Chapter 1253

The giant spider's eight long legs moved slowly; Hu Xiaotian felt the surrounding spider silk constantly trembling. He looked to both sides, and the spider silk below suddenly turned black, spreading rapidly. Looking closely, it wasn't the silk changing color—countless tiny spiders were crawling up along the silk.

Hu Xiaotian felt a chill, seeing so many spiders approaching him at once, even more terrifying than facing the giant spider. His body suddenly spun in reverse, completing two turns, then spun clockwise, increasing speed severalfold. He swept his Wind‑Slashing blade downward, drawing a circle; the blade qi cut a large hole in the crisscrossing spider web below, and the tiny spiders fell with the web. Hu Xiaotian's body swung backward, his back striking the cave wall, then he pushed off and rebounded to the opposite side. Mid‑rebound, his body folded upward again, and he chopped at the giant spider. He was about three zhang away—his blade could not reach the spider, but a fierce, invisible blade qi had already detached from the sword and swept sideways.

The spider seemed to sense danger, panicking as it leapt up trying to grab the silk on its right, but its movement was still a bit slow; Hu Xiaotian's slash hit its leg, and as the blade qi passed, three of its long legs snapped off, and lan‑colored blood flowed from the severed limbs.

Hu Xiaotian's strike succeeded, and he was overjoyed. He immediately followed with another slash; the blade qi cut the spider silk binding his feet, and using the momentum of his swing, he drove his fingers deep into the cave wall.

The spider faced him, its broken wound still continuously flowing lan‑colored blood, while below, tiny spiders surged upward like a tide.

The giant spider hated Hu Xiaotian intensely; it suddenly leapt from the web and lunged at him. As it launched, Hu Xiaotian gathered his inner breath, lifted his body one zhang upward, and seized the human cocoon hanging above his head—the cocoon made from Lu Qingyuan's corpse.

The spider missed, its five sharp claws digging deep into the cave wall. At that moment, countless tiny spiders had gathered around its body, and the spider began to climb upward slowly. Having lost three legs, it also lost its balance.

Hu Xiaotian held Lu Qingyuan's corpse in one hand and grasped Wind‑Slashing in the other, continuously launching long‑range strikes. He had now completely calmed; the success rate of emitting blade qi noticeably increased, and several successive slashes struck the cave wall. The blade qi slaughtered the spider horde's ranks, killing large numbers of spiders; it also knocked loose stones from the wall, which rolled down carrying spiders and burying them underground. Yet several consecutive slashes failed to hit the giant spider. Still, Hu Xiaotian's situation had greatly improved compared to before—he had shifted from being passively struck to a stalemate.

Suddenly, a voice came from the cave mouth: Yan Tianlu shouted, 'Kid, are you down there?'

Because of the recent experience of Lu Qingyuan being killed, Hu Xiaotian hurriedly called out a warning: 'Don't approach the cave. There's a giant spider here—be careful it doesn't drag you in.'

Yan Tianlu loudly said, 'I've found some phosphorus bombs. Let's see if they can burn the spider web.'

As they spoke, a dark shadow dropped from above—it was Yan Tianlu throwing down a corpse. The corpse landed on the web and instantly burst into flames; a lurid green fire spread rapidly along the silk. Hu Xiaotian hadn't expected Yan Tianlu to act on his word, but it seemed the phosphorus bomb was indeed the web's bane; in an instant, the surrounding webs ignited, and the tiny spiders on them retreated like a tide. Yet the fire spread quickly, soon igniting the tiny spiders, and a scorched odor filled the air. Hu Xiaotian hacked back and forth, his blade qi severing the silk; then he took a deep breath, leapt upward, and surged up through the gaps in the burning phosphorus fire.

His body successfully flew out of the cave mouth, barely landing on its edge, but a silk cord wrapped around his waist. Hu Xiaotian cried out in anguish as he was hauled back into the cave.

At the critical moment, a large hand reached out and firmly grasped Hu Xiaotian's left arm, while Yan Tianlu bellowed, 'Pull me up!'

Half of Hu Xiaotian's body was dragged back to the cave's edge; turning his head, he saw the giant spider binding itself with silk it had spat out, crawling upward along the silk, followed by countless offspring.

Hu Xiaotian shouted, 'Any more phosphorus bombs? Give them another one!'

Yan Tianlu shouted in disbelief, 'Do you think I'm a egg‑laying rooster? I've got none left!' He gritted his teeth and, with all his strength, hauled Hu Xiaotian up.

Hu Xiaotian's waist still had spider silk tied around it.

Yan Tianlu drew a dagger to cut the silk, but not only did it fail to sever the silk, the dagger itself stuck to it, making him curse the evil trick.

Meanwhile, the spider army, led by the giant spider, continued to crawl up.

Seeing the giant spider, Yan Tianlu sucked in a cold breath and exclaimed, 'Holy shit! What monster is this?'

Hu Xiaotian focused his energy, and with a slash he cut the silk from a distance, then whispered to Yan Tianlu, 'Hold your breath—this monster will spray poison gas.'

