A Flawless Performance

They learned three things from the spider demon.

First, the villagers of Glory Ancestors Village frequently gave birth to “stillborn babies” because the spider demon's demonic aura put the infants into a deathlike state. Once the villagers threw the “stillborn babies” into the Abandoned Infant Tower, the spider demon took them away to raise them.

Second, the spider demon came to Glory Ancestors Village to hunt at regular intervals, targeting only people burdened with the sin of killing. Villagers drained of large amounts of vital essence could linger unconscious for several days, with symptoms resembling a sudden, serious illness. That was why many villagers did not believe the spider demon existed.

Third...

“Why did you adopt human children?” Shen Leyan asked.

Surely the spider demon did not have some strange urge to become a mother and go around collecting children to raise?

"...Three years ago, I was injured fighting other demonic beasts over territory in the forest. I also lost my only child.

“My injuries were so severe that only my Demon Core and a few fragments of my soul remained. I desperately needed a host. A young woman encountered me in the forest and said she was willing to sacrifice her body to become my host. All she asked was that I avenge her and raise every child in Glory Ancestors Village—I agreed.”

The spider demon snorted after finishing. "If you want to kill me, get it over with. Stop dragging it out."

Shen Leyan exchanged a glance with Lu Yuanyi, and all the silk binding the spider demon disintegrated.

If the spider demon had not adopted those children, they would either have been drowned or poisoned by Glory Ancestors Village's vile customs, growing up to become murderers of their own children.

"You can go—but I should warn you that those children are human, after all. Being nourished by demonic aura for years will shorten their lives. You could find some good families for them."

The spider demon swiftly leaped onto the wall, then looked back at them.

"...They can only maintain their human faces and spider bodies now. Is there any way to restore their human forms?"

“Sect Master Lu?”

Lu Yuanyi lowered his eyes. Moonlight cast faint gray shadows beneath his deep-set brows, making his dark golden eyes look even more unfathomable.

"Will you be all right staying in the village alone?"

Shen Leyan nodded. “I'm going to inspect the house where Senior Brother Chen Jing and the others disappeared. If anything happens...”

The boy held out his hand.

[Sect Master Lu, hungry. Voice Transmission Talisman, yummy.]

The corners of Lu Yuanyi's lips lifted slightly. “This is a Voice Transmission Talisman. If anything happens, contact me immediately.”

"Will do!"

Lu Yuanyi disappeared into the vast darkness with the spider demon.

Shen Leyan let out a long breath and walked over to the silver-haired woman. He used his spiritual energy to check her pulse. It was extremely weak; she seemed beyond saving.

After marrying into Glory Ancestors Village, the woman had watched her two daughters and one granddaughter drowned before her eyes. Her resistance had achieved nothing, until she lost the courage to fight altogether. She was both pitiable and detestable.

"...I should have died long ago." The woman lay in the courtyard, starlight reflected in her vacant eyes. "It's just as well. I can see my two children in the underworld."

Shen Leyan remained silent.

"...Those cultivators who came half a month ago stayed in an empty house near the mountain behind the village. You can go and look."

He murmured an acknowledgment.

A few breaths later, the woman stopped breathing. A peaceful smile lingered on her lips, as though in her final seconds she had seen the daughters she had longed for day and night.

Shen Leyan did not leave immediately.

On closer consideration, there were still many suspicious details surrounding the disappearance of Senior Brother Chen Jing and the others.

For instance, if the villagers had received silver and planned to move away, why had they stayed after discovering that Senior Brother Chen Jing and the others had vanished?

Besides, several cultivators disappearing from a house without leaving a single trace was far too incredible.

Even someone with Lu Yuanyi's cultivation could not instantly annihilate several cultivators in body and soul without leaving anything behind.

Sometimes, the evil humans committed was far more chilling than anything Demons did.

He pulled off a large clump of spider silk and draped it over himself, smeared dirt and ash over his face and clothes, and tore his robes into tatters. Then he used the Azure Shadow Profound Art to reach the outskirts of the village.

Deep in the night.

The boy's voice rang out in panic. "Help—somebody help—there's a huge spider—the spider demon is eating people!"

Candles soon lit up in every household. When Shen Leyan saw several villagers running out with pitchforks and hoes, he immediately twisted his ankle and pretended to collapse from exhaustion, scraping his palm bloody against the ground.

