Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

"You are extremely greedy."

The mother insect breathed heavily for a few moments, her already weak state becoming even more listless, and her demonic aura dimmed considerably.

"Stop talking nonsense! Hand over everything of value you have!"

Gou An brandished the longsword in his hand, and raging demonic flames instantly covered the blade. The deep blue flames were particularly dazzling in the dark cave, exuding a powerful aura.

The mother insect's thick neck twitched slightly, and with no other choice, she opened her mouth again and spat out a round and lustrous blood essence bead, exactly the same as the previous one.

Here's another one for you.

The Blood Essence Pearl flew down from the sky, and Gou An caught it steadily with his hand.

After carefully checking and confirming that the quality was correct, I swallowed it into the oral cavity storage space.

Despite having already obtained two precious pearls, Gou An still showed no intention of leaving.

It remained firmly rooted to the spot, its gaze fixed on the mother insect.

The mother insect's shriveled flesh taut slightly, her brow furrowed, and her tone tinged with impatience: "Aren't you leaving yet?"

Gou An shrugged lightly, a cold smile playing on his lips: "Your Blood Essence Pearl does look like a treasure, but I risked my life to find you for much more than just this."

A hint of doubt flashed in the mother insect's eyes: "Then what do you want?"

Gou An grinned, his eyes suddenly sharpening: "I want your demon core."

Upon hearing this, the mother insect's breathing suddenly became rapid, her bloated body trembled slightly, and her eyes instantly filled with murderous intent.

Before it could react, Gou An stepped forward, flicked his wrist, and the demonic fire attached to the blade condensed into a sharp flame, piercing through the air and slashing straight at the mother insect's body!

hum!

At the critical moment, the mother insect raised her hand and forcefully condensed a thick barrier of demonic energy, steadily blocking the fierce attack of the fire blade.

"Trying to steal my demon core? Not so easy!"

The mother insect sneered coldly, "I am, after all, an eighth-tier demon beast. Even though I am old and frail, and severely injured, I am far beyond the reach of a little demon like you!"

Before he finished speaking, a dense, incessant buzzing of insects suddenly filled the cave.

Gou An suddenly turned his head and saw that in the dark corners of the entire underground cave, countless tiny blood-red flying insects had awakened and were flying out. Their numbers were overwhelming, densely surrounding him and completely blocking all his escape routes.

The mother insect, struggling to support her bloated and heavy body, slowly rose to her feet, her tone filled with icy sarcasm: "If you take the Blood Essence Pearl and leave, I might spare your life."

"Unfortunately, you are insatiable and lack any sense of propriety!"

Its murky eyes were fixed on Gou An, revealing a greedy and ferocious glint: "Judging from your aura, you should already be a sixth-tier demon beast. Draining your demon blood will help me heal my injuries!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the mother insect pointed her finger, and the swarm of flying insects suddenly stirred and rushed towards Gou An like a tidal wave.

In an instant, countless flying insects enveloped Gou An, coalescing into a huge, pitch-black sphere that slowly rotated within the cave.

The surface of the black sphere was covered with countless tiny insect shadows, a sight that sent chills down one's spine, as they tried to drain him of all his life essence.

"Overestimating one's abilities."

The mother insect sneered and fully activated her demonic energy, manipulating the swarm of insects to suck blood. But after a moment, her expression suddenly changed, filled with shock and doubt.

No matter how the insect swarm devoured and absorbed, it could not extract even a trace of essence.

"What happened?"

Just as the mother insect was taken aback, a blinding burst of fire suddenly erupted from inside the pitch-black insect ball!

A deafening roar!

The raging demonic fire exploded from the inside out, instantly incinerating all the flying insects, turning them into ashes and disappearing.

As the flames died down, Gou An stood calmly in place, surrounded by a few wisps of embers, completely unharmed.

He casually patted his arm, muttering to himself, "Luckily, I'm skilled at repairing metal plates, otherwise I would have been drained dry by you this time."

"hateful!"

