The blood-red worms that were squirming about were spirit beasts known as the Spirit Devouring Worms, and they were spirit beasts reared by He Zhang within the pool of blood for the purposes of feeding his demonic beasts.

The Spirit Devouring Worms were creatures that are particularly drawn to the spiritual energy emanating from a spiritual cultivator’s body. As long as they could sense the existence of a spiritual cultivator, the Spirit Devouring Worms would immediately charge towards the source of spirit energy in a massive swarm, overwhelming and consuming the spiritual cultivator with their sheer numbers and penetrating his body through every crevice or orifice possible.

Even though the Spirit Devouring Worms were one of the greatest nightmares of any spiritual cultivator or spirit beast, it was one of the best sources of nutrients to demonic beasts. To the demonic beasts, the Spirit Devouring Worms were incredibly juicy and tender – an existence that was almost a delicacy. Thus, He Zhang had constantly fed any trespassers of the Sect’s forbidden grounds directly to the Spirit Devouring Worms, nurturing and encouraging their growth, before feeding the fattened Spirit Devouring Worms to his demonic beasts within the forbidden grounds. It was a circle of life.

If Ye Xiuwen was aware of what He Zhang was doing with these creatures, his hatred for the pretentiously upstanding and sanctimonious man would most certainly burgeon to unprecedented heights. If he could, he would have tossed He Zhang into the pool of blood so that he could experience the taste of having his innards devoured by these Spirit Devouring Worms.

At the same time, the Spirit Devouring Worms were...