Spider Demon

Li Qingjun likely went out to relieve herself. With a large group of outsiders present, it was difficult for Li Qingjun to lower her dignity and do so, so she had to hold it in and sit back by the bonfire. Qin Yi could only slump back as well, enduring Li Qingjun's gaze as if he were a hooligan.

He just wanted to know if the arrival of these martial artists would startle the demons.

The bonfire flickered, and a group of martial artists casually entered, chatting and laughing boisterously.

Meeting travelers seeking shelter from the rain in a Taoist temple was commonplace for martial artists. They didn't take Qin Yi and the others seriously. Their eyes lingered on the long spears of the Li siblings for a moment, but they weren't looking for trouble. Instead, someone chuckled, "Such a pretty boy, actually playing with a spear."

Qin Yi thought, This is bad, but saw Li Qingjun slowly eating her dry rations, ignoring the provocation.

Since she didn't respond, the others wouldn't cause trouble for no reason. They just sneered and said nothing more, turning to talk about their own affairs.

Qin Yi looked at Li Qingjun with some surprise. This person's temper isn't usually this good...

Li Qingjun glanced at him sideways and said, "You said you'd get rid of the spiderwebs, didn't you? Why are you just sitting there?"

Qin Yi replied casually, "When it's just us, we can do a thorough cleaning to make things tidy. Why should I clean for this group of outsiders?"

"Pah, who's 'us'?" Li Qingjun spat, but didn't insist on the web-cleaning anymore. It seemed she also felt unwilling to clean for this group of rude people.

The martial artists' conversations drifted over, sentence by sentence.

"Did you hear? Zhang Family Village outside Hengshan County is haunted. The village master was killed by a ghost."

"Haunted? Pine Hermit Priest went to see and came back saying there were no ghosts, the person died of illness."

"If Pine Hermit Priest said no, then there's no ghost." The others looked convinced. "He's a man of the Tao, he can hold true fire in his mouth and put his hand in a pot of oil."

"In that case, the Zhang family didn't cultivate good karma and suffered retribution."

The opinions of several people aligned, and they laughed loudly, "Exactly. What good things do those rich families have? Maybe someday we'll rob the rich and help the poor."

Li Qinglin sipped his wine, a slight smile on his face. Qin Yi knew what he was smiling at; it was a cold smile. This country was so steeped in belief in immortals and gods that even martial artists believed in them. It was no wonder that even the trick of putting one's hand in a pot of oil could be so popular. It was also no wonder that those with insight were dissatisfied.

Qin Yi felt even more troubled than Li Qinglin at this moment, because the loud noise from this group of people was very likely to provoke the demons here, but he couldn't find a reason to stop them.

This wasn't his place, so why should he tell people to be quiet? It was also unrealistic to expect martial artists to speak softly.

The topic of the martial artists shifted again: "That matter with the Lin Family..."

Someone immediately responded, "They deserved it. The National Teacher wanted Blazing Flint, searched the whole country and couldn't find it, but that old man from the Lin Family clearly had it and dared to hide it."

"Wasn't that for King Wude to refine an elixir of longevity? This time it's Blazing Flint, last time it was harvesting Vermillion Violet Grass throughout the entire territory, causing widespread searching and public resentment. I say old man Lin did the right thing, he shouldn't have given it to this foolish king."

"What do you know? What does it matter to us if the foolish king dies or not? The National Teacher is a true immortal, you can't offend him!"

"Sigh... you say he's a true immortal, so why would he refine elixirs for a foolish king?"

On the side, Li Qinglin was still smiling, but Li Qingjun couldn't hold back any longer and angrily said, "Vermillion Violet Grass, Blazing Flint, it's all the National Teacher's doing! You don't blame the National Teacher, but you hate the king?"

A martial artist glanced at her sideways and said, "If the king didn't ask the National Teacher to refine elixirs, why would a true immortal do these things? County officials use the name of these things to extort everything, is that also the National Teacher's doing? Isn't the root of the problem with the king?"

Li Qingjun wanted to retort, but Li Qinglin handed her a piece of cake. "Eat something."

Li Qingjun held back, eating the cake sullenly. This time, the martial artists didn't let her off. A big man sneered, "Oh, even eating a cake is so effeminate. Is this a little rabbit from the capital? Most likely selling his backside to officials and nobles, no wonder he speaks up for the king."

Qin Yi looked at Li Qingjun's face, which was turning purple with anger, and suddenly said, "I advise everyone to watch their words."

