Chapter 38: 37 Mountain Collapse and Earthquake

37 Mountain Collapse and Earthquake

Tang Zhao darted left and right, breaking away from the chaotic battle.

That was truly not easy; the attackers were from Iron Scorpion Castle, another branch of the Five Poisons Society, clearly following the same combat style as Black Spider Villa—starting with a wave of insect-swarm tactics.

Of course, the insect swarm was not truly dense enough to leave no place to step. Iron Scorpion Castle was not that wealthy, but in the cracks of the ground, in the corners, and on the pillars, a poisonous scorpion could pop out at any moment and land a vicious strike when you were off guard.

Compared to poisonous spiders, poisonous scorpions were not necessarily more venomous, but they were harder to guard against; they were faster and more agile, and the venomous stinger hidden in the tail was also harder to defend against than a spider's mouthparts. A scorpion crawled onto Tang Zhao's foot, and he hurriedly shook it off, kicking the scorpion away.

Fortunately, those scorpions seemed to recognize this "Disappearance" state, and Tang Zhao was never actively attacked. Later, Black Spider Villa also reacted and released a large number of poisonous spiders. "Insect fighting" could be seen everywhere in the villa.

Compared to human fighting, insect fighting did not make much noise. Tang Zhao walked along the way, seeing battles everywhere; some involved several people, others only one or two, all fighting to the death, with every blade drawing blood.

Although protected by a Dharma Artifact, Tang Zhao could not help but feel nervous; there was no lack of hidden weapons and stray arrows in the various battles, and he could be injured if he were not careful.

The only plan now was to return to the Grape Courtyard first; the other battles were not ones he could intervene in.

Just as he was running, he suddenly felt his whole body sink, and then he felt an indescribable sensation, as if the world had become slightly clearer.

He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: Oh no, the Dharma Artifact had failed!

No one told him he could see, but he felt it himself. That Dharma Artifact could no longer protect him!

Since Art Tools had limits, Dharma Artifacts should have them too; this Dharma Artifact had been activated back and forth all night, so it was no surprise that it had failed now.

It was just bad timing! The surroundings were still full of crises!

Before he could put on his Glasses to confirm his status, he heard someone whisper above his head: "Eh?"

This voice was full of surprise, and Tang Zhao's heart tightened: Oh no, someone had seen him appear out of thin air.

Before he could look up, Tang Zhao slid into the Shadow under the wall and then ran for his life.

Just then, with an "Ah" sound, a figure fell from above and landed right in front of Tang Zhao; it was a man with a sunken chest and blood all over his face, clearly dead.

This person was not wearing a Mask, so the one who did it was...

Tang Zhao looked up, and under the faint moonlight, a flash of black and white drew closer.

"Thump."

With a landing sound that was almost imperceptible, a figure descended from the sky.

A dark cloak was blown by the wind, snapping loudly; the person's face was covered by a half-black, half-white Mask—it was the soul-snatching Impermanence.

At this moment, Impermanence was even more terrifying than a ghost!

Tang Zhao opened his mouth but made no sound.

"How interesting—" the voice under the Mask was very hoarse, as if it were seeping out from a crack, "there's actually an unexpected harvest."

Tang Zhao forced himself to stay calm and said: "May I ask who you are?"

The masked person had no intention of answering, laughing in a low voice: "Very good, very good, come with me."

A blur passed before his eyes, the sound of wind rose sharply, and the person had already pounced.

The sound and the wind arrived at the same time; Tang Zhao had almost no time to react and instinctively parried—

The short Sword thrust upward, a lifting strike!

At this moment, he only had a short Sword without any Sword Technique, which was not handy, but he didn't know much, just the basic moves of Sword Art. The little experience he had in fighting was practiced over the last two days while guarding against Si Liyu's sneak attacks, which could be considered extremely crude. It was nothing more than being very proficient; there was no need to react—where the sword wind arrived, the sword tip arrived!

Seeing that the short Sword had arrived, the person flicked it lightly, and the corner of the cloak puffed up like steel, already blocking the sword edge.

"Ssh—"

With a lift of the short Sword, a corner of the cloak was cleanly sliced off; Tang Zhao brushed past the person's figure, rushed to the other side, and charged straight ahead.

Just after one exchange, although he had sliced off the opponent's hem, his hand felt a huge shock, and the short Sword almost slipped from his grip. He knew that the force contained in the opponent's cloak was extremely deep, and being able to slice off the clothing was purely because the Dharma Artifact was sharp, unexpectedly able to cut through Inner force, giving him a great advantage.

But no matter how magical the Dharma Artifact was, it could not grant him extra strength, and the blade was too short; he didn't find it as handy as an Art Tool. If he had an Art Tool, his strength would increase greatly and he could fight for a while, but for now, it was better to avoid it.

He ran forward without looking back; the opponent did not seem to be chasing, but he dared not be careless and just ran with all his might.

It was hard to distinguish directions in the darkness, and after running for a while, he saw several more conflicts.

In several of the battles, it wasn't as if no one saw him appear abruptly and wanted to grab him, but Tang Zhao relied on his small size, agility, and the sharpness of the Dharma Artifact, using a few basic sword moves repeatedly; although he didn't kill many people, he charged through one after another.

Stopping in a dark place, Tang Zhao calmed his mind and thought: The person with the black and white Mask just now had extremely high martial arts and was part of the enemy group; it seems the enemies are very strong. Although the people he encountered later were far inferior to him, who knew how many such experts were hidden in the crowd?

He had crossed more than half of the villa when coming from the Grape Courtyard; now, going back was a long and arduous journey, so it would be safer to turn back and find the Land Inspection Division. It was just that they didn't remember him when they retreated, so he hadn't been notified of their destination, and finding them now would not be easy.

