Chapter Twenty: Lice Eggs

The little dragon man leapt high, obeying the instincts of a beast, swinging his arms.
His hands had already transformed, claws long and sharp.
He hunted with his front paws, his tail maintaining balance.
He was no longer human.
“Hmph-ha!”
Xu Zhong summoned spiritual energy, a glimmer flashing within his lungs, and as he exhaled, two streams of spirit light emerged from his nostrils—one murky as sludge, dripping black water, the other clear as moonlight, flowing like a spring.
This was the expulsion of qi.
A spell, too.
The expelled qi, formless yet tangible, killed silently.
The murky qi penetrated bodies, traversing the Five Luminaries, leaving behind silt, clogging the organs.
The organs suffered, the Five Luminaries collapsed.
The clear qi blasted the soul of the little dragon man from his body, which was then dispersed by a breeze.
His cultivation was not high, much like Xu Zhong’s, at the level of Five Luminaries.
At this stage, one had not yet grasped the immortal spirit light to protect the soul; such souls were fragile—once separated from the body, a mere gust would scatter them, a touch of fire would burn them, a splash of water would dissolve them...
Only those who grasped the immortal spirit light could shield their souls.
The qi dissipated, and Xu Zhong was left uneasy.
“Let’s hope these creatures are few.”
He picked up the man’s storage pouch.
When a person dies, their mark fades like a snuffed lamp; Xu Zhong easily wiped the imprint from the pouch and set his own.
He erected a tomb of clothes for the man and hurried back.
The dragon crystal was peculiar.
Yet undeniably, for a cultivator, it was indeed a potent elixir to enhance one’s cultivation.
He intended to bring it back, to see if the two monks could refine it further.
Just as he turned, a voice sounded behind him, and then a massive shadow appeared overhead. Xu Zhong saw the silhouette before him, resembling an upright lizard.
Xu Zhong hastily cast the Qi Barrier spell.
The little dragon man collided with an invisible wall, pausing mid-air.
That pause cost him his life.
From the gourd at Xu Zhong’s waist, a beam of white light shot forth, circled the little dragon man’s head, then returned to the gourd.
A stone the size of a millstone toppled to the ground.
The severed neck was perfectly smooth, blood flowing in rivers, pooling in depressions, forming little lakes.
Within the pools, twisted insects writhed.
These insects, recently freed from flesh, soon turned to ash in the blood.
There were many such insects, constantly emerging from the severed neck with the blood.
“What goes in as a dragon comes out as a worm!” Xu Zhong shuddered inwardly.
He felt an urge to sit and examine himself, to see if these worms were inside him.
But he dared not.
He did not know whether more little dragon men lurked nearby.
Turning his back to these beastly creatures would be utter folly.
“Sword, go!” Xu Zhong pointed with his right index finger, and sword-light spread in all directions.
Like a star exploding into a shower of sparks, within three miles sword qi howled like wind, countless trees fell, stone walls were sliced, wildflowers and grass obliterated instantly.
Blood mist rose and fell, blooming like clusters of flowers.

