Great Victory

"You don't need to know that."

Su Jie's gaze drifted to the ground beneath his feet. Suddenly, he kicked off and leaped up.

Meng Dongge across from him made the same move, his body rapidly retreating several steps.

The instant Su Jie jumped, seven or eight arm-thick earthworms burst from the ground beneath him, their terrifying circular maws full of pointed teeth snapping at the air.

Meanwhile, the spot where Meng Dongge had been standing was swallowed by a swath of fire.

The Yin Fire Blood Bees controlled by Su Jie had launched a sneak attack from hiding. Blazing flames surged skyward, illuminating the dark night sky.

"Despicable."

Meng Dongge's face looked especially grim beneath the firelight.

"You're no better."

Su Jie gave a cold laugh. They had both thought of the same thing—using talk to stall for time and catch the other off guard.

"Old Brother Gu."

Seeing that the ambush had failed, Su Jie shot him a look.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle!

Gu Weinan knew battle could no longer be avoided. His stomach swelled violently, strange noises echoing from within.

Then he opened his mouth, and a swarm of black mosquitoes flew out through his throat. Like densely fired steel needles, they shot toward Meng Dongge and his two companions with whooshing sounds, shattering branches all around and blasting apart tree bark.

Meng Dongge flung out a low-grade beginner talisman, raising a reddish net of spiritual power that blocked the black mosquito attack.

But the two disciples following him were not so fortunate.

Just as they reacted and tried to dodge, Chen Yun, standing beside Su Jie, moved as well. The Nether Sound Bat let out a piercing shriek.

Subsonic waves swept over them, battering their internal organs like a tsunami. They immediately coughed up blood, their movements slowing by half a beat, and half their bodies were riddled with holes like beehives.

And the true killing blow came from several Silver-winged Golden Cicadas swooping down in a slash, instantly piercing through the two disciples' heads. They died before they could even mobilize their Gu worms.

This was a coordinated attack the three of them had deliberately practiced, and its effect now seemed excellent.

Of course, if Meng Dongge's group had not fought the Strange Ghosts earlier and expended too much stamina and too many Gu worms, it would not have succeeded so easily.

"I'm out of spiritual power. I need to catch my breath."

Panting heavily, the elderly Gu Weinan had run short on spiritual power. After unleashing that full-force strike, he could no longer keep going.

Chen Yun beside him was in even worse shape. Still not recovered from her severe injuries, she had forced herself to control her natal Gu worm, nearly costing the creature half its life on the spot.

She herself crumpled to the ground, and many of the wounds on her body split open again, blood seeping through her clothes.

"I'll kill you all! Fire Poison Cockroaches!"

Seeing his final two companions die miserably, Meng Dongge froze for a moment before flying into a furious rage. His face twisted with savagery, as though he wanted to swallow Su Jie and the others whole and flay them alive.

Swarms upon swarms of cockroaches crawled out from his trouser legs.

Their tails resembled fireflies, gleaming with a sickly green light. The moment they appeared, they beat their wings and pounced.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Once they drew close, the Fire Poison Cockroaches self-destructed in midair. Corrosive liquid sprayed out, eating pits into rocks and forest trees alike—their power was formidable indeed.

Su Jie had no choice but to use a Golden Whirlwind Talisman to protect himself. The glowing golden light deflected the corrosive liquid.

Gu Weinan was older and slower to evade. His lower leg was struck by the corrosion, much of the muscle dissolving away and leaving pale white bone faintly visible. His screams came one after another.

Chen Yun stood beside Su Jie and was not affected by the self-destructions.

"He's going all out."

Chen Yun stared fixedly at Meng Dongge. Just as she thought he was going to fight to the death, preparing to risk her life to control the Nether Sound Bat and unleash a final, desperate strike—

She saw Meng Dongge flee toward the edge of the dense forest without even looking back, using the Fire Poison Cockroaches' self-destruction to buy himself time.

"I knew someone like you wouldn't risk your life."

Su Jie followed at an unhurried pace. With his insect-controlling technique scouting ahead, he had no fear that Meng Dongge could escape.

In fact, Su Jie hoped Meng Dongge would keep running. He was still injured and bleeding; if he continued like this, the blood loss alone could kill him.

