Chapter 41: Silver-Winged Centipede

After resting in the valley for a night, the various squads departed the next day, heading toward deeper forests and mountains for exploration.

Lu Xiaotian's group was currently in a hilly area overgrown with wild grass. While keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings, they were also searching for any potential spiritual items.

A month is neither short nor long, and it passed in a flash amidst the constant searching of the adventure squads. Along the way, the squads encountered spiritual insects and spiritual beasts, which they would slay directly to harvest their valuable parts. Everyone had gathered some spiritual herbs and beast furs, though demon cores were relatively rare. However, they had encountered several large swarms of demonic beasts in the middle of their journey, narrowly escaping them each time.

Living outdoors and eating on the road for days had caused the squad members to lose quite a bit of weight; Luo Qing's heart-shaped face had become even more delicate and sharp.

Wang Yuan waved a large plantain leaf the size of a palm fan in one hand, while her other hand tugged at her collar. Whether intentionally or not, she would occasionally reveal a glimpse of charming, snowy whiteness and cleavage.

"That vixen."

Whenever this happened, Luo Qing's tender face would flush red, while Wang Yuan would merely respond with a carefree giggle.

Holding a whisk, Fan Qing stood atop a hill, pausing to survey the surroundings. After the time it took to burn a stick of incense, he had still found nothing. After a long while, Fan Qing descended from the hill with an expressionless face.

Lu Xiaotian was playing with a small, black-green fruit in his hand called a Luoyan Fruit. It was a low-grade spiritual item that only appeared once every ten years; while it had no offensive power, it could release a cloud of black smoke when activated by spiritual energy, obscuring the caster and preventing enemies from attacking smoothly. Over the past month, he had utilized his advantage as an alchemist to refine many pills along the way. Combined with the spiritual herbs he had discovered, his harvest was quite bountiful. Among them were over a dozen types of herbs required by the Qingdan and Lingxiao Palaces, though he was still quite far from completing his sect missions.

Seeing Fan Qing's dark expression, Lu Xiaotian smiled inwardly. Fan Qing hadn't found any trace of the Silver-Winged Centipede for several days, so it was no wonder he was losing his patience.

A few days later, Fan Qing's face erupted with ecstasy as he leaped down from a towering treetop.

"I've finally found that beast! Let's go!"

Soon, the squad crossed a mountain ravine and discovered a human-sized cave beneath an unremarkable, isolated small hill.

The small hill was no different from the other hills, with the only distinction being that the area beside it was withered and barren, with not a single blade of grass growing. In front of the cave were fine, dense centipede footprints.

"Such potent toxicity," Lu Xiaotian said in surprise. This level of poison was something even a Blood Serum Pill could not neutralize.

"Hehe, a single drop of venom from a Silver-Winged Centipede can easily kill a peak Qi Refinement expert; it becomes fatal in less than an hour. But I came prepared. These are detoxification pills specifically made for the Silver-Winged Centipede. Take them before we surround it, and you will remain unharmed."

Having found the nest of the Silver-Winged Centipede, Fan Qing was in high spirits and distributed a detoxification pill to everyone.

"Even an ordinary Silver-Winged Centipede is a peak second-tier demonic beast. Those with demon cores are even rarer, and their combat strength is no different from a third-tier beast. Given its powerful toxicity, how should we surround and kill it?"

Lu Xiaotian asked in a heavy voice. Truthfully, he had not been looking forward to finding this centipede. Although the materials from such a powerful beast were highly valuable, they had little to do with his sect mission. He could earn plenty of spirit stones through alchemy alone.

If Fan Qing could not provide an effective method, Lu Xiaotian would not risk his life. Having stayed in Moon-Viewing City for so long, he was no longer ignorant of these low-level demonic beasts.

"The Silver-Winged Centipede is a fire-attribute beast. It possesses immense strength and can fly short distances, making it even harder to deal with than a typical third-tier beast. Even a late-stage Qi Refinement expert would struggle against it. Once it retreats into its cave, we will have no chance of a successful siege, so we must intercept and kill it before it returns to its nest."

Fan Qing had clearly planned this long in advance, and he gave the group a series of instructions.

He assigned He Tuozi and Wang Yuan to delay its movements. He would personally take responsibility for wounding the centipede's wings to strip it of its ability to fly short distances. Then, the squad members lying in ambush near the cave would swarm it.

"Remember, once this Taoist and the others have pinned the Silver-Winged Centipede down, you must immediately use your strongest techniques to attack its vital joints. Otherwise, if this beast goes berserk, even I won't be able to restrain it. If the ambush fails, given how cunning this creature is, it likely won't leave its cave for a long time, or it might even dig tunnels to escape elsewhere. Even if we set aside the demon core, its venom sacs, carapace, and sharp teeth are worth one or two hundred spirit stones. I won't take a single cent; I will leave it all to you. If there are centipede eggs in the cave, that will be another windfall."

After arranging the tasks, Fan Qing continued to urge and entice them, clearly feeling uneasy.

