Xue Tuzi coughed up a mouthful of blood, the warm metallic taste spilling past his lips as his trembling eyes locked—desperately, pleadingly—on the shape hidden behind the thin veil of the blanket. But before he could cry out, the world spun and darkened. A cold, calloused hand clamped over his mouth, stifling his scream.
"My, how quickly you forget," the man murmured with a twisted chuckle, his voice smooth and cruel. Slowly, deliberately, he pulled his hand from Xue Tuzi's abdomen. His fingers came away slick and glistening with blood. Without hesitation, he raised them to his mouth and licked them clean, savoring the taste like a delicacy. A scoff escaped him, and then, as if struck by some mad delight, he threw his head back and let out a wild, unhinged laugh that echoed across the barren land.
Spinning toward the crimson-streaked horizon, he raised his arms. "Go on, feast. Leave none of them alive," he declared.
Behind him, the earth churned—and from its depths rose a grotesque swarm of demonic insects. Their malformed bodies writhed and clicked, their fanged maws open and dripping with venomous saliva as they surged forward, eyes glinting with bloodlust. The sky itself dimmed as they took flight, an unholy cloud of wings and stingers descending toward the sect.
The commotion roused Tuanzhu from her sleep. Blinking in confusion, she tilted her head upward—and froze. A swarm of enormous wasps darkened the heavens above, their wings humming with a pitch so high it rattled the trees. Panic clawed at her chest. She scrambled out of the basket, heart thudding, her wide gaze immediately locking onto the scene before her.
Xue Tuzi lay limp in the stranger's arms, his robes soaked in blood, the ground beneath him dark and sticky with it. Her tiny heart seized at the sight.
Without thinking, without fear, Tuanzhu bolted. Her little nubs hitting the earth with frantic determination as she charged toward him, intent on stopping the fiend from causing further harm. But before she could reach them, the man moved with blinding speed. His foot lashed out, kicking her squarely in the chest.
"Maggot," he hissed, his voice a rasp of disdain.
She flew backward like a broken doll, her small body crashing against the trunk of a nearby tree. The breath was knocked clean from her lungs. As she crumpled to the ground, dazed and gasping, the man clicked his tongue in annoyance. His gaze drifted back to the precious, bloodied figure in his arms, a cruel smirk twisting his face as the swarm above buzzed louder, heralding the carnage to come.
His sinister smile stretched but was quickly interupted "Lord Ye Hu," the creature stammered standing hunched, his stubby, segmented body barely reaching the height of a young bamboo root. Thick, oily bristles sprouted from his rough, dusky skin, glistening under the light like a coat of rancid grease. His too-large head twitched on a thin neck, bulbous red eyes like an orb.
Multiple limbs sprouted from his torso in a grotesque mockery of human arms—some ending in twitching, clawed fingers, others in jagged hooks that clicked together in restless anticipation. His mandibles worked silently beneath a lipless mouth, dripping thin strands of saliva as he chittered to himself in a voice like dry wings scraping stone.
He moved his spindly legs every step leaving behind a faint, acrid stench—something between rotting parchment and spoiled meat.
"Speak quickly, can't you see your lord is busy?" Ye Hu exclaimed impatiently. He had been waiting to consume Xue Tuzi, only to be interrupted.
"My Lord… what if he arrives?" the stubby insect demon stammered, rubbing his hands together in fright.
"Huh? Who?" Ye Hu scoffed, his grip on Xue Tuzi never faltering as his robes bloomed red with fresh blood.
"He…" the insect demon trailed off, only to be cut short by Ye Hu's bark:
"Speak up!"
Finally, the demonic insect found his voice.
"What if Shudu arrives? In your condition, I don't think, my lord—"
"Silence!" Ye Hu snapped, cutting him off once more. "You think I fear him?"
He laughed loudly, tilting his head to glance at Xue Tuzi, eyes gleaming with hunger.
"Once I have my fill, I shall become much more powerful. He will be nothing more than a mere maggot."
After his near-fatal defeat, Ye Hu's body—broken and drained of spiritual energy—regressed into a primal larval form, a last-resort survival mechanism embedded in his demonic blood.
He slithered deep into the ground where demonic beasts and lost souls festered. Consuming lesser demons, not only their flesh but their demonic cores as well. Each meal rebuilt his meridians, reforging his body with stolen power.
Once he had absorbed enough energy, his body sealed itself inside a self-spun cocoon—a grotesque, pulsating sac woven from threads of his own liquefied flesh, hardened into a protective shell. A swirl of miasma from the stolen energies he'd consumed enveloped him, tapping into the land's natural qi to turn his cocoon into a living formation array.
His body dissolved into a primordial slurry, his very essence undergoing a demonic apotheosis. The cocoon pulsed like a heart, filtering out purities and reforging his bones with denser, darker spiritual energy. What felt like months outside, was an eternity of torment and rebirth within.
Finally the cocoon split open, Ye Hu emerged taller, sharper and more monstrous his cultivation had assimilated the traits of those he had devoured. The very air around him vibrated with the screams of his victims, their qi now his to command.
When he left the orphanage, Ye Hu attempted to join righteous sects—only to be rejected at every turn. His knowledge of martial arts was pitiful, and he was deemed far too old to become an apprentice. Even the smallest child in any sect could best him with ease, and that humiliation festered in his heart like a wound.
