The Scum Is A ***

Yunxiao Inn, night.

As soon as the sun set, everyone has gathered in the Yunxiao Inn while the participants of the Intersect Competition are still in the arena which is in a separate space. Since the elimination stage will be held for one week, the participants have already been informed in advance to provide food for themselves that will last for one week. Of course, they can also hunt food for themselves in their respective arenas. For those who can\'t hunt or has nothing to hunt in their arena, they can also eat Fasting Pill which lasts for three to seven day.

Zheng Fu Gong, Pai Lie and the other sect leaders left after setting up an illusion array to make themselves look present and are watching the competition.

"FCK! So many?!" Kang Ce can\'t help but loudly curse when Fei Lin, Xi Ling, Chen Jing and Wu Fan placed all the bottles and boxes containing the father Eating Worms that they caught on the table.

Everyone\'s faces darkened as they looked at the pile of boxes and rows of bottles. As they have expected, the mother Eating Worm really reacted when a father Eating Worm was near as it shook inside the bottle where they are keeping it. Fei Lin, Xi Ling, Chen Jing and Wu Fan made a hole in the bottle for the father Eating Worm nearby to react. And then, they really found some people coming towards them. Their expressions looked sluggish and their faces are pallid.

Fei Lin, Xi Ling, Chen Jing and Wu Fan immediately caught them with the assistance of the Righteous Alliance disciples led by Zheng Ming. Then, not long later and those people wailed in pain. After a while and their head became sunken and their eyes and mouth became hollow. They really are hosting father Eating Worms, and now they are dead after those father Eating Worms ate the insides of their skull. As for the mother Eating Worms that they are paired with, Wu Bai\'s puppets are looking for them all around the Zhongyang.

For now, it looked like a disaster was prevented. But, they know that this is just a temporary solution, since the mastermind is still out there and they even haven\'t caught a glimpse of his tail.

"What now?" Sun Rong asked.

"Burn them all." Zheng Fu Gong answered.

They all nodded in agreement. Since the father Eating Worms haven\'t fed from the mother Eating Worms, although they ate their host\'s insides but it was done out of retaliation. It didn\'t change the fact that they will die.

"The father Eating Worms die but the mother Eating Worms live…" Li Tian muttered. "Cheng-shidi, is there a reason for this?" he asked.

Everyone looked at Cheng Sheng but Cheng Sheng shook his head regretfully. "All I know that the father Eating Worm will die as long as it won\'t eat the mother Eating Worm." He spoke. "Meanwhile, there are two conditions for the mother Eating Worm\'s death: one, it will die if it can\'t eat its children. Two, it will also die if it ate its children, but wasn\'t eaten by the father Eating Worm." He explained. "As for the condition how it lives, there is only one: it won\'t eat its children." He added.

Silence fell as everyone contemplated over his words.

"Wait, Cheng Sheng." Qian Tian raised his hand. "One of the condition a mother Eating Worm dies is that it can\'t eat its children. But, the condition it lives is it won\'t eat its children. Isn\'t this contradictory?" he asked.

The others were surprised as they also realized it. They all looked at Cheng Sheng.

"It isn\'t contradictory, since there is a difference." Cheng Sheng answered.

"What is the difference?" Sun Yu asked in puzzlement. He can\'t find what is the difference.

"It will die if it \'can\'t\' eat its children while it lives if it \'won\'t\' eat its children." Cheng Sheng answered.

Their eyes widened. They finally realized it! Indeed, they overlooked this!

"It can\'t eat its children… because it isn\'t able to?" Jing Rui spoke. "Meanwhile, it won\'t eat its children… because it chose to?" he said.

Cheng Sheng nodded. "Sect leader Jing is insightful." He spoke and smiled. "Indeed, this is the difference. But, there is one more…" he told them.

"One more? What is it?" they asked.

"Ah!" Lei Ling suddenly exclaimed. He looked at Cheng Sheng with widened eyes. "Cheng-shixiong, could it be the…?" he asked.

"Oh! That\'s it!" You Rou also realized it.

