Tang San: I'll Shoulder It All
Upon hearing this, Tang San fell silent for a long time.
As he thought it over, countless memories churned through his mind, eventually converging into a single thought: he couldn't let that crazy woman keep him under her thumb forever.
Since his reincarnation, Tang San had been in unbearable agony, humiliated to the extreme.
But what he found even harder to endure was that helpless feeling of having no control over his own fate.
If things went on like this, how could he build a true Tang Sect in this world?
How could he purge that impostor Buddha Tang? How could he fulfill the dying wishes of Grandpa Tang Lan?
Grandpa Tang Lan had knelt before the founding patriarch for three days and nights before he was allowed to come to this world and guide him, entrusting him with restoring the Tang Sect's prestige. What a weighty expectation!
But if he couldn't even control his own body, what right did he have to destroy that counterfeit Tang Sect?
What right did he have to stand against Buddha Tang?
And what right did he have to rebuild the true Tang Sect on this continent?
"Senior Bamboo God... I... I'm willing! As long as I can restore the Tang Sect's glory."
After a long while, Tang San clenched his teeth and declared with grim resolve, "I, Tang San, will shoulder the task of revitalizing the Man Faced Demon Spider clan!"
Feng Yan looked at him, the smile at the corners of his mouth growing wider. "Shoulder it all? What a bold spirit."
"Since that's the case, there's no need to wait until the third day."
Tang San jerked his head up. "Senior, what did you say?"
He'd only agreed to it. He hadn't said they could start right now!
Feng Yan turned to face the swarm of Man Faced Demon Spiders and said no more.
An invisible wave of divine consciousness rippled outward from him.
The swarm of Man Faced Demon Spiders began to stir almost in unison, as though they had all received an irresistible command at the same instant.
The ten-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider with the honest-looking face was the first to move its eight long, sharp legs and slowly approach Tang San.
Its expression was no longer honest-looking. Instead, it was brimming with excitement.
Right after it, almost all the male Man Faced Demon Spiders with cultivation of ten thousand years or more stepped forward together.
Clearly, they were all targeting the clan's one and only Spider Emperor with a hundred thousand years of cultivation...
They formed a semicircle and surrounded Tang San.
Then the ten-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spiders began swaying their bodies in unison, their pale faces on their undersides swaying along with them.
Some even began hopping from side to side in rhythm.
This was the Man Faced Demon Spiders' courtship ritual!
Of course, unlike other Spider Soul Beasts, the Man Faced Demon Spiders had a simple way of courting.
They did their utmost to show off their gleaming physiques. If they caught one another's eye, they could...
"Senior Bamboo God."
Tang San cried out, "What did you tell them?"
"Nothing much. I only told them... their emperor was ready now."
"But I'm not ready!"
"But your body is ready." Feng Yan's gaze fell meaningfully on Tang San.
"Can't you feel it yourself?"
Tang San shuddered. At that moment, he seemed to sense something.
The body of this hundred-thousand-year Spider Emperor seemed to be awakening in a way completely unfamiliar to him.
His muscles tensed ever so slightly against his will, while a feeling he had never experienced before welled up somewhere below his dantian.
It was a very strange feeling...
His human soul was clearly resisting, yet this spider body seemed to yearn for it with all its might.
Listen to the ocean's roar!
As the ten-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spiders hopped faster and faster...
Tang San seemed unable to hold out much longer. His body was gradually slipping beyond his control.
This meant that the female Man Faced Demon Spider had accepted the courtship, and the next step could begin at any moment...
"No! Absolutely not!"
Tang San tried to take control of this body by force, but found that whatever he did now was futile.
Suddenly!
The ten-thousand-year Demon Spider that had seemed rather honest earlier stopped moving and slowly approached...
Then the Man Faced Demon Spider that had originally seemed rather honest... moved.
Of course, nothing actually happened. Only an ancient ritual had quietly begun...
At the edge of the clearing, the thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spiders all stared at the scene before them, so transfixed they forgot even to blink.
This was the first time these thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spiders had dared to witness the Spider Emperor's ceremony. For them, it was a moment they would remember for the rest of their lives.
Feng Yan closed his eyes and shut out his divine awareness. He wasn't bored enough to watch spiders fulfill their ancient covenant...
No one knew how long passed. When the first ten-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider finally stopped, a second one immediately stepped forward.
Of course, Tang San hadn't completely given up on trying to stop this absurd spectacle.
But...
As the second Man Faced Demon Spider began to move too,
Tang San's pupils turned utterly vacant, as though he were sinking into some kind of daze...
The second spider was clearly impatient, and unlike the first, it didn't ease into things.
You had to be kidding!
This was the legendary hundred-thousand-year Man Faced Spider Emperor!
To encounter the emperor... was something they hadn't even dared dream of before...
When the second one was done, the third followed...
The ten-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spiders dispersed, and the thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spiders gradually began to lose patience as well.
They knew they weren't worthy of performing this grand rite with the Spider Emperor, but the Spider Emperor wasn't the only one here...
The first thousand-year Demon Spider crawled out of the group, then lowered itself to the ground, head bowed...
The second followed, then the third. Every thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider began to move...
When the last ten-thousand-year Man Faced Demon Spider finally stopped,
for Tang San, the entire dazed nightmare had at last come to an end...
The surroundings gradually fell quiet. Tang San seemed to have lost all his strength, his eyes vacant as he stared blankly into the air.
Feng Yan slowly opened his eyes at that moment, too.
Was it finally over? Little Scumbag, you've at least atoned for your sins this way.
Since that's the case, I'll let you have a little taste of something sweet...
Thinking this, Feng Yan looked at the motionless figure and said, "Congratulations, examinee Tang San. You have successfully completed the First Trial of the Bamboo God's Third Trial: Spring of the Man Faced Demon Spider."
"Reward: God-Bestowed Martial Soul—Blue Silver Grass."
With that, Feng Yan casually picked a Blue Silver Grass plant from the ground and placed it in his palm.
It was an ordinary, common Blue Silver Grass, the kind even pigs wouldn't eat.
Then he condensed a strand of divine power and sent it into the blades of grass.
Soon, the Blue Silver Grass began to burn, turning to ash inch by inch until only a fist-sized pale blue glow remained, floating quietly in the air.
The Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul.
Unexpectedly, once Tang San had transformed, his Martial Soul would be the Man Faced Spider Emperor. But Tang San had been Tang San in his previous life, so how could he go without the standard-issue Blue Silver Grass?
Only...
Feng Yan suddenly smiled.
The Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul in his hand could only absorb a ten-year Soul Ring.
If the Soul Ring's age was even one year higher, Tang San could forget about absorbing it...