The cavern was set abruptly into the hillside, its shape irregular, measuring at least four zhang in diameter at its widest point. Looking up from their vantage point, the cave was not dark at all; light shone outward from within.
In other words, there were even more fluorescent spores inside.
Someone couldn't help asking, "What place is this? What's that draped over the burrow—satin?"
The cavern appeared to be covered by an enormous sheet of brocade woven from gold, red, silver, and black threads. The pattern was highly abstract, yet even under the illumination of the fluorescent spores, it shimmered with radiant colors like evening clouds across the horizon.
Liu Tong said hoarsely, "That's not satin. It's a spiderweb, and there are spiders crawling on it."
Only upon looking closely could one tell that it was actually layer upon layer of webs.
The weaver must have possessed a profound mastery over the art of light.
For the first time, He Lingchuan felt that spider silk could look even more exquisite than silkworm silk.
"Anyone can see that!" Skinny stared unblinkingly. "This must be the spider monsters' brood nest. It hasn't been touched by fire."
Indeed, an endless stream of spiders bustled in and out of the colossal hole.
Never shy to ask when he didn't know, He Lingchuan asked, "I recall bees and ants live in colonies and act in order, whereas spiders are mostly solitary. Why do the spider monsters in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest swarm in packs?"
From a distance, these spiders truly resembled ants, bustling about as if each had its own assigned duty.
"You're talking about the habits of ordinary species, but things change once they become monsters," Willow answered. "We have an old saying: 'When one man attains the Dao, his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.' It's an exaggeration, of course—even if a man attained the Dao, he'd have nowhere else to ascend to, and chickens and dogs wouldn't know where to fly. But the principle holds true, and it's the same for monsters. Once one achieves cultivation, large numbers of its kin quickly gather around it seeking protection, and the monster's offspring also find it much easier to attain the Dao."
He Lingchuan immediately thought of the sand leopards west of Blackwater City. Leopards were solitary creatures by nature, yet that den of leopard monsters lived, hunted, and fought off enemies together, having truly become communal.
If leopards could do so, it was hardly surprising for spiders.
"On the other hand, the absurdly massive number of burrow spiders in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest means—" Willow's expression soured, "—there's very likely a great monster inside the brood nest!"
"Of course there is." The guide stared blankly at the massive pit on the slope, his face pale. "This is Zhu Erniang's home! We're finished, we're finished... We actually wandered into Zhu Erniang's lair!"
He Lingchuan gave him a sideways glance. "This great monster is actually named Zhu Erniang?" What else could live in a spider's nest besides an old spider monster? No wonder her surname was Zhu.
Still, what was the deal with "Erniang"? He had thought that was a title reserved for village matrons.
A spider monster capable of weaving brocade, sporting an anthropomorphic name...
"Yes, she is the master of the stone forest, the Mother of Ten Thousand Spiders," the guide stammered in terror. "Long ago, these spiders ate humans, and the cultivators who charged into the Ghost Needle Stone Forest to slay monsters never made it back out. Back then, the name Zhu Erniang could stop children from crying at night throughout Puxigou!"
"Let's get out of here!" His voice trembled. "We can't linger in this place!"
Extinguishing their torches to travel had indeed been a wise decision. Better not to disturb the boss of the brood nest.
Everyone stepped even more lightly, taking special care to calm the horses and keep them from making noise.
The spiders along the banks gathered over, yet unlike before, they did not hiss menacingly. Instead, they crouched quietly on the ground, as if they, too, dared not make a ruckus.
After walking a dozen more paces, they suddenly noticed several boulders resting on the slope above the large cave. The largest and most upright among them was illuminated by the fluorescent spores, and upon it were three large characters!
Skinny asked Door Plank, "What's written on that stone tablet?"
"How should I know?" Door Plank shot him a sidelong glare. "Do I look like an old scholar to you?"
The script looked somewhat familiar, but in truth, none of them could read it.
Skinny chuckled. "Maybe it just says 'Zhu Erniang.'"
He Lingchuan was far more astonished than they were.
He had seen this script before—in the immortal's cave dwelling by Xianling Lake!
He had yet to find someone to decipher the rubbings of the immortal's testament, yet the exact same script had appeared here in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest.
That raised the question: why would an ancient inscription stand outside the burrow spiders' cavern entrance?
Furthermore, He Lingchuan noticed that under the glow, the inscription was as blood-red as fresh vermilion. If this place was virtually untouched by men, who was regularly repainting the red pigment? Otherwise, battered by wind and rain, the characters should have faded long ago.
"This Ghost Needle Stone Forest gets more sinister the longer we stay," Willow whispered. "We shouldn't linger. Let's move."
Safety first; she was a woman with little curiosity.
Just as they were about to turn away, the soft satin over the burrow suddenly stirred without any wind. Gorgeous light patterns rippled like waves, almost blinding to the eye.
Immediately after, an immense figure crawled out of the burrow.
It was the size of a small house, with an alternating brown-and-white carapace, eight long legs, and a body covered in stiff bristles...
It was an enormous spider, tens of times larger than its smaller kin scuttling across the ground.
A universal feature of colossal creatures was the crushing visual pressure they exerted. Even a brazen woman like Willow couldn't help turning away.
However, the giant spider then flipped onto its back with an agility completely belying its size. As the fluorescent light shone upon its belly, everyone watching from afar widened their eyes.
The spider monster's underside was extraordinarily gorgeous.
