Crab Spawn Parasitized the Gutless General; Old Grudges Forged an Ambush

Demonic qi rushed straight at them.

Heng Hua's robes fluttered as he calmly rode the wind aside.

Xiaoyu activated her Flower-Treading Steps and lightly leaped backward across the ice.

Once they had dodged the black shadow, Heng Hua looked closely and immediately laughed. "I wondered what it was. So it was a Gutless Young Lord."

The ice bulged and burst apart. Amid curling cold vapor, a gigantic crab demon slowly crawled out.

Its shell was thick and blue-violet, blanketed by a heavy layer of moss.

Its two massive claws clacked together. Its crab eyes, as large as lamps and glowing a dim red, stared fixedly at Heng Hua and Xiaoyu.

Seeing that it was a crab demon, Xiaoyu secretly let out a breath.

Crabs moved slowly and predictably. With her young master's and her Sky-Soaring Formula, escaping would not be a problem.

"Xiaoyu, if you think that 'crabs can only walk sideways,' then you're underestimating it. Today, I fear you'll come away empty-handed."

Heng Hua crooked a finger. Black strands wound around Xiaoyu and pulled her back.

"Why?"

"This crab demon is no fool. Those great claws have already been refined into treasure artifacts. Its body is covered in moss; if it lurks underwater, it resembles coral and reef alike, deceiving creatures that approach. This fellow is sharp."

Seeing Heng Hua and Xiaoyu retreat, the crab demon shed its sluggish, clumsy manner. Its two claws flashed like lightning as they detached from their joints, transforming into enormous shears that shot toward Xiaoyu.

Seeing scissors larger than her own head, Xiaoyu's face drained of color. If she had truly approached the crab demon earlier, those two detached claws would certainly have severely wounded her.

Heng Hua formed the Sky-Soaring Formula with his left hand and drew a circle before his chest with his right. A Taiji Bagua Diagram appeared before him.

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

The simplest and clearest way to deal with a crab demon was to use the Dragon-Shedding Art to force it to molt. While molting, it would be utterly unable to resist. But the Dragon-Shedding Art was troublesome to cast and could not be used in such haste.

The Heavenly Thunder Method would work too, but heavenly thunder was difficult to control. His thunder arts required talisman assistance, yet he had brought none with him.

Burn it to death with Separation Flame? That would work, but it consumed too much mana.

One strategy after another flashed through Heng Hua's mind, only to be rejected one by one.

The Taiji Bagua Diagram remained locked against the crab claws. Seeing that the crab demon was about to make another move, Heng Hua immediately shouted, "Xiaoyu, Rippling Radiance Spell!"

Xiaoyu suppressed her panic and swept her sleeve, stirring white clouds. Clouds and mist immediately rose from the water, obscuring the crab demon's vision.

A composed voice echoed through the fog.

"A crab's sight can survey all around it, without blind spots, but it has a limited range. A Foundation Establishment crab demon can see only a hundred zhang."

Though its view was blocked, the crab demon remained unruffled and silently sensed its enemy through the magnetic field. Apart from the great claws weaving through the white mist, golden light lit the tips of its other eight legs, like swords ready to strike.

Suddenly, the magnetic field shifted. The crab demon seemed to sense something and thrust toward the fog ahead. Eight flying swords rapidly stabbed into the mist.

"Moreover, crab demons accord with terrestrial magnetism and can sense enemies through magnetic fields. The simplest, most direct way to deal with one is to blind it, force it to rely on magnetic sensing, disrupt that magnetic field, and launch a sneak attack from behind."

The voice drew nearer and nearer, until its final syllable fell.

The crab demon leaped up and twisted in midair. Its two great claws flew back from afar, just as they were about to attack the enemy behind it.

Yet there was no one behind it.

In that instant of bafflement, the crab demon immediately sensed something wrong on its back.

From the direction where the eight swords had stabbed came a surging tide of Wood Spirit qi. The moss used to "disguise" its back began growing madly.

It not only packed its joints full and restricted the crab demon's movements, but after the two claws and eight swords had left its body, it also grew inward along its limbs.

Crack, crack—

The crab demon swiftly mobilized its demonic power. Its two great claws spun rapidly around it, cutting away the moss on its back.

But the moss grew far too quickly. Before the claws could trim it away, it had already wrapped around its whole body, like an enormous ball of azure algae plunging into the water.

"To deal with a slightly smarter crab demon is even easier. A feint can readily lure it into a trap."

