Chapter 40: 39 Flying In

39 Flying In

Eight people, seven swords.

The seven swords are like seven stars, connecting into a mysterious constellation.

Standing straight upon the sword hilts are seven people in uniform military official attire, their sword sheaths hanging empty at their waists; they are the crowns of light for the stars.

At the very front stands a tall military official, feet planted in a stable stance, holding his position like Polaris suppressing the Big Dipper.

In the center of the constellation is a stark white web and a massive black spider.

Although only seven swords are pinning down the formation, there is a feeling of impenetrable density; from the moment they landed, the white spider web has not advanced even an inch.

"Teacher Si—"

Because of the angle, it is difficult for Tang Zhao to see everyone's faces clearly; he only sees their figures of varying heights and their momentum, which is as steady as a mountain. He can recognize only two of them: the one diagonally opposite, whom he recognizes at a glance as his Sword Art teacher, Si Liyu. And the military official at the very front, the one with his back to him—though he cannot see the official's face, he guesses it is the ugly-looking military official Peng Yiming.

He does not recognize the others, but he remembers they are also from the Land Inspection Division; he saw them all in the small cabin earlier, and Xing Ji was not among them.

Xing Ji... it is said he went out today; the temporary base was almost blown up by someone, is this appropriate?

However, perhaps it is precisely because he went out that the enemy obtained intelligence and took advantage of the void to enter?

"The people from the Land Inspection Division have arrived," the Judge says in a low voice.

Sun Sheng says nervously, "It really is the Land Inspection Division! The Black Spider Villa really did collude with the Land Inspection Division; they are truly traitors to the Heiyang martial arts world! Betraying their martial arts peers to throw in their lot with the government—being wiped out is not unjust at all." His voice also drops significantly, as if his vocal cords were suppressed by the three words "Land Inspection Division."

The Judge says indifferently, "After this battle, there won't be many martial arts peers left in Heiyang."

Sun Sheng says, "It's still early. The ones who died the most this time are those two from the Five Poisons Society. The other peers will not submit just like that. I heard the Pei Clan is already contacting several allied families through marriage; those people will be enough to give the Land Inspection Division a headache."

The Judge does not reply to him, and he mutters to himself, "What does it have to do with me? When I go back this time, I'll pack my things, wash my hands of the business, stop mixing in the martial arts world, and go back to my hometown to marry a wife and live a stable life."

Tang Zhao stares at Si Liyu. It was because he listened to Si Liyu's suggestion to come up and watch the battle that he ended up trapped before the fighting even began.

If he could contact Si Liyu, perhaps he could escape, but although Teacher Si is right before his eyes, he is actually as far away as the ends of the earth; who knows if there will be any chance to meet again?

The three of them are each occupied with their own thoughts, while the eight people below surround the spider, yet they make no other moves, remaining in a stalemate for a time; the Sword Tassels of the seven long swords rise with the night wind, snapping loudly.

At this moment, Peng Yiming suddenly says, "Xiaosi, can you handle it?"

Before the words fall, a weathered voice immediately says, "Hey, this isn't an inferior Fierce Beast; it's one that has entered the ranks, and it even has a Phantom on its head. Xiaosi has no experience..."

Si Liyu stands to one side of the spider, facing one of its legs, and now speaks: "I'll do it."

Peng Yiming says, "Good, you have ambition. What does it matter if it's the first time? With so many of us here to guard the formation for him, this is the perfect opportunity for training. Leave it to Xiaosi. Hold your sword—"

The moment the words fall, Si Liyu's body leaps high, charging toward the spider. The sword under his feet remains stuck in its original place.

Almost the instant he leaps, the spider's mouthparts open, and white spider silk gushes out.

The spider silk is not shot at Si Liyu, but at eight directions simultaneously; everyone is within the coverage of the silk, and it is extremely fast and fierce in its momentum.

Except for Si Liyu, no one else moves, acting as if they do not see it. Si Liyu makes a turn in mid-air and strikes a palm toward the spider silk.

Using a palm to fight a giant spider—the disparity is so great, it is like a mayfly shaking a tree!

