Chapter 34: The Flourishing Prosperity of the Butterfly Clan
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Liu Jun switched off the television, deep in thought.
It seemed highly likely that Chong Shisan had not been captured yet.
That made sense.
After last night, he should be impossible to find.
Every Mushroom talent was infectious.
The Wisdom Mushroom spread wisdom.
Low Consumption could spread Low Consumption.
But this was only a temporary blessing. Previously, when the Immortal God’s Low Consumption had drawn near him, the butterflies had gained merely a period of delayed aging.
The same was true now.
“Vanishing Without a Trace, Long Life and Clear Sight”—temporarily infecting himself with it could help him survive a period of growth.
As long as he did not act recklessly, he would be safe for the short term.
“But the trouble is, he may not be able to endure the loneliness. With a fellow like him, who knows what he might do?”
Liu Jun could not help laughing.
What happened next was beyond his ability to interfere with. Whether it brought fortune or disaster would depend entirely on Chong Shisan himself.
At worst, he would merely be captured by the Corporation and used as a prototype, clanging away as he produced supercomputers. In any case, considering the interests of all parties, they would never kill him.
There was nothing more Liu Jun could do for him. It was time to attend to his own affairs.
The first step was to make money.
“This time, he let Li Feng and Zou Anmeng make a fortune. I can take advantage of the opportunity and earn some money too.”
“I can make a Little Angel supercomputer and sell it while the excitement is still high.”
Liu Jun did not allow himself to become inflated with success. He knew perfectly well that he was merely an impoverished high-school senior.
He found another lending company, Rehe Diligent Loans, and borrowed money to purchase a new PC001 Amber Swallowtail supercomputer.
Because the recent craze had driven up the price of this model, it now cost eighty thousand Thought Blades.
Liu Jun did not hesitate. He paid the eighty thousand Thought Blades and bought it outright.
Then he brought it back to Mushroom Soup and modified it.
Chong Shisan had used the infectious nature of the mushrooms to rapidly alter the form of a supercomputer.
As the Mushroom Lord, Liu Jun could naturally do the same.
He spent the entire afternoon finishing the work, then successfully sold the Little Angel supercomputer on the trading platform for the astonishing price of three hundred and twenty thousand Thought Blades.
The price might rise even further, but Liu Jun had no intention of waiting.
Afterward, he used the money to repay his previous loan from Rehe Drip Loans, as well as the debt he had just incurred from Rehe Diligent Loans.
After turning the money over a few times and paying the interest, he still had one hundred and thirty thousand Thought Blades left.
“It just means I can’t sell several more Little Angel supercomputers.”
His thoughts shifted.
“I originally had an Amber Swallowtail supercomputer in my possession. In the eyes of outsiders, I redeemed it last week. Last night, I appeared with this machine after it underwent a mutation, and today I sold it. The sequence of events fits perfectly.”
“Even with Li Feng and Zou Anmeng, I can bluff my way through using this explanation. I can say that I redeemed it long ago and that it was detonated last night.”
“But if I produce a second one, its origins will be unclear. Anyone clever enough might guess that, like a certain angel, I can mass-produce this model of supercomputer.”
This money could only be earned once.
Even if the major company had a record showing that he had just bought another new Amber Swallowtail supercomputer, they would merely assume that he was stockpiling them in anticipation of another possible great gift from the Angel King.
“Making this little bit of money really isn’t easy.”
Liu Jun was extremely cautious.
In this era, one needed a legal and legitimate identity in order to survive quietly.
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Carrying those hundred-odd thousand Thought Blades, he went to the cultivation gardens in the black market and bought a large quantity of animal nutritional feed, soil, flowerpots, and even various tools for the laboratory.
Now that he had a little money, he planned to renovate Mushroom Soup.
A mushroom cultivation garden was about to be established in earnest!
…
Butterfly Era, Year 153.
On the whole, nothing happened throughout the age.
The older generation of angels had mostly died in battle, their lifespans ignited, their corpses strewn across the land.
As for the younger generation of the angel race, a number of their carefully nurtured core successors had died in those years, leaving them still in a state where the old were dying out before the young had matured.
Upon the Cangwu Tree, Liu Jun opened layer after layer of woven flower buds and awoke in a soft bed of fresh blossoms.
He climbed onto a petal and surveyed the surrounding temples, then looked down beneath his feet.
Even this holy and magnificent temple was hung with murals depicting the angels and recounting the history of their civilization.
After all, angels were also a branch of the butterfly race.
As for the flower bud beneath him, it had actually been made from silkworm thread…
“What is this supposed to be? An aberrant butterfly that has already cocooned and grown a flower bud?”
Liu Jun pondered the matter.
Angel civilization was advancing, while the butterflies here had continued experimenting with all kinds of “life knots.” They had made considerable progress.
On the table lay various reports and records, waiting for their prophet to awaken and read them.
“Very considerate.”
