The Legend of the Flying Centipede!

Yan Ling came out of the storage room holding an old-fashioned notebook.

"Catch."

She tossed the notebook to Li Yao, then lay back in the recliner and went back to playing on her phone.

Li Yao caught it and hurriedly flipped through the pages.

Most of the earlier entries were diary notes about everyday trifles: going to the market one day, chopping firewood in the mountains the next.

After turning some thirty pages, Li Yao stopped.

Found it!

His eyes lit up, and he quickly began reading.

After all, this was a creature in the Demon Venerable Realm. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you could win a hundred battles.

In just two or three minutes, Li Yao finished reading what was written there.

"Phew."

He let out a long breath.

"Trouble."

Seeing his expression, Li Wenbin hurried over. "Young master, what's wrong?"

Li Yao handed him the notebook and leaned back against the sofa, speechless.

"Do you know what's in the mountain behind Heyu Village?"

"What?"

"A Flying Centipede."

Li Wenbin froze. "A Flying Centipede? What's that?"

"A centipede demon. Probably in the Demon Venerable Realm."

At Li Yao's words, Li Wenbin's expression changed too.

The Demon Venerable Realm was equivalent to the human Martial Venerable Realm.

And demons were born with powerful bodies. Human martial artists at the same level were basically no match for them.

"Young master, should we retreat?"

Li Wenbin asked tentatively.

Li Yao said nothing. He was still thinking about what he had just read.

Back in Yan Ling's grandfather's day, a tale about the Centipede Immortal had circulated in Heyu Village.

The story went that more than three hundred years ago, before the Spiritual Energy Revival, Heyu Village had not yet borne that name.

It had been called Yu River Village.

Legend had it that a scholar in Yu River Village had no love for studying poetry and books. Instead, he was devoted to raising venomous insects, the most famous of which was a Flying Centipede.

This Flying Centipede was an unusual breed of centipede, with wings growing from its back and venom of astonishing potency.

Yet despite being so poisonous, it was utterly obedient to the scholar. He adored it too, and the two were inseparable day and night, whether he went into town or slept.

Everyone said it was a marvel.

Later, a landlord heard about it and wanted to see the Flying Centipede for himself.

He went to pay the scholar a visit, but the scholar proved stubborn. Not only did he refuse to show him the centipede, he cursed him as a common mortal who could not appreciate such a creature of nature and was unworthy of seeing it.

The more the landlord thought about it after returning home, the angrier he became.

So he ordered his men to beat the scholar to death and bring back the centipede.

Instead, every man he sent was killed.

Even the landlord himself died of poisoning overnight, and the poison in his body was that of the Flying Centipede.

With that, all the evidence pointed to the scholar. The local authorities immediately arrested him and threw him into prison.

But before two days had passed, the scholar vanished from his cell.

Some said he had been a celestial in human form, and the Flying Centipede was his Spirit Pet.

Others said he had escaped from prison and spent the rest of his life deep in the mountains. Opinions varied.

Then, a hundred years ago, the Spiritual Energy Revival began.

A Flying Centipede emerged from the mountains behind Heyu Village and killed many people.

The military was alerted, but the Flying Centipede's shell was so hard that no modern weapon could penetrate it.

At the time, humans had only just begun exploring cultivation. Even the strongest were merely Third or Fourth Rank Martial Masters, no match for the Flying Centipede.

Just as the military prepared to use a large missile, lightning flashed and thunder rolled across the sky.

Bolt after bolt struck at the Flying Centipede.

The Flying Centipede had no choice but to flee back into the mountains.

But the lightning chased it all the way, striking as it went.

Finally, as the Flying Centipede burrowed into a towering tree, a bolt of lightning struck the trunk.

In an instant, it burst into roaring flames.

After the fire burned out, military personnel entered the mountain to investigate. They confirmed that a centipede's corpse was there, filed it in their records, and announced that the Flying Centipede was dead.

Who would have thought that the old tale would not only come true, but turn into a disaster?

By then, Li Wenbin had also finished reading the story in the notebook.

His face was full of worry.

"Young master, what do we do now?"

Li Wenbin asked.

Li Yao thought for a moment. "Uncle Bin, stay here and watch over this child. I'll contact the Special Operations Bureau right now and have them send a high-level cultivator to deal with this. Then I'll go up the mountain and take a look."

"No!"

Li Wenbin objected as soon as Li Yao finished speaking.

"Young master, if you can contact the Special Operations Bureau to handle this, there's no need for you to take the risk! Didn't you say so yourself? That Flying Centipede is probably in the Demon Venerable Realm!"

Li Yao smiled. "Uncle Bin, you know what I'm capable of. Even if I can't beat it, I can still get away."

Li Wenbin still refused.

"No, absolutely not! What if something goes wrong? What then?"

He went on.

"If you want to know what's happening in the mountain, let me go. How could I let you put yourself in danger?"

No matter what Li Yao said, he would not agree.

Li Yao knew words were useless now.

He simply held out one hand. Spiritual Power gathered above it, gradually taking the shape of a great saber.

Li Wenbin stared, shock nearly spilling from his eyes.

"Young master, you... you've broken through to the Martial Venerable Realm?"

Once someone reached the Martial Venerable Realm, they could shape Spiritual Power into all sorts of forms.

But then he sensed something was wrong. If Li Yao had broken through, there was no way he would not have known.

Could it be...

Spiritual Power Transformation ahead of time?

That was the mark of a genius who appeared only once in a century.

Li Wenbin had only ever seen Li Zhiyun do it!

"Uncle Bin, I haven't broken through. But after seeing this, you should believe I can handle myself, right?"

As he spoke, the system suddenly popped up again.

"Ding! Detected the host's interest in the Flying Centipede. Side quest issued: kill the Flying Centipede."

"Quest reward: 20,000 Background Value."

Li Yao was delighted. The system understood him better and better.

"Young master! The Li Family truly has a worthy successor!"

Li Wenbin sighed with feeling and stopped trying to hold Li Yao back.

He knew that with Spiritual Power Transformation at his command, even if Li Yao really encountered a demon in the Demon Venerable Realm, it could never stop him from escaping if he wanted to run.

Still, he watched Li Yao intently.

"Young master, be careful in everything you do. The moment you see the demon, run."

"Remember, nothing matters more than staying alive."

Li Yao gave a quiet acknowledgment.

He turned and prepared to head outside.

"Big brother, where are you going? It's really dangerous outside right now."

Yan Ling, who had been playing on her phone the whole time, set it down and looked at him.

"I'm going to slay that beast."