One chased while the other fled, and in the blink of an eye, Gu Weinan and Chen Yun were left far behind.

Amid the chase and escape, half an hour flashed by. The bedraggled Meng Dongge suddenly stopped.

Su Jie strode over and raised an eyebrow. "Why'd you stop running?"

"I didn't expect you'd really dare chase after me alone. Heh heh heh! You think I was running away, but little did you know, I was merely splitting up your group so I could pick you off one by one."

A cruel smile appeared on Meng Dongge's face. A gray mantis crawled out from his sleeve, visibly swelling until it stood as tall as a man, its pair of forelimbs gleaming with cold light like scythes.

"Iron-Eating Mantis, a low-grade Gu worm—and also my natal Gu worm. Today, I'll show you the gap between our strength. Even injured, I can easily slaughter trash like you."

As Meng Dongge's words fell, the massive Iron-Eating Mantis screeched, beat its wings, and glided toward Su Jie, its scythe-like forelimbs slashing down.

Ancient trees along the way were touched by those forelimbs and severed cleanly at the waist, their sharpness peerless.

Boom!

The next moment, a ring of swelling rippled across Su Jie's waist and abdomen.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede's terrifying body slithered out, its pale, eerie corpse hands reaching for the Iron-Eating Mantis.

Its blade-like forelimbs slashed down, severing several pale corpse hands.

But the Thousand-Hand Centipede was enraged. In an instant, it coiled around the Iron-Eating Mantis like a giant python crushing its prey.

The Iron-Eating Mantis tried to flee in terror, but pale corpse hands surged and shoved from every direction. In the blink of an eye, they wrapped the Iron-Eating Mantis into a ball of corpse hands. Layer upon layer of hands were all that remained visible; the Iron-Eating Mantis itself had vanished from sight.

"A Low-grade First Refinement Gu worm? Impossible, absolutely impossible! How could an outer sect disciple like you possibly have such a Gu worm?"

Meng Dongge's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as he stared at the scene before him in utter disbelief.

This was a Low-grade First Refinement Gu worm. Even he, a Spirit Nurturing Realm Fifth Layer disciple, had exhausted every means and relied on a measure of luck just to barely cultivate a low-grade Gu worm.

As for refining a low-grade Gu worm through Spirit Refinement once more and letting it undergo a radical transformation, he did not even dare dream of it.

How many resources would that require? Only inner sect disciples could afford such an expense.

Yet now, he was seeing Su Jie, who was clearly only at the Spirit Nurturing Realm Third Layer, possessing a Low-grade First Refinement Gu worm.

This was completely beyond his understanding. How could a mere outer sect disciple have so many resources to cultivate it?

"People are different. Just as you thought you could defeat us one by one, was that not precisely what I intended? I didn't want anyone to see my natal Gu worm."

Su Jie chuckled. When Gu Masters fought, what they competed in was Gu worms. There were not many flashy clashes of techniques or head-on collisions between magical artifacts and flying swords.

Even though Su Jie's cultivation was lower than Meng Dongge's, the Thousand-Hand Centipede was more than enough to effortlessly erase that gap.

"Impossible! How could I lose? How could I die here? I haven't become an inner sect disciple yet—I can't die!"

Meng Dongge roared madly. His only trump card, the Iron-Eating Mantis, had been utterly restrained. He had not brought the earthworm Poisonous Insect with him, the Fire Poison Cockroaches had all self-destructed and been spent, and his talismans were exhausted. With no other methods left, he actually charged forward with his fists raised to attack. A Gu Master had been forced into hand-to-hand combat.

"Those who kill will one day be killed. No one is beyond death."

Su Jie had no intention of fighting him at close quarters.

Though he had deliberately learned the Tiger Roar Fist, he had only grasped its surface. Close combat involved far too many uncertainties.

Faced with Meng Dongge's madness, Su Jie merely crooked a finger.

The Silver-winged Golden Cicada shot over and pierced through Meng Dongge's legs, sending him crashing to the ground, unable to rise again.

At the same time, the battle on the Thousand-Hand Centipede's side also reached its conclusion.

The Iron-Eating Mantis was a Poisonous Insect that liked to devour metal. After advancing to low-grade, its body was even tougher than steel.

But before the Thousand-Hand Centipede, none of that was worth mentioning.

