Chapter 198: A Mad Opponent

His companions were unable to rescue him in time, watching helplessly as he tumbled down the slope and was instantly swallowed by the surging tide of spiders.

The shrill screams did not last long, yet they seemed to echo endlessly in everyone's hearts, chilling them to the bone.

He Lingchuan's heart stirred. Tigers and wolves bite the vitals for a swift kill, but spiders bite one mouthful after another—why did this patrol guard die so rapidly? Looking at his earlier swaying gait, it didn't look like exhaustion; it looked more like poisoning.

Indeed, many species of spiders are highly venomous.

The guide trembled and asked, "Why have these cave spiders gone mad?"

This statement carried significant information. Liu Tong asked him, "Do they usually inhabit this place?"

"Yes, yes they do." The guide's voice was as faint as a mosquito, completely drowned out by the commotion on the slope; only the two people standing closest could hear him. "They have never interfered with humans before."

"Is there any way to save them?" The people on the slope were in constant peril and couldn't hold out much longer.

Spiders from all directions were still arriving at the news to join the battle, like flies smelling rotting meat. Menban cursed under his breath, "Just how many spiders are there here!"

"They used to be very afraid of fire." The guide only said these few words, his face growing paler.

These monsters, usually afraid of fire, were now throwing themselves forward wave after wave—what kind of demonic possession was this? He Lingchuan couldn't help but think of Dong Rui.

Can a beast tamer make monsters attack without regard for their lives? Liutiao watched intently and suddenly said, "I remember spiders can't swim. Is it the same for these?"

The guide was uncertain: "I, I don't know. I've never seen spiders go into the water."

And the Ghost Needle Shi Lin was not lacking in water.

"How far is the nearest stream or river? One of significant size."

Sweat dripped from the guide's forehead as he pointed west. "There is a large, deep pool there, about fifteen zhang away. I used to always bring people there to fetch water and rest."

"Is it running water or stagnant?"

"Run, running water!" The guide gulped. "Upstream are two creeks, heading, heading north! It rained heavily just seven days ago, so the water volume should be quite large now."

"That's the place." Liu Tong made a prompt decision. "Find a way to meet them there."

At this moment, He Lingchuan deeply missed the secret treasure the sand bandits had given him—the Fragrant Dumpling. That thing was despised by gods and ghosts alike; whoever it was wafted toward would run away. If only he could have brought it into the Panlong Dream!

After all, they were a team that had worked together for a long time, so everyone quickly divided the tasks in a few words.

Menban drew his giant axe, took a deep breath, and said to He Lingchuan, "Ready."

He Lingchuan grinned at him, channeled his strength into both arms, grabbed Menban's belt, and flung him out! He Lingchuan was naturally strong, and after the Emperor Flow marrow-cleansing, he had an added boost; he forcefully threw Menban, a sturdy man of over 170 jin, more than three zhang away! Mid-air, Menban exhaled and shouted: "Ride the horses over, there's a way out here!"

With a large living person suddenly appearing in the field, the spiders' offensive stalled, and a portion immediately turned to attack him.

He Lingchuan's two months of hard-practiced throwing technique paid off; where Menban landed, there was a large, protruding piece of solid rock.

He used the rock to pivot and jumped again! Even though he wasn't as agile as the thin man and was holding a heavy weapon, he still jumped over a zhang.

That was very close to the trapped team.

This team had just lost one man and another was seriously injured; they were filled with despair. Suddenly hearing the words "way out," they were overjoyed.

Menban's hoarse, smoky voice sounded more beautiful to them at this moment than the lingering echoes of a famous opera singer.

He raised his giant axe high, and as he landed, the axe head struck the ground first—axe-back down.

"Hum—" A low, continuous sound resonated, like a tuning fork struck by iron.

The spider army within a three-zhang radius suddenly stopped their legs; some even started spinning in circles on the spot, as if drunk.

"Hurry over!" Menban urged.

This wave of low-frequency vibration also made the horses on the slope shake their heads; one knelt on the spot. The group didn't care about it, jumped onto the other horses in pairs, and galloped wildly behind Menban.

As they were about to pass him, Menban struck the ground twice more with his axe, stunning another wave of little monsters.

Using such a combat skill was quite draining; Menban's face turned beet red. The low-frequency attack was a "three-strike" move; it would take a long time to recover after using it all.

Liutiao also charged over on horseback, throwing several burning bottles. Cyan-white smoke burst from the bottles; the spiders that rushed up wilted as soon as they were smoked, flipping onto their backs with their eight legs trembling toward the sky.

The team had just cleared out bee monsters a few days ago, and this toxic smoke was particularly effective against insects.

Taking advantage of this gap, Menban rushed to Liutiao's side and jumped onto the horse's back. The horse let out a long neigh and galloped away.

The spider swarm was even more enraged and pursued relentlessly.

Not only were these clingy pests behind the horse hooves, but spiders were also falling from the treetops, landing on people or horses and biting as soon as they opened their mouths.

Just clearing these away was enough to keep them in a frantic mess.

Fortunately, the guide was competent; there was indeed a deep pool more than ten zhang away. The group rode their horses directly into the pool, kicking up splashes of water.

The spiders indeed stopped at the water's edge, hissing at the group. A few seemed blinded by rage and actually tried to enter the water, but were immediately swept away by the current.

The remaining spider monsters circled the shore, a dark, swarming mass, but they could do nothing to the humans.

