Demon Insects

What the hell were Demon Insects?

From the halting accounts of the surrounding flowers and plants, Dongfang Minghui roughly learned that Demon Insects were also called Ironclad Beetles. They were level-one magic beasts, yet classified as highly dangerous. These insects resembled beetles, with shells so hard that neither blades nor spears could pierce them. Once they burrowed into a person's skin, they crawled into the tissue and gnawed away at flesh and blood, bit by bit, until nothing remained but white bones.

Most importantly, these Demon Insects traveled in swarms. In other words, if you offended them, you would face retaliation from the entire Ironclad Beetle colony.

Dongfang Minghui broke into a cold sweat. Just look at the hellish place she had ended up in! Even a single insect could kill someone. She hurriedly began gathering her things, then stopped after a few steps, wavering.

"Seventh Sister is still in there."

Recalling how the heroine would later hate evil with a vengeance and turn against people without mercy, Dongfang Minghui backed up, little by little.

"Is there anything Ironclad Beetles are particularly afraid of?"

A little plant immediately sprang forward in delight. "Me, me, me, me!"

Dongfang Minghui's eyes widened. She gently touched her nose to the tip of its leaf, her face full of disbelief. "You?"

The little plant was corpse-scent grass, which often grew where bodies were buried. Its sap gave off a foul stench. Ironclad Beetles had an extremely keen sense of smell, but whenever they encountered corpse-scent grass, they would take a detour.

"Blergh-"

Dongfang Minghui leaned over to the other side and threw up nearly everything she had eaten that day. So there were corpses beneath the very spot where she stood! Remembering how she had affectionately touched the corpse-scent grass just now, she felt something surge into her throat again. "Blergh, blergh-"

By the time she finished vomiting, her face was pale and her legs were weak. With no other choice, she smeared the corpse-scent grass's sap over herself, looking as though she were marching to her death. Holding her breath against the stench, she also took some of its leaves.

"Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, I'm bald now." The corpse-scent grass hid to one side and cried.

Dongfang Minghui carried the corpse-scent grass on her back. Though she held her breath and steadied herself, she could not withstand that stench. She took two deep breaths, and her expression changed drastically.

"Cough, cough. Seventh Sister."

The moment Dongfang Minghui appeared, the stench spread for a hundred miles around. As though they had smelled their natural enemy, the Ironclad Beetles fled in panic, surging wildly in another direction.

The people trapped inside the swarm had already fought until their eyes were bloodshot, but the Ironclad Beetles' encirclement was like walls of copper and iron. No matter how they tried to flee, they could not escape.

Now, however, they watched in astonishment as the fleeing Ironclad Beetles trampled and collided with one another in panic. Beyond their surprise, the sight gave them cause for thought. One of them said, "This is bad! Our blood must have attracted a higher-level magic beast. Everyone, hurry and leave!"

Dongfang Minghui finally spotted the heroine and immediately ran over in delight. "Seventh Sister!"

The faster she ran, the faster the Ironclad Beetles fled. Within a few breaths, not a single Ironclad Beetle remained within a hundred miles.

Apparently catching the smell on Dongfang Minghui, everyone took a step back. Dongfang Wanyu looked disgusted. "What's on you? Why does it stink so much?"

"Corpse-scent grass. Those insects' nemesis." Pale-faced, Dongfang Minghui tossed the leaves aside and covered her nose. After glancing at everyone, she offered a slightly wicked suggestion. "If you're worried those insects might come back, you'd better smear some on yourselves too."

Actually, as long as she was there, those Ironclad Beetles probably would not return. She certainly was not going to tell them that.

"This young fellow is-"

There were six people present, making eight with the heroine and herself. Judging by how they supported one another, they probably all knew each other.

"I'm her-"

"She's my ninth brother," Dongfang Wanyu cut in before she could finish.

Dongfang Minghui looked over her own outfit and secretly sighed with relief. She had nearly given herself away.

"Thank you for saving our lives, young fellow."

"You're welcome."

Dongfang Minghui waved a hand. She could not stand all these elaborate formalities. It was one thing back at the estate, but why were things still like this outside it? "Ah, Seventh Sister, you're hurt!"

There was a scratch on Dongfang Wanyu's arm, an accidental injury from the fight that she herself had not even noticed. "It's fine. Just a minor wound."

Dongfang Minghui wanted to look for a pill or something to stop the bleeding, but when she saw the bundle lying on the ground, soaked in corpse-scent grass sap, she cried out, "I left our bundle back where I was!"

Since the bundle contained clothes, banknotes, and other valuables, she had been afraid they would pick up the corpse stench too, so she had simply hidden it in a tree. Remembering this, Dongfang Minghui anxiously turned and ran.

Dongfang Wanyu caught up with her. "I'll go with you."

When they returned to the spot, Dongfang Minghui searched around the tree, then scratched her head. "Strange. Why is it gone?"

Nearly all their possessions were in that bundle, and now it had vanished just like that. Dongfang Minghui hung her head, thinking she was done for this time. Once the heroine lost her temper, she might send her straight home.

She could forget all about earning favor or anything of the sort.

Dongfang Wanyu leaped straight into the tree and examined it closely. There was nothing there, but a lingering aroma of roasted meat remained. Perhaps because she had smelled so much stench earlier, the scent of roasted meat actually felt very pleasant. She had a fair idea who had been audacious enough to take their bundle.

She jumped down from the tree. "A thief stole it."

"Huh?" Dongfang Minghui looked utterly bewildered, not quite believing the heroine's words.

There were thieves in this place too?

"A greedy little thief. If you roast more tasty food, perhaps it will return our things," Dongfang Wanyu said pointedly.

Dongfang Minghui tilted her head, looking confused. Only belatedly did she realize whom the heroine meant.

