Annihilation

Not to mention Ji Mu's complicated feelings, Huo Hai was now wholly focused on the half-dead Hound King. Having been poisoned by Little Gold, how could it possibly feel good?

Once all the poison had invaded its body, even a powerful Spirit Practitioner Realm spirit beast could not endure it completely. Perhaps Little Gold was no match for a Spirit Practitioner Realm spirit beast. But ambushes and poison could not be judged purely by strength. Gu Insects were best at using poison; in many people's eyes, any Gu Insect was poisonous.

"No wonder people on Earth feared the legendary Gu Insects so much. Who could withstand such nimble poisoning methods? Right, perhaps I should make some Gu powder to use against enemies in the future."

Huo Hai began letting his thoughts run wild again. It was not that he had lost focus, but that he had already severed his connection with the Star Gu and stopped watching the Hound King. The Hound King was already close to death. After struggling for a while, the poison spread throughout its body.

Carried by the flowing blood, it quickly spread to every corner of its body, reaching even its heart. Its entire body felt sore, numb, and miserable, and it could not even control its spiritual energy. Before Little Gold's terrifying poison, spiritual energy's detoxifying ability was of little use.

Huo Hai did not dare look because he feared he would lose control of his killing intent again. These were only spirit beasts, not people. But there were simply too many of them—several hundred spirit beasts. If they died, it would be perfectly normal for them to stir up his killing intent. Huo Hai turned away. Ji Mu also came back to her senses and flung all the chaotic thoughts from her mind.

"The Hound King is about to die. Your insects are amazing." Ji Mu did not know why she said such a thing.

Huo Hai nodded, suppressing the restlessness in his heart. "Yes, the insects really were formidable this time. Unfortunately, no matter how strong they are, insects are still external things. They will never be the proper path." Huo Hai did not know why he had suddenly said that.

The moment the words left his mouth, a trace of enlightenment arose in Huo Hai's heart. Yes, what was the proper path? His own cultivation—that was the proper path. No matter how powerful Gu Insects were, they were merely a means. They were not part of himself in the end.

Even if the Gu Insects became so powerful that no one on the entire continent could rival them, if he himself remained an ordinary person, he would still die once his lifespan reached its limit. On Earth, even emperors of a generation had exhausted every possible method, willing to drain the people and waste fortunes, all for longevity. Longevity—even merely extending one's lifespan—held an incomparably immense allure for people.

The people of this world were born with an environment suited for cultivation and could continuously increase their lifespans. Instead, they had somewhat overlooked such advancement. He absolutely could not lose himself in the power of Gu Insects.

"Hmph, if it hadn't been an ambush just now, even if all those Gu Insects had attacked together, that Hound King probably would have been able to escape." Huo Hai suddenly realized that the powerful spiritual energy of the Spirit Practitioner Realm was not something his current Gu Insects could handle.

At that moment, Huo Hai's conception of the proper path swelled without limit, as though he had found the road he was meant to walk. That was right. Constantly strengthening himself was the path he needed to take. The insects were strong, but being strong himself was better. If he could keep growing stronger, then his insects could keep growing stronger too. Conversely, if he stagnated, the insects' power would only improve so much.

After such a long period of advancement, quite a few Star Gu already had the ability to reach the level of Spirit Blood Realm spirit beasts. They only needed an opportunity to breed again. But Little Gold and Little Star had eaten many things.

They had accumulated a tremendous amount of power and had long reached the peak of the Spirit Blood Realm spirit beast level, yet there was still not the slightest sign of a breakthrough.

Huo Hai had long held this suspicion: the strength of Gu Insects was actually connected to him. If he could not break through, then the Gu Insects could not break through either. Although Gu Insects were constrained by their innate talent, an even greater restriction came from him. It seemed that no matter what insects he raised in the future, they would face the same limitation.

This seemed to be one of this world's fundamental laws, something human power could not stop.

While Huo Hai was constantly contemplating the proper path, Ji Mu saw the scene outside with perfect clarity. The Hound King had been poisoned for too long and kept moving around, allowing the poison to seep into its marrow and vital organs. Its life had reached its end, and it could not even move anymore.

At this moment, countless specks of starlight began their attack. These were Huo Hai's Star Gu. Ironclad Hounds were covered in hard fur, and even the fur around their throats was extremely tough and difficult to pierce.

The Star Gu attacked with skill—or rather, Huo Hai had already set their attack routes from the beginning. Against Ironclad Hounds at the Spirit Blood Realm or even only the Spirit Body Realm, the Star Gu directly targeted their throats. The Star Gu were small, their force concentrated; while flying, they possessed tremendous speed and penetrating power, and their bite force was even more terrifying.

Against Spirit Blood Realm and Spirit Body Realm Ironclad Hounds, they could still pierce the relatively weaker spot at the throat and easily kill them. And that was indeed what happened. Like bullets, the Star Gu left faint trails in the air before vanishing in a flash.

