Hostage

Squeak, squeak, squeak! Deprived of Long Qi, the Golden Armored Beetle screamed without cease.

Liang Qu sliced open his finger with Azure Wolf, pulled the Time Insect apart with one hand, and carved another character for "river" onto its back.

The faint gleam of blood faded away.

"Urgh!"

Blood streamed from Liang Qu's nose and mouth. Dizzy and disoriented, he felt the Time Insect struggle and instinctively clenched it in his hand to keep it from fleeing.

His second attempt at subduing it had failed.

Not only had it failed, the backlash was considerable.

"After forming a cocoon once, its attributes barely changed."

Liang Qu wiped away his nosebleed, seeing double.

After cocooning once, the Time Insect's spiritual power had increased far more than its combat strength. The first time he failed, he had barely felt anything.

"I need to find something that can hold it. Third Prince, Awei, keep an eye on it!"

Little Mirage Dragon spat out Mirage Tiger, which firmly seized the Time Insect.

"Senior Brother, is there any better material than this? Something that can withstand its biting?"

After dinner, Liang Qu carried the shattered jade bamboo tube and sought out Lu Gang, who had just returned from the Heavenly Artisan.

Lu Gang took the bamboo tube and examined it inside and out.

"A bug chewed this?"

"Senior Brother has sharp eyes."

"It's not hard to tell. Thirty- or forty-year-old Jade Bamboo is usually used to hold poisonous insects. For it to be bitten up like this, that must be quite the bug..." Lu Gang gently rubbed the densely packed notches along the tube's edge with his thumb, imagining the scene. After thinking for a moment, he said, "It didn't chew through too easily. Just buy some Jade Seed Bamboo over two hundred years old.