------------
Seeing the situation, Shawn Young knew things had taken a turn for the worse. He immediately grabbed Zach Chow’s left hand, forcefully pressing it to the ground, and channeled his spiritual energy to check his pulse, discovering that Zach’s pulse was completely chaotic. Then Shawn pressed his hand on Zach’s grotesquely swollen belly and sent his energy in to investigate, instantly sensing a bizarre and sinister aura rampaging inside. Suddenly, tiny purplish-gold bumps, like goosebumps but the size of soybeans, erupted densely across Zach’s belly.
Zach’s body began convulsing uncontrollably again. He shook, rolled, and struggled in agony. Shawn quickly pinned him down, noticing that the skin on Zach’s belly kept bulging and sinking, as if something terrifying was rampaging inside.
At that moment, Shawn understood—Zach had clearly been hit by some terrifying curse from Grandmaster Draco. And even though Grandmaster Draco was dead, the curse hadn’t faded at all. It was seriously weird!
Shawn knew he had to figure out what was inside Zach’s belly before he could find a way to save him. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before Zach was tortured to death by whatever was inside him. Shawn absolutely didn’t want that to happen. Even though Zach had volunteered to come help at Gold Mountain Silver Sea, he only got cursed because of Shawn’s business. So no matter what, Shawn felt he had to try to save Zach.
Right away, Shawn focused his energy and activated his ‘Celestial Eye’—and what he saw was horrifying: a nearly one-meter-long, fleshy, revolting, and utterly bizarre worm was writhing inside Zach’s belly. Its sunflower-like mouth gaped open, sprouting tendrils like tree roots, each covered in rows of suction cups, like a swarm of blood-sucking leeches. It was greedily feasting on Zach’s life force, its monstrous body shaking and yanking at Zach’s organs, wrapping other tendrils around them, clearly preparing to suck out even more life energy. The whole scene was pure nightmare fuel!
“Ah! That’s the Heart-Eater Demon Parasite! Damn! No wonder Grandmaster Draco was so skinny—he must’ve been feeding all his life force to this demon parasite and that Tri-Tailed Venomfiend! Sh*t, the freaky stuff this old bastard bred is not only disgusting, but also a total pain in the ass!” Shawn recognized the monster inside Zach and muttered gloomily, frowning in frustration.
Thanks to the Codex of Ascension, Shawn knew—the Heart-Eater Demon Parasite was a terrifying, incredibly resilient type of parasitic demon bug. It loved to live inside humans, surviving by devouring their life force. Over its lifetime, it would metamorphose three times—larva stage, adult stage, and cocoon stage—which took about five years! When it reached the cocoon stage, it would burst out of its host and transform into the even more terrifying Heart-Eater Demon Moth!
The Heart-Eater Demon Moth was one of the top ten evil spirit parasites listed in the Codex of Ascension. It could turn invisible, move incredibly fast, and was immune to elemental magic attacks. Its favorite food was the spiritual energy and life force of cultivators, which it used to boost its own demonic powers. It was notoriously elusive and extremely hard to deal with!
From observation, Shawn realized the Heart-Eater Demon Parasite inside Zach’s belly was already over a meter long and would soon enter its cocoon stage. Unlike the previous two long evolutionary phases, the cocoon stage was lightning fast—once the conditions were met, it would burst out and transform into the Heart-Eater Demon Moth in just two hours!
"Damn it, what now? How am I supposed to save him like this?" Shawn Young knew how to destroy the Heart-Eater Demon Parasite, but the requirements were tricky. There was one very special condition: he needed both Yin and Yang energy from two cultivators to lure the parasite out of Zach Chow’s body. The fastest way for the parasite to cocoon was to absorb the combined energies of Yin and Yang!
In other words, if Shawn wanted to lure out the Heart-Eater Demon Parasite before it got too strong, the best method was to perform dual cultivation with a female cultivator. By channeling the Yin-Yang energies, he could draw the parasite out and destroy it—because there was no way he could just slice Zach open and grab the bug! The biggest problem now was: in Mai Zayan, with time so tight, Shawn had no chance to find a female cultivator for this rescue. And even if he did, she might not be willing to dual cultivate with him—since, well, that meant actually having sex!
Shawn was getting desperate. Of all the female cultivators he knew, only Fiona Tang and Jade Swann came to mind. Fiona might agree to dual cultivation, but Jade Swann definitely wouldn’t—at least not right now! Even though Shawn knew Jade was somewhere in Myanmar, and maybe not too far away.
"Ah—Howard—why are you—like this—stop—no—" Just then, a shrill female voice rang out from the casino entrance. A wild-haired woman burst in, chased by a young man in a black suit. What really shocked Shawn, though, was that David Yu was hot on their heels! For a moment, Shawn had no idea what the three of them were up to.
But Shawn’s attention was instantly grabbed by the woman who’d crashed into the casino. She wore a sexy, revealing, low-cut white dress, her snowy, round breasts bouncing wildly as she ran—a total eye-catcher. The dress was so short that, with every frantic stride, Shawn could clearly glimpse her plump, pale bottom and a tiny red thong underneath. Her long legs were wrapped in leopard-print stockings, making her look extra wild and seductive!
