Chapter 19: Lu You's Battle Wisdom
A cultivator's life essence resides within the Niwan Palace, which is located at the center of the brow.
Men are yang, women are yin—this is the primordial source of life.
Thus, when yin and yang unite, new life is born.
"This ancient tomb definitely has nothing to do with any inheritance," Lu You muttered. "Otherwise, there wouldn't be something that feeds on life essence."
Studying the traces left on the vegetation, Lu You thought for a moment, then rose and pursued them.
The ancient tomb was filled with extreme danger. If he wandered around like a headless fly, there was no chance he would find Senior Sister Zeng Yan.
Perhaps the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples who had entered the tomb together carried communication talismans.
Moreover, the space inside the tomb was far larger than the back mountain of the lower city, if he missed this person, who knew when he might encounter the next one.
With Golden Light Talismans for defense, Beginner Wind Talismans to clear the way, and Divine Eye Talismans for support, Lu You avoided every hard-to-detect web trap along the path.
Suddenly, the sound of fighting came from ahead.
Lu You slowed down, gripping a Thunder Technique Talisman in his hand.
He saw a gigantic spider, waving its eight limbs as it toyed with a badly injured human.
Rather than killing the man outright, the spider patiently spat white silk, wrapping the human layer by layer.
It was Senior Brother Han Tian.
Under the enhancement of the Divine Eye Talisman, Lu You saw that Han Tian's face was pitch black, green blood seeping from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. Yet even so, Han Tian's eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at the spider.
In the next instant, Han Tian noticed Lu You. Summoning his strength, he suddenly forced his spiritual energy and violently spat out a mouthful of blood—this was the last bit of power he had wrung from his own vitality.
"Run! There's more than one venomous spider here!"
The spider that had been toying with Han Tian glanced briefly in Lu You's direction, then turned back. Like a patient mother knitting a sweater, it wrapped Han Tian into a cocoon, leaving only his head exposed. Then it gently lifted him and hung him from a large tree.
As the spider moved, Lu You finally saw the tree clearly.
The branches were densely covered in eggshells. Some of them were nearly transparent, and inside, fully formed little spiders could already be seen.
This venomous spider had turned Han Tian into stored rations for the spiderlings. The reason it left his head exposed was to make it easier for the young spiders to feed on Han Tian's life essence.
At the top of the tree crouched an even larger female spider, far more terrifying than the venomous one below. Its face was covered with countless pupils. It had already noticed Lu You long ago, but it had more important matters at hand—watching the spider eggs that were about to hatch. As it shifted its body, another egg was laid.
"What a terrifying monster..."
Since coming to this world, Lu You had only heard of demonic creatures. This was the first one he had ever seen.
He glanced at Han Tian, who had only a breath left yet still warned him. Lu You gritted his teeth, suppressing the urge to crush a Teleportation Talisman and flee. Instead, he took out a handful of Beginner Flame Talismans and hurled them forward.
Whoosh
To Lu You's surprise, the webs were exceptionally easy to burn. The moment the Beginner Flame Talismans activated, the area turned into a sea of fire. Immediately afterward, Lu You activated a handful of Beginner Wind Talismans, and the raging flames were swept toward the two spiders by a fierce gust.
Puff
The venomous spider suddenly opened its mouth, spewing forth a torrent of dark-green poison that extinguished the flames in an instant.
From a distance, the venomous spider watched Lu You with a smug, almost humanlike smile on its face—but in the very next second, its expression changed.
Across from it, Lu You had taken out even more Beginner Flame Talismans. In an instant, the talismans fell like snowflakes, and an even more violent blaze than before erupted once again.
If you've got the ability, keep spitting poison. Let's see who runs out first.
With one hand full of Beginner Flame Talismans and the other full of Beginner Wind Talismans, Lu You desperately fanned the flames toward the tree.
Puff!
Another jet of poison sprayed out, extinguishing the fire yet again. The venomous spider's face twisted into a ferocious snarl. The second wave of flames had been even stronger than the first, forcing it to spit out two large mouthfuls of poison in succession. Its once-bulging abdomen visibly shrank by a large margin.
Yet Lu You saw the spider smile again. The way it looked at him was like a butcher eyeing a lamb that had exhausted all its tricks and could no longer resist.
"Run!"
Han Tian, hanging from the tree, looked utterly despairing. Where did this rogue female cultivator come from? If she had used those two waves of fire to escape, she could have fled and informed the Verdant Cloud Sect disciples to avenge him. But now, she had used up all her talismans, how could she possibly stand against the venomous spider?
Lu You also wore a panicked expression, as if he hadn't expected his talismans to be neutralized so easily. Watching the venomous spider slowly approach, he seemed so frightened that he forgot to run—
And then... right before the spider's astonished eyes, Lu You took out even more talismans and scattered them toward the tree covered in spider eggs.
Burn, burn, burn. Blow, blow, blow.
This time, Lu You threw out over a thousand talismans. The only reason he didn't throw more was that he feared the flames might grow too uncontrollable and accidentally burn Han Tian to death.
The third blaze was more than ten times fiercer than the previous two combined. The venomous spider was clearly panicking now, its poison simply couldn't extinguish flames of this magnitude.
Roar!
The female spider perched atop the tree, laying eggs, let out a shrill screech. Facing the advancing flames, its massive body leapt down from the tree. Its eight limbs swung wildly, sweeping away the nearby fire, then it sprayed poison into the sea of flames again and again.
Roar! Roar!
The female spider screamed madly. The original venomous spider finally snapped out of its daze as well. Gone was its playful demeanor. Its eight legs churned up a whirlwind as it lunged toward Lu You. From several hundred meters away, it arrived in the blink of an eye.
Wuu—
Charging to Lu You's front, raising its limbs to cleave him in half, the venomous spider suddenly let out a horrifying scream.
The once-soft, tender grass beneath its feet—after being trampled by the spider—not a single blade was bent. Instead, countless leaves pierced into the spider's abdomen like steel needles. The sturdy wooden branches were even worse, slicing like razor-sharp blades and tearing the spider open.
Sharp Metal Talisman.
Using the raging fire and fierce winds as cover, Lu You had secretly activated tens of thousands of Sharp Metal Talismans, transforming the surrounding grassland into a field of hardened blades. The faster the venomous spider charged, the greater the damage it suffered. Over just a few hundred meters, its abdomen was completely split open, its internal organs shredded by the razor-sharp plants.
Thud
The venomous spider's enormous corpse collapsed in front of Lu You. In just a few seconds, the once-invincible monster had died an inexplicable death. The stark contrast left Han Tian, hanging from the tree, and the female spider—who had just finished extinguishing the flames—both utterly stunned.
"The venomous spider... is dead?"
Han Tian stared in disbelief. He hadn't seen the female cultivator make a move at all. Instinctively, his gaze shifted to the decorative longsword on the female cultivator's back.
A sword cultivator! This female cultivator is a powerful sword cultivator! So powerful that I didn't even see her draw her sword before she dissected a venomous spider comparable to the Foundation Establishment realm!
Roar!
Seeing its mate killed, every one of the female spider's eyes turned blood-red. Unlike Han Tian, the female spider sensed the changes in the vegetation. Instead of charging straight at Lu You, it let out a sharp hiss and spat webs that stuck to the surrounding trees.
In the next moment, the female spider's massive body swung through the air. Like Spider-Man, it launched an aerial assault on Lu You.
<+>
Patreon Account: https://www.patreon.com/collection/1960529?view=condensed
Latest Chapter In Patreon: Chapter 74: Breakthrough
Link to the Latest Chapter: https://www.patreon.com/posts/154371282?collection=1960529