As he wandered the mountains in bitter solitude, fate led him to Xiao Hua, the Demonic Wasp. She observed him from the shadows, her crimson eyes glinting with amusement before she stepped into the light, her voice a silken whisper.
"Such a pretty face," she mused, tilting her head. "And yet, so much frustration in those eyes. Tell me, little mortal… do you crave power?"
Ye Hu stiffened, wary of the demon before him—yet the hunger in his chest outweighed his caution. "What do you want?" he demanded.
Xiao Hua laughed, the sound like the hum of wings. "Straight to the point. I like that." She circled him, her fingers trailing along his shoulder. "I can give you what the righteous sects never will. A demonic core, enough to make you strong. All I ask in return… is a few insignificant souls."
"How many?" he asked, his voive tight.
"Xiao Hua's smile widened, needle-like teeth glinting. "How many are you willing to give me?"
A beat of silence. The wind howled through the trees, carrying the distant laughter of children—memories he's tried to bury. His fists clenched. "Is an orphanage enough?"
Xiao Hua's tongue flicked out, tracing her lips as if savoring the thought. "That will suffice."
Ye Hu stood his ground, the words tearing from him. "But you must spare me a single child."
Xiao Hua paused, her back to him. Slowly, she glanced over her shoulder, arching one perfect brow. "Oh?" she said before turning fully, a cold sneer twisting her features. "As you wish."
The deal was struck.
The offer was vile—yet intoxicating. With power, he could finally stand above those who had scorned him. And more than that… he could keep Xue Tuzi close. He had deviced a plan to hide him during the demonic ritual and later use him as a furnace to further his cultivation.
The process of grafting the demonic core into his body was agony. Xiao Hua's dual cultivation methods were torturous, her demonic qi searing through his meridians like molten venom. Ye Hu writhed, his screams echoing through the orphanage, but he endured. When it was over, he lay gasping, his body reborn—stronger, darker.
His plan had been flawless—or so he thought. Unable to find even a trace of Xue Tuzi amidst the carnage of the orphanage, a cold dread settled in Ye Hu's gut. He found Xiao Hua amidst the silence she had created, her monstrous wasp form a grotesque silhouette. The air was thick with the cloying, metallic scent of blood.
"Xiao Hua," he began, his voice a low tremor of barely controlled rage. "You said I could keep a child. Yet you've devoured every single one." His fists clenched at his sides, nails biting into his palms.
She turned, her eyes glinting with amusement. Patting her distended belly with a clawed hand, she sighed deeply. Her long, barbed tongue flicked out, meticulously wiping a last, shining drop of blood from her jaws. "Don't tell me you were that attached to it, Ye Hu," she chided, her voice a honeyed venom. "You've grown soft."
"This was not our agreement!" he roared, the words tearing from him. The last of his restraint shattered. He launched himself at her, a raw cry of fury on his lips.
But she moved with lethal precision, a single, swift lunge, a flash of blinding pain, and then—nothing. The world faded into a smear of agony as he was thrown aside, broken and bleeding. As darkness crept into the edges of his vision, the last thing he knew was the feeling of cold earth beneath him, and the certain, bitter knowledge that he had been left there to rot and die.
Unbeknownst to him Xue Tuzi had fled that very night, slipping through his grasp like smoke. Enraged and weakened, Ye Hu had no choice but to sustain his newfound power by consuming lesser demons, their essence bitter on his tongue.
Yet even as his strength grew, the emptiness festered. Xue Tuzi was gone. And no amount of stolen power could come close as to using him as a furnace.
After his rebirth he indulged on these lesser demons, emerging tall and lean his sinewy frame stretched taunt over bones that jutted like blades beneath pale, deathless skin. His torso was a latticework of lean muscle, stark and exposed, the ridges of his ribs pronounced.
From his back burst a chaos of twitching, threadlike veins—long, writhing filaments that shimmered like wet silk under the moonlight taking a form of wings. His arms were too long and too thin ended in claw-like fingers that hung low, almost dragging against the earth. His face bore an unnatural symmetry, cruelly beautiful, with piercing eyes that gleamed like shattered glass under his dark brows. Lips curled into a sinister smile—an expression no longer human.
Ye Hu glanced down at Xue Tuzi, with a calculating glint in his eyes. He couldn't afford to let go of such valuable prize. If he could bend Xue Tuzi's will, twist his spirit into obedience, then his own cultivation would continue to rise—stronger, darker, limitless.
Xue Tuzi coughed violently, blood bubbling from his lips and staining his robes a deep, spreading crimson. His body twitched, brows furrowing in pain as a low groan escaped him.
"You're lucky," Ye Hu whispered, leaning close, his breath cold against Xue Tuzi's ear. "I still find you useful."
With a sudden, violent lurch, his body arched backwards, jaws parting wide to reveal rows of jagged, glistening fangs. A guttural growl rumbled from deep within his chest, building into a shriek that tore through the setting sun. Then, in a blinding burst of motion, he expelled a viscious silk enveloping Xue Tuzi into a cocoon but before he could be completely consumed Tuanzhu had snuck in.
"No matter," he sneered his eyes burned with primal hunger as the threads continued to bind Xue Tuzi and Tuanzhu tightly together.