Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty-Two: Brothers and Betrayal

A warning from instinct made Wu Tie's scalp go numb.

This is an almost prescient instinct that organisms develop after countless years of evolution and mutation when facing an unstoppable top predator.

Wu Tie opened his mouth and bellowed with all his strength, using his frantic shouting to vent the fear in his heart, while he desperately leapt wildly between the falling boulders to avoid the four huge spiders dropping from above.

The terrifying monster, its body huge to the point of insanity.

Its arms and legs nearly a hundred meters long, the central body several dozen meters in size; when the four huge spiders fell from the tops of the stone pillars, it was as if four dark clouds plummeted down heavily.

With a few "hiss" sounds, the giant spider's swollen abdomen throbbed violently, spraying out thick, milky white fluid the thickness of a thigh, which quickly turned into vast sheets of spiderweb covering the ground for hundreds of meters around.

The two beasts that had been madly chasing Wu Tie were enveloped in the spiderweb; the sticky web was extraordinarily tough, and though the two beasts struggled and roared wildly, they were trussed up tightly by the web.

Wu Tie flew past beneath the leg of a large spider, his stature so tiny that the spider didn't even notice him.

His body slammed hard into a broken stalactite, and Wu Tie fled outward without looking back.

The four large spiders frantically spewed spiderweb, wrapping it layer upon layer around the two beasts' bodies; the beasts strained with all their might but could never break free of the web's confinement.

Wu Tie burst out of the area where the stone pillars were continuously collapsing, fleeing outward with all his strength.

The larger beast suddenly lifted its head, letting out a hysterical roar as vast bluish‑green flames gushed from its mouth, quickly blanketing a radius of several hundred meters.

The milky‑white spiderweb instantly turned into green smoke and vanished; the two beasts ignored the fleeing Wu Tie and roared as they lunged at the four huge spiders.

Dozens of massive stone pillars collapsed instantly, the beasts and giant spiders tangled together; six huge monsters howled and rolled, spraying the beasts' plasma and the spiders' multicolored bodily fluids like a rainstorm in all directions.

Wu Tie had just managed to escape three or five li when the smaller beast was suddenly pierced through by three long, sharp limbs; the two large spiders raised their limbs and hoisted the beast dozens of meters into the air with a long, piercing cry.

Copious scorching plasma poured from the beast's body like flames, covering the ground for hundreds of meters around; a great fire blazed, lighting up the nearby stone‑pillar forest.

Another beast spewed a column of fire from its mouth; the blazing column pierced the swollen abdomen of a giant spider, which was about to kill it outright when it suddenly saw its companion slain by the enemy, and the beast let out a mournful cry to the sky.

The dying giant spider and its companion simultaneously spread all their limbs, frantically stabbing their limbs into the beast's body.

Wu Tie heard the dreadful beasts' wails and roars; he panted, stopped, and glanced back. He saw the larger beast's body suddenly swell, a dazzling halo of light rapidly expanding inside it.

That light was several times brighter than the False Sun above the Wu family's stone fortress.

In the next instant, blazing light and terrible fire swept outward; the beast self‑detonated, flames and scorching heat covering the ground for two or three li, hundreds of massive stone pillars shattering instantly, and the strong shock wave turned into rings of red heat waves racing outward.

"Ah~~~!"

Wu Tie instinctively let out a hoarse scream; the shock wave hit, and he flew up like a leaf in the wind, flung backward hundreds of meters to crash heavily into a tall, lush fern forest.

The heat wave rolled on; the fern forest's branches and leaves dried and turned yellow in an extremely short time, then the fern forest for several li around suddenly burst into flame.

Wu Tie was engulfed in flames, the great fire burning his body; a pale light flowed over his snug white armor, and the temperature inside the armor began to rise steadily.

Wu Tie panted, enduring the fierce pain in his chest, staggered to his feet, and stepped through the sea of fire, striving to flee away from the stone‑pillar forest.

"\"Old Tie, you didn't say that some big guys would explode like this…\" Wu Tie panted, having finally escaped the burning fern forest; his faceplate slid open silently, he took a breath and spat out a mouthful of dark‑tinged blood.

The earth shuddered violently; Wu Tie instinctively looked back and saw the vast expanse of stone‑pillar forest suddenly sink downward.

The ground shook violently, stone pillars sinking one after another; in just a few breaths, the stone‑pillar forest for tens of li around collapsed entirely, leaving only a pit steaming with heat and smoke where it had been.

"Whoosh," "whoosh"—a turbulent cold wind kept blowing out of the pit, and the flames and smoke, caught in its swirl, turned into dozens of thick fire‑dragon vortices that churned wildly above the pit.

