Chapter 348: Time to Settle the Accounts

Once He Lingchuan heard, these unlucky ghosts had encountered something very similar to him, but they had capsized several boats and more than half of them had died.

The surviving Tu Zhongli and the others hadn't had a change of fortune either, because they had been swept into Bowengun's territory.

Just like before, the giant snake originally wanted to eat these heaven-sent delicacies, but Tu Zhongli begged for his life and said he was willing to serve as a dog and horse for him.

The Demon Nest Swamp hadn't been set foot in by humans for a long time, except for the merchant caravan that always traded with the cave spiders. Bowengun immediately thought of the usefulness of these mountain bandits.

It fed them all chronic poison and ordered them to first leave the swamp to attack Master Gan's merchant caravan, and sent several snake demons to assist.

Master Gan's merchant association was very large in Longqiu, and especially the trade with the Demon Nest Swamp was the foundation of his wealth and a topic of conversation for the Gan family to show off, which the locals knew very well.

This group of mountain bandits returned to their old trade after leaving the swamp and didn't spend much effort to find out the departure date and route of the merchant caravan. They used Bowengun's poison to ambush and attack, killing Master Gan and the martial artists accompanying the team on the spot, and then held the entire merchant caravan hostage to enter the Demon Nest Swamp.

Tu Zhongli transformed and became Master Gan's "nephew," using wine vats to send his subordinates into the Demon Nest. Bowengun then persuaded Siwen Wang, that blockhead, and the two great demons worked together to contain Zhu Xiuer, while the mountain bandits moved to steal the giant spider molt.

This plan was quite precise, but it was ruined by the variable of He Lingchuan, who stirred up the water.

He coughed twice and, under the red spider's gaze, sternly questioned Old Six: "The molt is still missing. Who took it?"

Old Six looked blank. "I, we don't know either!"

Seeing that he couldn't squeeze any more news out, the red spider gave an order, and the spiders swarmed up, tearing him apart and eating him.

That scream made Steward Zhao and the others on the side have soft legs.

He Lingchuan rubbed his nose and retreated.

The spiders were still unsatisfied, but didn't eat them, just drove them to the ruins to be strictly guarded.

Zhu Xiuer's main body had gone to chase the giant snake, and the red spider just had to leave He Lingchuan to jump down and deploy troops. Everyone saw one team of spiders after another rushing to Bowengun's territory, that formation dense and countless, truly overwhelming and fierce.

It could be seen that the battle situation at Zhu Xiuer's was intense and needed the little ones to go all out and support them.

He Lingchuan didn't intend to join in that kind of excitement.

While rummaging through the mountain bandits' belongings, he said to Dong Rui, who had come over, "One good news, one bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?"

"Good news first."

"We can leave, the chance is very high," he said, lowering his voice as the red spider wasn't nearby. "Thanks to the good opportunity Bowengun created."

"What were you doing in the exhibition room? Why did Zhu Xiuer only discover the molt was missing after it came out?" Dong Rui had also heard Zhu Xiuer's angry roar, and instead had an ominous premonition. "Does this have to do with the bad news?"

"It's likely its molt was stolen after all."

Dong Rui stared at him. "Was it you?"

"What would I use to steal it?" He Lingchuan spread his hands. "Didn't you and the red spider follow me the whole time?"

Right, but Dong Rui thought it still had something to do with this kid.

He couldn't say why, but his intuition said so.

Facing his suspicious gaze, He Lingchuan gave a summary: "If Zhu Xiuer can't get the molt back, it will definitely lose its temper when it returns, and you and I will definitely be unlucky."

"So where is the opportunity?" Zhu Xiuer's temper, Dong Rui now understood quite well. Just as He Lingchuan said, the two of them were very likely to be implicated.

"We have one chance to turn defeat into victory and turn the tables, but only one," He Lingchuan said in a low voice. "It's on your Demon Puppet."

"... It?"

"After this mountain bandit infiltration, the defenses inside the underground palace should be even stricter. Your Demon Puppet shouldn't be in the workshop anymore, right?" He Lingchuan knew deeply that Dong Rui relied on Demon Puppets to fight, and only Demon Puppets could give him a sense of security. Usually, it was fine, but in such turbulent times, he would definitely want the Demon Puppet as close to him as possible.

Besides, he had heard the bell ring several times; was it possible Dong Rui was shaking it for fun?

This was discovered too? He had been careful in his deployment. Dong Rui felt a chill on his back; this kid was truly much sharper than he looked on the surface. "Where do you want it to be?"

"Inside the entrance of the underground palace. You have to let it listen to my commands."

"And then?"

"Then you can watch the show," He Lingchuan patted his shoulder, very sincerely. "Next is my part. If it succeeds, we leave; if it doesn't, only I will be unlucky."

That sounded nice, but if you could believe it, there would be ghosts! Dong Rui said unhappily, "Speak clearly; even if I die, I should die understanding." Once the plan failed, the Spider Queen's fury wouldn't just be vented on He Lingchuan.

"I can't say, it depends on the situation," He Lingchuan pointed toward Bowengun's territory. "Things have reached this point; even if we do nothing, Zhu Xiuer won't let us go. You have five seconds to consider. Five, four, three..."

