Southern Fire Spider Mother

East of the underground wilderness, the ground gradually rose and the chill grew sharper. Deep-blue frostbell flowers carpeted the fungal mat, their blossoms shaped like tiny, upside-down bells, their mouths slightly open and their petals curling at the edges like cracks in ice.

When the wind passed, they brushed against one another with a delicate "ding." That was how they had earned the name frostbell.

These frostbell flowers were undoubtedly among the legacies True Person Shouhui had left here. They grew undisturbed in a corner of the eastern wilderness, as though keeping watch over the withered tree from their lofty perch.

Following the flowers east, they came upon a stream that wound slowly along its bed, yet warm steam rose from its surface.

The terrain grew steep here. Great boulders stood across their path, sheer cliffs towered overhead, and the light below gradually faded, leaving only a cluster of light ahead beckoning the two onward.

They stepped onto a cliff strewn with loose stones, where faint moonlight fell from an unknown source. After another few dozen steps, the view suddenly opened: stars and moon hung high, cold snow drifted down, and peach blossoms filled the valley.

They had reached the very heart of Jinping Mountain. A valley lay peacefully in the mountain's embrace, while peach blossoms drifted quietly along the stream toward the underground wilderness.

A small temple stood in the peach grove, no taller than a person. Its structure was made entirely from the trunk of a withered tree, with scarcely any work from an axe or chisel. A few old branches bent and overlapped to form its beams and pillars. The bark was mottled, and thin moss grew in its crevices, making the temple look as though it had sprouted from the earth.

The seven-colored "Radiant Wish" that shone over Jinping Mountain fell upon this little temple.

The thumb ring in Jiang Wangxuan's hand gleamed with an excited, icy light. With a "puff," it transformed into a winter cicada, which spread two pairs of frosty wings and flew shakily toward the temple.

The winter cicada circled the temple three times, letting out a mournful cry with each circuit. At last, as though tired from flying, it entered the temple, folded its frosty wings, and settled atop the black wooden tablet enshrined in the central hall.

Its final cry echoed through the valley. Peach blossoms fell and the stream murmured. The winter cicada finally turned back into a thumb ring, then vanished beneath the cold moonlight and snow, under the radiance of the "Radiant Wish."

At that moment, Jiang Wangxuan and Fang Lin finally understood why True Person Shouhui had established his incense-fire Dao sanctuary on Jinping Mountain. This was the "Cicada Immortal's" home.

The Cicada Immortal had cultivated the Dao here, gained a Cold Qi Divine Ability, and reached the Purple Mansion realm. He had then left the mountain to travel through Wuyue, ultimately acquiring that incense-fire method!

But even if a little cicada from the mountain possessed a trace of "Frost Cicada" blood, where on Jinping Mountain could he have found a Cultivation Method to help him cultivate to Foundation Establishment?

The withered giant tree of Jinping Mountain had likely shown True Person Shouhui considerable kindness when it was alive. Even if there had been no bond between master and disciple, it had at least done him the favor of imparting a method.

Otherwise, why would the "Cicada Immortal" have followed the incense-fire path in an attempt to recast an incense-fire spirit body for the giant tree?

"Brother Fang, is there a way for someone else to hold the incense-fire path on another's behalf?"

Jiang Wangxuan frowned, feeling that something seemed amiss with the incense-fire path True Person Shouhui had followed. The incense-fire path gathered the wishes of the people and drew together the spirits of heaven and earth. As the years flowed by, it gave rise to a "Radiant Wish."

But later generations remembered only the two short words "Cicada Immortal." Where would the name of this withered giant tree have come from?

Fang Lin shook his head with a bitter smile. "Unless True Person Shouhui had attained the golden rank back then and could draw upon the fruition of [Huaqi] to carry out the ancient investiture of gods. That would have required an [imperial decree]!"

"So True Person Shouhui failed, his Dao vanished and scattered like clouds. He could not use the name 'Cicada Immortal' to recast an incense-fire spirit body for the giant tree. In the end, he left behind not even a fragment of his legacy, and his Dao sanctuary was occupied by outsiders!"

