It had been ten days since Su Han had bred his monster, and each day, the embryos in the Tree Womb underwent significant changes.
The embryo's body grew increasingly gigantic and fierce-looking, with its aura becoming stronger as well.
By the tenth day, the breeding monster was ready to take shape.
Su Han and Bai Qilan took the Ancient Worm Tree to the outskirts of the Shanhu Villa District, near a residential area behind the commercial street.
The mist enveloped the surroundings, but Su Han did not let the Ancient Worm Tree release the Radiance of the Lamp Tree, as the main focus this time was not it.
On the Ancient Worm Tree, among its branches and some vines, grew various-sized Ancient Tree Crystals. There were about twenty or thirty the size of fists, and at least a hundred as small as thumbs, all growing gradually under the transformation of Spiritual Energy.
In the very center of the canopy, the green Tree Womb had turned a deeper shade of emerald. One could only vaguely see the shadow of a large, fierce-looking monster, completely different in shape from the previous Tree-born Worm embryos.
"Thump, thump"
The Tree Womb emitted a regular low sound, like a heartbeat, and vigorous vitality radiated from it. Su Han's eyes fixed intently, then he thought: "It's starting."
The Tree Womb began to pulse violently, its red vines swelling like blood vessels, and the monster inside started moving, its sharp claws tearing through the Tree Womb's barriers.
With a splurch sound, the barriers of Tree Womb split like jelly and then the moist monster broke out, its wet exterior revealing a dark green skin, resembling a combination of old tree bark and insect armor.
It moved its body, emitting a harsh hissing sound, then leaped swiftly down from the canopy, arriving in front of the Ancient Worm Tree, and knelt down.
"An Alien Thorn Worm?"
The monster's head still vaguely resembled that of a worm, but its jaws were fierce, vaguely resembling a human-faced skull.
Its upper body was covered with thick insect-like armor, dark and greenish, with elongated arms on both sides, the limbs tipped with claw-like keratin, sharp as blades. In its large palms, there was also a tooth-like slit, with a piercing thorn vaguely visible inside. The position of its spine was similarly bulging, adorned with many bone spines of varying lengths, each as sharp as a blade.
The lower body was like that of a huge, elongated worm, not as rounded as the Split-mouth Worm, but its muscles were more compact and sturdy, somewhat resembling a snake. The creature's back was covered with thick, dark green armor, at least a couple of centimeters thick, with edges that were serrated like sharp saws.
The whole monster stood about three meters tall, but with its worm tail coiled on the ground stretching about two to three meters long. If it raised its body, it was indeed a massive creature.
"Second Order Low Grade, its strength is not bad."
Su Han was quite satisfied with the monster's strength. Although it required resources and time for breeding, having an additional warrior of Second Order Low Grade for 'free' was certainly not a loss.
"If contracted, does it need to be re-bred?"
Bai Qilan was sizing up the Alien Thorn Worm, observing its form, trying to discern the differences between its breeding and the monster's mutations.
Su Han slightly shook his head and said, "For different womb breedings, just once is enough. After that, it remembers, and further cultivation only needs plenty of energy and time."
After breeding the Alien Thorn Worm, even if it was killed,
as long as there was a large supply of flesh, the Ancient Worm Tree could breed another Alien Thorn Worm directly without a womb, since their genes and constitution had already been recorded.
Su Han glanced at the mist, catching fleeting glimpses of the monster's low roar, as nearby monsters gradually noticed the noise.
He then said to Bai Qilan at his side, "Let's test its combat ability first, then you can contract it."
The Ancient Worm Tree's vines dipped to the ground, and both grabbed the vines as they leapt up to the branches of the Ancient Worm Tree.
This was already most of the nearby monsters, and the frequency of new monsters arriving had greatly decreased.
The Alien Thorn Worm had stopped firing spikes from its palms, both its strength and speed had significantly declined, and its carapace showed numerous cracks while the speed of some wounds healing had drastically slowed.
Fighting hundreds, even thousands alone, prolonged combat had consumed a great amount of its physical strength and its body's spiritual energy; its strength was weakening.
'Endurance in combat can only be considered passing, but compared to her Demon Eye Spider Woman, it's already stronger, different specialization.'
Su Han silently made this judgment; not every Second Order Low Grade monster could possess such a strong physique and endurance in combat, different species naturally have different focuses.
If it were Old Zhu's gluttonous creatures and Bone Armor Giant Pig, then in terms of stamina and defense, they would certainly be superior, but they would have weaknesses in long-range striking and agility.
"Go make the contract."
As Su Han's voice fell, Bai Qilan nodded slightly. Vines caught the two and brought them down, and at this moment, vines hidden underground burst out at an extremely fast speed, sweeping across the entire battlefield.
Monsters were swept up by the vines, their bodies twisted by the constriction, but no matter how much they struggled, they could hardly escape.
Su Han and Bai Qilan approached the Alien Thorn Worm, which, having stopped fighting, was slowly regaining its strength and spiritual energy, its wounds beginning to heal very slowly.
The Book of Blood Spirit in Bai Qilan turned red, and the Demon Eye Spider Woman immediately appeared at her side, raising its palm aimed at the head of the Alien Thorn Worm.
"Pfft"
The Spider Thorn shot out, piercing the head of the Alien Thorn Worm, blood splattering, the Alien Thorn Worm's body convulsed instinctively, but it still did not resist.
The Demon Eye Spider Woman showed no mercy; the Spider Thorn continuously attacked, until not even its regenerative ability could save the Alien Thorn Worm, which completely lost its life.
The moment it lost its life, through the Ancient Worm Tree, Su Han could feel this contracted beast's death.
Tree Womb!
But Su Han had already prepared for this, Bai Qilan was contracting the Alien Thorn Worm nearby, while the crown of the Ancient Worm Tree moved, emanating a dim green light, blood-red vines sweeping toward the corpses on the ground.
Devouring commenced, life material slowly secreted from the vine-like extensions of the Tree Womb, then gradually gathered into a new embryo.
Even smaller than the initial Tree-born Worm, resembling an indistinguishable meatball.
However, this was only temporary.
Nearly a thousand monster corpses turned into nutrients, enough to let the Ancient Worm Tree nurture another Alien Thorn Worm after ten days.
The contract process was not difficult, and in less than a few minutes, the dead Alien Thorn Worm had become Bai Qilan's second Angel Envoy.
Having received the reciprocal feeding, Bai Qilan's physical condition visibly improved, her aura becoming even stronger.
Though contracted as an Angel Envoy, Bai Qilan had the highest command authority.
But undoubtedly, Su Han and Bai Qilan's prediction was correct, as the contracted beast cultivated by the Ancient Worm Tree was completely suppressed by it in terms of bloodline.
The Ancient Worm Tree, without actively targeting with its aura was fine, but if it suppressed without restraint, its overall strength could be suppressed by more than half.
After the contract was completed, Su Han had the Ancient Worm Tree clean up all the monster corpses, taking around six to seven hours, finally completing ingestion, forming a slightly smaller model of the Alien Thorn Worm within the Tree Womb.
Everything was ready, just waiting for the gathering the next day.