Meeting Up

Zhang Zhongqin reacted extremely quickly, immediately darting up a towering ancient tree not far away. He scanned his surroundings and saw movement in the distant forest. Figures were climbing through the trees, their robes fluttering, revealing glimpses of their forms. It was Pei Ling!

"That brat is up ahead!" Zhang Zhongqin exclaimed with delight. He quickly informed his companions below the tree, "He seems to be lost, actually running towards us."

"We searched high and low and found him without effort." Huang Xian and Chen Mei were stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. Huang Xian cracked his knuckles as he moved forward, sneering, "I was afraid finding him would delay us and make us miss Chen Shixiong's timing. I didn't expect this brat to deliver himself to us."

They joyfully surrounded him. Pei Ling, fleeing for his life, soon noticed them and was overjoyed, as if seeing long-lost siblings. He rushed towards them, "Huang Shixiong! Zhang Shixiong! And Chen Shijie... I finally found you! By the way, why aren't Chen Shixiong and Xiao Shijie here?"

"They're waiting for you in the Soul Devouring Mother Array!" Huang Xian sneered and suddenly attacked, trying to grab him.

However, at that very moment, a blood-red light surged from Pei Ling's body, and his speed suddenly increased. In the nick of time, he flashed past them like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The gust of wind he stirred up even stung their faces!

Huang Xian and the other two were stunned, only then realizing something was wrong. Pei Ling had already vanished at high speed. As he ran, he shouted, "Two Shixiong, Chen Shixiong's task is complete. This fiend has been lured as planned... Hurry! Let's kill it together! Send it to reunite with those little brats!"

The three instinctively looked in the direction he came from. They saw several towering ancient trees being severed by legs, and through the gaps where they crashed down, a pair of crimson eyes glared at them with boundless rage!

Then, with a slight push of its eight legs, the colossal creature leaped into the air. The human-faced emblem on its abdomen completely extinguished the faint hope the three had. The enraged Human-Faced Spider, without a word, spat a web towards them.

Huang Xian and the other two were terrified and fled for their lives.

While Huang Xian and Zhang Zhongqin were alright, as their cultivation was at Qi Cultivation level five, they managed to force themselves to increase their speed at the critical moment, narrowly dodging the web. But Chen Mei wasn't so lucky. With only Qi Cultivation level four, she only had time to let out a scream before she was completely ensnared by the web.

The web was then dragged by a silk thread towards the Human-Faced Spider. Its ferocious mouthparts moved closer, and the ear-grating "crunching" sound, accompanied by screams, soon faded into silence.

Pei Ling glanced back and, while chilled to the bone, also felt a secret sense of relief. Better a fellow Daoist die than me! If it weren't for these people, he wouldn't have provoked the Human-Faced Spider. As the saying goes, the one who tied the bell must untie it. Whether he could safely escape back to Luoshan City now depended entirely on these "companions."

The problem was that Chen Mei was already dead after the first encounter. The remaining two probably wouldn't last long either. He had to create distance quickly and figure something out!

With that thought, Pei Ling suppressed his discomfort and forcefully channeled his spiritual energy. The Blood Snail Evasion Technique accelerated dramatically, turning him into a streak of blood-red light that instantly vanished into the sky.

Witnessing this, Huang Xian and Zhang Zhongqin's eyes blazed with fury: "Little beast!!!"

However, the Human-Faced Spider quickly finished devouring Chen Mei and resumed its pursuit. Although the two had a higher cultivation level than Pei Ling, they lacked such a superb evasion technique. Even with all their might, they could only watch helplessly as the Human-Faced Spider rapidly closed the distance between them.

Soon, a gust of foul wind hit the back of their necks. The broken branches and leaves stirred up by the Human-Faced Spider's legs as they slashed through the forest almost struck their backs.

"Damn it!" With pale faces, the two exchanged a glance in the midst of their panic. Their minds were connected, and almost simultaneously, they struck their chests with their palms. A flash of blue light flickered in their eyes, and they suddenly accelerated with a whoosh.

But at the same time, blood trickled from their seven orifices, making their contorted faces look terrifying as their auras rapidly declined.

This was the Chongming Sect's Blood Burning Great Method, which forcibly enhanced strength by burning one's vital blood, but the price was a severe drop in cultivation and a backlash of spiritual energy afterward.

It was akin to drinking poison to quench thirst.

But at this moment, the two had no better option.

"Let's go find Chen Shixiong!" Huang Xian, blood flowing from his lips, shouted hoarsely, "We can't hold on for long!"

Zhang Zhongqin understood this as well. Blood flowed faster from his seven orifices, and he moved through the forest like the wind.

After a while, Chen Huan, who was meditating and recovering by the Soul Devouring Mother Array, opened his eyes in suspicion. Xiao Tasha, who was gazing intently at his handsome face beside him, was about to speak when two blood-stained figures suddenly fell from above.

"Huang Shixiong! Zhang Shixiong?!" Xiao Tasha swallowed the words on her lips and exclaimed in shock, "What happened to you two?"

Huang Xian coughed, spitting out blood. He ignored her and quickly said to Chen Huan, "Chen Shixiong, the situation is bad! Pei Ling, that little beast, somehow provoked a Human-Faced Spider, and he has an incredibly fast evasion technique... Just now, Chen Mei Shimei was devoured by the Human-Faced Spider, and the little beast also escaped. We used the Blood Burning Great Method to temporarily shake off that fiend."

Xiao Tasha's eyes widened upon hearing this, and she gasped, "What? Isn't that Human-Faced Spider chasing this way? Chen Shixiong, we need to leave immediately!"

"Leave?" Chen Huan's expression darkened. He quickly calculated and then looked up, saying coldly, "We can leave, but what about Junior Brother Huang and Junior Brother Zhang? Can we outrun the Human-Faced Spider with them? Or do you want to abandon the two Junior Brothers?!"

"I..." Xiao Tasha had spoken instinctively, but hearing this, she couldn't help but feel awkward.

Seeing Huang Xian and Zhang Zhongqin cast venomous glances at her, she felt even more embarrassed and lowered her head in silence.

"We definitely can't leave," Chen Huan said to the two junior brothers, his voice rapid. "The only way now is to use the Soul Devouring Mother-Child Array."

He explained, "This array is already set up. Since the Human-Faced Spider will be chasing us soon, here's what we'll do: you two go into the sub-array below first and lure it in. Once the sub-array traps the Human-Faced Spider, Senior Sister Xiao and I will split up and run."

He then took out two talismans from his storage pouch and gave one to Huang Xian and Zhang Zhongqin each. "As for you two, in your current state, you definitely can't escape anymore. These are Breath Concealing Talismans, one for each of you. While the Human-Faced Spider is in the array, quickly find a corner to hide. When the time comes, even if the Human-Faced Spider can't find you immediately, it will surely chase us when it sees us escaping! This way, you'll be safe."

Huang Xian coughed, "Thank you, Shixiong! But that sub-array couldn't even trap Pei Ling..."

"Even if Pei Ling's cultivation isn't high, he's a living person, and it's highly likely he had some significant fortune before entering the sect," Chen Huan said calmly. "Although the Human-Faced Spider is a Foundation Establishment stage demonic beast, it's still a beast. It hasn't reached the point of transformation, and its intelligence is inferior to ordinary mortals! Besides, the sub-array can delay it for a while. Otherwise, none of us will escape!"

Huang Xian was about to say something more, but Xiao Tasha was already looking at Chen Huan with a pale face and said urgently, "This... Chen Shixiong, you want them to hide, and the two of us to run separately? What about me?"