The group, their nerves finally settling, let out a long sigh of relief.

Menban jumped off into the water, hugging the horse's head and constantly soothing it: "I remember spiders can swim. Heaven has opened its eyes that these ones can't!"

Liutiao said with a straight face: "The spiders you've seen that can swim only do so because they are small! Look at how big these ones are."

Most spiders cannot swim simply because their body weight is too small, allowing them to move on surface tension; if you switched to soapy water, they would sink immediately. These spider monsters in front of them were as big as cats—how could one expect surface tension to work?

The guide shouted a few times at the spider monsters, roughly asking why they were attacking humans.

The spiders covering the mountains and plains here were mostly ordinary cave spiders; only the particularly large ones had become monsters, and they stayed at the back of the swarm. But these things didn't seem to have high intelligence, only opening their mouthparts to hiss threats at him, as if they didn't want to communicate.

"Extinguish the torches." He Lingchuan suggested. "I see the firelight isn't scaring the spiders away; it's actually drawing more aggression."

Liu Tong, however, did not adopt this, only saying to the guide, "Head north and shake them off!"

Thanks to the rain from the past few days, the Ghost Needle Shi Lin now had ample moisture, and the creeks were deeper and wider. As long as the people and horses kept their distance from the banks, the spiders posed no threat, and the occasional bundle of spider silk shot over was easy to handle.

The guide stepped deep and shallow in the water, still needing to explain to the group: "These cave spiders eat everything, from small birds to wild boars and bears, but they never pay attention to humans. I've been through the Ghost Needle Shi Lin seventeen or eighteen times, and this is the first time I've seen them attack humans!"

"Why don't they usually eat people?"

"I heard they are bound by the local mountain spirits and are not allowed to prey on humans, as long as humans don't come looking for trouble with them." The guide sighed. "There are too many cave spiders in the Ghost Needle Shi Lin. They are the kings and bullies here; if they encounter something thorny, they swarm out in full force. Who would dare look for trouble with them?"

"The Baling people." Liu Tong said in a deep voice. "No wonder they don't enter the Shi Lin; it turns out they had already angered the cave spiders, just waiting for us to walk into the trap."

At this moment, the rescued also came up to express their thanks.

They were from other teams, scattered midway by the crazily emerging spider swarm. Originally there were over thirty people, a dozen horses, and three cargo carts; now only these few remained, and even their captain had sacrificed himself.

With the threat of being buried in spider mouths temporarily gone, one merchant fell into the water with a thud. His companions helped him up, seeing him unconscious, his cheeks swollen, and his brow turning green.

Another patrol guard also had a wound on his neck, but he was only dizzy, heart-palpitating, and breathing rapidly.

"Poisoned."

Spiders inject venom into their prey to cause loss of mobility or even unconsciousness, while simultaneously dissolving the body for absorption. These things had promoted to monsters, so their venom was clearly enhanced, but Panlongcheng soldiers carried emergency medicine with them when going into battle, most of which contained detox pills, so they hurriedly fed the medicine to the wounded.

The Panlongcheng army had Yuan power to protect their bodies, so their resistance to toxins was far stronger than ordinary people. The patrol guards and merchants were both bitten by spiders, and the contrast in their conditions was obvious.

After taking the medicine, the merchant remained unconscious, only the edema on his body slowly subsided, so the group had to tie him to a horse; the patrol guard improved after a few dozen breaths, the pus and blood squeezed from the wound turned from green to red, and the dizziness disappeared, although his walking was still a bit unsteady.

This was a dark-skinned, thin man who seemed to dislike talking, only reporting his name as Sun Jiayuan.

Another rescued merchant pointed at Sun Jiayuan and cursed: "What kind of path are you leading us on! Didn't you boast that you knew the Ghost Needle Shi Lin like the back of your hand? How come you didn't even know spiders are afraid of water, only knowing how to climb slopes and fight those monsters to the death! You've wasted so many of our lives, and the cargo is lost too."

Sun Jiayuan's Adam's apple moved, and he endured it.

The merchant continued to curse.

He Lingchuan saw Sun Jiayuan's hand already touching the hilt of his knife, his face flushed red.

This wasn't a man with a good temper either.

"Hey!" Liutiao couldn't watch anymore. "If it weren't for the patrol guards fighting to the death to protect you, you would have already turned into a puddle of pus, sucked into the spiders' bellies."

At this time, a cluster of cyan fireworks exploded in the night sky to the northwest, drawing the spiders on the shore to look back.

The group also saw it, but remained unmoved.

A few dozen breaths later, two red fireworks rose into the sky to the northeast.

After another while, two white fireworks lit up in the east.

Only then did Liu Tong say: "The signal has come; the main force will assemble in the northeast." He asked the guide, "Is there an exit in the northeast of the Shi Lin? Can we reach it by following the river?"

At the oath-taking meeting before departure, General Nanke had temporarily issued an order that the assembly of the army in the field would be signaled by red fireworks, and whoever saw them must rush there immediately.

The other signals were to confuse the enemy.

Now that two red fireworks had risen, it gave the patrol guards, including He Lingchuan, at least two hints:

First, the inexplicably rampaging cave spiders had indeed caused great trouble for the entire army, and many small teams had been scattered by the spider swarm's charge. The main team had therefore sent a signal to call everyone to assemble.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 199 =====