Even though she was panicked and her hair was a mess, Shawn could see her face was stunningly beautiful, with a natural, fox-like allure. What really stood out was the shiny red lipstick and a prominent beauty mark at the corner of her mouth, making her look even more like a seductive vixen. Even in her panic, she radiated a tempting charm that made Shawn want to pounce on her. As she fled, her low-cut dress barely covered her chest, and her skimpy silver bra seemed ready to burst!
Just then, David Yu, who was chasing the young man, suddenly leaped and tackled him to the floor. But the young man struggled with surprising strength—David, who had the power of six ghosts, was actually having trouble holding him down.
Shawn noticed that the young man chasing the woman had a strange flush on his face, and his pupils glowed with an odd golden light—something Shawn found very familiar. He was stunned for a moment, and meanwhile, the woman spotted Shawn in the lobby, screamed, and threw herself at him, begging, "Sir! Please help me! Howard Kay—he’s gone crazy, he wants to—wants to rape me!"
"Howard Kay? The guy chasing you is Howard Kay?!" Shawn blurted out in surprise, questioning her.
"Yes—he’s Howard Kay—sir, do you know him?" the woman asked Shawn anxiously.
"So you must be Fiona Chin, right?!" Shawn asked the woman directly.
"Huh? Sir, how do you know my name? Do you... do you know me too?" The woman was stunned, her face full of surprise.
"That's right, Mr. Shawn, this woman is Fiona Chin!! And that guy is her lover Howard Kay!! These two filthy cheaters ruined my whole life! I’d recognize them even if they turned to ashes! Today I swear I’ll kill them both!" David Yu shouted to Shawn as he struggled to hold down the young man.
"Oh!" Shawn finally understood why David Yu had gone berserk the moment he heard the woman’s voice—it was his arch-nemesis!
"David—please—don’t be like this! I—I know I was wrong now—" The woman pleaded in a sweet, syrupy voice, but Shawn noticed that even though Fiona Chin looked panicked, her eyes were strangely calm, almost fearless. She was David Yu’s ex-wife—Fiona Chin!
David Yu was instantly enraged by Fiona’s sugary voice. He pointed at her and cursed, "Damn you, Fiona Chin! You rotten bitch, what did I ever do to deserve this? Why did you team up with outsiders to screw me over?! Damn you, you filthy slut!"
"David, I know I was wrong—terribly wrong! It’s all Howard Kay’s fault, he’s not even human! He seduced me, dragged me down! I never wanted to hurt you—boo hoo—" Fiona Chin sobbed as she spoke.
"Howard Kay seduced you into betraying me?! Wasn’t it you who seduced him? You two are nothing but filthy cheaters!" David Yu roared angrily at Fiona Chin.
"David—I’m sorry, I really am! Yes, I’m a slut, I was bewitched by Howard Kay’s sweet talk and couldn’t help myself—I slept with him! Later, I realized he did it on purpose—he wanted your position and your money! His lies totally messed with my head, and I was stupid enough to go along with it. Now I can’t turn back—" Fiona sobbed, sneaking glances at David Yu to see his reaction.
David Yu was stunned for a moment, then muttered, "So you mean—Howard Kay seduced you on purpose? And you just couldn’t resist, so you slept with him?"
"Yes, David, I know you treated me really well. I never thought about betraying you at first—it’s all Howard Kay’s fault! He went out of his way to get close to me, showered me with attention when you were away, brought flowers, cared about every little thing. Sure, it was cliché, but I’m just an ordinary woman—naturally I couldn’t resist all that relentless chasing. So, I ended up in bed with him, just like that! And then he used me—" Fiona Chin sobbed, her voice full of grievance.
David Yu shouted in frustration, "Damn it, Fiona Chin, you bitch! Wasn’t I good enough to you? You could spend whatever you wanted, swipe any card you wanted, I’d get you anything you asked for! Who knew Howard Kay could get you into bed with just a few tricks! Do you think that’s fair to me? Am I really worse than Howard Kay?!"
Fiona shook her head, crying, "David—you don’t understand, you’re always so busy, always away. After I got with you, at least half the year you weren’t by my side. Especially during holidays, those days felt so lonely! No amount of money could fill that emptiness. Howard Kay understood women’s hearts, so he deliberately flattered and courted me—That’s why I did it—"
"Ugh—damn it, Fiona Chin, you betrayed me for such a stupid reason?!" David Yu shouted at Fiona, torn between anger and disbelief.
"Yes! The reason is simple—but David, ask yourself, haven’t you made mistakes too? I’ve been with you for so many years—have you ever really understood what I wanted?" Fiona’s face was still streaked with tears, but her voice had grown louder and more assertive.
"Ugh—understand you?! You just wanted to live like a rich lady, didn’t I give you that? And I’m not bad in bed either, wasn’t that enough for you?" David Yu said, almost losing it.
"Hmph—of course I’m not satisfied! I want more than just that, David, don’t you get it? Loneliness is the hardest thing to bear! I’m a normal woman! I need to be cherished and cared for by a man. When I’m lying alone at night, I crave a man’s touch! Where were you during those times? And—have you ever given me flowers?!" Fiona gazed at David Yu, her voice soft but haunting.
"Damn—now you’re acting like you’re the reasonable one! Screw this! If you hate this life, then just divorce me—I’ll give you enough money to last a lifetime! But why did you have to destroy me? Why did you team up with Howard Kay to set me up? Why did you plant five cursed ghosts in me?! Give me an answer!!" David Yu roared furiously.