Chapter 141 - 134: Escape

Chapter 141: Chapter 134: Escape

In an instant, immense Qi Blood burst forth from Gong Bai’s chest, and the surrounding temperature rose slightly.

Ah!

Sensing the life force rapidly draining from his body, Gong Bai let out a roar of defiance. Scarlet Qi Blood coiled around his fist as he threw a punch at the demonic creature before him, which shimmered with a five-colored spiritual aura.

Xiaohai’s body twitched slightly, and it abruptly vanished.

Gong Bai’s fist slammed heavily onto the Spirit Field.

BOOM...

Dirt flew everywhere.

After that single strike, Gong Bai’s aura plummeted, and the thick Qi Blood swirling around his body dissipated weakly.

WHOOSH...

Just then, a streak of five-colored light shot straight for the spot between Gong Bai’s eyebrows.

"Ah!"

’Aargh!’ Gong Bai roared internally. He tried to mobilize all his Qi Blood to defend himself, but with a shattered heart, he could only muster a fraction of it to shield his head.

He could only watch helplessly as it drew closer and closer...

PFFT... a soft sound.

The light slowly faded from Gong Bai’s eyes. The Qi Blood covering his body dispersed completely, and he collapsed limply to the ground.

HISS...

Xiaohai landed on his head, opened its mouth, and let out a fanged hiss. It then burrowed into his body and began to devour him ravenously.

The body of a Body Cultivator comparable to the Early-Meridian Condensation stage contained abundant Qi Blood, enough to replenish what it needed after its advancement.

Just then, Li Changsheng suddenly felt a tremor in his consciousness.

He quickly withdrew from Xiaohai’s perspective, his consciousness returning to his own body.

Not far from the hill where Li Changsheng was located, a heavyset Power Demon Sect Cultivator with a Six-eyed Spider tattooed on his chest moved through the forest.

Just as he took a few more steps forward, he suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise.

The heavyset Cultivator, with an agility that defied his build, teleported a few times and snatched at an inconspicuous branch on a large tree.

BUZZ...

A thumb-sized insect with a body like a bamboo segment suddenly took flight. Just as it flew off, a large hand descended from above and snatched it firmly in its palm.

As soon as the heavyset Cultivator landed, he felt a sharp, needle-like pain in his palm as venom flowed into his body.

He clicked his tongue, but kept his hand clenched shut, not even circulating his Qi Blood to resist the poison.

The Six-eyed Spider tattooed on his chest flashed with a faint green fluorescent light.

A few breaths later.

The heavyset Cultivator slowly opened his hand. The insect’s proboscis was embedded in his palm, but the creature was dead.

"Haha, not a bad little snack."

He grinned, picked up the insect, and popped it into his mouth. He chewed vigorously, and from his blissful expression, anyone who didn’t know better would have thought he was eating a gourmet meal.

After that, he started wandering around the area.

The heavyset Cultivator seemed to have an extraordinary perception for insects, finding, capturing, and devouring one after another, each of a different shape.

He seemed particularly fond of the ones with bamboo-segment bodies. As he twisted and shifted through the forest, devouring one insect after another, he drew ever closer to Li Changsheng’s hill.

By the time Li Changsheng’s consciousness perceived the threat, his connection to more than a dozen insects in his scattered swarm had already vanished.

And the number was still rising.

’Have they found me...?’

Li Changsheng’s expression grew grave. He closed his eyes and focused, his consciousness swiftly sinking into the five-colored star.

Immediately, a lazy feeling washed over his mind; it seemed Xiaohai was full and wanted to go back to sleep.

"If you keep sleeping, your master is going to die! Get back here, now!"

After giving the order, Li Changsheng’s consciousness returned, and he connected with the scattered insects to confirm the enemy’s location.

The moment he gave the command, an insect covered in fine, root-like tendrils and marked with five colored lines on its body emerged from a shriveled husk of a corpse. It twitched for a moment, then transformed into a streak of light, speeding toward Li Changsheng.

At this time, the heavyset Cultivator with the Six-eyed Spider tattoo had also reached Li Changsheng’s hill.

His solemn expression held a trace of excitement. He moved like an agile predator, inspecting every part of the hill with each step.

He had just eaten over a dozen spirit insects of the same type, yet he couldn’t find any trace of a nest.

Even a fool would realize that these weren’t wild spirit insects, but rather ones controlled by a Cultivator.

This immediately made him think of the Spirit Plant Master that Congli had ordered them to find.

’This is my chance to strike it rich!’ the heavyset Cultivator rejoiced inwardly.

As he searched the hill.

Li Changsheng emerged from his cave and looked up toward the hilltop, his eyes glinting with killing intent.

After a moment of hesitation, he turned and fled.

He wasn’t confident he could kill this man in a single blow, and if the commotion attracted other Power Demon Sect Cultivators, he wouldn’t even have a chance to escape.

With a heavy heart, Li Changsheng left twenty of his newly advanced insects behind as a decoy and led the rest of the swarm away.

He moved cautiously through the dense forest, his swarm scattered in a three-hundred-meter radius around him.

Time trickled by.

He crossed several hills.

Li Changsheng stopped in a sunken ravine, took a few breaths, then closed his eyes and focused his mind, sensing the connections to his swarm.

The swarm was scattered around him like a field of stars, and everything seemed normal.

He could only sense Xiaohai through the star in their spiritual contract, and it was rapidly rushing toward him.

Li Changsheng breathed a sigh of relief. ’Once Xiaohai arrives, I’ll be able to evade them more easily.’

Just as he was preparing to regulate his breathing, several of his mental connections to the insects abruptly vanished.

"How did they get here so fast!"

