The Octagonal Spike is Trapped

Through the Blood Pact Formation, Luo Mu could not only sense the emotions of his insect beasts but also communicate with them in a rudimentary fashion. Thus, the moment the Octagonal Spikes sent out a distress signal, Luo Mu felt it instantly.

However, as he rushed toward the scene, Luo Mu was also puzzled. What kind of trouble could his Octagonal Spikes have encountered that they were forced to transmit a distress signal?

The situation was urgent; Luo Mu had no time to overthink and hurried on his way.

"Cousin Bai Shu, are you alright?" Inside the dense forest, a young girl in a white dress, whose appearance was quite striking, asked with a face full of anxiety as she supported a youth of similar age.

The two appeared to be eighteen or nineteen years old, dressed in high-quality fabrics that clearly marked them as scions of a wealthy family. At this moment, the Bai Shu the girl addressed was in a grim state; not only was his face deathly pale and his lips devoid of color, but his forehead was also beaded with sweat the size of beans.

"These three insect beasts are highly venomous. Cousin, quickly trap them! I must force the toxins out of my body first!" After the youth, Bai Shu, forced himself to say these words, he ignored the girl, sat cross-legged on the spot, and began to channel the spiritual power in his dantian toward the toxins within him.

The girl was deeply worried about the youth's condition, her face etched with extreme anxiety, yet she forced herself not to disturb him, instead casting a fierce glare toward a spot not far ahead.

Beneath a large tree in front of them stood a poisonous plant emitting thick, black smoke. Judging by the density of the mist, the grade of this poisonous herb was certainly not low.

Bai Shu and the girl had come on this excursion specifically for this item.

Looking at the poisonous herb a short distance away, the girl's expression turned somber. Just moments ago, her beloved cousin had been overcome with excitement upon discovering the plant. In his haste, he hadn't thought twice and reached out to pull it up by the roots.

That was when the accident occurred.

The moment Bai Shu's palm touched the plant, a sharp, stinging pain shot through his hand. Within moments, he had been reduced to his current state. It was only then that Bai Shu and the girl finally realized that there were three pitch-black caterpillars clinging to the plant, their color identical to the herb, making them nearly impossible to spot without close inspection.

Furthermore, because Bai Shu had been so agitated when he first found the herb, he had overlooked this detail and been caught off guard.

Neither of them were fools; given the reaction of his body, he had clearly been poisoned, and the culprits were undoubtedly these three seemingly ordinary caterpillars.

These three caterpillars were none other than Luo Mu's three Octagonal Spikes.

After parting ways with Luo Mu, the three Octagonal Spikes had wandered off to forage. Being fond of poisonous herbs, they were naturally sensitive to them and could sense the presence of such plants within a certain range. Moreover, as their level increased, this sensory range would double.

This innate talent of the Octagonal Spikes was not mentioned in the Insect Control Technique; otherwise, with Luo Mu's miserly nature, he would have surely put it to full use long ago.

It was precisely because of this talent that the three Octagonal Spikes had managed to find this fourth-grade high-tier poisonous herb, the "Soul-Falling Grass," in such a short time.

Upon finding the Soul-Falling Grass, the three little fellows had excitedly climbed onto the stalk and slowly begun to nibble on its leaves. However, the toxicity of a fourth-grade high-tier herb was nothing to scoff at, and given the current level of the three little ones, their speed in absorbing the poison was somewhat slow.

Just as the three were busily devouring the Soul-Falling Grass, Bai Shu and the girl appeared. It seemed they had also been searching for the herb, and now that they had finally found it, how could they not be overjoyed?

In their excitement, they grew careless. When Bai Shu reached for the Soul-Falling Grass, he happened to brush against the eight steel-needle-like antennae on the foreheads of the Octagonal Spikes.

This led to the scene of Bai Shu being struck by the potent venom.

However, even though Bai Shu had been poisoned due to a moment of carelessness, the two showed no signs of panic. Bai Shu could clearly feel that while the toxin was strong, it was not beyond his ability to purge.

Therefore, before beginning the detoxification, Bai Shu instructed the girl to trap the three Octagonal Spikes to prevent them from continuing to consume the Soul-Falling Grass.

The Soul-Falling Grass was a fourth-grade high-tier herb, a rare treasure that couldn't be bought simply with spirit stones. Even if one had the wealth to acquire it, finding it in a short time was never guaranteed.

Bai Shu and the girl were from a prominent family in Jinxiu City, and their resources were naturally substantial. Yet, ironically, when Bai Shu urgently needed this fourth-grade high-tier herb, he hadn't been able to find it within Jinxiu City.

Anxious and helpless, Bai Shu had put out a high-reward notice for the herb in Jinxiu City while simultaneously inviting his cousin out to try their luck, hoping that while on their date, they might stumble upon it.

As it turned out, Bai Shu did indeed find the herb, though whether it was a blessing or a curse remained to be seen.

