Spirit Insects

Spirit Insect

At first, they were only tiny pellets of snow, but by the latter half of the night, the snowfall grew heavier and heavier. In just one night, Camellia Village had crossed into a pure white world.

Winter snow in the mountains of Western Hunan was the same as in Guizhou—once it started falling, it would fall for days and nights on end. In past winters, Master would prepare a new cotton-padded jacket for me. Unfortunately, this winter, I was all alone.

The heavy snow sealed off the mountain forests, and all the venomous insects hid in the soil or burrowed into caves.

Every day before dawn, Skeleton Man's stick would come striking over. Under his driving, I ran from Corpse Man Cave to the mountaintop, stayed there for a moment, then ran back down in one breath. After a long time, my body improved a great deal.

Ma Erlei asked me into the mountains again to catch rabbits and set traps for wild boars. I took the rabbit pelts I had collected, stitched them together with needle and thread, and made a fur coat to wear over myself. When I slept at night, it was no longer that cold. The extra rabbit meat was cured with salt and left under the sun to dry.

After the heavy snow stopped, on every night with a moon, I placed the Black and White Worms and the Earth Egg beneath the moonlight. The biting cold wind swept past, and withered leaves in the mountains drifted and scattered with the wind.

The door to Corpse Man Cave was finished, and I also made a few benches. I built a table out of stone, built an earthen stove near the stone wall, and along the wall, I built a smoke flue that led all the way outside the cave, so the thick smoke could be carried out.

Time flew. Before I knew it, the moon in the sky had waxed full twice.

The Black and White Worms in the iron canister had completely recovered their vitality. Whenever they were placed under the moonlight, they would turn about inside the canister. The white worm would occasionally crawl onto my hand, and a wave of warmth would spread out, making my whole body feel indescribably comfortable.

The black worm had also recovered its pure black color. The two worms were white as snow and black as ink. I believed that the next time I ran into Wu Daochao, I definitely would not let him escape.

The Earth Egg had also changed. A crack had split open horizontally across its middle. The crack was not wide, and I could not see what was inside.

But since a crack had opened, the insect inside the Earth Egg breaking out of its shell was only a matter of time.

Skeleton Man kept watch over the Earth Egg every day. After spending this period of time together, I could basically understand the meaning he conveyed through his shouts and hand gestures.

According to Skeleton Man, the Earth Egg needed to bask under moonlight for a full seven sevens, forty-nine days. When the time was ripe, it would break out of its shell. During this period, I had been keeping track of the days, and after excluding the nights without moonlight, careful calculation showed that tomorrow would be the day the Earth Egg broke open.

If it was really as Zhu Xian'er and Guo Ni had said, and the Earth Egg insect could deal with the Innate Insect, then tomorrow night, once the Earth Egg insect smoothly broke out of its shell, from then on, I would not have to live in constant fear, worrying that one day the Innate Insect might be displeased and take my life outright.

Without the worry of losing my life, I could begin studying Gu arts seriously. Thinking of this, I grew somewhat excited.

I asked, "Brother Skeleton, if everything goes smoothly tomorrow, then from now on, I won't have to worry about dying at any moment. Tell me, will tomorrow go smoothly?"

Skeleton Man nodded hard. "Kunlun... will... will..." His hands waved, and his joints let out cracking sounds.

I lit the earthen stove in Corpse Man Cave, and the cave grew warm and cozy. Holding beautiful dreams in my heart, I fell asleep. Early the next morning, before the sky had brightened, I woke up naturally. After I finished my run and came back, I specially went into the mountains to cut down a bamboo stalk, then carved out a bamboo tube and made a simple lid.

After the Earth Egg insect broke out of its shell, I would settle it in this bamboo tube. I waited anxiously until dark, then waited more than two hours before the moon rose from the east. In moments, the moon draped the great mountains in a silver coat. Ignoring the cold, desolate wind, I placed the Earth Egg on a stone and let the moonlight shine wantonly upon it.

In just a moment, the crack on the Earth Egg grew wider and wider, and moonlight flowed in through the gap. A layer of illusory light and shadow veiled the inside of the Earth Egg. Though I could not see it clearly, I could feel that something miraculous was definitely about to happen.

Suddenly, a strange wind rose, and it was as if a sinister, baleful chill had come through the air. My heart cried that this was bad, and I hurriedly shielded the Earth Egg and shouted, "Brother Skeleton, is someone trying to steal the Earth Egg?"

Skeleton Man leapt onto a large rock and let out several loud roars in every direction, making the forest and fields tremble with him. The strange wind calmed, and five oddly shaped spirit bodies walked out from among the woods and wilderness.

I looked carefully. The one in the lead had skin covered entirely in venomous insects, a red spider staring from the top of his head, pitch-black eyes, and a hard shell across his chest. Judging from the aura emanating from him, he should be a Gu Spirit wandering outside.

Right after him was a Gu Spirit whose back was covered in small hands, along with the back of a centipede. Next came a burly man in black, but his hands were not human hands—they were an enormous pair of scorpion claws.

Behind them followed a woman dressed entirely in red. She looked just like an ordinary ghost, except her hands were like the scales of some venomous snake. The last was an old woman who actually had three eyes, and the skin on her face was like withered tree bark in deep winter.

I was extremely nervous and hurriedly looked at Skeleton Man. Skeleton Man also could not make out the situation clearly, and his body remained in an attacking posture.

The five Gu Spirits walked forward and stopped five meters away. Their expressions did not look too good, and their spirit bodies were unstable.

The leading monster opened his mouth and spoke. "We are all Gu Spirits! I am called Five-Poison Monster. These others, in order, are Centipede Man, Scorpion Monster, Red-Clad Woman, and Three-Eyed Crone. They cannot speak. Only I can speak."

