A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Chapter 88 Spirit Mist Insects

"Remember, don't try anything funny. The 'Bone-Tying Spirit Worm' allows me to clearly sense your location and approximate condition. If anyone dares to run away, or tries to expel the worms... Hmph."

The old man with the golden poison was clearly threatening.

Luo Ming silently caught the cold conch shell, his mind racing.

The old man's Gu insect technique is impossible to defend against, and his speed is astonishing. For now, we can only feign compliance, enter this strange sea fog first, and then look for an opportunity to escape.

Thinking that Liu Shi's hidden cave was on the other side of this deserted island, Luo Ming wondered if he could hide there, use the formation to maneuver, and then find an opportunity to break the Gu worm's method. His mind raced as he considered a way to escape.

"You should be very familiar with the terrain inside, right? Once we're inside, find your cave first," Luo Ming instructed Liu Shi telepathically.

He planned to set up an array inside the cave before removing the Gu worms attached to his meridians.

"Don't worry, Master. My cave is on the other side of this deserted island. Just walk straight ahead for a few dozen miles, and you'll reach it. It's located below a pool of water there," Liu Shi said confidently.

He quietly calmed the four spirit beasts in the spirit beast pouch that were becoming restless due to sensing the danger. With his face expressionless, he and the other three pale-faced cultivators rode their magical artifacts and carefully flew towards the gray-white, surging, and unknown mist.

The hunched figure of the Golden Gu Elder hovered outside the mist, calmly watching Luo Ming and the others enter the fog. The dark golden insect on his shoulder flapped its wings and emitted a faint hiss. The "Sword Cultivator Puppet" stood quietly to the side, its empty eye sockets "gazing" at their backs as they disappeared into the mist. The scene was strange and inexplicable.

The thick fog instantly swallowed the four figures, dimming the light and seemingly lowering the temperature. The damp air, mixed with a faint fishy and salty smell and a certain putrid odor, wafted towards them.

"This mist actually has the effect of suppressing divine sense! With my mid-Foundation Establishment cultivation, I can only detect a distance of twenty zhang." The short, stout old man said with a serious expression.

At this distance, it would be very difficult to deal with a sneak attack from a fast and powerful monster.

Upon discovering this, everyone became even more uneasy.

"Master, the spiritual energy here is much denser than before; something's not right."

Just as Luo Ming was testing the range of his divine sense detection, Liu Shi's puzzled voice came.

"Could it be that the spiritual veins here have been exposed for some reason?" Luo Ming guessed.

He learned from Liu Shi's previous words that this place was originally a desolate island with sparse spiritual energy, and that a small hidden spiritual vein had been discovered beneath Liu Shi's secluded cave. Therefore, it was very likely that a geological change had occurred here, causing the spiritual vein hidden deep underground to be revealed.

Through this analysis, the reason why the spiritual energy here has become so abundant has been found, but why is there so much fog?

The group cautiously ventured deeper into the fog. The deep roars of the beasts and the fluctuations of spiritual energy seemed to grow clearer, as if something was watching these uninvited guests from within the fog.

The slightly wriggling "Taiguling Eclipta" inside his body was like a sharp sword hanging over his head, reminding Luo Ming that he had to find a way to survive in this fog.

Less than a hundred feet inside the bewitching mist, the surroundings were completely swallowed up by gray and white, and even the direction became blurred.

The four could only cautiously grope their way forward, guided only by the direction indicated by the old man with the golden gu. The brother and sister cultivators huddled together, their faces pale, while the short, stout old man kept wiping the compass in his hand, but the needle spun erratically, clearly indicating that the environment here was extremely disruptive.

Suppressive, deathly silent, save for the occasional low, guttural roar of a beast, seemingly both near and far. The thick fog not only blocked sight and consciousness, but also seemed to contain some kind of disturbing power, making people feel inexplicably irritable and uneasy.

"This godforsaken place..." the burly older brother cursed under his breath, clutching a throwing knife magic weapon tightly in his hand.

"Brother, be careful." The female cultivator beside her looked around warily, holding several talismans in her hand.

The short, stout old man stopped wiping the compass, his face growing even more grim: "Something's not right... The flow of spiritual energy in this mist is very chaotic, as if it's been disturbed by something."

Luo Ming remained silent, focusing his attention on sensing the surrounding environment and the "Taigu Lingmo" within his body.

This worm, like a bone-deep infection, tightly coils around a meridian, constantly drawing upon minute amounts of magical power to sustain itself, and emitting a subtle fluctuation. It is presumably the method used by the Golden Gu Elder to track them.

Forcibly removing it is extremely risky; the only way is to wrap it with magical power and slowly drag it away from one's meridians, but this would alert the Core Formation cultivator.

Just as he was pondering to himself, the fog in front of him suddenly began to churn violently, and revealed tiny, extremely faint pale blue fluorescent lights.

"What is that?" the female cultivator exclaimed.

Countless tiny insects, about the size of soybeans, with nearly transparent bodies and only their abdomens shimmering with a pale blue light, gathered and dispersed in the mist as if drawn by an invisible force, drifting freely within it, gradually forming a pale blue, slowly flowing "light mist."

They rubbed and collided with each other, making a soft "rustling" sound, and the pale blue light flickered and shimmered, revealing a strange beauty in the gray and lifeless mist.

"This is... a spirit mist worm?" The short, stout old man squinted, somewhat uncertain.

"Spirit Mist Insects? What are those?" the burly cultivator asked.

After thinking for a moment, the short, stout old man began to introduce himself to the group.

This insect is not a demonic beast, but a peculiar spiritual insect that can absorb the surrounding water-attribute spiritual energy and release a mist.

Each individual insect is extremely weak and has almost no offensive power. The eggs of this insect are buried deep underground. When they reach maturity, they will crawl out from underground and begin to gather together to reproduce. Moreover, this insect is extremely sensitive to changes in spiritual energy and likes to appear in places with abundant spiritual energy. Where it appears, a large amount of clouds and mist will often appear.

"I learned this from an ancient book. I've lived for two hundred years, and this is the first time I've ever seen such a sight," the short, stout old man remarked.

"roar!"

Just then, the roars of several demonic beasts suddenly came, interrupting everyone's conversation. As the demonic beasts approached, Luo Ming and the others realized that they were several sea monsters, around level three or four, chasing and devouring the spirit mist insects.

"Let's get away from these spirit mist insects quickly! They will attract a large number of demonic beasts." As soon as the short, fat old man saw those demonic beasts and discovered them, he didn't immediately assume a fighting stance to attack, but instead chased after the spirit mist insects. He immediately thought of something.

A moment later, Luo Ming learned that after the Spirit Mist Insect entered the reproductive stage, a crystal condensed in its body. This crystal emitted a special smell and was an extremely delicious food for some demonic beasts.

"Crystallization?" Luo Ming reached out and a pair of large hands filled with spiritual energy appeared in front of him, grabbing several spirit mist insects flying in the air. From the body of each spirit mist insect, he found crystals the size of rice grains.