"Wait, something's gotten onto me," I called out to them. Wang Jue pulled out a lighter, and though Hou Dayong tried to stop him, he flicked it twice, igniting the flame.

Where the firelight illuminated me, the surface was covered in writhing insects, something like maggots but not quite. Shining the light down to the ground, what I was stepping on, high and low, turned out to be severed human limbs and arms. The slime coating everything was thick blood mixed with other unrecognizable matter. It was repulsive enough to turn one’s stomach, yet my stomach was entirely empty, preventing any actual vomiting.

Hou Dayong sighed, walked over, and carefully helped me shrug off my outer garments, saying, "These are Shi Ren Ming Chong (Man-Eating Spirit Worms). Do not let them touch your skin, or they will burrow inside your body and eat you from within."

I once heard of a fish called the Hagfish. Externally, it looks little different from a common eel. If it attaches itself to a shark's skin, it slowly moves, burrowing in through the gills into the belly, where it begins to consume the shark's internal organs bit by bit. The shark is the tyrant of the sea, and the Hagfish that preys on sharks genuinely exists; humans are the overlords of Earth, and today I finally laid eyes upon the worms that feed on people.

"Is that where the stench of decay is coming from?" I asked.

"Yes," Hou Dayong replied curtly. "The corpses are used to cultivate these Shi Ren Ming Chong. They consume everything—the living, the walking dead, and the spirits. As long as it was once human, they accept it all."

"Why not just set a fire?" I wondered, as these bugs didn't seem inherently flammable.

"The light of fire attracts them, just like it is doing now…" Before the words were finished, I saw Wang Jue’s hand, holding the lighter, begin to tremble.

It was the first time I had ever seen him so frightened. Following his gaze downwards, a mass of pale spirit worms had already gathered at his feet, slowly creeping upward, threatening to climb his calves.

Wang Jue frantically flung his left foot, heavily laden with worms, outwards. A shower of the Ming Chong scattered in all directions on the momentum, narrowly missing both me and Hou Dayong.

Hou Dayong stepped back rapidly and shouted, "Throw the lighter far away!"

Wang Jue’s lighter was automatic; once lit, the flame would persist until the cap was closed. He followed Hou Dayong’s instruction, bent down, and gently tossed the lit lighter sideways. The lighter landed on the ground, its flame still burning, and the Ming Chong began to rustle as they crawled toward the tiny beacon—a small victory won!

Still shaken, we continued forward. The path ahead narrowed progressively. The corridor that could previously accommodate two people walking side-by-side now barely allowed passage for one.

Without the light, we couldn't see if there were more worms clinging to the walls, but the uneven sensation underfoot remained, and the stench of the dead grew even thicker. For caution’s sake, I strained to maintain my balance, ensuring I didn't brush against anything. It seemed Hou Dayong’s foresight in rolling up his trousers and sleeves had been wise.

After walking for what felt like an age, a faint glimmer of light finally appeared in the distance. My heart leaped with joy, believing release was near. Reaching the end, however, I discovered the light was seeping through a crack in the wall. The fissure was not small, about forty centimeters wide; without it, this corridor would have been a dead end.

Hou Dayong pointed to the gap. "We need to squeeze through sideways here, but the crack is swarming with Ming Chong. You must be extremely careful not to touch a single one. Just one bug is enough to consume our internal organs in half an hour; not even an immortal could save us." Although the density of the worms here was less than before, the wall fissure still contained a teeming, writhing mass.

I shivered uncontrollably, recalling my childhood martial arts instructor. If only I had practiced my foundational forms more diligently back then.