Back in the stone chamber of the cave dwelling, the silver-haired old man tossed Zhang Ling onto the ground. With a single hand, he struck Zhang Ling's upper body, instantly turning his clothes into shreds. The silver-haired old man looked at Zhang Ling's upper body, especially the strange vine on his left arm, examining it with narrowed eyes. After a moment, the old man extended a withered palm, changing hand seals, and a surge of spiritual power struck Zhang Ling's left arm. Immediately, the vine coiling around Zhang Ling's left arm stretched out, becoming six meters long, with faint traces of blood energy on the vine. The vine was cyan-green, and it danced eerily in the air without anyone controlling it. Suddenly, the silver-haired old man waved his hand at the vine, and a streak of spiritual light flew out, transforming into an arc-shaped light blade, which severed a section of the vine's front end. The severed vine seemed to have suffered a heavy blow, and it instantly shrank back into Zhang Ling's left arm. At this moment, Zhang Ling felt intense pain, feeling half of his body numb. But his consciousness was still clear, and he saw the silver-haired old man's actions. His heart was filled with despair. Now that he had fallen into this person's hands, he feared he wouldn't live past tonight. The old man, however, didn't look at him, but grabbed the severed section of the vine, his face thoughtful. Although this section of the vine was separated from the main body, its vitality was complete, twisting and deforming in the old man's hand like a snake. Thus, the old man stood beside him, engrossed in studying the strange vine as if no one else was around.
After half an hour, until the section of vine in his hand lost its vitality and limply fell to the ground, the old man finally withdrew his gaze. This person took out an ancient book and began to read it as if no one else was around, just as if he were in his own cave dwelling. …… An hour later, Zhang Ling's fingers twitched, and he regained his mobility. He examined his body internally, and his face became exceptionally unsightly. At this moment, a large portion of his body's vital energy and blood had been depleted. The situation inside his body was terrible. After the vine on his left arm was shattered by the old man, his body underwent changes. First, the rhythm of his heart's beating quickened several times, and the vital energy and blood in his whole body flowed in reverse. Following this, the vine's root system, which was rooted around his heart, began to frantically absorb the blood in his body. In a few breaths, most of the blood in his body was lost. Suffering such a heavy blow, he naturally lost the power to resist. If he weren't a cultivator, he would have already been sucked dry of blood by the strange vine and died. He had been paying attention to the strangeness of the vine, after all, it was parasitic in his body, and anyone would pay attention to it at all times. However, he didn't expect that after the vine suffered a heavy blow, it would directly absorb blood from his body to repair itself. He had not anticipated this kind of backlash at all. "Boy, to be able to live after being parasitized by a Ghost Creeper Vine is truly a miracle." The silver-haired old man seemed to know that he had recovered his strength, and looked at him with a smile that was not a smile, very interested in his body. "Now that I've fallen into the hands of a senior, I only beg for a quick death," Zhang Ling said expressionlessly, supporting his body with difficulty as he sat on the ground, looking at the old man. "Hey, why are you in such a hurry, young one? I didn't say I was going to do anything to you." The silver-haired old man flipped through the book in his hand, his tone softening. "What do you mean?" Zhang Ling was stunned. Could it be that the other party really didn't have any intention of killing him? However, this thought flashed through his mind and was immediately discarded. He didn't think that this person had any good intentions. The old man had previously made a deadly move against him. If he hadn't used the vines to cover his whole body, forming a layer of vine armor, he would have been pierced through the chest by this person's magic weapon long ago. Could it be that the old man was deliberately playing with him? Thinking of this, his heart grew cold. He didn't want to be humiliated before he died. "Since I didn't kill you just now, I won't take action again. Now I'll give you a chance. If you want to live, eat it."
The silver-haired old man spread out his skinny right hand, taking out a black, bean-sized object. Poison? Pill? Zhang Ling looked at the black pill in front of him, his mind racing, but in his current situation, there was no way for him to escape from this person's hands. He could hardly mobilize the spiritual power within his body. As long as he could live, there would be a chance to escape. Thinking this, he gritted his teeth, grabbed the black pill, and swallowed it in one gulp. "Boy, aren't you going to ask what that is?" Seeing his action, the silver-haired old man was surprised and narrowed his eyes. "Senior is highly skilled, and if you wanted to kill me, you naturally wouldn't use any poison. Since senior is willing to give me a chance to live, I naturally have to seize it. Besides, I don't seem to have any other choice." "Haha, I admire your courage. You're much stronger than those wastes I found before." "I'm not afraid to tell you that what you ate is not a poison pill, but it's also not an ordinary item. It's a Soul Devouring Insect's egg. As long as the mother insect is in my hands, you won't be able to escape my grasp." The silver-haired old man waved his hand, and a black-green insect flew out of his sleeve. Zhang Ling concentrated his attention to look. The insect was only the size of a fingernail, its body was semi-circular, its abdomen had countless jet-black fluff, and it had a pair of gray thin wings with some cyan-gray patterns on them. At first glance, the shapes of the patterns combined to resemble a blue-faced ghost head. But this was not what was surprising. The strange insect was flying up and down in the old man's hand. Originally, there was nothing special about it, but the strange insect actually passed directly through the old man's arm as if it were an intangible object. "Soul Devouring Insect, a wild and desolate species. Its body is between the physical and the illusory. It can quickly divide into sub-insects. Legend has it that it is transformed from the remnants of a cultivator's soul after death. It can devour a person's soul. Although this Soul Devouring Insect is not a mature body and is not as powerful as the legends say, it is not much different. What you swallowed was the larva of this mother insect." As the silver-haired old man spoke, he made a strange cry, and the strange insect in his hand stopped flying, shaking its wings in Zhang Ling's direction. Zhang Ling immediately felt the strangeness in his body. He quickly checked his body, and as he looked inward, he found that there were no abnormalities in his meridians and dantian, and the black pill he had eaten was also gone. Just as he was astonished, a wisp of gray-green strange aura appeared in his body, and in the blink of an eye, it rushed into his sea of consciousness. As soon as the gray-green aura entered the sea of consciousness, it condensed into a small black dot, looking exactly like the strange insect in the silver-haired old man's hand, only much smaller. The strange insect spread its wings and let out a sharp, piercing cry. Instantly, his head felt as if it had been struck heavily by an iron hammer. Ah! Zhang Ling screamed, clutching his head in pain, his whole body involuntarily trembling. "Boy, don't have any crooked thoughts. Without the control of the mother insect in my hand, the Soul Devouring Insect in your soul will grow bigger day by day until it devours your soul. At that time, you will become a walking corpse." The silver-haired old man waved his sleeve and put away the strange insect in his hand, and the strange insect in Zhang Ling's sea of consciousness stopped chirping and calmed down. After his mind cleared, Zhang Ling gasped for a few breaths on the ground before sitting up again. "Senior, you can tell me directly what you want me to do."
