Familiar patter of drizzle filled the air. As evening approached, the temperature dropped slightly, bringing a hint of chill. It was a season Bubbles had experienced before—not the season of yesteryear, but the onset of early autumn.

This time, after shedding its exoskeleton and undergoing a month-long slumber, Bubbles emerged directly from the dry season's end to the rain-laden days of early autumn. At the entrance of the nest, a lush green grass, towering at least 300 units high, swayed gently in the rain. Particularly striking was the pale purple spike atop it, emitting a faint purple glow in the dim light, remarkably eye-catching.

It was the Xun Grass, the Life Seed!

Not only had it survived the dry season, but it had also grown to an unimaginable height and even sprouted spikes and flowers. Bubbles couldn't help but marvel. Earlier, the Xun Grass fields seemed devastated by drought and locusts. But after a month, not only had they survived, but many of them had also sprouted spikes and flowers.

The Xun Grass was a remarkably resilient plant—a miracle of life, indeed. Bubbles couldn't help but be amazed.

Lost in thought, Bubbles suddenly felt a gentle surge of primordial force rushing into its body, causing some discomfort. The Xun Grass seeds had accumulated too much primordial force, needing release, and they forcefully transferred it to Bubbles.

With its current limited absorption and digestion capacity, only a small portion of the primordial force was absorbed by Bubbles' cells, while the rest dissipated back into nature.

"Nowadays, my autonomous absorption rate of primordial force is just enough to sustain my growth. As expected, to advance to Level 4, I'll need the assistance of Life Seeds."

"In late autumn, I can harvest another batch of Xun Grass seeds, and on the mountainside..."

There lay the legacy of the Red Beetle tribe warrior—a dozen or so sapling trees and a raspberry bush already bearing fruit.

It promised to be a bountiful year, just the thought of it was exciting. Once I grow stronger, I can return to the mountains and rightfully claim those Life Seeds. While seeds nurtured by other warriors can't assist in primordial force absorption, they yield a generous harvest of primordial fruit each year, a substantial income.

Rainy weather was perfect for venturing out; at such times, insects hid away, and potential predators lurked, making it relatively safe.

After a few seconds of consideration, Bubbles dismissed the idea of going to check the situation. The journey was long, and it would be a waste of time and energy to go back and forth for no reason. Estimating that the raspberry fruit would only ripen in about a month, there was still time to go back up the mountain and harvest then.

With thick clouds looming and the rain intensifying, Bubbles decided to return to the nest and continue consuming dried meat, recuperating.

Now was the time to cultivate the third Life Seed—between the White Jade Mulberry and the Sunburst Fruit. After careful consideration, Bubbles decided to prioritize the Sunburst Fruit.

***

When the rain cleared, the worker ants were busy carrying out waterlogged seeds, drying them under the sun.

Bubbles habitually checked their stockpile but found no bestowed seeds. However, it didn't feel disappointed; relying on good fortune all the time wasn't realistic.

The population of the Swordhorn Green Locusts in the Xun Grass fields had dwindled, posing a pressing problem for hunting.

Venturing into the grass by the creek to search, Bubbles inadvertently found itself back in the mulberry forest. Hanging from the mulberry trees were oval silkworm cocoons, catching Bubbles' attention.

Cutting open the cocoons revealed tender and plump silkworm pupae, dormant, awaiting metamorphosis into moths.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was a stroke of luck that they survived. A fortunate find indeed.

Bubbles busied itself, cutting open the cocoons, killing the pupae inside, transporting them back, drying them, and storing them. Many insects laid eggs in late autumn, then quickly aged and died. The eggs would lie dormant through the cold winter, hatching in the following spring, thus perpetuating their species.

This meant that there would be no insect hunting in the winter.

Bubbles didn't want to go hungry in the winter, so it had to stock up on food in advance.

As a primordial force creature, Bubbles required a large amount of food. With the silkworm cocoons unable to meet its needs and the dwindling numbers of Swordhorn Green Locusts, Bubbles expanded its hunting range and added two new regular hunting targets.

