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Li Shen carefully examined it for a moment, but apart from its ugly appearance, he couldn't find anything unusual about it.

Just as he was about to temporarily abandon his research and step on the spirit insect to relieve some of its pressure, the plump, milky-white insect suddenly began to hiss incessantly. Then, it slammed its tail into the ground and its entire body sprang up instantly.

Fortunately, Li Shen remained vigilant, taking several steps back to ensure that the fat worm wouldn't jump onto him, while simultaneously releasing the Soul-Eating Ants to quickly surround the worm.

"They'll launch a sneak attack too?"

Li Shen sighed softly, staring intently at the insects surrounded in the center. They wanted to get closer to Li Shen, but immediately sensed the intense killing intent released by the Soul-Devouring Ant swarm, so they crawled out half an inch and quickly withdrew.

The hissing sound coming from its mouthparts was stronger than before, as if it were expressing its dissatisfaction.

Li Shen squatted down again, picked up the twig, poked its forehead, thought for a moment, and chuckled:

"I think there's something on me that you desperately need. How about this, since you and I, these spirit-devouring ants, are both spirit insects, you can tell them to go get it for you? What do you say?"

After speaking, Li Shen paused slightly in the branch in his hand, waiting for the insect's reply.

Less than three breaths later.

Li Shen's lips curled slightly, and he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

The insect seemed to understand, and its agitation gradually subsided. Its hissing also changed to a different rhythm, intermittent and varied in pitch.

It felt like a real conversation.

Li Shen was already proficient in controlling spirit insects, and by sensing the reactions of the spirit-devouring ants, he confirmed his earlier guess.

He waited quietly for a few more moments, and then several flying ants came to the vicinity, circling and searching around Li Shen.

A moment later, some tiny bits of debris that had been clinging to Li Shen's clothes and hair were precisely removed by the Soul-Eating Ants and piled up on one side, about the height of a fingernail.

The ugly fat worm had only been quiet for a short while when it became agitated again. If it weren't for the spirit-devouring ants holding it back, it probably would have flown over directly.

Li Shen used a twig to turn over the small pile of debris, probing it with his divine sense, but he didn't sense anything unusual; it seemed to be just ordinary debris.

The only difference was that, when Li Shen compared the debris to the fat worm, he found that the color, texture, and shape of the debris were extremely similar to the fat worm's skin.

It looks like it shed its skin from this insect.

After a brief moment of thought, Li Shen, combining his own discoveries, suddenly remembered seeing a special kind of spirit insect in "The Secret of Spirit Insect Control"—the Greedy Molting Gu Insect.

As soon as this thought arose in Li Shen's mind, a glint of light flashed in his eyes.

He divided the pile of debris into two, pushing one pile closer together and leaving the other in place.

Seeing this, the fat worm hissed urgently and lunged its whole body toward the nearby pile of debris, but was forced back by the spirit-devouring ants. It could only wriggle restlessly in place, its mouthparts opening and closing incessantly.

Li Shen narrowed his eyes, pushed the pile of debris closer, and then ordered the Soul-Devouring Ants to make way.

The fat worm pounced on it, swallowing the crumbs in a few bites, its entire body faintly glowing with a fleeting light.

After it finished swallowing, it calmed down and no longer tried to approach Li Shen. It just lay there, looking at another small pile, its tail swaying gently, showing a hint of docility and ingratiation.

"So it really is a Greedy Molting Gu worm. So that's how it tracked me down. But when did I get infected?"

Li Shen murmured to himself, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly realized something.

The most suspicious place popped into my head: the exchange meeting.

He now suspects that the Foundation Establishment cultivator named Qi Wengxuan at the exchange meeting is probably already a member of the Blood Soul Sect.

Only in this way can these fragments be silently collected on the cultivators participating in the exchange.

The fact that these monks were exchanging things with him proved their worth.

Thinking of this, Li Shen couldn't help but gasp. If it weren't for sensing that Master Duobao, the person in charge of Linlang City, was relentlessly fighting against the demonic path, he would have been completely overwhelmed.

