"Once we have our fun and I eat you, I can lay our offspring, and I'll use the chance to break through to the Seventh Grade!"
"After advancing in grade and molting, I will be completely reborn!"
Caiyi was overwhelmingly confident, already trembling with excitement.
You might be strong, far-sighted, and full of cunning tricks, but no matter your strength, you are nothing more than a stepping stone for us females!
That was how it was in the past, and that is how it will always be!
This is the decree of heaven! It is the reward for the sacrifices we females make!
No one can change that!
Seeing her utter confidence, Lu Qing knew exactly what she was plotting.
The chess player ultimately becoming a pawn?
Not a chance.Right then, Caiyi spread her ruined wings as if performing some grand ritual. "Heh, Lu Qing, accept the judgment of fate!"
She unleashed all of her Female Pheromone.
This substance, carrying a fatal allure for male mantises, began to spread outward—silent, formless, and colorless.
Caiyi was overflowing with confidence.
Female Pheromone was heaven's greatest weapon, gifted to them to control the males.
Never mind a Seventh Grade like you, even an Eighth Grade or Ninth Grade could never resist the arrangements of fate.
Under the influence of the Female Pheromone, you will lose your mind. You will only want to have your fun with me.
And once the fun is over, you will completely freeze up, leaving you at my mercy no matter where I decide to take my first bite!
I will devour you!
Then I can smoothly advance, rebuild my tribe, and let the glory of the mantises shine across this territory once more!
...
Dazhuang was the first to fall victim!
With his feeble resistance, he instantly took on a lovestruck, drooling expression, his body slipping completely out of his own control.
"Hiss... Boss, I feel so hot all over. Caiyi looks so charming right now."
Thanks to Lu Qing's training, Dazhuang now harbored a fierce desire to live.
He knew exactly what the consequences would be if he gave in.
His mind was screaming in resistance, but his body betrayed him, taking honest, stumbling steps toward Caiyi.
But Caiyi had absolutely no interest in this fat, Fifth Grade mantis.
She only wanted the strongest: Lu Qing.
Watching Dazhuang crawl over, Caiyi didn't hesitate to kick him away.
"Take your lust somewhere else!"
She locked her gaze on Lu Qing, waiting for him to throw himself at her.
...
Swallowed by the thick Female Pheromone, even Lu Qing began to find Caiyi's ruined figure alluring.
This stuff really goes straight to the head!
To make him actually desire a female mantis he had absolutely zero interest in... it seemed the Female Pheromone truly did strip away a male mantis's sense of self, leaving nothing but primal lust.
He might have his own human mind, but his physical biology was still that of a male mantis.
Using sheer willpower to resist the pheromone's invasion made him far more resilient than Dazhuang, but even he couldn't hold out forever.
The only way to break this was to kill her in a single strike before the pheromone secretion reached its peak!
Caiyi might only be Sixth Grade—one grade lower than himself—but females were naturally larger and possessed immense physical strength, making a one-hit kill incredibly difficult!
Unless...
Lu Qing stumbled toward Caiyi, seemingly out of control.
He looked to be putting up a fierce struggle, taking three steps forward and then stumbling one step back.
But under the numbing effects of the Female Pheromone, his self-control was clearly crumbling.
Seeing victory within her grasp, Caiyi's ego swelled with absolute glee!
Hahaha, just as I thought!
So what if you're strong?
You're still obediently throwing yourself into my embrace!
No matter how brilliantly cunning you are, you have absolutely no power to fight back right now!
The decrees of heaven are absolute, after all!
Suddenly, the approaching Lu Qing whipped out his two Hidden Blades!
Caiyi was paralyzed with disbelief!
Impossible!
That makes no sense!
The Female Pheromone was made specifically to subjugate males!
Once they step into range, any male mantis will completely lose their mind in a matter of moments.
How could he still brandish his Sickle Legs?!
Could it be a coincidence?!
Yet in the very next instant, the Hidden Blades slashed straight for her head.
It wasn't a coincidence. She had genuinely failed to control him!
How is this possible?!
Of course, she could never have guessed that Lu Qing's soul came from another world. Possessing a formidable human consciousness, his resistance to the Female Pheromone vastly exceeded that of any ordinary male mantis.
