"To meet you today is truly the blessing of three lifetimes!"
"You're an interesting little boy, and you speak sweetly. Why don't you stay and help me pass the time?" Life in the swamp was monotonous, after all; having someone to talk to and relieve boredom wouldn't be bad. Zhu Erniang crawled over a fallen log as easily as crossing flat ground. "As for you—"
As she drew closer, the pressure shifted onto Dong Rui.
Seeing He Lingchuan's look of someone watching a show, Dong Rui hurried closer and hissed, "Hey, figure out a way to save me!"
"Aren't you a demon puppet master who specializes in dealing with demons?" He Lingchuan raised an eyebrow. "With so many demons right here, are you completely helpless?"
Dong Rui cursed inwardly. *You little bastard, must you bring up the one thing I don't want mentioned? Are you trying to get me killed by demonic claws?*
Zhu Erniang's hearing was astonishing. Having clearly caught the words "demon puppet master," she spread her eight legs, her body instantly swelling a size larger, and her pitch rose several notches. "You're a demon puppet master? The demon puppet master who specializes in capturing demons and modifying them into puppets?"
"He's talking nonsense! He's framing me!" Dong Rui declared with righteous indignation. "I've never even heard such a title, let alone committed acts so universally abhorrent!"
*This old demon lives in an uninhabited swamp—how is she so well-informed that she's even heard of the demon puppet master?*
"You aren't?"
"I'm truly not!" Dong Rui pointed straight at He Lingchuan's nose and cursed, "We have a grudge! This bastard would love nothing more than to see me dead!"
"What a pity," Zhu Erniang sighed deeply. "Then you're useless. Children, eat him."
"?!"
He Lingchuan nearly collapsed with laughter. "I was trying to save you all along, you know?"
The smaller spiders nearby were already itching to pounce.
There were only a few dozen edible things in this swamp: frogs, mice, snakes, turtles, cicadas, and fish. Only occasionally was there a wild boar or hare for a treat, but there were far too many spiders and the prey was too small to go around.
Humans were still the tastiest—tender, moist, and chewy. A single bite was something to crave for years.
Seeing the horde of spiders surging forward like a tidal wave, Dong Rui panicked and immediately changed his tune: "I am! I am! I'm the demon puppet master Dong Rui, and I'm ready to serve Second Mother in any way she pleases!"
Zhu Erniang lifted a front leg to dab at her big, watery eyes, and the swarm halted. The foremost two were only half an arm's length from Dong Rui.
With his arms crossed, He Lingchuan voiced what every spider was thinking: "Weren't you vehemently denying it just now?"
*The brat is getting back at me!* Suppressing his temper, Dong Rui said, "I thought you were trying to get me killed. The demons have always relentlessly hunted me and issued several bounties for my head."
A wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him. Turning to Zhu Erniang, he continued, "Whatever you command, I will devote every ounce of my effort to it."
He would never use a phrase like "spill my brains for you."
Zhu Erniang took two slow steps forward. "I've heard that the demon puppets you create can withstand origin power?"
At those words, both men understood.
So this was what Zhu Erniang had been yearning for.
Indeed, among wild demons like her dwelling in deep mountains and vast marshes, not a single one didn't yearn to find a way to counter origin power.
If they could contend against origin power, what human army would they fear?
He Lingchuan understood Zhu Erniang's glorious past even better. How much resentment must have accumulated in the heart of an ancient demon immortal who had survived to this day, only to be reduced to hiding in this desolate wasteland?
And right there, Dong Rui's value became apparent.
With life and death hanging on his answer, Dong Rui declared decisively, "Yes! Demons modified by my craft can achieve it!"
Looking at Zhu Erniang's magnificent, plump form, his eyes shone. "The better the demonic foundation and the hardier the vitality, the easier the success."
To modify such a powerful demon? It would be the pinnacle of his career! Just the thought made his blood surge with excitement!
"Assuming they survive," He Lingchuan threw cold water on his enthusiasm. "Second Mother, you might not know, but this fellow tested over thirty subjects and only succeeded with four. His failure rate is nearly ninety percent."
"Oh?" Zhu Erniang's voice turned chillingly cold once more. "You want to kill me?"
Boasting about success without mentioning the odds was either a scam for your life or your money.
Dong Rui glared murderously at He Lingchuan. This bastard truly turned ruthless in the blink of an eye! How heartfelt had their conversation inside the jellyfish been? Yet the moment they reached shore, he turned right around and threw him to the wolves!
"Second Mother, you worry too much! We can run repeated tests until it's completely foolproof before applying it to you!" he said gingerly. "After all, you possess peerless advantages that no other demons have—just like the many..."
Offspring? Consumables?
Surrounded by glaring spiders, who knew how many could understand human speech? He lacked the courage to say the words out loud.
Without thinking too much about it, Zhu Erniang waved a front leg. This was her domain; she could change her mind at any moment, so there was nothing to fret over.
With their leader having made her decision, the spider swarm had no choice but to disperse in disappointment.
*Well, no chance to upgrade our diet today either.*
Zhu Erniang pointed a front leg at Dong Rui. "Weren't you going to run experiments? Go, right now."
*She's an impatient one, too.* Dong Rui gave a wry smile. "It can't be done that quickly. There's testing, concocting, observing... It'll take at least two months—"
"Hm?" Zhu Erniang lightly tapped a front leg against the ground, effortlessly gouging a hole more than three feet deep.
"...If your side fully cooperates, it could perhaps be shortened to around forty days."
"What do you need?"
