Chapter 202: I

"We still need a backup candidate." Liu Tong was a careful person; in case Sun Jiayuan failed, his mission still needed someone to take over.

So more than a dozen people rushed to the river, rolled around in the mud for a good while, and were covered in three layers of mud slurry, inside and out; when they climbed up, they didn't look like humans, with only a pair of eyes exposed.

Even Liutiao was like this, rolling in mud without caring at all.

He Lingchuan also took the opportunity to fill his water bag.

The thin man spat out a mouthful of fishy, dirty water: "Pah, stinks to death!"

He didn't even dare to think about what else was in this mud.

The group returned to the original spot, which was closest to the giant nest. Sun Jiayuan carried his bow and arrows and nodded to Liu Tong: "Ready."

More than a dozen mud people exerted force at the same time and sprinted, but they would stop when the spiders approached.

A strange scene appeared: when they stopped their footsteps, the cave spiders passed by them directly, actually treating them as nothing.

That's right, they had such a strong muddy, fishy smell on them that it covered up the human scent.

Cave spiders certainly wouldn't have any reaction to the smell of soil they dealt with all the time.

"Go quickly!"

Without Liu Tong urging again, Sun Jiayuan sprinted with all his might to the edge of the nest, did a forward roll, hugged his face, tucked his legs, and went down.

This brocade looked gorgeous, but it was actually like an ordinary spider web, with a sticky bead every half-palm distance, and the stickiness was particularly amazing. Anything that brushed against it, besides losing a layer of skin, had no way to break free.

But Sun Jiayuan was covered in several layers of mud, still dripping with water. Every time he rolled over a layer of spider web, he lost a bit of mud, and he relied on gravity to fall layer by layer.

Liutiao took advantage of the gap in the enemy's attack to look back and shouted with joy: "This plan can work!"

In just these few breaths, Sun Jiayuan had fallen through seven or eight layers of spider web. As long as he broke through the last line of defense, he could throw the fire bomb into the nest.

The spider monsters also felt something was wrong and swarmed from all directions. The group threw out the insect repellent bottles they had prepared, winning as much time as they could.

The insect repellent smoke was very effective; ordinary spiders smelled this taste and couldn't take two steps before kicking their legs, but the spider monsters guarding the nest clearly had stronger tolerance, shaking their heads and holding their breath as they rushed over.

Their most proficient skill was clearly still spraying silk webs. At this time, He Lingchuan, Liu Tong, and other wet, muddy people took advantage, as the webs couldn't drag them away.

Liu Tong also couldn't help but shout loudly: "Sun Jiayuan, hurry up!"

The spider monsters had thick skin and great strength, and many tricks, but their numbers were limited, and the patrol guards could handle two each with ease. But the insect repellent smoke couldn't burn for long; when it ran out, the little spiders would swarm in, pervasive, and even with Yuan power protection, they wouldn't be able to hold on.

It was a moment of racing against time, but Sun Jiayuan didn't answer.

"Sun Jiayuan!" Liu Tong called a few more times.

The luxurious brocade covered the entrance of the cave nest, and no one could see the situation underneath.

The group was anxious when Sun Jiayuan's voice came from below, sounding a bit far away: "The space underneath is too big, and there are many more layers! I have to go down..."

Before the words fell, he suddenly let out a loud scream of "Ah—", his voice shrill!

"There's an ambush, and a spider army, you guys run!"

And then there was a loud bang, and firelight shone through from under the brocade.

The patrol guards' hearts all sank.

Sun Jiayuan was probably gone.

Someone was at the edge of the brocade, hacking and chopping with a knife. Sure enough, this spider web looked light and airy, but it was actually tougher than century-old vines, and a hundred-refined steel knife attached with Yuan power could only chop off a few silk threads.

You know, there were more than a dozen layers of silk webs covering the nest.

What the situation was underneath, someone else would have to go down to find out.

Sun Jiayuan probably failed, so should they continue?

If they retreated like this, what about the main force? Even if General Nanke could gather the remnants and escape, outside the Ghost Needle Shi Lin, there were Baling people waiting for them! One step forward was fog, one step backward was an abyss, and they had to make a decision now, immediately! Several people said in unison: "I'll go!"

There were Liu Tong, Menban, and two other patrol guards.

Their mud hadn't dried yet, and they could all take over Sun Jiayuan's unfinished mission.

He Lingchuan felt admiration. In terms of elite status, these patrol guards were indeed not as good as the Dafeng Army; but in terms of courage, the Heishuicheng Army, the Response Army, and the Yuan officials he had seen weren't even fit to carry their boots!

The thin man hesitated and gritted his teeth: "I, I'll go!"

The sparrow hawk flew over, its claws still clutching the bundle.

"No, I'll go!" It had just flown over He Lingchuan's head when the latter waved at it, "Give me the fire bomb!"

His advantage was unique, and no one could compare.

The sparrow hawk dropped the bundle, He Lingchuan caught it in his hand, grabbed a few signal arrows from it, turned around, and rushed toward the spider nest entrance, incidentally throwing the rest to Liu Tong: "If I don't succeed, you guys take my place!"

When passing by Liutiao, he also swiped the fire oil hanging from her waist.

"Good man!" He Lingchuan hadn't been in the team for long, and Liu Tong didn't expect him to rush to the front, so he was moved. "Leave your last wishes, we will definitely do our best!"

He Lingchuan's move was life-or-death unknown, but everyone had something they wanted. According to the Panlong City army tradition, the living should try their best to fulfill the wishes of the dead.

