Half-Magic Tool

Bayin, seeing no hope of escape, also became ferocious, swinging his claws and constantly clashing with the Human-faced Ghost Spider's legs.

The Human-faced Ghost Spider was clearly more powerful than the Unicorn Wolf Spider. Each collision between their legs produced sounds like metal striking metal, and its attack speed was increasing.

Bayin's arms moved continuously, but he was ultimately no match for the Human-faced Ghost Spider. In just a moment, his arms and body were slashed with seven or eight bloody wounds.

The intense pain and flowing blood ignited his ferocity. Bayin swatted away a stabbing leg, enduring the piercing of his right shoulder by another of the Human-faced Ghost Spider's legs, and charged beneath its abdomen.

With a sweep of his long claws, he tore three extremely deep gashes into the Human-faced Ghost Spider's abdomen.

The Human-faced Ghost Spider cried out in pain and swung the leg that had pierced its chest, flinging Bayin far away.

Bayin rolled repeatedly on the ground, crashing into a rock before coming to a stop.

Before he could even get up, a "pfft pfft" sound came from the air as one white spiderweb after another was sprayed from the Human-faced Ghost Spider's abdomen, enveloping him.

"Hiss hiss"

Sounds of sizzling followed, and wisps of white smoke immediately rose from Bayin's body. The places where his fur, flesh, and blood contacted the spiderwebs were all corroded, revealing shocking bloody gashes.

Especially at his wounds, the blood seemed to ignite as it was corroded by the spiderwebs.

The intense burning pain caused Bayin to writhe on the ground, howling. He frantically tore at the spiderwebs on his body, but for a time, he couldn't break free.

At this moment, the Human-faced Ghost Spider had already caught up.

Yuan Ming saw this and knew that the outcome was decided; Bayin had no chance of winning.

The Human-faced Ghost Spider raised one of its legs high and stabbed down fiercely. Bayin's howls abruptly ceased.

Just as Yuan Ming thought everything was settled, the leg the Human-faced Ghost Spider had stabbed down with began to move upwards stiffly.

Yuan Ming looked closely and saw that one of Bayin's hands was gripping that leg, slowly pushing it upwards, forcing it to rise.

Whether it was an illusion or not, he felt that Bayin's arm seemed to have thickened by a whole circle.

Then, with a "boom,"

The Human-faced Ghost Spider's body was suddenly flipped over by that arm, falling onto the ground with its eight legs facing the sky.

Bayin's body got back up, and Yuan Ming finally realized it wasn't an illusion; the entire creature had become thicker by a whole circle, its muscles outlining exaggerated, blocky lines.

It looked like large chunks of muscle piled together, strangely and awkwardly.

Before the Human-faced Ghost Spider could get up, Bayin charged forward, pounced, and directly rode on the Human-faced Ghost Spider's belly, swinging his two exaggeratedly thick arms, constantly striking the Human-faced Ghost Spider's body.

"Chichichichi"

Even from a distance, Yuan Ming could hear the sound of flesh being pierced.

The Human-faced Ghost Spider let out a wail for the first time, its voice like a baby's cry, somewhat high-pitched and unsettling.

But Bayin, at this moment, seemed to have fallen into a frenzy, his arms ceaselessly, almost mechanically, stabbing into the Human-faced Ghost Spider, piercing its abdomen until blood splattered and flesh was mangled.

The Human-faced Ghost Spider retracted its eight legs, its front two stabbing towards Bayin's chest, the middle two stabbing towards his neck from left and right, and the remaining four stabbing towards his back simultaneously.

This was clearly the Human-faced Ghost Spider's killing blow.

But Bayin was a step faster. After piercing its chest and abdomen, he gathered strength in his right arm and, straight as a knife, thrust it towards the Human-faced Ghost Spider's head.

Just as it was about to hit, a whistling sound abruptly cut through the air.

With a "chi" sound.

A Bronze Longsword shot through the air, piercing Bayin's right arm, causing his fatal blow to miss.

The Human-faced Ghost Spider, however, did not miss its opportunity. All eight of its legs pierced into Bayin's body, and blood splattered.

Bayin grunted, spitting up blood, and turned his head towards the valley entrance.

His eyes were bloodshot, a shadow cast over them by the crimson hue. He saw a White Ape standing there, still in the motion of throwing.

His lips moved, wanting to curse but unable to utter a sound before he breathed his last.

Beneath him, the Human-faced Ghost Spider was also heavily wounded. It struggled a few times, trying to get up but failing, not even having the strength to pull its legs out of Bayin's body.

Yuan Ming saw this and immediately scrambled forward on all fours in his White Ape form.

Upon reaching them, he didn't immediately go to check. Instead, he first picked up the Bronze Longsword before circling the Human-faced Ghost Spider to examine it.

Seeing that it truly had no power to resist, he then stepped forward and swung his sword, severing its head.

With its head gone, the Human-faced Ghost Spider's eight legs seemed to lose their support and sagged.

At the same time, Bayin, having lost his life, his body began to rapidly shrink, returning to human form. The Furred Beast Hide hung loosely on him, appearing somewhat slack.

Yuan Ming let out a long sigh, dispelled the Furring Technique, and took out a blood collection bag to gather the Human-faced Ghost Spider's blood.

