"You flatter me, Special Envoy. Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but with a name as fearsome as yours, who would dare serve as your underling?" the handsome man retorted with open sarcasm. In the Brain-Eating Worm's eyes, every spirit beast was nothing but food; to follow at its side was to risk becoming its next meal at any moment. Unless one had a hole in the head, who would dare be its subordinate?

"True enough. It is precisely because I keep to myself and stand alone that the great one can truly rest easy about me—unlike you, Lord Guardian, whose loyalty is plain for all to see. Still, let me offer a word of advice: you would do well to tread carefully. Too many mouths means too many words, and should some foolhardy idiot happen to touch the great one's sore spot, I fear even you, Lord Guardian, would find yourself unable to swallow what you would have to swallow." The Brain-Eating Worm chuckled heh-heh.

"Spare yourself the concern. Surely the Special Envoy has not come all this way simply to gossip with me?" The handsome man looked it up and down as he spoke.

"That I have not. I heard that Lord Guardian has taken a new bride, and since I happened to be nearby, and we have after all served alongside each other, it seemed only right—by both sentiment and reason—that I come and offer my congratulations, no?"

So it said. Yet this creature had come empty-handed, and not only had it made a show of killing the Triangular Ape on the spot to establish its dominance, it had just now moved openly to seize the Holy Water Pearl. By any measure, it hardly looked like a congratulatory visit; a visit of ill intent was plainly the truth of it.

Still, since it had spoken so barefacedly, the handsome man could hardly refute it to its face—at least not tear away all pretense in front of the crowd. So he said, "Then I must thank the Special Envoy for honoring me with his presence."

"You are too kind. I have come empty-handed, and so long as you, Lord Guardian, do not mind, that is enough. After all, I am not like you, with a great house and a great enterprise; I have no treasures at hand worthy of presentation, and can only impose upon your patience to make up the numbers." So said the Brain-Eating Worm.

"Not at all, not at all. That the Special Envoy is willing to attend is itself a great honor to my humble abode," the handsome man replied with a faint smile.

"Oh? It is wonderful beyond words that Lord Guardian is so understanding. But I have one more request—an unreasonable one, I know—and I hope Lord Guardian will consent to it." The Brain-Eating Worm continued.

Give it an inch and it takes a mile! The words all but sprang up at once in the minds of every spirit beast present. The Brain-Eating Worm's conduct was more than just barefaced—one might well call it shameless to a degree beyond compare. And it was only because it was the Brain-Eating Worm; had any other spirit beast dared to be so insolent before Lord Guardian, it would long since have found no place even to die.

"You are not about to ask for my Holy Water Pearl, are you?" The handsome man smiled a smile that was not entirely a smile.

"May I?" The Brain-Eating Worm's eyes lit up. A treasure like the Holy Water Pearl was coveted by all, and it was naturally no exception. Otherwise it would never have made that brazen grab just now.

"Special Envoy, you come to my wedding feast empty-handed—that much I can overlook—and now you would turn about and ask for my treasure instead. Is that really fitting?" The handsome man was suddenly amused.

"It does seem rather unfitting. Then never mind." The Brain-Eating Worm gave up with remarkable readiness. The Holy Water Pearl had never been its aim in the first place; it had been no more than a passing whim. At once it changed tack: "Looking at the whole of this place, there is none with more eyes and ears than you, Lord Guardian. Every flower, grass, tree, and shrub is your eyes and ears; not the slightest stir upon the ground can escape your grasp. So I would trouble you, Lord Guardian, to help me find a certain person."

"A person?" The handsome man was slightly taken aback.

"Indeed. A human cultivator by the name of Wei Zhao," the Brain-Eating Worm said outright. When it spoke those words, it never once considered that Wei Zhao was present in the very midst of the gathering—only in a primordial-spirit state that they could not easily perceive.

"Oh? Has the Special Envoy some grudge against this human?" the handsome man asked with keen interest.

"He is my food. No one may touch him but me. Whoever touches him dies." The Brain-Eating Worm issued its threat without the slightest restraint. And indeed it was no wonder it set such store by Wei Zhao. Rarely did it ever fail to secure the food it had marked; that a mere human could slip calmly out from under its very nose was an experience without precedent—and the more so because it only proved how singular and formidable Wei Zhao was. To it, this was a human prey such as had never been before; to let it slip by might well become a regret for a lifetime.

"And if I refuse?" The handsome man's expression at once darkened. The Brain-Eating Worm's threats might work upon other spirit beasts, but upon him they had little effect.

"Refuse? Are you not afraid I will raise a great commotion here? Are you certain your Still As an Ancient Well can withstand my thrashing?" The Brain-Eating Worm sneered, casting a sidelong, contemptuous glance at him.

Setting aside the question of whose strength was the greater, one thing was certain: once blows truly broke out, this place at the very least would be reduced to utter ruin, and the so-called wedding feast would naturally be a lost cause.

"You would not dare!" The handsome man's expression changed.

"Care to guess whether I dare?" The Brain-Eating Worm laughed without a shred of restraint. At the same time it shed its insect body and transformed into an exceedingly hideous and terrifying monster, every part of its body a dreadful form copied from the powerful spirit beasts it had devoured—a veritable ultimate engine of slaughter that gathered into itself the most formidable aspect of every spirit beast in these lands.

The atmosphere turned tense all at once, and in an instant swords were drawn and bows bent. The other spirit beasts present were suddenly at a loss. Though they might count as underlings of the Guardian's faction, in a battle of such a lofty level their meager strength could not even get a hand in—just like the Triangular Ape before, they were at best fit to serve as cannon fodder.

Fortunately, after a moment of tension, the two sides did not truly come to blows. The handsome man suddenly laughed aloud. "Very well. Finding a person—what is that? In honor of my wedding day, I will grant this small favor."

"Then I thank you, Lord Guardian." The Brain-Eating Worm quickly reverted to its harmless insect form, the very opposite extreme of that terrifying shape bristling with instruments of death from a moment ago.

"I will not see you out." The handsome man moved at once to dismiss his guest. Though today was his day of great joy, an ill guest like the Brain-Eating Worm was more than anyone could stomach; he did not fear the Brain-Eating Worm, but he did fear that it would spoil his good occasion.

"Lord Guardian is truly heartless—not even offering to keep me for a cup of wedding wine. Since that is how it is, so be it." The Brain-Eating Worm smiled and turned to fly off in the direction of the Water Curtain.

Seeing it cooperate so readily, every spirit beast present, the handsome man included, could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. The Brain-Eating Worm's capricious moods truly weighed on them like a mountain; had it not left, this wedding feast would have been endless trouble.