After walking along the wall base for a while, he suddenly felt the ground shake and hurriedly jumped into the middle of the road, away from the buildings.

This was a trick Chen Zong had taught him: during an earthquake, one must go to an open area to avoid being crushed.

The vibration was not a major quake, but a continuous tremor. Tang Zhao soon discovered that it was not an earthquake, but a chain of vibrations coming from a certain direction—it seemed that a mountain was collapsing there.

Immediately after, he was suddenly horrified.

Countless spiders crawled out from the corners of walls, cracks, and gutters, surging in one direction like an army on the march. Seen in the darkness, it looked like streams of black water flowing to the same place. These black waters were originally just drops of water, then connected into trickling streams, and finally converged into black waves, surging forward.

It was late at night, and Tang Zhao could not see the heads and feet of the spiders, so he didn't feel particularly disgusted, only feeling horrified yet awestruck.

Screams came from afar; although they were too far away for the sound to be clear, he could still vaguely distinguish that it seemed to be many people screaming, with ghost-like wails rising one after another.

Tang Zhao initially thought someone was scared by the spiders, but he immediately realized—the screams were coming from the direction the vibrations were coming from, and also the direction the spiders were surging toward.

In that direction, it seemed something very terrifying was happening!

Tang Zhao almost made up his mind to turn back, but there were constant spiders surging from behind, blocking the way back. Having no choice, he kicked off the ground and used his hands for leverage to get onto the wall.

Just as he got onto the wall, he saw someone running toward him, shouting: "Get out of the way! The spider ancestor is coming!"

Tang Zhao was startled. If someone asked him to make way on a main road, as long as they were earnest, he would usually move. But the path on the wall was too narrow, with no room to move aside; furthermore, he had just stood firm, his center of gravity was hard to shift, and he didn't even have time to react.

The person approaching wore a monkey-face Mask and was clearly part of the enemy group. Seeing that Tang Zhao couldn't dodge in time, he suddenly drew his blade and said: "Get lost—"

This blade strike came extremely fast, and Tang Zhao had no room to dodge on the wall; he didn't even have time to adjust his movements—it was a situation where he was bound to be hit!

At the critical moment, Tang Zhao's hand holding the Sword tightened unconsciously, his whole body tensed up, and his Spirit became focused.

In an instant, he jumped off his feet, his body leaping lightly into the air, turning half a circle, and his feet landed exactly on the person's blade.

This movement was as light as a swallow, his steps like walking on air; it was definitely not something he could have done himself, but at this moment, stepping on the blade tip, he had no time to think. The short Sword struck out, a slash across the face, splitting the opponent's monkey Mask and revealing a sharp-mouthed, monkey-cheeked face that resembled an ape.

That sword strike was ultimately a bit shallow; after splitting the Mask, it only left a shallow bloodstain on the person's face. The man was terrified and shouted: "Spare my life, hero!"

Tang Zhao's center of gravity sank, the previous feeling of lightness dissipated, and he hurriedly pressed the Sword against his neck, jumped down from his back, and shouted: "Drop the blade!"

That person hurriedly let go, the blade fell to the ground, and he said repeatedly: "Spare me, hero, I have no malicious intent."

Tang Zhao thought to himself: So, a knife to the head upon meeting isn't called malicious intent. He lowered his voice and said viciously: "You... what the hell are you running for? Are you looking to die by bumping into me?"

That person said repeatedly: "This lowly one is blind, I didn't see you, I deserve to die, I deserve to die, I am willing to kowtow and apologize to you. You are magnanimous, please forgive this lowly one, may you live a long life, may your fortune be as vast as the East Sea, and may all your wishes come true."

He went from arrogant to submissive, spouting New Year's greetings one after another; Tang Zhao couldn't bring himself to strike for a moment, thinking it would be better to just knock him unconscious, and asked casually: "What did you say about a Spider ancestor?"

That Hou Lian Ren said: "Oh, it's just over by the warehouse, a big spider came out!"

What he said was unclear, so Tang Zhao asked curiously: "What warehouse? What big spider? How big is it?"

Hou Lian Ren said urgently: "Big, really big. We followed Tie Xiezi to attack the warehouse; there weren't any experts there, and it went quite smoothly at first, pushing those eight-legged bugs into the big warehouse at the back. As a result, we don't know what mechanism we triggered, but a huge... a really, really huge spider crawled out of a well. Damn it, it's a Fierce Beast! Black Spider Villa actually keeps a Fierce Beast!"

Tang Zhao thought of his own meals, thinking that since he ate Fierce Beast meat every day, it didn't seem so strange, and said: "In such a big villa, what's strange about keeping a Fierce Beast?"

Hou Lian Ren said: "No, keeping a Fierce Beast is a capital crime... sigh, we kill and set fires, so we don't care about that one, but there's nowhere to keep it. The point is it's too big! That spider is as tall as two floors, its legs are as long as flagpole, and it even has hair on them... oh my mother, just looking at it gives me nightmares. We were stunned at the time and scattered to save our lives. Tie Xiezi even told us to attack, attack his grandmother, why didn't he attack? Later, he was wrapped up by the spider with a web. It's lucky I ran fast and saved my little life; next time, even if you gave me ten thousand taels, I wouldn't come to this ghost place."

Although it was still incoherent, Tang Zhao roughly knew what had happened.

That tremor was surely caused by the spider crawling out of the ground, and those spiders were also going to pay homage to their "ancestor."

Tang Zhao still wanted to ask for details, but suddenly his Spirit stirred, he backhanded the Hou Lian Ren unconscious, and shouted: "Teacher Si!"