The girl looked at the Octagonal Spikes on the Soul-Falling Grass, a cold glint flashing in her eyes. With a flick of her hand, a sheet of white light swept out, tightly trapping the three Octagonal Spikes within.

Trapped inside the white barrier, the three Octagonal Spikes seemed to realize the danger and frantically attacked the barrier with their antennae, but the light remained unmoved.

At this point, the three Octagonal Spikes panicked and, with great intelligence, sent a distress signal to their master, Luo Mu.

Although the girl appeared young, her cultivation was not weak; she had already reached the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage. Bai Shu was even more impressive, being one level higher than the girl at the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage.

As children of a prominent family, it was hardly surprising that they possessed such cultivation at their age, as even they themselves didn't know how many elixirs and medicinal pills they had consumed to reach their current level.

As for the three Octagonal Spikes, although they had consumed many poisonous herbs over the past month, their natural progression was extremely slow, meaning their strength had only increased slightly, barely reaching the level of a first-grade mid-tier demonic beast.

At this level, they were unable to break through the white barrier cast by the girl.

Time ticked by, and the three Octagonal Spikes remained unable to break the barrier, while the Soul-Falling Grass, now within arm's reach, was clearly beyond their grasp.

Meanwhile, Bai Shu, who was busy purging the poison, reached a critical moment. In a short time, sweat had already soaked through his clothes. With a muffled groan, Bai Shu suddenly opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of foul blood.

"Cousin, are you alright? Please don't scare me like that," the girl asked, her face full of concern.

"I'm fine. The toxin has been purged; I just need to rest for a moment," Bai Shu said with a sigh of relief, wiping the sweat from his forehead with lingering fear.

"What exactly are those three caterpillars? They possess such intense poison." Seeing that Bai Shu was fine, the stone in the girl's heart dropped. She glanced at the three Octagonal Spikes inside the white barrier and asked Bai Shu with a face full of confusion.

In the girl's eyes, her cousin was omniscient, a rare genius of their family. She assumed he must know the origin of these strange insects.

However, to her disbelief, the cousin she considered omniscient did not recognize them either!

"Although these strange insects only have the strength of a first-grade mid-tier demonic beast, their toxicity is rarely fierce. If the poison had been any stronger, I might have been poisoned to death on the spot! Alas! This cousin is incompetent; I truly do not recognize what kind of demonic insects these three caterpillars are," Bai Shu sighed, looking ashamed.

"No way! There's something you don't know?" The girl was clearly infatuated with Bai Shu to a certain degree. Hearing him admit he didn't recognize the insects, she immediately put on an exaggerated expression of disbelief.

"I truly don't know. However, I intend to take these three demonic insects back to study them properly, and then crush them to death," Bai Shu, who had just looked ashamed, now wore a cold, sinister expression as he looked at the Octagonal Spikes.

In front of the girl, Bai Shu would never speak a harsh word, for she was his beloved. But toward the Octagonal Spikes, he showed no mercy. Not only had they caused him to lose face in front of the person he loved, but they had also left him hanging by a thread, nearly costing him his life. With Bai Shu's ruthless nature, he would certainly not let this slide.

He took out a Spirit Beast Bag and prepared to collect the three Octagonal Spikes trapped by the white barrier. But just then, a sound of air being torn apart rang out, and a Giant Sword suddenly stopped in the air about five zhang above Bai Shu's head.

"You'd best not touch my things!" The Giant Sword descended rapidly, and as the voice fell, a youth of similar age to Bai Shu appeared before them. The youth put away the Giant Sword and looked at Bai Shu and the beautiful girl with a calm expression.

The youth had red lips and white teeth, with delicate, refined features. While he couldn't be called a dashing, heart-throb type, he was a rare, cute-looking man. The reason he was called cute was that he was truly delicate; if one were to say he was a woman, perhaps no one would doubt it.

Compared to Bai Shu and the young girl, however, the clothes worn by this youth showed a stark contrast; one side was fashioned from high-quality, expensive fabric, while the other was clad in coarse, washed-out rags. Who was rich and who was poor could be discerned at a single glance.

This person was none other than Luo Mu, who had rushed over after receiving the distress signal from the Octagonal Spike!

Luo Mu's sudden appearance did surprise Bai Shu and the young girl for a moment, but upon seeing that Luo Mu only possessed the strength of the third level of the Qi Refining stage and was dressed so ordinarily, their wary gazes vanished, replaced by looks of blatant contempt.

"Were you just speaking to me?" Bai Shu questioned Luo Mu, his tone rather hostile.

The words Luo Mu had just spoken left Bai Shu feeling extremely displeased. Holding a high status within his family, he was accustomed to receiving respect and admiration wherever he went; never before had he encountered anyone who dared to speak to him in such a tone.

Furthermore, the fact that this fellow looked like a naive, impoverished boy made it all the more unbearable for Bai Shu! In an instant, the gaze Bai Shu fixed upon Luo Mu turned icy.