Chapter 952: The Irritated Zhu Erniang

But above was a massive stone ceiling, and He Lingchuan realized he was still inside a mountain cave, only this cave entrance opened into the sea, forming a calm water area similar to a "sea pool." Daylight shone down through a high, slanted erosion hole above, illuminating the schools of fish in the water. This place was not easy to descend into from the mountaintop, unless one performed a high dive through that erosion hole.

There were quite a few Cave Spiders here, busy stacking rocks into the sea and binding them with spider silk.

"What are they doing?" He Lingchuan saw a natural barrier reef extending into the seawater; the Cave Spiders seemed to be trying to extend it further.

"Building a fish trap." Zhu Dainiang didn't speak, but Zhu Erniang's voice came from behind. "After the tide goes out, fish and shrimp will be left inside."

He Lingchuan turned his head and saw Zhu Erniang’s dark, massive form emerging from behind the solid rock: "Leaving two spider webs at the mouth of the trap saves us from having to go into the sea to catch fish ourselves."

He Lingchuan gave a thumbs up: "Brilliant! Have you lived by the sea and caught sea fish before?"

In the Demon Nest Swamp, the Cave Spiders could only cast webs into the lake and wait for fish, but by the sea, there were tides; once the tide receded, the fish were automatically intercepted by the nets, saving time and effort.

Furthermore, the size of the web mesh was adjustable; if the fish were too small, the Cave Spiders couldn't be bothered to catch them.

"Of course." They were thousands-of-years-old ancient monsters, after all; what kind of place hadn't they stayed in?

Each ferocious giant spider was as large as a wooden house. With two standing together, twenty-four eyes staring at someone, anyone would feel immense pressure in front of them.

Only He Lingchuan was an exception.

He found a relatively flat rock, brushed off the sand, and sat down:

"How have you been these past few days, Erniang?"

"Quite good, quite busy." Zhu Erniang had been building her new home and had no time to stop.

New terrain and new caves required adapting to local conditions and entirely new designs.

Zhu Dainiang had offered a few suggestions beforehand, but Zhu Erniang had her own ideas and didn't adopt any of them, which angered Zhu Dainiang so much that she stopped helping and went out to play by herself.

Although both sisters were called "Cave Spiders," Zhu Dainiang's requirements for a living space were clearly not as high as her younger sister's.

Never mind, Erniang would leave a good room for her anyway; she could just be a hands-off manager.

"Being busy is good." He Lingchuan sighed and took out four or five jars of aged wine from his storage ring, each sealed with red silk. "This is the best wine from Blade Harbor; consider it a housewarming gift for you."

He remembered that Zhu Erniang loved drinking the most; back in the Demon Nest Swamp, she had traded with human caravans for wine.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten Zhu Dainiang's share.

The two giant spiders each hugged a large jar; without even opening them, they poked their mouthparts directly into the sealing mud and began to slurp.

This action was chilling; after all, that was how they fed on their prey. He Lingchuan could hear a few gurgling sounds from the bottom of the jars—the sound of the wine vanishing rapidly.

Zhu Dainiang was a bit more refined, but Zhu Erniang finished two jars of fine wine in the blink of an eye before tossing them aside: "The taste is just so-so."

"A large plum forest and wild cherries were recently discovered on Dragon Spine Island; perhaps we can brew our own wine next year." After the pleasantries, He Lingchuan got to the point. "Dainiang said you had something important to discuss with me when you asked me to come to the island?"

Zhu Erniang gave a hum: "When I settled in the eastern part of the Mou Kingdom, Beijia found me; I moved once, and I only had peace for a little over a month."

Zhu Dainiang couldn't help but say: "The island is hidden; can they still find you after you moved here?"

This time, He Lingchuan and Zhu Erniang spoke in unison: "Yes!"

Zhu Dainiang and the Soul-Seizing Mirror: "..."

The Soul-Seizing Mirror immediately screamed in He Lingchuan's arms: "Hey, hey, what are we going to do!"

After the great havoc at the Heavenly Palace, they had hidden and dodged, going so far as to cross the ocean to this unfamiliar place, all to avoid Beijia, right? They had only just arrived at the Yangshan Archipelago, and Zhu Erniang had already been exposed. What now! Would this bring a fatal disaster? "Your sisters' settlement on Silk-Spinning Island is indeed hidden; it is isolated from the world, and the four seas are vast. But even if you can hide for a while, once the products of Silk-Spinning Cave are sold continuously in the future, there is no guarantee they won't be detected by Beijia." He Lingchuan analyzed truthfully, "The Yangshan Archipelago and Blade Harbor will both be bustling ports with merchant ships coming and going, and Zhu Erniang's fluorescent spores and aphid sugar are unique skills; you won't find many others like them in the world."

Zhu Erniang: "Correct, that is exactly it."

"If someone is determined to find you, they can still follow the clues to your doorstep." He was also saying this to the Soul-Seizing Mirror, "Do not underestimate Beijia."

Once the business started, the subsequent impact would be beyond his control.

That was what he said, but Zhu Dainiang still saw him looking calm and collected: "Aren't you worried?"

"What's the use of worrying? Should I stop working just because I'm afraid Beijia will show up? The Yangshan Archipelago needs to develop, and it must rely on Erniang's products; we cannot give up eating for fear of choking." He asked Zhu Erniang, "When you previously settled in the eastern part of the Mou Kingdom, how did Beijia find you?"

The eastern part of the Mou Kingdom was far from Beijia; the latter's reach was long indeed.

