Chapter 32: Bloody Mouth, Little Ruyi

“Good!”
A flicker of joy crossed Yu Xiao’s face, then he lowered his head and began to ponder.
The intelligence and unusual talent displayed by this Iron-backed Centipede surprised him, instantly raising its worth in his mind.
Recently, his master had hinted at transferring the Iron-backed Centipede breed to his junior sister. But seeing it now, he felt reluctant to part with it.
If this centipede truly possessed spiritual intelligence and later attained the rank of a “Spirit Centipede,” wouldn’t he be handing his junior sister Xin Mei a tremendous advantage for nothing?
In a sect as unorthodox and formidable as Panhu Great Mountain, camaraderie and mutual aid were not encouraged.
“Good centipede, today I shall grant you a stroke of fortune.
If you can seize it, you need not remain in the cauldron henceforth; you may dwell within my warm blood and flesh, enjoying boundless spiritual essence and vitality.”
Yu Xiao lightly patted a small pouch on his belt. The leather pouch quivered, and from its mouth spat a palm-sized bone tablet.
“Feel it, touch it!”
The bone tablet fell into the cauldron, and Ji Ming immediately saw the true shape engraved upon it.
“Such a stroke of luck?!”
Ji Ming mused.
It must be because he practiced the Moon Worship Method, harboring spiritual essence, and was mistaken as gifted, prompting further tests to assess his value.
If he truly mastered this true shape, the man might intensify his cultivation efforts.
“Learn!”
There was no reason to hesitate. Ji Ming began to observe the true shape and waved his head’s antennae, repeatedly touching the bone tablet.
The true shape upon the tablet was unlike the “Minor Shadow Wind Art” from Fox Society; dense notes circled it in layers.
Moreover, there were thoughtful little techniques for harnessing corpse shadow energy to enhance the spell.
Aside from the true shape, the tablet contained nothing else.
Ji Ming was bewildered; the true shape in his vision kept shrinking and soon disappeared.
If not for his antennae still touching the engraved true shape, Ji Ming would have thought it had vanished altogether.
Steadying himself, the true shape reappeared in his sight but, as before, soon shrank and faded again.
Thus, Ji Ming stared for half an hour.
He grew a little disheartened, feeling that the “big patron” outside the cauldron was surely beyond his reach.
Outside the cauldron, the man continued to watch him.

There was no impatience on his face; his gaze in the darkness was like that of an owl—filled with ominous foreboding.
Perhaps because he watched so long, even when Ji Ming no longer focused on the true shape, its shrinking process continued to appear in his vision.
His body began to itch, segments of his shell heating up.
Yu Xiao extended a hand into the cauldron, sensing an obvious rise in temperature, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Good centipede, you truly haven’t disappointed me.”
He praised the Iron-backed Centipede within the cauldron, then instructed the servant boy to dig out a poison jar buried deep in the cave.
Within the jar were poisonous creatures Yu Xiao had painstakingly gathered from mountains and rivers, each jar nurturing only one specimen.
These poisons, kept in isolation, were fierce and had survived for decades, possessing a trace of intelligence, far stronger than common poisonous creatures.
He pierced the jar’s seal, releasing a pungent scent.
Yu Xiao took out a blue-bordered hairy spider, its metallic blue legs adorned with stingers on the chest and bloated abdomen.
The vivid blue legs signified its extraordinary toxicity.
Yu Xiao tossed it into the cauldron, and Ji Ming, sensing intense threat, disregarded his own discomfort and wrapped himself around the spider.
The moment he embraced it, his venomous hook deeply stabbed into the spider’s body.
The spider struggled violently, attempting to retaliate several times, but its fierce movements only worsened the injury caused by the venomous hook.
Gradually, the spider ceased to struggle.
Ji Ming’s venomous hook loosened within the spider’s body; the true shape in his vision burdened his spirit, leaving him dizzy.
His feverish body brought an unusual itchiness.
Under the dual torment of spirit and flesh, Ji Ming battered the cauldron’s inner wall and scraped at its bottom.
“That’s it!”
Ji Ming looked at the spider he had killed and immediately began to devour it.
The man had thrown the spider into the cauldron not out of boredom, but surely to aid him.
Soon, the fist-sized blue-bordered hairy spider was consumed, its venom triggering a series of complex reactions in his body.
Outside the cauldron, Yu Xiao watched without blinking.
“The Five Immortals’ cultivation hinges on the word ‘poison.’
To transform strange poisons for one’s own use surpasses the absorption of spiritual essence a hundredfold.”
Inside the cauldron, the Iron-backed Centipede gradually ceased movement; this condition lasted a full day and night, and Yu Xiao stood vigil throughout.

“Crack!”
In the darkness, a faint, crisp sound echoed within the cauldron.
Under Yu Xiao’s gaze, the eighteen-segmented centipede’s body trembled, and a small opening split at the head. A thumb-length young centipede deftly crawled out.
Ji Ming looked at the shed skin, several times larger than himself, and instantly understood the principle behind the true shape—body shrinking.
“Congratulations!”
Yu Xiao bent forward, his mouth stretching nearly to his earlobes, forming a sinister smile. “You have comprehended the Lesser Wish Art within your innate demon technique ‘Wish of Size.’”
He once again extended his hand, pressing his thumb inward. His sharp nail sliced his palm, opening a bloody wound.
“Good centipede, you now have a new nest—my warm, living flesh!”
The bloody gash lay before Ji Ming like a mysterious gate of flesh and blood, half-open, inviting him to enter.
Ji Ming knew that entering it would grant him peace for some time, as well as the man’s devoted cultivation.
This was precisely what he had envisioned and longed for in his previous life, though now the object of his hopes had shifted from Lady Zhang to the man before him.
Yet this man was undoubtedly more dangerous and unpredictable than Lady Zhang.
Ji Ming moved his paired legs, like a black thread, slipping into the wound and traversing the warm flesh, carefully avoiding veins and settling upon the wrist.
Within the flesh, streams of essence merged into Ji Ming’s body, rapidly advancing his cultivation.
On Yu Xiao’s face, his eyes closed, revealing a look of intoxication.
“Refining the Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown, the River Chariot rising and falling; cultivating the Five Energies Returning to the Origin, knowing thought without thought.
Now, with the Snake and Centipede Immortals aiding me, I am but one step away from the Three Flowers Gathered at the Crown in the Vital Energy Realm.”
Yu Xiao, satisfied, took out another poison jar from the cave and picked up the silver ring snake inside to admire.
“The Iron-backed Centipede ought to be mine; refusing to transfer it is reasonable, but I must consider my master’s opinion.
Though this silver ring snake is impressive, it still pales beside the Iron-backed Centipede.
If... I compensate my junior sister, I fear my master will not be convinced and may grow suspicious.
Enough—on the path of the Dao, only I remain.
She must take this silver ring snake whether she wants it or not; at worst, I’ll personally instruct her in the Lesser Celestial Circuit as extra compensation.”