Having tasted the benefits, Fang Chang became even more motivated. He sealed the entrance to the storage room with spider silk, leaving the Blazing Fire Ant Queen inside to lay eggs.
He then ventured out of the lair again, activating his "Hunting Instinct" skill to search for more Blazing Fire Ant Queens.
Soon, the vision of another soul beast appeared in his mind, located about five or six kilometers away in another nest.
If it weren't for the convenience of the "Hunting Instinct" skill, finding these underground Blazing Fire Ant Queens would have taken a lot more effort.
This time, Fang Chang directly activated his stealth skill, shrinking his body to an appropriate size, and quietly infiltrated the Blazing Fire Ant nest, heading straight for the queen.
When Fang Chang reached the queen's chamber, he used his "Entangling Web" skill to lift her up, then unleashed his "Poison Mist Breath" skill as he had done before.
The Blazing Fire Ants, seeing their queen being captured, were about to attack when a pungent black mist filled the air. No matter how they tried to escape, they eventually collapsed in the mist.
Fang Chang naturally wouldn't let these easy meals go to waste. He devoured the Blazing Fire Ants one by one, then swept through the other rooms in the nest.
Finally, he released the Blazing Fire Ant Queen from this nest, dragged her back to his lair, and threw her into another storage room, teaching her the same lesson as before.
The Blazing Fire Ant Queen looked pitiful. Despite her reluctance, to survive, she had no choice but to lay eggs as Fang Chang commanded.
Fang Chang skillfully sealed the entrance to the storage room with spider silk and went off to find the next Blazing Fire Ant Queen.
After seven or eight trips like this, all ten storage rooms in the lair were occupied by a Blazing Fire Ant Queen each. Fang Chang kept watch over them, ensuring they laid eggs, which he then moved out and devoured.
The leftover food in the storage rooms also served as a nutritional supply for the queens, replenishing the energy they expended from laying eggs.
Fang Chang silently calculated in his mind. If one Blazing Fire Ant Queen could lay fifty eggs a day, then ten queens would produce five hundred eggs!
At this rate, in less than a month, he would have devoured ten thousand soul beasts, meeting the evolution condition.
Now, the bottleneck was his soul power and evolution points. He couldn't afford to be idle.
He glanced at his status panel. After devouring so many Blazing Fire Ants today, his soul power had increased from 37,960 years to 39,910 years. He was just a tiny bit away from reaching forty thousand years.
Looking at this number, Fang Chang's obsessive-compulsive tendencies kicked in.
Despite the late hour and having spent the entire day capturing Blazing Fire Ant Queens, he decided to go out and hunt a few more soul beasts to push his soul power to forty thousand years before resting.
His target, naturally, was the most common creature in the Star Dou Great Forest—the slime.
With a sweep of his "Hunting Instinct," the locations of three slimes near the lair appeared in Fang Chang's vision. He quickly dashed toward the first one.
This slime had a soul power of only 160 years. It was leisurely strolling by the lake.
A black shadow flashed by, and before it could even let out a cry, it was swallowed whole by Fang Chang. Only a few drops of its bodily fluids remained on the ground.
Next, Fang Chang rushed to the second slime. This one had a soul power of 330 years and was climbing a small tree, seemingly trying to devour a cluster of fruit.
Just as its body touched the fruit, darkness enveloped it. Fang Chang, having enlarged his body using "Flexible Size," swallowed the slime along with the small tree.
The last slime had a soul power of exactly 400 years. When Fang Chang found it, it was floating in the water.
Its body was almost the same color as the water. Without the help of "Hunting Instinct," Fang Chang might not have even noticed it.
As expected, one gulp.
After devouring these three slimes, Fang Chang didn't see the expected notification. Checking his panel, he noticed that his soul power was stuck at 39,999 years.
Ah… this was torture for his obsessive-compulsive tendencies!
Fang Chang expanded the range of his "Hunting Instinct" and soon found a fourth slime.
This time, he wasn't in a hurry. He calmly walked toward the slime, bowed to it, and said, "Thank you for becoming my food."
Then he opened his mouth and slowly devoured the slime as if savoring a gourmet meal, treating the process with a sense of ceremony.
Two notifications appeared in Fang Chang's vision as expected.
『Successfully devoured slime. Regeneration Lv18 has upgraded to Regeneration Lv19 (Hint: This skill will become Advanced Regeneration upon the next upgrade).』
Looking at the next notification.
『Soul power has reached forty thousand years. Acquired seventh racial skill: "Endurance."』
*Endurance:* When receiving fatal damage, this skill will automatically activate, leaving 1 HP and making the user immune to all damage for three seconds. Usage limit: once per day.
Indeed… another survival skill. The effect felt somewhat familiar.
Fang Chang moved his body, feeling the surging soul power within him. A sense of pride welled up.
The strength of an ordinary forty-thousand-year soul beast was roughly equivalent to that of a human Soul Sage. At this level, due to the existence of the Spirit Avatar, human Soul Masters' power increased significantly, narrowing the gap between them and soul beasts.
Of course, this only applied to ordinary forty-thousand-year soul beasts. Those from powerful soul beast races were still much stronger than human Soul Masters of the same level.
Take Fang Chang, for example. Even if he were to face the Golden Holy Dragon summoned by the Golden Iron Triangle's Spirit Fusion skill, he now felt confident.
Dealing with ordinary Soul Douluos would be no problem, but facing a Titled Douluo? Fang Chang still didn't have the guts for that.
He returned to his lair, removed the spider silk sealing the entrance, and inspected the ten Blazing Fire Ant Queens still diligently laying eggs. Satisfied, he returned to the central chamber to rest.
According to his plan, he would stay here for about a month, waiting for the queens to lay enough eggs while occasionally venturing out to hunt and further increase his soul power.
At the same time, he could start trying to recruit some spider-type soul beasts to expand the forces of his Star Dou Underground Lair.
Once he evolved into a Dominator Demon Spider, he would begin his advance into the deepest parts of the Star Dou Great Forest!
Creatures like Da Ming, Er Ming, the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, and the three Thousand-Year Ant Emperor brothers—sooner or later, Fang Chang would devour them all!
Fang Chang was destined to become the king of the Star Dou Great Forest!