Neither Human nor Gu

The Void Spiderweb spread out in an instant, binding Lu Yan. But his claws lost none of their momentum and still struck Jiang Yiming in the shoulder, sending him flying.

Fortunately, the web was tough enough to trap him for a few seconds, preventing him from giving chase.

After landing, Jiang Yiming seized the chance to jump up and punch through the ceiling, then put the Three-Legged Golden Toad up there.

"Ten Thousand Gu Communication!"

With a thought, he gained access to the Three-Legged Golden Toad's five senses. With that, he once again had the advantage in vision.

Meanwhile, Lu Yan broke free of the Void Spiderweb and charged at him again.

Strangely, Jiang Yiming could actually see all his movements clearly this time!

He could even see the fine hairs on Lu Yan's face stirring in the wind!

"Huh? What's going on?"

Puzzled, he held the shield formed by the Iron-Backed Black Scorpion and easily blocked several claw strikes!

His opponent's movements suddenly looked very slow, and he even had time to think!

Could it be because I gained the Three-Legged Golden Toad's vision?

At that thought, Jiang Yiming suddenly understood!

His textbooks had said since he was little that toads and frogs had motion-based vision. They couldn't see things that were still, but could see moving things with great accuracy.

He had never known what motion-based vision felt like before, but today he had experienced it firsthand.

With motion-based vision, every movement became slow motion!

No wonder a clumsy toad could catch an agile fly.

Jiang Yiming's own agility was already high, and now that he had motion-based vision, it was like giving a tiger wings.

"Clang! Clang! Clang!"

Lu Yan attacked with both hands in quick succession, sending out a succession of claw afterimages. Jiang Yiming remained calm and unhurried, swinging his shield so fast it left afterimages of its own as he precisely blocked every strike.

Ten meters away, Yulan stared in a daze and murmured, "How did he suddenly become so formidable? Even I might not have been able to block them all perfectly, but he actually did it!"

Before she finished speaking, Jiang Yiming made a bold move.

He deliberately tilted his shield aside, letting Lu Yan's claws through, then moved even faster and caught his wrist with precision.

Seeing the other claw coming at him, Jiang Yiming boldly abandoned his shield and caught the wrist behind those claws as well.

"Red Tail, Ghost Face!"

After grabbing both of Lu Yan's hands, he immediately let out a shout.

Red Tail and Ghost Face suddenly shot out and bit fiercely into Lu Yan's arms several times.

Lu Yan hurriedly pulled his hands back, trying to break free.

But Jiang Yiming held on even tighter.

"Ha!" Seeing that he couldn't break free, Lu Yan suddenly unleashed streams of Gu Essence from his arms.

Jiang Yiming hurriedly channeled his own Gu Essence to meet it head-on.

Although Lu Yan was a Second-Grade Gu Master, he had already used up a great deal of Gu Essence in his earlier fight with Yulan. What he had left was only about as much as Jiang Yiming had.

After a contest of strength, Lu Yan still failed to break free. Red Tail, meanwhile, had bitten a chunk of flesh from his arm and was about to burrow inside.

"Roar!"

An inhuman roar rang out, and Lu Yan finally erupted. Beads of waxy yellow liquid, each the size of a drop of sweat, suddenly appeared on his pitch-black arms.

Red Tail accidentally touched the liquid, and black smoke immediately rose from its legs. Ghost Face fared little better, with some of the hair on his legs corroded away.

Jiang Yiming had it worst of all. His palms felt as though they were held over a furnace, the pain piercing him to the bone.

"Come back!"

As he hurriedly let go, he recalled Red Tail and Ghost Face.

Looking at his scorched palms, Jiang Yiming's heart still pounded with lingering fear. "That's Yellow Springs Water?"

At that moment, Lu Yan spoke. "Yellow Springs Water can corrode all things. Although my earthworm clan eats the dust above and drinks from the Yellow Springs below, few of us ever truly encounter the Yellow Springs. I was fortunate enough to find it, and thus comprehended Yellow Springs Water. Though it cannot compare to the true Yellow Springs, it is more than enough to deal with you!"

Why didn't that voice and tone sound like Lu Yan?

As Jiang Yiming wondered, Yulan spoke from behind him. "Lu Yan has completely surrendered his body to that Gu insect. Be careful!"

A person could actually surrender his body to a Gu insect? Then was he human or Gu now?

Before Jiang Yiming could think further, Lu Yan began to change.

His skin fell away in patches, and the meridians that had bulged beneath it all burrowed out, poking about and writhing incessantly as though they had gained minds of their own!

A layer of waxy yellow liquid coated his exposed muscles. Every now and then, a drop fell, instantly corroding a large hole in the floor tiles.

Looking at Lu Yan now, there was no trace of the handsome man in the photograph. He looked just like a monster.

What do I do... His whole body is covered in Yellow Springs Water. I can't touch him, so how am I supposed to fight?

Jiang Yiming put away the Iron-Backed Black Scorpion, no longer intending to use it as a shield. Since Yellow Springs Water could corrode Red Tail and Ghost Face, it could corrode the scorpion just as easily.

The current Lu Yan was like a moving lump of concentrated sulfuric acid. Jiang Yiming could neither touch nor strike him.

Jiang Yiming's only option was to dodge.

No matter how Lu Yan attacked, he dodged with all his might, never once taking a blow head-on.

"Kill! Kill!" Lu Yan had long since lost consciousness, and he kept shouting those two words as he attacked.

"I can't fight him! There's just no way to fight him!"

Unable to find an opening, Jiang Yiming decided to retreat first.

He moved to Yulan's side, scooped her up, and rushed outside.

As soon as he reached the second floor, smoke suddenly rose from the floor above his head as a large hole corroded through it. Lu Yan dropped through the hole and blocked his path.

"Die!"

With a low roar, Lu Yan opened his mouth and spat out a glob of Yellow Springs Water.

Carrying Yulan, Jiang Yiming was much slower and couldn't possibly dodge it.

With no other choice, he summoned the primordial Gu in the Gu Rearing Box to block it.

More than twenty Spider Primordial Gu pounced on the Yellow Springs Water together, and half their bodies were corroded away in an instant. Fortunately, they managed to block it.

Seeing the spider remains on the floor, Jiang Yiming suddenly thought of something.

Yellow Springs Water really is highly corrosive, but it can't dissolve Gu insects into nothing in such a short time! There'll be some remains!

In that case, can I use the more than eight hundred primordial Gu in the Gu Rearing Box to wear him down?

With that thought, Jiang Yiming leaped down the stairs with Yulan in his arms. After landing in the first-floor hall, he put her on a sofa in the corner, then went to the foot of the stairs and waited for Lu Yan.

"Thump! Thump!"

Lu Yan's shoes had already fallen off, and the soles of his feet looked as though they had been corroded, leaving the bones clearly visible. They made sharp thumping sounds on the stairs, like high heels.

"Die..."

As soon as he saw Jiang Yiming, he lunged at him again.

This time, Jiang Yiming retreated again, but as he did, he threw out two primordial centipede Gu.

The two primordial Gu shot into his throat like a pair of darts.

As soon as they landed, they began gnawing at his flesh. Although the Yellow Springs Water quickly corroded them to death, they still tore off a few mouthfuls before they died.