Up on the slope, one patrol guard swung his saber slower and slower, looking as though he could barely raise his arm. In the end, unable to withstand the tug of strands shot by several burrow spiders, he was yanked out of the ranks in an instant.
His companions were too late to save him, watching helplessly as he tumbled down the slope and was swallowed whole by the surging black tide of spiders.
His shrill screams did not last long, yet they seemed to echo endlessly in everyone's hearts, sending chills down their spines.
He Lingchuan's thoughts stirred. When tigers or wolves preyed on men, they clamped onto vitals for a single lethal strike; spiders fed mouthful by mouthful, so why had this guard died so quickly?
Judging by his unsteady footing earlier, it hadn't looked like exhaustion so much as poisoning.
Indeed, many species of spiders harbored deadly venom.
"Why have these burrow spiders gone mad?" the guide asked, his voice trembling.
There was plenty to unpack in those words. Liu Tong asked him, "Do they usually nest here?"
"Y-yes," the guide answered, his voice faint as a mosquito's hum, nearly drowned out by the chaos up the slope. Only the two standing closest could hear him. "They've never troubled anyone, and humans have never bothered them."
"Is there any way to save them?" The men on the slope were in dire peril and could not hold out much longer.
Spiders were still converging from all directions to join the fray, like flies catching the scent of rotting meat. Door Plank cursed under his breath. "Just how many spiders are in this place?!"
"They're supposed to be terrified of fire," the guide managed, his face turning paler by the second.
Monsters that usually feared flames were now throwing themselves forward in endless waves—what kind of madness had possessed them?
He Lingchuan, however, was reminded of Dong Rui.
Could a beast tamer drive monsters to attack with such utter disregard for death?
Willow watched without blinking, then suddenly said, "I remember spiders can't swim. Are the ones here the same?"
The guide sounded unsure. "I—I don't know. I've never seen a spider go into the water."
And the Ghost Needle Stone Forest was by no means short on water.
"How far is the nearest stream or river? A sizeable one."
Sweat dripped from the guide's brow as he pointed west. "There's a large pool over there. Very deep, about fifteen zhang away. I used to bring travelers there to fetch water and rest."
"Flowing water or stagnant?"
"Fl-flowing water!" The guide swallowed hard. "Two streams upstream, flowing—flowing north! It poured seven days ago, so the water should be running high right now."
"That's the place," Liu Tong decided instantly. "Find a way to reach them and bring them over."
At a moment like this, He Lingchuan sorely missed the secret treasure the sand bandits had given him—that scent bun. That foul thing was detested by gods and ghosts alike; whoever caught a whiff of it fled in terror. If only he could bring it into the Panlong dreamscape!
Having worked together for a long time, the squad divided their duties in just a few words.
Door Plank hefted his giant axe, took a deep breath, and told He Lingchuan, "Ready."
He Lingchuan grinned at him, channeled strength into both arms, grabbed Door Plank by the belt, and hurled him outward with all his might!
He Lingchuan had been exceptionally strong to begin with, and having his marrow cleansed by the Emperor's Flowing Dew had enhanced his power even further. He literally flung the burly man—all one hundred and seventy-odd jin of him—over three zhang through the air!
Still airborne, Door Plank roared at the top of his lungs, "Ride your horses over! There's a way out here!"
With a living man suddenly crashing into the fray, the spiders' assault faltered for an instant before a portion turned to attack him.
He Lingchuan's two months of dedicated throwing practice bore fruit: as Door Plank came down, a massive slab of jagged stone was positioned right beneath his feet.
Using the rock to absorb and redirect his momentum, Door Plank sprang into the air once more!
Even though he wasn't as nimble as Skinny and was lugging a heavy weapon, the leap carried him over a zhang forward.
That brought him very close to the trapped group.
The beleaguered unit had just lost another man killed and another severely wounded. Despair had gripped their hearts, so hearing the words "way out" filled them with wild joy.
To their ears, Door Plank's raspy, gravelly voice sounded sweeter than the lingering notes of a celebrated stage performer.
He raised his giant axe high, and when he landed, the weapon struck the ground first—with the blunt spine facing down.
A deep, resonant hum droned ceaselessly outward, sounding like an iron striker hitting a tuning fork.
Within a three-zhang radius, the spider horde froze in their tracks. Some even spun in circles on the spot as though drunk.
"Move, hurry!" Door Plank urged.
The low-frequency shockwave also set the horses on the slope tossing their heads; one collapsed to its knees on the spot. Leaving it behind, the men jumped onto the other horses in pairs, spurring the mounts into a frantic dash behind Door Plank.
Just as they were about to brush past him, Door Plank slammed the ground with two more consecutive strikes, stunning another wave of the creeping vermin.
Unleashing such a combat skill took a heavy toll; Door Plank's face was flushed crimson. His sonic shockwave was strictly limited to three strikes, and once depleted, it would take a long time to recover.
Willow galloped forward on horseback, hurling several burning flasks into the fray. Bluish-white smoke billowed out, wilting any spiders that lunged into it. They flipped onto their backs, eight legs trembling toward the sky.
The squad had eradicated wasp monsters just days before, and this toxic smoke proved exceptionally potent against insects.
Seizing the opening, Door Plank rushed to Willow's side and vaulted onto the saddle behind her. The horse let out a long whinny and galloped off at full speed.
Infuriated even further, the spider swarm pursued them relentlessly.
Not only were there persistent crawlers hot on their hooves, but spiders were also dropping from the branches overhead, landing on men or mounts and immediately sinking their fangs in.
Clearing them away took frantic, desperate effort.
Fortunately, the guide proved reliable: more than ten zhang away, there was indeed a deep pool. The group plunged their horses straight into the water, kicking up sprays of white foam.
