Chapter 31: You Swallowed My Reishi, Now I Shall Refine You

However, to her surprise, Yun Yi did not hand the ganoderma over to her; instead, he brought it directly to his own proboscis.

The female cultivator in green turned ashen with rage. "You insolent beast, what are you doing?" she shrieked.

Yun Yi acted as if he had not heard her roar, continuing to press the ganoderma into his mouthparts.

Witnessing this, the female cultivator felt a surge of intense humiliation. Never had she imagined that this mosquito would dare to defy her in its final moments by swallowing the herb.

"You beast, how dare you! I will kill you!" Consumed by fury, she flashed forward, appearing instantly before Yun Yi in an attempt to stop his reckless act.

But it was too late.

The moment she reached him, Yun Yi had already swallowed the ganoderma whole. Simultaneously, the toxic strike shattered his weak demonic energy and slammed into his body.

Yun Yi’s body traced an arc through the air before crashing heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the female cultivator watched, her eyes flickered with shock and anger. Yun Yi’s body, as large as a rabbit, had fallen with a clumsy, heavy thud, like a small beast that had tumbled from the sky.

Seeing this, the initial look of disbelief in her eyes was quickly replaced by a raging fire. To her, this strangely shaped mosquito was already fading from life.

"You wretched creature, do you think you can escape my punishment so easily? Keep dreaming! Since you dared to steal my ganoderma, I will extract and refine every drop of your life essence. You shall pay dearly for your greed!"

Though her heart burned with hatred, she knew better than to act rashly, lest she ruin the precious medicinal potency of the ganoderma.

She flickered like a flash of green lightning, appearing instantly beside Yun Yi. She raised her right hand, her fingertips glowing with a faint spiritual light. She was clearly preparing an extraction technique to pull out the partially digested ganoderma essence along with the creature's blood for refining.

Yet, just as her finger pointed toward him, her movements froze in mid-air.

Her brow furrowed in suspicion. *This mosquito may be as large as a rabbit, but it is likely cunning as well. I must be careful. I must confirm if it is truly dead to prevent it from feigning demise and launching a sneak attack.*

With that, she took a deep breath, composed herself, and began to carefully probe Yun Yi's body. She cautiously released a strand of spiritual energy, letting it drift over his massive frame to sense any lingering signs of life. After a meticulous search, she finally confirmed that there was no vitality left; his life force had been completely extinguished.

Relieved, she allowed a cold smirk to touch her lips. She raised her right hand once more, this time without hesitation. With a flick of her fingers, she channeled the profound technique, intent on drawing out both the undigested ganoderma essence and the creature's own flesh and blood to compensate for her loss.

As she held her hand before his rabbit-sized body, a small, exquisite green porcelain bottle materialized at her fingertips, glowing with a faint light as if anticipating the prize.

"Absorb!" she hissed. A powerful suction force erupted from her fingertips, snaking toward Yun Yi’s trembling form like an invisible spirit serpent.

Under this force, Yun Yi’s body began to convulse violently, as if enduring unimaginable pain. Moments later, trickles of dark red blood began to seep from his tiny pores, slowly gathering into thin streams that were drawn into the green bottle.

Sensing the blood and ganoderma essence pouring in, the female cultivator’s expression softened. While her anger had not fully dissipated, she could clearly perceive that the majority of the ganoderma’s essence had not yet been fully absorbed by the mosquito.

"Ha! Little mosquito, you thought you could escape my grasp by swallowing the herb? Dream on!" A cold sneer played on her lips. Thinking of how he would become a stepping stone for her own cultivation, she felt a surge of satisfaction.

Without hesitation, she increased the suction, determined to squeeze every last drop of essence from him.

However, just as she basked in the joy of her impending harvest, an inexplicable sense of crisis chilled her to the bone. Her hair stood on end, and her heart tightened. She looked sharply toward Yun Yi, but the rabbit-sized mosquito lay still upon the ground, appearing completely devoid of life. She scanned her surroundings, but everything remained eerily silent.

*Was I too tense? Did I imagine it?* she muttered to herself, lowering her gaze to contemplate the source of that sudden dread.

Yet, as her thoughts raced, a black shadow streaked before her eyes with lightning speed.

She gasped in shock and jerked her head up. A long, half-foot-tall tube covered in tiny holes was rapidly closing in on her—it was Yun Yi’s blood-sucking proboscis, shimmering with a cold light as if it could devour anything in its path.

"No!" Her terrified scream pierced the silence. She turned to evade the fatal strike, but Yun Yi was faster. Like a silver flash, his proboscis pierced her defenses and plunged deep into her body.

A surge of warm life force, mixed with the essence of her cultivation, began to be ruthlessly siphoned away. She felt as if a dam had burst within her, her power draining rapidly. She fought with all her might to raise her hand, gathering spiritual energy in her palm to blast this "little mosquito" away.

However, in the depths of Yun Yi’s compound eyes, her every move had already been anticipated.

Seeing her attempt to resist, Yun Yi did not hesitate to channel his remaining essence blood. Three blood-red sword shadows flickered into existence in the air, aimed like the scythe of death directly at her vitals.