Chapter 7: The Butterfly Scholar?

Year Four.
The period of animal grazing and land reclamation.
The butterfly colony successfully survived its first winter.
Although one-third still perished in the caves from weakness, disease, or other unknown causes.
As insects at the bottom of the food chain in this era, they remained fragile.
But having endured the harsh winter, a large workforce emerged in early spring.
Now, unlike previous years when Liu Jun had to cultivate a new batch of caterpillars to spin cocoons and hatch butterflies, followed by various training sessions, a great deal of time was saved.
This was a monumental advancement.
The population, once broken in cycles year after year, had now achieved continuous survival.
Consequently, the butterfly colony had reached a significant scale.
Pollination was the butterfly’s nature, but through domestication, this instinct was expanded to sowing—carrying tiny seed grains and dropping them.
Even this simple action required extensive training.
Butterflies with clipped wings and caterpillars burrowing in the soil, after basic training, could perform a role akin to earthworms loosening the soil.
Loosened soil and scattered seeds—this was a grazing strategy refined through many trials by biological experts.
Yet, Liu Jun gradually sensed something was amiss.
The intelligence of the butterfly colony was increasing too rapidly, and the population had begun to exhibit a certain degree of cognitive ability.
Liu Jun couldn’t help but speculate: Was this “Low Intelligence” mushroom spreading wisdom by infecting through knowledge as a vector?
What kind of wisdom plague was this? It seemed every fungus possessed this infectious trait!
Bestowing intelligence inevitably evoked certain legends.
Could this endlessly eating, silly Amber Swallowtail be the “Goddess of Wisdom”?
Year Five.
Liu Jun’s suspicion proved true. The “Low Intelligence” mushroom propagated knowledge centered on itself, and other butterfly colonies began to display low intelligence traits.
“Eat!”
“Eat!”
“Eat!”
The entire colony consisted of single-minded, eating-obsessed foolish butterflies, fluttering everywhere in the valley.
Liu Jun found it somewhat speechless.
They had brains, but not much.
Was he leading a group of mentally challenged children surviving in the wilderness?
“The hard spines of the Triceratops fish, when processed this way, become sharp spikes that can be powered by psychic energy—perhaps enough to kill small dinosaurs.”
“This is called a ‘Butterfly Cage Sedan Chair.’ The swallowtail colony pulls it, so when you go out, you can sit inside and focus entirely on wielding the spikes to attack predators.”
Buzz buzz buzz!
The butterfly cage flew swiftly through woods, cliffs, and valleys.
Liu Jun and Amber sat inside the sedan, controlling the bone needles suspended midair, performing acupuncture on a nearby egg-stealing dinosaur.
Pfft!
Pfft!
The dinosaur, unable to resist, fled.
...
Over the years, Liu Jun’s life had become extraordinarily fulfilling.
Truly worthy of a feel-good novel, he experienced the joy of being a top student like Li Chengshan—who wouldn’t want to become a scholar steeped in poetry and learning?
Everyone wished to immerse themselves in the happiness of the sea of books!
Previously, the fairy tale book “Amber Swallowtail” was only at Level One.
At that stage, the Amber Swallowtail as the protagonist wielded psychic energy like the wind—only able to flip pages, sweep floors, and write with a pen using psychic power... It was bullied even by a single Jurassic scorpion.
It quickly perished in history.
A truly tragic protagonist.
Now things were different.
The Amber Swallowtail had defied fate, rapidly cultivating to Level Two, the Rain Realm.
Psychic energy could now condense into mental spikes, even control flying needles and blades. Ancient scholars used this to control flying swords, soaring freely through the heavens and earth.
At Level Two, empowered by flight, it could now bully some large land creatures!
Inside the butterfly carriage, Liu Jun quietly gazed down at the scenery below, wind whipping past.
“This Amber Swallowtail truly is a born sage. I recited all those principles I found online, and it instinctively learned them—perfect for teaching me.”
“Acupuncturing dinosaurs together with it, I’ve practically picked up a sage-level psychic energy teacher for free.”
When Liu Jun met the legendary born sages, he realized how terrifying they truly were.
Especially since he had only a cloned, pirated version of a born psychic life with “Low Intelligence”—that alone was extraordinary.
What about those geniuses with normal intelligence?
