thousands upon thousands of years, she had wandered the cultivation world.
Very few living beings understood how difficult her journey had truly been.
Most cultivators only saw results.
They saw her cultivation, they saw her power, and they saw her beauty.
Nobody saw the countless times she nearly died.
Nobody saw the opportunities stolen from her.
Nobody saw the betrayals.
Nobody saw the despair.
Kiarma had not been born powerful.
Her bloodline had not been pure.
Her race had not been respected.
When she was young, she had spent decades hiding from stronger beasts.
She had survived by eating scraps, she had watched siblings devour one another, and she had escaped countless predators.
Worse, every breakthrough came through struggle, every opportunity came through bloodshed and at one point, she crossed an ancient forbidden sea searching for a spiritual herb capable of improving insect bloodlines. Out of the hundreds who entered that region, only three survived.
She was one of them.
Another time, she spent two centuries trapped inside an ancient ruin where time flowed differently. By the time she escaped, entire civilizations outside had already risen and fallen.
She once challenged a dragon for possession of a heavenly fruit.
The battle lasted three months, she won, but barely alive too.
The dragon died.
She almost died alongside it.
Several scars hidden beneath her beautiful appearance still originated from that fight.
She had traveled through shattered dimensions, she had survived celestial storms, and she had crossed regions where even Ascendant cultivators disappeared forever.
Her life had been a constant struggle for resources.
Because without resources, cultivators stagnated.
Without resources, they died.
Without resources, immortality remained nothing more than a dream.
Recently, however, Kiarma’s condition had worsened.
A chaos storm encountered several decades ago had left hidden injuries within her body.
Although she managed to survive, her cultivation foundation suffered damage.
Her original plan was simple.
Find a quiet, backward cultivation region.
Hide, heal, recover, and then leave.
Nothing more.
Unfortunately, fate had other plans, the moment she sensed the Mother Mantis crystal, her entire body reacted.
Every instinct screamed and every drop of blood inside her body became restless.
The attraction felt irresistible.
For insect-type demonic beasts, the spiritual fluctuations radiating from Silent River Hill resembled the greatest treasure imaginable.
It was not merely powerful, it was compatible, no, perfectly compatible to her.
The feeling was similar to a starving traveler discovering an ocean of food.
No matter how cautious she wanted to be, she could not ignore it.
Thus she came.
And the moment she arrived, she regretted nothing and feared everything.
Because what she saw exceeded every possibility she had imagined.
The crystal shocked her.
The heavenly tribulation shocked her.
The countless cultivators being dragged through the sky shocked her.
But none of those compared to the thing standing beyond the heavens.
The faceless giant.
The moment her gaze landed upon Clayne’s enormous form, every hair on her body stood upright.
Fear. Pure fear.
Not the fear of a stronger cultivator, not the fear of an enemy, and even not even the fear of death.
It was the instinctive fear experienced by a tiny creature staring at something fundamentally beyond its understanding.
The giant seemed detached from reality itself.
His size was wrong.
His existence was wrong.
Even the surrounding laws seemed distorted around him.
For the first time in thousands of years, Kiarma genuinely questioned whether she should flee.
Then she noticed something even worse.
A green light appeared beneath her.
Her expression changed instantly.
The territory below her had activated.
Countless runes illuminated mountains.
Forests glowed.
Rivers shimmered.
An enormous formation was awakening.
The pressure it emitted immediately affected her mind.
Her thoughts became slower.
Her instincts became muddled.
The sensation was subtle.
Yet horrifying.
Because she was not some weak beast.
She was a peak Ascendant Realm demonic beast.
And yet...
The formation was actually affecting her.
Panic immediately surged through her heart.
...
Meanwhile, Clayne stared at her with increasing excitement.
Among every creature he had seen since obtaining the miniature world, none came remotely close to Kiarma.
The Nascent Soul cultivators looked weak compared to her.
The Soul Transformation cultivators looked insignificant compared to her.
Even the Ascendant Realm elders he had recently killed seemed ordinary beside her.
Her aura alone surpassed all of them combined.
What excited Clayne even more was the fact that she appeared to be some kind of insect-type demonic beast.
The exact type of target his newly completed formation had been designed for.
His eyes lit up.
The more he observed her, the happier he became.
This was not merely a powerful beast.
This was a jackpot.
A genuine jackpot.
The type of opportunity that only appeared once in a lifetime.
Below her, the formation finally completed its activation.
The rivers glowed.
The forests shimmered.
The mountains resonated.
Countless green runes connected together throughout Silent River Hill.
Then, as Kiarma’s expression gradually shifted from confusion to alarm, the entire beast-taming formation erupted with brilliant emerald light, illuminating the whole territory as though an ancient power had finally awakened beneath her feet.
