The demon insects hatched through the Blood Pact Formation could feel every emotion their master felt, and Luo Mu could sense their joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. He could even communicate with them in simple terms. So when the Octagonal Spikes sent out a distress signal, Luo Mu sensed it at once.
However, as he hurried to the scene, Luo Mu was also puzzled. What kind of trouble had his Octagonal Spikes gotten into that they had sent out a distress signal?
The situation was urgent, and Luo Mu had no time to think. He rushed over!
"Cousin Bai Shu, how are you?" In the dense forest, a pretty young woman in a white dress supported a young man about her age, her face full of worry as she asked him.
The two looked eighteen or nineteen. Their clothes were made of fine fabric, clearly marking them as members of a wealthy family. At that moment, the young man the girl called Cousin Bai Shu was in a bad way. His face was pale, his lips had lost all color, and his forehead was covered in beads of sweat the size of peas!
"These three demon insects are highly poisonous. Cousin, hurry and trap them. I'll force the poison out of my body first!" After forcing himself to say this, Bai Shu paid the girl no further attention. He sat cross-legged on the ground and began directing the spiritual energy in his dantian toward the poison in his body.
The girl was extremely worried about his condition, her face taut with anxiety. But she held back and did not disturb him. Instead, she turned a fierce gaze toward the area just ahead.
Beneath a large tree stood a poisonous herb wreathed in thick, black smoke. Judging by the density of the smoke it gave off, the herb was certainly of a high grade.
Bai Shu and the girl had come here specifically for this herb!
The girl's face darkened as she looked at the poisonous herb nearby. Just moments ago, after her beloved cousin spotted it, he had been so excited that he'd reached for it without thinking, intending to pull it up by the roots.
And that was when the accident happened!
The instant Bai Shu's palm touched the herb, a sharp, stinging pain shot through it. In no time at all, he had ended up in his current state. Only then did Bai Shu and the girl clearly notice the three pitch-black caterpillars on the herb. Their color matched the plant perfectly, making them almost impossible to spot.
Bai Shu had been so excited when he first found the herb that he'd overlooked them entirely. Caught off guard, he had fallen victim to their attack.
Neither of them was a fool. From the reaction of his body, it was obvious Bai Shu had been poisoned, and the culprits were the three ordinary-looking caterpillars before them.
Those three caterpillars were none other than Luo Mu's three Octagonal Spikes!
After parting from Luo Mu, the three Octagonal Spikes had gone off to forage on their own. They loved eating poisonous herbs and had an inborn sensitivity to them. Within a certain range, the Octagonal Spikes could sense where poisonous herbs were growing. As their level increased, that range would double and grow even wider.
This talent of the Octagonal Spikes wasn't mentioned in the Insect Control Technique. Otherwise, with Luo Mu's miserly nature, he would have made full use of it long ago.
Thanks to this talent, the three Octagonal Spikes had quickly found a fourth-grade, upper-rank poisonous herb: Soul-Falling Grass!
After finding the Soul-Falling Grass, the three little fellows had eagerly crawled up its stalk and begun nibbling at its leaves. But this fourth-grade, upper-rank poisonous herb was no joke when it came to toxicity. At their current level, the little fellows were absorbing the poison in the plant a little too slowly.
Just as the three little fellows were busily devouring the Soul-Falling Grass, Bai Shu and the girl appeared! It seemed they had also been searching for the Soul-Falling Grass. Now that they'd finally found it, how could they not be delighted?
And in their excitement, they let their guard down. When Bai Shu reached for the Soul-Falling Grass, his hand brushed against the eight steel-needle-like feelers jutting from an Octagonal Spike's forehead.
That was how Bai Shu ended up poisoned.
Even though Bai Shu had been poisoned because of a moment's carelessness, neither of them panicked. Bai Shu could clearly tell that the poison was potent, but not beyond his ability to expel.
So before forcing out the poison, Bai Shu had told the girl beside him to trap the three Octagonal Spikes, lest they keep eating the Soul-Falling Grass.
The Soul-Falling Grass was a fourth-grade, upper-rank poisonous herb, a rare find. It wasn't something one could buy just by having spirit stones. Even if someone managed to acquire it, finding one at short notice was no sure thing.
Bai Shu and the girl came from a prominent family in Jinxiu City and were naturally wealthy. The funny thing was that when Bai Shu urgently needed the fourth-grade, upper-rank poisonous herb Soul-Falling Grass, he couldn't find any in Jinxiu City.
Desperate, Bai Shu had announced in Jinxiu City that he was willing to pay a high price for the herb. At the same time, he had asked his cousin to accompany him on a search, hoping to find one while they were out together.
As it turned out, Bai Shu really did find the herb. But whether that was a blessing or a curse was hard to say...
