Lu Qingshan scanned the forest through his fly swarm’s senses. Unfortunately, they were unable to detect the presence of the cloaked demonic cultivator. It was like there was nobody there. He supposed they had managed to come up with a way to hide from insects after seeing how he controlled the demonized insects to attack them.

  That meant there could be any number of enemies hiding in the forest. Though it was still unlikely they’d pose a threat to him.

  Still, he decided to be more cautious. Instead of attacking, Lu Qingshan waited until their conversation was over. From the looks of their movements and their gestures towards a certain direction, he guessed they were speaking about finding his sect.

  The two of them left the area after a short while. Lu Qingshan began following them. It didn’t take long for the two of them to stop beside a large mountain-like hill.

  The monstrous humanoid creature plunged its middle appendage into the hill. The thing extended for a lot longer than he thought it would. Then in a single heartbeat, the wriggling limb snapped back into place.

  A passage opened up. As the two made their way inside, Lu Qingshan waited for them to come out. His Eight Thorns Spider tracked them beneath the mountain and ensured he always knew their location. Since the two of them never went too deep, he expected them to come out in due time.

  And so they did. But not without picking up what appeared to be dozens of other humanoids down there, which Lu Qingshan immediately deduced were not human. He quickly moved backwards to continue observing.

  What emerged from the tunnel were a whole group of humanoid monsters that looked slightly similar to the first. A wide, gaping maw full of teeth and spraying fluids was the first thing he saw. But the hair on some of these creatures was intact — some long, some short.

  The same variance went for their heights and builds as well. It was like these creatures were each made from a different person. The number of limbs often changed, from an excessive amount of arms, legs, and squirming things that flailed constantly.

  Eventually, Lu Qingshan spotted someone he recognized. A martial artist he had briefly researched back when he was in Golden Sun City. The demonic cultivators had turned their prey into demonized humans.

  His muscles briefly slackened, but he recovered, and watched the group of demonized humans begin marching towards the direction of his camp. This was an attack, but it was one they would likely be able to fend off. What he wanted to know was why these demonic cultivators were so brazen now.

  His flies scattered throughout the forest. Soon he discovered another demonized human extending its tendril into a different hilly part of the forest. Perhaps all the people they had killed in the sea of fog were placed in these hills, to be activated for an attack. Lu Qingshan's flies had reached the end of his range.

  If more and more swarms of enemies rose up from out of nowhere, he didn't expect the Seven Mysteries Gate to stand a chance. An attack of that size required someone like the black flame demonic cultivator to fend off. That meant he needed to stop them in their tracks. He had no clue about where the source of these demonized people were coming from, though.

  But something was off about this behavior. The current demonized human had appeared deferential to the demonic cultivator, yet the other one over there was able to summon the demonized humans on its own. The two demonized human leaders were linked together somehow. And Lu Qingshan's mind couldn't help shake off the fetus silhouette.

  Were all demonized humans under that fetus' control? Then all that meant was that the demonic cultivators were a distraction. The true threat was the fetus, hidden deep underground. With only Lu Qingshan as the witness, he had limited time to destroy that thing.

  His mind ran through the possibilities. He hoped he wasn't wrong. The Eight Thorns Spider returned to exploring the hidden cave in the hill, but discovered nobody else inside. This wasn't likely to be the place the demon fetus was hiding.

  Lu Qingshan ignored the doubt building up in his heart and stepped away from the two enemies in front of him. Striking now would only alert the true threat. He needed to find that thing's hiding location, attack it, and hopefully kill it in time. There was no other choice — this was a life and death decision to safeguard the future of his sect.

  But how to track down such a thing was extremely difficult. The only thing he knew was that it preferred to stay underground. The vine cave was an option, but what if it had left the vine cave long ago? That would waste time, and time was in short supply. The Seven Mysteries Gate could only hold out for a limited duration against an unknown number of enemies.

  His Bloodsense Bug snuck past the horde of demonized humans and found a bloodstain inside the cave. It pointed towards one of the monsters in front of Lu Qingshan. This probably wouldn't work.

  Lu Qingshan chanted the Insect Harmony Mantra, but all it did was alert him to a brief passing of a nearby demonized insect swarm. He glanced at the stone slab, looking for a method. There were none. His next decision had to be a gamble.

  Turning away from the demonized horde in front of him, Lu Qingshan sighed deeply and sent the Bloodsense Bug on a mission. The warning for danger had long been taught to his sect elders. All it consisted of was the Bloodsense Bug squirming like its life depended on it. He hoped this emergency warning would give his elders some time to prepare before the attack hit them. Then he launched into a full sprint towards the vine cave's location.

  Unfortunately, no other bug would work, as only the Bloodsense Bug knew how to track down his sect from so far a distance. That made finding them afterwards more difficult, and he was no longer able to track down bleeding targets. This was fine. His true enemy was the fetus, and though it could probably run away, there was no guarantee it would bleed. He thus preferred to use his two underground insects — the spiritual earthworm and the Eight Thorns Spider — to locate its exit routes.

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  How had the demon fetus evaded his notice last time? Lu Qingshan didn't know. The entire time he was running, he was thinking over this problem. A spiritual creature had to be approached with caution since they had supernatural powers a martial artist like him could not easily touch. But he was forced to take action.

  Lu Qingshan soon arrived in the forest where all the trees grew monstrously towards the sky. Last time, he needed to follow a demonic cultivator in order to track down the location of the vine cave. But this forest might contain other secrets, and so Lu Qingshan sent forth his army of Bloodseeker Flies and human-faced spiders to scatter all throughout the trees. He wanted to scour the entire place to see any other entrances or exits the demon fetus might know about.

