Lu Qingshan poked his head out from the trees covering his position. Behind him sat three trembling cultivators, staring distantly at the sky. He had just confirmed the position of a moving object through his flies and needed to see what it was.

  A shadowy figure flitted through the trees to disappear among the canopy. They were far away, very far, but Lu Qingshan was sure that was a humanoid. There were parts of their body that looked misaligned, yet it moved with an intelligence as if hunting for something.

  The path Lu Qingshan had taken was different than before. Here, a large patch of thick and tall trees grew high towards the sky. In this area were a new host of demonized insects containing deadly venoms and toxins.

  Even Lu Qingshan had to be careful the first time he encountered a new enemy. Thinking that the wasp he’d seen was the same old wasp he’d slaughtered in droves before, he had traded a sting in return for the lives of a pair of giant mantises. Even now, his arm was swollen, and a fiery pain shot through his whole body every so often.

  As an Innate realm expert, he should’ve been able to flush it out within moments. That it could last this long meant it was a truly powerful poison. Liu Yingting would definitely enjoy this place.

  For now, Lu Qingshan had to deal with the pain. It would go away with time, but the demonic cultivators wouldn’t. He followed after the blurry figure’s direction once his flies traced their movement path a good distance away.

  The shadowy figure slipped deeper into the forest. Embedded onto a sudden cliff here was a path covered in thorny vines. They had disappeared here, and Lu Qingshan sent his flies to see if there was an entrance.

  He frowned. The gap shouldn’t have been able to fit anyone through. Clearly the figure had some abilities.

  Still, his flies were small enough to fit through the holes in the vines. He sent them downwards. It took them a while before they managed to find a path through. Then they exited into what appeared to be a cave.

  Lu Qingshan tried to see where the shadowy figure had gone, but it was too dark. His brows furrowed. Following them down was a considerable risk. But it had taken him too much effort to successfully follow the figure here. Without a subject for the Bloodsense Bug to drink from, Lu Qingshan would likely lose the location of this secret cave.

  He hesitated. There was the option to attack the shadowy figure when they resurfaced. This might be the only way to gather initial impressions about the demonic cultivators’ plans. He had to go down that cave, and see personally why they felt the need to send someone here alone.

  So he waited. The spiritual earthworm dropped into the soil and burrowed downwards to act as a premature warning. Soon, something else approached rapidly, and the spiritual connection between them shivered.

  Lu Qingshan slammed a fist in full force against the shadowy figure that emerged from the vines. The Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique roared, chasing the silhouette as it tried to dash away. Caught off guard, it could only make it a few paces before his fist tore straight through its chest.

  Shadows bubbled and fell away like draped curtains. A man covered in hairlike growths appeared in front of Lu Qingshan’s eyes. Their entire body was wrapped in stubble, the small hairs moving with the wind. His eyes were closed.

  Lu Qingshan had immediately chanted the Insect Harmony Technique the moment the figure broke through to the surface. In doing so he captured the spirituality of the spiritual insect lurking in the man’s body. A command forced it to be still, preventing the bug from moving.

  He eased the insect out from the corpse. It was a gristly thing. A centipede emerged, legs long like hair, twisted in a hundred directions and groping at the air. Beside him, Song Lin retched.

  Lu Qingshan felt the connection between him and the hair centipede form. A wave of resentment slammed into him like a truck. For a moment, he struggled to breathe underneath the tide. This was a spiritual insect created by demonic methods.

  A short memory floated into his consciousness unbidden. He was a woman, with long flowing hair, born underneath the bright moon. The next moment his head was severed and his hair dyed in the color of tens of shades of blood. As his own crimson lifeforce bled and stained the hair again in a poisoned glow, a centipede crawled inside its newly made nest.

  Lu Qingshan resurfaced, gasping for air, then slowly recovered his breath. The centipede still moved with his will. That memory had just been the product of lingering emotions from the people who died to produce this spiritual insect, not an actual spirit possessing the centipede. The yin qi innate in the creature had flared up to meet his connection.

  He closed his eyes for another moment, recalling the memory. Hidden inside the brief glimpses was a new ritual not found in Daoist Qingxu's book. It could create the spiritual insect crawling in front of him, a centipede-like parasite that shrouded its host in a shadowy substance produced from its pores. The trade-off was that the parasite required spiritual qi to live — almost always cutting off the cultivator's path to Qi Refinement.

  There were probably methods to maximize its use, but Lu Qingshan didn't know them. Those means were drawn from the study of multiple years and human ingenuity. Insects connected through him by the Insect Harmony Mantra only gave him knowledge concerning the basic use of their powers.

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  Since Lu Qingshan didn’t know the demonic cultivator’s highly advanced techniques, they couldn’t make full use of the spiritual insect. In fact, without a living host, it’d likely begin to wither away unless he constantly fed it spirit stones. Fortunately, the creature had fed off its host a while ago. It wouldn’t require another batch of food until a few weeks later.

  And he had already gotten what he needed from its memory — the recipe — and could recreate it later if he wanted. Letting it die was no big deal though he could try and keep it alive at a price.

  The hairy centipede’s abilities gave him some ideas. Lu Qingshan first began tearing away at the vines in the tunnel. They gave way quickly under his brute strength. Driven by curiosity, and a little fear, the three cultivators followed him down as well.