I knew that some Gu Spirits could speak and some could not, so I asked warily, "What are you doing here?"

Five-Poison Monster said, "We had originally been hiding in a cave. Recently, we sensed that the Earth Egg spirit insect was about to be born, so we took the risk of coming out. We beg you to use the spirit insect to save us. As long as you are willing to save us, we Five Spirits will obey your commands."

The Sha Qi on Five-Poison Monster's body was astonishing. In the process of being subdued by a Gu master and made into a Gu Spirit, he must have suffered greatly. But since they were Gu Spirits, why did they need the Earth Egg insect to save them?

"Tell me in more detail," I asked with a frown.

Five-Poison Monster said, "For days now, we have been hunted by the Golden Silkworm Gu Spirit. We suffered heavy injuries, and our spirit bodies were damaged. Only by borrowing the spirituality of the Earth Egg spirit insect can we survive. Without the Earth Egg spirit insect, our souls will surely fly apart and scatter."

Some time ago, I had dealt with the Golden Silkworm Deity. Relying on the black umbrella in his hand, he had attacked the Eight-Handed Gu Spirit. I judged that Five-Poison Monster was not lying, and asked again, "As far as I know, the Golden Silkworm Deity does not necessarily kill everyone to the last. If you submit to him, you can obtain freedom. Why did you refuse him?"

Five-Poison Monster shook his head and said, "The freedom the Golden Silkworm Deity speaks of is nothing but an even greater shackle. If we followed him, who knows how many lives we would have to harm? So we refused him."

A cold wind blew over. The five Gu Spirits lined up one after another looked thin and frail; if the wind grew any stronger, it might blow them away at any moment.

I thought for a while and said, "I am also waiting for the Earth Egg spirit insect to be born. If it will not harm the Earth Egg spirit insect, I can use it to save you."

Joy appeared in the eyes of the five Gu Spirits.

Five-Poison Monster said, "You only need to place it on each of us in turn for one night, and we can recover. It will only take five moonlit nights. Then we will be able to survive. The Earth Egg spirit insect is an insect nurtured by spiritual energy. As long as there is an endless flow of moonlight, its life will not be in danger. Moreover, I, Five-Poison Monster, can guarantee to you that I absolutely will not covet your Earth Egg spirit insect."

I could not determine whether Five-Poison Monster's words were true or false, so I asked Skeleton Man, "Is he lying to me? Is placing it on them for one night really enough?"

Skeleton Man nodded.

I said, "Good! The Earth Egg was originally a treasure born from Chiyou Valley. I, Xiao Kunlun, am merely holding it in safekeeping. Since you are Gu Spirits from various stockaded villages and also descendants of Great Emperor Chiyou, the Earth Egg spirit insect should naturally save you."

The Five Spirits were overjoyed. Red-Clad Woman opened her mouth and cried out, revealing a long venomous snake's forked tongue.

I said again, "However, there are still several hours before the Earth Egg spirit insect is born. The birth of a spirit insect is like a woman giving birth. The whole process must be handled with great caution, and not the slightest mistake can occur. I ask that you five Gu Spirits not be anxious."

Five-Poison Monster said respectfully, "Brother Xiao truly has the heart of a bodhisattva. We Five Spirits can still hold on for some time, so there is no need to rush too much. We can wait patiently."

Although the Five Spirits looked strange, they were people who kept their promises. They stood at the outer edge and did not come forward to urge me, nor did they make a move to seize it by force.

Moonlight flowed endlessly into the inside of the Earth Egg. At this moment, it had already reached an extremely crucial point. My heart hung suspended in midair, pounding hard. I prayed silently in my heart, Master, you must bless me.

The hard shell on the surface of the Earth Egg slowly expanded, changing from one split into three cracks. I finally saw what was inside the Earth Egg. Blue aura had gathered within it, and a blue insect the size of a child's little finger was curled up inside the Earth Egg.

I looked up at Skeleton Man, desperate to know whether we could take the Earth Egg spirit insect out right now.

Skeleton Man shook his head and gestured with both hands, telling me that no matter what kind of insect hatched, we had to wait for it to crawl out from inside on its own. This step was extremely important, and no one else could help.

Skeleton Man had only just finished gesturing when he suddenly turned his head and glanced at the mountain path. His body sprang into motion; he bent over and shielded me in one sweep, hugging me as he rolled to the side.

With two sharp whooshes, something flew out of the mountain woods and struck Skeleton Man with two clanging sounds. After they fell to the ground, they turned out to be two iron nails.

Immediately after, five sheets of yellow talisman paper came flying over at high speed, shooting straight toward the five Gu Spirits. The Five-Poison Monster was utterly astonished and shouted, "Dodge!" The five Gu Spirits ran to the side, but Three-Eyed Crone and Centipede Man were hit by the talisman papers. They fell at once, rolled with the momentum, and ended up by Clearwater Creek.

"Five evil ghosts are running toward the water! Everyone, hurry and chase them! Don't let them get away!" a loud voice rang out. "There's a skeleton zombie over here, and a little zombie too, plus venomous witchcraft insects!"

Skeleton Man had pounced over fiercely to save me, carrying me as he rolled to the side. But the Earth Egg, which was just about to break its shell, was still on the stone, being bathed in the moonlight. When I heard that shout, my heart sank. This is bad. Whoever came has taken the Earth Egg spirit insect for a venomous witchcraft insect. I wanted to reach out and save the Earth Egg.

All of a sudden, a cold gleam shot over. An iron nail flew in and struck the Earth Egg's outer shell directly.

The Earth Egg's outer shell was smashed to pieces in an instant.