The full moon hung like a silver plate.
The martial artists were all quietly cultivating. Mo Yan Yu's delicate figure was hidden among the branches of an ancient tree, her breathing long and steady. Kalu leaned against another tree, engrossed in a volume of the Poison Scripture, while the Medicine Slaves lay scattered across the wetland behind the Earth Dragon...
Shi Yan awoke from his cultivation and silently studied the terrain, calculating in secret.
Mo Yan Yu was at the front of the group, Kalu at the rear. They had him sandwiched between them. They appeared not to care about him at all, but from their positions, it was clear they were both secretly keeping an eye on him.
Qiang Sen seemed to know he might try something. He hadn't cultivated tonight, instead watching Shi Yan from a spot ten meters behind him. If Shi Yan so much as made the slightest suspicious move, Qiang Sen would notice at once and step in to stop him.
This wasn't good. Shi Yan grumbled to himself and continued waiting, hoping the others would let down their guard.
Time slipped by unnoticed. The bright moon soon disappeared, and dawn seemed not far off. Shi Yan still hadn't found a good opportunity to escape, and he couldn't help growing anxious. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to stop waiting and prepare to act.
"Clack! Clack-clack!"
Just then, a strange sound rose from the distance. From the noise, something seemed to be slowly approaching.
Shi Yan, who had been circulating his essence through his arms, suddenly brightened his eyes and perked up.
"Everyone, stay alert!" Mo Yan Yu called. She rose to her feet on the ancient tree and gazed into the distance from her elevated position. Then she cried out, "White Blade Jade Spiders!"
Every martial artist jolted awake from cultivation.
Their expressions grave, the martial artists hurriedly drew their weapons. Without waiting for Mo Yan Yu to say more, they gathered around the Earth Dragon, forming a circle around it, each standing five or six meters from the next.
Kalu put away the scripture in his hands, frowned, and went to the Earth Dragon's side. "Keep a close eye on the medicine jars on the Earth Dragon!"
"Yes!" the martial artists shouted.
The sleeping Medicine Slaves also awoke. As soon as they heard that White Blade Jade Spiders were approaching, they hurried toward the Earth Dragon in terror, clearly aware of how dangerous the spiders were.
"Clink!"
A ring of keys flew from Mo Yan Yu's hand and landed at Qiang Sen's feet. "Qiang Sen, unlock all the Medicine Slaves' shackles. I don't want them all killed by the White Blade Jade Spiders. Hurry!" Mo Yan Yu urged.
Qiang Sen picked up the keys and looked up at Mo Yan Yu. Pointing at Shi Yan, he asked, "Should I unlock his shackles too?"
"Unlock him. I don't want him to die too easily." Mo Yan Yu looked impatient.
"Kid, behave yourself. I'll be watching you the whole time!" Qiang Sen snorted. He first unlocked the shackles on Shi Yan's hands and feet, then went to the other Medicine Slaves and skillfully freed them from their restraints.
Heaven was helping him! With his shackles removed, Shi Yan felt entirely at ease and sneered to himself.
The Shi Family was a Martial Soul clan. Although the owner of this body hadn't become a martial artist, he had loved adventuring and searching for ancient ruins. He knew all sorts of demonic beasts well. When Mo Yan Yu mentioned the White Blade Jade Spiders, Shi Yan wasn't alarmed; he was delighted. He immediately realized that his chance to escape had come.
White Blade Jade Spiders were second-level demonic beasts. Their eight legs were sharp as blades, they liked to move about at night, and they lived in groups. Whenever they appeared, there were at least five or six of them. They were vicious by nature and liked to eat people. In the Gloomy Forest, the moment these White Blade Jade Spiders spotted humans, they were sure not to let them go.
Demonic beasts had thick hides and swift movements, and were often much larger than humans. Unless one was a powerful martial artist, anyone who encountered them was as good as dead or grievously wounded. The White Blade Jade Spider was only a second-level demonic beast, but it always came in groups of five or six. Combined with its speed—which ordinary martial artists couldn't match—it was a truly troublesome opponent.
