Chapter 785 - Catch That Fat Worm (1/2)

One by one, snow-white star butterfly larvae wriggled out of the soil. Although they differed slightly in shape, they were all mostly of the same lengths.

Gongjia Yue behaved like a starving beast who smelled blood, excitement shining in his eyes. He could not wait to catch all these worms and drained their blood out. He seemed to see a path of riches and glory ahead of him already.

The chance of restoring his former glory was here!

Shing!

He unsheathed his sword and rushed straight at the nearest worm.

“CATCH THEM!”

Mu Yao snapped back to his senses and waved for his subordinates to catch the worms. Their entire journey had been all for these white worms!

When their sharp blades cut the worm, it lacked the sharp sound of broken skin while they felt as if they had just attempted to cut a tree trunk. The blade could not cut through, merely leaving a shallow scratch on the surface. Even Mu Yao could not chop the worm in half as he imagined.

His sword had just slashed a giant eagle’s toe off, yet now it was struggling to cut a worm.

However, although it was not split in half,  its skin was broken.

White liquid flowed from its wound and unto the ground, seeping into the soil. When Mu Yao was about to slash again at its wound, the agile worm tumbled aside to dodge the blade.

White traces remained on the ground from its blood but they quickly seeped into the soil. Mu Yao then noticed the worm that rolled away was no longer bleeding, and its wound was literally healing before his eyes!

Its healing abilities were astonishing!

Tough skin, alarming healing abilities and agile movements. Although these star butterfly larvae did not have large fangs or sharp horns, they were still difficult targets.

Someone near Mu Yao noticed the same thing. He was about to tell Muyao when a flash of white passed in front of him as quickly as lightning!

The star butterfly larva he hurt had its head stuck to the ground, while two-thirds of its body became a fat white whip. A ‘whoosh’ sounded whenever it flicked around aggressively, knocking people off their feet.

These people did not expect such a harmless worm to attack so suddenly so none of them were prepared when the worm slammed heavily into their abdomens.

The larva anchored itself into the ground with three pairs of front feet, bending at a ridiculous angle to hit its targets.

This person was thrown least thirty metres away, sliding across the ground when he landed before stopping. Without the trees and grass on the ground, he would have slid further.

The person curled up into a ball, coughing up blood and groaning painfully. He could not get up.

Mu Yao dodged the ‘white whip’ that flicked at him. Although these white worms were difficult, they would surely die if he could cut them a few more times.

Gongjia Yue squatted and touched the white traces left behind by the liquid that flowed from its wounds. He pinched the soil between his fingers and a thought popped in his head: ‘this can’t be used!’

He suddenly yelled, “Not blood!”

“What do you mean?” asked Mu Yao.

“It’s not the larva’s blood we need for forging!” said Gongjia Yue.

Mu Yao was even more confused. Not blood? Didn’t you say you need its blood? Are you serious? You’d better talk to your ancestors about it!

“Not the blood, but definitely something related to the star butterfly larvae!” Gongjia Yue paused. “Use a net! We’ll talk after we catch them!”

They should catch the worms first, then carefully study the worms to check what this liquid was.

Mu Yao calmed down a little. As long as they needed the worms. He would leave everything else to the Gongjia people.

The net Gongjia Yue mentioned was not one made of vines or straw rope used by tribesmen. He had personally made this net before the journey.

Every strand that made up the net was a type of treated metal- malleable yet durable. These lines were only the tenth of a little finger’s width and lighter than regular metals! Even the Mu and Yi families were impressed.

The Gongjia people, especially ones called ‘Masters’, all owned many treasures unknown to the public. He only took out this precious work of his to capture the larvae. He had invented this net and to this day, no one else could figure out how to make the same kind. Gongjia Yue once planned to show this net off at the next Gongjia meeting to win the Beast Blacksmith award!

Unfortunately, the political situation in King City changed before the meeting. The Gongjia family since split into several cliques and he was squeezed out.

Hearing his instruction, his slave opened a large wooden box he was carrying, taking out several objects wrapped in animal hide. He unwrapped them to reveal shiny silver nets.

Mu Yao wasted no time in distributing the nets.

These nets were custom-made and differed from regular fishnets. These were specially made for worms, hence doing away with unnecessary parts to save space and make it lighter.

The unfurled net trapped the front of the worm, then tightened so the worm’s head and a protruding segment would be trapped inside the net. One strand of wire was connected to the mouth and held by the person who cast the net. This wire controlled the tightness of the net’s mouth.

The worm with a trapped head did not stop charging ahead. After several tumbles, it continued crawling towards the mountain wall.

One person was not enough to hold the worm back so six or seven, sometimes more people pulled the same net. Sometimes, they saved effort by tying the net to a tree or rock.

“Quick quick quick! There are more! Catch as many as you can!” yelled Gongjia Yue frantically. He realised that the wriggling worms were not even interested in fighting them, instead all crawling quickly towards the mountain wall. There were many worms already inching quickly up the wall.

Although Gongjia Yue was not familiar with insects, such a large-scale behaviour surely was not coincidental!

They had suffered so much to get here, they cannot afford to be stopped by any external factors!

Seven larvae had already been captured. A portion of the people went to look for vines so that they could switch out the metal nets with vines after the larvae exhausted themselves, then use the nets again to catch more worms.

A portion of the people functioned to distract the worms so that the rest could catch them with their nets quickly. If the worms decided to stand up and sweep their tails again, these people might just die.

Looks like there were too few people for the job. Gongjia Yue turned to see Yi Qi and Yi Cong who stayed far away from everyone along with four or five slaves staying with them. Gongjia Yue initially wanted them to send a few slaves to help but both did not look interested in the worms at all. They merely stared at their trays with knitted brows, ignoring the battle. Seeing this, Gongjia Yue swallowed his words once again. Whatever, they’re hopeless.

Were they not previously impatient to get their hands on better weapons? Why do they look so distracted now?

“We’ve got too few people!

Since they were not sure if they would find their targets, they did not bring too many people to avoid attracting attention. He thought they would just catch one or two but Gongjia Yue was filled with regret now. If he knew there were so many worms, he would have brought an army!

Although there were many worms, they were all scattered and contributed to the inefficiency in capture.