Crab Parasite Infests Wuchang, Old Grudges Lead to Ambush

Demonic energy washed over them.

Heng Hua's robes fluttered as he dodged the wind with unhurried grace.

Howling Fish employed the Flower-Treading Steps, leaping nimbly back across the ice.

After evading the dark mass, Heng Hua peered at it and immediately chuckled, "I wondered what it was. So it's Wuchang Gongzi."

The ice cracked and exploded. Amidst the swirling cold, a colossal Crab Spirit slowly crawled out.

Its shell was thick and purplish-green, covered in a dense layer of moss.

Its two large claws clicked ominously, and its crab eyes, as large as lanterns, emitted a dim red glow, fixedly staring at Heng Hua and Howling Fish.

Seeing it was a Crab Spirit, Howling Fish secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Crabs were slow and predictable. With her and young master's Imperial Sky Art, escaping wouldn't be a problem.

"Howling Fish, if you underestimate it thinking 'crabs only scuttle sideways,' you'll be in trouble today."

Heng Hua flicked his finger, and green silk wrapped around Howling Fish, pulling her back.

"Why?"

"This crab spirit isn't stupid. Its claws have been refined into Treasure Tools. And the moss covering its body, if it were submerged, would resemble coral reefs, luring in nearby creatures. This fellow is cunning."

Seeing Heng Hua and Howling Fish retreat, the Crab Spirit abandoned its slow, clumsy movements. Its claws detached from its joints with lightning speed, shooting out like two giant shears towards Howling Fish.

Staring at scissors larger than her own head, Howling Fish turned pale with fright. If she had truly approached the Crab Spirit earlier, those detached claws would have surely left her severely injured.

Heng Hua formed the Imperial Sky Art with his left hand and drew a circle in front of his chest with his right. A Tai Chi Bagua manifested before him.

Golden light blocked the pair of claws as Heng Hua's mind raced.

The simplest way to deal with the crab spirit would be to force it to molt using the Dragon Molting Technique. It would be defenseless during molting. However, the Dragon Molting Technique was troublesome to cast and couldn't be done in a hurry.

The Heavenly Thunder spell could also work, but Heavenly Thunder was difficult to control, and his lightning techniques required talismans, which he didn't have on him.

Burn it to death with Li Fire? Possible, but it would consume too much Magical Power.

Heng Hua's mind flashed through various strategies, only to dismiss each one.

The Tai Chi Bagua diagram and the crab claws were locked in a stalemate. Seeing the Crab Spirit preparing another move, Heng Hua shouted, "Howling Fish, Lingbo Hongguang Curse!"

Howling Fish suppressed her panic, flicked her sleeve, and summoned white clouds. Mist and vapor immediately rose from the water's surface, obscuring the Crab Spirit's vision.

A calm voice echoed through the mist.

"Crabs have excellent all-around vision with no blind spots, but it has a limited range. A Crab Spirit at the Foundation Establishment level can only see a hundred zhang."

Despite its vision being blocked, the Crab Spirit remained unhurried, silently sensing its enemies through its magnetic field. While its large claws moved through the white smoke, the tips of its other eight legs glowed with golden light, like ready swords.

Suddenly, the magnetic field shifted. The Crab Spirit seemed to sense something and thrust forward into the mist, its eight Flying Swords rapidly piercing the fog.

"Furthermore, Crab Spirits are attuned to the Earth's magnetism, allowing them to sense enemies via magnetic fields. The simplest and most direct way to deal with a Crab Spirit is to blind it, forcing it to rely on its magnetic sense, then disrupt the magnetic field and attack from behind."

The voice grew closer, and as the last word fell, the Crab Spirit leaped into the air, flipping over. Its two large claws flew back from a distance, just as it was about to attack the enemy behind it.

But it found no one there.

A moment of bewildered confusion, and the Crab Spirit immediately sensed something amiss on its back.

Where the eight swords had been thrust, rolling Wood Spirit Qi poured in, causing the moss on its back, used for "camouflage," to grow wildly.

It not only filled the joints, restricting the Crab Spirit's movement but also, after its claws and eight swords had detached, grew inward along its limbs.

Crack, crack—

The Crab Spirit rapidly channeled its demonic energy, its two large claws spinning rapidly around it, attempting to cut off the moss on its back.

But the moss grew at an incredible speed. Before the claws could sever it, it had already enveloped its entire body, causing it to plummet into the water like a giant ball of green algae.

"Dealing with a slightly smarter Crab Spirit is even easier. A bluff can easily lure it into a trap."

