A Different Place to Fight

The rocky shoal lay hidden downstream from the mouth of the gorge.

When the water was low, it was barely possible to pick a way around it by stepping on the rocks. Now, torrents filled every gap between them. Tao Qing had just waded across from that side, and the gashes on his legs had also come from knocks he had taken while fleeing for his life.

An ordinary person couldn't make it across, but the demon spider was different.

Spreading its eight long legs, it clambered down the side of the cliff in a few movements. Its footholds were narrow and steep, yet its body remained perfectly steady.

Xu Sheng took one look before turning to Meng Xingzhou.

"Take the injured back. Old Lu, Lizhi, go with him. Lend me Pei Chuan and Chen Che for a bit."

Meng Xingzhou didn't ask whether Xu Sheng still intended to kill the Soul Beast before leaving.

On the way here, he had seen other people taking this route back to the relay station. If they took the six injured away and left this thing on the road, the people behind them would suffer all the same.

"All right. Once we reach the relay station, I'll have someone send word farther back."

He bent down and lifted one end of Zhao Feng's stretcher, while Lin Huai took the other. Lu Song stayed close to protect Xu Lizhi, and Ye Wanqing looked after the medicinal herb gatherers along the road.

Pei Chuan stayed behind, rolling his shoulders as he walked over to Xu Sheng.

"How do we fight it?"

"First, let's get those two back."

Xu Sheng pointed at Ji Juechen and Wen Zhao on the opposite bank.

No matter how well they could fight, with a stretch of water between them, they couldn't help on this side.

Chen Che immediately turned and flew back to check the ropes again. The lightness effect on Ji Juechen had yet to wear off, so Xu Sheng took him across the last broken section first, then returned to help Wen Zhao.

By the time the three landed back on the near bank, the Man Faced Demon Spider had already crawled halfway across the rocky shoal.

Xu Sheng didn't have everyone block the place where it would come ashore.

That area was covered in slick, loose stones. One step forward was water; one step back was brush. If ten people crowded in, their long weapons would tangle with one another before anything else.

"See that old quarry up there?"

Everyone looked in the direction he pointed.

Not far from the riverbank, a broad expanse of gray-white rock lay exposed on a slope. Several old, cut-off wooden stakes remained at its edge, clearly left by people who had quarried stone there before.

The ground wasn't exactly level, but at least it was wider than the area by the water.

Xu Sheng led the others back there, but stayed on the side nearest the river himself.

Cen Zhao looked at the demon spider drawing ever closer, then at Xu Sheng, and suddenly began to understand.

"You want to lure it up here?"

"Otherwise, should we fight it in the water?"

"I could do it too."

"Untangle your chain first. When I come running back, don't trip me."

Cen Zhao looked down and saw that the chain on her spear had indeed looped around the corner of a rock. She hurriedly pulled it free and changed positions.

Xu Sheng raised a hand and summoned his Martial Soul.

His white wings stood out beneath the overcast sky. The moment the Man Faced Demon Spider crawled ashore, the small eyes on its underside turned toward him.

Xu Sheng picked up a stone and threw it at the front of the spider.

The stone bounced off its black armor and tumbled into the mud.

The demon spider paused for an instant, then its eight legs suddenly quickened, and it lunged at him.

"Come on!"

Xu Sheng shouted at the top of his lungs, but his feet didn't stop for a moment. He turned and ran.

Only when the sharp spider legs closed in behind him did he beat his wings and clear a raised ridge of rock. A long leg stabbed down after him, punching a deep hole in the mud where he had just been standing.

Xu Sheng glanced back, his scalp tightening.

Luckily, he had run fast.

The Man Faced Demon Spider raised the front of its body, revealing the white markings on its underside. Eight purplish eyes crowded the strange human-face pattern, making for a deeply unsettling sight.

But just as Xu Sheng landed on the rocky slope, it suddenly stopped.

Rather than charging straight at the front they had prepared, it kept close to the brush at the edge of the slope and circled to the right.

