"Want to escape? Keep dreaming." Evan Yang sneered coldly.
Brandon Bi, now nearly a skeleton, glared furiously at Evan. "If you want to die, do it yourself!" With that, he launched an attack, trying to break through Evan's defenses and flee.
Unexpectedly, Evan's speed suddenly increased, catching Brandon off guard. "Damn it, how are you still so fast?"
Evan ignored him, raining down punches. Brandon could only struggle to defend—forget escaping, even his life was at risk. His hatred for Evan reached its peak, and his rage exploded.
"Damn it!" Brandon kept cursing, but he had no idea what to do.
Evan pressed the attack, suddenly unleashing a punch with even greater force—a 2,000-fold power burst. Brandon was sent flying like a severed kite.
He landed right in front of the Shard Bug Larva. Blood gushed from his mouth as he struggled to get up, but the larva appeared before him, startling him. "Ah!"
The larva opened its mouth, revealing a row of razor-sharp teeth. "Can these fangs really shatter space?"
Seeing those teeth, Brandon wasn't thinking about his injuries anymore—he just desperately wondered how to escape that damned maw.
But gravely wounded, he had no strength left. He could only watch helplessly as the larva's jaws swept past him, slicing his body in two like tofu. When his soul tried to flee, it was sucked right into the larva's mouth.
"So they really do devour souls." Evan exclaimed in shock after seeing the larva's actions.
After finishing its meal, the larva stared at Evan. It was highly sensitive—not seeing him as a weak Earth-Immortal, but as powerful prey.
Evan watched as it circled him, ready for battle. He'd just witnessed how terrifying those fangs were, and the soul-devouring ability.
Man and larva stared each other down, each waiting for the other to make a move.
"Cunning little thing," Evan muttered to himself.
Just as Evan was muttering, the larva suddenly moved—rushing at him like a sword with incredible speed.
Evan dodged quickly, but their speeds were nearly matched. If he was even a bit slower, he'd be hit. After several exchanges, Evan didn't dare lose focus—a single distraction could be fatal.
"Shard Bug Larva really aren't on the same level as the regular Shard Bugs—the difference in speed is huge. Good thing I have Fly-Fire Boots and Phantom Step, or I'd be minced meat by now." Evan thought as he kept dodging.
The larva was clearly agitated and stopped. Evan also stopped and asked, "What, not chasing anymore?"
The larva emitted a sizzling sound, and suddenly the space within ten meters changed—a thin, pale blue light formed a spherical shell, trapping Evan and the larva inside.
"?" Evan realized the sphere was an independent space. He tried to use Flash Step, but when he reached the boundary, he couldn't leave.
The larva stopped making noise, clearly treating Evan like prey.
"Didn't expect the larva to create a space like this," Evan muttered. He tested it, finding himself unable to break through. It was stronger than low-grade immortal formations—an ordinary Earth-Immortal would be doomed.
Seeing Evan couldn't escape, the larva seemed smug, making strange noises before attacking again.
The space shrank. Evan could only move in a limited area, making it easy for the larva to tag him. Knowing this couldn't go on, he decided to try spells to attack.
He summoned Sacred Flame. The larva didn't seem afraid at first, acting proud inside the fire, but soon it started jumping around—the flame was clearly different from ordinary fire.
"Sacred Flame isn't like other fire. Let's see how long you last." Evan sneered.
The larva was clearly agitated, emitting sizzling sounds and attacking Evan rapidly. Evan saw its whole body glowing red, as if roasted by Sacred Flame.
"Still not dead?" Evan was surprised the bug could survive inside Sacred Flame, but he was satisfied—the flame worked as a restraint, even if it couldn't kill it yet.
Seeing the fiery-red larva rush at him, Evan hurriedly summoned an earth wall in front of himself. The larva crashed into it with a loud boom.
The frustrated larva let out a strange sound and swept its fangs—the earth wall shattered into pieces. "Those fangs are sharp enough to break space itself!"
Evan realized the wall couldn't hold it back anymore—he had to think of another way to deal with it.
After smashing into the wall once, the larva got smarter and attacked directly with its mouth. The wall was useless, and the fire couldn't trap it either—it only made it glow red and more enraged.
Since fire and earth weren't working, Evan tried Ice-fire. A wave of icy aura appeared, freezing the larva for a moment.
