Chapter 407: 381 Forming an Alliance

"Sss—"

Two highly venomous snakes hung down from the tree, flicking their tongues; before they could bite their intended prey, they had already crashed headlong into the spiderweb covering the treetops.

That stark white spiderweb looked as thin as a strand of hair and incredibly fragile, as if a single breath could blow it away. Yet, the finger-thick venomous snakes, once they crashed in, were instantly and firmly wrapped up, unable to struggle free for a moment. Immediately after, more than ten fist-sized spiders that had been waiting for a long time swarmed up, their mouthparts piercing the snake skin one after another to inject venom. The venomous snakes struggled a few times and then stopped moving.

Two young men let out a whistle; the spiders, not greedy for the food already in their mouths, crawled back quickly and were scooped up by the bamboo tubes in the young men's hands.

Black Widow watched their operation from afar and said to Tang Zhao beside her, "How is it? The children are still usable, right?"

Tang Zhao nodded and praised her very flatteringly, saying, "Not bad. The closer we get to Jingzhe Villa, the more traps there are, yet you don't even need to make a move; the Disciples have all solved them. Black Spider Villa truly is full of talent."

It was just that Tang Zhao always felt her tone just now was like an old demon evaluating little demons: "My children, well done."

Black Widow smiled and said, "The children are indeed capable. But they weren't being serious with me."

At this moment, several young men returned. Jiao Feng skewered the venomous snake on his blade and sent it to Black Widow's feet. Another youth, Chen Feiying, said loudly, "Manor Master, it is a venomous snake from Five Steps Hall. Spiders swallowing snakes is a great omen, indicating that the Manor Master will surely suppress all the heroes on this trip and stand alone among the Five Poisons."

Black Widow laughed in spite of herself, "Don't boast too excessively, or you'll become a laughingstock instead. These little tricks, rather than saying they are meant to ambush me, it's better to say they are notifying me that he has already arrived first. Letting me be prepared."

Tang Zhao knew who he was referring to; he had also seen it in the files. The one who uses venomous snakes must be the Tower Master of Five Steps Tower, Jin Fusheng. His hall is called Five Steps Hall, and it's not just that he is skilled in using the Five-Step Snake, but he is skilled in using dozens of types of venomous snakes, and he has annexed several gangs that primarily use snakes, basically unifying the venomous snake forces of the Five Poisons Society.

By comparison, the other forces in the Five Poisons Society that also use spiders have not yet submitted to Black Widow.

Black Widow said, "This person Jin Fusheng had a friendship with me a few years ago. Originally, if I were to look for an alliance among my opponents, he would be suitable. But friendships in the Five Poisons Society, or allies for that matter, are all things that don't count. Perhaps the friendship from back then is actually a tool he set up to harm me. So..."

She repeated the words she had already exhorted: "After arriving at the villa, don't pay attention to anyone. Don't believe anyone."

Tang Zhao touched the gloves on his hands. They were prepared for him by Black Widow to prevent him from subconsciously touching anything. The gloves were snow-white, as thin as paper, and as soft as water; wearing them, he could barely feel their existence, and they didn't hinder any movements. They were woven from top-quality spider silk, enough to resist the vast majority of poisons, and ordinary weapons couldn't cut into them either; they could almost be considered a weapon.

Besides this, he had also changed into a new Spider Suit, a black Spider Suit with silver trim, looking no different from the people of Black Spider Villa.

Back then, Yuan Qing had teased him that he would definitely look good in clothes made of pure spider silk, and now he could be considered to have worn them by a twist of fate. But his face was not his previous face, so this good look was discounted; from the outside, one wouldn't feel he was any more outstanding than Jiao Feng and the others. It was as if Black Widow had brought five young Disciples.

The group walked along the small path for a while and arrived at the foot of a mountain peak. From afar, they saw a stone tablet with the four large characters "Jingzhe Villa" written on it.

When looking closely, they saw that the four large characters were actually composed of insects; looking roughly, there were centipedes, scorpions, ants, spiders, venomous snakes, toads, mantises, silverfish, and so on. After looking at each character for a long time, it felt as if they were about to squirm on the stone.

Worthy of being Jingzhe Villa, the headquarters of the Five Poisons Society...

Hm?

Tang Zhao had sharp eyes and saw that under the four large characters, there was actually a line of small characters.

"Land of Jingzhe, snakes and insects keep out."

These four characters were not black, but deep purple, sharp as electric light.

Are they serious?

Tang Zhao was greatly astonished. This is the main headquarters of the Five Poisons Society; do they actually not allow venomous insects to enter?

Black Widow said, "This is true. However, these characters weren't there originally; they are a rule set by the current Manor Master. Anyone entering within ten miles of Jingzhe Villa must keep all venomous insects in special containers. They are absolutely not allowed to be released, especially not allowed to touch the ground, otherwise, they will surely die."

Tang Zhao was curious in his heart. With a thought, his light silently penetrated the soil. Outsiders couldn't detect anything unusual, but he himself realized, "The soil contains the aura of thunder and lightning. It is Thunder-Struck Soil, which can also be considered a rare item. It was probably transported from some Demon Cave. Whenever snakes and insects enter the soil, they will inevitably suffer from thunder and lightning entering their bodies and cannot survive. However, it also depends on the size; the thunder and lightning here are still too thin. If a python came, it would definitely be fine."

Then he heard someone laugh, "This little brother speaks very interestingly. Who would bring a python to Jingzhe Villa?"

A person walked out from behind a tree, speaking in a soft and gentle voice, as if chanting. That person was a man with a slender figure, a graceful posture, delicate and fair skin, and a beautiful and elegant appearance.

Black Widow smiled and said, "So it's you, Bloodsucker."