"Heh!"

A derisive chuckle came from the valley, mocking the two who had stopped at its entrance.

"You greenhorn cultivators dare to talk behind his lordship's back about his Dao!"

The voice sounded neither male nor female. At first, it was like countless spider threads stretched to their limits and snapping all at once-shrill, close-packed, and unending, like a rusty saw scraping back and forth across their eardrums.

"Do you know what Jinping Mountain was like before True Person Shouhui sought the Dao here? It was a ghost domain, a land of the dead where even birds and beasts dared not tread!"

"It was a lightless place formed by the withered giant tree's spirit, which had cursed it day and night for centuries. Though his lordship died seeking the Dao, the 'Dao fruit' he left behind purified this dead land. Only then could the withered tree crumble and nourish the mountain spirit, giving rise to the Jinping Mountain of today, a place fit to rival the blessed lands of Xuantian!"

"Little cultivators, how can you be so arrogant?!"

A black shadow had been sitting cross-legged in a corner of the peach grove. As the figure rose, bloody Sha spread through the grove, and the peach trunks turned vivid red as blood.

Fang Lin took a great step forward, kindling fire blazing at the grotto entrance. Only then did they finally see the spider mother's true form.

The spider mother's legs were all severed, and she moved along the ground on her belly. Her belly was split like a pair of lips, and threads of blood poured from between them, forming false limbs. She was shaped like a withered heart, the color of clotted blood. She had no eyes, no head, and no mouth, yet bloody mouths covered her entire body.

At the sight, Fang Lin shouted in alarm and anger, "An 'Empty Shrine Blessing-Bestowing Spider'! You remnants of Southern Fire, how dare you come north!"

"Why wouldn't we dare? You people of Qinghuan broke faith and abandoned your oaths, so why won't you allow us to come north and make our home?"

The spider mother gave another derisive laugh, her hoarse, sawing voice grating on without end. "I was but a young spider of the Heavenly Prefecture's 'Punishment Yang Peak.' Southern Fire fell, the peaks were shattered, and those fleeing for their lives scattered in every direction. Two or three disciples took me north in a desperate flight. Now, of them all, only I, a little spider, remain alive. How desolate!"

"This is the slaughter you Qinghuan people brought about. All 1,352 souls of 'Punishment Yang Peak' perished at your hands. Were they not your own kind? Answer me, Jixia Fang Clan!"

Fang Lin looked at the spider mother with a complicated expression. She was very likely the last "Empty Shrine Blessing-Bestowing Spider" in all the world. He sighed. "The Southern Fire Heavenly Prefecture rebelled against Qinghuan. That is an indisputable fact."

"Back then, the Cangwu Mountain Ravine Grotto fell into chaos. After the great war, most of the Southern Fire Heavenly Prefecture's Dao lineages were severed. The True Lords also gathered many Southern Fire disciples and kept them in Jixia to renew those lineages!"

"Spider Mother, the path of [Punishment Sacrifice] has yet to rise again. I give you my word in the name of the Jixia Fang Clan: you may return to Jixia with me, and my Fang Clan will shoulder all the karmic debts and grievances you have incurred on Jinping Mountain over these past centuries!"

Hearing Fang Lin say something so shocking, Jiang Wangxuan thought that the name of the Jixia Fang Clan truly carried weight!

"Haha, hmph, hahaha..."

There were men and women in those voices, spiders and hatred, and the whole valley rang with their frenzied laughter.

"Disgusting! Jixia Fang Clan, should we thank you for the kindness of taking us in?" It was an aged voice, cursing in pain. "What a petty way to act."

Another voice, a woman's, rang out piercingly with venomous resentment. "Kill them! Kill the Fang Clan, and console our forebears' spirits in heaven!"

In the peach grove, several peach trees tore themselves from the ground, their blood-red branches and shoots swaying through the valley. The spider mother's compound eyes glared with hatred at the two below her, and bloody shoots burst forth like a torrential rain.

The Water-Dividing Turbidity-Sinking Shield immediately rose to protect the two, but the bloody peach shoots passed effortlessly through the defensive Law Technique.