But it didn't freeze the core—the larva could still thrash around inside. "Ice-fire isn't strong enough yet. Looks like I'll need to get stronger before I can freeze it completely," Evan muttered as he watched the bug wriggle inside the ice block.
The larva was furious—it hadn't expected anyone to have so many strange attributes. It used its sharp fangs to crunch and shatter the ice block, then appeared in front of Evan.
"Those fangs really are sharp," Evan muttered, fully aware of how terrifying they were.
The larva couldn't understand Evan's words, but it grew even more agitated and began attacking wildly. Evan could only keep freezing and walling it off, stalling for time.
"I need to come up with a plan," Evan thought. Just as the frozen larva broke free, he struck it with a bolt of lightning.
Boom! The larva froze in place. "It actually stunned it!" Evan realized that lightning could knock it out—overjoyed, he rushed forward and used bee glue to seal it.
Once the bee glue had sealed the larva, Evan finally relaxed. "What exactly is bee glue made of? Why does it restrain them so well?" he muttered.
Evan wasn't sure why bee glue worked so well, but for now he'd managed to deal with the larva. If he hadn't thought of using lightning at the end, he might not have survived its relentless attacks.
After stowing the bee glue-sealed larva, Evan prepared to leave, only to find the surrounding space was still intact. "Whatever this space is, I'll have to break out first."
But Evan's strength just wasn't enough to break it, leaving him frustrated. "Am I really going to have to cultivate here?"
Evan couldn't imagine being trapped in a space created by a larva, but right now, he couldn't leave.
He'd tried everything, but his power just wasn't enough. Maybe only a stronger Heavenly-Immortal could break out of this space.
Facing this situation, Evan had no choice but to enter the tower, letting it float in place. "Guess I'll have to cultivate here. Sigh."
Helpless, Evan settled down, deciding to break through his cultivation first, then try to leave.
This place was deep in the hunting grounds—almost no one ventured here, and no one would guess a larva had formed a space here. From outside, the space was completely opaque; only those inside could see out. Even Evan didn't realize that outsiders couldn't see in, only he could see out.
So, many deep regions were infested with larvae—they just didn't want to leave, or only appeared when they found prey.
Evan spent years cultivating inside, while only a few months passed outside. When he finally woke up, he'd advanced two minor realms, reaching Earth-Immortal Stage Six.
"I should be able to break out now," Evan thought, stepping out. He checked the surroundings—still the same independent space as before entering the tower.
Evan found the edge and went all out, but still couldn't shake it. "It's tough. Guess I'll have to pray for a 2,000-fold power burst."
He kept attacking until a small opening appeared. Delighted, Evan exclaimed, "Got it."
He widened the opening until he could fit through, then exited. Outside, he realized the space was invisible—no way to see inside.
"This larva's abilities are truly bizarre." Evan was shocked by its powers.
Now Evan had a deeper understanding of the larva. He wondered if stronger larvae would create even more powerful spaces.
Thinking about it, Evan couldn't imagine how the Shard Bugs came to be.
"Time to go. It's been months—I should collect some corpses." Evan planned to gather Shard Bug bodies for points, hoping to leave soon.
He started searching nearby for areas with dense Shard Bug activity. In a red zone, he found many bugs and used Wind Shadow—after a few moves, he'd stunned them all.
Evan used bee glue and managed to collect over a hundred bugs. "A few hundred bugs means a few thousand points, but that's still not enough for the top ten. Gotta keep going."
Wanting more, Evan visited several hotspots, searching for days. After clearing several areas, he gathered thousands more bugs. Just as he was considering heading back, another batch appeared ahead—so he moved forward to deal with them.
Suddenly, a group of people appeared nearby. Their leader was Stage Nine, the others were Stage Eight.
"Who are these people?" Evan wondered suspiciously.
The group noticed Evan and surrounded him, amazed that someone at Stage Six could survive here.
"Who are you?" the leader asked curiously.
"Just passing through. What about you guys?" Evan replied casually.
"How dare you talk to us like that?" One Stage Eight, used to being superior, scolded Evan—having no respect for someone at Stage Six.
He stepped forward to teach Evan a lesson, while the others ignored it and kept watching. Evan saw the attack coming—he wasn't about to let himself be bullied.