"I first lived in the Lingdong Grand Canyon in the eastern part of the Mou Kingdom, but I didn't get along well with the local monsters. I wanted to be closer to the trade routes, but even the most desolate places had owners. So..." Zhu Erniang said, "I fought a few battles."

Its fungal mats produced an exceptionally rich yield, and it was best to trade with humans to exchange for the fine wine, medicinal herbs, and various cultivation supplies it needed.

He Lingchuan rubbed his nose; in the blessed lands, those with virtue reside there, and it doesn't matter who came first. This seemed quite reasonable to monsters.

"Did the Mou Kingdom not intervene?"

"They did, saying I didn't have official permission." Zhu Erniang said gloomily, "While I was arguing about this, several of my offspring suddenly went missing."

After all, in the wilderness, it wasn't strange for little spiders to go missing for various reasons. However, "Losing a few every day, this matter was suspicious. Later, I used the 'All-Seeing' technique and discovered that the ones who abducted my offspring were a group of people; the exact number was unknown, but there were both humans and monsters."

"All-Seeing" was the innate divine ability of the Cave Spider Queen, which was to share vision and hearing with her offspring. Both Dainiang and Erniang had shared this ability with He Lingchuan to a limited extent, which was why he could use the eyeball spiders.

"After they caught my offspring, someone even asked, 'These things don't talk, can we be sure they are the Cave Spiders from the Demon Nest Swamp?'"

Spider demons in the wild were not uncommon, but those who could name "Demon Nest Swamp" mostly knew Zhu Erniang's origins.

"A white bird said it had seen me crawl onto the ground and my abdomen had a star map, so it should be correct."

"These guys wanted to execute my offspring on the spot! Through the mouths of my offspring, I asked them who they were." Zhu Erniang's tone was cold, "Their leader said that anyone on Beijia's wanted list cannot escape, even if they flee to the ends of the earth. If Beijia wants to find someone, they will definitely find them!"

"I asked them what they wanted, and these people demanded I come out to meet them, then killed several of my offspring."

Zhu Dainiang interjected: "Did you go?"

"No."

"...There were only a few of them." Her sister had an army of spiders under her command; what was there to be afraid of?

Zhu Erniang retorted: "They dared to stand at the edge of my territory and shout; do you think they came without preparation and just stuck their necks out?"

Zhu Dainiang was displeased: "Then we still can't let them go!"

"I ignored them at the time, but I placed spider scouts around to monitor them." Zhu Erniang ignored her sister and only said to He Lingchuan, "These guys had some tricks; they cleared out my scouts several times."

"I didn't go either; they stayed until it was almost dark and then left. After this incident, they disappeared for several days, and I didn't take it to heart." So what if they were from Beijia? This place was a hundred and eight thousand miles away from Beijia, and their army couldn't cross over. Besides, half the canyon was Zhu Erniang's territory; anyone who dared to walk into the spider nest would be devoured by ten thousand spiders and sucked dry like jelly.

So Zhu Erniang wasn't too worried at the time.

Zhu Dainiang asked curiously: "Then why did you move?"

"I have business dealings with humans, you know." Zhu Erniang said, "Later, when I was trading with a caravan, poisonous smoke suddenly emerged from the supplies that had just been moved into the warehouse cave. In a fit of rage, I killed them all!"

He Lingchuan gave a hum; this indeed fit Erniang's style of doing things.

"I traded four more times after that, and three of those times there were mishaps, so I had to pause." Zhu Erniang was quite depressed herself, "It spread in the human world that I was randomly eating people in the Lingdong Canyon, and the Mou Kingdom officials immediately sent people to question me."

"I said Beijia's enemies had followed me here, but they didn't care and just told me to move away as soon as possible." The Mou Kingdom officials already had opinions about it seizing territory and occupying the canyon, and seeing it kill people, they had to take action.

"I couldn't be bothered to argue with them, so I simply moved to Butterfly Valley, hundreds of miles away."

A strong dragon does not suppress a local snake.

Officials are officials; if you offend the officials, you can't stay. This was a lesson it learned from the Panlong Wasteland over a hundred years ago.

"As a result, after only a month of peace, these Beijia people found me again and have been waiting for opportunities to hunt my offspring." Zhu Erniang sounded very annoyed, "I had the Mirage Demon release a mist, but it couldn't stop them. Among them, someone was likely an official of the Mou Kingdom and could see through the mirage mist with primordial power!"

"I sent out spider guards to wipe out the enemies, but these guys actually set up very vicious arrays and mechanisms, causing heavy losses to the spider guards..." Zhu Erniang's voice was filled with resentment, "However, in several skirmishes, I also eliminated many of their men, but their leader is no less cunning than you—"

This "you" referred to He Lingchuan.

When it fought He Lingchuan back then, this guy was more slippery than a loach and impossible to catch!

He Lingchuan grinned at her, tilted his head, and made a spiral upward gesture with his left hand near his ear, indicating he was "very honored."

"—They have many arrays and magic treasures; twice I had them trapped, but they managed to escape with their men." Zhu Erniang threw out a few copper talismans, which clattered and bounced on the reef, "One time they used this."

He Lingchuan picked up a golden-yellow copper talisman and looked closely at the delicate and exquisite patterns on it: "Small Mountain-Moving Array? Whoa, rich and imposing."

These were the copper talismans that made up the Small Mountain-Moving Array; the craftsmanship was extremely complex, and they were quite valuable themselves.

(End of chapter)