Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 43 Fierce Battle Against the Centipede King
"Big Ginger, split up and escape!"

With her path blocked, Azi calmed down instead. While urging Jiang Mingzhe to leave first, she lowered her body and confronted the giant centipede.

My mind raced: "I'll try my best to stall this monster for a while, and once the giant ginger has escaped a bit further, I'll jump into the Zhaqu River..."

Before the thought could even finish, he heard rapid footsteps. It was Jiang Mingzhe, who had dropped his bamboo tube and basket and was running back with a hunting fork in hand.

"Who told you to turn back? Get out of here!"

Ah Zi cried out in a panic, feeling both angry and happy.

Seeing that Jiang Mingzhe remained unmoved, he quickly took out a poison-preventing and heart-protecting pill, put it under his tongue, and drew his short knife to pounce on the giant centipede.

This giant centipede has a flat body and long legs, with sharp claws like knives, and its attack methods are very different from those of ordinary centipedes.

Seeing Ah Zi charging towards it, it spread its long legs and sat down, while its front half stood upright, its more than ten long, sharp feet stabbing and poking wildly.

Ah Zi, wearing a glove on her right hand and holding a short knife in her left, blocked and parried the attacks one by one.

Seeing that it could not do anything to her, the giant centipede seemed to get angry. It struggled to lift itself up, supporting its body with only its four longest legs at the back. Dozens of its long legs shot out like spears, and a loud hissing sound filled the air.

Azi's eyes narrowed, knowing she couldn't withstand it, and she immediately leaped backward to dodge.

Unexpectedly, the giant centipede suddenly spewed out a stream of green energy the moment it leaped up, moving with incredible speed and force.

Ah Zi hurriedly held her breath, but still inhaled a little. Instantly, she felt dizzy and nearly fell over.

She shook her head vigorously, feeling her eyelids become incredibly heavy and her vision blur. The giant centipede seemed to have multiplied into three, lunging at her side by side.

Azi knew she should dodge, but her mind was spinning and she didn't know where to take her first step.

My heart sank: So this is where I died. It's a pity... I never found it...

Just as she was about to close her eyes and await death, a loud roar pierced her ears, and Azi's spirits lifted. She exclaimed in surprise, "Ginger!"

She strained her eyes to look, and saw three giant centipedes shaking violently, their many long legs rubbing together, making a metallic sound. Then, three more Jiang Mingzhes were sent flying backward.

Just as the giant centipede lunged at Azi, Jiang Mingzhe leaped up, wielding two hunting forks, and stabbed the giant centipede hard in the tail.

Jiang Mingzhe originally intended to pin the giant centipede to the ground, but unexpectedly, the centipede's carapace was as hard as iron, and the hunting fork was not a divine weapon. Even with Jiang Mingzhe's full-force attack, it only penetrated less than an inch.

In pain, the giant centipede whipped its tail around, sending the hunting fork flying backward, and Jiang Mingzhe was thrown backward against his will.

With a rustling sound, the giant centipede turned around and pounced on Jiang Mingzhe.

Azi is temporarily out of danger, but her mind is becoming increasingly muddled. She wishes she could sleep forever. The last shred of clarity in her mind screams: "I can't sleep! I can't sleep! Big Ginger is in danger!"

She bit her tongue hard, and the intense pain brought her back to her senses. She immediately reached for the medicine on her body to try and detoxify herself.

As soon as Jiang Mingzhe landed, before he could even get up, the centipede pounced on him menacingly.

Jiang Mingzhe could only roll to dodge, tearing off his shirt in the process. The giant centipede pounced on the shirt and bit it. Jiang Mingzhe seized the opportunity to get up, but the giant centipede realized it had been tricked and pounced again. In the nick of time, Jiang Mingzhe didn't have time to think. Facing the giant centipede, he swiftly used a move called "Swinging the Ox Tail," swaying his whole body to the right. The giant centipede pushed itself up from the ground, but Jiang Mingzhe nimbly swung his leg, shifting his center of gravity and pulling back.

The giant centipede missed its target, but reacted extremely quickly, landing smoothly on its forelimbs and sweeping its broad tail across the ground.

This sweep was just like a sliding tackle on a football field.

Jiang Mingzhe jumped up to dodge, but suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He spun around in mid-air and stomped his feet on the centipede's back, one in front of the other.