Naturally, she had no time to ponder it now.
Snapping back to reality, Caiyi desperately scrambled backward.
But Lu Qing had struck with explosive suddenness; he wasn't going to let her dodge so easily.
However, the closer he got, the thicker the Female Pheromone became, and a wave of soft weakness inevitably washed through his limbs.
As one declines, the other grows. Weakened as he was, this sudden ambush failed to take Caiyi's life—but his blades still successfully sheared off both of her antennae.
The Female Pheromone was released entirely through her antennae. The moment they were severed, the pheromone secretion halted instantly, leaving only a transparent fluid oozing from the stumps.
Caiyi had lost her final bargaining chip.
"Ah! My antennae! My Female Pheromone! You... you..."
"Why doesn't the Female Pheromone affect you?!"
Feeling the burning heat in his body gradually fading, Lu Qing was no longer in a rush.
"Oh, it affects me. It just doesn't work as fast as you thought."
"Your trump cards are all ruined now. Next, I'll send you on your—"
Right at that moment, Lu Qing suddenly heard heavy, ragged panting coming from behind him.
He turned to look. The Sabertooth Pig was glaring in their direction with bloodshot eyes, panting violently.
Smashed remnants of red flowers were still plastered around its mouth.
Red remnants... That looked familiar!
Lu Qing shifted his gaze toward a boulder not far away.
Earlier, he had laid out over twenty stalks of Red Spring Grass on that boulder to dry.
But now, more than half of the Red Spring Grass was simply gone.
Lu Qing was rendered instantly speechless.
Unbelievable. It really is a pig. It'll stuff absolutely anything into its mouth!
Judging by the state of the Sabertooth Pig, it was blatantly obvious that the Red Spring Grass was having a massive effect on it!
Those crimson eyes were swimming in pure, unadulterated lust.
The Sabertooth Pig was also at the Sixth Grade in strength, but it boasted a ridiculously thick hide, dense muscle, and razor-sharp fangs. In terms of sheer physical durability, the Insect Race couldn't even compare to it.
The only reason he'd managed to chop off its tail last time was because he had caught it while it was blissed out on its own high.
Fighting it head-on? Even though he was a grade higher now, it wouldn't be easy to gain the upper hand.
Not to mention the deranged state the Sabertooth Pig was in right now...
Dazhuang had completely sobered up by now. Seeing the heavily panting Sabertooth Pig, his telepathic voice shook.
"Boss, what do we do?"
What do we do...?
"Fly away!"
Lu Qing instantly unfurled his wings and rocketed up into the canopy of an ancient tree.
Dazhuang wasn't slow either, immediately scrambling up after him.
That left only Caiyi on the ground.
Watching the heavily panting Sabertooth Pig closing in on her, Caiyi panicked.
Her wings were broken, and only two and a half of her four legs remained. She couldn't fly, and she certainly couldn't run.
Her pheromones might have left her desperate to mate, but she wanted to mate with her own kind—not a pig!
A pig couldn't possibly give her what she needed anyway.
Caiyi looked up at Lu Qing in the treetops with pitiful eyes.
"We are of the same tribe! Surely you can't bear to watch your Lord be defiled by a pig..."
Lu Qing just chuckled darkly.
"You were just planning to eat me, but now you're begging me for help? Do you really think I'm that stupid?"
Right now, Lu Qing just wanted to sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
Caiyi broke down!
"You piece of insect trash! I am your Lord, and I order you to—"
But the Sabertooth Pig was already upon her.
Drooling uncontrollably, it shoved its snout forward and sniffed at her. "Oink, oink... Hey there, girl... Look at you, still looking so fine. I was a bit too loud earlier, and I even wrecked your nest. So now, let your big brother make it up to you..."
Caiyi had backed up until there was nowhere left to run. "Go make it up to your own mother!"
"Oink, oink... Nah, I'd rather make it up to you!"
"Don't come any closer! We aren't even the same species! Look, I'll go find you a female Sabertooth Pig—"
The Sabertooth Pig lunged straight at her. "Oink, oink... Forget that! This is exactly what I want! It's thrilling!"
...
Up in the tree, Dazhuang repeatedly shook his triangular head.
"Tsk, tsk... Too brutal!"
"He's completely lost his pigmanity!"