The Eerie Parasites

Inside the valley, although much time had passed.

Some frog bones could still be seen. Within the silent valley lurked an indescribable aura of slaughter.

Dugu Feng did not rashly step inside. Instead, he waited quietly.

For some reason, he always felt that the valley had become a little more eerie.

Just then, a frog-type soul beast whose skin blended into its surroundings silently entered the valley.

"Chameleon Frog."

Chameleon Frogs were a relatively common type of frog soul beast.

The soul skills provided by this type of frog martial soul were usually related to changing color.

This ability was extremely useless. When you remained still, you could blend into your surroundings, but the moment you moved, your true form would be revealed for an instant.

Only a Soul Ring provided by a ten-thousand-year Chameleon Frog could allow you to remain consistent with your surroundings while moving.

However, it could not conceal Soul Power.

This ability was extremely useless to soul masters, but for the Chameleon Frog itself, it was an excellent means of protection.

The reason Dugu Feng could see through the Chameleon Frog's transformed state at a glance was entirely because his martial soul was the Frog Emperor.

He was exceptionally sensitive to the aura of frogs.

The Chameleon Frog's disguise was completely useless before him.

The Chameleon Frog cautiously entered the very center of the valley, then unexpectedly headed southwest.

There was a narrow crack there that could only accommodate a single person.

It was extremely cramped for humans, but very spacious for a relatively slender Chameleon Frog.

Dugu Feng had not carefully investigated this valley earlier.

His attention had mainly been focused on that Immortal Herb.

Dugu Feng hurriedly followed behind the Chameleon Frog, but he did not choose to pass through the narrow crack.

Instead, he leaped up and chose to jump over it.

Although it took considerable effort, he still followed the locked-on aura of the Chameleon Frog to reach its location.

At the end of the crack was a bottomless pool.

Looking at the pool, whose waters were deep as an abyss, Dugu Feng roughly estimated that it was likely dozens of meters deep.

It seemed to stretch endlessly beyond sight.

Poisonous grass grew densely around the pool.

Dugu Feng leaped down and landed near the pool.

At that moment, Dugu Feng discovered that the Chameleon Frog which had entered earlier was already lying beside the pool.

A worm resembling a hairworm actually drilled out of the Chameleon Frog's head, trying to burrow into the pool.

The instant it emerged from the Chameleon Frog's head, the Chameleon Frog collapsed to the ground, utterly devoid of life.

Just as the hairworm-like creature was about to drill into the pool—

Dugu Feng moved quickly and used his Soul Power to restrain it.

At that moment, he keenly noticed the corpses of small soul beasts hidden beneath the poisonous grass around him.

This poisonous grass was called Corpse-Poison Grass, and it needed corpses to grow.

It favored dark, damp environments.

Consuming a small amount of Corpse-Poison Grass would cause full-body numbness, relentless vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms.

But consuming a large amount would cause the blood throughout one's body to circulate poorly, eventually resulting in death when the blood could no longer circulate.

After death, the body would rapidly rot.

If someone happened to collapse beside Corpse-Poison Grass, their decaying corpse would become nourishment for it.

This was one of the Corpse-Poison Grass's defensive mechanisms.

One of the toxins Dugu Feng had absorbed earlier had come from Corpse-Poison Grass.

Dugu Feng looked at the constantly struggling worm in his hand. The more he looked at it, the more it resembled a hairworm.

"I've never seen this kind of worm before, but perhaps it can be modified and cultivated. It seems its habits are similar to those of a hairworm—it survives by parasitizing small soul beasts."

"To reproduce as well. If it could be used to control soul masters, it would definitely be a terrifying weapon."

Dugu Feng's attention was entirely focused on the tiny worm in his hand. He completely failed to notice that the previously calm pool had begun to churn.

By the time he noticed, it was already too late. Countless densely packed tiny worms had actually gathered together.

They formed a massive worm king several meters long.

The sight of their densely packed writhing was enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint instantly.

In just a moment, those worms seemed to fuse into one, completely forming a gigantic worm king.

The worm king was pitch-black all over and eyeless, looking somewhat like an earthworm.

Yet its color was as heavy as iron.

The worm king twisted its body and charged directly at Dugu Feng.

Dugu Feng did not indulge it in the slightest. After placing the little worm in his hand into a jade bottle—

He circulated his Soul Power and unleashed the Ice-Fire Toad Palm, striking out instantly.

Beneath the twin palms formed from Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire—

The assembled worm king was scattered by a single blow.

The countless tiny worms immediately began fleeing in all directions.

But under the pincer attack of ice and fire—

They were ultimately almost completely wiped out, with only a very few lucky ones escaping back into the pool.

The rest were either frozen into ice sculptures and shattered, or burned to ashes by the flames.

"Its vitality is truly tenacious. It actually held out for over ten seconds against Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire. Ordinary worms probably couldn't even last a second."

"This shows that although these worms are strange, Ultimate Fire and Ultimate Ice can still suppress them."

"The Poison Classic records methods for raising venomous insects. If these worms can be cultivated into venomous insects, they would truly be an unparalleled choice."

Thinking of this, Dugu Feng simply struck the bottomless pool with a palm, releasing an ice-cold, bone-piercing chill.

It spread directly downward through the pool.

His purpose was to force those worms out.

Although he had not used his full strength, this palm containing Ultimate Ice was still powerful enough to nearly freeze the entire pool solid.

The surviving worms sensed the temperature around them plummeting.

They could only helplessly crawl back out of the water.

Dugu Feng took out the jade bottles he had prepared in advance and packed all of them inside. Only after filling several bottles did he kill off all the remaining worms.

Looking at the bottomless pool, Dugu Feng pondered for a moment before circulating all the Soul Power in his body once more.

He converted it into Ultimate Fire and struck the surface that had nearly been frozen over with a palm.

Raging flames directly heated the nearly frozen water until it boiled.

Dugu Feng was not merely trying to burn the surface. The water deep within the pool was the same.

The depths of this pool had originally been relatively cold, which was why Ultimate Ice could lower its temperature further.

But making this entire pool boil with Ultimate Fire was by no means easy.

Fortunately, Dugu Feng's Soul Power had long surpassed that of ordinary soul masters at the same rank.

Although he only possessed the strength of level 63 Soul Power, the amount of soul energy stored within his body was comparable to that of a Soul Saint.

Under the fierce assault of Ultimate Fire, the entire pool completely boiled.

The water temperature even reached over 160 degrees.

By then, Dugu Feng was drenched in sweat.

He had already consumed two-thirds of his Soul Power.

This was enough to show just how deep the pool was.

After doing all this, Dugu Feng was not in a hurry to enter.

Instead, he sat cross-legged on the spot and began restoring his Soul Power.