"No need!" He Lingchuan poured water from his water bag over his head to make the mud on his body wetter. He performed the Swallow Return movement technique, nimbly dodging several intercepting spider monsters, rushed to the edge of the nest, and jumped down directly just like Sun Jiayuan.

The bystanders just saw the brocade surging and swallowing He Lingchuan, only his voice coming from below: "Go back to the Frost Wine Restaurant and treat me to a drink!"

Liu Tong shook his head: "This kid!" Convinced he wouldn't die, he didn't even leave a last wish?

But He Lingchuan's optimism still infected the patrol guards on the scene, and everyone's spirits were lifted, and even the anxious and confused atmosphere was reduced.

Only a few breaths later, they heard He Lingchuan say in surprise: "There's a different world underneath, it looks like a forest!"

Menban and the thin man looked at each other in the midst of their busy work, both seeing the confusion in the other's eyes.

Did He Lingchuan fall and faint? What kind of forest could there be underground? "I didn't see Sun Jiayuan!" He Lingchuan's voice continued to come up. "I set a fire, Zhu Erniang must have suffered heavy losses!"

The thin man rushed to the edge of the nest and looked down, and sure enough, he saw blazing red firelight flickering under the brocade, like a raging fire, but with the brocade blocking it, he couldn't even feel a trace of heat.

The fireproof effect of this spider silk was truly amazing. If He Lingchuan hadn't jumped down and set the fire directly, the sparrow hawk probably could have dropped an arsenal from the air and it wouldn't have been of any use.

Nest burning successful, the thin man was overjoyed: "He Lingchuan, come up quickly!"

"The spider army is crawling out!" He Lingchuan's voice was urgent and firm. "You guys retreat quickly, go!"

Go? The thin man was stunned, and a huge spider monster suddenly appeared in the rolling brocade, pouncing on him from the air! This thing was as big as a goat, and one jump of its eight feet was two zhang away, almost giving the thin man a Mount Tai pressing down.

He had never seen a spider good at jumping, and its speed was unreasonably fast.

Fortunately, he was also agile, dodged in a wolfish roll, and shouted: "Spider monsters are crawling up, more than a hundred of them!"

Yes, behind the jumping spiders was a spider monster army, their size only larger, their patterns and colors different, but they were all rushing toward the nest entrance along the spider web, looking furious!

The largest one was bigger than a brown bear, colorful, and looked like it wasn't to be trifled with.

Everyone finally understood that the spider queen had put all her elite guards in the nest to watch the house, no wonder she could leave with peace of mind.

The order these big treasures received was probably to guard the cave entrance and not go out, so it wasn't until He Lingchuan set a big fire that they rushed out to fight the arsonist.

More than a hundred big monsters that had been resting and looking for trouble were not something a dozen patrol guards could handle. In the blink of an eye, two were knocked down, screaming as they were dragged into the nest.

These spiders, after catching people, reproduced the classic predatory method, pressing the prey on the ground for a roll and rub, wrapping them in layers of sticky spider webs, and turning them into two rice dumplings in the blink of an eye.

"Damn it!" The teammates' cries suddenly weakened, and Liutiao was anxious, shooting down the silk-spinning spiders with two arrows. But the spider swarm surged up like a tide, and they were about to close in.

Even worse, the insect repellent bottles she threw were about to burn out, and the little spiders were eager to move.

If they didn't leave, they would be delivering food. Liu Tong was sweating profusely, grabbing Liutiao's arm and shouting: "Retreat, retreat quickly!"

Liutiao shouted "He Lingchuan" toward the cave entrance one last time.

The huge cave hole had no response.

Menban pressed her shoulder and said in a deep voice: "Can't find him! If you don't want to die, run!" The cave was on fire, and the spider queen would probably rush back, so this place couldn't be stayed in.

He and Liu Tong each supported Liutiao and ran toward the back of the slope.

The horses were hidden there, and there was hope of escape if they mounted a step earlier.

Just then, fireworks ignited in the sky again.

Menban looked back in the midst of his busy work and was overjoyed: "Fireworks outside the Shi Lin! Maybe reinforcements have arrived!"

The fireworks were far away, although they were also in the northeast. Judging from the distance, they should have exploded outside the Ghost Needle Shi Lin.

The reinforcements that had been waited for all night had finally arrived.

￥￥￥￥￥

The Dafeng Army attacked Weicheng.

Just as General Hong expected before the battle, the dozens of miles from Puxigou to Weicheng were walked quite comfortably, with not a single soldier to be seen, only two large eagles circling in the sky.

Captain Sun personally drew his bow and shot one down.

Except for owls, the night vision of raptors was relatively poor, and they didn't improve much after becoming monsters. If it were daytime, it shouldn't have been a problem for it to avoid this deadly arrow.

The other one was so scared that it flapped its wings and climbed, not daring to fly low again.

Weicheng was quiet at night, and there were only four or five red lights on the city gate, as if the city defense was lax.

However, as soon as the Dafeng Army started the attack, a wave of arrows shot down from the city gate, followed by horns blowing in the wilderness, and an army killed from behind the Dafeng Army! There was an ambush.

These Baling people had been ambushed in the wilderness for most of the night, eating wind and sand, and not daring to light a fire, so their eyebrows and collars were covered in frost, and they came to attack with a belly full of resentment.

Everyone in the Dafeng Army took their bows and fired two rounds of volleys at the ambushers.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 203 =====