Chen Dengming had long suspected that within the territory controlled by the Luo and Zhu families, only one kind of Spider Demon Beast was rampant—the most numerous, the most bloodthirsty, and the most prone to eating people.
He suspected as much because, from beginning to end, he had only ever found traces left by this one kind of beast: the distinctive, frequent footsteps, as if blades were chopping into the ground, and the sticky, disgusting webs.
Though he had been secluded in the valley these past days, he had occasionally heard terrified, anguished cries from the distant mountains. Their drawn-out, piercing quality left little doubt that someone was being hunted by a Demon Beast.
When ordinary people fought among themselves, their clashes usually began and ended quickly. The dying did not scream in such hysterical terror, the sound of which made one's heart quail.
Now, Chen Dengming was carefully following the traces of a fight between a cultivator and a Demon Beast that he had discovered earlier.
The beast's tracks were too close to the valley, and the person who had met with misfortune might well have been Jiang Qiang.
Whether to ensure the area around the valley was safe or to confirm his companion's safety, he had to cautiously check whether any of those Spider Demon Beasts were still lurking nearby.
The sun was sinking, and the sky was growing darker by the minute.
The cold wind cut like ice knives, and the bare branches all around shuddered stiffly.
Chen Dengming summoned the defensive ancient bell he had taken as spoils of war. It spun around him.
Though the bell was only a low-grade magical artifact and had already been split by his Ice Spirit Blade, its defensive power still rivaled two layers of the Vajra Shield Technique. At a critical moment, it could save his life.
He sensed the surroundings with his spiritual awareness, his robes fluttering as he advanced cautiously through the fading light.
To keep a better watch over the area, he sent the Blood Centipede Gu and Golden Silkworm Gu a hundred zhang ahead and behind to keep watch, then released several Snake Gu from his sleeves to serve as moving eyes in every direction.
The Snake Gu had been specially refined and were unlike ordinary snakes; they could still move about in cold weather.
With all these preparations, even if danger really did appear, he would have ample time and room to retreat.
He had gone only a few hundred zhang when the Blood Centipede Gu, connected to his thoughts, sent a warning.
Chen Dengming immediately stopped and hid behind a tree. Frowning, he directed the Blood Centipede Gu to fly toward the suspicious spot and investigate, while signaling the Golden Silkworm Gu to come near and guard him.
A moment later.
Chen Dengming stood outside a nearby thicket, his expression grim.
By now, darkness had fallen completely.
He didn't need to light a fire starter. He focused his power in his eyes and could see clearly among the dark trees ahead: spiderwebs and revolting slime were everywhere, some even giving off a faint spiritual glow.
Between some of the webs hung bulging bundles like giant insect cocoons. Something seemed to be writhing inside them, making faint noises.
"When did this place become a Spider Demon Beast lair? Or should I say, a restaurant?"
The spot was very close to the valley. Chen Dengming felt a chill in his heart. He hadn't even realized such a horrifying place was right beside him.
He looked around but saw no sign of any Spider Demon Beasts. Carefully approaching one of the bundles, he peered inside and recoiled in shock.
Inside the bundle, covered in slime and spiderwebs, was a person—a corpse that had been dead for quite some time.
Countless tiny spiders had chewed wounds into the corpse. They crawled in and out of the flesh and blood, feasting as if at a winter banquet for young Demon Beasts. The sight made his heart quail.
"Damn it!"
With a dark expression, Chen Dengming continued searching carefully. At last, he breathed a sigh of relief: he hadn't found Jiang Qiang.
He had, however, found a living cultivator inside one of the bundles that was still writhing.
To his surprise, it was someone he knew—the cultivator from the Merchant Alliance whom he had encountered a month earlier.
Back then, the man had been traveling in a small team with that middle-aged cultivator.
The middle-aged cultivator had even invited him to join them at night and band together against the Demon Beasts, but he had politely declined.
He never imagined the man would still fall prey to the beasts.
The man's condition was truly wretched. His entire body had been riddled with wounds by soybean-sized, nearly transparent spiders, and his internal organs were faintly visible.
