Yan Lingji formed a long sword of Venom in her hand and casually pried open the Man Faced Demon Spider's back.
A bone of an unusual color was exposed--
It was a vertebra, entirely purplish-black, with a faint, eerie sheen.
Yan Lingji's eyes lit up at once.
It really was there.
"Master, is this what you called the Eight Spider Lances?"
An External Soul Bone, a treasure found only once in a million. She had actually stumbled upon one.
"That's right. This is an External Soul Bone." Jiang Ce's voice rang in her mind. "It can evolve along with its user's strength and cultivation. Absorb it quickly."
Yan Lingji nodded and sat down cross-legged.
Purple-black light enveloped her in an instant.
A strange force surged out of the vertebra and spread along her spine to every part of her body.
It felt as if something were taking root and sprouting inside her, and yet also as if a part of her body that had always belonged to her were awakening.
Energy coursed through her body, intertwining and merging with her own Soul Power.
Yan Lingji clenched her teeth, fine beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.
An hour later.
Yan Lingji slowly opened her eyes.
With several soft pfft sounds, eight sharp lances glimmering with a purple-black sheen burst through her back and unfurled behind her like eight peerless blades. Each lance tip gleamed with a chilling light.
External Soul Bone: Eight Spider Lances.
Yan Lingji sensed the power this Soul Bone had granted her--
Once activated, it increased all her attributes by fifty percent.
It also allowed her to stab the Eight Spider Lances into an enemy during battle and forcibly devour their Soul Power, storing it within the lances.
On top of that, the lance tips carried poison, a mixture of neurotoxin and corrosive venom. Anyone they pierced would be poisoned.
Yan Lingji glanced at the eight spider legs extending from her back and reached out to touch one of the sharp lance tips.
In her current state... why did she feel just like that spider demon from the memories her master had shared with her?
"This thing can evolve as its host grows stronger," Jiang Ce said.
"You have a fire attribute. If you absorb more fire-type natural treasures or Soul Beast essence later, the Eight Spider Lances will transform along with you.
"By the end, they may well become as beautiful as Vermilion Bird's wings."
"Wings?" Yan Lingji's lips curled into a faint smile. "That would make them even lovelier."
"Now use the Eight Spider Lances to devour this Man Faced Demon Spider."
In the original story, Tang San had used the Eight Spider Lances to devour a six-thousand-year-old Man Faced Demon Spider, strengthening the lances once again.
This one was only two thousand years old, but it should still advance the Eight Spider Lances quite a bit.
Yan Lingji nodded.
She turned around. The Eight Spider Lances shot forward together, piercing the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse.
Devour activated.
The Man Faced Demon Spider's body visibly shriveled. All its essence--
flesh and blood, Soul Power, and poison--was sucked dry by the Eight Spider Lances.
Man Faced Demon Spiders were immune to poison themselves.
But Jiang Ce could increase all her attributes threefold, turning a value of one into four.
Before long,
the Man Faced Demon Spider's corpse had become a withered husk. At the lightest touch, it crumbled into dust.
"Master, after devouring the Man Faced Demon Spider..." Yan Lingji felt the changes in the Eight Spider Lances.
"The Eight Spider Lances have fused with me even more, and their original fifty-percent increase to all attributes... has become sixty percent."
"Isn't that wonderful?"
Yan Lingji lowered her head and looked at her chest--
A tentacle extended from the Venom Dress, gently stroking the eight purplish-black spider lances.
"You still need to refine it and get used to it," Jiang Ce said. "It also needs to be tempered by powerful pressure before it can fully fuse with you.
"Even though this External Soul Bone has recognized you as its master, it could still be taken from you."
"Let's go. We'll keep hunting Soul Beasts, and look for Soul Rings as well as the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
"Yes, Master."
A smile curved Yan Lingji's lips. The Eight Spider Lances slowly retracted into her body, and the Venom Dress covered her once more.
She rose and sped off into the depths of the forest.
Night fell.
The bright moon hung high, its cool light spilling over Sunset Forest.
A campfire crackled. Above it, a Soul Beast was roasting to a golden, glistening brown.
A three-thousand-year-old Flame Tiger.
Flames licked at it from below. Fat dripped into the fire with a hiss, sending up a rich, meaty aroma.
Yan Lingji crouched beside the campfire, carefully turning the spit.
From time to time, she cut a few slits into the tiger meat with a dagger, letting the fat render out more thoroughly so it wouldn't taste greasy.
Behind her was a cave, fairly clean and tidy inside.