Unimaginable.
Of course, maybe the “Low Intelligence” locked the Amber Swallowtail’s IQ, and only with a pure heart could it cultivate so fiercely?
Hmm.
Low intelligence might also be a kind of wisdom in cultivation?
But Liu Jun was glad he hadn’t chosen that path.
For him, the disadvantages outweighed the benefits; becoming a silly Amber Swallowtail was a death trap.
Becoming a brainless mess would be disastrous.
Anyway, Liu Jun was quite satisfied to get close to such a creature.
The benefits alone were enough to sate him!
Though Liu Jun himself was also Level Two in the Rain Realm, he was a useless cultivator in practice.
Not just him, but all the students at Rehe High School were the same.
Because their time was short, they didn’t train in combat skills.
They aimed to break through to Level Three before thirty, and after that breakthrough, ascend like a soaring dragon—there would be time to complete combat skills later.
But now, Liu Jun’s path had changed.
For self-preservation, he wanted to learn combat skills immediately.
“The Level Two smart brain model our parents jointly financed is basic, and the pre-installed books don’t include combat skill knowledge.”
“The key is, at this rate, the Amber Swallowtail will soon break through to Level Three.”
“If I kill it and refine it, I’d obtain a Level Three smart brain to rapidly assist my cultivation...”
“The cost? Just a few days, and tens of thousands of psychic blades would skyrocket to tens of millions!”
He hesitated slightly, watching the ravenous Amber Swallowtail. “But refining this fool into a smart brain—is that really... a good idea?”
Using a fool as a brain—are you sure there won’t be problems?
Then, a thought naturally arose in his mind:
“Once this branch unlocks the medium intelligence mushroom, then I’ll consider immediately capturing and refining this butterfly.”
Sensing Liu Jun’s hungry gaze, the Amber Swallowtail blushed slightly.
“Eat eat eat!”
It controlled a jar of bamboo tree sap with psychic energy, flying over, looking at Liu Jun expectantly. “Eat eat eat.”
This was a drink Liu Jun had invented.
He began sipping the sap given by the butterfly, watching the scene beneath the butterfly carriage.
...
The days that followed were simple.
He silently focused on stabilizing the eight-level explosive growth in cultivation, while advancing the swallowtail’s training in the spiritual realm.
Left brain, right brain, smart brain.
The higher the level of the Amber Swallowtail’s external smart brain, the faster Liu Jun’s cultivation progressed.
Soon, winter came and went again.
The new year in the realm of psychic thoughts began afresh; the butterfly colony continued to defy fate, farming, breeding, and even attacking small animals.
The early years were especially harsh for winter survival, but gradually it became easier.
Every spring, when the butterflies emerged from the caves, they looked like characters from a fairy tale.
The entire colony had fully developed the habit of storing food for winter.
Year Six.
Winter was approaching once more.
Liu Jun guided many butterfly colonies to develop, find better food, learn to relocate seeds for planting, and seek settlement in valley caves.
He also taught them to cultivate psychic energy, carefully imparting various mature techniques from the future.
In the valley, Liu Jun gazed at the orderly terraces, delicate tree hollows, and colorful butterflies carrying tiny seeds, preparing to store food for winter like adorable hamsters.
Behind him, the Amber Swallowtail asked, “What shall we do next?”
Its IQ was locked by the “Low Intelligence” trait—this gift gave it life and wisdom but capped its intellectual potential.
Blessing and curse intertwined.
At this moment, its psychic talent was terrifyingly strong, yet it remained simple and obedient, following Liu Jun’s every word.
“We can teach them to cultivate.”
Under Liu Jun’s guidance, the Amber Swallowtail learned to emit an “intentional aura,” prompting nearby butterflies to begin cultivating psychic energy.
In ancient human times, born sages at Level Three could emit an aura that allowed disciples to cultivate psychic energy, forming schools of thought and thriving academies—a golden age of scholars.
But until now, this outdated “aura-type” cultivation method had been replaced by the more advanced “smart brain-type” approach.
Yet now, under the Amber Swallowtail’s aura blessing, the butterflies began to cultivate along the Confucian path.
What was this?
Literati butterflies?
Scholar butterflies?
The story here began to take a new turn.
Liu Jun could not imagine what the future would hold.