Yelin felt a slight sense of relief upon hearing this. He was deeply worried that the Taixuan Sect might conduct a rigorous investigation into his affairs; if they were to dig too deep, he feared his secrets—the Ancient Ring and the bloodline of the Insect Emperor—would be impossible to hide.
He proceeded to recount the entire mission in detail. He did not hide the fact that, despite being poisoned, he had used his mutated spirit insects, Xiaolan and Xiaoqiang, to slay Zhou Yuan and the Xuanming Sect demonic cultivator. Yelin knew it was impossible to keep it hidden forever; he would eventually have to use Xiaolan and Xiaoqiang in open combat. However, he offered no explanation for why his spirit insects had mutated collectively.
Mutations in spirit insects are extremely rare and nearly impossible to control artificially. Furthermore, mutations are not always beneficial. Many insects end up with extra legs or odd appendages, rendering them useless or even sickly. Insects that gain enhanced combat or production capabilities from mutation are vanishingly rare. The fact that Yelin possessed two such insects, both geared toward combat, was enough to send shockwaves through Manager Zhang’s heart. While she didn’t believe Yelin could infinitely cultivate mutated spirit insects, possessing two was already terrifying. As the manager of Spirit Beast Peak, she had raised spirit insects for over fifty years and only owned one that was mutated for combat—and the extent of its mutation …
Chapter 20