The other five demon beasts controlled by the Heaven Herding Grass were all extraordinary. While they could not match the level of a Jiuying, they were still standouts among late Golden Core demon beasts.
Even cultivators of the same realm would have found dealing with these five beasts exceptionally troublesome.
Unfortunately for them, their opponents were disciples of the Dao Seeking Sect—the very finest of the Foundation Establishment stage.
In the past, Tao Yaoye and Man Gu would have struggled against late Golden Core demon beasts, but after continuous trials and tribulations, their strength was far from what it once had been.
In Lu Yang's words, they were at the peak of late Foundation Establishment.
If that was true for Tao Yaoye and Man Gu, then Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou—who were a step ahead—went without saying. They could no longer be measured by ordinary Foundation Establishment standards.
These five late Golden Core demon beasts posed no threat to them at all!
Lu Yang's opponent was a four-armed chimpanzee with pupils so dark they were pitch-black.
With a ringing sword hum, one of the four-armed chimpanzee's arms was severed. Enraged, it threw its head back and roared.
Roar—
"What are you howling for? Arhat Fist!" Lu Yang struck out with an Arhat Fist using one hand. Though its destructive force was somewhat diminished, its hair-shedding effect did not lessen in the slightest.
The chimpanzee suddenly felt a chill over the crown of its head. Reaching up to feel it, it found its scalp completely bald and bare—not a single hair remained.
What had this human done?!
"What a Bald Chimpanzee—a demon beast I've never seen before!" Lu Yang acted as though facing a mortal enemy. Cultivators feared the unknown above all else, so a chimpanzee unrecorded by the world was bound to possess terrifying combat strength!
"What?! It's actually the legendary Bald Chimpanzee of ancient lore!" Meng Jingzhou, who was also fighting, noticed Lu Yang's opponent and his expression changed drastically.
"Legends say the cultivation realm of a Bald Chimpanzee is measured by the number of hairs on its head! One hair is the Qi Refinement stage, also known as the One-Hair Realm; two hairs is Foundation Establishment, the Two-Hair Realm; and three hairs is Golden Core, the Three-Hair Realm!"
"What realm has this chimpanzee reached?!"
Lu Yang's face darkened until it could drip water. "The realm where not a single hair is left to pluck!"
Song Hua called out, "You two, could you please not put on an act while we're fighting? It's really distracting!"
"Oh, sorry about that. Force of habit."
Song Hua: "..."
Fortunately, the disciples of the Meng Family and the Dao Seeking Sect were each more formidable than the last. They dared to fool around and crack jokes while fighting above their cultivation level; anyone else would have been dead and cold long ago.
"Fellow Daoist Lu, save me!" Song Wuguo, who had been guarding the flanks, was targeted by a demon beast instead. A sweep of its tail crashed into him, shattering half his ribs.
Knowing it was no match for Lu Yang, the demon beast let out a roar and pressed its advantage, continuing its assault on Song Wuguo.
"Hold on!" Lu Yang kicked off the ground with force, swooshing forward like an arrow to block the demon beast before Song Wuguo.
He held the Green Blade Sword horizontally before his chest. No matter how much power the beast exerted, it could not budge him half an inch.
Just as Lu Yang set aside his playful mood and prepared to finish off the demon beast in a single strike—
Squelch—
A sharp dagger pierced through Lu Yang's chest.
Lu Yang slowly turned his head, staring at Song Wuguo in disbelief. "Why...?"
Seeing this, Meng Jingzhou's eyes bulged with rage, veins flooding with blood in an instant. "Lu Yang!"
He wanted to rush over to Lu Yang's aid, but the demon beasts attacked as if crazed, leaving him completely unable to pull away.
"Song Wuguo, you deserve to die!"
The others were the same, held back by the demon beasts.
Shedding his former timid and cowardly demeanor, Song Wuguo shook his head. "The dagger is coated in poison; even a Nascent Soul cultivator would die. There is no harm in telling you before you perish."
"You are nourishment."
"You are the strongest among these people. Once you are controlled, the rest won't pose any threat."
Song Wuguo flipped his palm, revealing a seed, and slammed it toward Lu Yang's dantian.
"This is a seed of the Heaven Herding Grass. Relax. Soon, you will become our master's attendant."
"Wait, why won't the Heaven Herding Grass seed enter your body?!"
