Even so, he made one more effort. "If you let us leave today, I will present blood offerings in gratitude within ten days!"
"Ten days? Why should I wait another ten days?" Zhu Erniang laughed loudly. "If I drag over a thousand of you and several hundred livestock off to make fertilizer, my little ones will have plenty to eat this winter!"
"Zhu Erniang, think carefully," General Nan Ke said gravely. "Even if I meet my end today in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, Panlong City will come later to seek justice. Even if you don't care for yourself, you must consider your hundreds of thousands of offspring. Aren't you afraid your entire nest will be uprooted, wiping out your lineage forever?"
"Insolent commoners, mere ants dare to presume before me? Before Panlong City ever existed, I was already here; and when Panlong City is gone, I will remain here still!" Zhu Erniang sneered coldly. "Doesn't Panlong City merely rely on General Red for backing? General Red, ha! I actually happen to know what that thing really is! You fools take an enemy for a mother without even knowing it—sooner or later, it will squeeze every last drop of marrow and blood out of you! Duo!"
As that last word exploded in a furious roar, everyone's heart skipped a beat. Immediately after, the ground rumbled, and something came roaring from the other side of the mountain.
Startled, General Nan Ke whipped around, only to see a water dragon rushing through the mountain gully, its frothing white crests towering two to three zhang high.
A massive flood!
With the army stationed right in the middle of the river valley, they had virtually no hope of dodging it.
The old spider demon had feigned conversation with General Nan Ke while secretly forming hand seals to summon the deluge.
In the desperate press of the moment, General Nan Ke cast a glance at Zhu Erniang atop the small hill, turned to whisper a few words to the sparrowhawk perched on his shoulder, and passed it a small bundle.
Ever since Zhu Erniang appeared, an idea had taken shape in his mind.
The sparrowhawk seized the bundle with its talons and took flight.
Then the water dragon struck, surging ferociously toward the troops. The blazing wall of fire was shattered in an instant!
The origin power carried by the soldiers of Panlong City could mitigate and dispel demon arts directly cast upon their bodies, but the flood conjured by the spider demon was a genuine river disaster. How could mortal flesh withstand it?
...
With no pursuers behind them, He Lingchuan and the others finally slowed their horses and breathed a sigh of relief.
Those spiders could normally chase a person across eight streets, but this time they had turned back after less than three hundred zhang. Guarding the brood nest was clearly their top priority; they didn't dare venture too far from it.
Certain of this, the group turned their horses around and climbed through the woods toward the hilltop. This took a shorter route and saved time.
Looking down from the crest of the slope, the cavern resembled a gaping, ravenous maw, ever waiting for some blind fool to jump right in.
He Lingchuan noticed that the brocade covering the entrance billowed upward; clearly, a draft was blowing from below. The party could also hear the howling of the wind, rustling the hair at their temples.
Why would there be wind underground? Unless there was another exit.
Willow used a few techniques to bypass the spider guards' perception, making their flanking route safe and uneventful. Just as everyone was about to mount up and ride on, something flew in from the northeast and circled the cavern several times.
As an archer, Willow had sharp eyesight, and the fluorescent light helped. After watching for a couple of beats, she said, "It's a sparrowhawk."
By day, such raptors flew fast as arrows and were renowned small-bird killers, but their night vision was ordinary. Dawn had not yet broken, yet here it was circling over the cavern—something was clearly amiss.
Sun Jiayuan suddenly said, "It's clutching something in its talons!"
The sparrowhawk circled twice as if concluding its reconnaissance, then abruptly climbed more than a hundred zhang before diving straight down!
It plunged like an arrow released from a bowstring, leaving an afterimage in midair.
Veering off before touching the ground, it angled away, but the object in its talons dropped accurately toward the burrow.
The vast expanse of brocade shuddered violently, light and color rippling across its surface.
Now, anyone could see that this sparrowhawk had come to cause trouble for the spider nest.
Then, a brilliant burst of fireworks exploded at the entrance of the cavern.
Everyone held their breath, waiting.
Before long, the mountain breeze swept away the smoke and dust, prompting a soft murmur of surprise from He Lingchuan.
That sheet of brocade—which fluttered gently in the wind and looked as if a single finger could poke through it—was completely unscathed!
This thing was actually bomb-proof?
The sparrowhawk seemed dazed as well, swooping low to check the situation.
The surrounding spider guards were already converging, furiously spitting silk at it to disrupt its movements.
The sparrowhawk turned and flew off. Everyone felt a twinge of disappointment; it had all been much cry and little wool.
Fortunately, it soon returned, wheeling once more as though seeking an angle.
This time, Willow finally got a clear look: "It's clutching a command arrow in its talons!"
The group looked solemn.
How could an ordinary sparrowhawk use human gear? And commoners wouldn't necessarily have such an item either.
Adjusting its angle, the sparrowhawk dropped it once more.
This time, the command arrow still failed to pierce the brocade and enter the cavern.
The sparrowhawk let out a frustrated screech.
It circled several more times in the air, seemingly searching for a solution, but then flew straight toward them.
The soldiers exchanged glances. Had they been spotted already?
Sure enough, the sparrowhawk tucked its wings and landed on a branch above Liu Tong, speaking in human tongue: "Panlong City patrol guards?"
Liu Tong remained cautious. "And you are?"
"I am a messenger of General Red," the sparrowhawk replied. "The spider demon chief, Zhu Erniang, unleashed a flood down the river valley to drown our army! The battle has turned against us, and General Nan Ke specially ordered me to blow up the queen's nest to relieve the crisis on the front line."