Wu Tie stared blankly at the pit, which looked like a hell of fire, and shivered involuntarily.

Fortunately, he had fled quickly.

From deep in the pit came the faint, sharp cries of the giant spider, but soon the sounds died away, and before long no sound at all came from inside.

The cold wind howled; the fire‑dragon vortices soon vanished, leaving only the vines and moss clinging to the stone pillars, ignited by the heat, still sending out smoke that spread on all sides in the cold wind's blast.

Wu Tie wiped his face, smeared with blood, sweat, and foul egg‑liquid, gritted his teeth and gave a low shout of "Luo Lin," then angrily turned and retraced his steps at full speed, following the beasts' traces.

Along the way he killed a few game, replenished his bodily consumption, and practiced a Foundation Establishment once, adjusting his body to peak condition; after traveling over two hundred li on his return route, he heard in the distance a mournful howl.

That sound was very familiar, like the shout of the youth beside Luo Lin who wields a longbow.

Wu Tie gritted his teeth and gave a few laughs, hoisted his spear, leapt a few times, and sprinted wildly toward the direction of the wail.

Repeatedly leaping into the air and gliding forward, after a short while he saw several familiar figures in a depression ahead.

Shi Lingqing was surrounded in the center by two ox‑tribe warriors and three human guards, smiling‑but‑not‑smiling as he watched Luo Lin shouting loudly some tens of meters away.

By Luo Lin's side only Wu Lao Da and Ding remained; Wu Lao Da's left hand had been cut off at the shoulder, and Ding was binding the wound with a piece of cloth, blood flowing down his arm like a stream.

Between Shi Lingqing, Luo Lin, and the third person stood Qiao, who wore a pale complexion, had a delicate appearance, held a chain blade, and looked expressionlessly at Luo Lin. The youth with the longbow had both legs cut off at the knees; Qiao had one foot on his head, and the chain blade was pressed tightly against his throat.

Wu Tie landed silently, fell to the ground, and, borrowing the cover of a few ferns, crept forward cautiously.

From several meters away, Wu Tie could see that the chain blade in Qiao's hand had already slit the youth's throat, a thin thread of blood trickling down his neck.

"\"Old Boss, Old Third, and Ding… don't move. \" Qiao's voice was cold, hard, and firm: \"You know I'm timid; if I get startled and twitch, Feng Yu's life is over. \"

The youth holding the longbow, is his name Feng Yu?

Luo Lin was still shouting loudly, but his cries contained nothing but angry curses, with no worthwhile content.

Wu Lao Da gritted his teeth, waited until Ding had finished bandaging his wound, then lifted a yellowish stone pillar with his right hand and smashed it down heavily: "\"Qiao… if that's the case, did you kill the other three brothers? \""

Wu Tie quickly recalled the wound on the corpse of the youth lying outside Shi Lingqing's wooden shed.

He hadn't noticed earlier, but now Wu Tie remembered that the youth's wound was indeed on his back—a vicious gash that almost split his entire back open.

The chain blade on Qiao's hand seemed perfectly suited to create such a wound.

"\"It was me. \" Qiao exhaled, looking at Wu Lao Da calmly: \"Sorry… those three brothers, I killed them… and, Wu Lao Da, your arm, Feng Yu's legs—there's no need to say more; you yourselves saw that I cut them off. \"

Qiao gave a grin, shook his head at Luo Lin: "\"Quiet down, Old Third. Look, Ding is far calmer than you. You and Ding both took my poison; though the dose is light, the more you shout, the faster the poison acts—you might well die. \"

Luo Lin's body jerked, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood.

His body swayed slightly, his straight sword pointed at Qiao as he tried to say something, but Wu Lao Da interjected: "\"Old Third, shut up… let Qiao speak. I want to hear why he did this. \"

Even though his arm had been cut off by his own brother, and though their companions had suffered heavy casualties, Wu Lao Da's tone remained calm: "\"Qiao, we grew up together, we've lived and died side by side, we're as close as real brothers…\""

Qiao gave a cold smile: "\"What's the point of saying all this now? \""

Wu Lao Da immediately changed the subject: "\"Aren't you afraid of the Mist Blade's revenge? \""

Qiao laughed, looked at Wu Lao Da and shook his head: "\"The Mist Blade is terrifying, I admit. But here, who would know it was I who killed you? Who would know I've broken the Mist Blade's rules? \""

Wu Lao Da opened his mouth, remained silent for a moment, then finally managed to utter two words with difficulty: "\"Reason? \""

Qiao smiled, instinctively turning his head to glance back.