Jiang Wangxuan was taken aback. Fortunately, the Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body shielded him in time, but the Hearth Radiance Kindling Fire protecting it was far weaker than before under the corrosion of the bloody shoots!

"Brother Fang, something's wrong with you. Your kindling fire is being transformed into 'blood fire,' and the blood fire is devouring your true essence and Law Power."

Jiang Wangxuan quickly noticed something was wrong. Without further hesitation, he activated the Cavern Spring Talismanic Words Bracelet with all his strength, and the flood dragon spirit took the Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body's place, blocking the bloody shoots that followed.

Yet the bloody shoots refined by the spider mother pierced the flood dragon spirit's body without resistance. They sent out branching veins that burrowed into it, and within a few breaths, peach blossoms bloomed all over its body.

Before it could even whimper, the flood dragon spirit dissolved into a shower of clear rain that fell over the valley. As the drops landed, the stream turned into a river of blood, and Blood Spiders crawled out of its bed.

And those Blood Spiders had all been made from the shoots left behind by the ruined, withered tree!

By this point, how could Jiang Wangxuan still fail to understand? They had been too arrogant!

They had let down their guard because the spider mother's cultivation presence was only at Qi Refinement Perfection. This valley, the Dao sanctuary left by the "Cicada Immortal," had become entirely the spider mother's domain.

Moreover, the magic the spider mother used seemed quite orthodox, unlike the brutality of the earlier "Blood Progeny" and death curse!

Not only did the peach trees' bloody shoots lack the slightest trace of bloody Sha, they were brimming with spiritual power. They could dissolve spirit fire and even break Law Techniques head-on.

This was the orthodox bloodline magic of [Punishment Sacrifice]!

A roaring blade of flame swept past, cutting down every Blood Spider rushing at them. The Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body flashed forward into the swarm of spiders and peach grove. "Brother Jiang, don't hesitate!"

The Dharma body unleashed an explosive punch at the spider mother deep in the grove, then swept its fire blade along the valley floor, cutting through the peach trees ahead at their roots.

Jiang Wangxuan summoned the flood dragon spirit once more. Under the cover of the Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body's assault, the third-grade magic "Clear Water Pours, Return to the Ruins Overturns" successfully unfolded in the air.

Turbulent waves of Clear Water crashed down on the peach grove at the bottom of the valley like a waterfall. He understood Fang Lin's intent perfectly: they had only one chance!

As the surging Clear Water spread out, the waves tore up the peach grove's roots. The Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body leaped high, gripping its blade in both hands, and Hearth Radiance Kindling Fire rose with it like a pillar of flame.

The spider mother lay atop a peach tree amid the raging waves, her compound eyes fixed on the Dharma body in the air, like a divine general. Peach branches clung to its shoulders, the armor covering its body, and the guards on its legs.

Blood-red firelight and the Fang Clan's orange-red "Hearth Radiance Kindling Fire" blazed in competition. These two were worthy of being Qi Refinement Perfection cultivators who dared climb the mountain on a snowy night. Each had mastered a profound power that only Foundation Establishment cultivators could master after forming an Immortal Foundation!

Moreover, the decisiveness with which they fought was wholly at odds with their age. They had chosen the same tactic they had used against her in the temple outside: stake everything and go all in!

They knew perfectly well that dragging the fight out in the valley, the spider mother's own domain, meant a slow death!

But this "Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body" could not win a second time. Brilliant red spiritual light burst from the spider mother's body, and the "Blood Yang Spirit Fire" of the [Punishment Sacrifice] path appeared in the world once more.

The "Blood Yang Spirit Fire" instantly ignited the peach branches hanging all over the Cooking Radiance Kindling King Body and the blossoms already growing on it. In a single breath, the "Blood Yang Spirit Fire" completely engulfed the Dharma body, turning it into a gigantic ball of flame.

The vivid red spirit fire blazed in the snowy night. Jiang Wangxuan stood atop the Clear Water flood dragon spirit, the firelight illuminating one side of his body.