The azure background resembled the sky, speckled with countless shimmering, gradient white dots that looked like stars, alongside several large luminous spots of yellowish-red that closely resembled the primary stars of constellations.
Even a summer night's starry sky was nothing more than this.
Yet the giant spider monster quickly planted all eight legs on the ground again, hiding the star chart on its belly, its ferocity once more eclipsing its beauty.
Countless small spiders gathered around it, looking as though they were delivering reports.
Then, the giant spider monster set off, heading northeast.
Despite its massive bulk, it made virtually no sound as it walked.
Spiders filling the valleys and hollows clustered around it, surrounding it like stars revolving around the moon.
Only when the giant spider monster's silhouette crested the long slope and vanished into the woods did that invisible pressure fade away.
Fully eighty percent of the spiders followed it, leaving only twenty percent behind on guard outside the burrow.
Only then did anyone dare speak: "Was that Zhu Erniang?"
The guide wiped away sweat. "It's her! It has to be her!" He had never seen her in person either, but he was utterly certain in his heart. Could there be a second monster this terrifying in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest? The legends were truly real.
"She went northeast," Door Plank said, hesitating. "What do we do now?"
"Circle around the slope, then head north," Liu Tong whispered. "Zhu Erniang is heading straight for our main force."
The guide looked fraught with worry. "Can the Panlong City army beat her? She's the overlord here!"
He Lingchuan gave only a two-word reply:
"Naturally." Naturally they had no chance!
The right timing, the right terrain, spider harmony—General Nan Ke's troops held none of them. So what if the Panlong City army boasted superior combat strength? So what if they had origin power backing them?
Seeing the stiff looks on everyone's faces, He Lingchuan still offered some encouragement: "We don't need to defeat her. We only need to fight a retreating battle and get out of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest."
That made... a lot of sense. Liu Tong secretly breathed a sigh of relief. "That's exactly it! Let's go."
Unfortunately, a horse ridden by one of the merchants took fright at a forest bird and let out a shrill whinny.
Though its rider immediately hauled on the reins, the sound carried far in the night. The spiders at the burrow entrance caught it instantly, lifting their legs and scurrying toward them.
"Damn it, run!" If caught by these things, they would be in serious trouble.
A subordinate reported, "General, the spiders attacking the breach have gotten bigger! They're much harder to deal with."
General Nan Ke rushed over to look, and sure enough, the spiders that had once been the size of cats had grown a size larger, now rivaling yellow dogs. Though not as nimble as before, the webs they spat were stickier and their strength far greater.
Just then, another soldier reported, "The spiders are moving the fire wall!"
"How is that possible?" Astounded, General Nan Ke inspected the middle section of the fire wall, only to discover that the webbing sprayed by certain spider monsters was actually impervious to fire, capable of adhering to the burning logs. Other spiders then swarmed forward to help haul them backward.
These spider monsters likely didn't fear mundane fire themselves, but they had no intention of vaulting over the fire wall to engage the soldiers in close-quarters combat. The humans were protected by origin power; a melee fight would put the spiders at a disadvantage.
The best course of action was to dismantle the fire wall and let the spider horde flood in.
General Nan Ke was startled to see ten-zhang-long logs being dragged by tens of thousands of spiders. He ordered archers into the trees, telling them to pick off the spider monsters specifically. After all, the fire-resistant monsters were limited in number; every one slain was one less to worry about.
Before the men could catch their breath, they had to scramble to fell fresh timber to patch the breach.
Why had these creatures suddenly become stronger and smarter?
General Nan Ke mused thoughtfully, "Looks like their leader has arrived."
Directing his breath into his dantian, he let loose a resounding voice that vaulted over the fire wall and echoed across the entire river valley: "Is Zhu Erniang present? Please show yourself for a parley!"
He always did his homework before setting out on a campaign, so he naturally knew that the master of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest was the spider monster Zhu Erniang.
Sure enough, the tidal onslaught of spiders slowed, and a massive figure appeared in the night atop a small hill twenty zhang away.
"Are you Zhu Erniang? I am Chu Xuan, General Nan Ke of Panlong City. While escorting merchant caravans through the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, we were ambushed by your swarms of burrow spiders. Might I ask what reason there is for this?"
"Heh." A low voice resonated directly in everyone's minds. "You slaughtered my children and torched my burrows, breaking faith and turning your backs on trust first, yet you dare turn around and accuse me of doing harm? Blood debts can only be repaid in blood."
Just as suspected. General Nan Ke called out loudly, "The ones who torched your nests were the Baling invaders, not the soldiers and civilians of Panlong! Every grievance has its author, every debt its debtor. It's them you should be taking issue with!"
As soon as his voice fell, two spiders walked up to the breach in the fire wall.
Soldiers stood at the ready with halberds, but the two creatures simply stood there motionless.
Zhu Erniang spoke again: "Let me ask you: can you tell these two spiders apart?"
Looking closely, everyone saw that both creatures were of equal size, each with twelve glinting eyes, plump round bodies, and furry black legs—even the white speckles on their feet were in the exact same spots.
General Nan Ke fell silent.
He understood Zhu Erniang's meaning. To human eyes, spiders seemed cast from the very same mold—and to spiders, the reverse was equally true.
This great monster couldn't be bothered to distinguish who was from Baling and who was from Panlong City. In the end, it was humans who had harmed and destroyed the burrow spiders, so seeking vengeance against humans was all that mattered.
Chapter 194