At the moment he turned his head, Wu Lao Da's earth-yellow stone pillar in his hand burst forth a strong light; he fiercely raised the pillar and slammed it onto the ground, hearing a loud boom, and a stone spear as thick as an arm and over three meters long protruded before him.

The stone spear howled as it shot out of the ground, like an arrow flying toward Luolin.

The Stone Lightning beside Shi Lingqing gave a strange laugh; he waved his wooden staff, and a gust of wind rose from the ground, shooting toward Qiao's face at a speed several times that of the stone spear, quickly condensing into a circular wind shield about a meter square.

The stone spear struck the wind shield, which spun rapidly like a vortex, countless thumb-sized wind blades scraping rapidly inside the shield.

The stone spear shattered segment by segment, while the wind shield wore away bit by bit.

Qiao, taking advantage of the wind shield's cover, grabbed Fengyu's neck, took him a few steps back to Shi Lingqing's side, and handed Fengyu over to an ox-tribe warrior whose face had been split open.

The ox-tribe warrior gave a strange laugh, then after taking Fengyu, he firmly grabbed Fengyu's arm and with two cracks broke it outright. Fengyu cried out in pain, his body convulsing violently, blood continually dripping from the wound on his knee.

The stone spear and wind shield both perished together, and Qiao stood smiling beside Shi Lingqing.

Shi Lingqing chuckled lightly, nodding at the suddenly enlightened Wu Lao Da: "What else could be the reason? A man's betrayal is simple: power, prospects, wealth, and... beauty."

"\"Woman. \" Wu Lao Da shook his head with a wry smile: "Qiao, you betrayed us for her?"

Qiao remained silent, merely nodding.

"\"When? \" Wu Lao Da likewise spat a mouthful of black blood, he loosened his grip on the stone pillar planted in the ground, reached up to wipe the black blood stain from his chin, and said in a low voice: \"I've been poisoned too? It seems those three brothers were so easily killed by you—they must have been poisoned as well. \"

Qiao fell silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Do you remember two days ago? I went to scout, looking for a way to draw that pesky kid away... I went out alone, and I stayed outside for over a day before returning."

Shi Lingqing leaned toward Qiao, naturally wrapping her arms around his arm.

She laughed brightly: "I like smart people, because smart people don't cling to rigid rules, and smart people can communicate better with each other. Qiao, you're a smart person. You know what's best for you."

Wu Lao Da took a breath, gave Shi Lingqing and Qiao a deep look, and sneered: "You, you slept with him?"

Qiao couldn't contain his inner pride, laughing from the heart: "She is now my person. Wu Lao Da, you can't imagine what I enjoyed that day."

Shi Lingqing's fair little face flushed all over.

Lying beneath a few large ferns, Wu Tie stared blankly at this scene of brothers turning against each other.

He stared even more blankly at Shi Lingqing.

Her perfect image in his heart shattered with a bang; an indescribable, sour ache surged from his depths, as if countless tiny knives slowly flowed along his blood vessels into his viscera, causing his heart and liver to throb with pain.

Suddenly, Luolin let out a shrill wail, waving his straight blade which turned into three afterimages; the three shadows, snakelike, brought a vicious wind as they lunged fiercely at Qiao: "Qiao... I will kill you!"

The Stone Lightning raised his wooden staff, and an ox-tribe warrior and two human guards simultaneously raised their weapons.

They were about to engage the charging Luolin in combat when Qiao suddenly shouted: "Charge... they want to flee!"

Before his words faded, Luolin shot three thumb-sized black pellets from his left hand; the tiny pills hit the ground, and with a puffing sound a large cloud of black smoke rose, as Luolin abruptly shot backward in retreat.

A sliver of extremely fine cold light flew from Luolin's hand.

Everyone whose attention was wholly on Luolin completely ignored this cold light that was not aimed at them.

Luolin, Wu Lao Da, and Ding fled at full speed, while the ox-tribe warrior holding Fengyu let out a sudden strange cry.

Fengyu, covered in blood, wore a strange smile as a flying dagger pierced deep into his throat.

Wu Tie trembled all over, involuntarily shivering.

As Luolin and company retreated, before retreating Luolin seemed to charge forward desperately, merely to use this flying dagger to kill Fengyu.

Wu Tie could not comprehend this behavior.

He gritted his teeth, leapt into the air, and then swiftly chased after Luolin and the others.

Shi Lingqing suddenly saw a white figure flying up from the fern thicket, she gasped in surprise and furrowed her brows.