After hearing Zhang Daring's words.
The Handsome Young Man looked at the burly man, who seemed to have some ulterior motive, and shook his head.
"Even Snake Granny couldn't take down this little Ice Silkworm. I'd rather not invite humiliation."
Then he rubbed his chin, seemingly talking to himself as he asked and answered his own question.
"As far as I know, Ice Blood Cold Silkworms rarely come into being naturally in the wild. They're so rare that one might not appear even once in a century."
"How did one suddenly appear out of nowhere and end up in the Dragon-Severing Mountain Range? How strange, how strange! I seem to remember Master Guangshan stayed around here a few years ago."
To his surprise, the bald burly man, who had just acted as though he didn't care about anything, suddenly looked grim.
He fixed the young man with a dangerous stare for quite some time before replying in a muffled voice.
"There's no need for you to worry about that, young man. Since none of you can take it down, why don't I give it a try?"
As he spoke, he reached into the cloth pouch at his waist with his left hand and pulled out a rat.
The moment it appeared, it squealed and struggled in panic in his palm. With each cry, drops of water dripped from beneath it, soon soaking Zhang Daring's fingers.
Seeing this, Zhang Daring furrowed his brows. He wanted to crush it, but remembering that he still needed it for this trip, he held himself back.
Ignoring the pitiful gaze of its big, watery eyes, he pulled a small, expensive wooden box from his pocket with his free right hand. He pointed at the rat, then at the Ice Silkworm over there.
He actually spoke to it. "Go over there, put that Ice Silkworm in this box, and bring it back."
He repeated this several times, then took out what seemed to be a morsel of food and stuffed it into the rat's paw.
The rat seemed to understand him in its muddled way. First, it ate the morsel, then, as though it had agreed, it wrapped its two little paws around the wooden box, which was almost as tall as it was.
It tottered toward the Ice Silkworm, taking three steps at a time and looking back after each one.
Zhang Daring's strange behavior left the others puzzled. Snake Granny, who was used to keeping company with poisonous creatures, seemed thoughtful instead.
Little Mouse?
Up in the tree, Bai Chuan's eyes widened, his heart full of shock!
Wasn't that the same rat, so full of spirit, that he'd encountered before?
What was going on? After he'd let it go, had it been caught again?
And did it have something to do with this bald man?
Judging by Zhang Daring's behavior just now, he must have been very familiar with this rat. Did that mean he raised it?
Could an ordinary little rat, one that was perhaps only a bit clever and spirited, really take down an Ice Silkworm?
Bai Chuan remembered how vicious this chubby-looking, weak little Ice Silkworm had been before.
Could the rat really do it?
At that moment, countless questions rose in Bai Chuan's mind, and he didn't know whether to feel relieved or exasperated.
In a vast forest, Zhang Daring had managed to find a tiny rat again. If that wasn't a coincidence, then he must have been looking for it on purpose.
If Bai Chuan had eaten that rat back then, what would have happened now?
Would someone have come after him while he was still dazed? Or would the rat have led a whole crowd of humans to surround and beat him up?
Or would nothing have happened?
At that moment, Bai Chuan didn't know what to make of it. Should he say that his moment of kindness toward a spirit creature had spared him a whole lot of trouble?
As expected, every sip and every peck was ordained by fate.
While Bai Chuan's thoughts ran wild.
The situation below changed.
The Ice Silkworm, which had been vicious toward anyone who came near, sprang forward the instant the rat approached, ready to attack again.
But just then, a gust of wind rose behind the rat and swept toward the Ice Silkworm.
"Plop!"
As the wind swept past, the pale, tender worm immediately lost control of the cold air around it. It seemed to lose all vitality and fell from midair.
Before long, it struggled back to its feet, then fearfully watched the rat and shrank away, no longer showing any of its earlier ferocity.
"What?"
"What's going on?"
"What happened to the Ice Silkworm?"
Several cries of astonishment rang out.
The Zhao Siblings stared wide-eyed in disbelief at this utterly absurd sight.
Bai Chuan looked as though he'd seen a ghost.
Seeing everyone's reactions, Zhang Daring nodded in satisfaction and laughed aloud.
"You didn't expect that, did you? A mighty Ice Silkworm, seen only once in a century, is afraid of a powerless, dead rat."
"Oh? And why is that? I imagine this rat isn't an ordinary one, is it?"
The handsome young man beside them looked puzzled too, and glanced at Zhang Daring.
"Ha, you've got a keen eye, young man." Zhang Daring looked at him in surprise and continued, "Indeed, this rat was painstakingly raised by that old bastard of mine while he was still alive."
"Now that he's dead, I don't mind telling you."
Perhaps he'd finally found an audience, or perhaps he thought the Cold Silkworm was already within his grasp. The tall man let the story spill out.
"You've probably been wondering where this Ice Blood Cold Silkworm came from, haven't you?"
"That's right. It was the one that old bastard of mine kept."
"Everyone knows how rare Ice Blood Cold Silkworms are. They're practically impossible to find in the wild. This one came from the Zhang Family."
"The Zhang Family?" The charming young woman beside them cried out in surprise. "Do you mean the Zhang Family from the East River Rebellion, the one that involved several great sects?"
Apparently unhappy at being interrupted, Zhang Daring continued anyway. "That's right. Just before the Zhang Family was wiped out, my old bastard happened to be there for an appointment. At the last moment, the Zhang Family's patriarch entrusted it to him, telling him to deliver it to the person it belonged to."
"Of course, it should have gone to me in the end. I was his eldest disciple, and I'd served him tirelessly all those years. But... but..."
"But why did he plan to give it to that useless waste who knew nothing but how to play around? What was I lacking?"
As he spoke, the man's face twisted into a grimace, and his voice brimmed with resentment. "A useless waste who did nothing but cause trouble every day! How could he deserve such a precious treasure? Why was the old man so biased? What did I do wrong?"
"I served him tirelessly for so many years, bringing him tea and water. Was I still not better than a useless waste?"
"So you plotted against him and killed your junior brother?" Snake Granny asked, frowning.
"That's right!" Zhang Daring lifted his head and smiled viciously. "Since he was unjust, I decided to take it for myself. I used the opportunity of cooking for him every day to slip a mixture of slow-acting poisons into his meals. Then, once he'd lost his strength, I killed him with my own hands!"
"Then why did the Ice Silkworm end up here?"
The Handsome Young Man got straight to the point.
Zhang Daring choked. He glanced at the young man as if annoyed that he kept asking the one question that spoiled the mood.
He fell silent for a while, then continued. "Who would've thought that old bastard would rather let the Ice Silkworm escape than hand it over to the disciple he'd raised since childhood?"
"Fortunately, creatures like Ice Silkworms don't travel very far. It took me a few years, but I finally found its trail."
"Come to think of it, you people from small lineages probably don't know anything about these rare creatures."
As he said this, Zhang Daring looked down on the lucky fools who had risen from the bottom.
Before you continue