Chapter 52

Chapter 52 Three-tailed Centipede

“You aren’t hungry, but it is,” the old lady looked at her stomach . Then, she used her dry, bony hands to tear her own clothes, which exposed her round belly . Her next actions caused some of them to scream in horror; she dug her bare hands into her stomach, and black blood oozed out . Immediately, a putrid stench filled the room . A black creature squeezed out from her stomach and tore it apart . The creature’s head was shiny, black, and flat . Pushing itself out of her stomach, the creature widened its jaw and hissed, as its head twitched .

“Centipede!” Xie Yuqing uncontrollably screamed . It was indeed a centipede crawling out from the old lady’s stomach! There was no point in acting friendly anymore . Ye Shaoyang immediately moved forward and chopped toward her neck with his date wood sword . The old lady raised her hand and tried to grasp the sword, but the move was just a feint . Ye Shaoyang chanted an incantation and a flash of golden light visibly emanated from the wooden sword . He wielded the wooden sword and slashed at the old lady’s neck, severing her head from her body . In an instant, blood spurted out . Ye Shaoyang shook the sword to rid it of the blood .

The head flew toward Xiao Ma . When he saw a black object flying toward him, he reflexively caught it . But to his horror, the head was still alive! It opened its mouth and bit Xiao Ma’s finger . “Damn!” Xiao Ma flung the head away, and it flew toward Old Guo . It fell into his arms and gnawed at Old Guo’s clothes . Old Guo did not hesitate . He drew out his jujube wood sword . He slashed the head a few more times and sliced it into mutilated chunks . Black blood spilled everywhere, and the head finally stopped moving . “You almost killed me; you bastard!” Old Guo scolded Xiao Ma .

Although she no longer had a head, she was still standing . With a slight struggle, the centipede soon carved a gaping hole through her stomach . Blood flowed out like water, as it wiggled itself out of the old woman’s body . Intestines and all sorts of organs flew everywhere . It was not a scene for the weak-hearted . Ye Shaoyang held up the sword and aimed it at the centipede . He wanted to slash its head off, but the centipede had much faster reflexes . Suddenly, it raised its head and snatched the sword in the air with its jaws . Ye Shaoyang had not expected this . Before he could react, the centipede had already thrown away the sword . “Thiscreature is strong!” Ye Shaoyang wasnot intimidated, but he raised his vigilance . He tightly gripped his right hand to form a hand seal . Then, his right hand slapped toward the centipede's head . The centipede opened its jaws again, as it attempted to bite his hand . Ye Shaoyang smirked, as he avoided the centipede's jaws . He had prepared himself this time . The centipede missed, and now it was his turn . He fiercely slapped the centipede's head .

The centipede hissed, and it sprayed a white gas from its mouth . It shook its body and coiled back . Then, it launched itself out of the lady’s body in a spring-like fashion . Everyone gasped when they saw the creature in the air . It was a huge centipede with three tails!

“Three-tailed centipede!” Old Guo exclaimed, “Back off everyone! Beware!”

As he cautioned the others, the centipede charged right at him . He quickly chanted for protection and raised his sword to face the attack . Old Guo’s level of cultivation was relatively low, so his chant was not that powerful . He could feel the impact of the centipede's charge bearing down on his right hand . His hand grew sore, and the sword slipped out of his grip . Despite this, the three-tailed centipede suffered a loss too . It quickly understood that this man was not its best choice for prey . While this man was hardly as powerful as the young guy it fought just now, this manwas still enough to deal some damage to it . It quickly found its next target—Xiao Ma . It altered its course and launched itself toward him .

