Chapter 1357: Mind Eating Mosquito

Ye Qing didn’t cooperate with Fang Zhaoyi to put on a performance because it was fun, of course. It was to find out exactly how Fang Zhiyong was planning to deal with him.

Even if Fang Zhaoyi didn’t know the specific details of Fang Zhiyong’s plans and arrangements, he was still the Grand Mentor’s adopted son from a young age. He should know Fang Zhiyong intimately and be capable of sharing his personality flaws, his social relationships, his elites and more with him.

All this information would enable him to create a more targeted and effective plan.

“Sure.” Fang Zhaoyi drained the wine in his jar in one gulp and began, “So, Fang Zhiyong is—argh! Old bastard... you’re truly cruel...”

It was at this moment Fang Zhaoyi suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream and collapsed to the floor.

Ye Qing appeared in front of Fang Shaoyi and grabbed his skull in an attempt to rescue him. Alas, the Confucian had already stopped breathing and died in both body and mind.

To be specific, he didn’t just die in the mind. His mind was literally consumed by some sort of creature.

That’s right. Inside Fang Zhaoyi’s headspace, many mosquito-like Strangers were growing, breeding, and feeding on his mind and consciousness.

These mosquitos were as tiny as dust and intangible. Its wings were colorful, its eyes were bloodshot, and it gave off a mysterious, violent, and dangerous aura.

The mosquitoes seemed insignificant, but they felt extremely dangerous and vicious. They bred insanely fast as well. In almost no time at all, they grew to insane numbers and chewed Fang Zhaoyi’s mind and consciousness into pincushions.

It was already too late to save the man.

“The Mind Eating Mosquitoes?!”

Suddenly, Ye Qing recalled something and let go of Fang Zhaoyi in a hurry, withdrawing his spiritual senses at the same time. Then, the Earthly Sovereign Bell shook slightly and unleashed its soft chimes and brilliant light, scanning each and every inch of Ye Qing’s headspace.

Gradually, tiny insects that looked exactly identical to the ones infesting Fang Zhaoyi’s headspace floated out of his mind before being annihilated by the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s power.

Ye Qing let out a sigh of relief only after confirming that not a single mosquito was left in his headspace.

“Old Zhang!”

It was then he recalled Papersmith. He took one step and disappeared in an instant.

After Ye Qing left, an orb of dark yellow flame ignited Fang Zhaoyi’s body and burned it to ash.

......

Inside a nearby house, three people were lying motionless on the floor. One could tell from their moving chests and the terrible auras that leaked out of their bodies from time to time that they weren’t dead though. Not only that, they were anything but ordinary.

Papersmith was sitting on a bench next to the trio and creating a paper doll with great concentration.

Suddenly, all three warriors screamed at the same time.

Papersmith hurriedly got to his feet to check what was going on, but the trio were dead before he could even scan them with his spiritual senses.

“Do not make contact with the insects inside their headspaces, Old Zhang!”

It was at this moment Ye Qing showed up just in time to stop Papersmith.

Papersmith did not understand why, but he did not hesitate to pull back and stand guard beside Ye Qing.

“What happened, young master?” Papersmith asked.

“Lower your mental defenses and do not resist.”

Instead of answering, Ye Qing tapped Papersmith’s forehead with a finger and unleashed the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s power. As expected, the bell chime and profound light pushed countless insects out of Papersmith’s mind and consciousness before decimating them into dust.

Ye Qing would check Papersmith again and again until he was absolutely certain that every mosquito in Papersmith’s headspace was destroyed. Only then did he withdraw his demonic thought and filled his own mind with the Earthly Sovereign Bell’s chime and light again. Just in case. He stopped when he was sure they were completely clean.

“What on earth are those mosquitoes, young master?” Papersmith asked after Ye Qing finally stopped what he was doing.

“The Mind Eating Mosquito!” Ye Qing waved his sleeves and burned the three bodies with dark yellow flames as well. They burned into piles of ash in just the blink of an eye.

“A Disaster-class Stranger, the Mind Eating Mosquito is a mosquito-like creature that is as tiny as a speck of dust. It does not possess a physical body, and it feeds on minds, souls, and consciousnesses.”

Ye Qing explained, “The Mind Eating Mosquito can invade any humanoid creature’s mind and consciousness through their spirit and thought. It can breed and grow its numbers to tens of thousands in just the span of a few breaths. This allows it to devour a person’s consciousness in an instant.”

“Individually, the Mind Eating Mosquito is puny and on the level of a Phenomenon-class Stranger at most. However, its size and intangibility made it incredibly difficult to detect, and it breeds so quickly that anyone below the Sage-stage will perish very, very quickly unless they have a Strange Artifact or secret art that protects the mind and consciousness.”

“Even a Sage may suffer heavy damage if they are not caught in time.”

“I see!” Papersmith felt a chill when he realized how close he came to suffering major damage. However, another question quickly came to him. “But if what you say is true—that the Mind Eating Mosquito would breed rapidly as soon as they invaded a mind—then why were these people fine until just now?”

“It’s probably because they were eggs.”

Ye Qing answered after mulling over the question, “If I’m not mistaken, Fang Zhiyong probably implanted the dormant eggs of the Mind Eating Mosquito inside their minds. They hatch only if he gives the command. That is why they were fine right until the moment Fang Zhiyong activated the eggs.”

“Tsk. Fang Zhiyong truly is a dangerous one!” Ye Qing tutted. He hadn’t even met the old bastard yet, and he already schooled him in the art of trickery. No wonder he was the Grand Mentor of Chu. No wonder they said that an old ginger is always hotter than a young ginger.

This round, both Fang Zhaoyi and him were losers.

Fang Zhaoyi thought himself intelligent; that he was prepared for everything. He thought he would be able to break free from Fang Zhiyong’s control once and for all and even backstab the old bastard who had used him like a tool his whole life. In reality, Fang Zhiyong was ultimately better than him, so he died.

Ye Qing also thought that he had the situation well under control; that he could find out some information regarding Fang Zhiyong’s plan and himself. That was why he did not search Fang Zhaoyi’s mind at first notice. That was why he lost his one and only reliable source of information.

Of course, that was just his hindsight talking. Even if he had scoured Fang Zhaoyi’s mind at first notice, he strongly suspected that Fang Zhiyong would have found out and activated the eggs the next moment. In the end, he still would have obtained nothing.

That was why Fang Zhiyong was the winner of this round.

At least there was a silver lining. The defeat hurt his ego more than it really did anything.

Papersmith subconsciously asked after listening to the end, “Are you talking about Fang Zhiyong, the current Grand Mentor of Chu, young master?”

“I am,” Ye Qing replied.

“But why is he spying on you?” It was at this moment Papersmith recalled something. “Is it because you killed Fang Muyun and Chu Wangsun?”

The entire

jianghu

had heard of this at the time. Naturally, Papersmith was no exception.

“Yep!” Ye Qing lamented. “Your young master is in big trouble this time!”

That was what he said, but his expression wasn’t too depressing or despairing.