The spider's nest was at the far end of Withered Wood Forest.
Following the strands of web on the ground, the two of them found an opening in the rock face.
A thick layer of dead webbing completely blocked the entrance.
Beyond it, green poisonous mist roiled through the gaps in the web.
The second-tier Phantom Face Spider hadn't made a move on Zhou Kuang yet.
It was crouched in the middle of its web, the woman's face on its back with its eyes closed.
Its eight strange eyes stared fixedly outside the cave. No one was sneaking in without it noticing.
"It's still guarding the entrance."
"That beast! It's even more cunning than it was five years ago!"
Lu Qingshan said.
Li Pingsheng led him back behind a pile of rocks upwind.
He activated the Breath Concealment Art, suppressing his heartbeat, breathing, and the fluctuations of his qi and blood.
All signs of life vanished from him. He stared fixedly at the web a hundred zhang away.
The Martial Wisdom talent activated.
He could see everything clearly: the concentration and flow of pink spores in the air, the vibrations of the web, and the Phantom Face Spider's breathing.
He immediately understood what was going on.
The beast craved fresh, potent qi and blood.
The reason it wasn't in a hurry to eat Zhou Kuang was that it wanted to use him as bait, keeping watch on its surroundings as it waited to hook an even bigger prey!
An idea came to Li Pingsheng.
He crouched down, pulled a short knife from his waist, and scraped some poisonous sap off a rotten tree stump.
Then he picked a few black, poisonous mushrooms from beside a crack in the rocks.
Finally, his gaze fell on a thorny branch that Zhou Kuang had broken when he crashed into it. A drop of dark blood clung to it.
Carefully, Li Pingsheng caught the drop of blood on a leaf.
Sap from a rotten tree, poisonous mushrooms, and Zhou Kuang's blood.
With all three things in his palm, his Martial Wisdom talent activated, and dozens of formulas flashed through his mind.
He squeezed his fingers, released a wisp of true qi, and quickly rubbed the three ingredients together in precise proportions.
Before long, two black pills the size of fingernails lay in his palm.
[Pseudo-Blood Incense]
This stuff had no qi or blood of its own, but once crushed,
its ingredients reacted with the poisonous miasma, imitating qi and blood ten times stronger than a True Person's.
Li Pingsheng handed him the pills. "Big Brother Lu."
Lu Qingshan understood at a glance.
He nodded and took the pills.
Then he took a deep breath and forced all the strength he had left into the tips of his right fingers.
His target was a patch of swamp a hundred zhang away.
He remembered that it was the nest of a first-tier Iron-Armored Boar.
He flicked his fingers.
The black pill traced an arc through the air and shot into the distant swamp with a whoosh.
The next second, the Pseudo-Blood Incense shattered in the mud.
A fresh, powerful scent of qi and blood burst out with a bang, mingling with the sweet smell of the spores and spreading throughout the forest.
The Phantom Face Spider, crouched on its web, shuddered.
The woman's face on its back suddenly opened its eyes and let out a shriek.
That qi and blood was more than ten times stronger than the stuff in the cave.
Was it a trap?
Or meat?
In the end, greed won out.
The benefits of devouring one strong prey outweighed those of devouring ten weak ones.
It couldn't hold back. Its eight legs kicked against the web, and its massive body charged toward the scent of qi and blood on a gust of foul wind.
The moment the Phantom Face Spider left its web, Li Pingsheng shouted, "Now's our chance. Let's go!"
He immediately charged forward.
The Wind Treading talent activated.
He pushed off the web with his toes and pulled Lu Qingshan along as they darted through the poisonous mist and plunged into the depths of the spider's cave.
They moved so fast they vanished from sight—the exact opposite of the Phantom Face Spider's charge.
The spider's cave was pitch-black, and the air stank of rotting things mixed with a sickly-sweet odor. The ground beneath their feet was sticky.
"Don't make a sound."
Lu Qingshan said, "That beast could come back at any moment."
Using the light from the entrance, the two of them squeezed through a narrow crevice in the rock.
The space beyond suddenly opened up.
A gigantic limestone cave stretched before them, its walls hung with countless white sacs of different sizes.
Amid the rubble in the center of the spider's nest, they spotted Zhou Kuang.
He was still alive.
But Zhou Kuang was bound tight in thick strands of webbing, unable to move.
The flesh below his knees was gone, leaving only two bones, pitted and eroded by poisonous liquid.
He could barely breathe. He looked like he was about to die.
Hearing footsteps, the dying Zhou Kuang struggled to lift his swollen eyelids.
When he saw that it was Li Pingsheng and Lu Qingshan, his eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
An indescribable mix of absurdity, spite, and unwillingness surged through him, driving him to use the last of his strength.
He yelled, "Why... why..."
"Why didn't that beast catch you two?! Why did it only catch me? Why? Why?!"
"This isn't fair! Those two are both useless, but the beast didn't catch them. It only got me?"
His roar echoed through the cave.
Li Pingsheng's brow furrowed tight.
This idiot!
That shout would bring the spider right back as soon as it realized it had been tricked.
He glanced at Zhou Kuang, writhing desperately in the webbing, then turned to Lu Qingshan and said:
"This idiot's brought the beast back. It'll be here any second. Hurry and hide in that crack in the rock outside the entrance. I'll grab the Red Marrow Vine and go."
But Lu Qingshan shook his head.
He pulled three black nails and a packet of powder from inside his robes.
"Armor Piercing Nails."
He smiled and said:
"Brother Li, five years ago, I was a cowardly deserter. I didn't have the guts to fight that beast. I failed to find the Red Marrow Vine and watched my little sister... die of sickness in bed."
"I've regretted it every single day for the past five years."
His eyes were filled with fierce, desperate resolve.
"Today, even if I die, I'm going to die right here!"
"At the very least... I'll take a bite out of that beast!"
"Go find the Red Marrow Vine. I'll... hold it off for you!"
That resolve had been weighing on his heart for five whole years.
"Big Brother Lu!"
Before Li Pingsheng could stop him, a scraping sound came from outside the cave.
The sound grew closer and closer, approaching at a terrifying speed.
The Phantom Face Spider was back.
"Get out of the way!"
Li Pingsheng grabbed Lu Qingshan, and the two of them darted into the shadow of a stalactite.
The next second, a violent wind tore through the cave.
A huge, shadowy thing crashed into the middle of the cavern with a boom.
The entire spider's nest shook.
Its eight legs slammed into the ground, gouging out eight enormous pits.
It realized it had been fooled. That scent of qi and blood was fake.
With nowhere to vent its rage, it fixed its eyes on Zhou Kuang, who was still writhing on the ground.
It would take out its anger on Zhou Kuang.
Two legs shot out like spears, pinning Zhou Kuang firmly to the ground.
"Ahhh—!"
Poison poured down its legs. Zhou Kuang's whole body convulsed, and he let out a scream.
Consumed by agony, Zhou Kuang knew he was doomed.
With the last of his strength, he cackled toward the place where Li Pingsheng was hiding:
"Unfair!!"
"Li Pingsheng! You're a useless piece of trash! Hahaha!"
"I... I'll drag you down with me, even if I die!"
"Aren't you so tough? Then prove it... kill this second-tier monster!"
"If you can kill it... I'll... I'll call you Dad... before I die!!"
Li Pingsheng: "You father-exasperating..."
Before you continue