The white mist dispersed, revealing Heng Hua enclosed within a golden bell. The eight crab-leg flying swords had already sunk deeply into the bell, only three inches from Heng Hua.

Xiaoyu stood to one side, green clouds and mist flowing from her palms as she hastened the growth of moss over the crab demon's body.

"This kid!"

On the spirit boat, Xiang Feng saw everything clearly.

When the crab demon sensed Heng Hua's position, he had deliberately used words to deceive it and the Wind-Sound Technique to create the false impression that he was steadily approaching. He had misled the crab demon into turning its back on him, then Xiaoyu had used Daoist arts to stimulate the moss on its back.

Xiang Feng flew over on his sword and saw Heng Hua give his right hand a light shake. Thousand-Coiled Silk entangled the eight crab-leg flying swords and forcibly erased the crab demon's power from them.

"Third Brother, do you want these things?"

"What use are such foul-smelling things?"

Xiang Feng casually spat out a strand of Samadhi Fire, burning the eight crab-leg swords away and leaving only eight thumb-sized pieces of bone jade.

Muffled thuds sounded beneath the water as the two great claws burst from the surface once more.

Xiang Feng pointed with his sword, and the Spirit Song Sword behind him crashed straight into the two claws. After a single clash, the claw limbs snapped and sank back underwater.

At last, the enormous moss ball floated up from the water.

Looking at the crab demon struggling endlessly after losing all ten limbs, Xiang Feng wore a peculiar expression. "You used Wood Spirit arts to turn the moss on its body into a cage? What spell is that?"

It looked quite effective.

"Third Brother, have you read Horticultural Art?"

"What is that?"

"A miscellaneous cultivation text about gardens and flower cultivation. It contains several techniques for growing spirit herbs and immortal blossoms."

"So the art you used to stimulate the moss on the crab demon's body came from gardening and flower-growing techniques?"

"That's right. Every gardener on Coiling Dragon Island knows it. Xiaoyu helps me tend flowers, so naturally she knows it too."

Heng Hua used Thousand-Coiled Silk again, dragging the crab demon's moss ball before him.

Though the crab demon had lost all ten limbs, it still possessed Foundation Establishment demonic power. It opened its mouth and spat out demonic qi. The fish demons in the nearby waters went mad one after another, breaking through the ice and attacking the three of them.

Heng Hua flicked a finger, manifesting the Golden Bell Shield Technique to protect himself and Xiaoyu.

"Third Brother, don't concern yourself with this side. I can handle it myself. Hurry and retrieve the thing beneath that Immovable Reef."

Hengshou had already steered the boat over from afar.

"Be careful."

Xiang Feng rose on his sword and shot straight toward the vortex's center.

"Young Master, leave the crab demon to me. You should return to the boat first."

"No, I want to study it. This crab demon is highly intelligent, yet it refined all ten limbs into magic treasures. It feels rather strange. Would an ordinary spirit creature be foolish enough to refine its entire body into magic treasures? If it encountered a cultivator skilled in the Treasure-Commanding Art, wouldn't they simply take everything away?"

"Even among the mystic sects, few know the Treasure-Commanding Art. How could a mere crab demon possess such knowledge? Young Master, you are overthinking it."

Heng Hua did not answer and carefully examined the crab demon within the moss.

No matter how it struggled, the moss Xiaoyu had stimulated always grew ahead of it, binding its movements.

Not far away, Hengshou put on his knuckle guards and began clearing out the surrounding fish demons.

Weighing the eight pieces of bone jade in his hand, Heng Hua muttered, "This crab demon looks more like a combat machine."

At his side, Xiaoyu drew a flexible sword from her waist.

"Young Master, step back a little. I'll retrieve its inner core—"

A black shadow swiftly emerged from beneath the crab demon's abdominal flap. Orange-yellow fibrous matter burst through the moss, turning into a web that fell over Xiaoyu and Heng Hua.

Heng Hua's expression changed when he saw it.

He pulled Xiaoyu aside with one hand while swiftly spewing flames with the other, decisively driving the thing back into the crab's abdomen.

"This..." Xiaoyu recalled for a moment, then said uncertainly, "A crab slave?"

"Crab slaves dwell in borrowed shells; jellyfish borrow the moon to see." Heng Hua curled his fingertips. Now that he was prepared, Thousand-Coiled Silk smoothly dragged a palm-sized, hideous little bug from the crab's abdomen.

Star patterns adorned the little bug's back, gleaming and glittering beautifully.

"Star-Parasitic Demon Barnacle."

