Chapter 854: Hypha Tapeworm The stronger participants would be able to step up to challenge anytime to claim victory over Liu Jie. It had been easy to convince them because all of the strong young disciples wanted to be the disciple of a member of royalty. Most of the weaker disciples were from veteran factions and could be convinced as long as they were promised enough benefits for it to be a win-win situation. Zuo Ming looked displeased when he noticed this but did not comment on it. Although they were clearly ganging up on Liu Jie like how a group of gamers would team up to beat a Boss in a game, such actions were not against the Martial Stage’s rules. As Chief Guard Ye’s left-hand manager, Zuo Ming had the tolerance that was befitting of his position. He could not go after the other disciples just because they were ganging up on Liu Jie. Soon, the disciples of veteran factions that had been on the fence started to muster their courage as, one by one, they stepped onto the Martial Stage. Liu Jie ordered the Blade Queen Bee to use Merciful Cry and Dissolution Infection on the Blade Worms on the ground that had not died but had lost all their fighting power. Usually, Liu Jie would have to use about three to four Blade Worms against each opponent. Now that he was faced with an endless stream of opponents, the number of Blade Worms dropped precipitously, and the eyes of the watching participants lit up. However, this did not hinder Liu Jie in the least. By the time he beat the eighth fighter, all 30 Blade Worms had died. The corpses of the Blade Worms littered the Martial Stage and made it look like the scene of a brutal massacre. When the ninth challenger stepped onto the Martial Stage, Liu Jie gave a thumbs up, and a black ball appeared by his feet. The ball looked like it was formed from a long insect that was currently in peristalsis. This shocked the participants who had just entered the Martial Stage and caused the hearts of the watching hopeful disciples of veteran factions to sink. When Zuo Ming announced the start of the battle, Liu Jie lowered his head to say to the writhing black ball, “Use Fluid Hypha, Long Body Split, Degeneration Control, and Decaying Bacteria.” Liu Jie issued four commands in a row, and the black ball immediately spat out a large amount of purple fluids. The sticky purple fluid was like a living creature that also seemed to be able to stretch endlessly. In a second, the purple fluid covered the entire Martial Stage. Soon, numerous small black threads grew out of the thin, sticky layer. The black threads were like furry veins that transported the purple sticky fluid around. While the purple sticky fluid was stretching and expanding, it covered the dead Blade Worms and Shield Ladybugs. The 30 dead Blade Worms and Shield Ladybugs immediately started to change after the sticky fluid covered them and the black threads tunneled into the bodies of the dead Blade Worms and Shield Ladybugs. A moment later, an armor made of the sticky purple fluid and black threads grew on the bodies of the Blade Worms and Shield Ladybugs. The armor made the bodies significantly larger. Next, black bubbles grew on the armor, and when popped, they formed fluid that looked like small flowers and emitted the stench of decay. At that moment, the writhing black ball by Liu Jie’s feet disappeared while the 30 Blade Worms and 5 Shield Ladybugs shakily got to their feet and resumed their military-like line up in front of Liu Jie. These terrifying- and gruesome-looking Blade Worms and Shield Ladybugs were now much stronger than when they were alive. As such, Liu Jie’s opponent did not even have the time to retaliate against the insect colony and was kicked off the Martial Stage in a few minutes. The challenger that had just been kicked off the Martial Stage’s feys was in a sorry state. The large terrifying dragon-species fey barely had an uninjured patch of flesh on its body, and the wounds made by the blades were decaying. The two healing-type spirit qi professionals wearing the standard Spirit Guards mask took a while before they managed to heal the decaying terrifying dragon-species fey. At that moment, Du Shuo, who was at the center of Liu Jie’s opponents, said, “That’s the Hypha Tapeworm!” Du Shuo’s words dashed all the challengers’ hopes. The veteran and top faction disciples all knew what kind of fey the Hypha Tapeworm was. With the Hypha Tapeworm in action now, the battle attrition plan had been reduced to a joke. Lin Yuan used True Data to check on the Hypha Tapeworm. [Fey Name]: Hypha Tapeworm [Fey Species]: Hooked-mouth species/roundworm-species [Fey Grade]: Diamond (10/10) [Fey Type]: Insect/Dark [Fey Quality]: Legend Abilities: [Fluid Hypha]: A sticky fluid will be produced that can cover an area. The bacteria pockets in the sticky fluid will break apart quickly to form webs of hypha. [Long Body Split]: The Hypha Tapeworm will tunnel into the Fluid Hypha and start to split itself. Each split section can be planted in any small insect. [Degeneration Control]: Flesh that is dead due to bacterial infection will be covered in bacteria pockets that contain vicious poison. When the bacteria covers a degenerating surface, the tapeworms that have been created from the split sections can enter the dead host to control it. [Decaying Bacteria]: The bodies of the hosts being manipulated will be covered in strong corrosive bacteria that will spread to the cells of healthy flesh that it comes into contact with and cause the cells of the healthy flesh to start to decay. [Degenerating Body Integration]: When a degenerating body is damaged, the ladybugs that are produced will sacrifice their body as nutrients to feed and integrate the bacteria. The tapeworms produced from the split sections will control the degenerated body. [Double Parasite]: When in the presence of other parasitic-type lifeforms and insects, the degenerating body, bacteria, and tapeworms formed from split sections can be sacrificed to increase the parasitic-type lifeform’s power. If the parasitic-type lifeform is injured, it can draw energy from the sacrificed entities to heal itself. Exclusive Skill: [Degenerating Body’s Reproduction]: The bacteria will alter the reproductive and gender cells in the degenerating body to allow the degenerating body to produce new creatures through splitting its sections. Lin Yuan’s eyes widened, and he felt that Liu Jie had yet to demonstrate the Hypha Tapeworm’s true power. Liu Jie looked down from the Martial Stage and spoke in a booming voice.