"Old Liu," Ye Xiu murmured, pointing subtly, "no matter how closely you're watching the scene, you shouldn't be focusing on the sweat." He gestured toward Liu's hand.

Old Liu reluctantly lowered his gaze to his palm. The instant he looked, he jumped straight up, frantically grabbing his wrist and crying out, "Damn it! The ice crystal melted! That Earth-Bamboo Worm has burrowed into my skin!"

"What!" Ye Xiu quickly spread Liu's palm open. The Earth-Bamboo Worm was gone, leaving only a tiny scratch. Following the line of the scratch, Ye Xiu saw a large, pulsating lump wriggling just beneath Old Liu's skin.

"Blast it, this thing doesn't hurt when it bites, but once it gets under the skin, it heads straight for the brain. It loves to suck out brain matter," Old Liu grunted, already pulling a bandage from his waist pouch. He bit down hard on one end and furiously wrapped the other around his arm, finally catching his breath. "We have to get it out. You help me!"

Ye Xiu sucked in a sharp breath. Though Old Liu’s expression didn't show intense pain, having a beetle burrowing beneath one’s skin was surely unbearable for anyone. Ye Xiu carefully studied the situation; the only way to extract the creature was to cut open Old Liu's skin.

"Here, it’s up to you now!" Old Liu, like a tough warrior, tossed the thin slicing blade to Ye Xiu without even blinking. He pointed at the Earth-Bamboo Worm. "Go hard on it, I want it to die a miserable death."

Ye Xiu took the surgical-knife-sized thin slicing blade, his heart trembling slightly. He could swing the Scythe of Death to hack apart massive Corpse Flowers, but performing such delicate work was truly difficult for him. He positioned the blade's edge over the Earth-Bamboo Worm, glanced at Old Liu, and asked, "I’m stabbing in now?"

"Stab!" Old Liu's reply was decisive.

Ye Xiu brought the blade down as commanded. Unexpectedly, Old Liu let out a sudden yawn, causing his arm to twitch slightly. Ye Xiu’s cut landed precisely on his unblemished skin, and bright crimson blood immediately began to seep out.

"Awooo!" Old Liu shrieked, nearly driven mad. He clenched his fist and signaled Ye Xiu with his eyes to continue, but this time he added a warning: "Brother, watch your aim. My body isn't like you Death Gods—take it easy."

Faced with this scene, Ye Xiu was sweating profusely from tension. The situation was urgent, so he had to try again. This time, however, he firmly secured Old Liu's arm and stabbed in without any prior notice. The blade pierced through Old Liu's skin and the Earth-Bamboo Worm’s carapace simultaneously, lodging the thin slicing blade firmly into Old Liu’s flesh, pinning the creature in place.

"Hey, how am I supposed to pull the worm out like this!" Old Liu was exasperated with Ye Xiu. He loosened the bandage on his arm but had no clue how to extract the creature.

Perhaps because Ye Xiu wasn't the one injured, he completely lost patience. Seeing Old Liu hesitate, he hardened his resolve and violently ripped the thin slicing blade from Liu’s skin. As the skin of Old Liu’s arm tore open, the Earth-Bamboo Worm was violently dragged out.

"Ah... ah..." Old Liu was in agony, rolling on the ground like a child. At that moment, the bandage he had dropped conveniently served its purpose.

Ye Xiu held the thin slicing blade up in the air. It had indeed impaled the Earth-Bamboo Worm, and countless tiny legs were still twitching in the air, demonstrating tenacious vitality even through the fatal wound. He extended his pinky finger, intending to annihilate it with his Purple Flame, but the worm suddenly let out a rustling sound. As Ye Xiu turned, confused, he saw an Old Liu standing before him, brandishing the thin slicing blade and making gestures.

"This..." Ye Xiu turned back to look at the writhing Old Liu on the ground. This man was clearly on the ground, so why was there another Old Liu beside him?

"Th-this is me?" At this moment, Old Liu forgot the pain in his arm. He quickly wrapped his wound, stood up, and stared at the duplicate standing next to Ye Xiu. This wasn't the Mirror Palace, nor was there any mirror; this was just a bamboo forest. Why was an image of himself appearing?

Ye Xiu retreated a few steps to stand alongside the injured Old Liu. The two of them watched the other Old Liu as if observing a film. This apparition, aside from having slightly different clothing and appearing a bit younger, was an exact replica of Old Liu. He was casually tossing the thin slicing blade in his hand, and the blade moved with him energetically—a perfectly harmonious scene.

Ye Xiu shook the thin slicing blade in his own hand, startled. "Is that you? He has a thin slicing blade too!"

"Yes!" Old Liu looked at the scene, falling into deep contemplation. He spoke slowly, "I remember this. This is the scene from the first time I refined the Earth Rat into a thin slicing blade. I was overjoyed that day, playing with the blade for several days and nights."

"This is a vestige of the past again? Why is it appearing here?" Ye Xiu shivered. He had suspected this bamboo forest was not simple, but then he looked again at the struggling Earth-Bamboo Worm in his hand. "Could it be because of these Earth-Bamboo Worms? They materialize the memories of the bamboo forest, the memories of people?"

Old Liu seemed to have grasped a lifeline. He dodged the worm and realized with a flash of insight, "Yes, yes! Why do Earth-Bamboo Worms like to suck human brains? Because the human brain holds so many memories; the worm craves memories, the memories of its past life as a human. It refuses to be reduced to just a mindless, eating insect."

As the image of Old Liu slowly faded, Ye Xiu reached his own conclusion. "So, it triggers things related to the bamboo forest's memory within the bamboo, and within your body, it manifests a fragment of your memory. Why did this thing appear here? Did Mo Shu bring it from some distant place?"

At that moment, a vibrant, spiritual glow erupted from Old Liu's waist pouch. The radiance came from the scroll, which seemed alive and automatically floated towards the opening of the pouch. Ye Xiu waved for Old Liu to take it out.

Old Liu opened the scroll with a slight hesitation. To everyone's surprise, the scroll, which originally contained only a few lines of fragmented text, now had numerous additions. It was a strange phenomenon, the new characters appearing as if they had flown in on their own.

"What does it say?" Ye Xiu urgently wanted to know the result, but only Old Liu could decipher those specific words.

"The Earth-Bamboo Worm originates from the volcanic ash lands of Mount Buxian. Legend states that the worm craves human brain matter and can store the memories from those brains within itself. The more thoroughly it feeds, the closer its physical form approaches that of a human brain." Old Liu swallowed hard, likely recalling the horror of what might have happened if the creature had consumed his mind moments before.