Spirit Realm

As Qin Lie burned the two voodoo insects with his Qilin fire, terrible cries rang throughout the forest every so often.

In a land of ancient trees over five hundred kilometers away from Qin Lie.

An intelligent looking youth stood in the center of seven Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners that had dark eyes and wore black robes.

The youth was thin, and his hair was styled modestly, tied up with a black band. The corners of his face were sharp, and his eyes resembled pitch black gemstones that shone with a scary, ruthless light.

“Argh!”

He suddenly clutched his chest with both hands and released a terrible howl, discharging a shocking aura to the dark gray forest around him.

“Rip!”

He tore at the clothing on his torso and exposed his chest. The skin around it was opaque, making it possible to see his heart.

There was a horrifying voodoo insect wrapped around his heart!

It was a pitch black centipede with one hundred feet—it was completely identical to the ones that had been embedded in Yu Xi, Yu Jie, and Yu Yuan’s foreheads!.

As a matter of fact, the centipede that had been in Yu Yuan’s forehead was a larva of the centipede wrapped around this youth’s heart!

This centipede was completely stuck to his red heart. Every one of its feet were like sharp blades that either pierced into the heart muscle or clung to its arteries.

As the youth’s heart continued to thump, the bizarre centipede expanded and contracted along with it.

It was as if it had become one with his heart.

“Whoosh! Whoosh!”

At this moment, the pitch black centipede trembled sporadically. Its sharp feet dug into the youth’s heart, making him scream constantly.

The dark eyes of the seven Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners all shone with a cold, harsh light.

“Yu Xi and Yu Jie are dead. The voodoo insects in their bodies were burned to death. Yu Yuan has probably suffered a grievous injury as well… his condition doesn’t look good.”

The youth would occasionally let out a terrible howl, his expression appearing savage and distorted. His pitch black gemstone-esque eyes, however, were so calm that it was disturbing.

It was as if he were able to keep his calm despite the pain, as if his judgement weren’t affected by the pain at all.

“Yu Feng, lead your men over there and find out what’s going on! Find the person who burned the voodoo insects! Remember—I want him alive!” the man yelled coldly.

“I shall go right away, young master!” A Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioner garbed completely in black robes saluted respectfully before swiftly departing with two of the men.

……

“Young master? Your young master should be Black Voodoo Cult’s Ye Yihao, right?” On the other side of the ancient forest, Qin Lie arrived beside Yu Yuan with a cold expression, staring at the Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioner. He was on the verge of death, his body charred black. Qin Lie casually asked, “How do you cure the voodoo toxin?”

Having recovered some of her resolve, Song Tingyu walked over as well. She glared at Yu Yuan, a cold gleam in her eyes.

The three refind blood that resembled bloodstones withdrew into Qin Lie’s body once more and mingled with the blood on his palms.

Each of Qin Lie’s hands currently gripped a Heavenly Flame Crystal that was even larger than a fist. The three blood essences in his palms were currently absorbing the fire energy inside these Heavenly Flame Crystals.

The Heavenly Flame Crystals radiated a bright scarlet halo. Wisps of fiery energy continuously spread to his palms and were swiftly absorbed by the blood essences.

“You want to cure the voodoo toxin? Haha, dream on!” Yu Yuan laughed madly. “Only the young master and the ‘Eight-winged Centipede Queen’ around his heart can cure it! Just sit there and enjoy the taste of death as the young master absorbs your soul and life energy through the Eight-winged Centipede Queen every day, every hour, every minute, and every second!”

He pointed at Song Tingyu and laughed wickedly. “In less than half a month, your life energy will be completely exhausted. You will soon know exactly what kind of pain that has in store for you!”

“As for you…” he said coldly, looking at Qin Lie. “Even you have only a month of time left! Even if you aren’t hunted down and killed by our men, you will end up just like her! You will tread the exact same path of death that she has and die an agonizing death not unlike mine! Hahaha!”

“Splurt!”

A cold, sharp dagger stabbed into Yu Yuan’s thigh. The blade twisted and turned inside of his flesh, poking at the bones until they creaked.

Qin Lie stabbed the dagger upward, slicing from Yu Yuan’s thigh to his waist.

“I want the cure,” he said with a straight face.

The pain made Yu Yuan scream at the top of his lungs.

“Nothing but the Eight-winged Centipede Queen coiled around the young master’s heart and neutralize the toxin!” he cried out. “There is no other cure!”

Qin Lie, unconvinced by Yu Yuan’s words, drove the dagger further upward.

Yu Yuan’s eyes bulged and his cries of pain grew worse and worse. His body spasmed repeatedly as if his last breath would come at any moment.

Qin Lie glanced at Song Tingyu.

Song Tingyu understood the meaning behind that glance and immediately produced a Memory Fragment Crystal, pressing it against one of Yu Yuan’s eyes.

Suffering horribly from Qin Lie’s torture, Yu Yuan was unable to put up any resistance. By the time he noticed that a Memory Fragment Crystal had been pressed against his eye, it was already too late.

Song Tingyu’s eyes were filled with hatred as she slapped at Yu Yuan’s skull. His skull shattered, and the light in Yu Yuan’s eyes swiftly faded away.

Song Tingyu hurriedly unleashed her secret art as the Memory Fragment Crystal began absorbing Yu Yuan’s memories.