  Inside the entrance was a dark cave that led into an even smaller bend. Lu Qingshan tried to crawl into the tunnel, but discovered a point where he could barely fit. He was reminded of the stories from his past life. Without the hairy centipede’s ability to shrink its host’s bones and body, there was no way to reach the end of the tunnel.

  Lu Qingshan murmured the Insect Harmony Mantra. He placed down the crystal cicada at the entrance to the cave. “Stay here,” he said to the three shivering cultivators. They eyed him and the cicada warily.

  “I’m going to go down there, so you best not leave. Whoever wants to help me test out this centipede will receive a minor reward from what I find in the cave.”

  Song Lin immediately agreed. The man stepped up to Lu Qingshan before the other two could even finish registering his words.

  To use its powers, Lu Qingshan had to insert the centipede into his skin, where the strands of hair could pour out of his body. This was taking a considerable risk. He wasn't sure at all about the effects of using the parasite temporarily. But at least he needed to confirm the Insect Harmony Mantra would continue to work in order to try and take it out afterwards.

  "Are you sure?" he asked. "It might damage your cultivation base."

  The man didn't hesitate and lowered his head. "I'm fine," he muttered, taking care to not look at the squirming creature.

  Lu Qingshan nodded. He held the centipede and slowly draped it onto Song Lin's bare neck. Wiggling hairs spread out downwards to merge with some of the man's own hair, clinging to each other in a tangled mess. The hair trailed down and descended into the pore, unraveling bit by bit as they watched in fascination.

  He whispered the Insect Harmony Mantra, taking care to not let the centipede feed on Song Lin's spiritual qi. Through their spiritual connection, the feedback was all hunger, and some rage. It was more difficult for Lu Qingshan to control the creature compared to the other spiritual insects. But he eventually succeeded, grafting a black tangled mass onto Song Lin's chest, where it occasionally throbbed.

  "What now?" the cultivator whispered, his voice hoarse. The man looked weaker than before. His posture had slumped over slightly, and a new weariness had appeared on his eyes. They were slightly out of focus when Lu Qingshan inspected his body.

  "Feel anything?" Lu Qingshan asked.

  Song Lin shook his head. "It tickles. I think I lost some of my strength," he said, trying to walk. A brief stumble almost knocked him to the floor, but Lu Qingshan caught him just in time.

  "I'm taking it out now," he said. With the help of the Insect Harmony Mantra, Lu Qingshan guided the hairs to unravel again. Then the centipede slowly resurfaced itself above the man's skin.

  Immediately, Song Lin's complexion recovered its healthy glow. "I never want to do that again," he said with a gasp. The man had to pull himself back together against the wall while breathing heavily.

  Lu Qingshan watched the hairy centipede with a wary look. This was all necessary in order to reach the treasures inside the cave. There had to be treasure — why else would the demonic cultivator enter like it was routine? They were planning something, and this was one part of their plans.

  He ignored the rising bile in his throat and inserted the centipede into his skin. Fortunately, his constitution was much stronger than any other cultivator here. Including the person he'd just killed. He didn't really feel much other than a tickling sensation that refused to leave his skin, causing him to itch all over.

  It was a terrible feeling, but manageable. Lu Qingshan repeatedly chanted the Insect Harmony Mantra to calm both him and the centipede down. Then they descended into the cave, activating its powers to shrink his bones.

  A sickening crunch caused him to almost scream in pain. But he gritted his teeth and held on the best he could. Squeezing his already small body deeper into the cave took a lot more effort than he expected.

  Eventually, Lu Qingshan fell. He landed onto hard stone with a thud, then quickly looked around to see what was in here. A few pale mushrooms provided a scarce amount of light. It seemed to be just a stone chamber, oval in shape, empty of anything but a few scattered, dried vines that fell off from the main branch.

  Obviously, this couldn't be all that there was. Without the spiritual earthworm to do a thorough search, Lu Qingshan had to send his remaining flies to swarm around. They were able to locate an even smaller hole in the corner.

  He stared at it for a while, wondering how the demonic cultivator had managed to fit inside. For a long time, he couldn't come up with any ideas — unless they didn't have to enter.

  A fist crashed into stone the next moment. An earthen crust helped protect his body from the worst of the damage. Soon, Lu Qingshan had torn a hole into the chamber, revealing a full-bodied tunnel leading to a massive, stone complex.

  He murmured the Insect Harmony Mantra, bringing the centipede out of his body. Then he stepped inside. As soon as he did, a murky sensation noticeably muffled his spiritual connections, though he still maintained control over them due to their close proximity. Unfortunately, that meant he couldn't spread out his flies like usual. He'd have to explore on his own.

  Inside the stone complex were barren walls. There was nothing on them, no inscriptions, or symbols. They were just blank. He had to be honest, he wasn't expecting such a scene when he descended down this cave. Surely there were clues on why the demonic cultivator had chosen to come here.

  Carefully, Lu Qingshan entered room after room, searching for things a person might leave behind. He was unsuccessful. It hadn't been long since the demonic cultivator had ascended the tunnel, so he had been expecting to see something. Things didn't match up.

  He eventually stopped near a gateway sealed shut with what appeared to be a cave-in. A distinct fear had taken hold of his mind the closer he got to this room. But Lu Qingshan knew this was unnatural. Something was inside this room. Something involving the consciousness.