CHAPTER 341: CHAPTER 61: HIGH-LEVEL DARK BEAST, MING RENDIE

When Yue Jinghua touched the incubation liquid in the stone coffin, she remembered something, something deeply intertwined with the Evil Jiao of Kalan Peak.

The Ancient Dark Beast Egg escorted by Luo and others, purchased by Yunhu Commerce, seemed to include a Dragon Egg?

That was exactly what Yue Jinghua remembered.

Earlier, in the Heavenly Prison, Luo had told Yue Jinghua that the batch of Dark Beast Eggs purchased by Yunhu Commerce was found by a mercenary group called Long Ji on the Xuan Beast Ridge.

Although it wasn’t specified exactly where the mercenary group found those eggs, it so happened that there was also a dragon egg among them.

Dragons and Jiao are inherently similar; the rumor has it that the difference between the Dragon Clan and the Jiao Clan is solely the presence of horns. Legend says that at 500 years a Jiao transforms into a dragon, and at a thousand years, if it sprouts horns, it becomes a Yinglong. Thus, mistaking a Jiao Egg for a Dragon Egg was not impossible.

The proximity of the locations and the similarity in the type of eggs led Yue Jinghua to suspect that the missing Dragon Egg might be related to the disappearance of a Jiao Egg in the caves of Kalan Mountain.

These two matters seemed unrelated, yet connecting the location and the Dark Beast Eggs seemed too coincidental.

At the back of her head, she suddenly felt a chilling coldness.

Out of her many years of experience as a spy, Yue Jinghua didn’t turn around. Instead, her elbow swung like a Spiritual Whip, "crack" went her elbow, unleashing a flurry of Dark Energy, throwing off the aim of the sneak attack behind her.

Only the sound of a body thudding against the wall was heard. When Yue Jinghua and the Dark Beasts turned around, they saw that the mother and child, who should have been resting against the wall, had vanished.

Nan Muyu’s wife, Ah Chu, was crawling on the ground; it was clear that she was the one who attempted the sneak attack.

Her child, who was in her arms, had also disappeared; it was indeed Ah Chu who attacked Yue Jinghua. Ah Chu was merely an ordinary villager; her strike ended up against the wall, her whole body’s bones shockingly shattered, and from her mouth and nose flowed dark, muddy blood.

Still, her chest faintly rose and fell, appearing as if she were still alive.

The walls of the cave seemed to be coated with a phosphorescent blue powder, emitting a faint blue glow throughout the cave.

Ah Chu’s child, barely a year old and hanging upside down like a broken doll, was suspended in mid-air,

He had previously been held in a sleeping manner, and Yue Jinghua hadn’t seen his face clearly. Now floating in the air, his eyes were open, emitting the same phosphorescent blue as the cave walls.

"Shasha-sha-"

A sound came from the body of the child, feeling like a night breeze blowing through a grassy plain, rustling the tips of the grass.

Yue Jinghua felt a shiver run through her nerves,

The blue phosphorescent light suddenly flashed, and from the child’s eye sockets, a colorful Phosphor Butterfly emerged; it was not large, only as thick as a pinky finger, but its wings were exceptionally large.

The wings spread out, as big as a kite, with the tail of the wings adorned with a round butterfly pattern resembling a human eye, also in a haunting blue color.

The wings of the Phosphor Butterfly fluttered, emitting blue patterns like copper coins on its wings, utterly beautiful, with a cluster of dark mist looming in front of it.

"

But right now, Yue Jinghua had no intention of observing the butterfly. She knew very well that this creature residing in a human body was not merely for admiration.

Just moments ago, it had been hiding in the dark, spying, and attacked the moment Yue Jinghua became careless.

"Hehe, Demon Summoner, we meet again," the butterfly trembled its antennae on its head, slowly revealing a human face - it was an old face covered in wrinkles, with greedy blue eyes staring at Yue Jinghua.

"Oh no, it’s terrible, ugly, it’s a Ming Rendie. Quick, leave this place fast," the Gold Eater Worm fluttered its wings, issuing a loud warning sound, speaking to Yue Jinghua in such an anxious tone for the first time.

The Gold Eater Worm cursed silently, "Oh, I’m such a foolish insect, I forgot such an important thing."

Ming Rendie, a Fourth Order Dark Insect, is the most infamous insect among the Insect Clan. It is a special Netherworld Insect that grows after absorbing the Dark Power of the living from the decaying bodies of powerful Dark Beasts or Dark Practitioners.

Although it is only a Fourth Order Dark Insect, in its lifetime it will go through larva stage, adulthood stage, Cocoon Breaking Stage, and Butterfly Transformation Stage. With each completed stage, its grade progresses by one rank, and once fully purified, it will transform into human form, reaching Ninth Rank Peak.

This Ming Rendie in the cave must have relied on the Evil Jiao’s body to transform from moulting to larva, and after many years of cultivation, it reached a semi-human form and is now an Eighth Rank being.

As a breed insect, it naturally does not possess strong attack power, but it has a terrifying innate skill, Soul Eater. It can lay eggs in human bodies to parasite and slowly devour the human soul.

Once the Soul Eater succeeds, the original host does not die immediately; instead, the Ming Rendie emerges from the host’s body, leaving the host as a zombie controlled by the Ming Rendie.

The true face of the Beast God of Kalan Peak, is this half-humanized Ming Rendie; it has devoured the souls of Ah Chu mother and child, and like a hungry wolf, it now stealthily eyes Yue Jinghua.

She was deceived.

Listening to Gold Eater Worm’s explanation, Yue Jinghua realized that the moment she entered the cave, Ah Chu mother and child had already become its puppets.

"Demon Summoner, the soul of a Demon Summoner is incredibly delicious. Once I devour your soul as well, I will transform into a human form," enjoying the dual influence of being worshipped as a Beast God and the Power of Faith for so many years, the cultivation of this Ming Rendie could now rival that of a Ninth Rank Dark Beast.

With Yue Jinghua’s current cultivation, facing a Ninth Rank Dark Beast, she only has a path to death.

Whoosh!

The wings of the Ming Rendie fluttered, and like a flash of blue light, it darted towards Yue Jinghua.

Yue Jinghua already had the Lianyun Great Sword in hand, slashing it forward. The body of the sword quivered, like a spiritual snake coming out of its hole, writhing about as if it sought to bite the wings of the Ming Rendie.

The Ming Rendie felt a formidable force coming at it like a landslide, and the thin body of its wings got thrown far away by the sword wind.

Before it could flap its wings to attack again, Yue Jinghua and her great sword were already closing in, and with a swing of her sword, she performed a series of movements - thrust, stab, and slash, the sword shadows flickered like stars in the sky.

Even with the speed of the Ming Rendie, it could find no gaps to exploit.

"Hehe, I did not expect your sword skill to be quite good, too bad, you’ve encountered me. Your soul, I shall claim," the Ming Rendie suddenly brought its wings together, its blue body disappearing among the sword shadows.

In the cave, only chilly breezes lingered, brushing against Yue Jinghua’s damp cheek, cold as ice.