  Soon, he found a few tunnels that looked exactly the same as the first he discovered. Vines of the same type covered them all. This was the place. The existence of more than one tunnel finally gave him the hope he wanted, that the demon fetus had simply phased through a wall and left normally instead of being able to teleport, or something abnormally powerful such as free traversal through the earth.

  There was no longer time to deliberate. Swarms of insects watched over the entrances of all the tunnels they could find. He carried his two subterranean insects with him and entered the closest tunnel to his area. The vast swathes of vines prevented his flies from easily entering, so this was likely the point where he could no longer turn back.

  Lu Qingshan let his primordial qi fully convert into the metal element. His next attack cleaved through the entire wall of vines. It was only a casual blow, but it gave him confidence to go all-out.

  Seven steps crumpled the soil. Like a ram, he shot through the tunnel, a vision of a blood sea flickering behind him. Teeming vines snapped in his wake, unable to mount even an inch of resistance against his golden figure. He arrived at the end of the cave in no time, and launched into a frenzy to dig away at the small cave opening.

  This one was larger than the other one. He soon dropped down onto the room, where the entrance towards the ruins was blocked by a stone wall. Behind him, the earth collapsed — a cave-in.

  Lu Qingshan simply shattered the wall in a single strike and charged into the ruined complex. Some swarms of Bloodseeker Flies and human-faced spiders were scattered here as well. They were slower than him, but could travel down other paths, so he could not get lost. Then he chose a direction and simply ran down towards the end.

  Many walls were in his way, but Lu Qingshan's earthworm knew which ones had too much soil behind them and which ones were easy to clear. He broke down the ones he could and shot through the ruins rapidly. His insect swarms poured into the areas he left behind, leaving no stone untouched in this place.

  Soon his eyes caught a glimpse of a mystical light moving away from him. It faded away long before he could reach the location, but Lu Qingshan already knew that behind the wall was an empty tunnel. He broke it down with his body, barreling through.

  The fetus silhouette was revealed to him in full this time. It didn't bother unleashing its aura of terror. It knew it wouldn't work. Instead, the monster tried to flee, phasing through wall after wall as Lu Qingshan hunted it down. His Eight Thorns Spider dashed into the earth as well, tracking it down to make sure he never lost the monster's position.

  The demon fetus wailed. A bout of pain went through Lu Qingshan's head, but that was all. His spirit quickly recovered and he broke open another wall to continue chasing. Soon he cornered the monster into a circular room that was completely enclosed in stone.

  A voice somehow wormed its way into his head. Leave before you die, insect! This thing could talk? And bluff?

  Lu Qingshan ignored its threat and stomped inside. There was no way out. The demon fetus simply didn't have the ability to traverse unimpeded in this place, only a few tricks to pass through easy walls. Its powers were mostly spiritual — and it just so happened his spirit had been tempered by the Insect Harmony Mantra enough to resist its primary attack.

  No, go away! it shrieked into his brain. Blood leaked from Lu Qingshan's ears. Was that all it could muster? A sickening smile crawled onto his face. The Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique blazed the creature's downfall.

  As it tried to blast his spirit into pieces, Lu Qingshan simply grabbed the demonic creature in his hand, exploding it into a shower of blood. It had been a real fetus.

  Turning off the Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique, Lu Qingshan did a habitual scan through his insect swarms. What he saw chilled his blood. Another fetus had appeared in the hallway.

  But the monster didn’t move. His flies landed onto its soft flesh, biting and tearing at the weak body. Only after most of its head had disappeared did it mount a final resistance in the form of a familiar wail. Some of his flies died, but were quickly replaced by others waiting for their chance.

  Lu Qingshan tore through the entire labyrinth of stone. He knew he had to rip up this whole place in order to prevent the demon fetus’ return. Judging from that brief delay, its spirit was still here, and needed some time between each body. He needed to find all its bodies inside here before returning to the surface.

  His earthworm and insect swarms were both absolutely essential to this operation. With their help, Lu Qingshan uncovered all the breachable walls he could. The ruined complex unfolded itself in front of him, revealing glimpses of treasure and unknown materials in enclosed rooms. He had to ignore these for now.

  Soon he discovered another demon fetus hidden inside a small crevice. There was nowhere to run, as behind the wall was a massive amount of earth. He rushed towards it.

  Stop, it shrieked. But Lu Qingshan had no mercy. He grabbed onto it and clenched his fist, turning the monster into a puddle.

  Two other demon fetuses emerged, which his insects swallowed whole. The delay between their recovery only increased. After the fifth one died, the sixth one couldn’t even unleash a final wail before it was completely eaten up by his insects.

  After running around the edge of the ruined complex, Lu Qingshan finally allowed himself a break. All walls that could be broken down were already broken down. If even that much effort was not enough, then he could only curse himself for allowing his sect to enter.

  A seventh and an eighth demon fetus were discovered by his insect swarms, hidden in the ceiling. The ninth was the closest to escaping. It had awakened inside one of the cave tunnels leading outside. Instead of returning to the ruins, it emerged above the surface, only to fall into his swarm of flies.

  Lu Qingshan waited for another fetus to turn up somewhere. His insects continued scouring the ruins for any sign of flesh. They found nothing, even after a while had passed.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. From the looks of it, nine split bodies was the fetus’ limit.

  It was time to leave. Lu Qingshan took a final sweep around the complex, collecting what treasures and strange loose material he could. Then he ascended one of the larger cave tunnels and returned to the surface.

  He rushed back in the direction of his sect’s camp, dearly hoping his plan had worked. Without the fetus controlling the demonized humans, they stood a higher chance of survival.