During its earlier reconnaissance of the terrain, it had discovered the location of Zhu Erniang's nest. After all, the glowing spores here were far too conspicuous from the sky. The demon was evidently bold and arrogant, convinced that no natural predator would dare disturb her.
Sun Jiayuan immediately said, "A few months ago when I campaigned with General Red, I think I saw this sparrowhawk."
"However, that satin-like web is too resilient; the command arrows I drop cannot penetrate it." The sparrowhawk flapped its wings. "The front is in dire straits. You must help me!"
Though it was fast, its body was too small. No matter how beautiful that brocade was, in essence it was still a gigantic spiderweb!
If it swooped down directly, wouldn't it be like a moth flying into a web?
"How can we help?" Liu Tong asked uncertainly. "Should we try shooting arrows at it too?"
He had observed carefully: before the command arrow detonated, it had already been caught on the web.
"If you flew a few rounds in the sky and looked from different angles, you'd see that what lies below isn't just one web, but at least thirteen or fourteen stacked in layers. If pried apart, there should be gaps between each layer. Otherwise, with the spider queen being so massive, how could she move in and out freely without tearing the mesh?"
So that was why. Looking back at the web now, they couldn't help admiring Zhu Erniang's weaving craft: thirteen or fourteen layers of spider silk stacked together appeared as light and sheer as a single sheet.
"If someone gets through the webs and drops the command arrow, the fire bomb attached to it might set the nest ablaze, just as the Baling troops did," He Lingchuan murmured. "Judging by that brocade, the spider queen cares deeply about this burrow. Perhaps she'll break off the fight and rush back."
In that case, General Nan Ke's predicament would resolve itself.
Though this army was bait, they had no desire to be devoured by spiders or Baling troops.
Yet slipping through layers of webbing was hardly the sparrowhawk's forte. In such a specialized task, wings were nowhere near as nimble as hands.
No wonder it had turned to them for aid. The patrol guards looked at one another, struck dumb.
Who would go?
If someone went, could they ever return?
Who knew what lurked inside a nest veiled by brocade as beautiful as sunset clouds? And what if the fire failed to take?
Liu Tong glanced at Skinny. Within the squad, Skinny was the most agile—the ideal candidate to plunge into the pit.
Yet Skinny kept his mouth firmly shut, uttering not a sound.
With the main force locked in a bitter struggle and losing ground on the front lines, their small squad happened to be right beside the spider queen's brood nest. One way or another, this mission had to be completed. Liu Tong sighed inwardly, and was just about to speak when someone suddenly called out: "I'll go!"
Everyone turned to look. It was actually Sun Jiayuan, standing in the back row.
A comrade grabbed his shoulder and said tensely, "Hey!"
Among their squad, Sun Jiayuan had neither the highest cultivation nor the greatest agility.
Sun Jiayuan asked Liu Tong, "If I die here, can my death be reported as a fallen hero?"
Liu Tong nodded. "Of course. It's a tremendous merit." If he succeeded, it would truly be one man saving the entire army.
Panlong City had always granted generous pensions for the fallen and disabled; if a soldier was posthumously honored as a hero, their dependents would enjoy substantial benefits in Panlong City. Not only would their food and clothing be secured, but they would immediately receive a tin-grade house, free schooling for their children, and condolence stipends during festivals.
In short, they would hardly need to worry about what happened after their death.
Skinny—whose family was far too large—was an exception.
Sun Jiayuan's expression was grave. "Good. Please bear witness for me!"
Now that someone had stepped forward, Liu Tong was relieved as well. He first arranged for the merchants to move to a relatively safe clearing behind them, and then the group discussed their battle plan.
All nine members of He Lingchuan's original squad were alive, and counting the seven comrades rescued earlier from the spiders' jaws, there were sixteen able fighters in total.
Near the nest, however, crawled seven to eight hundred spiders, over twenty of which were massive spider demons.
They had to provide cover for Sun Jiayuan's descent into the pit so he could successfully carry out the mission of blowing up the gigantic nest.
Undoubtedly, in the realm of giant webs, spiders were far more agile than humans. Thus, even if the soldiers could repel the spiders' assault, Sun Jiayuan still had to find a way to traverse the web.
Earlier, they had watched with their own eyes as a flying fox grazed the brocade; the moment the tip of its wing brushed the web, it was glued fast, unable to break free.
The web had almost certainly been woven by the spider queen Zhu Erniang herself, and its power was not to be underestimated. That she had dared to swagger away from the nest showed her immense confidence in it.
If Sun Jiayuan could not figure out how to move freely, this operation would be throwing himself into the net rather than throwing a bomb.
"The best way to prevent sticking is to coat yourself in oil," He Lingchuan said, stroking his chin. "Does anyone have oil on them?"
"I only have a small vial of fire oil," Willow replied with a taut face. "That won't do. He has to drop the command arrow; if he accidentally sets himself on fire..."
That would be turning himself into a human sacrifice.
"Then mud should work too," He Lingchuan suggested, pointing westward. "Back where we climbed ashore, there was a large patch of mud. Brother Sun, how about you go roll around in it? Cake yourself in as much slush and mud as you can—the thicker, the better."
This inspiration came from the wild boar they had caught earlier. Back then, it had been wallowing on the riverbank, thoroughly coated in mud. Though that was just a pig's nature, who was to say it wasn't survival wisdom gained from living in the spider queen's territory?
The others considered it and found it made sense.
Sun Jiayuan turned and headed back, and the patrol guards mounted their horses, not a single one staying behind.
Chapter 195