Wu Hanning’s and Ni Yinghong’s eyes glowed. Their auras underwent enormous changes.

Ou Yangming was not surprised. It would only be strange if nothing changed after they absorbed plenty of mental power.

Nonetheless, Yu Jinshuang and the other people were confused. They were not mental power cultivators, but they could sense the disparity between their powers. According to their senses, Her Highness and the weak lady seemed to have become on par with them after just a few hours.

Yu Jinshuang and the others had only found out because the young ladies had just experienced a huge improvement and could not curb their overflowing auras. If the ladies were given enough time to cultivate, they could completely curb their mental powers, such that other people would not be able to notice.

Honestly, Yu Jinshuang and the other people would not find it strange if the change only happened to the princess.

After all, Her Highness was already known as a legendary figure, and they had never perceived her real cultivation base before this. They were extremely puzzled because Ni Yinghong improved as well. Yu Jinshuang and the others looked at Ou Yangming and the two ladies, but they forced themselves to not act on their curiosity.

It would be better to not know about some things!

“Master Ou, thank you.” Yu Jinshuang took a deep breath before he cupped his hands at Ou Yangming. Ou Yangming dodged it and asked, “Governor Yu, what’s this for?”

“I never thought Dong Haoxian was attached by a parasite, so I thought you were provoking him for no reason.” Yu Jinshuang sighed and kowtowed at the young fellow. “Please forgive me, Master Ou.”

“Governor Yu, you’re being too polite. We’re resisting the disaster together, so don’t regard me as an outsider.” Ou Yangming waved his hand.

Lao Boyi stepped forward as well and stated seriously, “The legend about parasites has been told since ancient times, but we neglected it because we never witnessed it before. Ah, if it wasn’t because of Master Ou’s great insight, the Insects would’ve found out about our plans, and we’d end up losing our city.”

Parasitic insects were unique to the Insects.

A formidable spirit insect could generate clones but apart from illusion clones, there were also incredibly small clones with peculiar powers. If the spirit insect found an opportunity to make a tiny insect a parasite in a powerful living being, once the tiny insect hatched out, it would flow into the host’s brain through the veins. Following that, it would devour the living being’s brain to obtain memories so that it could replace that being.

The ability was fearsome, but it could not be done by local insects; it was only possible when the disaster happened.

For the Humans, this was a story from at least a century ago, thus not many people reacted fast enough.

“The one that noticed the parasite wasn’t me, but it.” Ou Yangming smiled and pointed at the sky. With that, everyone else recalled the goshawk’s frightening act earlier.

Several Supreme Great Ancestors could not help but flush.

“Since a parasite was found, it’s probably not the only one,” Wu Hanning remarked.

Everyone including Yu Jinshuang turned slightly pale. They looked at each other and became wary of even the people they were familiar with.

Wu Hanning sighed. The Humans’ eight counties would face beast tides once in every century, but in the past disasters, Huangsha and Yongxiang had failed the most times as compared to the other counties.

The Insects were mighty but it would be absurd to say they were superior to the three other races. In terms of strength only, the Insects were definitely at the bottom.

Nevertheless, the Insects had weird and unpredictable tricks indeed. In particular, the parasites would fluster the people, causing their morale to decline. At the end of the day, nobody could guarantee if one’s comrade was still a human or had been taken over by an insect.

Anyone could be stabbed from the side or behind at any time, so the more the people thought about it, the more they were afraid.

As expected, the people began to doubt each other. As such, it seemed impossible for them to unite and work together anymore.

Ou Yangming looked around and suddenly laughed. “Gentlemen, since the goshawk found the first parasite, it’ll surely find out if another one appears. At the very least, none of you have been taken over by a parasite.

The other people were stunned, and they became relieved almost at the same time.

Yu Jinshuang laughed out loud. “Master Ou, your… Hero Goshawk is simply divine. Uhm, do you think it can take a look in the city? If it finds any parasites, it can kill it right away.”

“Governor Yu, you don’t mind it causing a disorder anymore?” Ou Yangming smiled faintly.

“I’m ashamed. Please forgive me, Master Ou.” Yu Jinshuang’s face reddened.

