Chapter 432: The Spider Deity Luo Shi, Fine Talent and Noble Quality

Tianqi Zi held the still-vibrating Bell of Death in one hand, gazing at the Spider Goddess entwined in the temple's web, his expression grim.

The demonic shadow beside him, staring at the ghostly skin on the ground, waved his hand listlessly and said, "This temple is far more sinister than the last one we saw; the Spider Goddess is far more terrifying than the red-robed ghost that guarded it before."

"This deity may rival the strongest ancestral figures of our sect. Wake the Xie Xie Zushi of Abdominal Burial from the Bell of Death and negotiate terms with her. We only need to borrow the altar within this temple—there's no need for a fight to the death!"

Tianqi Zi's heart tightened: "To awaken the Xie Xie Zushi of Abdominal Burial… that will cost me twenty years of my yang life!"

"The evil here is a demonized deity of the Nine Heavens. The vengeful spirits sealed in ordinary ghost treasures are merely food to her. Unless you awaken the Xie Xie Zushi, you cannot intimidate her! She has already marked you all as food for her soul-refining—unless you act now, you will all die here!"

said the demonic shadow coldly.

In the brief hesitation of Tianqi Zi, the Spider Goddess Luo Shi had already stepped onto the web and glided forward.

She made no sound as she moved across the web, her form light as air, swift as lightning; eight spider legs trailed strands of silk, reaching down to lift a disciple of the Ghost Weeping Sect onto the web. Knowing his fate was sealed, the disciple activated his ghost core—his skin writhed as if something within were about to burst forth to fight the Spider Goddess.

But the Spider Goddess Luo Shi merely laughed sweetly, wrapping the skin in silk.

The silk, glowing with eerie light, pierced the skin and cocooned the writhing flesh.

Then the skin was carried to Luo Shi's mouth; she opened her lips to reveal two outward-curled fangs, piercing the skin and injecting venom. All present saw the skin violently thrash, emitting a scream unlike any human voice.

Luo Shi brought the man's face close to her own and kissed his mouth—then her tongue shot inside, extending deep into his skull, sucking out something.

As her throat continuously swallowed, soon only a single human skin remained on the web.

"That was a Ghost Weeping Sect disciple who had already formed a Golden Core—he must have cultivated a Ghost King within his skin, forged from ten thousand spirits… yet no matter how fierce the Ghost King, to a demon deity he is merely prey!" Brother Qian Chen remarked to Si Princess Qingcheng behind him, witnessing this.

"It seems the Altar of Sacrifice, corrupted by the demonic influence of Zhu Zhu Jiuyin, has indeed undergone a terrifying transformation. Even this half-destroyed altar birthed such a demon deity—what horror might dwell in the intact one? Truly…"

Brother Qian Chen felt a thrill: "It's exciting!"

Yet he sensed more things crawling through the darkness along the webs.

A half-human, half-spider demon was using the silk threads to silently approach the Ghost Weeping Sect disciples within the temple.

The demon resembled a grotesque fusion of a seductive woman and a monstrous spider—terrifying, hideous. It crawled over Shi Ning Shimei's head, brushing past Brother Qian Chen without notice. Shi Ning Shimei, watching it, shrank back slightly, her arm hairs standing on end, a crawling nausea rising within her. Seeing this, Brother Qian Chen flicked out a sliver of blade-light—a blood-red aura from his fingertip passed soundlessly over the spider-woman, and in an instant, she dissolved into a streak of crimson light, absorbed into the blade aura.

Only a few taels of husk remained, blown off the web by the wind.

The Spider Goddess Luo Shi, stepping on the web, hooked one leg and pulled a distant Ghost Weeping Sect disciple toward her.

Sensing a faint vibration along a strand beneath her foot, she paused slightly, then casually pierced the face of the Ghost Weeping Sect's true heir with a long leg, tossing the corpse onto the web.

The corpse still twitched on the web—then suddenly, a child's head the size of a fist burst from its chest, opening its mouth in a piercing wail.

The shrill cry felt like a red-hot iron nail driven into the mind.

Immediately, four more infant heads pierced through the corpse's chest, mouths full of sharp teeth, biting toward Luo Shi.

But the Spider Goddess merely flicked out a second leg, hooking out the ghastly mass of dozens of infant spirits tangled within the corpse's chest. She raised her leg like eating a candied hawthorn, parted her lips, and bit down on one of the impaled heads, chewing slowly, even extending her tongue to lick the blood from her lips.

"Fascinating!" she smiled with interest, turning back to the group of "food."

"That was Elder Eejiao's Hundred Infants Ghost—it takes the souls of a hundred underdeveloped fetuses to forge! How could it be so easily devoured by that demon deity?"

A Ghost Weeping Sect true heir wailed.

"Even Elder Xiao Xie Xin's perfected ghost treasure was eaten! The spirit inside was a Yin Spirit Earth Ghost, nurtured over twenty generations, on the verge of becoming a Heavenly Ghost!"

"Elder Xiao Xie Xin was eaten too!" someone cried in terror.

