Human-Faced Spider

He slammed his palm onto the table, making the oil lamp jump wildly. "But in these worldly affairs, what use are words and madness alone? Fists! Hard, solid fists! Cultivation! Monster Cores! Do you have them? You don't! You're not even in the Mortal Transformation Realm. What are you going to use to take on a great monster that's formed its core? Huh?"

"That's why I came to find you." Wang Quan's voice remained calm, yet carried an unyielding resolve. "Give me something that can make my fists harder. I'll stake my life for a chance, and give you a chance for revenge as well. You won't lose out on this deal."

Madman Xu stopped smiling. He stared fixedly at Wang Quan, as though he wanted to see through him inside and out. After a long while, he slowly exhaled a breath of foul air. The madness in his eyes settled, becoming an almost ruthless clarity.

"This world does indeed speak through fists, not mouths." He slowly sat back down on the filthy stool, his fingers tapping the tabletop unconsciously. "Since you've put it that way... I want to see your sincerity. Madness alone isn't enough. You need to bring out something real."

He extended three withered fingers. "I want monsters. Alive or dead, either will do, but they have to be fresh, with their Monster Qi not yet dispersed. At least three in the Spirit Awakening Realm. One in the Soul Sculpting Realm will do. When you have the ability to put them before me..."

A fanatical, obsessive light reignited in his eyes. Lowering his voice, he spoke as though sharing a world-shaking secret. "I'll give you the cultivation art I've spent more than a decade researching—the one I'm most proud of! That thing can give you a physique comparable to a monster in the same realm! Strength, defense, recovery... all far beyond an ordinary martial artist! And..." He licked his cracked lips, his voice carrying a seductive quality. "It can even give you the capital to challenge the Mortal Transformation Realm while you're still in the Martial Realm! Of course, there are risks too. No one's ever successfully practiced it. Heh heh."

He rummaged haphazardly through a battered wicker trunk beneath the table, pulled out several things, and shoved them all in front of Wang Quan.

A thin booklet with a yellowed, blank cover: "Shape-Shifting Art, low-grade Mortal rank. A little trick for altering muscles and bones and adjusting one's features and bearing. Once practiced to a high level, maintaining it for several hours won't be difficult. Take it!"

Another, slightly thicker booklet, its cover painted with strange blood-red Runes: "Blood Shadow Tracking Art! I came up with the name myself. How is it? Grand enough, right? It isn't some profound method, but it's practical! When activated, it consumes Blood Qi and lets you sense the Monster Qi left behind by monsters within a certain range. Monsters with deeper cultivation and stronger Blood Qi will appear brighter in your 'eyes.' From red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple, you can roughly distinguish their strength and characteristics. But it's only approximate, so don't trust it completely. It'll be enough for tracking."

He pulled over a folded, gray, inconspicuous coarse-cloth garment, along with a sheathed straight-bladed saber. The cloth felt rough and cold, while the scabbard was ordinary black wood with no decoration whatsoever.

"This clothing was soaked in a special medicinal solution and mixed with some powder scraped from a Shadow Monster's hide. It can help conceal the living aura on you. As long as you don't get too close or make too much noise, ordinary monsters won't easily smell you from far away. As for the saber..." He drew half the blade. Its surface was dull and even showed rough forging marks. Only near the guard was an extremely tiny, strange Rune carved, resembling a drop of blood. "There's nothing special about it. It's simply hard and sharp. But it has one advantage—it drinks blood! Monster blood, beast blood, even human blood will do! The more blood it drinks, the stronger it becomes. It'll slowly grow stronger and sharper on its own! Of course, there's a limit too. That depends on how much you can feed it."

Madman Xu shoved the items forward, his eyes returning to that reckless madness. "I've shown my sincerity first. Now it's your turn. Come back with what I want, and then we'll discuss that 'proudest work.' Scram. Don't disturb my research!"

Wang Quan gave Madman Xu a deep look. Without saying anything more, he gathered the items from the table one by one and clasped his fists. "I'll be back."

He turned and strode out of the foul-smelling room.

