Chapter 893: Forming an Alliance

"Sshhh—"

Two highly venomous snakes hung down from the trees, flicking their tongues; before they could bite their intended prey, they slammed headfirst into a 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 scatter it. Yet, when the finger-thick venomous snakes crashed into it, they were instantly wrapped up tight, unable to struggle free for a moment. Immediately after, more than ten fist-sized spiders that had been waiting for a long time swarmed over, their mouthparts piercing the snake skin one after another to inject venom. The snakes struggled a few times, then stopped moving altogether.

The two young men whistled; the spiders, not greedy for the food already in their grasp, 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 solved them all. 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 certainly 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 the Five Steps Hall. Spiders swallowing snakes is a great omen, predicting 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 and said, "Don't boast too excessively, or you'll just make yourself a laughingstock. These little tricks—rather than saying they are meant to ambush me, it's more like they are notifying me that he has already arrived. Letting me prepare myself."

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 the Five Steps Tower, Jin Fusheng. His hall is called the Five Steps Hall, and it's not that he only specializes in using the Five-Step Snake, but that he is skilled in using dozens of types of venomous snakes, and has annexed several gangs that primarily use snakes, basically unifying the venomous snake forces of the Five Poisons Society.

By comparison, the Five Poisons Society has other forces that use spiders, but they haven't submitted to Black Widow yet.

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 have been suitable. But friendships in the Five Poisons Society, or allies for that matter, are 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 cautioned him with: "After arriving at the villa, don't pay attention to anyone. Don't trust 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 the finest spider silk, enough to resist the vast majority of poisons, and ordinary weapons could not cut through them; they could almost be considered a weapon themselves.

Besides this, he had also changed into a new Spider Suit; the black Spider Suit had silver trim, and he looked 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, by a twist of fate, he was wearing them. However, his face was not his previous face, so this handsomeness was discounted; from the outside, he didn't seem 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 inscribed with the four large characters "Jingzhe Villa".

When they got close and looked carefully, they saw that the four large characters were actually composed of individual insects. At a rough glance, there were centipedes, scorpions, ants, spiders, venomous snakes, toads, mantises, house centipedes, and so on. After looking at each character for a long time, it felt as if they were about to wriggle on the stone.

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

Hmm?

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

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

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

Are they serious?

Tang Zhao found it highly peculiar. 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 strictly forbidden from being let out, especially from touching the ground, otherwise, they will surely die."

Tang Zhao was curious in his heart. With a thought, his light had already silently and imperceptibly penetrated the soil. Outsiders could not detect anything unusual, and he realized to himself, "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 or insects enter the soil, they inevitably suffer from lightning entering their bodies and cannot survive. However, it also depends on the size; the lightning here is still too thin. If a python were to come, 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. The voice was soft and gentle, as if chanting. The 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 to hear than Bloodsucker?

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

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 hadn't expected him to be so androgynous.

While Beigong Qi was chatting with Black Widow, his gaze wandered over the crowd and finally struggled to lock onto Tang Zhao, saying, "Is this the Young Master Tang you found? Truly a person of outstanding talent."

Tang Zhao, wearing a smile 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. This is a bit unfair, isn't it? Come, let me see that expert behind the tree."

Since she had exposed their tracks, a person indeed came out from behind the tree. It was a thin woman with a dull expression and only average looks; she didn't look like an expert at all. It was exactly as written in the files: the external aid for the Broken Blood Dock, Qin Jiujiu.

The identities of the various external aids of the Five Poisons Society were mostly fake; for instance, Tang Zhao's name and appearance were both fake. However, this Qin Jiujiu was different. She was a famous doctor in Yunzhou, a true famous doctor. Although her personality was eccentric and there were rumors of her killing without blinking, her medical skills were brilliant, and she had saved countless lives—that was also true. Tang Zhao adjusted his smile a bit and bowed to her.

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

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

Beigong Qi swept his sleeves lightly and said, "Manor Master Yin, this makes me sad. Ten years ago, when you were newly widowed 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 hard to think about it 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've forgotten. However, our friendship has indeed been scarce. But precisely because of that, it is good to form an alliance. Because this is beyond everyone's expectations; they would never imagine that you and I would form an alliance."

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

Beigong said, "Exactly. What is the point of an open alliance? Are we supposed to help each other argue when we start fighting? We of the Five Poisons Society are meant to do things in the shadows. On the surface, we should instead be at each other's throats, even taking the initiative to make a move, putting on a stance of being irreconcilable to dispel others' suspicions, and then at the critical moment, cooperate and exert force to sweep everyone else out."

Black Widow smiled slightly and said, "This idea sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Sweep everyone else out, and then we decide the winner between ourselves. 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 on the surface to extract information and then exchange it."

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

As the two talked, 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're forming an alliance just like that? They haven't even chatted for a few sentences yet? Are alliances in the Five Poisons Society this sloppy?

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

Or rather, so what if they 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 is..."

Black Widow smiled and said, "This is Tang Zhao, little Tang. You should get close to this Miss Qin. Sometimes it's inconvenient for me to meet with Beigong, and you two can contact each other privately. Who knows, there might be some checkpoints we can't get through, and only you two will be left?"

Tang Zhao said, "Yes, leave it to me. I will look after 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 within him.

Qin Jiujiu stepped forward and scrutinized Tang Zhao. Tang Zhao then discovered that although this young girl was dull, her eyes were very bright, and her gaze was 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 code words.

After some negotiations, Beigong Qi took Qin Jiujiu and took his leave, disappearing into the mountain in the blink of an eye.

Once the two had left, Black Widow smiled and asked, "Little Tang, what percentage of what Beigong Qi said about the alliance do you think is true?"