You're Too badly Injured to Be Going Back

"Phew! Hah! Phew! Hah!"

The Spider Queen gasped with difficulty. Of the five spiked legs it had left, two more had snapped off. Now it had two legs on one side of its body and one on the other.

Not only that, most of the nine scarlet eyes on its head had gone blind.

There was no holding back in a battle between Demonic Beasts. They fought on instinct, and every move was deadly.

The Spider Queen was in a sorry state, but the Six-Whiskered Catfish was no better off.

It had been affected by the Spider Queen's Slow Demon Eye the entire time, and the Spider Queen had injected it with a great deal of venom. Now it was covered in wounds and couldn't move at all, bound in a ball by the Spider Queen's Toughness webs and held motionless atop the web.

The winner was clear. The Spider Queen had won, but at a terrible cost.

"So they're done already." Ji Ruo smacked his lips. "Tsk, tsk. They fought viciously."

Liang Shixian whispered a warning. "Ji Ruo! Stop talking. If that thing notices us, we're in trouble!"

With most of its legs missing, the Spider Queen could barely keep its balance on the web.

But fortunately, it had won. None of that mattered now.

Demonic Beasts advanced in a rather special way. Devouring powerful Demonic Beasts, Monster Beasts, or martial artists could greatly increase their strength, and any injuries they sustained in battle would heal at a terrifying rate.

So as long as they were still alive, no matter how badly they were hurt, it didn't matter. Winning was all that counted.

Of course, a Demonic Beast's evolutionary path wasn't fixed. After devouring powerful beings, its species might even change.

Ji Ruo could almost picture it: after the Spider Queen devoured and digested the Six-Whiskered Catfish, its form of life would surely change. By then, it might no longer be a Nine-Eyed Demon Spider.

After catching its breath for a moment, the remaining Demon Eyes on the Spider Queen's head suddenly glowed red.

Lying on the ground, Ji Ruo and the others watched as the web that had served as the battlefield began to contract, binding the Six-Whiskered Catfish even more tightly.

At the same time, the webs wrapped around the Spider Queen's body, turning into spiked legs and sealing its wounds—it was actually repairing its ruined body with webbing!

Of course, those web limbs weren't as strong as its original legs, but they were just about good enough to serve as prosthetics for moving around.

It had no intention of devouring the Six-Whiskered Catfish here. Demonic Beasts were extremely vulnerable while advancing, and doing so here would be dangerous.

So no matter how tempting the Six-Whiskered Catfish was, it had to hold back. It would wait until it returned to its lair and laid down a fresh web before devouring it.

Incidentally, the reason Demonic Beasts were called Demonic Beasts, apart from their strange way of advancing, was that they all possessed several special abilities to varying degrees.

The Nine-Eyed Demon Spider, for example, had the special ability Slow Demon Eye, which could reduce its prey's speed.

What's more, as a spider-type Demonic Beast, it also possessed several abilities common to spider Demonic Beasts.

Abilities such as "Venom Production" and "Web Control."

"Thump!"

The Spider Queen tumbled down with the dying Six-Whiskered Catfish on its back, no longer as nimble as before.

It slowly headed toward its lair.

Liang Shixian and the others held their breath. Things were different now from before. If they spoke carelessly, they'd be discovered!

But after a moment's thought, Ji Ruo suddenly crawled out of the mud.

"Ji Ruo! What are you doing?" Liang Shixian was horrified.

The Spider Queen was too badly injured to notice them. Letting it leave just like that seemed like the best choice.

But Ji Ruo thought it over, pointed at the Spider Queen's back as it struggled forward one step at a time, and said, "It's hurt so badly. I don't feel right letting it go back alone."

"Why do you care about it?" Liang Shixian was going out of his mind. "Lie down, quickly! Don't let it see you!"

"No!" Ji Ruo said earnestly. "We can't just stand by and watch someone die!"

The others: "???"

Even Li Nannan, whose body was still a little numb, was dumbfounded.

Do you even know what you're saying? That's a Demonic Beast!

Standing by and watching someone die? Is this really the time to think about that?!

But before they could talk him out of it, Ji Ruo scrambled up and dashed away.

"Hey, neighbor! Don't go! You're hurt so badly—it's not safe to go back alone!"

The mud-caked boy, so covered in muck that he was barely recognizable, waved his arms as he ran after it. His concerned words made it sound as if he truly had the Spider Queen's best interests at heart.

Of course, it would've been even more convincing if the mud on his palms hadn't quickly dried and cracked, revealing the scarlet hands beneath.

Hearing him, the badly injured Spider Queen paused for a moment. It was so badly hurt that even its reactions had grown sluggish.

By the time it realized something was wrong, Ji Ruo had already reached its back. Before it could turn around, he leaped high into the air and landed on it.

His scarlet palms, burning hot, patted the Spider Queen's body, covered in dark purple webbing.

His movements looked gentle, as though he were softly patting the shoulder of a friend about to leave.

"Neighbor, why don't you stay a little longer? You're hurt so badly, so there's no need to rush back."

As Ji Ruo coaxed it, his blazing-hot Iron Sand Palm rubbed rapidly against the dark purple webs—this thing really was on par with a martial artist at the peak of the Qi Pulse Realm. Even its webs were more heat-resistant than those of an ordinary Nine-Eyed Demon Spider.

But it didn't matter!

Ji Ruo had trained his Iron Sand Palm to the Mastery level, a level that, in theory, only martial artists in the Qi Pulse Realm could attain. Its temperature was scorching, and now he was rubbing it rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the dark purple webs caught fire.

First came a tiny spark, then the flames quickly spread.

Ji Ruo had already jumped away, agile as a monkey, and scrambled up a nearby tree.

"Hiss! Hiss!"

Spider silk was flammable, and once it caught fire, it was very hard to put out.

The Spider Queen was covered in webbing, which it had used to control its injuries and help it move. Now it had become the instrument of its doom.

Amid the blazing flames, the Spider Queen shrieked and rolled around on the ground, trying to put out the fire.

But once a Nine-Eyed Demon Spider's webbing caught fire, even water could barely extinguish it. How could it possibly go out so easily?

The severely injured Spider Queen was scorched by the flames, adding injury to injury.

The barely surviving Six-Whiskered Catfish was scorched by the fire too.

But it no longer had the strength to struggle.

Crouched on a tree branch, Ji Ruo watched the Spider Queen roll around below in agony and couldn't help sighing.

"If you didn't want to stay, you should've said so! You're such a big spider—why are you rolling around and throwing a tantrum?"

The dark purple webs were poisonous. Now that they were burning, purple toxic smoke slowly rose into the air.

Even without a sun, the Ten Thousand Beast Mountain Secret Realm still had the usual alternation of day and night.

It was daytime. Light like sunlight streamed down from the sky, filtered through the treetops, and cast dappled patches across the forest grass. It also shone on the Spider Queen, who was shrieking in agony.

Ji Ruo mused, "So this is the legendary 'sunlight on the incense burner raises purple smoke'? So your name is Incense Burner, huh?"

As the purple toxic smoke billowed upward, he had already left the treetop. He helped Li Nannan, whose body was still somewhat numb, to her feet, then motioned for everyone to head upwind.