"Never mind. Let's head back first."

The two returned to the group of six. One of the men was wounded and lay unconscious on the ground. They had already cleaned away the blood on him, and with the corpse-scent grass masking it, they really could no longer smell any blood. A woman kept anxious watch beside him, her brow furrowed and her gaze fixed on the unconscious man. The two appeared to share a deep bond.

A rugged-looking man was cutting up the Ironclad Beetles' bodies, while the other three began lighting a fire, boiling water, and cooking food, showing no fear whatsoever of being in the Purple Demon Mountains.

At the sight of them cooking, Dongfang Minghui's stomach let out a humiliating series of growls. Dongfang Wanyu noticed and reached for a piece of dry rations to give her. After feeling around, however, her expression changed slightly before returning to normal.

"Ironclad Beetles can be roasted and eaten too. Want to try?"

Compared with Dongfang Minghui, Dongfang Wanyu, the seventh young lady, seemed far better suited to life in the wilderness.

However unwilling Dongfang Minghui was to eat them, she could not withstand hunger that left her dizzy and her limbs weak. If they encountered another magic beast, she would not even have the strength to flee.

Dongfang Minghui gritted her teeth, suppressed her nausea, and went over to the man who had been cutting up the Ironclad Beetles. "Sir, could you give me a few Ironclad Beetles?"

Though the man looked rough and fierce, he was quite friendly. He pointed at the Ironclad Beetles on the ground. "No need to stand on ceremony, young master. If you hadn't driven the Ironclad Beetles away, we might all have died here. The credit is yours. Take whichever you like."

Dongfang Minghui immediately selected ten large ones. Only when she tried to remove their shells did she discover that the armored carapaces were as hard as iron. Even her dagger could not budge them.

She turned an Ironclad Beetle's body over and examined it all around, finally finding a soft spot on its abdomen.

"This could work."

Dongfang Minghui immediately used her dagger to pry open a little of the armor on its abdomen. Without bothering with anything else, she skewered it on a branch, intending to roast it over the fire.

"Sizzle-"

After it had roasted for a while, she saw fat dripping down its armored shell. The flesh in the Ironclad Beetle's abdomen began to shrink, leaving it half exposed.

The aroma successfully drew everyone's attention.

Dongfang Minghui poked it with her dagger. Seeing that the meat was tender, she took a tiny taste. It lacked the rank flavor she had imagined and was actually rather fragrant.

"That's not how you roast Ironclad Beetles." One of the women among the six took out some seasonings and sprinkled them over it. "Try it again. It should taste better now."

Dongfang Minghui took a small bite. It really did taste much better than before. The seasoning was probably salt or something similar.

"Seventh Sister, you try some too."

Dongfang Minghui separated out a little less than half and handed it to the heroine.

Looking back, she saw that the woman who had come over uninvited had somehow quickly stripped off an Ironclad Beetle's shell, peeling out the entire piece of meat along with its skin. Her deft technique was impossible to look away from.

She skewered the meat and roasted it over the fire, turning it back and forth. Before long, the pale, tender insect meat turned golden. Then she sprinkled on some of the seasonings she had brought, and the aroma instantly spread.

Watching her repeat the shell-removing motion three times, Dongfang Minghui gradually picked up the knack. After two or three attempts of her own, she finally managed to extract a whole piece of insect meat.

The woman roasted five in succession, added the seasonings, then returned to her group and handed them out one by one.

"Ninth Brother, how come I never knew you were so good with your hands?" Dongfang Wanyu sat down beside her and abruptly asked.

Dongfang Minghui's hands froze. Then she explained with a bright smile, "You must be joking, Seventh Sister. I learned it all from that woman just now."

Dongfang Wanyu gave her a meaningful look, accepted the food she offered, and said nothing more.

Dongfang Minghui ate as she roasted, deliberately setting aside two extra portions. She wrapped them in green leaves and placed them beside her.

"Get some rest early tonight. I'll keep watch."

Dongfang Minghui had almost exhausted her strength. Hearing that the heroine would keep watch, she confidently found a large tree, leaned against it, and fell asleep.

Among the six people on the other side, apart from the severely wounded man, four of the others also closed their eyes to rest and recover their strength.

"Miss, thank you both for saving our lives today." Zhao Sanqi, the leader of the mercenary group, came over and thanked Dongfang Wanyu.

"There's no need to thank me. Besides, I didn't help much." Dongfang Wanyu was telling the truth. If Dongfang Minghui had not recklessly charged over today, dealing with that huge swarm of Ironclad Beetles would have taken considerable effort.

At that thought, she turned to look at Dongfang Minghui again, who was still smiling even in her sleep.

"You're too modest, miss. If not for you and your brother, I'm afraid we would all have met our end here today."

Dongfang Wanyu nodded, accepting their gratitude. "Ironclad Beetles don't usually attack people unprovoked. Why were they chasing you so relentlessly?"

Zhao Sanqi sighed. "We accepted a commission to come here and retrieve the Ironclad Beetle King's eggs. We never expected them to discover us just as we were about to steal the eggs."

"No wonder." That was all Dongfang Wanyu said, with no intention of probing further. After all, the Ironclad Beetle King's eggs were extremely valuable treasures. If someone raised one from an egg and formed a contract with it, they could summon Ironclad Beetles as a fighting force in the future, making it a powerful right-hand ally.

"Ah-"

The severely wounded man lying on the ground suddenly opened his eyes wide. The veins in his neck throbbed, his eyes turned scarlet, and his face twisted into a vicious expression.

"Fifth Brother, what's wrong?" The woman resting beside him to keep watch anxiously grabbed his arm, only to be flung away before she could guard herself.

"This is bad! Stop him, quickly!"