"This is demonic land—orthodox sects have lost many here before. Tianqi Zi! If we die, you won't escape blame. Let your sect know you led this team to slaughter so many—next time, you'll be the one feeding their ghost treasures!" This was the dying curse of a true heir.

Around the temple, spider demons now emerged from every shadow, pouncing on the Ghost Weeping Sect disciples and engaging them in battle. The disciples were no weaklings—they could hold their own against the demons—but whenever the Spider Goddess Luo Shi intervened, a Ghost Weeping Sect true heir inevitably died.

In mere breaths, more than half of the thirteen true heirs vanished, reduced to human skins hanging on the web.

At this moment, Tianqi Zi could no longer hesitate.

He shook the Bell of Death in his hand—within it, the heavenly ghost slumbering inside finally awakened fully, devouring Tianqi Zi's yang life, drawing his yang energy to temporarily reanimate its dead soul. The death aura within the bell surged a hundredfold.

Dong… dong… dong…

The bell's resonance echoed through the temple; the already ruined walls, broken beams, and shattered tiles trembled and collapsed under the sound.

All the spider demons hiding in the shadows, crawling swiftly along the webs, were instantly shattered—the bell's sound left them spitting blood, curling their eight legs inward, collapsing dead, their corpses strewn everywhere.

Seeing this, Tianqi Zi finally slowed the bell's toll.

From the downward-facing mouth of the Bell of Death, a withered arm suddenly emerged, gripping the bell's wall. Soon, a ghastly figure—skin stretched over bone, utterly inhuman—climbed out, clinging to the bell's carvings, perched atop like a demonic bell knob, staring at the Spider Goddess.

"So that's why they woke me—turns out you're a Nine Heavens demon deity! Why bother with these brats…" the heavenly ghost glanced at the human skins on the web and sneered, "Those are my own stored rations. You've eaten so many—surely you owe me something!"

The Spider Goddess Luo Shi showed no reaction to the bell's sound; instead, from beneath her eight legs, two legs unfolded.

They were a pair of exquisite, smooth, ivory-white female legs, folded together as she reclined lazily on the web. Having devoured many evil spirits, she was somewhat sated, no longer interested in killing the rest, and murmured indolently, "They came to me themselves—how can you say I stole your rations? If you valued them, why let them wander?"

"Don't worry—I'll eat you too?" Luo Shi purred.

"Bold words!" the heavenly ghost sneered. "Do you think I'm an ordinary ghost? Before I transformed into a heavenly ghost, I had cultivated for a thousand years—I voluntarily shed my mortal form, not some wild demon! Though your nature slightly suppresses mine, your current state likely stems from raw instinct and potential—you've probably never cultivated. To reach this point already proves your talent is astonishing! To advance further, you must cultivate properly…"

"If you submit to my Ghost Weeping Sect, we become family—and greater opportunities await. Otherwise, even if you toil for ten thousand years, you'll never cross that threshold!"

"By then, I will have fully transformed, become an immortal, become a Buddha—while you remain nothing but a petty spirit!"

"A petty demon, speaking so amusingly!" Luo Shi laughed. "I see you also follow the demonic path—but your demonic aura is faint. Your cultivation ground must lie far from the Nine Heavens…"

"Then tell me—what do you know of the Nine Heavens?"

Luo Shi sneered. "You dare show off your meager skill before me? I understand the Nine Heavens better than you ever could!"

She extended her arm, her jade-like fingers resting on the web, smiling seductively: "Because this place is part of the Nine Heavens. Because we were born from the Altar of Sacrifice. And because the being in the darkness… is our Father God! Beneath Luo Tian, the Yu Jiuyou endure!"

"You know nothing of demonic paths… vile, lowly yin ghosts!"

Luo Shi's gaze loomed high and cold, looking down upon the heavenly ghost—even the Ghost Weeping Sect's closest approach to a ghost immortal seemed to her as insignificant as ants. Even a Nine Heavens demon deity—still, it was a deity!

"Wretched harlot, how dare you!" the heavenly ghost roared.

"Had you not been more than mere prey, I wouldn't have stopped to speak with you so long," Luo Shi smiled. "You killed the daughter of the northern succubus—it delighted me. Had I the chance, I'd have collected your heads to show the Succubus Queen. But alas, you've already been marked."

"He understands the Nine Heavens… better than you."

Luo Shi turned her head toward the temple's depths and smiled lightly: "My lord, isn't that so?"

At these words, the atmosphere froze…

Tianqi Zi also turned toward that direction. The heavenly ghost's gaze darkened, fixed with deathly intensity upon it. The demonic shadow hesitated. All Ghost Weeping Sect disciples were filled with doubt—they had traveled here with extreme caution, and this secret temple was only discovered during the last demonic incursion.

How could someone have arrived here before them? Judging by the Spider Demon's tone, this person was also a demonic cultivator.

Demonic cultivators deceive and betray each other—there is no loyalty. This hidden figure must have ill intent.

Brother Qian Chen stepped slowly out of the darkness, smiling at them all: "Gentlemen, I need a few materials to test the Altar of Sacrifice's power. You are all fine talents and worthy materials—could you lend me your lives?"