Song Wuguo's face shifted as he realized something was wrong. Just as he tried to pull back and flee, a bizarre, hair-raising smile crept across Lu Yang's lips.
A miniature Lu Yang crawled out from inside Lu Yang's robe.
The miniature Lu Yang expanded with the wind, quickly swelling to his original size. Taking the Green Blade Sword, he severed the head of the demon beast that was still preparing to attack with a single slash.
At the same time, the poisoned Lu Yang fell backward and merged into the earth.
"An avatar?!" Song Wuguo's eyes went wide, filled with disbelief.
For the past half month, Lu Yang had kept himself shrunk down, nestled inside his robe, controlling an avatar in battle to hone his divine sense and improve his mastery over using clones.
"I've been waiting for half a day for you to finally make your move," Lu Yang chuckled.
"How did you see through me?!" Song Wuguo was shocked. They had only interacted for a short while, and he believed he had played his part to perfection without leaving the slightest flaw. How could he have been found out?
"Song Wuguo, what is wrong with you!" Song Hua was even more stunned than Song Wuguo at the sight. "You were parasitized? When?!"
Seeing that Lu Yang was unharmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief and rallied their strength, wiping out the remaining four demon beasts in one burst.
Furious, the group encircled Song Wuguo.
Lu Yang let out a cold sneer, not minding letting Song Wuguo know how childish his antics had been.
"When you introduced the Heaven Herding Grass, you said it controls demon beasts and feeds on them, and that all the beasts we ran into were under its control."
"So here's the question: if the Heaven Herding Grass feeds on demon beasts, why would it make the beasts kill humans?"
"The answer is simple: because humans are also nourishment for the Heaven Herding Grass."
"Since humans are its nourishment, is it possible for the Heaven Herding Grass to control human beings? The answer is an absolute yes."
"If so, why didn't you explain that clearly? Did that Body Integration alchemy grandmaster lose his mind and leave his book incomplete? Or were you worried we'd start thinking along those lines, so you deliberately avoided mentioning it?"
Lu Yang kicked Song Wuguo to the ground. "Nine parts truth, one part lie—that's an old trick I've long mastered. Trying to pull that on me? You underestimated me far too much."
"The only reason I didn't expose you sooner was so you'd lead us to the Heaven Herding Grass."
The depths of the dense forest were vast; without a guide, finding the Heaven Herding Grass would have been nearly impossible.
Song Wuguo had wanted to lure Lu Yang's group in, so Lu Yang and Meng Jingzhou had put their heads together and decided to beat him at his own game.
Only after Lu Yang's explanation did Tao Yaoye realize where that lingering sense of discord had come from.
Meng Jingzhou wasn't surprised in the least; those two shouts of grief from earlier had been pure theater.
"Song Wuguo has already been parasitized and controlled by the Heaven Herding Grass, which means the rest of you aren't above suspicion either. Please cooperate and return to Demon Quelling Pass to undergo an inspection," Lu Yang said coldly.
A traitor had emerged from the Song Family. Song Hua and the others knew they had no ground to stand on, so they could only obediently agree to return for an inspection to clear their names.
"Heh... heh... heh." Song Wuguo let out a dry, raspy chuckle, his voice sounding entirely nonhuman. "So what if you found out? Now that you've come here, do you really think you can leave?"
As he spoke, bubbles boiled continuously across the marsh like water in a heated pot. One muddy figure after another surfaced from beneath the swamp—both demons and humans. Judging by their radiating auras, every single one of them was at the Golden Core stage, numbering at least fifty or sixty!
Lu Yang suddenly recalled the warning the chamber of commerce attendant had given them when they first met: 'People go missing in the dense forest every day, especially lately—more and more are disappearing.'
Could this be the real reason cultivators had been vanishing recently?
Wait, wasn't the Heaven Herding Grass supposed to be able to control ten living beings at most?!
Setting aside the dozens of humans and demons rising from the swamp, just moments ago there had been ten demon beasts plus Song Wuguo.
That was already eleven!
"Fairy, what's going on?"
The Immortal Fairy furrowed her brows. "Song Wuguo didn't lie to you. An ordinary Heaven Herding Grass can indeed control ten living beings at most."
"However, what's before you isn't an ordinary Heaven Herding Grass—or rather, it's no longer an ordinary spiritual plant."
"It has gained sentience. Just like Immortal Suiyue, it's a spiritual plant that has turned into a spirit."
Chapter 267