“Empress Die Lvxian has always been a ruler who knows when to advance and when to retreat, and who keeps everything in good order.”
Liu Jun began leafing through the reports on the various developments of recent years.
Most of the species that had emerged were still incomplete. There were roughly thirty similar varieties.
The time available had simply been too short.
Even the once world-famous angel race—a winged little sphere—had been only a half-finished product.
Only at the final moment had it undergone complete sublimation and developed into its next form: the Archangel.
However, after Chong Shisan’s departure, no other Little Angel had yet managed to reach that form.
They remained one “angel egg” after another.
Clearly, evolving from a Little Angel into an Archangel was extraordinarily difficult, with an extremely high threshold.
After he had studied the reports for a while, A-Feng came running over happily.
“You’re finally awake?”
“How have things been lately?” Liu Jun set down the documents in his hands.
“Not bad.” The Phoenix Emperor counted on his fingers. “Over the years, it wasn’t only that group of angels who grew old. In recent years, a number of the older-generation phoenix butterflies have passed away as well.”
Even with Liu Jun’s blessing, the lives of these second-order psychic butterflies ended in old age before they reached a hundred.
Yes.
In this dream world, they still died of old age.
The current age was highly advanced. Living beings no longer had a physical lifespan, because various cloning technologies had long since made it possible to replace the body.
The soul, however, was the true foundation of longevity.
People like them, who devoted themselves to reading, could pass through countless years in a single night, experiencing the lives of others. It seemed as though they had gained time.
In truth, what they consumed was the lifespan of their souls.
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Therefore, reading good books—books of quality—was the key.
Reading miscellaneous books only wasted time.
Of course, comprehension was important as well.
Some people read for countless years yet remained mediocre talents, unable to grasp the principles within. They remained stuck at the second order for their entire lives, waiting only for their souls to wither and die.
“Birth, aging, illness, and death are the natural order of the world. We will gradually grow accustomed to them,” Liu Jun said calmly. “How are the five of them doing now?”
“They’re still researching how to become the new gods of the next generation. But after the Angel King, neither the One Emperor nor the Four Marquises has managed to break through.”
“A meeting of minds is rather important.” Liu Jun smiled.
Deep love does not grant longevity.
The latter half of Chong Shisan’s life had been spent in regret and suffering.
A lifetime of profound devotion, half a lifetime of anguish.
Naturally, that made him compatible with the Mushroom of Absolute Passion for the Dao.
As for the other butterflies…
They would probably have difficulty achieving compatibility with the other treasures.
The Amber Swallowtail then gave Liu Jun a detailed account of the developments over the years.
Emperor Die Lvxian was still painstakingly researching how to fuse with the divine treasures.
Empress Die Lvx心 had spent these years not only helping manage the affairs of the various races, but had also fallen in love with beautiful clothing. She had become a master of fashion and developed all kinds of garments.
The butterfly race had grown even more beautiful.
Their culture had flourished further. City-states had appeared, along with every kind of exquisite architecture. Even the patterns in the paving stones on the ground were shaped like butterfly knots.
The Third, Die Hongjun, was still conducting his various cocooning-evolution experiments. Over the years, he had overseen the creation of many embryonic forms of new creatures.
New races were being born one after another.
The entire civilization was filled with vigor and vitality. It was no longer a primitive tribal society; the world had almost become unrecognizable to Liu Jun.
There was only one question that had troubled Die Hongjun throughout these years: who had framed him back then?
If the Angel King had still been alive, the matter would certainly have been uncovered with ease.
But now that all the older-generation angels had passed away, the mastermind behind it was likely destined to remain an unsolved mystery in the annals of history.
The Fourth, Die Chiyin, was carefree and utterly unconcerned.
Over the years, he had managed the race’s food supply and cultivation, developed a passion for cuisine, and created many bizarre and unusual dishes.
As civilization advanced, they placed ever greater importance on food and enjoyment.
The Fifth, Die Mingren, remained an ascetic and commanded the butterfly race’s guard army.
There was one more matter as well.
Long ago, the gods had bestowed three trials.
The gods had taken one away, another had vanished along with the Angel King, and the last had fallen into the mortal world. Yet no matter how they searched, they could not find it. Its whereabouts were unknown.
Liu Jun frowned slightly when he heard this.
“The one that fell into the mortal world was High Intelligence. It has disappeared? You can’t find it?”
“You didn’t sense it?” Liu Jun asked.
“Huh?” The Amber Swallowtail looked somewhat bewildered.
Every talent possessed its own distinctive nature. Liu Jun had no idea what was happening. Could it be that those of low intelligence were unworthy of sensing high intelligence?
There was nothing to do but let matters take their course.
Afterward, Liu Jun spent several days playing with the Phoenix Emperor, teaching it that it had to cultivate diligently. He also spoke with the One Emperor and Four Marquises, strengthening their bonds somewhat.
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