Jing Kang\'s eyes narrowed when he understood what Lei Ling meant. "The Eating Worm\'s string?" he asked. "The color of their string?" he added.

Everyone\'s brows knitted when they didn\'t understand what Jing Kang said. But, after a while, they finally recall that during the meeting, Cheng Sheng has indeed mentioned about the string of the Eating Worms, and how they change the color.

"That\'s right." Pai Lie muttered. "The string would look transparent if the children Eating Worms haven\'t eaten anything from its host yet, or that the mother Eating Worm hasn\'t received \'food\' from her children. Meanwhile, the string would turn red if the children Eating Worms have eaten, or the mother Eating Worm has eaten." He explained.

Cheng Sheng smiled. "Elder Pai is right. That is indeed the case." He spoke. "This is another condition whether the mother Eating Worm lives or dies. If the string remained transparent, then the mother Eating Worm will live. But, if it is otherwise, then it dies." He told them.

"How can we see this string?" Yu Wen asked.

Cheng Sheng turned to him, then to Ling Xi. "Elder Ling\'s nephew Ling Yun can see it." He answered.

Silence fell.

"Of course, this method isn\'t feasible since Ling Yun is participating in the Intersect Competition." Cheng Sheng spoke. "Other than him, only I can see the strings." He said.

Nobody spoke, since the situation looks grim. There is only one Cheng Sheng, and the Zhongyang is wide. Not to mention that Cheng Sheng is currently susceptible to demonic energy, and is a very easy target for the demons!

"… is there no other way?" Wu Yuan frowned. He already regarded Cheng Sheng as a younger brother. If possible, he doesn\'t want for Cheng Sheng to be in danger.

Also… maybe it is a selfish trait of the Youxiwang Sect because they deeply care for their family members, but he doesn\'t want for Cheng Sheng to act in this case. Chen Han and Sun Yi, as well as Chen Jing and Wu Fan also feel this way. But, they can\'t voice this thought of theirs.

Currently, only Cheng Sheng and Ling Yun can see the strings of the Eating Worms because the former has a special cultivation method which makes him have a special physique while the latter has special eyes. Meanwhile, Ling Yun is currently a participant of the Intersect Competition, which makes it impossible for him to cooperate with them in catching the Eating Worms around the Zhongyang.

That leaves only Cheng Sheng…  But, Cheng Sheng is currently weak because he has damaged his cultivation five years ago as a sacrifice. Is there no other way to solve their current problem?

"How about I will make you talisman?" Cheng Sheng proposed.

They all looked at him.

"This matter… elder Su Yuan actually should be able to see the threads, since he has the affinity with the five elements." Cheng Sheng spoke. "But, currently, elder Su is in a closed-door cultivation, and we do not know when will he come out." He said.

Zheng Fu Gong and Pai Lie nodded in agreement.

"Ling Yun\'s eyes are special, but he can\'t work with us because he is still participating in the competition. That leaves only me." Cheng Sheng continued. Before they could speak, he spoke. "But, my cultivation is too low and I will be an easy target for the demons, and of the demonic energy. However, I just can\'t forsake my duty because of my disability." He said.

Everyone flinched when they heard the word \'disability\'. That\'s right. Cheng Sheng\'s current condition is a disability, since his cultivation will never return to how it was then before.

"Xiao Sheng…" Fan Wen called.

"I don\'t need pity, shifu. You should know that." Cheng Sheng smiled.

Fan Wen and the others fell silent.

"What do you plan to do with the talisman? What is this talisman?" Jing Cheng tactfully changed the topic.

Cheng Sheng looked at him with a grateful gaze. "This talisman… I\'ll cast a spell and an array for you to be able to borrow the five elements that will work with the spell for you to see the strings of the Eating Worms." he explained.

Everyone was shocked. "A talisman, a spell and an array… combined?!" they exclaimed.

But, the expressions of Xie Lan, Fan Wen, Chen Jing, Wu Fan, Wu Yuan, Sun Yi and Chen Han, as well as Sun Rong and Qie Shi changed when they head the words \'five elements\' and \'array\'.