The spider silk is extremely fast and violent, instantly wrapping Si Liyu up head to toe, turning him into a rice dumpling in an instant.

Tang Zhao lets out an "Ah," but before he can worry, the rice dumpling makes a "pop" sound, a hole is torn open, and Si Liyu drills out, grabbing the arm-thick spider silk with a backhand grip and using the momentum to swing across.

Sun Sheng asks in surprise from the side, "Is that spider silk not poisonous? Can you touch it with your hands?"

Tang Zhao says casually, "Perhaps the light on his body isolates the poison?"

Sun Sheng sneers, "The brat is spouting nonsense again; what light is on his body?"

The Judge sneers, "You should practice more; maybe one day you'll be able to see Inner Momentum?"

Sun Sheng laughs, "Inner Momentum..." Suddenly his expression changes drastically, and he says, "How old is this damn kid, and he's already cultivating a Mysterious Technique? Why is the world so unfair?"

Tang Zhao thinks to himself: So this is Inner Momentum, something cultivated through a Mysterious Technique? However, although it is also light, this light is different from the light on the Art Tool and the light on the spider web; the color is similar, but the texture is not the same thing—this light is more like a solid.

Perhaps what he thought before was wrong; it is not just any light that can be used to repair the Glasses.

Si Liyu uses the momentum to swing toward the spider's back. At this moment, the spider, which was quietly spitting silk on the web, suddenly erupts; its massive body sinks, its mouthparts facing the sky, charging toward Si Liyu.

Such a big spider... can jump?!

Tang Zhao is greatly shocked. Fortunately, the spider does not truly jump, but rather uses its legs to support the ground, lifting its body and rising with its head tilted. However, its body is so massive that with a slight tilt of its head, it has already risen over a zhang, meeting Si Liyu head-on.

Si Liyu pushes back against the spider silk and springs up again, flexibly drawing an arc to avoid the opening and closing mouthparts, eventually landing on the spider's head. He strikes a backhand palm, and the Inner Momentum explodes, smashing one of the spider's eyes.

Although this giant spider has eight independent eyes like a common spider, being blinded is also painful. Its legs cannot support it, and its body sinks down again. With a "bang," its abdomen actually slams into the ground, and the surrounding spider web receives the vibration, trembling up and down like white waves rising and falling.

It suddenly opens its mouth and sprays a large amount of thin white mist.

The mist covers the sky and earth, spreading far faster than the spider silk. Si Liyu only has time to smash one more eye before holding his breath and leaping away, jumping over the spider's back, passing over the head of that Phantom, and landing in front of the spider's leg, one hand reaching forward—

Sun Sheng asks in astonishment, "What is he doing?"

Tang Zhao cannot be bothered to pay attention to this fellow. In his eyes, Si Liyu reaches one hand forward, and the light condenses into a giant claw, firmly grabbing a leg and twisting it against the joint—

Crack—

The spider leg does not resist for more than a few seconds; although it does not break, the joint is already twisted, clearly rendered useless.

Si Liyu does not stop, his body leaping forward, the giant claw grabbing toward another leg.

Tang Zhao sees Si Liyu cleanly and efficiently inflict heavy damage on the spider and feels extremely excited; it seems this giant spider is not so terrifying after all.

Just as he sees Si Liyu has grabbed another leg, suddenly, as if he has noticed something, he turns his head abruptly, and his body suddenly twitches and stiffens as if struck by electricity.

Immediately following, a strand of spider silk rolls over, wrapping him up and submerging him.

Tang Zhao is stunned; this time he cannot understand it either, and even from his perspective, he cannot see how this happened.

"Xiaosi was careless."

Peng Yiming sighs. At this moment, like his colleagues, an invisible wall stands before him; the spider silk sticks to the wall and can only be stuck up and down, never making any progress.

If Tang Zhao's attention were on them, he would discover that the wall is almost exactly the same as the one he released when facing the human traffickers earlier.

"Lack of experience," a female voice says from the side. "He thought that because this Phantom is a Beast Charm, it definitely wouldn't have the abilities of a Xinmei? With his mind undefended, he fell for the other party's trick."