Even smaller spiders, no bigger than sesame seeds, writhed in his blood vessels and eyes, drawing nutrients and growing. He was worse than dead.
There was no saving him. He had become a nourishing packet for the Spider Demon Beasts' young.
A living cultivator's body was full of spiritual energy and slow to die, so it clearly provided nourishment for longer. The Demon Beasts knew how to eat well.
But for a cultivator, this was more painful than dying outright.
He had to endure the agony of countless insects gnawing at him, helplessly watching in terror as he was eaten alive, dying bit by bit.
Chen Dengming could even see a hint of pleading in the cultivator's eyes.
The beautiful fantasy of cultivators soaring through the skies, vanquishing demons and monsters, and wiping out Demon Beasts with a wave of the hand ultimately had to bow before the cold cruelty of reality.
Chen Dengming looked around at the bundles of 'corpses' hanging from the webs.
Some had once been innocent animals, others innocent people. He felt nothing but oppression and fury.
Even though he had roamed the Martial World and braved the Cultivation World, with no small amount of blood on his hands,
seeing living people reduced to nourishing packets still made his heart ache. After all, they were his kind; when the hare dies, the fox grieves.
"I've seen enough killing and enough people being killed over the years that nothing can move me. But watching someone being devoured alive..."
Chen Dengming looked at the miserable scene around him, like a living hell. This restaurant was even so close to the valley. If he let things continue, wouldn't spiders soon be everywhere?
"To pull up the grass, you must uproot it! To cut off the descendants, first wipe out the offspring! I'll let these beasts mourn first and make sure the area is safe."
He drew a deep breath, his eyes gradually brightening until they blazed.
Suddenly, he leapt into the air. With a heart full of rage and a murderous aura that churned the rivers and seas, he swung an astonishing blade upward!
"One blade, three thousand li long, can cleanse the demon sea. What else for my enemies, but a blood-drenched blade—"
This was the wildness of his mad blade, a strike that had been building for so long amid this cruel environment where people were eaten alive!
However cautious and timid he might usually be, his nature still concealed a streak of arrogance and fiery passion. That was how he refused to yield to others, climbed ever higher, and made a name for himself in a single stroke.
"On Green Hill, dance, mad dragon!"
A thunderous boom!
The blade aura, several zhang long, split the webs in two. Its fierce, surging force cleaved through a large tree as well, sending its halves crashing down on either side!
Countless tiny spiders poured out, swarming toward him in a dense mass.
Chen Dengming sheathed his blade. His eyes flashed with fierce authority, white hair fluttered at his temples, and his robes snapped in the wind. His hands formed hand seals as quickly as phantoms, and one Great Fireball Technique after another shot out in rapid succession.
In an instant, flames soared into the sky, rumbling and exploding. Countless tiny spiders disappeared beneath the barrage of fire.
Chen Dengming moved like lightning, using the Divine Speed Technique to race across the sea of flames and flee, swift as the wind and lightning.
From the distant darkness came the echo of an enraged Demon Beast's roar.
A little less than half a teacup's time later.
A massive spider radiating a fierce, baleful aura suddenly appeared amid the blazing forest. It raised its head and let out a painful howl.
Farther away, atop a treetop, Chen Dengming watched the fiery spot where the roar came from, his expression grave and troubled.
Feeling the spiritual might radiating from the Spider Demon Beast, his heart sank.
It was a Demon Beast at least at the Qi Cultivation Fourth Level.
It seemed to be roughly his match in strength, but Demon Beasts had thick skin and tough flesh, moved with astonishing speed, and struck swiftly. Their combat strength far exceeded that of cultivators at the same level.
The commotion was so great that nearly everyone within a dozen li could see it and hear the beast's roar.
In the darkness, who knew how many ordinary people and cultivators were trembling in fear and panic?
Thankfully, he had left long ago. He had killed the little ones and run; the big one could only fly into a helpless rage now, with no one left to take revenge on!
Chen Dengming watched for a while, then indulged himself for once, gripping a Spirit Stone to quickly restore his spiritual energy.
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