Someone sneered, "What, are you going to report us to the authorities?"

A burst of laughter erupted, shaking the roof tiles, and sand and dust sifted down, landing on the spiderwebs.

Qin Yi said calmly, "Don't say I didn't warn you, you can laugh louder."

The big man who had mocked Li Qingjun as a 'bunny boy' stood up, threw his head back, and roared with laughter, "Yeah, I'm laughing, what are you going to do about it?"

Before his words finished, his laughter suddenly stopped as if cut off in his throat. Everyone could see a small spider drop from the beam, landing right in his wide-open mouth. The big man's face turned green.

"Brother!" A group of people panicked and rushed to support the big man. The big man bent over, trying to spit out the spider, but how could he? Only dry retching remained. Qin Yi felt a sympathetic pang just listening to him.

Li Qingjun quietly asked Qin Yi, "Your doing?"

Qin Yi whispered back, "No, there's likely a demon lurking here. Be careful."

Li Qingjun's face changed. "You just stopped me from touching the spiderweb, stopped me from going out..."

"Yes."

Li Qingjun fell silent.

Similarly, those Jianghu people didn't dare to speak loudly anymore. Qin Yi had warned them not to be loud, and in the blink of an eye, someone actually ate a spider, making them feel a bit eerie. For a moment, they forgot to continue looking for trouble. The big man covered his throat and walked towards the back door, wanting to rinse his mouth with rainwater.

Just as he rounded the temple's shrine, the big man's eyes suddenly lit up. "There's a huge coral tree by the back door!"

Qin Yi and Li Qinglin exchanged glances. When they first came in, they had looked around and hadn't seen any coral tree. Qin Yi's heart sank. This must be a trap set by the demon, and it was starting to bait them.

Catching people and catching insects were essentially no different; it was all about using bait to attract them.

The group of Jianghu people all swarmed towards the back door. Li Qingjun couldn't help but say, "Don't go out, it's a trap!"

But who listened to her? In the middle of the backyard, a treasure tree stood prominently, shimmering with colorful light in the night rain, incredibly tempting. The big man was already the first to rush out the door, touching the tree with one hand. "It really is coral, such a big coral tree..."

Nothing happened when he touched it, so even fewer people listened to Li Qingjun's advice. A group of people swarmed forward, their eyes filled with greedy light.

Li Qingjun stood by the shrine, looking out the back door, and watched with wide eyes as thin white threads "hissed" out of the big man's eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The scene was extremely bizarre, yet the people surrounding him seemed oblivious.

The sight of white threads drilling out of a person's seven orifices was truly disgusting. Li Qingjun covered her mouth, almost throwing up.

The next moment, the white threads surged, and ten thousand white rays seemed to drill out of every pore of the big man. In just the blink of an eye, they tightly wrapped everyone around him, turning them into seven or eight human-shaped white cocoons. The big man himself completely exploded, and a spider tore open his chest and abdomen, drilling out from his heart area, and then slowly grew larger until it became a spider monster the size of a carriage.

Its body was still that of a spider, but on its head grew a human face with protruding fangs, looking ferocious.

There was no coral tree at all; it was clearly just a crooked, withered tree covered in spiderwebs. The treasure-like colors on the "coral" now looked like the decaying flesh of rats and cockroaches.

Li Qinglin drank his wine in silence. Li Qingjun stood by, watching the entire process, tightly gripping her long spear, her hands trembling slightly. It was clear she felt some fear towards the image of the spider demon.

A demon tiger still looked like a tiger, but this large spider with a human face gave a completely different feeling; it was very disgusting.

Coupled with the big man's corpse lying on the ground with his internal organs completely empty, and small spiders crawling all over his body, the scene was even more bloody and bizarre.

Qin Yi also felt very disgusted and his hair stood on end. He suddenly thought, out of the blue, of some seniors who had transmigrated to D&D and romanced Lolth, the Spider Queen. They were truly tough guys...

Liu Su's voice rose in his sea of consciousness. "You have two choices. The first is that this demon still has a tacit understanding with us. As long as we don't destroy anything, we can coexist peacefully and might even gain some friendship. However, I suggest you choose the second option. This demon already has a human face, and its magic is also very interesting. This is a characteristic of the Spirit Communication Stage nearing completion. If it eats all these people, it might break through and produce a Demon Core. We can then kill it and take the core, which can..."

Before she finished speaking, Li Qingjun took a deep breath, and her long spear shot out like a streak of light, heading straight for the spider demon. "Monster, don't harm human lives!"