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

After successfully slipping back to the Monster Mountain Range, Gou An immediately concealed all his presence and found a cave where he had previously hidden to lie low.

However, at this time, a sword-wielding cultivator would occasionally fly across the sky in the Monster Beast Mountain Range.

They were dressed like disciples of the Tianxing Sect.

They must be searching for the whereabouts of the Old Mother Worm and the Blood Essence Pearl.

Gou An stayed in the cave for a day, making sure no one was paying attention, before spitting out the two blood essence beads from his mouth.

Gou An held the two beads up to his eyes and noticed that they seemed to be slightly different in size.

One is big, and one is small.

Gou An recalled carefully and realized that the old female insect had given him a small one first.

He was only given this larger one after being threatened by Gou An.

Aside from the difference in size, the larger bead is a deeper red, while the smaller one is a slightly paler color.

Therefore, it is clear that the larger Blood Essence Pearl is definitely more valuable.

But what exactly is the use of this thing?

Gou An examined the bead repeatedly and tried to draw spiritual power from it, but it was nothing like a spirit stone that could be directly absorbed by the body.

Gou An tried putting the smaller one in his mouth and biting it; it was as hard as a piece of iron.

It cannot be crushed and swallowed like a demon core.

So Gou An simply swallowed it whole, but it still didn't have much effect.

The last blood essence bead was pulled out again, washed, and remained unchanged.

So Gou An fell into deep thought, wondering what this thing was actually used for.

Why is such a large sect as the Heavenly Star Sect searching for this item everywhere?

Why would the old female insect infiltrate Da Zong's territory to steal this item?

But thinking about it, it's a bit strange.

Even if the old female insect wasn't injured, judging from her fat body, she didn't seem to be very agile or good at hiding.

How did she sneak in?

Moreover, the residual aura on this Blood Essence Pearl is very compatible with the scent of that old mother worm.

The old mother worm claimed that she crafted the bead, but the Heavenly Star Sect claimed that the old mother worm stole it.

Then one of them must be lying.

If things had gone according to plan, given the conspicuous size of the old mother worm, it would have been impossible for her to infiltrate the Heavenly Star Sect's territory, steal things, and escape unscathed.

So the Heavenly Star Sect lied!

This Blood Essence Pearl is something that the Old Mother Insect refined.

The Heavenly Star Sect wanted the Old Mother Worm's bead, so they severely injured the Old Mother Worm, but it is unknown how the Old Mother Worm escaped.

That's why the Heavenly Star Sect is searching everywhere for the Old Mother Worm.

But no matter what happens, it doesn't mean much to Gou An.

The most important thing now is to figure out the purpose of the beads.

After all, something that the cultivators of the Heavenly Star Sect were searching for everywhere must be no ordinary item.

"Should we grab a disciple of the Heavenly Path Sect and ask them?"

Suddenly, a bold idea popped into Gou An's mind.

There are many Tianxing Sect disciples patrolling the Monster Beast Mountain Range now. If I could kidnap one of them, I might be able to get some clues out of him.

But... the risks are too great, we can't be too hasty.

Based on the cultivation rules for human cultivators that he had previously learned from Daoist Fuhai.

Gou An was able to determine that these Tianxing Sect disciples who flew on swords were at least at the Qi Refining stage, Qi Sea stage.

Only cultivators who reach this level can possess the physical strength and spiritual energy to support sword flight.

Furthermore, cultivators at the Qi Sea stage possess strength comparable to fifth-tier demonic beasts.

When Gou An was still a second-tier demon beast, the battle he witnessed between the male sword cultivator and the fifth-tier Ice Flame Tiger should have been like this.

Besides these disciples at the Qi Sea Realm, Gou An also discovered many cultivators with the aura of the Core Formation Realm among them.

If I were to expose myself rashly, these people would arrive to provide support very quickly.

As for myself, a sixth-tier demon beast, I can manage to defeat a cultivator.

Once surrounded, there is truly only one way out: death.

So kidnapping is one thing.

But the pain of clinging to a treasure without knowing how to use it is also extremely unbearable.

So Gou An decided to go out and see if there was any chance to hear something.

So Gou An used the Concealing Aura Technique to hide his demonic aura, pretending to be an ordinary wild dog in the mountain range, wandering around silently.

For several days in a row, Gou An could see many mountain monsters being slaughtered by cultivators.

These disciples of the Heavenly Star Sect searched for the whereabouts of the mother insect while taking the opportunity to hunt down high-level demonic beasts.

This made the monsters in the Monster Mountain Range afraid to show their faces easily.

Even those seventh and eighth-tier demonic beasts could only hide.

After all, if they kill a small one, they will attract an old one.

Killing an old one will attract an even older one, and even more old ones.

For demonic beasts, this is the most terrifying aspect of human cultivators.

If you can't afford to offend them, you can only avoid them.

On this day, Gou An wandered through the forest, just like Wang Chao.

I witnessed once again the scene of two Tianxing Sect sword cultivators working together to kill a sixth-order demon beast.

It was a sixth-tier tusked boar, with thick skin and flesh, but it still couldn't escape the sword cultivator's attack.

"That stupid pig has really thick skin!"

"You bet, I almost chipped the blade off my sword."

"But I've heard that the meat from this pig tastes pretty good, why don't you give it a try?"

The two sword cultivators hit it off immediately, cut open the pig's skin, took out the tenderest parts of the wild boar beast, and then started a fire to roast it.

The two of them sat around the fire, enjoying a bite of meat and a sip of spirit wine, looking quite content.

However, neither of them noticed that in the bushes not far away, a yellow-haired wild dog was quietly lying in the bushes, eavesdropping on their conversation.

After chatting about cultivation-related topics, the two suddenly started complaining.

"When will this ever end? You keep making us search for that bloodworm in these mountains every day."

"Who knows? I bet that insect demon is dead somewhere."

"I think so too! The mother insect was so badly injured when she escaped, and she was already nearing the end of her life, she definitely wouldn't live much longer."

"You don't understand. The sect sent us out to search everywhere to confirm whether the insect demon was dead or not, not to capture it and bring it back."

"Oh? Then why offer bounties to those independent cultivators?"

"You forgot, the bounty was for the Blood Essence Pearl, not for capturing them alive."

"I hadn't thought that much about it."

"If those rogue cultivators discover the insect demon's whereabouts, they will surely fight it to the death for the reward."

"So that insect demon has no choice but to die!"

"That's right!"

"It's a pity that I didn't even have a chance to obtain a Blood Essence Pearl before the Insect Demon was gone."

"Don't rush! I heard the elders have already started breeding the next one."

Gou An listened intently, successfully absorbing the entire conversation, and continuously combined it with previous information to try to piece together the most complete intelligence.

Finally, a bold idea popped into Gou An's mind.

That old female insect was kept in captivity by cultivators of the Tianxing Sect, with the aim of obtaining the Blood Essence Pearl refined from its body.

I just don't know what happened that allowed the old female insect, who was kept in captivity, to escape and then encounter me.