After collecting it, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the human face on the Human-faced Ghost Spider's forehead beginning to shrink. It detached from the creature like a Human Skin Mask and slid onto the ground.

Yuan Ming was greatly surprised. He picked it up and rubbed and pulled at it, finding it surprisingly tough and somewhat unusual, so he put it away.

Then, he turned to the Human-faced Ghost Spider's belly and saw the shocking wound. He inwardly thought that Bayin was truly terrifying. If he had to fight him to the death, these last-ditch efforts used against him would not have been easily endured.

At this point, his gaze fell upon the Human-faced Ghost Spider's front two legs. He noticed that their flesh had withered, and the exposed bones had a faint metallic sheen, seemingly not ordinary things.

Yuan Ming immediately acted, pulling Bayin's corpse off the spider's legs and setting it aside. Then, he used the Bronze Longsword to cut through the leg joints, finally detaching them from the body.

"Zhao Tong will definitely be interested in this thing," Yuan Ming said with a smile, tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Next, he walked over to Bayin's side, took the blood storage pouch from him, and poured all the Blood Food stored inside into his own pouch. He then began searching his body for other items.

Just as Yuan Ming was about to take Bayin's Furred Beast Hide, he was surprised to find that the hide had already stuck to Bayin's head. Tearing it would rip off large chunks of flesh, so he had to give up.

Furthermore, Bayin's once robust body had become incredibly gaunt, as if his flesh and blood had melted away, which was very strange.

Finally, besides the blood storage pouch, the only other thing he found on Bayin was a Black Pottery Vial, barely an inch tall.

Upon opening it, a pungent, spicy aroma immediately wafted out. Inside were two red pills, each the size of a mung bean, but he had no idea what they were.

After collecting everything, Yuan Ming sat by the two corpses and rested for a long time. Only after his magical power and strength had recovered considerably did he get up again.

Looking at Bayin's body on the ground, Yuan Ming hesitated for a moment, then pulled it up and slung it over his shoulder, heading back into the valley.

As he neared the Sulphur Lake, Yuan Ming stopped and peered into it for a long time. He couldn't see the Unicorn Wolf Spider anywhere, guessing that it had escaped back to its lair, heavily wounded.

Then, Yuan Ming carried Bayin's corpse to the edge of the Sulphur Lake and threw it in.

At the place where the battle had occurred, he only found one relatively intact Beast Slave corpse and another that had been gnawed down to almost just a skeleton. Enduring the discomfort, he threw them both into the lake as well.

He couldn't find the last corpse at all; it had likely been dragged back to its cave by the Unicorn Wolf Spider, so he had no choice but to abandon the search.

Fortunately, the blood storage pouches from these three corpses were still there. Yuan Ming collected all the Blood Food from them. Combined with what he had collected earlier, he had about thirteen portions.

After tidying everything up, Yuan Ming left the valley with the Bronze Longsword and the Human-faced Ghost Spider's legs.

The next day, in Toad Valley.

Zhao Tong stared blankly at the Human-faced Ghost Spider legs Yuan Ming had brought back.

"Judging by its quality, this Human-faced Ghost Spider must have been beyond the third level of Qi Refining. Did you really kill it?" he asked, looking at Yuan Ming, who only had a few minor scratches.

"What if I didn't kill it, would you not take it?" Yuan Ming retorted.

"Of course I'll take it! These spider legs are in high demand, the guys at the Fire Refining Hall love them," Zhao Tong said with a broad smile, quickly taking the two items.

"Fire Refining Hall?" Yuan Ming asked, confused.

Zhao Tong shouldn't really be discussing sect matters with him, but he was too happy today, so he offered an explanation:

"It's the hall responsible for refining Magic Tools in the sect. You wouldn't understand even if I explained it."

"What is a Magic Tool?" Yuan Ming pressed.

"It's a powerful weapon," Zhao Tong replied dismissively, not wanting to elaborate.

Yuan Ming pondered this for a moment, then unfastened a cylindrical beast hide pouch from his waist and placed it on the table.

"What's this?" Zhao Tong asked, looking at it curiously.

Yuan Ming slowly unwrapped the beast hide pouch, revealing the Bronze Longsword inside, and said, "Take a look at this for me."

Zhao Tong glanced at the ancient Bronze Longsword. His expression shifted from disdain to a slight raising of his eyebrows, revealing a hint of surprise.

"This looks like a Half-Magic Tool. Where did you get it?" he asked, picking up the sword and examining it closely.

"I found it on the road while looking for Fierce Beasts," Yuan Ming replied with a casual excuse.

"Are you selling this? It's a bit old, but the materials used in its forging are quite solid. Even though it's just a Half-Magic Tool, it should be worth something," Zhao Tong commented.

"What is a Magic Tool, and why is this sword a Half-Magic Tool?" Yuan Ming asked, changing the subject instead of answering.

"Why are you asking so many questions today?" Zhao Tong pouted, sounding displeased.

Yuan Ming's expression remained unchanged. He reached out to take the sword back, saying, "If you don't know, I'll ask someone else."

"Who said I don't know?" Zhao Tong retorted, his eyes widening.

"Then please, tell me," Yuan Ming said with a smile.