Three Steps to Conquest

Li Feiyang looked up. "Two major traits?"

"Yes!" Lin Xiaosu said. "The first is that they love water and damp places. Across the thousand miles of Wild Ridge, the underground waters converge beneath One-Line Gorge."

Light flickered in Li Feiyang's eyes. "That's recorded in A Record of Strange Creatures and Mountains and Rivers of the Bridge Realm!"

A Record of Strange Creatures described the traits of all kinds of creatures, including Mad Spiders.

Mountains and Rivers of the Bridge Realm described the terrain of the lands inhabited by the various peoples.

Both books belonged to his collection, and he had lent them to Lin Xiaosu. Their knowledge was vast, yet Lin Xiaosu had plucked out what he needed and pieced together an outline of the Mad Spiders' habitat.

"Yes," Lin Xiaosu said. "Their second trait is madness. Once they go berserk, they can't tell friend from foe. A killing weapon like that can't be kept too close to the clan. Nearly every mountain across the Wild Clan's thousand-mile territory holds an important clan site. Only One-Line Gorge has no buildings at all. Clearly, it's the ideal place for Mad Spiders to live."

Li Feiyang was astonished. "You even know which peaks in Wild Clan territory have buildings? Where did you learn that?"

"From the stack of materials you brought me, Brother Feiyang. One of the books is called Illustrated Survey of the Clans!"

Li Feiyang sprang up and went to the bookshelf. He pulled out the book and opened it. It was mostly an atlas, its carefully drawn illustrations showing the peaks of Wild Clan territory from above. He could see the situation on every peak at a glance. Just as Lin Xiaosu had said, every peak held numerous buildings—except One-Line Gorge.

Even he, the book's owner, had never noticed