Starting with the Corpse-Eating Worm, he worked his way up to become the Left-Winged Immortal Lord.

what--

The piercing scream stopped abruptly as soon as it began.

"What?"

Bai Li was startled.

Then everything went black.

With the death of his natal ghost, Baili's soul, as the Ghost Lord, felt as if a piece of it had been forcibly torn off.

Deng and Hui, who were standing nearby, were equally shocked.

Before he could even see what had swallowed the vengeful spirit, a third-tier defensive talisman activated in Deng Hui's arms, drawing wisps of bluish-gray light around him and protecting him completely.

Upon seeing this, another cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining also quickly formed hand seals and cast spells to activate his magical artifact to protect himself.

"What is it?"

Deng Hui spoke with surprise and doubt.

"Third tier!"

The other person was terrified.

It was at this moment that the two finally saw the full appearance of the demon-devouring object.

An insect.

A peculiar insect that looks like a corpse-eating worm, but is very different from one.

Even though Deng Hui had stayed at Xuanqing Academy for more than ten years and had seen hundreds of strange insects, none of them were the same as this one.

Amidst his confusion, Lu Xingzhi was completely freed from his restraints, and his eyes immediately lit up with joy. After glancing at the Corpse-Eating Worm, he made a hand seal, took out his magical artifact, and once again began to move it. This time, he began to burn his essence blood without reservation.

Swah——

Lu Xingzhi immediately vanished into the darkness, covering several miles in an instant.

Although he didn't understand why the third-tier alien insect would save him, he didn't have time to think about it at the moment.

Because the chance to escape is fleeting.

"Fellow Daoist Deng, what should we do?" The Qi Refining Level 6 cultivator beside Deng Hui watched this scene with a mixture of fear and anxiety.

Deng Hui frowned. "This azure protective talisman is a third-tier talisman produced by the Xuanqing Academy. Its defensive power far exceeds that of ordinary third-tier talismans. It is not an easy task for a third-tier insect to break through it."

of course.

It's impossible to truly live a carefree life.

However, he had already invited a deputy leader of the Heavenly Principle Sect, who was also at the late stage of Qi Refining, and that person had been hiding behind him all along.

Moreover, even if the opponent doesn't act in time, he still has other options.

But at that very moment, the corpse-eating worms, which had been motionless for several breaths, suddenly stirred.

In the darkness, it split into two.

One goes to the left.

One goes to the right.

They attacked from both sides.

Seeing this, Deng Hui shouted anxiously.

"Vice Altar Master Xu, please lend a hand!"

The words fell.

In an instant, a streak of blood flashed across the darkness.

The blood-red light, like nails, tore through the night and crashed down on the corpse-devouring worms.

boom--

Blood splattered.

One of the corpse-eating worms was suppressed on the spot.

The other one swept past the blood nail and crashed into the azure earth amulet shield, creating a huge gap in it.

But that's about it.

Before the corpse-eating worms could burrow in, the blood nails had already pierced through their chests, but they could only stop the corpse-eating worms from advancing.

Seeing this, Deng and Hui quickly pulled Baili back, only breathing a sigh of relief when Vice Master Xu of the Heavenly Principle Sect appeared.

However, upon sensing the terrifying aura emanating from the corpse-devouring worms behind them, the three retreated two or three hundred feet in one breath before stopping.

Turn back again.

Dressed in black, his robes fluttering, Vice Master Xu stood atop a pool of blood-red light, his hands surging with waves of blood energy that amplified the ferocity of the blood nails. Yet the two alien insects remained uncontrollable, seemingly poised to break free at any moment.

Vice Master Xu chuckled with interest, "This insect is quite interesting. Even my third-tier Yin Qi Seven Souls Blood Fiend Nail, which I've refined for ten years, could only suppress it. To kill it, I'll have to pay a price."

Upon hearing this...

The expressions of Baili and the other man changed simultaneously.

As far as they knew, Vice Master Xu had been a member of the Heavenly Principles Sect for many years and had already entered the late stage of Qi Refining ten years ago.

In the past ten years, three late-stage Qi Refining cultivators have died at his hands.

But at this moment, Vice Master Xu still had to pay a price for killing two insects.

next moment.

Suddenly, blood energy erupted from the blood nail.

Blood and qi transformed into a tide, engulfing the strange insects.

"die!"

With a low shout from Vice Master Xu, the two insects collapsed on the spot.

But just as a smile appeared on his lips after he had killed the alien insects, the two insects exploded, leaving only corpse energy.

"How is this possible? It's not the real body!"

Vice Master Xu was startled.

The same applies to Baili and his companion.