"A clean building to serve as a laboratory. I'll make a list for you, and you prepare the herbs according to its requirements. For the first batch, fetch seven spider demons, ranging from weak to strong." Dong Rui shifted into professional mode. "Oh, and get me some food. Meat, fish, and shrimp—preferably fish roe, which nourishes the brain. Mm, sweet berries too."
*Food is fuel; you can't grind without grub.*
Zhu Erniang stared fixedly at him for quite a while before turning to a multicolored giant spider beside her. "Did you get all that down?"
"Got it."
"See to it." Her children were loyal, but naturally a bit slow and clumsy, nowhere near as nimble as humans. Alas.
With the immediate crisis averted, Dong Rui suddenly felt his bladder bursting. He hurried into the dense brush to relieve himself.
Halfway through watering the grass, someone strolled over whistling, standing shoulder to shoulder with him to water the flora together.
Could there be any other "human" here?
Dong Rui said coldly, "You little pup, went for wool and came home shorn. Just you wait—this lord will make you beg for death!"
With the drugs on his person alone, he could kill this brat a hundred times over.
He Lingchuan reminded him, "You just swore an oath not to lay a hand on me before leaving the swamp."
Dong Rui chuckled darkly. "I don't even have to lift a finger myself. I only need to tell Zhu Erniang that the experiment requires a human heart, liver, spleen, stomach, and kidneys, and I can sit back and watch you get carved open alive."
He Lingchuan glanced behind them. Good grief—three spiders were trailing them as lookouts. Being watched by thirty-six eyes simultaneously showed just how much Zhu Erniang "trusted" them.
"Think you can rest easy on that?" He Lingchuan smiled. "If you fail, how will you escape alone?"
"..." Dong Rui was speechless. "What, am I supposed to count on you?"
"At least for now, our minds need to be aligned, don't they?" He Lingchuan sighed. "Zhu Erniang is a rare ancient archdemon, and she isn't simple-minded. Do you really think you can easily slip away from her grasp?"
"What did you say?" Dong Rui looked shocked, trembling so hard he nearly pissed on himself. "There are still demons from antiquity alive today?"
He calmed down in the next breath. "Just repeating rumors, that's all. You didn't actually inherit family letters from your ancestors, did you? Ancient legends passed down to this day have long been distorted."
"You think I'm just making talk?" He Lingchuan took on a solemn expression. "I genuinely know her, and I know full well why she survived instead of vanishing alongside the immortals."
"Survived from antiquity to this day... Survived from antiquity to this day!" Dong Rui muttered repeatedly, a manic glint in his eyes as he could hardly keep from rubbing his palms together.
He Lingchuan thought to himself that this was bad—if he piqued this guy's obsession so much that he decided to take up permanent residence in the swamp and devotedly stay by Zhu Erniang's side, then He Lingchuan himself would be in danger.
Dong Rui continued muttering to himself, "Maybe this is what I need... Maybe the missing..." He mumbled a few words too softly for He Lingchuan to catch, "...rests right here! Truly a light at the end of the tunnel, a stroke of newfound luck!"
He impulsively pumped his fist. He Lingchuan quickly stepped aside, terrified the man might splatter something on him.
*Ugh, filthy.*
"Stop crossing me, and I'll spare your life!" Dong Rui told He Lingchuan solemnly. "Once we're out, each man can use his own tricks, but while we're here, we must work together in full. We both swear a blood oath!"
"Deal!" He Lingchuan was pragmatic by nature, so why would he fuss over the man's tone? He promptly swore a heartfelt blood oath on his old man's life.
Seeing that the oath contained no hollow loopholes, Dong Rui swore one as well.
Trapped in an enemy's lair, the two humans were forced into an alliance.
They looked at each other and smiled, each holding the other in utter contempt.
After finding clean water to wash their hands, they asked the spider swarm for food.
This was the burrow spiders' territory; why should guests have to hunt for themselves?
Only now did He Lingchuan realize that the burrow spiders were genuinely an industrious and frugal demonic clan. It was one thing that back in Ghost Needle Stone Forest they had kept pastures of aphids as dairy cows, but now, living in the swamp, they even knew how to spin giant webs to farm fish.
Their webs were impervious to fire and water, with astonishing tensile strength. By staking out a stretch of open water, they could conduct cage aquaculture, specifically selecting three or four types of plump, herbivorous fish to raise.
Furthermore, the spider demons posted guards who took turns watching over the fish ponds to prevent waterbirds from stealing fish.
Birds die for food; unfortunate waterbirds often ended up as meals for the spiders instead.
He Lingchuan also saw vast reed marshes across the swamp. Swaying low in the wind, airy and ethereal, they were beautiful even though it wasn't autumn.
Only later did he learn that these, too, were cultivated by the burrow spiders. The reed shoots were edible, and any surplus could be fed to the fish.
Adapting to local conditions—these burrow spiders truly had their farming skill tree maxed out.
A spider guard ambled off to the fish ponds and soon returned with several large fish, along with some crabs and shellfish.
Among them was a large blackfish over a meter long, vigorous and kicking. Who knew how long it had been sneaking fat crucian carp inside the mesh pens?
Looking at it, He Lingchuan intensely missed the poached fish seasoning from his family's grand restaurant. Wasn't blackfish the very best ingredient for sizzling fish slices?
Unfortunately, conditions in the swamp were primitive, so he and Dong Rui could only build a fire and roast everything.
The only blessing was that his storage ring never ran out of salt, cumin, and chili powder.
As the fragrance of roasted fish wafted through the air, He Lingchuan picked up a piece of fish and silently turned his back on Dong Rui.
Looking at that face, he genuinely couldn't stomach his food.
Chapter 320