In the Gloomy Forest, running into White Blade Jade Spiders was just bad luck. There was nothing valuable on these demonic beasts, yet they were extraordinarily aggressive. Agile and as swift as the wind, they would always charge at any humans they saw, and wouldn't leave until they had dealt them a serious blow.
Shi Yan silently walked toward the Earth Dragon and joined the frightened Medicine Slaves. He watched the situation in secret, not rushing to resist.
"Bad news! There are eight!"
Mo Yan Yu cried out from the ancient tree, her brows tightly furrowed and her lovely face grim. "They won't be easy to deal with. Stay sharp, everyone. Remember, once we engage, don't pursue them. The thicker the forest canopy, the greater their advantage. Whatever you do, don't fight them in the brush!"
"Clack-clack-clack! Clack-clack!"
The sound of blades piercing the earth drew closer. Before long, two White Blade Jade Spiders, each ten meters long and about one and a half meters tall, appeared first. Their bodies were snow-white, each the size of an ordinary car. Their eight legs resembled gleaming, razor-sharp knives.
The White Blade Jade Spiders advanced by moving their eight knife-like legs, with astonishing agility. Their speed was indeed terrifying. In an instant, they had reached the area. Their razor-sharp legs swayed, glinting coldly and chilling the heart. It wasn't hard to imagine the horrific injuries those blades would inflict if they slashed across someone's body.
The martial artists watched as the White Blade Jade Spiders appeared one after another, their expressions grave. Mo Yan Yu had already come down from the ancient tree and stood at the front of the group. Electricity coiled around her slender fingers as she readied herself to strike. Kalu sat inside the palanquin on the Earth Dragon, his eyes cold, but he showed no sign of panic.
At last, all eight White Blade Jade Spiders had gathered. They weren't unintelligent; instead, they spread out and surrounded the Earth Dragon, circling it like eight cars.
With a piercing shriek, all eight White Blade Jade Spiders surged forward. Their gleaming white legs swept through the air, and brilliant silver light shot toward the martial artists gathered in front of the Earth Dragon!
In an instant, blades flashed everywhere. The martial artists moved swiftly, dodging as they struck with their weapons, stabbing at the White Blade Jade Spiders' abdomens and compound eyes.
The scene descended into chaos!
The White Blade Jade Spiders surrounded the Earth Dragon, their legs raining down from all sides. The martial artists dodged left and right, thrusting their weapons again and again. Mo Yan Yu's Martial Soul erupted. Lightning coiled around both her hands, and arcs of blue electricity shot out, striking the White Blade Jade Spiders and making their bodies shudder repeatedly.
"Rip!"
One martial artist failed to react in time. A White Blade Jade Spider's leg slashed across his chest and abdomen. His shrill scream rang out as his intestines spilled from his belly. He fell dead on the spot.
The Medicine Slaves panicked and hurried to hide beneath the Earth Dragon. A few, terrified beyond reason, saw the blade-like legs slashing toward them and tried to squeeze through the gaps between the White Blade Jade Spiders, hoping to escape. The spiders' legs pinned them savagely to the ground, killing them where they stood.
Shi Yan's face was grim, his eyes glittering. He moved in small steps behind the martial artists, the shackles around his body clinking sharply.
"Crack!"
A Postnatal Second Heaven martial artist from the Mo Family who was in front of Shi Yan collided with another martial artist as they moved. He didn't dodge in time, and a White Blade Jade Spider's leg swept across his neck. His head flew high into the air, and blood splashed all over Shi Yan.
Covered in blood, Shi Yan could barely see through his blurred eyes. A frenzied, bloodthirsty thought suddenly erupted within him. The cyclones in the seven hundred and twenty acupoints throughout his body spun wildly, and a powerful suction surged out from within them.