The girl glanced at the Octagonal Spikes on the Soul-Falling Grass, her eyes flashing with cold light. She raised a hand and sent out a wash of white light, trapping all three Octagonal Spikes inside.
Inside the white barrier, the three Octagonal Spikes seemed to realize something was wrong. They frantically struck the barrier with the feelers on their heads, but it didn't budge.
The three Octagonal Spikes panicked and, clever as they were, sent a distress signal to their master, Luo Mu.
The girl looked young, but her cultivation was no joke. She was already at the fourth level of the Qi Refining Stage. Bai Shu was even more impressive: he was a level above her, at the fifth level of the Qi Refining Stage!
As members of prominent families, it was hardly surprising that they had reached such a level at their age. Even they themselves had no idea how many spirit pills and elixirs they'd taken to successfully raise their cultivation to where it was now.
Although the three Octagonal Spikes had eaten plenty of poisonous herbs over the past month, their species advanced very slowly. As a result, their strength had only improved a little during that time, barely reaching the level of a first-tier, mid-rank demon beast.
That level was not enough to break through the girl's white barrier!
Time passed, but the three Octagonal Spikes still couldn't break through. With the Soul-Falling Grass just inches away, they had no chance of enjoying it.
Bai Shu, meanwhile, was at a critical point in forcing out the poison. In a short time, sweat had soaked through his clothes. He let out a muffled groan, then suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of foul blood.
"Cousin, are you all right? Don't scare me!" the girl asked, her face full of worry.
"I'm fine. I've forced the poison out. I'll be all right after a short rest." Bai Shu breathed a sigh of relief, then wiped the sweat from his forehead and spoke with lingering fear.
"What on earth are those caterpillars? Their poison is so potent." Seeing that Bai Shu was all right, the weight on the girl's mind lifted. She glanced at the three Octagonal Spikes inside the white barrier and asked him, bewildered.
In the girl's eyes, her cousin knew almost everything. He was one of the rare geniuses in the family, so she had assumed he would know what these strange insects were.
But to her disbelief, the cousin who seemed to know everything didn't recognize them!
"Although these strange insects are only first-tier, mid-rank demon beasts, their poison is unusually fierce. If it were any stronger, it might even poison me to death! Alas, your cousin is ignorant. I really don't know what kind of demon insects these three caterpillars are." Bai Shu sighed and spoke with a look of shame.
"No way! Is there really something Cousin doesn't know?" The girl was clearly infatuated with Bai Shu. Hearing him admit that he didn't recognize the insects, she immediately put on an exaggerated, disbelieving expression.
"I really don't. But I'll take these three demon insects back and study them properly, then squeeze them to death." Bai Shu's face had been full of shame, but when he looked at the Octagonal Spikes, his expression turned cold.
Of course Bai Shu wouldn't say a harsh word to the girl. She was the one he loved. But he had no reason to spare the Octagonal Spikes. They had made him lose face in front of the woman he loved, poisoned him, and nearly cost him his life. With Bai Shu's ruthless temperament, he wasn't about to let that go.
Bai Shu took out a Spirit Beast Bag and was about to put the three Octagonal Spikes trapped inside the white barrier into it when a sharp whoosh rang out. A Giant Sword suddenly stopped about five zhang above his head.
"Best not touch what belongs to me!" The Giant Sword dropped swiftly, and as the voice rang out, a young man about Bai Shu's age appeared before them. He put away the Giant Sword and looked calmly at Bai Shu and the pretty girl.
The youth had red lips and pearly teeth, with fine, delicate features. He wasn't exactly a handsome man who could make the trees bend with envy, but he was undeniably cute. He was called cute because he really was so delicate-looking that no one would have doubted it if someone had said he was a girl.
Compared with Bai Shu and the girl, however, the youth's clothes were clearly of a different sort. One side wore fine, expensive fabric, while the other wore a coarse cotton shirt washed nearly white. It was plain at a glance who was rich and who was poor.
This was Luo Mu, who had rushed over after receiving the Octagonal Spikes' distress signal!
Luo Mu's sudden appearance surprised Bai Shu and the girl, but when they saw that he was only at the third level of the Qi Refining Stage and dressed in ordinary clothes, the wariness disappeared from their eyes. They looked at Luo Mu with undisguised disdain!
"Were you talking to me just now?" Bai Shu asked Luo Mu, his tone hostile.
What Luo Mu had just said had left Bai Shu thoroughly displeased. He held a high position in his family and was always treated with respect and admiration wherever he went. When had anyone ever spoken to him in such a tone?
And this fellow looked like a poor country bumpkin who had never seen the world. That made Bai Shu even less able to stomach it! His gaze toward Luo Mu turned icy.
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