Near dusk, the sun sank toward the west.
The evening clouds in the west framed the Star Dou Great Forest, making for a strikingly beautiful and magnificent sight.
Deep in the forest, Lan Si had spent days wandering around, yet he still hadn't found a Spider-type Soul Beast suited to him.
He glanced at the sky, which was about to darken, then surveyed the surrounding terrain. Lan Si stopped in a tree, leaning back against its trunk. He knew he had to find a safe place to take shelter. Otherwise, when night fell, even the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest could hold dangers beyond anything he could predict.
Lan Si took some dried food and a waterskin from his Storage Soul Tool and made a simple dinner of it. His slightly labored breathing gradually steadied as he looked around.
Suddenly, a strange rustling sound caught Lan Si's attention.
His eyesight was exceptional. He followed the sound and immediately spotted its source in a clump of grass several hundred meters away.
Black and purple—a loathsome combination. The creature that had suddenly appeared was an ugly spider, a bizarre giant with a body more than two meters in diameter and eight spear-like legs over three meters long. Its body was covered in a black carapace densely patterned with strange purple markings that extended all the way along its eight legs.
The legs tapered to fine points, their entire length a translucent purple. Each step pierced silently into the ground, leaving a purple glow in its wake. The tips were clearly razor-sharp.
"A Soul-Eater Demon Spider? It's actually a Soul-Eater Demon Spider!"
Lan Si's face lit up with delight. His blood began to race, though he had already given up hope of finding such a rare Soul Beast.
This was an extraordinarily powerful Spider-type Soul Beast, even rarer than the Man Faced Demon Spider. It was the predecessor of the Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, the Second Martial Soul of Bibi Dong, the Pope of Spirit Hall.
Compared to this creature, the Man Faced Demon Spider was nothing but a younger brother. Both could instantly spew a web covering ten times their own range, but the Man Faced Demon Spider could do so only three times a day, while the Soul-Eater Demon Spider could spew webs almost without limit. As long as it had enough Soul Power to devour, it could create webs endlessly.
Its webs and legs were the main means by which it devoured Soul Power. As soon as either came into contact with an enemy, it could drain that enemy's Soul Power.
Of course, there was another direct method: swallowing its prey whole.
On top of that, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider's neurotoxin was terrifying, no weaker than the Man Faced Demon Spider's.
It could be called the most fearsome of all Spider-type Soul Beasts. Only a very few, such as the Death Demon Spider, could rival it.
However, as the saying went, every advantage had its drawback.
Before reaching fifty thousand years of cultivation and evolving into a Soul-Eater Spider Emperor, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider had one fatal weakness: its abdomen, where it stored its webs, was still not covered by a sturdy carapace.
If its abdomen was broken, it might not suffer a fatal injury, but at the very least it would lose the ability to release webs. After that, it would be much easier to deal with.
After his brief burst of joy, Lan Si's eyes grew solemn. The moment he spotted the creature, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider seemed to notice him as well. Its eight long legs moved at lightning speed, leaving a string of purple afterimages in the air. In the blink of an eye, it was in front of Lan Si, firing a translucent purple web at him.
Without hesitation, Lan Si stamped a foot against the tree trunk and leaped high into the air, dodging the enormous web as he summoned his Cyan Lotus Martial Soul. The previously vibrant tree was instantly withered by the Spider Web Restraint, turning into rotten wood. A gust of wind sent it crashing to the ground, while the parts touched by the web were corroded by the deadly poison into vapor, wreathed in greenish smoke.
Two Yellow Soul Rings rose from beneath Lan Si's feet, their dazzling light circling around his body. He stood on the Cyan Lotus Pedestal, hovering in midair with the lotus's innate ability to fly, and looked down at the Soul-Eater Demon Spider below.
His second Soul Ring lit up, followed by the first.
The Cyan Lotus beneath his feet split into four identical lotuses. One of them transformed into eight sharp blades. Lan Si waved his hand, and the blades circled through the air before spinning rapidly and thrusting toward the Soul-Eater Demon Spider in a spiral.
Faced with the eight blades flying toward it, the purple light in the Soul-Eater Demon Spider's eight tiny eyes flared brightly. It spat out another enormous web, blocking six blades. The two that slipped through the gaps were knocked aside by its raised forelegs.
A trace of grimness crossed Lan Si's eyes. He knew he couldn't hurt the Soul-Eater Demon Spider itself without destroying its abdomen. Its web alone could block most attacks, and it had eight legs that were equally useful for offense and defense. Rushing in recklessly would be no different from courting death.
Lan Si raised a hand and recalled the eight blades, controlling them to continue attacking the Soul-Eater Demon Spider. At the same time, the two lotuses in front of him each transformed into eight blades, bringing the total to twenty-four blades that attacked the spider from all directions.
This time, Lan Si had learned his lesson. He had noticed that the Soul-Eater Demon Spider couldn't move its eight legs while spewing a web. And its web couldn't possibly cover every angle without leaving a single gap. It had no way to defend against blades coming from all directions.
As long as the blades kept up their relentless attack, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider would have no chance to spew another web.
Sure enough, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider stopped firing webs and instead used its eight nimble legs to dodge and defend.
But it was even faster than Lan Si had imagined. Leaving a string of purple afterimages across the ground, it shook off the flying blades and opened up a short distance between them. Seizing the opportunity, it suddenly spat a web at Lan Si in the sky, apparently intending to drag him down.
Lan Si's lips curled slightly. Without moving from his spot, he took out an AK47, loaded a round, and calmly watched the web rushing up toward him from below. He had already figured out the maximum range of the Soul-Eater Demon Spider's web attack: between twenty and twenty-five meters. That was why he had deliberately stayed more than twenty-five meters up in the air.
Sure enough, less than two meters below Lan Si's feet, the web stopped rising and fell straight onto the Soul-Eater Demon Spider itself.
Bound by its own web, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider roared. A layer of deep purple light rose from its body and spread outward. The web clinging to it began to melt away.
Taking advantage of the opening, Lan Si leaped forward, raised the AK47, and fired a burst at the underside of the Soul-Eater Demon Spider's abdomen.
Rat-tat-tat!
The Soul-Eater Demon Spider couldn't dodge in time. The burst turned its abdomen into a sieve. Thick, revolting purple fluid spilled out.
With the belly it depended on for survival destroyed, the Soul-Eater Demon Spider went berserk. Its eight sharp legs thrashed wildly as it charged toward the spot where Lan Si would land. Everything in its path was sliced apart, the cut surfaces smooth as mirrors, stripped of every trace of life. Then the lingering poison corroded it all away.
Before you continue