Then What the Hell Are You Testing?

Its opponent refused to be outdone and reared straight up with a swish, towering even higher than Zhu Erniang. It was an enormous serpent banded in black and gray. Coiled amid the reeds, its full length was impossible to tell, but its chest measured nearly five feet across, and barbels dangled beneath its jaw. It bared its fangs in a show of force, sharp teeth flicking out like scimitars, easily four feet long. The wind happened to blow toward the shore, and a foul, fishy stench soon reached He Lingchuan's nose. With tension drawn taut, battle seemed ready to erupt at any moment. He Lingchuan quietly shrank back. Whatever means of communication they used, after roughly a dozen breaths, the giant serpent lowered its head, and Zhu Erniang drew back her legs. A moment later, the serpent demon turned north and slithered away. Only after watching it disappear did Zhu Erniang slowly crawl back. As she passed He Lingchuan, she suddenly asked, "Are you secretly thrilled, thinking that if two titans clash, you'll have a chance to slip away?" "How could I?" He Lingchuan gave an utterly perfunctory smile. "Lord Boshan loves eating humans most of all—raw, in fact. Prey swallowed whole can still feel themselves being digested in its stomach." Zhu Erniang seemed to chuckle. Having lived for thousands of years, did she really have fewer tricks up her sleeve than a wet-behind-the-ears boy? "If you fell into his coils, your end would be ten times worse!" With that, she puffed out her massive abdomen and leisurely sauntered back to the Demon Nest. The clash had dissipated before a single blow was struck. To He Lingchuan, it seemed the giant serpent was the warier of the two. ... Notably, during this time, the spiders frequently discovered drowned bodies drifting in the swamp. Sometimes they were wild beasts, sometimes livestock, sometimes humans, often accompanied by piles of driftwood and shattered planks—mostly washed down from upriver. These were all the aftermath of the Han River flooding. He Lingchuan occasionally spotted the floating corpses of Yuan Kingdom soldiers. Having drifted into the swamp after so many days, they were bloated beyond recognition, identifiable only by their uniforms. He wondered how the war in northern Yuan was progressing. Unable to return, all he could do was silently dig graves to give them a proper burial. In fact, over the past dozen or so days, he had noticed the spider horde's attitude toward the two humans shift from neutral to hostile. Especially toward Dong Rui. Not Zhu Erniang, but the swamp's burrow spiders. This was all thanks to Dong Rui's experiments, which were inhumane—or rather, inspiderate. The spider demons assigned as test subjects went in whole and healthy, but coming out missing six or seven legs was considered getting off light. Some ended up with monstrously swollen limbs, some had their legs attached backward, and others were puffed up like water-filled bladders, wobbling as they tried to crawl. Some had lost their heads entirely, while others slammed frantically against their cages, failing to recognize their own kin as if gripped by madness. In short, the results were bizarre and grotesque, and none met a good end. Forget the intelligent spider demons—even He Lingchuan felt a chill run down his spine just watching. He finally understood why this fellow aroused universal outrage wherever he went: taking off from his moral ceiling, you still couldn't reach anyone else's rock-bottom floor. He Lingchuan had warned Dong Rui more than once, and Zhu Erniang had even confronted the demon puppet master after hearing the horde's protests, but he shut them down every time with a blunt, "If I don't do it like this, it won't work." Oh? And doing it like this would make it work? He Lingchuan remained far from optimistic. Whenever he walked past the horde and heard the rustling behind him, He Lingchuan could feel the malice radiating from the spiders. The Demon Nest Swamp was no place to linger. Even if Zhu Erniang were willing to let them go in the end, these lesser spiders would probably seek to settle scores later. Still, with Zhu Erniang's orders acting as a shield for now, He Lingchuan remained safe. The spider demons were simple by nature and even more disciplined than worker bees. Aside from giving Dong Rui a hand, he strolled around under the cold glares of most of the spiders. During these strolls, He Lingchuan discovered that the Demon Nest's actual volume was more than double that of the Chifeng mine tunnel. Its passages and caverns were sturdier and more spacious, and it even boasted well-planned defensive fortifications. After all, this place had been developed for over a decade, whereas the other had been thrown together in a matter of days; the difference in quality was enormous. Judging by the scale of this Demon Nest alone, he knew the tormentor that originally dwelled here had been exceptionally formidable. He wondered how the Beijia Kingdom had managed to bring it down back then. That was where the strange part lay— By all rights, that battle should have been devastating, yet he saw few traces of divine abilities or heavy bombardments, not even the scars of a fierce struggle. Even when only three patrol squads entered the Chifeng mine tunnel, they had left numerous marks behind. Perhaps the Demon Nest had been so powerful back then that it could repair itself? Too many things didn't add up. Still, the nests built by tormentors were largely similar in structure, as they all imitated the human body. He Lingchuan wanted to wander through the "coiled intestines" a few times, but he was turned away every time and told it was a forbidden area. The spider guardians posted at the entrance were nearly as massive as the ones guarding Zhu Erniang's chamber, stationed in trios on tight guard. If they wouldn't let him in, he wouldn't push it. With his sharp eye for observation, He Lingchuan noticed that burrow spiders moved in and out of this area in droves far more frequently than anywhere else in the Demon Nest. Moreover, they were carrying fluorescent spores, fodder, algae, and even fermented fertilizer. It