He did not return to his lodging. Instead, he went straight out of the village and found a secluded, deserted barren slope. First, he opened the Shape-Shifting Art. The contents were not complicated. It mainly involved controlling minute movements of the face, neck, and specific muscles throughout the body, as well as temporarily shifting bones to alter one's appearance and build. It demanded considerable control over Blood Qi. But for Wang Quan, who had already reached the Martial Realm, entered the Turtle Snake Coiling Dragon Strength, and greatly improved his control over his own Blood Qi, it was not difficult to understand.

[Shape-Shifting Art can be raised to Minor Mastery. This will consume 2 points. Raise it?]

"Raise it!"

Two points were deducted, leaving him with two points. A warm current surged across his cheeks, neck, and the tiny muscle groups throughout his body, accompanied by a slight soreness and swelling. Countless tricks for precisely controlling those muscles and bones and transforming them into all kinds of forms flooded into his mind. With a thought, the muscles on his face slowly writhed. His nose seemed to grow a little higher, his cheekbones protruded more, and the corners of his eyes pulled downward. His entire air immediately became much more sinister. He tried adjusting his build as well. His shoulders seemed broader and thicker, while his back humped slightly. After fussing around for more than a dozen breaths, he took out a small polished piece of iron from his clothing and used it as a mirror. Reflected within was the completely unfamiliar face of a tough-looking man radiating a ruthless edge.

"Not bad. It can last two or three hours, and the Blood Qi consumption is manageable."

Next came the Blood Shadow Tracking Art. This thing was more like a special method of using Blood Qi. By gathering a thread of Blood Qi in his eyes and circulating it along a specific route, he could see the traces of Monster Qi and Blood Qi invisible to ordinary people. They would also appear in different colors according to their strength and characteristics. Entering it was not difficult; it mainly relied on perception.

"Raise the Blood Shadow Tracking Art to Minor Mastery too."

The Skill Points decreased by another two, leaving zero. At the instant the Blood Shadow Tracking Art reached Minor Mastery and merged with his own perception, Wang Quan felt something stir faintly in his mind, as though some invisible barrier had shattered. A notification sound followed:

[Detected auxiliary perception skill Blood Shadow Tracking Art (Minor Mastery). It may synergize with the system's underlying perception module. Perform preliminary fusion and unlock enhanced functions for Active Exploration Mode? Warning: After fusion, this skill's effects will receive system enhancement, but active use will simultaneously consume mental power and Blood Qi.]

"Fuse." Wang Quan activated it with a thought.

[Fusion complete. Active Exploration Mode expanded. It can combine with Blood Shadow Tracking Art to more precisely mark, track, and conduct preliminary analysis of Monster Qi, Blood Qi, and other energies.]

He mentally communicated with the notification in his mind:

"Activate Active Exploration Mode. Search for the strongest Monster Qi nearby. Using my current strength as the baseline, assess the potential threat level."

[Command confirmed. Active Exploration Mode activated. Consuming a trace amount of mental power. Continuous scanning in progress.]

[Warning: A relatively strong Monster Qi reaction has been detected to the northeast. Quantity: ≥3. Strength assessment: mid-to-late Spirit Awakening Realm. Threat level: Moderate.]

[A weak but abnormal mental fluctuation residue has been detected due east. It partially matches the characteristics of the Echo Realm nightmare-type demon from earlier. Threat level: Indeterminate.]

[A weak Monster Qi reaction has been detected to the northwest. Quantity: 1. Strength assessment: early Spirit Awakening Realm. Condition appears poor. Threat level: Low.]

After changing into the gray cloth garment Madman Xu had given him, he felt nothing special. But when he deliberately restrained his aura and circulated the Turtle-Snake Force until it settled into stillness, the vivid Blood Qi emanating from him truly seemed to be concealed for the most part, as though he had merged with the surrounding drab, lifeless environment.

