During this period in the Hidden Sand Village, Simu was busy on two fronts. On one hand, he used the Food Pills made from Blood Spirit Insects to open up the market for the Spider Lily Company's expansion into the Land of Wind. On the other hand, he manufactured a massive number of desert races and integrated them into the local ecosystem to gather intelligence.
Among them, the Desert Dragonfly played a vital role. These dragonflies could easily adapt to the climate of the Land of Wind, living normally even in the desert's environment of extreme temperature fluctuations. Their food sources were quite complex; they could feed on dried plants, rotting corpses, microorganisms, or even provide themselves with energy through photosynthesis using the fungal colonies on their backs. Furthermore, these dragonflies could lay their eggs directly in the desert, producing thousands of offspring at once.Getty Images
Owing to their powerful survival and reproductive capabilities, this new species perfectly integrated into the local ecosystem in just a few short months. They provided an ample food source for numerous other desert predators. Naturally, this new organism appearing suddenly in the desert was not as simple as common people might imagine.
Although every Desert Dragonfly appeared to be an independent individual, that was not the case. Within every territory, there was an initial Desert Dragonfly Broodmother Nest. All information acquired by the dragonflies within that range would be shared back to the nest. These nests acted like biological signal towers. According to Simu's commands, they would filter the information gathered by the dragonflies and transmit it to him, serving as his eyes across more than half of the desert.ShutterstockExplorar
Beyond this, Simu created two more new races: the Ghost-Faced Wind Scorpion and the Poison-Blade Centipede. The former was modeled after a scorpion, with a hideous ghost face on its back. It could release a type of pheromone similar to Genjutsu that made enemies feel fear. Moreover, these creatures were incredibly fast; even a ninja would find it difficult to deal with a swarm of Wind Scorpions.
The Poison-Blade Centipede was a true predator of the desert. They would usually hide beneath the sand, waiting until someone passed above. Then, they would suddenly burst from the sand and use their blade-like, venomous claws to put their prey in grave danger. Both species were similarly subject to the control and influence of the Broodmother Nests.
To be honest, Simu's inspiration came from Nagato. Nagato's method for controlling several clones involved using the black receivers on their bodies to transmit chakra. This allowed the information sensed by each one to be shared with Nagato, who then used chakra to coordinate the collective actions of the clones. In other words, however many clones Nagato deployed, he had to divide his mind among them during battle. This was a massive challenge for ordinary people. Those black receivers essentially acted as signal receivers. Consequently, Simu imitated this to build the Broodmother Network.
Of course, Simu could not completely copy Nagato's theory. Controlling a few clones was already a hassle, and the total number of all Jashin races currently across the Shinobi World likely exceeded one hundred million. If Simu wanted to precisely control every single one, his mind would likely crash instantly, no matter how strong his spiritual power was. Therefore, he chose to set up one Broodmother Nest in each region.
During normal times, he could let these creatures act freely—hunting, breeding, and living just like normal biological organisms. For most of the time, the Broodmother Nests acting as signal relay stations would remain in a dormant state. They only reacted to anomalies appearing within their sensory range to ensure minimum energy consumption. Only when Simu had a need would his orders descend upon these nests. The nests would then transmit the signal to all Jashin organisms within their control range to complete tasks such as reconnaissance.
The Desert Dragonflies were relatively harmless, as they had no negative impact on humans. On the contrary, in the remote areas and impoverished small towns of the Land of Wind, many residents had begun catching these dragonflies as a food source. As for the Ghost-Faced Wind Scorpion and the Poison-Blade Centipede, they had a massive impact on the travel of Land of Wind residents. It was said that many merchant caravans encountered swarms of Wind Scorpions or Centipedes lying in ambush while traveling through the desert. Without ninja protection, encountering these monsters in the desert was essentially a death sentence.
Because of this, the mission volume for the Hidden Sand Village had recently surged. Correspondingly, because there were more missions, the demand for the weapons and medicines required for those tasks became red-hot. The Spider Lily Company flourished under this background. Similarly flourishing was the Jashin Religion within the Land of Wind.
Although the Daimyo of the Land of Wind had once issued an order prohibiting the spread of the Jashin Religion, the Land of Wind was vast, making it impossible to prevent. Coupled with the fact that the land was barren, life in the small villages on the rocky plateaus was quite difficult, except for a few large oases in the core regions. The monsters suddenly appearing in the desert made the already difficult lives of these villagers even worse. After all, these impoverished villagers did not have enough money to hire the ninja lords of the Hidden Sand Village to clear out those monsters.
However, this suffering ended when three young people arrived at the village. Although the three looked somewhat strange, with just a slight display of skill, they dispersed the swarms of Wind Scorpions lurking outside, helping the villagers solve a major crisis. After gaining the initial trust of the villagers, the trio brought out a faceless divine statue for them to worship. They claimed that as long as they became believers of the Jashin Religion, they would never again be attacked by these monsters while walking through the desert.
The three also helped the villagers dig wells to obtain water and taught them how to plant Divine Rice.
"The Lord saw your suffering, so he specifically created this crop so that you may survive better."
Jugo, shrouded in a brown hood, spoke while holding a stalk of plump rice. Hearing this, all the villagers present immediately knelt and began bowing to Jugo repeatedly.
"We are grateful for the Lord's mercy! We thank the Lord for his gift!"
"We are willing to become believers of the Lord!"
Jugo felt the worship of all the villagers, a faint smile touching his face. After the ceremony ended, Rie Uzumaki came to Jugo's side and teased, "Jugo, I think you're getting more and more used to this role."
Jugo touched his face, wondering, "Am I?"
"Of course. You might not be as grand as Lord Kamizuki, but you finally look like a priest of the Jashin Religion."
Rie raised her chin slightly. In her heart, only Lord Kamizuki was the best!