The headless martial artist who had died in front of Shi Yan gradually withered. Threads of energy, which only Shi Yan could sense, flooded into him through every pore. Filled with despair, resentment, and madness, they flowed along his meridians and into all seven hundred and twenty of his acupoints.
In a daze, Shi Yan felt as though he had returned to the blood pool. Back then, the seven hundred and twenty acupoints in his body had also absorbed a great deal of blood. That blood had changed his acupoints, creating cyclones within them and expanding their capacity, allowing them to absorb blood more quickly.
Now, thin streams of energy, mixed with the martial artist's despair and resentment before death, entered his body along the same path. They flowed through his meridians and poured into his acupoints at incredible speed. The cyclones within them spun wildly, seemingly gulping down and digesting the energy they absorbed. It was indescribably strange.
In just ten seconds, the streams of energy stopped entering his body. The dead martial artist in front of Shi Yan had withered away completely, as if every drop of blood and every bit of essence had vanished. He looked like a corpse dried out by severe dehydration.
A bloodthirsty, violent thought abruptly erupted from the depths of Shi Yan's heart. As the seven hundred and twenty acupoints in his body spun, despair, fear, brutality, and evil quietly took root within him, seeming to urge him to slaughter everything in sight.
"Whoosh!"
A White Blade Jade Spider's leg slashed toward Shi Yan's head. He jolted in alarm, forcefully suppressing the bloodthirsty urge within him as he darted sideways beside another martial artist, narrowly evading the deadly strike.
"Rip!"
A White Blade Jade Spider cornered that martial artist. He thrust his sharp weapon fiercely into the spider's compound eye, blinding it. The spider struck wildly, slashing across the martial artist's waist. He was cut in half, dying a horrific death.
Shi Yan had just moved to the martial artist's side and was preparing to look for another safe spot when he suddenly noticed another change.
The strange suction in all his acupoints erupted again! From the martial artist who had been cut in two, energy mixed with fury and resentment flowed out, rushing into Shi Yan's meridians and pouring into every acupoint in his body.
Before long, the martial artist who had been severed in two had become a shriveled corpse as well.
Shi Yan was horrified!
Without needing to think, he immediately realized that another kind of Martial Soul was hidden inside his body. Rooted in all his acupoints, it could absorb the power of the dead. Such a Martial Soul was incredibly evil and bizarre. Even Shi Yan was shaken by it.
Just then!
Another White Blade Jade Spider let out a strange shriek. The six remaining spiders sprang backward together and fled into the dense forest.
The White Blade Jade Spiders had clearly realized this group was no easy prey. After losing two of their companions, they finally retreated.
Shi Yan's expression changed. He instantly shoved aside all thoughts of the bizarre Martial Soul within him. Without a second thought, he circulated all his essence into his feet and shot after the retreating White Blade Jade Spiders like lightning.
Only by joining the White Blade Jade Spiders could he find a chance to escape!
A warm current suddenly surged from all his acupoints and entered the essence within Shi Yan's body. His essence, which hadn't been particularly robust, suddenly became more refined and more than twice as powerful!
Shi Yan was overjoyed, his confidence soaring. As he charged after the White Blade Jade Spiders, he looked back at Mo Yan Yu and sneered, "Mo Yan Yu, you'd better wash up and wait for me. Sooner or later, I'll take you by force!"
"After him!" Mo Yan Yu's body trembled, her beautiful eyes blazing with fury as she chased after Shi Yan.
Kalu was even faster than her!
The poison alchemist had remained atop the Earth Dragon without making a move, as if he had been waiting for something all along. As Shi Yan charged toward the retreating White Blade Jade Spiders, Kalu leaped high from the Earth Dragon like a hawk and swooped toward Shi Yan first.
"Kid, I've been waiting for you to run for a long time." Kalu's sinister laughter rang out as he was still in midair.
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