Afterward, Ou Yangming looked up and communicated with the goshawk through his consciousness. “Governor Yu, the goshawk could find the parasite because the parasite was stimulated by its shriek and caused a spiritual fluctuation. Under normal circumstances, even the goshawk can’t sense a parasite’s presence.”

In actuality, Ou Yangming only spoke half of the truth.

When the parasite’s spiritual fluctuation was released, not only did the goshawk sense it, but he also sensed it too. Despite that, he and the goshawk had different thoughts, hence one chose to wait patiently while the other made a move.

Yu Jinshuang furrowed his eyebrows. “If that’s the case, it’ll be a tricky problem.”

Ou Yangming chuckled. “Governor Yu, there are around 10,000 people in the city. The spirit insect is powerful, but it can’t attach parasites to every single person.”

‘You don’t say,’ Yu Jinshuang thought and twitched his mouth, but he forced a smile and replied to the young fellow, “Yes. If the spirit insect’s so capable, we no longer need to fight; we might as well clean our necks and hang ourselves.”

If the people knew their brains would end up being eaten by parasites, most of them would rather kill themselves than get replaced by those insects. Ou Yangming noted, “If I were the spirit insect, I wouldn’t waste the precious parasites on ordinary people, so even if there are other parasites in the city, there won’t be many of them.”

Yu Jinshuang’s eyes lit up. “I get it now. Master Ou, you’re saying we should gather the important figures in a place then ask Hero Goshawk to shriek, so we can identify if there are other parasites here.”

“You’re right. As long as the internal is in order, it won’t matter if the parasites managed to secure unimportant positions.” Ou Yangming nodded.

“Master Ou, that’s very wise of you.” Yu Jinshuang nodded. “I’ll prepare a list now. Regardless of the clan and the position, everyone on the list must head to the martial arts field to be tested.”

Lao Boyi said in a deep voice, “I’ll prepare another list and send it straight to the field. Please take good care of us, Hero Goshawk.”

They initially did not favor the goshawk and were rather hostile toward it, but they were now willing to address it as a hero. Not to mention the goshawk’s remarkable combat power, the mere fact that it could spot parasites was enough to make the people worship it. A Supreme Great Ancestor went forward and saluted Ou Yangming with his fists. “Master Ou, a few pillars from my clan have been quite involved in the fight against the Insects. May I ask them to come?”

“Yes, my clan has a few too! Please make some exceptions, Master Ou.”

Subsequently, several more people made the same request. After all, many people in the city had close relatives and friends. Who would want to live in the fear of not knowing if their closed ones were still humans or not?

Therefore, even the Supreme Great Ancestors that had never spoken to Ou Yangming could not help but express themselves.

Ou Yangming smiled at the people. He did not refuse them at all. In actual fact, he would want to check everyone in the city if it was possible instead of just a group of them.

Needless to say, it was an impractical wish. The goshawk was capable, but it would be impossible for it to do that.

Once the people decided, they quickly got moving It was evident that they were immensely fearful of the parasites. As soon as the order was given, everyone on the list was obliged to go to the martial arts field. The martial arts field was the largest space in the city. It would not seem packed even if it was occupied by 10,000 people, let alone 1,000 people.

One after another, the people on the list were ordered to enter the field. They looked at each other as they were confused.

However, seeing as the people present were powerhouses from the city, everyone became more at ease. Perhaps the governor was going to make an announcement, which might be related to the princess, or… The martial arts field was soon filled with noises as the people secretly discussed, but nobody figured out the exact problem.

By the time Ou Yangming and the others arrived, the field was filled with people.

Ou Yangming glanced at the people and asked, “Governor Yu, is everyone on the list here?”

Yu Jinshuang answered after a moment of hesitation, “Other than some with duties, a few of them aren’t here.”

The other people looked fierce when they heard the governor. Regardless of their excuses, given that those people were absent, they would not hold important positions in the city anymore in the future. Ou Yangming nodded and uttered, “Okay, let’s begin.”

With that, the well-prepared goshawk in the sky shrieked.

Its cry was loud and carried a mysterious power.

The people in the martial art field were startled. Some of them even covered their ears as they could not stand the sound.

Before long, Ou Yangming and the goshawk fixed their gazes on a person.