"This is a Filtering Moth, a kind of cleaner used to purify water. It can devour organic debris and fungal clumps to prevent nutrient over-enrichment of the microbial colonies, which would otherwise make the water dirty and stinky. The taste is very good, and it has no bones."
Tie Dan did not eat.
The cockroach sister crunched one down herself, then rustle-rustle wandered around, digging out from the mud a small arthropod that looked somewhere between a flea and a crab.
"This is a Claw Louse, it lives on the Taixu Shrimp. It eats some of the Taixu Shrimp’s skin flakes, meat scraps, dead skin, preventing parasites and germs from harming the Taixu Shrimp. High in protein—deep-fry it and the fragrance is amazing."
Tie Dan did not eat.
The cockroach sister simply yanked up some Mo Mountain Jue leaves and handed them to him,
"Then, Lord, have some grass instead. If you’re willing to temporarily stay in my Moshan Primordial Spirit Illusion Realm, I can cook for you."
Tie Dan’s face was full of distaste. That Primordial Spirit Illusion Realm was exactly where he had just taken a stroll—put bluntly, it was an Illusion Technique, an Eye-blocking Illusion Technique. No matter how many mountain and sea delicacies you see there, it’s just self-hypnosis; who knows what you’re actually putting into your mouth...
Still, he could also tell: all these maggot-people had come lying in egg capsules, parasitizing on the Taixu Shrimp, living off its Essence Blood, and they really didn’t need much in the way of supplies.
Once they reached their destination, they would hatch out, or Feather Transform into insects, turning into Multi-headed Demon Gods; or they would change into cockroach feather clothes—in essence just changing Hosts, parasitizing on cockroaches instead.
These cockroaches, though merely bug shells, were the cast-off shells from a Feathered Immortal Shedding. They feared not direct radiation, could swallow iron and gnaw gold, eat dirt, meat, grass, insects—whatever they ate, they could digest. With such a cafeteria here, it was enough to refine Agar Spirit Liquid to nourish the maggots on their backs.
Out of courtesy, Tie Dan still took those Jue leaves and looked them over, chewed a bit, and only felt them sticky and slimy, with a fishy stench. The leaves themselves emitted a glow and probably had some level of radioactivity. The Spiritual Qi within was messy and mottled, the purity far inferior to Heavenly and Earthly Treasures of the Central Plains, and in Taiji Heaven it would be a completely unremarkable Spirit Plant. In the eyes of the Mystic Sect, it was nothing but a very ordinary weed; if it grew in a spirit field, it would be cut down, at best used as firewood, so how could it possibly whet his appetite.
Still, seeing all those fish, shrimp, and crabs thriving merrily all over the ground, one could tell this cafeteria’s ecological environment really was quite well managed. With so many layers of radiation protection and absorption—Taixu Shrimp, Earth Mother Fungus, Mo Mountain Jue, cockroach fairy clothes—not to mention a Returning Void Cultivator, even a pig could survive inside a Taixu Shrimp...
Tie Dan pointed to the sky,
"No, what’s that? Why is there a pig flying up there?"
The cockroach sister took a look at the ’pig’ with wings,
"Oh, those are Mars Moths, not edible. The Master uses them for experiments."
"Mars Moth? Wanyu Fairy Moth?"
Fine. Looking over, the head was indeed that of a moth—fat and big, really just like a pig with wings, laying eggs with a plop-plop-plop like taking a dump. Tsk, disgusting...
The cockroach sister launched into a bit of science popularization,
"Lord truly is knowledgeable. Yes, they’re bred by modifying Wanyu’s silk-spinning moths, cultivating a mutant species adapted to the Martian atmosphere. The Master says if we can screen out sub-species that can also survive and reproduce in Yinghuo Heaven, then we won’t need transport from the Moon in the future, and can produce Immortal Silk locally."
Tie Dan frowned,
"That Master of yours has quite a lot of sneaky ideas... But from what you’re saying, you’ve already bred Moon Fairy Moths and can produce Immortal Silk yourselves?"
The cockroach sister realized she seemed to have said too much and didn’t dare continue.
But even if she said nothing, Tie Dan more or less had already figured it out.
This Mo Mountain was walking a path of evolution utterly different from the company’s. The company might also have bio-wetware, but at its core it was still mechanical Ascension—things like Titan and the South Heavenly Gate were proper spacefaring ships.
Mo Mountain, on the other hand, was standard biological evolution, and in order to traverse space and carry out interstellar colonization, they had deliberately evolved into cosmic organisms capable of resisting radiation. Crossing the Void Taixu Shrimp, radiation-tanking cockroaches, Mars-flying moths—various strange life forms, more bizarre than the Demon Clan.
But no matter what, even if it all looked disgusting, from this flourishing, surging-with-life natural environment, and from these co-symbiotic and parasitic Magic Bodies and Taoist Bodies, it could be seen that what Mo Mountain had chosen was not the Supreme Dao’s devour-and-evolve, sole-sovereign path where only one person could reach the end. Instead, it was a development route of harmonious symbiosis, where all species could coexist.
Perhaps... this was the proper path...
The cockroach sister saw Tie Dan fall into deep thought for a moment and was on tenterhooks, afraid he might be dissatisfied with the cafeteria’s dishes and fly into a rage again, eating the Taixu Shrimp. So she forced herself to speak,
"If Lord is not in a great hurry, please rest here a few days. All these things can be eaten and used; just leave us some seeds for cultivation.
We also regularly communicate with the Star Picking Temple. I’ll apply now for a Star Shuttle to deliver an emergency batch of supplies; when it arrives, Lord can board the ship and return."
Tie Dan looked at her,
"You don’t need to stall for time here. Since just now, there’s been a continuous stream of Primordial Spirit pulses fired off in one direction. I assume that Old Maggot is contacting the Moon, calling some Master temple master, Lord Taoist Ancestor, to come deal with me, isn’t that it."
The cockroach sister didn’t dare answer. Tie Dan also didn’t bully her,
"I only want to confirm Earth’s position, that’s all. Your little family property isn’t even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth. A few days is nothing worth fussing over."
Hearing that he wasn’t going to eat them, the cockroach sister finally let out a breath of relief, happily waving her twin ponytails,