That way led straight to the mountain road back to the relay station.

The smile vanished from Xu Sheng's face.

This thing really wasn't so easy to fool.

"Don't let it go right!"

Wen Zhao was the first to move.

The Gale Twin-Headed Wolf possessed him, and his second yellow ring lit up. The wolf's silhouette overlapped his body, increasing his speed and strength. Immediately afterward, several wind blades slashed diagonally toward the brush in front of the demon spider.

Branches and leaves went flying.

The demon spider had to pull back a leg, and Chen Che's feather blades bore down from above, sealing off its right side as well.

Neither of their attacks struck its thickest chest armor head-on, but they narrowed the space it had wanted to circle through.

Xu Sheng seized the chance to land directly in front of it again. He drew his sword tip across the ground, and a scarlet light flared.

This time, the Man Faced Demon Spider finally fixed its attention on him.

Its legs thrust violently against the ground, and its black body shot forward low to the earth!

Xu Sheng didn't fly high. Instead, he retreated along the rocky slope he had already picked out. If he flew too high, the demon spider might not follow, and their arrangements here would all come to nothing.

The instant its front legs stepped onto the bare rock, a Green Jade Vine shot out from the side and wound around one of its supporting legs.

Ren Yu gritted her teeth and pulled it tight.

The vine had barely gone taut when the Man Faced Demon Spider gave a violent tug, making the entire length of green vine scrape with a piercing sound. The places its venom had touched quickly turned an unnatural color.

Ren Yu didn't stubbornly hold on. She immediately released that section and used another vine to interfere with its footing from behind.

The demon spider's body tilted slightly as a result.

Ji Juechen stepped forward at that very moment, channeling Soul Power into his sword and slashing down along the side of a leg joint.

Clang!

The blade struck a hard spot, leaving a white mark.

Ji Juechen turned his wrist. Rather than continuing to hack at the same place, he shifted his footing and thrust into a gap exposed as the leg joint moved.

The demon spider jerked its leg back, and another pointed leg swept toward him.

Ji Juechen immediately withdrew his sword and retreated.

"It protects its underside!" Cen Zhao shouted.

Xu Sheng had seen it.

Whenever anyone approached its underside, the demon spider lowered its body and crossed several legs in front of itself, refusing to let anyone slip beneath it.

Knowing its eyes were its weakness didn't mean they could get under its belly and stab at them.

Xu Sheng took a step back, quickly running through its last few movements in his head.

When it charged at him, it raised the front of its body.

When it blocked a sword, it drew back its front legs first.

If they made it chase him while also keeping it off balance...

He turned to look at Pei Chuan.

Pei Chuan was also watching the fight. When he saw Xu Sheng look over, he asked directly, "Where do I hit it?"

Xu Sheng pointed to the change in height at the side of the rocky slope.

"Don't ram its chest. Hit it from the side, just enough to knock it off balance."

Pei Chuan looked it over, then nodded slowly.

Xu Sheng turned to Cen Zhao.

"When it raises a leg, pull that supporting leg at the back outward. If you can't hold it, let go."

"Got it."

Finally, he held up two fingers toward Ji Juechen, then pointed to the demon spider's front side.

Ji Juechen glanced over and nodded.

Neither of them said anything more.

Xu Sheng stepped forward again, wings slightly spread, and raised the scarlet blade at his side.

The Man Faced Demon Spider lowered its body at the same time.

Its underside moved, and a speck of white suddenly spread wide.

"Web!"

Xu Sheng beat his wings and darted sideways.

The entire web spread open just past his side, unfurling toward the rear.

Bai Ji had already taken hold of the guide rope Ren Yu handed over and retreated behind the stone stakes. The web failed to catch anyone, but stuck fast between two tall rocks, sealing off a section of the path behind them.

They had one fewer way out.

Xu Sheng glanced back but didn't retreat toward the poisonous web again. He circled back to the front, raised his sword, and once more took up position between the demon spider and the mountain road.

"Old Pei, the same spot as before!"