This condition was very unfair, but He Lingchuan didn't give him any room to choose.

He was the leader of the plan.

Dong Rui looked at him deeply, knowing he was afraid he would mess things up and wouldn't tell him the whole plan. This fellow had been his enemy before, and he had truly brought him endless annoyance, but looking at it from another angle, it also showed that He Lingchuan indeed had ability.

He only hoped this kid would perform normally this time and let Zhu Xiuer experience his anger and helplessness.

"If it succeeds, will you really take me with you?"

"Of course, I can swear," He Lingchuan said. "You can also go and inform the Spider Queen, saying I want to deal with it. But it won't let you leave until it gets the formula it wants."

In the end, Dong Rui seemed to have no other choice. He thought for a moment and breathed out. "Fine, you swear."

After obtaining He Lingchuan's solemn oath, he walked toward the sinkhole and shook the golden bell.

This was making a choice.

After a while, he walked back and said, "It's arranged."

The sun was high, and the captives had been terrified all night and hadn't dared to close their eyes. Zhu Xiuer's huge body finally appeared in the mountain forest, with a large group of spiders following behind.

It came back and looked for people: "Where is He Lingchuan? Where is Dong Rui?"

Dong Rui hid in the ruins and kept his mouth shut, while He Lingchuan poked his head out from the tree crown of a big tree in the sinkhole:

"Here," this tree was rooted on the sinkhole wall and actually grew lushly. He Lingchuan hid inside, and his figure disappeared. "Congratulations to Zhu Xiuer for your triumphant return."

Zhu Xiuer's combat power was higher than Bowengun's. If the latter had won, Zhu Xiuer would have returned long ago; but it had been several hours, so it seemed Zhu Xiuer had exterminated it.

"How is Bowengun?"

"Dead," Zhu Xiuer's voice sounded exhausted. "The mountain bandits are all dead too."

It didn't have time to chase the mountain bandits one by one, but the small spiders could do it for it.

It was covered in wounds, with several bloody holes in its robust body, some still oozing black blood. The small spiders crawled on the Old Ancestor, constantly sucking away the snake venom and treating its wounds. Zhu Xiuer seemed to have broken three claws and couldn't touch the ground, which could be called walking with difficulty.

Although it had once and for all dealt with Bowengun, it was also severely injured.

"The strange thing is, Bowengun denied stealing my molt until it died," Zhu Xiuer looked at He Lingchuan in the tree with its remaining eyes. "I searched its residence and all its magic treasures, but didn't find it. You say, where could the molt be?"

Still the old saying, exclude all impossibilities, and the remaining option, no matter how absurd, might be the truth.

Its molt wouldn't disappear for no reason. The only living person who had been in the exhibition room and played tricks under its nose was this one! Speaking to the end, the biting murderous intent could no longer be concealed.

"You couldn't possibly eliminate every snake demon," He Lingchuan helped it think together. "Could it be that Bowengun's descendants took it away, planning to make a comeback and take revenge on you later?"

"Do you know what I'm thinking?" Zhu Xiuer said these words slowly, then suddenly lowered its head toward him and sprayed a mouthful of white silk.

The spider silk it shot out splashed in mid-air and took the shape of an umbrella, covering at least ten square meters. Once a living thing was stuck, it was almost impossible to escape.

Not only was the speed extremely fast, but there was also no warning.

However, He Lingchuan had long been vigilant and had escaped behind the tree a step early. The tree crown was dense and wasn't completely wrapped by the spider web.

"He Lingchuan!" Zhu Xiuer roared. "Return my molt!"

As soon as it got angry, the spiders gathered from all directions.

This was the moment the dagger was revealed! The tree crown was covered by the spider web halfway. He Lingchuan appeared from the other side, shot a sleeve arrow into a rock crevice on the other side of the sinkhole, and swung directly over.

When the spider group turned and pounced, he had already climbed to the edge of the sinkhole, turned, and rushed into the dense jungle, leaving only one sentence for the Spider Queen:

"I really don't have it. Believe it or not!"

"Chase!" Zhu Xiuer's fury echoed in every spider's mind. "I want him alive! I want him to be unable to live and unable to die!"

The spider army immediately set off to hunt him down.

Zhu Xiuer was severely injured and moved a bit slowly, so it could only follow behind.

But it released a silent message through scent, and every spider in the territory would immediately surround this direction. Facing the spider army's carpet-like search, where could He Lingchuan escape to, and how far could he escape?

Zhu Xiuer was very confident. After catching He Lingchuan, it would suck him dry in one mouthful! Supported by fury, it felt that the pain of its wounds wasn't so unbearable.

In the blink of an eye, a quarter of an hour passed.

Two quarters, three quarters...

Ahead was a steep slope, and Zhu Xiuer felt tired looking at it, so it simply lay down to rest.

It should have had powerful self-healing ability, but for some reason, the bloody holes on its body were still bleeding. And as soon as it lay down, it felt its body was incomparably heavy, pressing it to the point where even breathing was difficult.

Under these circumstances, it could only stay in place, waiting for its descendants to return from all directions to report the news.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 349 =====