Guided by the vision of his spiritual perception, Wang Quan moved soundlessly through the shadows of grass, trees, and rocks. The gray cloth garment truly had something to it. Carefully concealing his aura, he encountered two hyena-like beasts with their heads lowered as they gnawed at carrion. The two beasts merely raised their heads warily, twitched their noses as they sniffed the air, and swept their murky eyes over the pile of rocks where he was hiding. Finding nothing amiss, they lowered their heads and continued tearing into the carrion.

That dim crimson Monster Qi, mixed with ashen Death Qi, grew clearer and clearer. At last, he stopped on the shaded side of a mountain hollow. Before him was a cave entrance mostly concealed by dense vines, about twice the height of a person. Only an irregular, pitch-black opening showed through. A strong, fishy stench mixed with the sour stink of something rotting drifted out from within. Small bones and traces of dried, blackened mucus lay scattered across the ground at the entrance.

The cave was pitch-black. With Wang Quan's current eyesight, he could only just make out the jagged outlines of the nearby rock walls. He tightened his grip around the Blood Drinking Saber's hilt. The cold touch steadied his mind. Holding his breath, he listened intently. From deep within the cave came faint, sticky scraping sounds, as though something heavy were slowly dragging itself across the rough ground, mixed with low panting like sandpaper rubbing against itself.

He bent his body and lightened his steps, creeping into the cave like a civet cat. In his spiritual perception, the crimson glow representing the Monster Qi was not far ahead, but the winding cave walls blocked his view, leaving him unable to see exactly what it was. The farther in he went, the heavier the stench became. The ground beneath his feet also turned wet and sticky, making a faint squelching sound with every step.

After rounding a bend, the cave ahead widened slightly. Several cracks in the ceiling let in a little faint daylight, providing some illumination. Beneath that murky light, Wang Quan saw the source of the Monster Qi, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

It was a black giant spider that occupied nearly half the cave. Its enormous body crouched atop a heap of jumbled white bones and rotting matter. Eight legs covered in coarse, rigid bristles, like black-iron spears, curled against its sides. The two legs nearest the right side of its abdomen were twisted unnaturally, their wounds caked in thick, dark-green scabs while foul mucus slowly seeped outward. Most chilling of all, on its swollen black abdomen, covered in bizarre patterns, there faintly emerged the twisted outline of a human face filled with pain. It rose and fell slightly with every breath, as though silently wailing.

At the same moment Wang Quan saw it, the giant spider seemed to sense him as well. Its enormous body shifted ever so slightly. Before its head, four pairs of cold, eerie green compound eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness like eight wavering ghost fires, instantly locking onto Wang Quan's blurry figure at the cave entrance.

"Who?"

A sharp, hoarse voice, as though fingernails were scraping bone, suddenly rang out from within the cave, carrying undisguised irritability and malice.

The hair all over Wang Quan's body stood on end, and his heart nearly stopped for a beat.

In the blink of an eye, countless thoughts flashed through his mind, but his body's instincts moved faster than his brain. The instant those four pairs of oily-green compound eyes fixed on him, his knees weakened and he dropped to the cold, slippery ground with a thud. He lowered his head deeply, nearly touching the floor. His voice trembled beyond recognition with terror as he stammered:

"L-Lord, spare me. I-I only wandered in by mistake. I-I didn't mean to trespass. I-I'll leave right now. I'll get out. I-I'd never dare disturb your peace."

As he spoke, his body trembled like a sieve. He lowered his head even further, hunching his shoulders. The hand holding the saber hung seemingly limply at his side, yet his fingertips had turned white from gripping it so hard. Every tiny movement was utterly lifelike—the pitiful Blood Tax terrified witless by a dreadful monster, thinking only of kneeling and begging for mercy.

The giant spider let out a cold sneer. The green radiance of its compound eyes grew brighter, carrying the cruelty of something looking down from on high and toying with its prey. "Did I tell you to leave?"

It slowly adjusted its posture. When its injured leg shifted, it brought on a painful tremor, making its voice even more irritable. "You come when you want and leave when you want? What do you think this place is? A market gate? You lowly Blood Tax!"

It spat out the final four words with utter contempt and scorn.