Seeing that her lifelong secret technique of swarming insects had been easily broken, the mother insect was both shocked and furious. She no longer held back and suddenly slapped Gou An hard with her palm.

Its palm suddenly cracked open, and countless jet-black weapons, as if condensed from blood essence, gushed out, densely packed, cunning and sharp.

Gou An's figure blurred, instantly splitting into several afterimages, nimbly dodging the attacks amidst a hail of hidden weapons.

Taking advantage of the moment when the mother insect was concentrating on distinguishing between the real and fake forms, Gou An opened his mouth and spewed out a thick black mist, which instantly enveloped the entire cave.

The pitch-black fog obscured everything, making it impossible to see one's hand in front of one's face, completely blocking the mother insect's vision.

The mother insect let out a low growl and opened her mouth to exhale a powerful gust of wind, forcefully dispersing the black mist. However, the area in front of her was already empty, and Gou An's traces had completely disappeared.

"Where did it go?" The mother insect looked around warily, searching with a keen eye.

Suddenly, a bone-chilling coldness came from the back of my neck!

It hurriedly turned its head and saw that Gou An had quietly circled behind it at some point, and his long sword, burning with raging demonic fire, was slashing down fiercely!

puff!

The sharp blade pierced flesh, sparks flew!

The mother insect couldn't dodge in time, and a deep, gruesome wound was cleaved open on her back, exposing the bone. The demonic fire instantly scorched her flesh, and the wound quickly turned black and charred. A foul-smelling, viscous, dark green liquid kept gushing out, emitting a pungent and unpleasant odor.

"Damn stray dogs!"

The mother insect roared in fury, enduring excruciating pain as she slapped Gou An with her backhand.

Gou An nimbly dodged to the side, and at the same time, he flipped his wrist, slashed his long sword horizontally, and with a flash of cold light, he directly severed one of the mother insect's arms!

Excruciating pain swept over her entire body, and the mother worm struggled frantically, spraying out a large amount of highly corrosive, viscous pus from her mouth.

Gou An dodged and weaved with all his might, but still managed to get a little bit on his skin. His hair was instantly corroded and charred black, as if burned by strong acid, and it would be damaged upon contact.

At that moment, an astonishing scene suddenly unfolded!

At the wound where the mother insect's arm was severed, the flesh and skin writhed and surged wildly, and life force spread violently. In a short while, a brand new arm slowly regenerated!

Gou An's pupils contracted slightly, filled with astonishment: "It can actually heal and regenerate on its own?"

Having discovered that his opponent possessed the trump card of rapid self-healing, Gou An dared not relax for a moment. He focused his mind and activated his demonic power, causing the demonic fire on the blade to suddenly surge, blazing fiercely and greatly increasing its power.

"You bastard! Don't try to hide if you're so tough!" the mother insect roared furiously, spitting out a large amount of corrosive pus again.

Gou An flipped over and leaped into the air to avoid the attack, then shouted back, "If you're so capable, don't try to hide!"

Before he finished speaking, he unleashed a sharp fire blade from mid-air, the flames sweeping across the area and striking the mother insect's chest precisely, leaving another deep and terrifying burn.

The moment he landed, Gou An sneered, "I forgot, with all that fat on you, it won't be easy for you to hide."

Having suffered repeated severe blows, the mother insect's self-healing speed could no longer keep up with the rate of damage. Completely exhausted, her massive, bloated body collapsed heavily to the ground, unable to get up again.

"You bastard...you win."

The mother insect's aura was weak and exhausted, completely devoid of its previous ferocity. It spoke listlessly, "You've won... If you want my demon core, come and take it yourself."

Seeing the mother insect's completely resigned appearance, Gou An slowly stepped forward, preparing to finish her off in one fell swoop and extract the demon core.

But his steps suddenly faltered, and alarm bells rang in his mind.

Something is wrong!

He keenly sensed that although the mother insect appeared exhausted and dying, it still possessed considerable remaining strength and did not seem to be completely defeated.

It's highly unusual that they suddenly surrendered and gave up resistance when they still had the strength to fight.

There must be a trap!