The man laughed, "Black Widow, your speech is still so unpleasant; you might as well call me by my proper name, 'Leech'."

... Is the name Leech any better than Bloodsucker?

Tang Zhao truly didn't understand, but he immediately matched this person with the files: the Dock Master of Broken Blood Dock, Beigong Qi. It is also the only wharf in the Five Poisons Society that doesn't take the land route but the water route. Besides water transport on ships, they also do the business of water bandits, and even do medicine business.

This Dock Master Beigong Qi is also a strange person in the Five Poisons Society. On one hand, his poisonous heart and ruthless hands are not inferior to any powerhouse in the Five Poisons Society; on the other hand, he is actually a famous doctor, skilled in treating internal injuries, and has a small reputation in the Jianghu. Tang Zhao had heard that this person had an extraordinary appearance and considered himself a handsome man; he didn't expect him to be so indistinguishable between male and female.

While chatting with Black Widow, Beigong Qi's gaze wandered over the faces of the crowd, finally struggling to lock onto Tang Zhao, saying, "Is this the Young Master Tang you found? Truly talented and outstanding."

Tang Zhao, wearing a smile that was three parts like Teng Liang and three parts like Xing Ji, cupped his hands and said, "Not at all, not at all, long admired, long admired."

Black Widow smiled and said, "You saw everyone on my side as soon as you arrived, but I only saw you alone; isn't this unfair? Come, let me see that expert behind the tree."

Since she had exposed his tracks, a person indeed came out from behind the tree. It was a thin woman with a dull expression and average looks, appearing to have no demeanor of an expert at all. It was exactly as written in the files: the external aid for Broken Blood Dock, Qin Jiujiu.

The identities of the various external aids of the Five Poisons Society were mostly fake, such as Tang Zhao, whose name and appearance were both fake. This Qin Jiujiu, however, was different; she was a famous doctor in Yunzhou, a true famous doctor. Although her personality was strange and there were rumors of her killing without blinking, her medical skills were brilliant, and she had saved countless lives, which was not fake. Tang Zhao adjusted his smile a bit and bowed to her.

Qin Jiujiu returned the bow with a wooden face and stood to one side. Beigong Qi said, "Now we are being frank with each other. Manor Master Yin, I am here to seek an alliance with you."

Black Widow's eyes rippled as she said, "Seeking me? Beigong, you really scared me to death. Do we know each other? Have we always had a friendship?"

Beigong Qi swept his sleeves and said, "Manor Master Yin, you are making me sad. Ten years ago, when you were newly married and lost your husband, and traveled south alone, wasn't it I who accompanied you on the Tongyang River? Can this friendship be forgotten just like that?"

Black Widow laughed, "Which husband? I've had many husbands die; it's not easy to think about at this juncture."

Beigong Qi said, "The Manor Master is truly heartless. If you've forgotten, then forget it; it's safer for me if you forget. However, we have indeed had little friendship in the past. But precisely because of this, it is good to form an alliance. Because this is beyond everyone's expectations; they would never think that you and I would form an alliance."

Black Widow pondered, "You mean a secret alliance?"

Beigong said, "Exactly. What is the point of an open alliance? Are we supposed to back each other up when we start arguing? What we in the Five Poisons Society are supposed to do is secret work. We should instead be at daggers drawn in public, or even take the initiative to make a move, putting on a posture of being irreconcilable to dispel others' suspicions, and then cooperate and exert force at the crucial moment to sweep everyone else out."

Black Widow smiled slightly and said, "This idea sounds pretty good, right? Sweep the others out, and then we'll decide the winner. Have a fair fight."

Beigong Qi said, "That is exactly what I mean. We can also collect information separately and share it with each other. We can even form separate alliances with others in public to extract information and then exchange it."

Black Widow said, "Not bad, we can agree on a method..."

As the two were talking, they began to discuss how to contact each other. Tang Zhao watched from the side, thinking: The more they talk, the more real it sounds. They've formed an alliance just like that? They haven't chatted for long, have they? Are alliances in the Five Poisons Society so sloppy?

But he immediately realized—a sloppy covenant naturally has sloppy effectiveness. People have already come, and the words have already been said to this point; if they don't form an alliance, then what?

Or rather, what if they do form an alliance?

At this moment, he saw Qin Jiujiu staring at him, and he changed to another sick angle to reveal a smile.

Beigong Qi then said, "Since we are forming an alliance, the experts we hired are naturally friends too. Miss Qin, this..."

Black Widow smiled and said, "This is Tang Zhao, little Tang. You must get well acquainted with this Miss Qin. Sometimes it's inconvenient for me to meet with Beigong, and you two can also contact each other privately. Maybe there are some checkpoints we can't use, and only you two are left?"

Tang Zhao said, "Yes, leave it to me; I will take care of this little sister."

This was also something Black Widow and Tang Zhao had agreed upon. In front of others, Black Widow would deliberately use a slightly condescending attitude to talk to Tang Zhao. This would give people the feeling that Tang Zhao was Black Widow's true subordinate, which would lower people's evaluation of Tang Zhao and make them unaware of how much energy this youth had in his body.

Qin Jiujiu stepped forward and scrutinized Tang Zhao. Only then did Tang Zhao discover that although this young girl was dull, her eyes were very bright, and her gaze was also exceptionally sharp. Tang Zhao even felt that she had seen through the flaws in his disguise.

But in the end, Qin Jiujiu didn't say anything. The two greeted each other and also perfunctorily agreed on a few secret codes.

After some negotiation, Beigong Qi took Qin Jiujiu and took his leave, vanishing from the mountain in the blink of an eye.

Once the two had left, Black Widow smiled and asked, "Little Tang, how much of the alliance Beigong Qi spoke of do you think is true?"