It was a barnacle-like spirit creature that primarily parasitized other beings. Its offensive power was weak; even a minor cultivator at the third level of Qi Refining could kill it head-on. But this barnacle demon had one trait: if one carelessly allowed it to parasitize them, they would gradually lose themselves and become the demon barnacle's plaything.

"The crab demon was carelessly controlled by it and became a crab-slave puppet. Then the demon barnacle controlled it and refined all ten limbs into magic treasures."

That made sense. What proper crab demon would be foolish enough to refine all its limbs into magic treasures? If it encountered some bizarre artifact like the Treasure-Dropping Coin, wouldn't it be serving itself up on a platter?

Heng Hua reached out to seize the Star-Parasitic Demon Barnacle.

"Young Master, be careful."

"It's fine."

As the demon barnacle touched Heng Hua's palm, it exposed a dense mass of tentacles in an attempt to parasitize him. But a flame rose from Heng Hua's right hand, instantly burning the tentacles clean away.

Holding the Star-Parasitic Demon Barnacle, Heng Hua inspected it carefully.

In the end, he actually detected traces of human intervention.

"Something's wrong."

Heng Hua swiftly lowered his head and examined the crab demon within the moss.

After losing the barnacle demon, the crab demon's essence origin had been exhausted, and it was already dead. Turning it over, he could vaguely see tiny spirit-script runes at its joints.

"These are cultivation runes, from the Human Race. This crab demon was made into a living puppet by cultivators—damn it, Third Brother! Xiaoyu, use Rippling-Wave Steps and the Frost-Ice Formula immediately. Hengshou, punch toward the southeast."

Calculating the direction, Heng Hua leaped up and rushed toward the vortex's center.

From afar, Xiang Feng's arm was bleeding as he stood on the Immovable Reef, fighting an old man in black. Behind him, three blue-robed men in masks had already formed the Three Powers Sword Formation. Xiang Feng had to divide his attention to counter them with flying swords, preventing their formation from encircling him.

Unable to hide it any longer, Heng Hua immediately summoned the Heart Ape.

Bang—

The invisible Heart Ape flew above the blue-robed men's heads and immediately brought down its staff.

Splash!

A blue-robed man smashed into the water, and the sword formation collapsed.

The Heart Ape then struck twice more, knocking the other two blue-robed men into the water as well.

After three strikes, the Heart Ape immediately fled back into Heng Hua's body.

His mind had been overtaxed. Heng Hua shook his head and stuffed a Spirit-Nourishing Pill into his mouth.

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

With two whooshes, the three blue-robed men emerged from the water again and surrounded Heng Hua.

Xiang Feng clutched his chest and hurriedly raised his sword to rescue him.

"You still have the leisure to worry about over there?"

The old man cackled. "Fu Xiangfeng, for the grudge over the Phoenix opportunity, hand over your life today!"

Xiang Feng's expression turned cold.

When he had obtained the Phoenix opportunity, he had fought this old man once. He had thought the man fled in disgrace and the matter was settled, so he had not pursued him to take his life.

Never in his wildest dreams had he expected this old thief to lie in ambush here, even creating a Spirit-Energy Treasure Vortex as a trap to secretly put one over on him.

Xiang Feng thought: If this were any other day, I would ignore everything and cut him down outright. But Heng Hua is beside me now; his safety comes first. Little Six knows nothing of combat. If anything happens to him—

Clang.

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

A great golden bell descended upside down. It did not protect Heng Hua himself, but instead trapped the three blue-robed puppets within it.

Trapping enemies? The Golden Bell Shield Technique can be used like this too?

Xiang Feng was astonished, but seeing that Heng Hua was unharmed, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Bang—

Wind and waves exploded beneath his feet as a dense hail of black needles shot toward his face.

With a backhand slash, Xiang Feng swept aside the attack with a gust-sword qi and cast a spell to rise into the air.

The old man hurriedly used the Yin Demon Heart Method, and pitch-black mist poured out from beneath the reef.

"Since you've come down here, don't count on going back up."

Water vapor became like a muddy swamp, tangling around Xiang Feng and preventing him from rising.

"Black Baleful Intent? You want to manipulate the Immovable Reef's magnetic field?"

Laughter rang out in the air. A strand of black hair suffused with Creation True Qi swept across the water's surface and severed the mist.

"Looks like you are a demonic cultivator?"

Supplement:

Horticultural Art was created by ancient Qi Cultivator Path practitioners and passed down to the Fire-Art Daoist and the Water-Sprinkling Child. It was mostly studied by maidservants and gardeners to tend the flower gardens of cultivators' cave abodes.