The white mist dissipated, revealing Heng Hua encased within a golden bell. The eight crab-leg Flying Swords were deeply embedded in the golden bell, only three inches from Heng Hua.

Howling Fish stood to the side, green mist flowing from her palms, accelerating the growth of the moss on the Crab Spirit.

"This brat!"

On the Spirit Boat, Xiang Feng watched clearly.

When the Crab Spirit sensed Heng Hua's position, he deliberately used words to mislead it and employed the Wind Sound Technique to create the illusion of his approaching, thereby tricking the Crab Spirit into turning its back to him. Then, Howling Fish used her Daoist techniques to accelerate the moss growth on its back.

Xiang Feng flew his sword over. He saw Heng Hua flick his right hand. Thousand Strands Silk wrapped around the eight crab-leg Flying Swords, forcibly stripping them of the Crab Spirit's demonic energy.

"Third Brother, do you want these things?"

"What use are such foul-smelling things?"

Xiang Feng casually spat out a stream of Samadhi Fire, burning the eight crab-leg swords, leaving behind only eight bone jades as small as thumbs.

From beneath the water, muffled sounds echoed as the two large claws burst out of the water once more.

Xiang Feng pointed his sword, and the Lingge Sword behind him shot straight towards the two claws. In a single clash, the claw joints broke, and they submerged again.

Finally, a giant ball of moss floated up from the water.

Watching the crab spirit struggle, its limbs completely gone, Xiang Feng had a strange look on his face. "You used Wood Spirit Arts to turn the moss on its body into a cage? What kind of spell is this?"

It seemed to be quite effective.

"Third Brother, have you ever read Pu Shu?"

"What's that?"

"A miscellaneous book on cultivation about gardens and floral arts, containing several techniques for growing spiritual herbs and immortal flowers."

"So, you're using a gardening and floral technique to stimulate the moss on the crab spirit's body?"

"Yes, all the gardeners on our Panlong Island know it. Howling Fish helps me with the flowers, so it knows it too."

Heng Hua cast Thousand Strands Silk again, pulling the crab spirit's moss ball closer.

Although the crab spirit had lost all its limbs, it still possessed the power of a Foundation Establishment Realm demon. It opened its mouth and spewed out demonic energy. The fish demons nearby went mad, breaking through the ice and attacking the three of them.

Heng Hua flicked his finger, and the Golden Bell Shield Method manifested, protecting himself and Howling Fish.

"Third Brother, you don't need to worry about this side. I can handle it myself. Go quickly and retrieve what's under the Immovable Reef."

Eternal Longevity was already sailing over in the distance.

"Be careful."

Xiang Feng rode his Flying Sword into the air, heading straight for the center of the whirlpool.

"Young Master, leave the crab spirit to me. You should return to the ship first?"

"No, I want to study it. This crab spirit is very intelligent, but it's strange that it refined all its limbs into Magic Treasures. Would a normal spirit monster be foolish enough to refine its entire body into Magic Treasures? What if it encounters a Cultivator skilled in 'Treasure Control Arts,' wouldn't they be able to take it away easily?"

"Treasure Control Arts are rarely known even in the Xuanmen. How could a mere crab spirit have such knowledge? Young Master, you're overthinking it."

Heng Hua didn't reply, carefully examining the crab spirit within the moss.

No matter how it struggled, the moss stimulated by Howling Fish would grow first, restricting its movements.

Not far away, Eternal Longevity put on his knuckle dusters and began clearing the surrounding fish demons.

Weighing the eight bone jades in his hand, Heng Hua muttered, "It looks like this crab spirit is more like a combat machine."

Howling Fish, standing to the side, drew a soft sword from its waist.

"Young Master, step back. I'll take out its inner core—"

A black shadow quickly emerged from the crab spirit's abdominal carapace. Orange-yellow, flocculent material broke through the moss and formed a net, covering Howling Fish and Heng Hua.

Seeing the object, Heng Hua's expression changed.

He pulled Howling Fish away with one hand and spewed out flames with the other, decisively batting the object back into the crab's abdomen.

"This..." Howling Fish recalled for a moment, then said uncertainly, "Crab Slave?"

"Crab Slave inhabits shells, Jellyfish Borrows Moon Sight." Heng Hua's fingertips moved. This time, he was prepared, and Thousand Strands Silk successfully pulled out a ferocious-looking bug the size of a palm from the crab's abdomen.

The bug had star patterns on its back, shimmering beautifully.

"Parasitic Star Demon Pot."

