Translator: Cinder Translations
All five could sense that Yan Feng still retained the power of thunder on his body, while Ji Yin was obviously a practitioner of demonic arts.
It's widely known that practitioners of demonic arts cannot wield the power of heavenly thunder. In other words, Ji Yin killing Yan Feng wasn't through his own strength but with the aid of something external.
Ji Yin's ability to defeat Yan Feng with thunder suggests he used some special treasure.
Such special treasures are usually limited in use and can't be used indefinitely, otherwise Ji Yin wouldn't have fled for so long from them.
Therefore, if the five of them were to besiege Ji Yin regardless of the cost, there was a good chance they could kill him, but it was certain someone would die in the process.
They had initially thought chasing Ji Yin would be easy, but now it might lead to death, making them hesitant to proceed.
"Ji Yin must die. If he lives, he'll bring back news of our betrayal of the Yan family to the Corpse Demon Sect, leaving no one in the Yan family alive."
After a brief silence, one person spoke up.
The other four also snapped out of their daze.
Yes, Ji Yin must die. If he doesn't, the entire Yan family will perish.
"Let's take Yan Feng's body and continue pursuing Ji Yin. After killing Yan Feng, Ji Yin must have paid a price and likely won't get far."
A man in gray crouched down, his hand touching Yan Feng's body, preparing to put it into a storage pouch.
Several gray insects flew up from Yan Feng's body and pounced on his face.
They were too close, and the insects were lightning-fast.
The man in gray had no mental defenses and didn't expect any danger lurking on Yan Feng's body. Before he could react, the insects had already pounced on his face.
Then these insects burrowed into his nostrils and straight into his brain.
In shock, the man in gray instinctively jumped up, shouting, "Not good, it's an ambush!"
Things happened too quickly, and the other four hadn't figured out what was going on, asking in confusion.
"Number Five, what's wrong?"
"Something's burrowed into my brain." The man in gray replied fearfully.
He could sense that there were five insects crawling through the cavities in his brain towards his marrow, but he didn't know what to do next.
How could he force these bugs out without damaging his brain?
"What exactly is it?" one person asked with concern.
"Insects?" Someone exclaimed anxiously, "Since they're just insects, can't you use spiritual power to force them out?"
"I can't force them out."
The man in gray shook his head. Obviously, he had already tried.
These insects were powerful. He had used all his spiritual power to press them, only slowing their progress but unable to completely detain them, let alone force them out of his body.
The man in gray suddenly clutched his head in agony, screaming in pain and despair.
Hearing the man in gray's miserable cries, the other four shivered in fear.
Someone was about to step forward to check on the man in gray when another person exclaimed in terror,
"It's likely Gu insects!"
Upon hearing this, the person who wanted to help immediately stepped back, and all four retreated two steps.
The four of them looked at the gray-clothed man writhing on the ground in disbelief, unable to believe what they were hearing. How could an outer disciple of the Corpse Demon Sect at the third level of Qi cultivation breed Gu insects?
Could it be the disciple of some powerful figure?
Just as the four were unsure how to handle the situation,
Suddenly, one person felt a sharp pain in the vulnerable part of his thigh, as if someone had fiercely stabbed a steel nail into his egg.
He instinctively wanted to slap it, but hesitated when he realized how fragile that area was.
Then he felt a stabbing pain at his Shenque point, as a Gu insect crawled in through his navel and into his abdomen.
The same happened to the other three. They were all attacked at their vulnerable points by the elusive Gu insects.
For a moment, cries of agony filled the air.
Although the Black-Bellied Gu insects were small, their cultivation was solid at the fourth level of Qi cultivation.
Having penetrated the bodies of the cultivators, their attacks were too much for the physical bodies of cultivators at the fifth level of Qi cultivation to withstand.
Wherever the Black-Bellied Gu insects attacked, flesh and blood turned into a mess. Even the hardest human bones shattered at their touch.
After a moment, the cries of agony stopped.
All five of them fell silent.
At this moment, Song Wen's figure slowly emerged from the dense forest.
In fact, he hadn't gone far at all, hiding in the dense forest all along, using his keen spiritual power to observe the movements of the five and controlling the Black-Bellied Gu insects to attack them.
His spiritual power was considerably stronger than that of the five, covering a much wider area. This allowed him to monitor the five from the dense forest without them noticing him.
Once he spotted the five, Song Wen prepared to ambush them using the Gu insects.
He had hidden the Black-Bellied Gu insects in the soil around Yan Feng's body, masking their presence with the residual thunderous power. Coupled with their natural ability to conceal their aura, the five had completely failed to detect the Black-Bellied Gu insects, leading to a successful surprise attack.
After using the Blood Escape Technique, Song Wen's speed was much faster than that of the five, ensuring his invincible position. This was his greatest confidence in ambushing the five.
As he approached the five, the more than twenty Black-Bellied Gu insects continued to crawl in and out of their bodies, devouring them.
At this point, the essence, blood, marrow, and spiritual energy in the bodies of the five were nearly depleted.
It was unclear how such small insects managed to swallow these things.
With a shake of his head, Song Wen had originally planned to absorb the essence and blood of these five, but now it seemed their bodies were no longer worth consuming.
However, since the five had just died and their souls hadn't yet left, this was a prime material for cultivating the Forbidden Soul Technique, which couldn't be wasted.
After spending dozens of breaths, Song Wen devoured the souls of the five, along with the essence and blood from Yan Feng's body, then stored the six bodies in his storage pouch.
Turning around, Song Wen flew towards the direction of the Corpse Demon Sect.
Before long, a large river blocked Song Wen's path.
The river's surface was extremely wide, several miles across. Looking ahead, its edges were indiscernible, with only the rolling yellow river water visible.
Seeing this river, Song Wen knew he was on the right path back to his sect, as crossing this river was necessary.
Looking up at the sky, the sun had already set, and the surroundings were becoming dim. The nearby forests were faintly discernible.
Song Wen took out a flying talisman, activated it, and soared across to the other side of the river.
As he flew towards the center of the river, he dropped the six bodies into the water. Soon, the bodies were swept away by the waves and disappeared beneath the riverbed.
Just before the flying talisman lost its effect, Song Wen found a crevice in a cliff and hid himself within.
He didn't intend to travel at night. Besides reduced visibility, traveling through this unfamiliar dense forest at night could lead to unforeseen risks.
Furthermore, having just escaped, his spiritual power was running low and needed time to recuperate through meditation.