Corpse hands continuously pressed inward, binding the Iron-Eating Mantis so tightly that it could not move. Once the threshold of pressure was breached, the Iron-Eating Mantis's entire body cracked under the compression. Then dozens, hundreds of corpse hands tore it apart, shredding its flesh, organs, and shell into a pile of mangled pulp.

Pfft!

His natal Gu worm, bound to him by heart's blood, had been destroyed. Meng Dongge's aura wilted, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

The Thousand-Hand Centipede scuttled over at high speed and, beneath Meng Dongge's eyes filled with utter unwillingness, bit through his neck.

Then, carrying the head in its jaws, the Thousand-Hand Centipede ran back to Su Jie.

"Good boy. Go eat."

Su Jie patted the Thousand-Hand Centipede's head and let it go enjoy the Iron-Eating Mantis.

After searching the corpse, Su Jie found fifty Blood Marrow Crystals on Meng Dongge. There was nothing else.

He had used up every resource he could during the battle, leaving nothing for Su Jie.

Still, fifty Blood Marrow Crystals were enough to satisfy Su Jie. After the Thousand-Hand Centipede had eaten the Iron-Eating Mantis clean, he burned the headless corpse, picked up Meng Dongge's head, and turned to leave.

Before the wooden hut, Gu Weinan and Chen Yun heard footsteps coming from the darkness and hurriedly turned toward the sound, watching warily.

Su Jie had chased after him for so long without returning. Both of them feared something had gone wrong, but their physical conditions did not allow them to keep up with Su Jie's speed. What they feared most now was that Meng Dongge had survived and returned for revenge.

The footsteps drew closer and closer. Soon, a figure appeared before them.

Gu Weinan felt as though he had been granted a reprieve. He let out a breath and asked, "Brother Su, are you all right? Did you catch Meng Dongge?"

"Here he is."

With a sweep of his hand, Su Jie tossed a dark object toward Chen Yun.

Chen Yun caught it instinctively. Once she saw it clearly, however, two streams of tears could no longer be held back.

It was Meng Dongge's head. Her younger brother and husband had been avenged.

"Wuwu... Kou Dang, Chao Xian, did you see? Meng Dongge is dead. I avenged you."

After weeping bitterly and venting her emotions, Chen Yun dropped to her knees with a thud and kowtowed three times to Su Jie.

"Fellow Daoist Su, from this day onward, my life is yours. If there is ever anything you need, I, Chen Yun, will accompany you even at the cost of my life."

"No need to say more. When I have use for you, I certainly won't stand on ceremony."

Su Jie did not decline. He nodded and accepted.

Afterward, the three of them cleared the battlefield. There were not many other gains.

Apart from the insect corpses carpeting the ground and several poisonous insects that had been captured alive, there were also the bodies of two Strange Ghosts. Altogether, they were worth over a thousand Blood Marrow Crystals—a true overnight fortune.

According to the principle of distribution by contribution, under the rules agreed upon beforehand, Su Jie would receive eighty percent of the spoils, while Chen Yun and Gu Weinan split the remaining twenty percent.

After all, Meng Dongge—the strongest and most troublesome opponent—had been dealt with personally by Su Jie. No one else had been capable of it.

After collecting the spoils, they erased every trace of the battle, then burned all the disciples' corpses in a great fire, leaving no evidence whatsoever.

"Old Brother Gu, I'll write up a report to the Command Hall about what happened tonight. Meng Dongge and the others bravely died in battle against the Strange Ghosts. We are now short-handed, with numerous wounded among us, and no longer have the ability to maintain our garrison duty. We request to be transferred back to the sect for temporary recuperation."

Su Jie fixed Gu Weinan with a bright, piercing gaze. They were getting their stories straight.

"I understand, Brother Su. Not a single word will slip from my side."

Gu Weinan hurriedly nodded, making it clear that he understood.

"Good. Then let's head back."

Su Jie nodded in satisfaction, took the two Strange Ghost corpses, and returned to his own wooden cabin.

Tonight's battle had been the fiercest Su Jie had experienced since crossing over, but it had also been a resounding, thoroughly satisfying victory.

Once the two Strange Ghost corpses were sold, Su Jie's wealth would increase by more than tenfold.