Wang Quan's entire body trembled. He suddenly knocked his head against the ground, his forehead touching cold, slippery moss and grime. His voice carried a sobbing note. "L-Lord, forgive me. This lowly one deserves to die. I was blind. Lord, what orders do you have? I-I'll do anything, even if it costs me ten thousand lives. I-I'll give it everything I have. I only beg you, please show mercy and spare this lowly dog's life. Please!"

While begging, he used the motion of bowing his head to sweep a quick glance at the giant spider from the corner of his eye. Beneath the human-face pattern on its abdomen, the carapace seemed to have an inconspicuous crack, with the surrounding color noticeably darker. The wounds on those two twisted legs seeped something tinged with an ashen hue. In the vision of his spiritual perception, although the crimson Monster Qi was not small in volume, its core was indeed entangled with dense gray-black Death Qi, and its circulation was extremely sluggish. Its injuries were clearly severe, and no ordinary flesh wound. This might be his only chance.

The giant spider seemed to enjoy Wang Quan's obsequious appearance. It was also possible that its injuries had left it urgently in need of nourishment and labor. Its sharp voice rang out again, carrying an unquestionable tone of command. "Orders? As it happens, I do have a little task here that could use a lowly thing like you."

The human-face pattern on its abdomen seemed to twist as it made a sticky sound. "I'm a little hungry. Go. Find me some Blood Food. It has to be fresh and lively. Preferably some tender-skinned young brats. They're nourishing."

Wang Quan trembled even more violently as he lay prostrate on the ground, his voice shaking. "Y-Yes, yes, Lord. I-I'll go now. I'll find some for you." He seemed to scramble hurriedly to his feet, but his legs gave way and he staggered. His hands fumbled all over his body as though searching for something he could rely on or offer up. Suddenly, his movements stopped, as if he had remembered something. He pulled a rough little wooden box from his clothes and raised it high in both hands, his voice carrying a hint of hope and ingratiation.

"L-Lord. I-I have a medicinal pill here that I happened to obtain. They say, they say it's remarkably effective for external wounds. Perhaps, perhaps it could help with your injuries? I-I'm willing to offer it to you. I only ask that you give me a few more days. I-I'll definitely find you the most nourishing Blood Food."

"A medicinal pill?" The giant spider's compound eyes flickered, revealing a trace of greed and suspicion. It did not expect a Blood Food to possess anything worthwhile, but its injuries tormented it, and it was unwilling to let go of any possibility. "Bring it over. Let me have a look."

"Y-Yes, yes." Wang Quan hurriedly answered. Hunched over with his head lowered, he held the wooden box in both hands and shuffled toward the giant spider one tiny step at a time, his posture humble to the extreme. His movements appeared slow and cautious, filled with fear.

When he had come to within a little more than ten yards of the giant spider's hideous mouthparts, the giant spider suddenly shouted sharply, "Stop!"

Wang Quan's body stiffened. He stopped where he was, his hands holding the wooden box trembling faintly. He raised his head blankly, his face filled with terror and confusion. "L-Lord? What's wrong?"

The giant spider's compound eyes stared coldly at him, especially at his lowered right hand, which gripped the saber's scabbard. Its sharp voice carried suspicion and command. "Just throw it over. Who allowed you to come so close? You lowly thing."

The color instantly drained from Wang Quan's face, as though he had been scared witless. Yet within that utmost terror, a nearly frenzied cold glint flashed deep in his lowered eyes. Maintaining the posture of holding the box in both hands, he trembled violently from fear. His voice also took on a strange pitch, sounding like an unconscious mutter, yet also like a question.

"W-What is it, Lord? A-Are you afraid of me coming closer?"

His voice was not loud, but in the silent cave, it rang exceptionally clear.

The giant spider was visibly stunned. It seemingly had not expected this Blood Tax, lowly as an ant and trembling all over with fear, to suddenly blurt out such a sentence. Immediately afterward, boundless rage drowned out its simple mind.

"What did you say?" The sharp screech nearly pierced his eardrums. Its eerie green compound eyes suddenly blazed with terrifying light from fury. "You piece of filth. Say that again. You want to die, don't you?"