It had originally been the lair of this three-thousand-year-old Flame Tiger.
Now Yan Lingji had killed the tiger, skewered the tiger, roasted the tiger, and taken the tiger's lair, too.
Yan Lingji had even found a thousand-year-old Fire Spirit Grass deep inside the cave--
This herb, which grew near the lairs of fire-type Soul Beasts, was rich in fire essence.
She crushed it and sprinkled it directly over the Flame Tiger meat as seasoning.
The Fire Spirit Grass's spiciness mingled with the Flame Tiger's fat in the heat, making the aroma even richer and more potent.
At the same time, a tentacle extended from Yan Lingji's chest.
At its tip curled a Stone Bead--
the very same mysterious Stone Bead that had pulled her and Jiang Ce from the world of The Legend of Qin into Douluo Continent.
Jiang Ce noticed that the faint traces of ink on the Stone Bead seemed to have grown just a little.
But the change was so slight that he might not have noticed at all if he hadn't been watching it closely.
"Master, has it changed?" Yan Lingji stared at the Stone Bead curiously and blinked.
"A little, but I can't tell what exactly has changed yet."
Jiang Ce's voice rang out in her mind.
"Still, since this thing was able to bring us both to this world, there must be a way for it to connect with your home."
At Jiang Ce's mention of "home," Yan Lingji's eyes went distant for a moment.
Home?
She no longer had one.
Just then, the black latex of her outfit suddenly tightened, making it hard for Yan Lingji to breathe.
"Wherever I am is your home."
Yan Lingji's lips curved in a seductive smile.
"Yes. This humble servant belongs to Master. Wherever Master is, that's home to me."
"Master, the tiger meat is ready."
She glanced at the Flame Tiger, expertly cut off a few of the most tender pieces with her dagger, and held them out to the tentacle.
The Stone Bead at its tip withdrew into her body. The tentacle then formed a Venom head and opened its mouth.
It swallowed the roasted meat Yan Lingji had offered.
"It tastes quite good," Jiang Ce remarked. "Looks like your cooking has improved again."
"This humble servant did study cooking, after all," Yan Lingji said, a hint of pride in her voice.
"But this alone is still missing something."
"What is it missing? This humble servant can try adjusting the seasoning."
As soon as she spoke, a stream of information flooded into Yan Lingji's mind.
After reading it, Yan Lingji's mouth twitched.
"Master, have you spent time among human nobles? How else would you know so many... ways to do this?"
"Of course not," Jiang Ce replied calmly. "That's why I want to try it properly and find out what it's like."
Yan Lingji looked around.
"Master, you want to do it here again?"
"Let's go straight to the cave. I'll be putting you through your paces again soon anyway."
Yan Lingji glanced back at the cave and let out a soft sigh.
"Yes, my demonic master."
She carried the roasted Flame Tiger back into the cave whole,
then took a Soul Guidance Lamp from her Storage Soul Tool.
She channeled Soul Power into it, and soft white light instantly illuminated the entire cave.
Next, she brought out two tables. She set the roasted Flame Tiger on one and placed it beside the other.
She also took out wild fruit she'd gathered in the forest and pastries she'd bought in Heaven Dou City, arranging them neatly.
Meanwhile,
tentacles burst from the Venom Dress on her back and quickly spread to the cave entrance, weaving together into a black curtain that completely sealed it off.
Then,
the Venom Dress on Yan Lingji's body quickly slipped away.
She lay down on one of the tables.
Moonlight filtered through gaps in the tentacle curtain, falling over her shapely figure like a layer of silver.
Seen from the side, her curves rose and fell like mountain peaks, her full breasts like twin summits facing each other.
Several black tentacles split off, their tips transforming into sharp little knives that swiftly carved up the Flame Tiger.
Thin, evenly cut slices of roasted meat fluttered down like leaves, landing precisely over Yan Lingji's body.
Yan Lingji felt a little awkward.
The Flame Tiger meat was still greasy, and pressed against her skin, it felt oily and sticky. She wasn't used to it.
But what could she do when her demonic master wanted it this way?
All she could do was... submit to her fate.
The information Jiang Ce had sent her was none other than the so-called "nyotaimori" practiced in some island nation of a later age.
A beauty's body served as a platter, with delicacies arranged upon it.
A beauty was as lovely as jade, a feast for the eyes.
And Yan Lingji was an unparalleled enchantress, no less.
Tonight, Jiang Ce would savor this peerless delicacy to his heart's content.
Heh heh.
Before you continue