Was there ever a more hellish start than this?
Nan Feng looked at his remaining half a spider leg and couldn't help cursing under his breath.
Being transmigrated into a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Death Spider Emperor, sounded mighty and imposing. He ruled over Death Canyon.
But the reality was that he was currently AFK with barely any health left, just waiting for someone to "loot his gear."
Bibi Dong!
That woman was practically a master of the "kite" playstyle.
Over the past year, she had used all kinds of traps and poisons, even luring other enemies over to attack him, slowly whittling this top-tier BOSS down until he had only a thread of health left.
Now, through his mental power, which spread out like a spiderweb, Nan Feng could clearly sense that the woman had entered Death Canyon again!
And she was speeding straight toward his lair.
Run? Don't make me laugh.
In this battered state, the moment he stepped outside his territory, the rivals eyeing his turf would teach him how to be a spider in no time.
Fight? That would be suicide.
"Did I really just transmigrate here to get instantly sent back to the lobby?"
Nan Feng stared at the faint light spilling through the cave entrance, his mind racing.
No, there was still one way out.
If he couldn't beat her, he would join her!
Bibi Dong's Martial Soul was also the Death Spider Emperor. According to the memories left in this body, Martial Souls of the same kind had an extremely special bloodline resonance with one another and with Soul Beasts.
It wasn't merely a relationship between hunter and prey. It was a perfect match!
If he couldn't dodge the blade, he might as well find another way to live.
If the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm could preserve its consciousness through sacrifice and inhabit a human body, why couldn't he, with the same top-tier mental power and vitality?
"You want my Soul Ring and Soul Bone, right?" Nan Feng endured the agony and propped up his battered body. "You don't need to lift a finger. I'll sacrifice myself!"
At the same time, Bibi Dong passed through the Death Canyon, thick with poisonous miasma, and silently infiltrated the Death Spider Emperor's enormous underground lair.
She knew all too well that a cornered beast fought the hardest. This was especially true of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with the "Undying Body" innate skill. Its dying counterattack could take even a Titled Douluo down with it.
So she had to wait until the Death Spider Emperor was too weak even to self-destruct.
Now was the time.
She held her breath. The phantom of her Soul-Eater Spider Emperor Martial Soul flickered behind her as she prepared to deliver a fatal blow.
But when she stepped into the lair's central chamber, her pupils abruptly contracted.
It was empty?
The spider's enormous body, as big as a hill, had vanished!
Only pools of dark green blood remained on the ground, not yet dried. They were from the wounds it had suffered earlier.
"It escaped? Impossible. It was so badly injured. How could it have gotten away without me sensing it?"
Alarm bells rang in Bibi Dong's mind, and a powerful sense of unease welled up inside her.
Just as she was about to release her mental power and search the surroundings, a terrifying pressure that made her very soul tremble erupted without warning behind her!
"Hiss—!!!"
Accompanied by a shriek that split the clouds and pierced stone, a massive shadow instantly engulfed Bibi Dong.
She whipped around and saw the Death Spider Emperor hanging upside down on a shadowed rock wall behind her.
Its broken spider legs had all grown back, sharp as spears and glinting with a bone-chilling light.
Its carapace, once covered in cracks, was now smooth and pristine. Purple-black light flowed over its entire body, and its wicked, domineering aura was even stronger than when she had first seen it!
How was this the sight of a creature on the brink of death? It was clearly at the peak of its strength!
"How is this possible?!"
Shock surged through Bibi Dong's heart like a storm-tossed sea.
Half a month ago, she had watched with her own eyes as three top-tier Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts tore half of its body apart. Even its vaunted "Undying Body" had failed when its Soul Power ran dry.
It had suffered a wound that struck at its very source. Forget half a month; even ten years of recovery might not have been enough!
Had it been pretending to be weak this whole year, just to lure her deep inside and kill her in this sealed lair?
A bead of cold sweat slid down Bibi Dong's temple.
Against a Death Spider Emperor at full strength, even with her talent for Twin Martial Souls, she had less than a thirty percent chance of winning!
What she didn't know was that at that very moment, Nan Feng was panicking like crazy.
Stay calm! I have to keep it together! If I show even the slightest weakness, this madwoman will pounce and tear me apart!
Just moments ago, he had forcibly burned his life force and activated the restorative effects of his "Undying Body."
This was nothing but an empty shell.
Before, he might have had a chance of fighting Bibi Dong. Now, he could only say that he was utterly helpless against her.
But he had to do this.
If he lay on the ground like a dead dog and begged, "Spare me, heroine! I'll sacrifice myself," then given Bibi Dong's suspicious and ruthless nature, she would absolutely stab him first and absorb his Soul Ring afterward.
After all, a dead Soul Beast was the safest kind.
If he wanted to "sacrifice" himself while retaining his consciousness, becoming her "cheat" through a method similar to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's, he first needed to establish one thing—deterrence.
He had to make Bibi Dong believe that killing him would come at a terrible cost, and might even result in both of them dying together.
