Wei Zhao likewise felt his body sink. It had not yet grown heavy enough to be unbearable, but with that inexplicable force field pressing down on him, his movement technique, his speed, and his agility were all affected to no small degree.

This time, however, the Brain-Eating Bug's target was plainly not Wei Zhao, but Duanmu Yu, who had just concealed herself with One Leaf Falls, Autumn Knows!

Sure enough, Duanmu Yu, who until now had revealed not the slightest flaw, was immediately given away. She did not materialize outright, but two footprints suddenly sunk into the mud, stark and abrupt, right beside the Spirit-Sense Grass—without question, it was Duanmu Yu.

"Uh…" Wei Zhao was momentarily speechless. This woman's nerve was truly enormous. Knowing full well how terrifying the Brain-Eating Bug was, she had not fled; she had actually dared to use One Leaf Falls, Autumn Knows to dash over and snatch the Spirit-Sense Grass. That was a boldness unmatched by anyone.

Duanmu Yu was just then reaching for her blade to cut the Spirit-Sense Grass. Caught off guard and exposed, she did not panic; she still maintained the concealing state of One Leaf Falls, Autumn Knows.

The Brain-Eating Bug flung its blood-bucket mouth wide toward the footprints, and a peerlessly powerful suction poured out. The result was unexpected: aside from a mouthful of mud, there was no trace of Duanmu Yu at all!

"Interesting, as I thought!" The Brain-Eating Bug laughed instead of growing angry. If not for having Wei Zhao, a far better choice, it would at this moment have wished to make Duanmu Yu its main body. Faced with its sudden force field, she had neither panicked nor rushed, and had even fled with composure, leaving not so much as a footprint behind—and this was mud, where one misstep could sink one deep. The difficulty of that was far from ordinary.

Unfortunately, Duanmu Yu had still failed to escape its grasp in the end. Red light flashed once more in the Brain-Eating Bug's eyes, and that invisible force field abruptly intensified several times over. Double Suppression!

Duanmu Yu could no longer maintain her concealed state. She was forced to reveal herself, somewhat bedraggled, and before she could make any further response, the Brain-Eating Bug had already descended directly above her head. Its venomous tail stinger plunged straight down with the speed of a thunderclap, and Duanmu Yu had no time to react.

At that critical instant, Wei Zhao appeared before Duanmu Yu and shoved her aside, but he himself had no time to dodge. The Brain-Eating Bug's tail stinger ran clean through his neck from behind—a harrowing sight.

"Wei Zhao!" Duanmu Yu's eyes went red with alarm at once. Her relationship with Wei Zhao was still far from that of one of his own people, but he was at least a friend she could trust—and she was, above all, a person who prized loyalty and feeling. Seeing Wei Zhao die for her, how could she not be frantic?

"Heh heh, so he's a lovesick fool after all. Still, that suits me fine—saves me no small trouble!" The Brain-Eating Bug was overjoyed at the sight. What it feared most was Wei Zhao fleeing again; who knew how much effort that would cost, and time after time it had no such patience. Its earlier move against Duanmu Yu had been only to tie Wei Zhao down, and it had never expected Wei Zhao to walk into the net himself. This was truly a joy beyond expectation.

Its tail stinger inherited the innate skill of the Fierce-Venom Bee Queen—one of the rarest deadly poisons in the world, and it had pierced a vital point like the neck. Never mind a mere human; even a creature with its own vitality could not hope to survive such a grievous wound.

And yet. Wei Zhao's head, already drooping, twisted into a strange smile. His figure flickered and abruptly leaped onto the Brain-Eating Bug's face, and then he thrust one hand into its mouth, leaving behind a true-qi dan-fire bomb compressed to its absolute limit.

Boom! The shock was still on the Brain-Eating Bug's face—it had not even understood how the man had broken free of its venomous stinger—when the true-qi dan-fire bomb detonated with a roar inside its mouth!

True, last time two true-qi dan-fire bombs had not singed a single hair on it, but that was only because they could not break its outer defense. Surely even something so powerful could not be indestructible inside as well?

The Brain-Eating Bug was blown senseless on the spot, spewing black smoke as it was flung backward. It swayed for a long while before it could steady itself. Killing it outright was unrealistic, but it had certainly been badly hurt.

"You… you're unharmed?" Duanmu Yu stared dumbfounded at the unscathed Wei Zhao. Its tail stinger had clearly run through his neck—how was this thing completely fine?

"I'm a primordial spirit, remember? What use is a physical attack like that on me?" Wei Zhao grinned. In that instant his neck had already turned to primordial spirit in advance; the stinger had not pierced a single hair of his. He had merely put on an act to lull the creature.

"Uh, I suppose that's true." Duanmu Yu was momentarily at a loss for words. Since Wei Zhao's primordial-spirit body was indistinguishable from an ordinary person's, even knowing he was a primordial spirit, everyone would consciously or not overlook the fact—and a creature like the Brain-Eating Bug, ignorant of his true nature, would fall for it all the more easily.

While the two were speaking, the Brain-Eating Bug across from them had already recovered. Its entire mouth was scorched black from the blast, looking rather comical and bedraggled, yet the pressure it exerted on the two had not diminished in the slightest—it had instead grown even stronger.

Wei Zhao sighed inwardly. A Brain-Eating Bug was a Brain-Eating Bug. Last time the Crimson-Scaled Snake had been killed outright by such a blow, yet on this creature it had only left it somewhat bedraggled. By the look of it, it was still far from having its bones and sinews injured. Truly a thorny bastard!

"Hoo… hoo… hoo…" The Brain-Eating Bug did not fly into a shameful rage. Instead, it leisurely exhaled three puffs of black smoke, then fixed its glowing eyes on Wei Zhao. "To treat even a lethal strike like that as nothing—I truly did not misjudge you. Heh heh, who else could my main body be but you!"

"So you really are set on extorting me?" Wei Zhao did not know whether to laugh or cry. He had thought that after such a sneak attack the creature would fly into a shameful rage and give him an opening—who could have expected this reaction?

"Of course!" The Brain-Eating Bug laughed loudly, and with a beat of its wings it descended from the sky once more, heading straight for Wei Zhao.

"Hide well and be careful," Wei Zhao took a moment to warn Duanmu Yu, then went straight to meet it head-on. Duanmu Yu dared not be careless either; she hastily used Leaf Falls in Silence to slip to one side, while keeping a green leaf clutched tight in her hand, ready at any moment to use One Leaf Falls, Autumn Knows again. In a clash of this level she could not interfere—if she could keep herself alive and not drag Wei Zhao down, that was already good enough.

"Bold!" Seeing Wei Zhao actually dare to meet it head-on, the Brain-Eating Bug did not spare Duanmu Yu another glance. In its eyes, Duanmu Yu's only value was to tie Wei Zhao down; since Wei Zhao was not even trying to flee, why bother with her? (To be continued.)