The first was crickets—similar to Swordhorn Green Locusts, they had well-developed hind legs, which were a delicacy. They were the most common small insects in the jungle. Although abundant, they were small in size and often foraged alone or in pairs, highly alert, requiring ambush tactics to catch, making it quite challenging.

The other target was called the marsh frog—a brown amphibian with tree bark-like brown patterns. Nocturnal, they liked to hunt among the trees on both sides of the stream at night. Bubbles targeted the young marsh frogs that had just hatched in the summer, with a body length of only about 30 units. They had low vigilance and were easy to hunt, although their numbers were limited.

Bubbles also noticed a large number of adult Glow-shouldered Star Beetles laying eggs. They would lay their eggs under the bark of trees, with each female beetle able to lay over a hundred eggs in succession.

Star Beetles were a scourge in the jungle. Their eggs would hatch in late autumn, and the larvae would burrow into the tree trunks, gnawing on wood, quietly growing through the cold winter and reaching a certain size by spring.

The plump and juicy larvae were a delicious treat.

Bubbles carefully observed the oviposition patterns of the adult Star Beetles, planning to harvest them before next spring.

***

With only a limited time available for hunting each day, Bubbles mostly spent its time lying idle at the nest entrance, guarding the Life Seeds, digesting food, absorbing cosmic primordial force, and sensing its own growth.

Bubbles still wasn't accustomed to the passive growth and evolution beyond its own will, but it couldn't ignore the essence of the existence of the circulatory system.

The human circulatory system was used to store and guide cosmic primordial force, conforming to one's own will to modify the body, efficiently utilizing primordial force, and promoting genetic evolution toward an ideal direction.

Although a cockroach's body lacked blood vessels, it could perfectly contain and release cosmic primordial force. In essence, it possessed the same storage and guidance capabilities as the circulatory system, with the difference being that a cockroach's blood circulated automatically throughout the body, carrying primordial force that naturally dissipated.

With a sudden realization one day, Bubbles understood that it had been fixated on the absence of blood vessels, overlooking the essential meaning of circulation.

Human blood circulation was regulated by hormones and not subject to conscious control. However, it was not necessarily the case for cockroaches.

While humans had only one heart, cockroaches had three large hearts in their thorax and abdomen, with many small hearts distributed

throughout the body. These hearts worked together to pump blood. Additionally, the numerous hearts had another wonderful function—acting as barriers. For instance, if a leg was severed, the heart near the joint would immediately cease beating, closing the gate. Therefore, injured cockroaches only bled minimally.

Bubbles also made a remarkable discovery—after each molt and growth, the size of its hearts hardly changed. To maintain blood circulation, more hearts would grow from the blood vessels in its body.

This was Bubbles' finding on the changes in its own body. Whether other cockroaches' bodies changed similarly remained uncertain.

Bubbles' idea was simple: with countless blood vessels throughout its body, seemingly intricate but actually having significant regularity, if it could control the beating and cessation of all its hearts, it could guide blood circulation within its body, effectively guiding the circulation of primordial force for cultivation.

Implementing this was extremely difficult. Whether a heart beat depended on the body's condition and hormonal stimulation and was not subject to conscious manipulation.

With a wealth of cultivation experience from a previous life and a grasp of advanced scientific knowledge and esoteric cultivation techniques, Bubbles, after figuring out the key, immediately devised a solution—or rather, found a path to cultivation.

Every movement would engage muscles, consuming energy and nutrients. This would stimulate certain hearts to accelerate or stop beating, ensuring that the area engaged in movement received sufficient replenishment of energy, nutrients, and oxygen, while removing waste discharged by cells.

If the movements were too intense, the hearts associated with other inactive areas would slow down or stop beating altogether, ensuring that the areas engaged in movement received ample replenishment.

With the direction clarified, the next step was an immense exploration project: devising various movements while simultaneously sensing changes in the heart rhythms.

Bubbles was determined to master this control over its bodily functions, a breakthrough that would pave the way for its cultivation journey.