Only if she couldn't defeat him—or the price was too high—would she be willing to sit down and hear out a "win-win" proposal.
From above, Nan Feng fixed Bibi Dong with his eight eerie green eyes, fighting off the dizziness brought on by the rapid drain of his life force.
He didn't attack. Instead, he slowly spread his enormous pincers, sending a domineering mental pulse worthy of an emperor straight into Bibi Dong's mind:
"Human, do you want my power?"
Bibi Dong's heart jolted.
She had long known that a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was no less intelligent than a human, and in some ways even more cunning. But this was the first time in over a year that the Death Spider Emperor she had been hunting had spoken to her of its own accord.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast was at least comparable to a human Titled Douluo of level 95 or higher.
A sovereign of that level had pride etched into its very bones.
Once driven into a corner, they would often choose to self-destruct without hesitation rather than let a human get their way.
That was why she had never dared push it too far.
Now, this Old Spider seemed to have recovered to its "peak," yet instead of killing her, it had reached out to communicate?
Bibi Dong didn't respond. Her body was taut, and Soul Power quietly circulated within her as she prepared to flee at any moment.
Against the Death Spider Emperor at full strength, she had no chance of winning.
For the sake of revenge, she had to endure. She absolutely couldn't die here.
Since the hunt had failed, she could only take her time, even if it meant waiting a few more years...
"You don't need to hurry away, and you don't need to be nervous."
As if he had seen through Bibi Dong's retreat, Nan Feng's enormous compound eyes glimmered faintly. His mental transmission came again, tinged with amusement:
"In fact, I noticed you long ago, ten years back, when you first entered the outskirts of Death Canyon to train."
Bibi Dong's pupils contracted slightly.
Ten years ago?
That was when she had still been the Holy Maiden. To break through the Soul Saint bottleneck, she had come alone to Death Canyon to hunt a Death Spider Emperor for her Seventh Soul Ring.
This creature had been watching her back then?
"Back then, you were weak, but your Martial Soul caught my interest. A Death Spider Emperor... It's quite a rarity to see that kind of Martial Soul in a human." Nan Feng spoke coolly.
"But after you took your Seventh Soul Ring and left, you never came back. Years passed without a trace. I thought you had died out there."
At his words, Bibi Dong's wary expression turned deathly pale. A wave of terrifying, uncontrollable cold swept out from within her!
It wasn't killing intent directed at Nan Feng, but a deep-seated, venomous hatred and resentment.
Back then, she had returned to Spirit Hall in high spirits with her Seventh Soul Ring, only to be defiled by that beast named Qian Xunji and locked away in a lightless chamber, where she was forced to give birth to the daughter she regarded as her shame...
Only after she learned to disguise herself and bury her hatred deep within did that man let down his guard and lift her confinement.
Then she had rushed into the City of Slaughter like a madwoman, numbing herself amid endless slaughter.
Nan Feng looked down at Bibi Dong from above.
Even from a distance, he could sense the sudden turmoil in the woman's aura.
"Seems I've hit upon something unpleasant."
Nan Feng lightly tapped the rock wall with his enormous pincers, producing a sharp clang like metal striking metal. His tone abruptly shifted, taking on a deeper meaning:
"But my interest in you isn't limited to your Martial Soul. It's also that... nostalgic aura you carry."
His enormous head leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on Bibi Dong.
"The aura of Rakshasa."
Bibi Dong froze.
The Rakshasa God's inheritance!
It was her greatest secret, the opportunity she had won after surviving countless brushes with death in the City of Slaughter, and her greatest trump card for taking revenge on the Angel Clan!
No one in this world knew about it except her!
How could this Soul Beast possibly sense it?!
"Surprised?"
Nan Feng seemed to be enjoying Bibi Dong's expression. Eerie light flickered in his enormous compound eyes as he began his flawless "performance."
"Whatever else I am, I'm an old relic that's lived on this continent for a hundred thousand years. How could I fail to recognize a mere trace of divine power?"
"When the Rakshasa God ascended to the Divine Realm thirty thousand years ago, the aura was wicked and vast. I still remember it clearly."
At this, Nan Feng deliberately paused, his tone turning a little playful.
"I just never expected the aura of Rakshasa to appear again. It seems you've already been acknowledged by the Rakshasa God's inheritance, but haven't officially begun the god trial yet, right?"
"Let me think... Rakshasa and Angel are sworn enemies. The conditions to begin the Rakshasa God Trial—or its greatest obstacle—must have something to do with the Angel Clan, right?"
Bibi Dong was completely rigid.
If the "aura of Rakshasa" could be chalked up to sharp senses, then its connection to the Angel Clan absolutely couldn't be a coincidence!
The condition to open the Rakshasa Secret Realm was to devour the soul of someone who possessed a Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul!
He knew everything!
Just what kind of being was this Soul Beast?!
Nan Feng looked at Bibi Dong's ghost-struck expression, secretly savoring his success.
That's more like it. Only after I shake you so badly you can't find your bearings will the "cooperation" that follows feel perfectly natural.