They easily pierced the throats of these Ironclad Hounds. The Ironclad Hounds could not even make a sound and could only die in agony.

But Spirit Bone Realm Ironclad Hounds were different. Their fur was too tough for their throats to be pierced. The Star Gu instead chose the Ironclad Hounds' noses. Last time, this kind of attack had brought Huo Hai enormous benefits.

Once inside their noses, the Star Gu rapidly began gnawing, drilling onward without pause toward the Ironclad Hounds' brains. The agonizing pain made the Ironclad Hounds howl repeatedly and roll across the ground. If they had not been deep in the heart of Southern Mountain, with no one nearby, such a great commotion would likely have quickly drawn other groups over.

Even so, Huo Hai had to be careful and finish the battle swiftly. Otherwise, who knew what unexpected changes might occur?

At this point, the Star Gu could only attack freely. Without Huo Hai's control, they only knew how to follow their previous instructions. Afterward, the Star Gu pounced onto the Ironclad Hounds, regardless of whether they were alive or dead, and began biting them.

The Ironclad Hounds' fur was indeed tough. The Star Gu could not break it open in an instant through a sneak attack. But by slowly gnawing, they could bite through it bit by bit and then eat it. Whether living or dead, all the Ironclad Hounds were subjected to the Star Gu's biting.

In the end, even the Ironclad Hound King fell within the Star Gu's feeding range. The Ironclad Hound King's eyes were filled with sorrow, yet it could only watch its clansmen die one after another. Its body was completely numb; even if it wanted to move now, it was powerless to do so. The Hound King kept letting out mournful howls, but they grew weaker and weaker and had no effect whatsoever.

The Star Gu did not care in the slightest about the venom Little Gold had spat out. Gu Insects were Gu Insects. Even if they were not poisonous themselves, they still did not fear poison. Unless the poison far exceeded what they could withstand—but that was impossible.

At the very least, the poison Huo Hai had created could not exceed the Gu Insects' tolerance. Listening to the unceasing mournful howls behind him, Huo Hai's killing intent rose bit by bit. Huo Hai closed his eyes, covered his ears, and suppressed it with all his strength. His mouth kept chanting the Diamond Sutra, which Ji Mu could not understand at all. In truth, even he did not know whether he was chanting it correctly.

In the end, several Ironclad Hounds finally discovered the existence of Huo Hai and Ji Mu. By instinct, they knew that what had happened was connected to these two people. The Ironclad Hounds struggled toward them, but it was already too late.

Their bodies were already mutilated; even if they had not died yet, they were close enough. One struggling Ironclad Hound had even had one of its paws completely eaten by a swarm of Star Gu. Not long after, it too died beneath the Star Gu.

Throughout the entire process, the Ironclad Hounds had almost no ability to resist and were simply dealt with by a swarm of Gu Insects. The howls grew quieter and quieter, and Huo Hai's emotions gradually calmed. Still without opening his eyes, Huo Hai continued suppressing his killing intent. Seeing Huo Hai like this, Ji Mu took hold of his arm, hoping to lend him some peace.

No one knew how much time passed. When not a single sound remained in the forest, Huo Hai finally completely suppressed his killing intent and opened his eyes. His gaze was calm as still water. Just one look at it made Ji Mu feel a wave of calm in her heart.

Perhaps... perhaps he truly won't become a bad person. Such willpower really makes one see him in a new light. Ji Mu narrowed her eyes at Huo Hai, strange thoughts flickering through her mind.

Suddenly, Ji Mu seemed to think of something and immediately said, "Huo Hai, let's go down and take a look quickly. Your gains this time should be enormous." Yet inwardly, she found it a great pity. So much prey had been eaten for nothing by those beetles. If it could have been taken out, what an immense fortune that would be. Even the Ji Family could not completely ignore it.

Huo Hai nodded and connected with a Star Gu. Once he learned that the things there had basically been eaten clean, he carefully climbed down from the tree. What puzzled Huo Hai was that "basically eaten clean" meant there was still something left uneaten.

Little Star told him that it seemed unable to bite through this thing. Was there really something even the Star Gu could not bite through? They were creatures that could even eat metal. Full of doubt, Huo Hai slowly descended from the tree to the ground.

Just then, a streak of golden light suddenly flew over and landed on Huo Hai. Gu Insects did not possess Huo Hai's thoughts; they only knew how to hide themselves. A golden centipede with a pair of wings—what exactly was this thing? Thinking of how the Hound King had been poisoned to death by a streak of golden light earlier, Ji Mu finally understood how dangerous it was and involuntarily took several steps back.

Little Gold paid her no attention at all. In the Huo Family, it had nearly become Huo Yuner's pet. As long as someone was not an enemy, Little Gold could be said to hold no hostility toward humans whatsoever. This person seemed to have a good relationship with its master as well.