Several villagers helped him up. Seeing the dense spider silk covering him, they clearly believed a spider demon was responsible.

"Young fellow, are you all right?"

"Where's the spider demon now?!"

Shen Leyan clutched his chest and coughed violently until his face turned pale. Only then did he speak in broken sentences.

"...I wanted to hunt some game in the mountains tonight so I could roast it on the road tomorrow. But just as I reached the village entrance, I saw a spider demon bigger than a tiger dash out of the village."

He described the spider demon so vividly that the villagers beside him kept holding their breath. By the time he finished, cold sweat covered their foreheads.

"If that spider demon hadn't looked like it had already eaten its fill... I probably wouldn't have escaped its clutches either. Hurry and check the village. See whether anyone was hurt."

Two villagers supported him while the rest ran through the village, checking every house.

They soon discovered the courtyard covered in spider silk and the woman's already cold body lying on the ground.

"...So it's true that a Demonic Beast has been hunting in the village."

"What do we do? That spider demon is so powerful. We should move away as soon as possible!"

"Our ancestors' graves are still on the mountain! How can we just leave? You unfilial wretch!"

"If you're so filial, stay! We're about to become fucking Demonic Beast food, and we don't even have enough silver to move. Who gives a damn about relocating the ancestral graves?!"

"If we don't move the ancestral graves, our family lines will die out!"

"All right, all right, stop arguing! Don't make fools of yourselves in front of our guest!"

The villagers glared resentfully at one another, then turned their eyes toward the boy who had just been chased by the spider demon.

"I remember you came here looking for lodging yesterday, didn't you?"

Shen Leyan nodded, pinching his palm to squeeze out a few tears. "To tell you the truth, I'm a disciple of the Cloud Radiance Sect, traveling to gain experience. I intended to gather medicinal herbs in the Southwestern Jungle and spend one night in the village. I never imagined..."

"So you're a cultivator! A truly talented young man!"

"Yes, yes, so accomplished at such a young age!"

The villagers showered him with praise.

Shen Leyan lowered his head as though embarrassed and wiped his tears, quietly observing their expressions.

Several tall, sturdy young men looked honest at first glance, but their eyes kept shifting.

He made up his mind.

"Everyone! Since I was little, my sect's elders have taught me that cultivators must take it upon themselves to vanquish evil, uphold righteousness, and protect the people! I can't defeat that spider demon, but I still have some silver. Take it and move away as soon as you can! If the spider demon comes back, more people in the village might be hurt or killed!"

As he spoke, he took a pouch from his sleeve and poured out several dozen taels of silver.

The villagers' eyes instantly fixed on it. Several times, they reached out to take some, then restrained themselves after exchanging glances.

Pretending not to notice anything, Shen Leyan gave each person one tael of silver.

"Go home and pack your things. Leave tonight, before anything else goes wrong!"

One villager stepped forward. "Young fellow, you've given us so much silver. What will you do if you have nothing left for your journey?"

The boy smiled, his expression innocent and unworldly.

"That won't happen. I still have lots of silver and medicinal pills in my bundle. There's enough to get me back to my sect."

Several villagers exchanged glances, then offered warmly, "You didn't manage to catch any game in the mountains, did you? You must be hungry. I still have two chickens at home. I'll slaughter one and make some soup to warm you up!"

Shen Leyan declined with half-feigned embarrassment. "I couldn't possibly impose..."

"It's no imposition! If you hadn't warned us, that spider demon might have killed several more people! Don't be so polite. Come on, come sit at my house for a while!"

Shen Leyan returned to his room for his bundle, then went to a house surrounded by several villagers.

He sat inside counting his travel funds as the aroma of chicken soup drifted in.

The villagers chatting with him kept glancing at the contents of his bundle.

Playing the part of a wealthy landowner's foolish son, Shen Leyan counted each item aloud to himself.

"This bottle contains healing pills. If I run short of travel money, I can sell it for about twenty taels of silver.

"This is top-quality silk. It should be worth at least five taels, right?

"And this is a secret cultivation manual. It's priceless..."

"Here comes the chicken soup! Drink it while it's hot, young fellow. This is a free-range chicken—it makes wonderfully fragrant soup!"

Shen Leyan looked at the large bowl of chicken soup placed before him. Its mouthwatering aroma and scattering of chopped scallions made it especially tempting.