Corpses of little dragon men toppled, the thick scent of blood so strong Xu Zhong felt it with every breath.
Seeing themselves exposed, the little dragon men rushed forward.
Xu Zhong lifted the gourd lid with a single finger.
Immediately, a stream of refined Metal Qi burst forth.
The Metal Qi swirled like nebulae, and the little dragon men caught within were instantly stripped of life.
Only when all were dead did Xu Zhong close the gourd.
He looked around; at least fifty little dragon men had perished by sword and Metal Qi.
This meant that most who entered the abyss had become little dragon men.
“But why am I unharmed?” Xu Zhong pinched a ball of light, shaping it into a bright mirror reflecting his image.
This was the Illumination Technique, gathering light from darkness, useful for lighting; at higher mastery, one could conjure miniature moons and suns to kill.
His reflection was entirely normal, nothing amiss.
“I am protecting you!” came True Yan Monk’s voice in his ear.
Xu Zhong opened his palm to see the eye speaking.
True Yan Monk, while suppressing the serpent demon and shielding Xu Zhong, was gravely wounded—no wonder that middle-aged man managed to infiltrate the Bodhi Tree so easily.
“This abyss is strange; the dragon crystal is seeded with a Dao Seed, treating your bodies like rice fields.”
The Dao Seed grows in the field; it will eventually bear fruit.
“I suspect an unseen monster lurks in the abyss, searching among you all for the most fertile field.”
True Yan Monk spoke as he expelled worms.
Tiny insects, nearly invisible unless closely examined.
“That demoness is hateful, not only escaping herself but leaving so many threats behind,” True Yan Monk grumbled. “If I ever meet her again...”
Suddenly his expression changed, and he closed his eye, falling silent.
“Who knows what’s happening outside!” True Yan Monk’s tone was off; clearly things had slipped beyond his control.
Yet with his assurance, Xu Zhong felt more at ease.
Still, curiosity gnawed at him—what could it be?
Despite his curiosity, he did not wish to remain.
He cast the Borrowed Wind spell.
But the wind was swallowed whole.
A gigantic insect appeared before Xu Zhong.
The creature stood twelve or thirteen feet tall, five feet wide, with an oval head, seven abdominal segments bearing six legs—two for walking, four dangling—its tail armed with sharp barbs.
Wisdom gleamed in its eyes; its barbed tail pierced the surface of a not-so-large dragon crystal, depositing eggs within.
“Louse!”
Though massively enlarged, Xu Zhong blurted its name.
He retched at the thought of ingesting louse eggs, disgusted beyond measure.
Without thinking, he summoned the treasure gourd.
In an instant, Metal Qi spiraled forth; the louse jumped dozens of miles, but the Metal Qi stretched just as far, catching up and splitting it in two with a flash of white light.
Countless eggs spilled from its thick tail—at least a hundred, but not louse eggs; whatever lay within was not a louse.
The Metal Qi returned to the gourd.
Xu Zhong pondered deeply.
How powerful must Bai Zhaoji be to achieve all this? Shed skin becomes monsters, with a breath she can drain thousands of cultivators, her lice turn into monsters, clever enough to lay eggs in dragon crystals, and a mysterious demon controlling this…
She was so strong, yet ultimately sealed away.

Who sealed her? Who could?
The questions multiplied, but Xu Zhong soon cast them aside.
He saw lice herding little dragon men.
Xu Zhong concealed himself.
The lice drove the little dragon men, who in turn besieged the cultivators.
Some cultivators, blessed with secret treasures, survived by luck; others, strong in body, managed to expel the eggs forcibly.
These survivors became targets for the little dragon men.
Little dragon men were not particularly strong; they acted on animal instinct, even with magical power.
This suggested the mature insects could not fully control them.
They were not the optimal field.
A line of flying swords circled, forming a vortex of sword qi—a tornado.
The tornado slew a group of little dragon men, but their numbers were overwhelming; some grabbed the swords, breaking the formation, and though cultivators controlled them to fill the gaps, flaws appeared.
Flaws increased, the tornado slowed, and the cultivators moved slower still.
Thousands of little dragon men encircled a dozen cultivators.
The leading youth, seeing no escape, declared, “We must open a gap, or we’ll be trapped here!”
He shouted, then summoned a massive axe.
The axe was peculiar, crimson throughout, woven from countless web-like threads, fierce and ominous, topped with a huge skull whose mouth opened and closed, devouring the thick blood qi.
The youth activated his demonic arts, half his blood qi surged into the axe.
The axe grew immense, cleaving the earth, tearing open a huge chasm, revealing thick magma that burned the dragon crystals to ash.
Over a hundred little dragon men were struck, their bodies exploding in a grand display of blood, falling and burned to nothing by magma.
A gap was opened; the others shielded him as they fled.
But their escape brought them closer to Xu Zhong, almost as if targeting him.
Xu Zhong’s heart pounded, but he held steady, unmoving.
Perhaps it was mere coincidence.
Yet he saw a woman among them, her eyes glowing, seemingly able to see him despite his concealment.
Xu Zhong’s Turtle Breathing Technique was of the highest lineage; she should not have been able to detect him.
The group stayed silent, and Xu Zhong could no longer hide—he revealed himself, riding the wind, running faster than the cultivators.
“It’s only a Five Luminaries cultivator—Shiyue, are you sure you haven’t mistaken him?” the demonic cultivator who wielded the axe frowned.
He had paid dearly to reach this point.
“It’s not him, he just happened to be ahead,” Shiyue glanced at Xu Zhong; her divination had led them near his hiding place, perhaps causing him to misunderstand their pursuit.
But Xu Zhong ran so swiftly she had no chance to explain.
A louse broke away from the horde, leading dozens of little dragon men to chase after Xu Zhong.
Moments later, all were cleaved in two.
Xu Zhong reclaimed his gourd, unsure where he had run—before him stood a massive stone stele, inscribed with ancient characters.
Three-thousand-year-old script, now lost to history.
Xu Zhong could not read a single word.
But beyond the stele, there lay a vast expanse of water.
That water gave him an overwhelming sense of danger.