The Might of Insects

Chapter 23: Insect Might

"Cousin! What's wrong with you?" The young girl, who had been keeping a close eye on Bai Shu's every move, turned deathly pale as she watched his face suddenly twist and his entire body begin to tremble.

Bai Shu did not answer. Instead, he reached down with trembling hands and lifted his hem, only to reveal that the white trousers beneath were already soaked in a patch of blood.

"Thud!" Losing his footing, Bai Shu collapsed to the ground, his mouth emitting continuous, agonizing cries as sweat drenched his face.

"What did you do to my cousin!" The girl, having lost all traces of her earlier relaxed demeanor, shrieked at Luo Mu in terror.

At the same time, she couldn't help but tighten her grip on the silk scarf magic tool in her hand, betraying the intense nervousness in her heart.

Although the girl's cultivation realm was a level higher than Luo Mu's, she was still just a young girl. Now that Bai Shu, her pillar of support, had met with some unknown disaster, she had lost her composure and was momentarily panicked and at a loss for what to do.

"What I did to your cousin? Why don't you just keep watching and find out?" Luo Mu replied with a cold, indifferent smile.

Screams continued to erupt from Bai Shu's throat. The girl made several attempts to strike at Luo Mu, but her own cowardice stopped her in her tracks each time. She could only watch helplessly as Bai Shu writhed on the ground in pain, not knowing how to intervene.

A moment later, an ant as white as jade crawled out from Bai Shu's neck. Wherever the ant passed, it left behind nothing but exposed, gleaming white bone!

This ant was none other than one of Luo Mu's White Jade Ants!

As for Bai Shu himself, he stopped struggling and curled into a ball, lying motionless on the ground. He offered no further resistance as the White Jade Ants rapidly devoured his corpse.

In this short span of time, everything on Bai Shu's body except for his head had been completely consumed by the five White Jade Ants!

"Ah!" Seeing this, the girl could no longer mask the terror in her heart. After a piercing scream, she turned to flee. Luo Mu felt far too sinister; despite his third-level Qi Refining cultivation, he had suddenly instilled an unprecedented sense of crisis in her.

The mysterious white ants, in particular, sent a chill down her spine. She had a feeling that if she didn't leave this place immediately, she would surely lose her life here!

The girl was so young and beautiful; how could she be willing to throw her life away? Even if her cousin's fate was uncertain, there were plenty of other cousins in her family—she didn't need to worry about lacking a backer. The most urgent task was to leave this place, save her own skin, and plan for the future!

"Husband and wife are like birds in the same forest; when disaster strikes, they fly their separate ways." This saying was perfectly embodied by the girl. Although they were not husband and wife, they had already done everything that a couple would do!

"Want to run? Isn't it a bit too late for that?" Just as the girl turned, Luo Mu's cold, emotionless voice came from behind her. This only added to her fear, and she quickened her pace. At the same time, she slapped her storage bag, preparing to release a flying magic tool to escape more quickly.

Before she could even retrieve the tool, the girl suddenly felt a chill on her neck, as if something had burrowed into her skin. She instinctively reached up to grab it, and a slippery object appeared in her hand. She looked down, and her face instantly drained of all color—her beauty vanished, replaced by sheer, hair-raising horror!

In her hand was a long snake as thick as an infant's arm!

The snake was covered in plum blossom spots and was quite beautiful, but the girl had no courage left to admire it. Its small, cold eyes were fixed on her, and its massive jaws were already agape, revealing gleaming white poison fangs!

In her desperation, the girl let out a shriek, flung the snake away in terror, and scrambled to run.

But the moment her feet moved, she was tripped by something. She steadied herself and looked down, only to see the ground covered in long snakes! And these snakes were exactly the same species as the one she had just thrown away!

The moment she lost her footing, the snakes leaped up in unison, pouncing on her!

Though the girl was a fourth-level Qi Refining cultivator, she was still a woman, and a very young one at that. Having never experienced anything like this, she completely lost her head.

If they were ordinary snakes, she might have regained her composure after the initial shock and believed she had the strength to tear them to pieces! But she could clearly sense that these were no ordinary snakes—they were genuine first-level spirit beasts! And there were thirteen of them!

In this situation, facing thirteen first-level spirit beasts alone, she knew she lacked the ability to survive. But it was clearly too late to run.

The thirteen snakes swarmed her, binding her tightly until she couldn't move a limb. Then, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, and her consciousness began to fade.

Luo Mu wiped the blood from his dagger and tucked it back into his storage bag. He looked at the girl lying in a pool of blood with a calm expression, showing no emotion whatsoever.