He thanked them.

"No need to be so polite! If that isn't enough, I'll get you another bowl!"

Shen Leyan lifted the bowl and drained the warm soup in one go.

Crash!

The empty porcelain bowl suddenly slipped from the boy's hand and shattered on the floor.

The smiles vanished from the villagers' faces. They watched expressionlessly as the boy staggered a few steps and collapsed beside the table. Only after they kicked him and saw that his head remained lowered without any reaction did the wariness in their eyes gradually fade.

One villager rummaged through Shen Leyan's bundle and laughed.

"These cultivators really are idiots with more money than sense. Look at this brat—one bowl of knockout drugs and he's done. He's got plenty of good stuff, though. Apparently this bottle of pills can sell for dozens of taels..."

"Enough talk. Hurry up and split the silver, then carry this brat to the cellar and lock him up too."

"But someone else came with him yesterday. His hair was white, but he looked like a young man of twenty. This brat seemed to call him 'Sect Master'... If he comes back to the village and finds the brat missing, won't he come after us?"

"What are you afraid of? Nobody came to rescue the cultivators we drugged last time, did they? 'Sect Master,' my ass... If he's really that amazing, how could he fail to beat a spider demon?"

"You're right, boss. Hurry, get this brat to the cellar. Remember to put more Softening Powder in there. Don't let those cultivators escape!"

Two villagers carried the unconscious boy briskly toward the mountain behind the village. Neither noticed that the drugged boy had quietly opened his eyes, a chill gleaming in their dark depths...

They stopped beside a dry well.

One villager tied the hemp rope used for hauling up the bucket around Shen Leyan's waist and lowered him to the bottom. The other villager then climbed down after him.

Below the dry well was a secret passage leading even deeper underground, blocked by a stone door.

The villager grumbled and cursed. "I say we should just kill these cultivators and bury them. Keeping them locked up here wastes so much Softening Powder every day..."

As he spoke, he tossed Shen Leyan into the cellar beyond the stone door.

A cloud of powder blew in through the gap in the door. It was presumably the Softening Powder the villagers had mentioned.

This poison made a person's limbs weak and limp. With a sufficient dose, even cultivators could not muster their spiritual energy to resist.

Shen Leyan first used his spiritual energy to force out all the chicken soup held in his throat. Then a sudden gust swept up, driving all the Softening Powder that had just drifted in back out.

The villager's puzzled voice sounded beyond the stone door.

"Huh... What's that smell..."

Shen Leyan chuckled. "The smell of Softening Powder."

Before the villager could cry out, his limbs gave way and he slumped beside the stone door.

Shen Leyan kicked the stone door open and crouched down, gripping the villager's throat with one hand as he spoke coldly.

"The antidote."

The villager's eyes bulged slightly. He tried to reach up and save himself, but Shen Leyan tightened his grip and repeated himself.

"The antidote to the Softening Powder! If I kill you down here, no one will know."

The villager whimpered. "The... the antidote... I don't have it... The man up above has it."

Shen Leyan formed a wind blade in his hand and held it against the villager's neck, lowering his voice. "Tell the man above that you're finished and have him pull you up—if you dare say one extra word, you can see whether he comes down to save you faster than my wind blade can move."

The wind blade left a thin bloody mark on the villager's skin.

The villager glanced sideways at him in terror and whimpered his agreement.

Shen Leyan exchanged robes with him.

They went to the bottom of the well. The man guarding it heard the voice below and suspected nothing. He quickly lowered the hemp rope and urged, "What's taking you so long this time? Hurry up."

Shen Leyan kept the wind blade poised beside the villager's neck to prevent any surprises, then tied the hemp rope around himself and let the man above pull him up.

A short while later, the boy returned to the cellar entrance with the antidote.

The air inside the cellar was foul, reeking of decay.

Spoiled rice and steamed buns lay scattered on the floor, all covered in mold.

Senior Brother Chen Jing and several other Cloud Radiance Sect disciples lay on the ground with their hands and feet bound in hemp rope. Their robes were filthy, their cheeks had grown gaunt, and their eyes were tightly closed. He could not tell whether they were still alive.

Shen Leyan's heart clenched.

He walked over to Chen Jing and fed him the antidote first. Then he immediately grasped his wrist and poured his own spiritual energy into his meridians.