Yan Tianlu took a pellet from behind him and threw it forward; it hit the ground and instantly burst into a sheet of oily green phosphorus fire—clearly a phosphorus bomb. Hu Xiaotian glared at the old man fiercely, having just claimed there were none left, yet here he produced another.

Yan Tianlu put on an innocent face and said, 'That was the last one hidden at the bottom of my box—I truly have none left now!'

The giant spider's body was also smeared with much phosphorus fire; although it had lost three claws, its speed showed no sign of slowing, all six legs moving as it charged at Hu Xiaotian ablaze with phosphorus fire. Seeing this momentum, Yan Tianlu dared not engage; he turned and fled.

Hu Xiaotian stood motionless; as the giant spider leapt into the air and lunged at him, he let out a loud shout and swung his Wind‑Slashing blade with all his might. An overpowering, unmatched blade qi shot through the spider's midsection, cleaving it in half.

Lan‑colored plasma sprayed everywhere as Hu Xiaotian split the giant spider in two. The tiny spiders that had come to attack, seeing their leader dead, retreated like a tide; those unable to escape were burned to ash by the phosphorus fire.

Hu Xiaotian saw something roll out of the giant spider's belly; he went over, wrapped it in cloth, and picked it up, discovering it was a vermilion‑red sphere the size of a ping‑pong ball.

Yan Tianlu wanted to approach, but a foul smell hit him, making his head spin; he hurriedly held his breath, stepped back a few paces, took a small vial from his waist, held it to his nostrils, and felt a bit better. He whispered, 'That's the spider king's inner core—a good thing, but poisonous.'

Hu Xiaotian stowed the inner core; it was his spoils, naturally his. Yan Tianlu gazed at him with envy, inwardly wondering why this boy wasn't afraid of deadly poison—could he truly be invulnerable to all toxins?

Hu Xiaotian approached the spider's corpse and took a look.

Yan Tianlu said, 'Break off its claws; they're excellent materials, indestructible, usable for forging weapons.' Seeing Hu Xiaotian still unmoved, he couldn't help urging, 'Hurry up and pack up—Old Monster Bei Ze should be returning soon.'

Hu Xiaotian gazed at the huge spider corpse, pondered a moment, then said, 'If he comes back now, isn't that perfect?'

Zou Yong had made thorough preparations, with Old Monster Bei Ze and his father, the master of Luoying Palace Tang Jiu Cheng, two top‑level experts assisting him; even the world's foremost masters would have to yield three points. Though Hu Xiaotian and Yan Tianlu's martial arts were high, they were still considerably inferior to those two.

Yet things did not go as smoothly as they imagined; after being led around for an hour at Huanghu Port, they finally arrived at the designated hostage‑exchange spot, seeing a small boat slowly paddling out from among the neatly arranged fishing boats.

Accompanying Zou Yong was Old Monster Bei Ze; Tang Jiu Cheng should be lying in ambush nearby. As soon as Yan Tianlu and Hu Xiaotian appeared, those two masters would launch a simultaneous attack.

As the small boat drew near, the boatman rowing it shouted loudly, 'Someone asked me to bring the person inside over here!'

Zou Yong sensed something amiss; he waved his hand, and two of his warriors leapt onto the opposite boat, entered the cabin, and helped Xue Lingjun out. She appeared unharmed, and upon seeing Zou Yong and the others, she smiled and said, 'I thought I would never see you again.'

Zou Yong's heart sank; they had agreed to exchange hostages, yet only Xue Lingjun came alone—where was Yan Dongqing? He approached her, feigning deep concern, and asked, 'Your Highness the Long Princess, are you all right?'

Xue Lingjun shook her head and softly sighed, 'They released me first and had me deliver a message: you deliberately set an ambush, so the deal is off. You have three days to free Yan Boguang, or they will kill Yan Dongqing.'

Zou Yong gave a glance; the two warriors seized the boatman, who panicked, 'I know nothing—I'm just a punter. I'm innocent… I'm innocent!'

Xue Lingjun said, 'Young Master Zou, why are you giving him a hard time? If you want to know something, just ask me directly!'

Zou Yong looked at Xue Lingjun, almost certain she had colluded with Hu Xiaotian and the others to set a trap, making him run a pointless errand; furious to the extreme, yet unable to lash out in her presence, he could only mutter awkwardly, 'As long as the Long Princess is unharmed, other matters can be discussed later.'

Old Monster Bei Ze, seeing the scene, already knew he had been set up tonight; he coldly said, 'Sir Zou, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave first.'

Zou Yong bowed and saw him off, saying, 'I respectfully see you off, senior!'

Beize Lao Guai's strange eyes rolled, his body instantly vanished into the night.

Today is Saturday, tonight I will go watch The Martian, there is only a First Update, I hope everyone will be more understanding, Monthly Ticket continues to be voted for Medical Union, Zhangyu will try his best to write this story well. (To be continued~^~)