Just as the girl had tried to flee, the thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes, having received Luo Mu's orders, had rushed over and intercepted her. The result was predictable: the girl was easily blocked by the snakes.

And Luo Mu had seized that moment to rush in and deliver the killing blow!

The Poison Fang was a mid-grade magic tool, incredibly sharp. Combined with the infusion of Luo Mu's unique Poison Spirit Power, the girl had no way to defend against it. The moment the Poison Fang pierced her chest, the poison surged into her meridians. Within moments, she had lost all breath, dead beyond any doubt.

It was hard to tell if she had died from the poison or from the critical wound to her heart!

This was his first time killing a person, and Luo Mu felt a slight sense of unease, but he quickly suppressed the emotion. If he didn't kill them, they would have killed him.

Luo Mu cherished his own life; to ensure he didn't suffer any harm, they had to die!

With the girl dead, the light barrier trapping the three Octagonal Spikes vanished. Having regained their freedom, the spikes crawled back onto Luo Mu's body, appearing incredibly affectionate.

Luo Mu smiled faintly and recalled the three Octagonal Spikes. The thirteen Plum Blossom Snakes, still tightly coiled around the girl's corpse, were also recalled into his Spirit Beast Bag.

Finally, Luo Mu turned his gaze toward the deceased Bai Shu, but there was no trace of him left. Aside from his tattered clothes, which had been shredded by the White Jade Ants, not even a scrap of bone remained, let alone a corpse.

Watching the five White Jade Ants crawling over Bai Shu's clothes, still looking unsatisfied, Luo Mu's mouth twitched as he cursed them for being gluttons! They hadn't even left a single bone behind.

Shaking his head, Luo Mu ordered the five White Jade Ants to clean up the girl's corpse as well, while he slowly walked toward Bai Shu's discarded clothing.

A storage bag was unearthed from the pile, and Luo Mu's face lit up with an irrepressible smile. He didn't care much about the two of them being dead, but he had been eyeing their storage bags the whole time and certainly wouldn't leave them behind.

With a flick of his finger, a small fireball appeared and landed on Bai Shu's clothes. In a few short moments, they were reduced to ash. A breeze blew by, leaving no trace that Bai Shu had ever been there.

Luo Mu didn't care about their deaths, nor did he know their identities. However, for the sake of safety and to avoid unnecessary trouble, he prudently burned their belongings to prevent any backlash.

Judging by their attire and their fourth or fifth-level Qi Refining cultivation at such a young age, Luo Mu was certain they were disciples of some cultivation family. As a mere Rogue Cultivator, he had no ability to provoke such families, so cleaning up the scene was a necessity!

After dealing with Bai Shu, Luo Mu walked toward the girl's corpse. She no longer possessed the beauty she had when she first appeared; like Bai Shu, she had been picked clean by the White Jade Ants, leaving not even a bone behind.

Luo Mu crouched down and began to search through her clothes. Within a few breaths, a smile appeared on his face.

The girl's storage bag was now in his hands!

Luo Mu unhesitatingly claimed the bag and proceeded to destroy the evidence once more. Having done it once already, he performed the task with practiced ease.

Once everything was handled, a satisfied smile spread across his face as he patted the two extra storage bags on his chest. Although he hadn't checked their contents yet, looking at how plump they were, he guessed they must be filled with plenty of loot.

However, to be safe, Luo Mu did not dare to hang the two storage bags openly at his waist. Instead, he very cautiously hid them against his chest. Once he returned home and finished processing everything inside these two bags, he would immediately destroy them.

In the world of cultivation, there were countless secret arts; if he were not careful, these two storage bags might have been placed under some kind of restriction by the elders of their families. Luo Mu did not want to be hunted down every single day just for the sake of two storage bags.

Before leaving, Luo Mu cast his gaze toward the catalyst for the entire incident, the fourth-grade high-tier poisonous herb, Soul-Falling Grass. While a stalk of Soul-Falling Grass was certainly precious, compared to his own life, Luo Mu preferred the latter. It was precisely because of this Soul-Falling Grass that Bai Shu and his companion had ultimately lost their lives.

Shaking his head, Luo Mu did not dwell on it, nor did he feel any psychological burden over the deaths of Bai Shu and his companion. This world of cultivation was inherently a place where the strong preyed upon the weak; once one stepped onto the path of cultivation, one had to be prepared to be killed by other cultivators at any moment.

The sky had already darkened. After pulling the entire Soul-Falling Grass up by its roots, Luo Mu did not linger at the spot any longer; he summoned his flying magical artifact and headed toward Dragon Gate Town.