Yan Lingji stood beside him, holding a slender, vermilion sword.
The sword was about three feet long, its blade crimson as blood from tip to hilt. An engraving of a Mystic Bird Vermilion Bird, wings spread as if about to take flight, adorned its surface.
A pure-white, jade-like gem was set in the guard, its warm luster shimmering in the firelight.
The sword looked like a finely crafted work of art, yet it radiated a chilling sharpness.
Yan Lingji lowered her gaze to the sword in her hand and furrowed her brows slightly. "I'm still not used to this sword," she murmured.
The instant her words fell—
"Argh—!"
A shriek unlike any human voice burst from the Death Spider Emperor, piercing and shrill. The trees around them shuddered, sending leaves pattering to the ground.
All eight of its Spider Spears had been severed at the base!
Each of its eight stout legs was as thick as an iron pillar, as wide as a bowl, and covered in a hard shell bristling with sharp barbs,
but now they had been sliced clean through as if by razor-sharp blades. Purple-black fluid gushed from the wounds and splattered onto the ground, sizzling as it corroded the earth.
"Boom—!"
With nothing left to support it, the Death Spider Emperor's massive body crashed heavily to the ground.
The impact punched a shallow crater into the earth and sent dust and dead leaves flying, forming a gray-yellow cloud in the air.
It lay in a pool of blood, all eight of its compound eyes fixed on Zhao Linchuan and Yan Lingji, who were chatting and laughing. Fury blazed in its eyes.
Its rage was almost tangible, as if it would burn everything before it to ashes.
It opened its enormous mandibles. A dim light glimmered deep in its throat, then a black-purple beam as thick as a barrel suddenly blasted from its mouth, shooting straight toward Zhao Linchuan and Yan Lingji!
"Futile resistance."
Zhao Linchuan uttered the four words coldly and raised his right hand. Supreme Ease Golden Edge instantly began to hum, and the pale-yellow gem in its guard suddenly released a flood of holy light.
The light spread rapidly, covering the entire blade in an instant.
The golden sword was now enveloped in a layer of sacred white radiance. The patterns on its blade grew clearer, as if some ancient power were awakening.
"Holy Radiance—White Rainbow Severing the Sun!"
Zhao Linchuan shouted and swung Supreme Ease Golden Edge!
A massive sword aura, more than ten meters long, burst forth in an instant. Like a white dragon, it sped toward the black-purple beam!
The air rippled visibly in the sword aura's wake. It carved a deep trench through the ground, while the shockwave swept up stones and dust and sent them flying through the air!
"Sizzle, sizzle—!"
The sword aura struck the black-purple beam with a series of ear-splitting noises, like a red-hot blade slicing through butter.
Before the sacred sword aura, the beam was as fragile as paper. It was cleaved cleanly in two!
The two halves streaked past Zhao Linchuan and Yan Lingji, their waning force slamming into the forest behind them.
"Rumble—!"
The earth trembled violently for an instant, as if some colossal beast had rolled over beneath it.
Ancient trees toppled by the dozen. Trunks cracked one after another, branches flew, and dust filled the sky.
The shockwave spread in every direction, flattening every tree within a hundred zhang and leaving a vast clearing in its wake.
At last, sunlight poured down through the newly cleared sky, shining on the wrecked ground in a strangely stark contrast.
Then another inhuman shriek rang out from the Death Spider Emperor.
Zhao Linchuan's sword aura's remaining force drove its massive body dozens of meters away, plowing a deep furrow through the earth. It smashed through more than a dozen trees before finally coming to a stop.
Its shell scraped against the ground with an earsplitting screech, sparks flying everywhere.
The dust settled.
The Death Spider Emperor lay amid the ruins, shrieking in pain without pause.
Its shell, once hard as iron and covered in fearsome bone spikes, was now mangled beyond recognition.
Purple-black fluid seeped from its wounds, running along the patterns in its shell and dripping onto the soil, where it sizzled and ate away at the earth.
Four of its eight compound eyes had been shattered by the sword aura. The remaining four were dim and lifeless, their former ferocity gone.
"Damn humans!"
The Death Spider Emperor spoke, its hatred overflowing.
"How can you possess such incredible power?!"
"Dong'er, finish it," Zhao Linchuan said, ignoring its cries. "Let's end this quickly, before anything unexpected happens."
"Got it!"
Bibi Dong emerged from a hidden corner nearby, like a rabbit hopping out of the grass. Her face was alight with barely restrained excitement.
She hurried over, her skirt fluttering in the breeze. When she reached the Death Spider Emperor, she stopped, took a deep breath, and raised her right hand.
"Fifth Soul Skill—Death Spider God Scythe!"
In an instant, a scythe appeared in her hand, its surface purple and covered in golden patterns.
The scythe was about a zhang long, with a slender shaft and a sharp spike at the end.
Its blade curved like a new moon, sharp enough to slice through anything.
She gripped the scythe in both hands and raised it high. Its blade reflected a cold gleam in the sunlight.
"Hah!"
She gave a soft shout and swung.
The scythe traced a perfect arc, its blade slicing precisely into the Death Spider Emperor's throat.
"Crack—!"
Its shell shattered. The Death Spider Emperor's body stiffened, the last glimmer in its compound eyes going out in an instant. It slumped to the ground, utterly lifeless.
A blood-red Soul Ring slowly rose from its corpse, turning in the air and radiating a pressure that made the heart tremble.
"Wonderful! This Holy Maiden finally has a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring of her own!"
Bibi Dong was overjoyed. Her eyes shone like twin stars, her grin stretched from ear to ear, and childlike delight radiated from her.
Just as she was about to jump for joy, two points of light inside the Death Spider Emperor's body caught her attention.
The lights lay on either side of its corpse, hidden beneath its shoulder plates, and gave off a faint purplish-gold glow.
They were like two gems buried in the earth: partly concealed, yet impossible to hide their dazzling brilliance.
"No way..."
The smile slowly froze on Bibi Dong's face. Her lips parted, and her tongue unconsciously licked them.
A daring guess entered her mind. It was so astonishing that even her breathing grew unsteady.
She hurriedly put away the scythe, took a dagger from her Soul Tool, and crouched down to carefully pry apart the Death Spider Emperor's shell.
Two streams of purplish-gold light burst from inside the Death Spider Emperor!
The radiance was dazzling, like two suns rising at once, bathing the entire clearing in purple-gold light.
Within the glow, two differently shaped bones slowly emerged!
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