It was a type of barnacle-like spirit monster that primarily parasitized others. Its attack power was very weak; a Qi Refining third-level Cultivator could kill it head-on. However, this type of barnacle had a characteristic: if one wasn't careful and allowed it to parasitize, they would slowly lose themselves and become a plaything of the Demon Pot.

"The crab spirit was inadvertently controlled by it and became a Crab Slave puppet. Then, it was controlled by the Demon Pot, which refined its limbs into Magic Treasures."

That made sense. What normal Crab Spirit would be so foolish as to refine all its limbs into Magic Treasures? If it encountered a wicked artifact like the Treasure Dropping Golden Coin, wouldn't it be handing itself over on a silver platter?

Heng Hua reached out to grab the Parasitic Star Demon Pot.

"Young Master, be careful."

"It's fine."

As the Demon Pot touched Heng Hua's palm, it revealed dense tentacles, attempting to parasitize him. But a ball of flame erupted from Heng Hua's right hand, instantly burning the tentacles clean off.

Holding the Parasitic Star Demon Pot, Heng Hua examined it carefully.

Finally, he detected a trace of human intervention.

"Something's wrong."

Heng Hua quickly lowered his head to examine the crab spirit within the moss.

After losing the barnacle spirit, the crab spirit's essence was depleted, and it had died. Turning it over, he vaguely saw small Spirit Seal Runes at its joints.

"These are cultivation runes, human ones. This crab spirit was made into a living puppet by a Cultivator—No, Third Brother! Howling Fish, immediately use Lingbo Step and Frost Ice Art. Eternal Longevity, punch towards the southeast."

Calculating the direction, Heng Hua leaped up and charged towards the center of the whirlpool.

From afar, Xiang Feng's arm was bleeding as he stood on the Immovable Reef, fighting a Black-robed Old Man. Behind him, three people wearing masks and green robes had formed the Three Talents Sword Formation. Xiang Feng had to divide his attention to deal with his Flying Sword, preventing the three from surrounding him with their formation.

Unable to hide any longer, Heng Hua immediately summoned his Mind Monkey.

Bang--

The invisible Mind Monkey flew above the green-robed figures and immediately swung its staff.

Thump!

The person in the green robe crashed into the water, their sword formation shattering.

Next, the Mind Monkey delivered two more blows, sending the other two green-robed figures into the water.

After three strikes, the Mind Monkey immediately retreated back into Heng Hua.

His spiritual sense severely depleted, Heng Hua swayed his head and popped a Spirit Nurturing Pill into his mouth.

Seeing Heng Hua arrive, Xiang Feng quickly shouted, "Heng Hua, be careful! Those are puppets!"

Swish, swish! The three figures in green robes reappeared from the water and surrounded Heng Hua.

Xiang Feng clutched his chest and hastily drew his sword, preparing to rescue him.

"You still have the energy to worry about them?"

The old man cackled, "Fu Xiangfeng, for the vengeance of Phoenix Destiny, you will pay with your life today!"

Xiang Feng's expression turned cold.

He remembered fighting this old man when he first obtained the Phoenix Opportunity. He thought the old man had fled in disarray and the matter was settled, so he hadn't pursued him to kill him.

He never imagined this old thief would ambush him here, setting up a Spiritual Qi Treasure Vortex as a trap and secretly setting him up.

Xiang Feng thought, If it were any other time, I would have ignored everything and just cut him down. But with Heng Hua here, his safety is the priority. Little Sixth doesn't understand combat; if anything were to happen to him--

Clang.

Suddenly, the sound of a bell echoed through the air.

A golden bell descended upside down, not to protect Heng Hua, but to trap the three green-robed puppets within it.

"Trapping the enemy? The Golden Bell Shield Method can be used like this?"

Xiang Feng was surprised, but seeing Heng Hua unharmed, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Boom--

Waves erupted at his feet, and dense black needles shot towards his face.

He swept aside the attack with a reverse sweep of his Sky Wind Sword Qi and cast a spell to ascend into the air.

The old man quickly cast the Yin Demon Heart Method, and dark mist surged from beneath the reef.

"Since you've come down, don't expect to go back up."

The mist was like a muddy swamp, entangling Xiang Feng and preventing him from ascending.

"Wu Sha? Trying to control the magnetic field of the Immovable Reef?"

Laughter echoed from the air as a strand of green silk, filled with Creation True Qi, sliced across the water's surface, severing the mist.

"It seems, sir, that you are a Devilish Cultivator?"

Addendum:

The Pu Shu, created by ancient Qi Refiners and passed down to fire alchemists and water boys, was mostly learned by maids and gardeners. It was used by cultivators to manage their cave dwellings and flower gardens.