was the first time He Lingchuan had seen demons skillfully compost. Seeing this, he understood. Burrow spiders were not inherently creatures with strong collective coordination, being rather solitary and disorganized. However, once a demon emerged among them, they were very likely to transform into a social structure like a beehive or ant colony. If nothing else, leopards were naturally solitary hunters, yet the leopard demon Shi Ying's family lived, collaborated, and cultivated together, a tradition their descendants maintained even over a century later. Now that these burrow spiders worked together with orderly division of labor, they had to be tending to their livelihood—their food source. Finally, one day, He Lingchuan spotted several burrow spiders heading inside carrying sticky-rice-dumpling-like things on their foreheads—white, soft, and squirming. He had seen this thing in his dream— Aphid larvae. Sure enough, Zhu Erniang was leading the horde in their old trade inside the Demon Nest! Running a ranch. A human's intestines were astonishingly long, stretching at least six meters when pulled straight. The total space in this section of the Demon Nest was substantial. While it couldn't compare to the old nest in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, as long as the spiders regulated temperature and humidity, the fungal mat could flourish, the aphid cattle could produce honeydew, and the horde would have a stable food supply again. He knew these burrow spiders wouldn't easily change their diet to eat only fish and shrimp. However, in reality, Zhu Erniang had never had her aphid ranch torched by He Lingchuan. Otherwise, she never would have let humans stay inside her nest, far too close to the ranch. Should he pull the same old trick and reenact what he had done in the dream? But even if he could escape Zhu Erniang's territory, how would he break through the mirage realm at the edge of the swamp? He Lingchuan schemed in secret, occasionally bringing it up with Dong Rui. These days, aside from eating, drinking, and relieving himself, Dong Rui threw himself entirely into his experiments, determined to work furiously through the thirty days. He didn't take He Lingchuan's new intelligence to heart, offering only a faint "Oh." If the burrow spiders were running a ranch, let them. What did that have to do with them? He Lingchuan pressed a hand down on the one holding a medicine vial, his voice as quiet as a mosquito's hum, audible only to the two of them: "Over half a month has already passed. Tell me straight: can you actually make Zhu Erniang's medicine or not?" Dong Rui glanced toward the doorway and whispered, "No." "..." That blunt? "Then what the hell are you even testing?!" Why weren't they figuring out an escape plan? Dong Rui sighed, summoning the patience of someone lecturing a layman. "Concocting the drugs to create a demon puppet isn't hard. I have the experience and the technique, and even some prepared compounds that just need fine-tuning. The biggest problem is Zhu Erniang herself." "What about her?" "No two ji beasts share identical traits, and the same goes for demon puppets. The key to creating them is inducing non-directional mutation." Dong Rui shook his head. "But Zhu Erniang is an ancient demon immortal. Even though she sheds her skin to diminish her cultivation, her body and demonic nature are far too stable. Not just stable—rock-solid. Feeding her these concoctions might not even do anything, other than give her diarrhea at most. "Even taking a step back, suppose the medicine works. She would have to endure brutal, protracted agony. I've tested so many demons, and during the transformation into a demon puppet, not a single one has ever been able to endure it." The process was agonizingly painful, yet the outcome was uncertain. Just to counter origin power, would Zhu Erniang really be willing to pay such a price? He Lingchuan was baffled. "Then what have you been running yourself ragged for these past few days?" "Experimenting on a living ancient demon immortal and her molted husks, even if it's just a tiny fraction—what a luxurious opportunity!" Dong Rui grinned. "And she has a whole brood of disciples and offspring, practically downgraded copies of her. What's more, they volunteered to be my subjects! Where else could you ever find an opportunity like this?" In the past, whenever he wanted to create demon puppets, he had to fight tooth and nail first. The higher the tier of beast he wanted to capture, the greater the risks. Why else would he be wanted by the Beijia Kingdom? This place was practically his scientific paradise. "And when the deadline is up, what do you plan to do?" He Lingchuan reminded him to focus on practical reality; time was flying by. Dong Rui scratched his head. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Interrupted several times by He Lingchuan, Dong Rui finally slipped out of his workaholic mode. Of course, it was also because his mind was feeling the strain after such intense labor. Tonight was a full moon, so the two simply walked to the entrance of the Demon Nest and sat by the water of the sinkhole to drink, watching silver moonlight spill across the ground. He Lingchuan always kept good wine stashed in his storage ring, and he brought it out now, a jug for each of them. Looking up from where they sat, the full moon resembled a silver basin, its light sparkling like stars on the surface of the water. Dong Rui stared blankly for a while, then let out a long sigh. Could a man like this actually feel sentimental? "What are you sighing for?" "Nothing." Dong Rui wasn't wearing his face mask anymore. None of the creatures in the swamp cared if he was ugly; in the eyes of the spider demons, He Lingchuan was probably just as unsightly as he was. When he drank, a trickle of wine leaked from the crooked corner of his mouth. He Lingchuan had grown accustomed to that gruesome face. Once more, he asked, "What actually happened to your face?" Dong Rui merely drank in silence. Only after a good while did he wipe the wine from the corner of his mouth. "A woman did it." He Lingchuan was startled. "That vicious?"