Xiao Ma was not prepared for a fight . Just a second ago, the centipede was fighting with Old Guo, so he did not expect the centipede to charge at him . He took a few steps backward in panic, but he had forgotten about the bed behind him . He fell right onto the bed and landed on top of the old lady’s body . He tried to get up, but the centipede swiftly caught up with him and pressed onto him . Then, its huge body shrank to the size of a normal centipede . Before Xiao Ma could do anything, it crawled into Xiao Ma’s body through his mouth . “Oh no!” Ye Shaoyang exclaimed, as he ran over to Xiao Ma and grabbed the centipede’s tails . He did not dare to exert too much force on the tails, lest he accidentally broke the tails apart . Such an action would not kill the centipede . Instead, it would allow the creature to crawl further inside Xiao Ma’s body and cause lethal damage .

Ye Shaoyang turned to Old Guo, as his hand continued to grasp the centipede, “Quick, senior brother, give him realgar water!”

Old Guo immediately put down his backpack . He took out a small porcelain bowl and poured some realgar powder into it . He could not find any drinking water, so the liquid in the spray bottle had to do . He opened the bottle, poured the liquid into the bowl, mixed it, and poured the solution into Xiao Ma’s throat .

“Inhale, Xiao Ma! Suck it in!”

Xiao Ma inhaled deeply . The liquid flowed into his throat and directly landed on the centipede . It seemed to immediately react to the liquid, and it started to convulse . It desperately tried to back out through the throat and escape, but Ye Shaoyang still had a firm hold on it . He pulled the centipede out of Xiao Ma’s throat and tightly gripped its vital point . With his other hand, he took out an ancient coin, as he prepared to chant and destroy the centipede .

“Junior brother, slow down! Don't kill it; it might be useful to us!” Old Guo stopped Ye Shaoyang . He took out a red string, dipped it into the realgar, and carefully wrapped it around the centipede's jaws . Next, he wrote on two talisman papers, added some realgar powder, and stuck the two talismans back to back, with a small space in between to hold the centipede . The talisman papers trapped the centipede, and the red string bound its jaws, so it could not move at all now .

“Hehe, look at this little junior brother . This is a rare three-tailed centipede . What a waste to just kill it!”

Ye Shaoyang knew the thoughts on Old Guo's mind . He replied, “This centipede fed on the flesh and blood of the living dead . Corpse Qi infests it . Cleansing this centipede would be a tough job . ”

“No worries . We can do this slowly . Imagine how useful it would be to us if we succeed . This centipede is good enough to fight any average level spirit . ”

Ye Shaoyang did not agree, but he felt it was not his place to comment any further . He gave some cautionary advice, and that was it . Ye Shaoyang turned around to find Xiao Ma . The fellow was holding his throat, and his face was completely red . He was struggling on the bed with tears all over his face . Ye Shaoyang immediately asked with worry, “Did the centipede bite you in your throat just now?”

Xiao Ma managed to shake his head, and he finally managed to get up after a short struggle . He unzipped his backpack and took out a bottle of drinking water . He rinsed his mouth and poured the remaining water into his nose . After quite some time, he finally got a hold of himself . He scolded Old Guo, “What the hell is wrong with you? What did you pour into my throat? I almost died!”

“But it's only realgar; how could it be that bad?” Old Guo was confused as well .

Ye Shaoyang picked up the bottle that Old Guo had used and sniffed it . It was the smell of pepper . He showed Old Guo the bottle, as he shook his head, “You are really something . Why did you mix this pepper water into realgar? No wonder he was suffering!”

Old Guo smacked his own head, as he realized his mistake . His face turned red with embarrassment, “I’m truly sorry my friend! I was panicking just now, so I picked up whatever bottle with liquid inside . Who could have guessed it was the bottle of pepper spray! Forgive me, Xiao Ma!”

Xie Yuqing laughed as she looked at this mess, “Why did you bring pepper spray? Does it scare away spirits?”

“Well, no, this is different . ” Old Guo answered; he still looked embarrassed, “My daughter is going to study abroad . I bought her a bottle of pepper spray so that she can guard off any perverts coming at her . I haven't been able to pass the bottle to her, so I kept it in my bag . ”

Xiao Ma was still in tears, as the effects of the pepper spray had not worn off yet, “I haven't even met her yet . How could I be the one to get sprayed when I've done nothing to her?”