“The voodoo insect!” she suddenly exclaimed in a low tone.

After Yu Yuan’s True Soul faded away, the centipede embedded in his forehead flew out and attempted to escape.

Three bloody lights shot out from Qin Lie’s palm like lightning.

The larva of the Eight-winged Centipede Queen had barely flown a meter from Yu Yuan’s forehead before it was devoured by the three clusters of flame. The Fire Qilin’s terrifying flames burned it alive.

The small voodoo insect struggled and screamed amidst the burning flames, displaying a shocking vitality.

This last for a full hour before the voodoo insect was finally burned to ash, completely killed.

“The vitality of a voodoo insect is even more formidable than that of these three Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners. How scary!”

Song Tingyu stared at the voodoo insect that had been burned to ash. Fear lingered on her face and in her eyes.

Overall, three Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners and three voodoo insects were killed by Qin Lie.

……

“Yu Yuan is also gone.”

Deep within the forest, the Black Voodoo Cult youth had howled for a full hour. The pain only stopped when the last voodoo insect was completely dead.

The voodoo insects of Yu Yuan and the other three Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners had come from the Eight-winged Centipede Queen coiled around his heart. These insects were larvae of the Eight-winged Centipede Queen that he had embedded into their foreheads. Since he fed on their mind energy, they could assist him in releasing the voodoo toxin.

Everyone who was infected by the voodoo toxin would gradually lose their soul and life energy. These energies weren’t lost to the world—instead, they were consumed by him and the Eight-winged Centipede Queen.

The Eight-winged Centipede Queen fed on life energy, whereas the youth sought soul energy.

In this way, he would be able to increase his own soul energy at a tremendous rate. Through the slow deaths of the toxin-afflicted martial practitioners, he was able to nurture his own strength along with the Eight-winged Centipede Queen’s.

He could use this to grow stronger and stronger.

“Three larvae died in a row! Three! Do you know how much energy and effort it takes me to breed just one?” he scolded angrily.

All of the Black Voodoo Cult martial practitioners beside him were silent.

“If you clansmen of the Yu Family are dead, you’re dead. It doesn’t affect me much. All of you are utterly incomparable to a single larva!” the youth declared heartlessly, frowning at them. “Remember! If you know that you won’t be able to escape from a situation alive, immediately sever your soul connection with the voodoo insect so that the voodoo insect can escape!”

The Yu Family martial practitioners said nothing.

“I hope you understand that it was you, the Yu Family who chose to become my vassal force. The Yu Family will only become strong if I become strong! If anything happens to me and my strength decreases, then the entire Yu Family will also pay the price! Have I made myself clear?”

“We understand, young master.”

“If the situation looks bad, we will sever our soul connection with the voodoo insect to increase its chances of survival as much as possible.”

“We understand.”

All of them bowed their heads and expressed their subservience.

“Now this is what a professional vassal force looks like. You should know what comes first and obey the greater good.” It was only then that the youth nodded in satisfaction.

……

“Did you find anything?”

Beside the three charred corpses, Qin Lie removed their spatial rings and acquired three Black Voodoo Cult tokens. After examining them closely and finding no information about a cure for the voodoo toxin, he turned to ask Song Tingyu.

Song Tingyu gripped the Memory Fragment Crystal one one hand. She coincidentally finished her analysis on Yu Yuan’s memories right when Qin Lie spoke, releasing her grip on the crystal.

“What an evil, vicious spirit art… what a terrifying voodoo insect!” Having interpreted Yu Yuan’s memories, her expression became incredibly serious. “Their young master is Ye Yihao. He has an Eight-winged Centipede Queen coiled around his heart. He uses the Eight-winged Centipede Queen as the mother from which to breed larvae, controlling those larvae and releasing the voodoo toxin through them. Everyone who is infected with the voodoo insect’s toxin has their soul and life energy consumed by Ye Yihao and the Eight-winged Centipede Queen. He feeds on soul energy to strengthen himself while the voodoo insect feeds on life energy to strengthen itself.

“That truly is a terrifying spirit art.” Qin Lie’s expression changed. “Have you found a way to cure it?”

“Yu Yuan wasn’t lying.” Song Tingyu quietly sighed in disappointment, helplessness in her eyes. “A larva can only release voodoo toxin. It is incapable of doing anything else. The mother of the insect is needed to cure it. We will only be able to cure the voodoo toxin if the mother insect is dead or if we’ve obtained its blood. Aside from those, there is no other way.”

“So it’ll fine as long as we kill the mother insect?” Qin Lie’s eyes shone with tremendous killing intent.

“That’s correct. The moment the mother insect dies the voodoo toxin will automatically dissipate.” Song Tingyu shook her head and said bitterly, “I know what you’re thinking. To kill the other insect, one must first kill Ye Yihao. This person is extremely frightening. He is on an entirely different level compared to these four. Furthermore, the mother insect around his heart is an even greater weapon, I could sense significant fear toward the Eight-winged Centipede Queen from this person’s memories—as if the mother insect were stranger and more powerful than the martial practitioner.”

After a pause, she let out yet another deep sigh. “The most important thing is that the mother insect can speed up how quickly the voodoo toxin spreads and make it penetrate even faster than before. If we enter the mother insect’s range, it can stimulate the voodoo toxin and make it spread faster, killing us before we even get close to it.”