"Save him?" someone nearby asks.

"Wait a little longer," Peng Yiming says thoughtfully. "This is his first battle; give him another chance." Although he says this, a shadow gradually differentiates from the top of his head; that shadow gradually splits from his body, finally completely emerging, transforming into a floating woman hovering above his head.

That's right, it's that—

Two illusory women stood facing each other across the void, one colorful and one colorless, as if both belonged to another world.

After a few seconds of silence, Tang Zhao's heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest; then, with a soft *chi* sound, a figure broke out of the cocoon like lightning, landed, rolled a few times on the spider web, and climbed back up.

Si Liyu had come out after all, though his state was not as relaxed as before; Tang Zhao could not see his expression, but could clearly see that the light on his body had grown much thinner, almost just a layer clinging to his skin.

Si Liyu lowered his head and panted for a moment, and in a blur, the seven-legged giant spider rushed over; perhaps because it was on the web, the massive spider moved with astonishing speed, as if sliding along without a sound. Then, a female voice called out: "Hey, you should use your sword."

Si Liyu narrowed his eyes, appearing quite annoyed, but in the end, he formed a seal with one hand.

"Sword Control Art—Fly here!"

The sword on the ground seemed to be lifted by an invisible hand, pulling up from the earth and flying toward Si Liyu.

Si Liyu grabbed it casually, and his body rose into the air, soaring upward, just in time to avoid the giant spider—

And then, he descended!

"Crack—"

One of the spider's legs split from its body and fell to the ground.

The cut was smooth; when Tang Zhao looked, a flash of brilliance still lingered on the severed surface before extinguishing. Immediately after, a large amount of black smoke, thick as ink, erupted from the wound.

Tang Zhao was far away, but he felt a cloud of black smoke explode in an instant, and then, a foul stench drilled into his nose.

Ugh—

Tang Zhao was almost knocked over by the stench and nearly vomited.

With such a thick, foul odor even from this far away, how terrifying must it be at the center?

Si Liyu landed on the ground, the Sword Light in his hand flickering, still wreathed in wisps of black energy. Perhaps because he was inside the black smoke, his face appeared slightly distorted.

Peng Yiming nodded and said: "That's more like it. Since he aims to be a Sword Guest, he should always have his sword in hand—" Halfway through, he reached out to pinch his nose and insisted on continuing, "How can he be so secretive, as if he were hiding a gold ingot and refusing to show it to anyone?"

*Pop, pop, pop*—several strands of spider silk coiled over, but were stripped away one by one by the long sword; Si Liyu did not even look back, striking the spider's legs with several consecutive blows, causing another hairy leg to fall, then he lunged forward using the sword as a point, the blade cutting into the thick carapace, and countless fluids mixed with even thicker black energy sprayed out from the gap.

At this moment, even though Tang Zhao's view was increasingly blocked by the black smoke, he could see that the battle was decided, and he couldn't help but feel his heart surge, thinking to himself: As expected, Sword Art is the strongest! The coolest! This rhythm, like a butcher dismembering an ox, flowing like clouds and water—will I be able to use it in the future?

Just as his emotions were running high, his hand suddenly tightened, having been grabbed by someone; he turned his head and saw that black-and-white Mask.

The Judge's voice came muffled from behind the Mask: "Had your fill of watching? Let's go, stop watching people chop vegetables; we have things to do too."

Tang Zhao struggled slightly and said: "What are you doing?"

The Judge said: "Borrowing your eyes for a moment. I'll return them when I'm done. Brother Sun, come with me too."

Sun Sheng stomped his foot and said: "I must have had eight lifetimes of bad luck to have met you two. Men die for wealth, birds die for food; if I had known, I wouldn't have been greedy for that little thank-you gift from Tie Xiezi."

The Judge said: "It is precisely because men die for wealth that you wouldn't be content to return empty-handed now, would you? This is what they call luring the tiger away from the mountain and fishing in troubled waters; the tiger has already left the mountain, wouldn't it be a waste of heaven's gifts if we don't fish? You two come with me to a place, and there will be benefits if we succeed."