Chapter 325

As for now, the two of them and the giant jellyfish seemed to be in the middle of a swamp, surrounded by lush aquatic jungles, with high trunks and dense branches above, only occasionally allowing a glimpse of a palm-sized patch of sky.

A few dragonflies flew past the giant jellyfish, longer than his middle finger.

The water surface the jellyfish passed through was sometimes narrow and sometimes wide, with no pattern to speak of.

Wait a minute, this was already deep in the swamp, the water flow was calm, with no wind or waves; why could the jellyfish still move forward at a steady speed? Dong Rui pointed downward with an expressionless face.

He Lingchuan looked down and was startled.

It turned out the giant jellyfish wasn't moving forward with the current at all, but had another source of power—

Entangled beneath the jellyfish was a dense mass of eels, numbering at least several dozen; the thinnest were as thick as a fist, and the strongest one actually had a waist as thick as a bucket, comparable to a python.

He Lingchuan immediately thought of his favorite dish, oil-fried eel. Sss, how many bowls could all these make if thrown into a pot? The fragrance, the spice, the glistening oil.

While he was drooling over their bodies, the eel mass didn't seem to have good intentions toward them either; some were dragging from the front, some were pushing from the back, dragging the jellyfish toward the depths of the jungle, and their speed was not slow at all.

It was just that He Lingchuan hadn't looked closely when he woke up, thinking it was just water grass brushing past.

"Where have we drifted to? Where is this group of eels taking us?"

Come to think of it, it didn't seem dark underwater; on the contrary, there was a faint light shining through.

"You ask me, who do I ask?" Dong Rui was somewhat annoyed; if he had woken up earlier and killed this He guy, wouldn't he have successfully escaped to shore? He Lingchuan rubbed his nose: "I need to relieve myself." Having held it for over a dozen hours, he needed a refreshing release.

Dong Rui was startled: "Not here, wait until we're out!" The two of them were in the same sealed water ball; couldn't he have some public morality! He Lingchuan drew the Floating Life Blade with his backhand: "Among these eels, it seems there is only one monster, and it doesn't look very powerful." That made it easy to deal with.

Dong Rui suddenly let out an "Eh": "Look, there seem to be buildings ahead!"

Borrowing the daylight, the two saw a long beach ahead, where buildings made of stone and shells were connected in a stretch, with the tallest reaching three stories.

However, these houses seemed to have been abandoned for a long time, and now green grass and vines were the residents.

That Dong Rui could spot them at a glance was thanks to the roofs of these buildings being decorated with clam shells, the oil paint inside reflecting light, making them quite eye-catching.

He Lingchuan was just about to slash open the jellyfish and go ashore to investigate when the eel mass acting as porters suddenly crawled up along the jellyfish, wrapped it completely, and dragged it into the water!

"Wait, they seem to be taking us somewhere." Dong Rui's curiosity was much stronger than He Lingchuan's, "Hold it in for now."

"Where else could they be taking us, to the dinner table." Although he said that, He Lingchuan temporarily sheathed his blade, because the perspective from underwater was even clearer.

It turned out the bottom of the swamp was covered with slender water grass, lush, soft, and clean, looking like an entire meadow. The fruits of this water grass were shaped like pearls and actually emitted a faint blue light, attracting schools of fish to swim and play freely.

He Lingchuan even saw a few turtles swimming past clumsily; the ecology was quite good.

But as the eel mass dove deeper, He Lingchuan saw more stone-shell houses—

Exactly the same as the ones on the shore.

Only this underwater stretch was larger in scale, at least two or three thousand, and the architectural styles were becoming rich and exquisite, full of exotic flair, and against the backdrop of the glowing water grass balls, they were as beautiful as if they were fake.

The tallest building here was also over five stories, quite magnificent; the jellyfish just brushed past the eaves of a high-rise.

Of course, this place was now the habitat of aquatic tribes, with fish, shrimp, crabs, and shellfish coming and going.

Dong Rui was also truly astonished: "Beneath the swamp, there is actually a town hidden?"

He Lingchuan pointed forward: "If we don't leave now, it'll be too late."

Ahead was a pitch-black area, which seemed to be the destination of the eels, and the two of them had no intention of staying there foolishly.

The sightseeing ended here; He Lingchuan turned his blade and opened a long gash on the top of the giant jellyfish.

This monster's outer skin looked transparent and fragile, but it was actually quite tough; even using the Floating Life Blade, there was a roughness like cutting through a tarp. It was evident that the giant jellyfish could persist until now under the scouring of wild currents and waves, and not be broken by the curious aquatic tribes along the way, it had its own reliance.

The two of them drilled out from the opening, striving to swim upward.

The eels also discovered that two of their prey had run away; most were still dragging the jellyfish, but thirty or forty turned around and followed, their sharp teeth greeting the two, wanting to force them to change direction.

This thing had a mouth full of sharp teeth and bit people very viciously, taking a chunk of meat with every peck.

Dong Rui was bitten on the butt, let out an "Ow," and the pain made his legs go numb.

Seeing more eels following, especially the one comparable to a giant python joining in the fun, He Lingchuan very decisively took something out of his bosom and sprinkled it directly into the water.

Dong Rui only saw a pale yellow substance drift out from beside him; the eels that had been pursuing relentlessly were struck as if by lightning, scattering and fleeing in all directions, not even daring to look back.

What was that, to have such great power? After a dozen breaths, the two swam to the surface and climbed onto the long beach.