He believed that the mastermind behind this was Master Duobao of Linlang City.

However, given the current situation, the forces within Linlang City have already been corrupted by the demonic path.

"Linlang City has already been attacked; Yunhe Mountain should be next."

The thought lingered in his mind for only a moment before he suppressed it.

Let's refocus our attention on this greedy molting worm.

He remembered that the "Secret Essentials of Controlling Spirit Insects" contained the following:

This insect lives in filthy places and only likes to feed on molted skin or the flesh and blood of its own kind, especially its own old molted skin.

Each time it molts, its body becomes more bloated, but its intelligence also increases.

Unlike other spirit insects that require insect-controlling techniques, it can be lured with food.

If the greedy molting worm can consume nine molts in a row, it will form a cocoon. As for what it will transform into, it is unclear.

Looking at the plump, round worm at his feet, Li Shen really couldn't bring himself to cultivate it. Besides, this worm wasn't wild; it was a Gu worm cultivated by the Blood Soul Sect.

To be on the safe side, it would be best to eliminate it, but before that, Li Shen planned to make use of the insect's quirk one more time.

This last small pile is its only remaining source of food.

If you let it swallow everything, it may not obey you again.

If it is not fed, it will keep thinking about the pile of crumbs and thus obey its own will.

After thinking it over, Li Shen collected all the debris into an empty wooden box, leaving only a little powder which he rubbed between his fingertips and smeared on the edge of the insect's mouthparts.

The fat worm hurriedly licked itself clean, then became increasingly agitated, circling around in place, its tail wagging incessantly, as if begging Li Shen for more.

Li Shen shook his head and didn't delay any longer.

He first removed the storage bag from Han Yuanhua's corpse, then searched through it again and found a gray spirit beast bag.

He cautiously probed with his divine sense and saw a fire fox beast lying quietly inside.

To prevent the fire fox beast from noticing, Li Shenxuan immediately withdrew his divine sense and put away the spirit beast bag and storage bag together.

He then grabbed the Greedy Corpse Gu worm in his hand, took out the Yin Soul Banner to extract Han Yuanhua's essence, and then released the Seven-Colored Python to drain its life force.

They unleashed two fireball talismans, burning the corpse to ashes.

After all the steps were completed, the fog here became even thicker, and divine sense could only be extended for a dozen feet before being swallowed up by the miasma.

His fighting spirit had been somewhat depleted, and the effects of the Concentration Pill were beginning to wane, so he couldn't remember the way back no matter what.

Therefore, he must use the Greedy Turtles to find Zhao Qian and Zhao Ying.

When Han Yuanhua caught up, the two were entangled by Leng She and another late-stage Qi Refining Blood Soul Sect cultivator. Li Shen simply couldn't bring himself to abandon them and run away alone.

He held the greedy worm in his hand, flicked its rear end, and said coldly:

"It's time for you to shine; go find the crumbs you like."

After saying that, he smeared a small amount near the mouthparts of the fat worm.

The fat worm quickly ate it, then hissed in dissatisfaction.

Li Shen ignored it.

The restlessness of the greedy molting worm gradually subsided, and intermittent hissing sounds came from its mouthparts, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, as if it was trying to express something.

Li Shen summoned a spirit-devouring ant to act as a translator, and quickly understood what the fat worm meant.

He looked up at the direction indicated by the greedy molting worm, gathered his energy, and leaped away. The light on his cloud-stepping shoes dimmed slightly, and his toes touched the withered branches as he sped off.

As Li Shen hurried along, he kept a close eye on the insect's reaction in his hand.

After the fat worm finishes swallowing a small handful of crumbs, he adds some more, keeping it in a state of semi-starvation.

The sense of direction became increasingly clear.

About an incense stick's time later, a muffled sound of spiritual energy surging could be faintly heard from the mist ahead.

Li Shen slowed his pace and summoned a high-grade concealment talisman, completely concealing his figure and aura.

He quietly parted a clump of withered vines.