Startled, the centipede lunged forward. Jiang Mingzhe bent over, spread his arms halfway, and tried his best to adjust his balance, managing to stand steadily on the centipede's back.

When Jiang Mingzhe was in school, he was also obsessed with playing football and skateboarding, but at that time his physical fitness was limited and his skill level was average. But now that he has mastered the skills, he can easily perform the technical moves that were difficult to master before.

Unable to shake him off, the centipede twisted its body, its segments changing from an S to a C shape. Jiang Mingzhe lost his footing and suddenly saw the giant centipede's two golden whiskers swaying wildly. He swiftly reached out and grabbed it tightly!
This was like having reins on a horse or a steering wheel on a car; it not only gained leverage to stabilize its center of gravity but also gained control over the direction of the giant centipede.

It should be noted that although centipedes have eyes, their eyesight is extremely poor. They mainly rely on their two tentacles to perceive their environment. Now that Jiang Mingzhe is holding them tightly, their sense of direction and distance are immediately disrupted.

Jiang Mingzhe exerted force with his left hand, causing the centipede to turn to the left; he exerted force with his right hand, causing it to move to the right; and when he exerted force with both hands simultaneously, the centipede jumped and glided.

Azi was convinced that Jiang Mingzhe was in imminent danger. In a daze, she searched frantically and found a Lingxi Bizhang Pill hidden in the lining of her belt.

This pill was leftover from the ones Old Monster Ding had specially refined when he was adventuring in the Southern Frontier. Azi begged for one by pleading and cajoling, and it is now coming in handy.

This pill is only the size of a mung bean, but its effects are truly amazing. According to the Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica, rhinoceros horn is good at dispelling all kinds of poisons, evil spirits and miasma. It is just like the centipede poison that Azi was poisoned by. It was exactly the right medicine. After swallowing it, the dizziness and drowsiness had improved by more than half in no time.

"Thank goodness, the medicine worked!" Azi was overjoyed and went to save Jiang Mingzhe: "Big Ginger, let me save you... uh?"

Azi then realized that the situation was completely different from what she had imagined; Jiang Mingzhe and the Flying Centipede King were having a great time.

Azi watched helplessly as the giant centipede sprang up from the ground. Jiang Mingzhe, holding onto the centipede's whiskers, stood steadily on its back, his half-length hair fluttering in the wind, like a sword immortal flying on a sword.

Azi's poisoning had not yet been fully cured, and upon witnessing this astonishing scene, she was momentarily unable to distinguish whether it was real or a hallucination.

"Senior Sister!" Jiang Mingzhe also noticed Azi and shouted, "Are you alright? You go quickly, take Xiaosheng Jiang with you, I'll go back by myself later!"

Azi closed her eyes and focused on breathing exercises for a while. She felt the poison had subsided considerably. When she opened her eyes again, she was finally sure it wasn't a hallucination. She shook her head repeatedly and said, "No, come together, go together! The Bai and Qing demons are very loyal. If I don't take care of you, what kind of senior sister am I?"

"Listen to me! This centipede can't do anything to me right now, but I don't think I can kill it either. I can only exhaust its strength. You go first, I'll be right behind you!"

As Jiang Mingzhe spoke, blood dripped from his right hand along the centipede's tentacles. However, the giant centipede moved extremely fast, and Ah Zi's poison had not been completely cleared, so he did not notice.

It turns out that this flying centipede king not only has limbs like blades and a carapace like iron, but even its two tentacles are extremely hard, with many tiny bristles on them.

Jiang Mingzhe was wearing a stingray skin glove on his left hand, so he wasn't afraid. However, his right hand was covered in scratches, which is why he kept urging Azi to go first. He was afraid that if he was in so much pain, he would lose his grip and be thrown off the centipede's back. If he tried to get back up then, it would be extremely difficult.

However, no matter what he said, Azi just refused. Jiang Mingzhe was helpless and thought to himself: It seems that if this centipede is not killed, the situation will not end. But this centipede is as hard as iron. How can I kill it?
Then she heard Azi say, "Centipedes have the longest stamina, and this Flying Centipede King is even stronger. It's not that easy to exhaust its strength. If anyone should leave, you should leave first. Once you're far away, I'll jump into the river and escape."

Jiang Mingzhe was overjoyed: That's right, centipedes can't swim, that's a good idea!

(End of this chapter)