Just as they got ashore, Dong Rui asked: "What did you sprinkle out?" Because of his professional characteristics, he had always held sufficient curiosity about medicinal powders and pills.

"A type of aromatic agent." He Lingchuan reached out to him, "Where is the antidote? Hand it over."

"What anti..." Dong Rui remembered the lie he had told before he was about to suffocate, "Oh."

At that time, in order to save himself, he had told He Lingchuan that the liquid inside the jellyfish was poisonous.

"It's non-toxic."

"Tricking me?" He Lingchuan pressed his knuckles.

"Wait, wait!" Dong Rui suddenly pointed behind He Lingchuan, "Hey, hey, turn around quickly, there's a spider demon!"

"Spider your sister!" He Lingchuan felt something was wrong as soon as the words left his mouth, because round, rolling figures were also emerging from the abandoned houses behind Dong Rui.

Not pigs, but spiders.

The small ones were only as big as oranges, but the large ones could rival a millstone.

As he turned his head, he discovered that a swarm of spiders was surging from all directions, surrounding the two in the middle. The sound of countless legs brushing against grass leaves, *xi-xi-suo-suo*, made one's scalp tingle.

No, let me correct that.

There was a great individual difference in the spider swarm; two giant spiders appeared from behind the long grass, their size exceeding that of an adult wild ox! On those eight long legs, every bristle was murderous.

But why did He Lingchuan feel that this group of spiders looked familiar?

Dong Rui's gaze darted around: "Where is the aromatic agent, take it out and use it again!"

There were too many spiders here, probably thousands! If he remembered correctly, a nest of cave spiders had different divisions of labor like ants; some could release acid, some were good at capturing, and some were poisonous, making them very difficult to deal with.

In the blink of an eye, the ground, trees, and vines were densely covered with crawling spiders.

Those with arachnophobia could faint now.

"It's damp." The fragrant balls specially provided by the sand bandits of Hongya Road had been dampened in the water just now, and they weren't very effective if taken out now. He Lingchuan calculated in his heart the success rate of jumping into the water from here.

Damn it, he had dreamed that these spiders could release webs; he hoped they wouldn't net him in mid-air! Unprofessional! Dong Rui cursed inwardly, just about to use some means to poison the spiders, when unexpectedly, a huge figure emerged from the tallest building.

It moved down along the broken walls; although its body was huge, its movements were unusually agile, and it even landed silently.

This contrast was like a ghost.

Dong Rui immediately pointed at it, choking out: "Spider Queen! Oh no, this is a cave spider swarm!"

Yes, He Lingchuan wanted to say why these spiders looked familiar; it turned out he had seen their kind in the Ghost Needle Shi Lin.

"Tired of eating fish, it's nice to change flavors occasionally." A cold voice sounded; the Spider Queen swept past the mottled tree shadows and arrived at the long beach, revealing its true face.

He Lingchuan took one glance and cried out involuntarily: "Zhu Xiuer!"

This Spider Queen was exceptionally thick, as big as a house, its eight long legs more like large pincers, looking like a specially enlarged and reinforced version of a coconut crab, and it had twelve large eyes, each pitch-black and shining.

The hard fluff all over its body made it look especially evil.

Yet it was also very beautiful, because there was a pure natural starry sky map on its abdomen, exquisite and magnificent, as if it had truly invited the entire sky of stars down. Unfortunately, by the time most people could see it, they were not far from death.

He Lingchuan recognized this star map; it grew on Zhu Xiuer! Yes, the leader of the cave spider nest in the Ghost Needle Shi Lin, the powerful Spider Queen that had once put General Nanke of Panlong City to death in reality! He had never expected that after parting ways at the spider nest, he would be able to see Zhu Xiuer again in reality.

Spanning over a hundred and fifty years of time and space, what kind of twisted fate was this? It was completely over; once Zhu Xiuer appeared, his plan for a water escape would go bankrupt. How could he run now? Zhu Xiuer had originally been drooling over these two pieces of fresh meat, and upon hearing this, it stopped its steps, twelve large eyeballs looking at He Lingchuan together: "You recognize me?"

"I..." Of course he recognized it; at that time, both sides were face-to-face in the spider nest just like this. It was just that at that time, Zhu Xiuer was furious because He Lingchuan had burned down the underground farm she had worked so hard to plant with a great fire, "My ancestor had the honor of seeing you in the Ghost Needle Shi Lin, and was deeply shocked, so he wrote this experience in a book to pass down to his descendants. He specifically mentioned this Starry Sky Map on your abdomen!"

"Oh?" Zhu Xiuer became a bit interested, "What did your ancestor do?"

"He lived in Wutu City and ran a business in the Panlong Wasteland, often having to stop in the Ghost Needle Shi Lin on the way. You restrained the cave spiders from eating people, providing huge convenience to merchants; my ancestor was always grateful!"

He Lingchuan spoke as it came to him, his eyes full of reverence; Dong Rui watched from the side and almost believed it.

Almost.

If he didn't know how sneaky the He father and son were.

But the two were trapped in the spider nest, and He Lingchuan's approach was correct.

It seemed there were at least thousands of spiders nearby; relying on the two of them and their four hands, they simply couldn't handle it.

"Otherwise, look at how young I am; how could I call out your name the moment we met?" General Nanke's team had been killed by this powerful spider demon before them; eating the two of them would be a piece of cake, right? He Lingchuan flattered it to stall for time while urgently thinking of a way to save his life.

(End of Chapter)