Only Deng Hui, while feeling alarmed, had a sudden realization explode in his mind—something's wrong, something's very wrong!

If there is a clone, then there is also a main body.

Where there is a physical body, there is a person who controls insects.

Because if it were an unclaimed insect, it would never reveal itself and then leave only a clone, while its main body only devours a single vengeful ghost before retreating.

If it weren't for the fact that the Foundation Establishment Method was impossible without the insect-borne insects, he wouldn't have given it much thought. But now, in the small county of Changping, a mysterious and powerful insect tamer had suddenly appeared, leaving him no choice but to speculate. Could it be that this person was also after the true method?

Could it be related to the true traces of the Dharma being found on land?

To be honest, he was only suspicious at first.

Now it seems that Lu Xingzhi must know something.

Even the true Dharma is in his hands!

While pondering, Baili, who had lost his natal ghost, was both shocked and somewhat angry. He hurriedly said, "Vice Altar Master Xu, that insect-controlling person must be nearby! If we can catch up with Lu Xingzhi, that person will definitely make another move!"

Deng replied, "That's right!"

He is now eager to catch up.

But Vice Master Xu raised his hand to stop them, and said coldly, "There's no need to chase. I've already consumed 30% of my blood and yin energy by killing two clones with my third-level yin energy. Chasing after them now won't give us a high chance of winning. Even if we do win, the Wufeng Temple will definitely reap the benefits."

Baili asked in surprise, "You mean that person wasn't a cultivator from the Wufeng Temple?"

"Of course not. Wufeng Temple doesn't have any unorthodox methods to cultivate a late-stage Qi Refining Insect Master. Those methods are all in the hands of Xuanqing Academy, and they are not qualified to cultivate them. So it's highly likely that it's another miscellaneous unorthodox practitioner who doesn't dare to show their face. Perhaps they obtained the unorthodox methods through the Ghost Market, which is why they dare not show themselves."

The three were not surprised to hear Vice Master Xu's analysis.

Because Tianhai County has never lacked such miscellaneous and unorthodox schools. Having obtained forbidden techniques and cultivated them to a certain level, they fear being purged by the Xuanqing Academy, so they hide their true selves and can only live in the shadows for the rest of their lives.

"Alright, there's no need to worry about Lu Xingzhi anymore. He burned his essence blood to escape, and he was even afraid that you would follow his aura, so he didn't dare to release his senses." After saying this, Vice Master Xu looked intently in the direction of Wufeng Temple. "Deng Hui, continue to lure Chen Ye and the others over according to your plan. Meeting them tonight is the important thing."

"yes!"

Deng nodded.

……

Not long after.

After they had completely left, Gu Qing then controlled the corpse-eating worms to depart.

Just now, when he released the phantom worms, he deliberately paused for three breaths, entering a stealth state at the exact moment the worms appeared.

After entering stealth mode, the corpse-eating worms silently fell into the forest, taking in everything.

"As expected, late-stage Qi Refining cultivators are indeed powerful. With their spells and magical artifacts, the phantom worms of the Corpse Devouring Insects are simply no match for them. Perhaps only the main body can contend with them. But if the Corpse Devouring Insects' main body is sent out to kill Deng Hui, it will most likely be entangled by that Vice Altar Master Xu, and may even be trapped by him."

Gu Qing, who was at Wufeng Temple, couldn't help but sigh.

However, Gu Qing didn't care. After all, the Corpse-Eating Worms were good at refining, ambushing, and hiding, but were not good at direct combat.

If it hadn't evolved three times, even if it had reached the third rank, its original form would probably have been easily subdued by a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

After all, no matter how strong the corpse-eating worm is, it is still a worm.

However, cultivators in the late stage of Qi Refining possess talismans, magical artifacts, spells, formations, and even unorthodox secret techniques such as burning their essence and blood.

Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Gu Qing immediately followed the direction Lu Xingzhi had gone, chasing him for over ten miles before finally finding him.

However, the range of control that the Corpse-Eating Worms could telepathically communicate with had reached its limit.

At this time, the corpse-eating worms were almost fifty miles away from Wufeng Temple.

If I hadn't broken through to the third level of Qi Refining before, the corpse-devouring worms would probably have only been able to reach a maximum distance of forty miles.

Just as they found Lu Xingzhi hiding in the forest, they heard him suddenly pinch a second-tier transmission talisman.

"Deng Hui has two helpers from the Heavenly Principles Sect, both at the sixth level of Qi Refining..." But Lu Xingzhi suddenly stopped halfway through his sentence.

Then the transmission talisman was reactivated.

"I'm surrounded! Come save me!"

The words fell.

The talisman quickly vanished into the darkness.