Just as expected, the spiders halted at the water's edge, hissing furiously at them. A few seemed so blinded by rage that they actually tried to enter the water, only to be swept away instantly by the current.
The rest of the spider monsters scurried back and forth along the bank in a dense, dark swarm, unable to do a thing to the humans.
With their pounding hearts gradually steadying, everyone breathed a long sigh of relief.
Door Plank hopped into the water, wrapping his arms around his horse's head to soothe it. "I thought spiders could swim. Heaven be praised that these ones can't!"
Willow kept a straight face. "The spiders you saw swimming could only do that because they were tiny! Look how huge these are."
Most spiders could not swim; their minuscule weight simply allowed them to skate across surface tension. Drop them into soapy water and they would sink like stones. The spider monsters before them were as big as cats—how could they possibly hope to rely on surface tension?
The guide shouted a few calls toward the spider monsters, roughly asking why they were attacking humans.
Most of the spiders carpeting the slopes were ordinary burrow spiders; only the exceptionally large ones had become monsters, and they lingered near the rear of the swarm. Yet these creatures seemed none too clever either, merely baring their mouthparts and hissing threats at him, showing no interest in communicating.
"Douse the torches," He Lingchuan suggested. "It seems the fire isn't scaring them off—it's only drawing more aggression."
Liu Tong did not adopt the suggestion, saying only to the guide, "Head north and shake them off!"
Thanks to the rains a few days prior, the Ghost Needle Stone Forest was thoroughly drenched with moisture, and the streams had grown deeper and wider. So long as men and mounts maintained their distance from the banks, the spiders posed little threat; the occasional strand of silk shot across was easy enough to deflect.
Stumbling through the uneven water, the guide still took care to explain, "These burrow spiders eat anything—small birds, wild boars, black bears—yet they've always left people alone. I've traversed the Ghost Needle Stone Forest seventeen or eighteen times, and this is the first time I've ever seen them attack humans!"
"Why didn't they eat humans before?"
"I heard they're bound by the local mountain spirit not to prey on humans, so long as humans don't cause them trouble." The guide sighed. "There are too many burrow spiders in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest. They rule this place as undisputed kings, and when they run into a tough opponent, they swarm out in full force. Who would dare cause them trouble?"
"The Baling troops," Liu Tong said heavily. "No wonder they didn't enter the stone forest. They riled up the burrow spiders beforehand, waiting for us to walk right into the trap."
At this point, the rescued survivors came forward to offer their thanks.
They belonged to another detachment and had been scattered midway through their march by the frenzied surge of spiders. Originally numbering over thirty men with more than a dozen horses and three wagons, only this handful remained, and even their squad leader had fallen.
With the threat of being devoured alive temporarily averted, one merchant collapsed into the water with a splash. When his companion helped him up, they saw that he was unconscious, his cheeks swollen and the center of his brow tinged green.
Another patrol guard had a wound on his neck as well, but suffered only blurred vision, heart palpitations, and rapid breathing.
"Poisoned."
Spiders injected venom into prey to paralyze them or render them unconscious while dissolving their tissues for consumption. As these creatures had elevated into monsters, their venom was noticeably deadlier. However, soldiers of Panlong City carried emergency medicines when deploying, which usually included antidote pills, and they promptly administered them to the wounded.
The Panlong City soldiers had origin power protecting their bodies, giving them vastly greater resistance to toxins than commoners. Both guards and merchants had suffered bites, but the contrast in their conditions was stark.
After taking the pill, the merchant remained unconscious, though the swelling across his body slowly subsided, forcing them to lash him to a horse. The patrol guard, on the other hand, improved after several dozen breaths; the pus squeezed from his wound shifted from green to red, and his dizziness faded, even if his footing remained somewhat unsteady.
He was a dark, wiry man who seemed of few words, giving only his name: Sun Jiayuan.
Yet another rescued merchant pointed at Sun Jiayuan and began berating him: "What kind of guide are you?! Didn't you brag about knowing the Ghost Needle Stone Forest like the back of your hand? How could you not even know spiders fear water, instead of leading us up a slope to fight those monsters to the death?! We lost so many lives for nothing, and the cargo is gone too!"
Sun Jiayuan's Adam's apple bobbed, but he held his tongue.
The merchant continued to curse furiously.
He Lingchuan noticed Sun Jiayuan's hand creeping toward his hilt, his face flushing crimson.
Evidently, this man was no mild-mannered fellow either.
"Hey!" Willow couldn't bear to watch any longer. "If the patrol guards hadn't fought to the death to protect you, you'd have dissolved into puddles of pus and been sucked into those spiders' bellies long ago!"
Just then, a burst of cyan fireworks exploded in the night sky to the northwest, drawing the spiders on the bank to turn and look.
The men saw it too, but remained unmoved.
Several dozen breaths later, two clusters of red fireworks rose into the sky in the northeast.
A moment later, two bursts of white fireworks flared up in the east.
Only then did Liu Tong speak. "The signal has come. The main host will gather in the northeast." He turned to the guide and asked, "Is there an exit in the northeastern part of the stone forest? Can we reach it by following the river?"
At the oath-taking ceremony before their departure, General Nan Ke had issued an ad hoc order: when assembling the army in the wild, rising red flares would serve as the signal, and whoever saw them must rendezvous immediately.
All other signals were meant to deceive the enemy.
The rise of two red flares provided at least two clues to the patrol guards, including He Lingchuan:
First, the burrow spiders' inexplicable rampage had indeed caused tremendous trouble for the entire force, scattering many squads under their onslaught. That was why the main detachment had sent up the signal calling everyone to assemble.
Chapter 192