With about two hundred spirit stones to be split among the remaining eight people, everyone would receive over twenty stones. Furthermore, Fan Qing was the one leading the charge; they were not the primary attackers and would bear relatively less risk. Hearing Fan Qing's description, everyone's eyes lit up.

"Don't worry, Taoist Fan. We all entered the mountains together; we are like grasshoppers tied to the same string. Do you think we wouldn't put in the effort?" Wang Ping said excitedly, licking his lips.

Since Fan Qing, the primary attacker, was taking the greatest risk, the squad members naturally had no further objections to his arrangement. They dispersed to their positions and waited patiently.

About an hour later, a foul, fishy stench wafted through the air. The deep grass in the nearby hills parted to the sides, revealing a centipede with dark limbs but a silver-gray back, sporting a pair of silver fleshy wings. The head that emerged was as thick as a water bucket, its moving mandibles biting down on a bloody wild bull.

Lu Xiaotian gasped. What a massive demonic centipede. It was no wonder even late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators wouldn't dare target it. If this group had encountered this beast in the wild without careful preparation, a strategy, and detoxification pills, they would likely have had nothing to do but flee in terror.

The Silver-Winged Centipede seemed to sense that something was wrong with the atmosphere. A beast's intuition is often sharper than that of an ordinary cultivator. The centipede paused, released the bull from its mouth, and exhaled a cloud of black mist, which caused the stench to spread. The surrounding grass withered at a visible speed.

Lu Xiaotian's eyelid twitched. The direction the black mist was spreading was exactly where Fan Qing was stationed. That Taoist was quite something; even if he had swallowed the detoxification pill beforehand, that stench would be hard to endure.

Seeing that no sudden change occurred after the toxic mist spread, the Silver-Winged Centipede bit back into the bull. It raised its head triumphantly and began crawling toward the cave. In its perception, no animal had ever remained unharmed under the influence of its venom. This included the strange creatures that walked on two legs that it had encountered several times recently; it had even eaten a few, and they tasted quite good.

As the grass fell to the sides, Lu Xiaotian could finally see the full form of the Silver-Winged Centipede.

It had at least nearly a hundred pairs of long legs. Its trunk, as thick as a water bucket, was over twenty feet long. He wondered how deep the cave actually was to accommodate such a behemoth.

"Attack!" At that moment, Fan Qing leaped from the fallen grass. With a wave of his whisk, the usually soft tool became as hard as steel needles, swirling toward the Silver-Winged Centipede. It suddenly expanded to several yards in length, binding the centipede's head tightly.

Attacked suddenly, the Silver-Winged Centipede went into a frenzy. It shook its head violently while its mandibles bit down with all its might. The flexible fibers of the whisk were snapped in an instant. As clouds of black mist billowed out, the silver fibers turned black at a visible speed, being corroded.

"This fellow has incredible strength!" Fan Qing's expression changed as he saw the centipede about to break free.

Just then, two figures—one gray and one purple—flashed past; they were He Tuozi and Wang Yuan.

He Tuozi threw out over a dozen vine seeds. Driven by spiritual energy, the vines grew wildly in the wind, reaching over thirty feet in length and firmly binding the Silver-Winged Centipede.

*Crack!*

The Silver-Winged Centipede rolled its body, using its long, sharp legs—which were as keen as spiritual blades—to slice through the vines binding it.

"Quicksand Technique!"

"Earth Sink Technique!"

The Silver-Winged Centipede, which was about to regain its freedom, froze as if it had fallen into a suctioning mire.

Lu Xiaotian, Luo Yuan, and the others rushed out from their hiding spots, unleashing spells to besiege the beast.

"Frost Spell!" "Fire Arrow!" "Golden Spear!" "Earth Spike!" "Fireball!" "Wooden Stake!" "Earth Hammer!"

The Silver-Winged Centipede possessed astonishing physical strength, and its two rows of hard, sharp legs were no less than low-grade spiritual tools. No one dared to approach easily; they maintained a distance and bombarded it with spells. In the blink of an eye, over a dozen low-grade spells struck the centipede.

*Screee—!*

Despite its incredible defense, the Silver-Winged Centipede was still dazed by such a concentrated barrage of attacks. Wounded and in pain, it let out several shrieks and attempted to flap its wings to fly out of the cultivators' encirclement.

"I have prepared meticulously for half a year for this ambush; I will not allow a beast like you to escape! Ha! Take this arrow!"

Fan Qing tossed aside his completely ruined whisk and pulled a dark iron bow and a quiver of over a dozen silver-white arrows from his storage bag. He immediately drew the bow and fired three arrows at once. *Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!* The arrows flew in a triangular formation through the air, striking directly against the centipede's silver wings.

*Bang!* Damaged by the arrows, the Silver-Winged Centipede could only fly a few feet high before its massive, twenty-foot body crashed to the ground, kicking up a large amount of dust and grass.

What powerful arrows; they were likely high-grade spiritual tools. Lu Xiaotian felt a secret tremor of shock at the incredible momentum Fan Qing displayed when releasing the arrows. As expected of a rogue cultivator who frequently frequented the Moon-Viewing Mountains, his methods were endless.