A look of astonishment appeared on Li Changsheng’s face, but before he could even move...

In the next instant.

Several voices—some raspy, some rough, some shrill—rang out from all directions.

"Found you!" "Don’t even think about running." "You’d better come out peacefully, save yourself a world of pain."

The voices weren’t far. It seemed they had truly pinpointed his location.

Li Changsheng’s expression shifted. He suppressed his rising panic and, after a few moments of hesitation, strode determinedly in one direction.

At the same time, he commanded his swarm to rapidly converge on his position.

Before long.

Before long, he saw a burly man standing atop a large boulder on the hill ahead. The man was dressed in animal skins and wore a necklace of beast teeth.

When he saw the mark between Li Changsheng’s eyebrows, his eyes lit up, and he asked:

"You’re that Spirit Plant Master, Li Changsheng?"

Li Changsheng frowned without a word. With a mental command, the swarm hovering above his head charged toward the brawny man.

BUZZ...

The sight of the black mass of insects made the brawny man’s expression stiffen. Activating his Qi Blood, he yelled, "The Spirit Plant Master is over here!"

"Third Brother, hold him for a moment."

"Haha! To think we three brothers would stumble upon such a good thing!"

Two loud shouts echoed from the forest behind them.

Li Changsheng: "..."

’Seriously? You’re not even going to try fighting before calling for backup?’

Li Changsheng dismissed the thought, shot the brawny man a harsh glare, and summoned Xiaohua. He vaulted onto its back and slapped its bristly mane.

"Run!"

OINK OINK...

Seemingly sensing his urgency, Xiaohua’s muscles tensed. It scrambled on its hooves, darting through a gap between the hills and into the forest.

The brawny man saw him flee and was about to give chase when the black mass of the swarm surged forward and enveloped him.

Almost instantly, more than ten mid-grade insects plunged their proboscises into his skin, injecting a blood-corrupting venom.

"Aargh..."

The brawny man let out a series of miserable screams as his skin visibly swelled and turned red.

After delaying him for over a dozen breaths, the swarm scattered and melted back into the forest.

Squinting his swollen eyes, the brawny man vigorously rubbed the spots where the insects had bitten him. He glanced toward the dark forest, but after a moment’s hesitation, he didn’t dare to pursue.

He sat cross-legged on the rock and circulated his Cultivation Technique to recover.

A few breaths later.

The swelling on the brawny man’s skin had mostly subsided when the sound of two pairs of heavy, hurried footsteps reached his ears.

"Third Brother, where is he?"

A fat Cultivator and a lean one landed beside the brawny man, their eyes scanning the area as they asked urgently.

The brawny man didn’t hesitate, pointing behind him. "He was riding a pig. He went into the forest."

"Why didn’t you stop him." "Useless."

The two of them shot him a glare, unleashed their Qi Blood, and gave chase into the forest.

The brawny man followed closely behind, saying helplessly, "He controls hundreds of spirit insects! I couldn’t stop him."

"They’re just a bunch of low- and mid-grade insects. It’s not like they could have killed you."

The heavyset Cultivator glanced back at him and snapped, "If he gets away, you’ll pay for it."

"I..."

"Enough nonsense."

Just as the brawny man was about to speak, the lean Cultivator cut in, "Second Brother, find him. Which way did he go?"

"Yes, Eldest Brother."

The heavyset Cultivator channeled his Qi Blood into the Six-eyed Spider tattoo on his chest. A few breaths later, he pointed southeast and shouted, "The aura of his insects is that way."

"Let’s go!"

Without hesitation, the three of them sprinted off to the southeast.

「Five hundred meters away.」

Sitting atop Xiaohua, Li Changsheng once again sensed Xiaohai’s location. After confirming the distance, he opened his eyes.

He glanced over his shoulder, then urged Xiaohua toward a nearby mountain stream.

Xiaohua truly was an excellent mount.

Although its build prevented it from being particularly fast in the forest, it wasn’t just blundering about blindly. It always chose paths wide enough for its large body.

Its eyes were small but incredibly effective.

Soon, Xiaohua had carried him into the mountain stream.

Just then, the three from the Power Demon Sect caught up. Seeing the man and his pig in the stream, they charged forward.

Halfway there, the brawny man sneered, "When I get my hands on you, I’ll show you what it really means to be devoured by a swarm of insects."

Li Changsheng glanced back at the three charging men and gave a mental command.

The swarm hovering above his head dove straight at the three of them.

Faced with the diving insects, the three men immediately halted.

A look of disdain flashed across the heavyset Cultivator’s face as he surged his Qi Blood into the Six-eyed Spider tattoo on his chest.

The next instant.

The fat Cultivator opened his mouth. Accompanied by a pungent, foul stench, a thick, jade-green cloud of poison gas billowed out, enveloping the oncoming insects.

The moment the swarm flew into the toxic gas, the un-graded insects dissolved into puddles of goo within seconds.

The low- and mid-grade insects were also affected; their flight speed slowed drastically, as if they were wading through mud.

This was the first time Li Changsheng’s swarm had suffered such heavy losses. The hundred-plus insects he had just recently bonded with were all dead.

Li Changsheng frowned at the heavyset Cultivator and, with a mental command, ordered the swarm to retreat.

He then urged Xiaohua to continue fleeing down the stream.

The fat Cultivator took a sharp breath, and the jade-green toxic gas instantly flowed back into his body.

"After him!"

The lean Cultivator used some unknown technique, his speed suddenly doubling. In a few quick teleports, he landed right in front of Li Changsheng.

He looked at Li Changsheng and said, "You’re the one Lord Congli wants. Surrender quietly. Otherwise, if we three brothers have to get rough... heh heh..."