"My woman—I thought she was utterly obedient, devoted to me in every way. Whatever she wanted, I gave her," Dong Rui said coldly. "Later, I felt something was off with her, but whenever I asked, she wouldn't say a word. Then one day, while I was dead drunk, she poured the nastiest, most vicious poison from my apothecary right down my throat!"
He rubbed his chin with a sneer. "Women. Heh, women!"
He Lingchuan rested a hand on his wine jar. "Don't skip the details. Your story makes no sense. Why would she poison you out of nowhere?"
"She had a lover on the outside—the son of another chieftain, fair-skinned and tender-faced, a pretty boy just like you," Dong Rui said with a grin. "I had my ghost apes tear her lover apart and eat him piece by piece, chunk by chunk. She cried for two days and didn't say much after that, so I thought she'd had a change of heart."
He Lingchuan touched his own cheek. Exposed to the elements every single day, could he really be called fair-faced?
Then again, going by Dong Rui's features, the man had nothing to do with the word 'handsome.' To him, any man with regular features was probably a pretty boy.
"What happened after? Did you kill her?"
"No." Dong Rui took two sullen gulps of wine. "She ran off weeping and threw herself off a cliff. Wouldn't you say she was out of her mind?"
He Lingchuan patted his shoulder. "She and you were birds of a different feather."
They were never meant to share a roof.
Just then, an enormous dark silhouette blocked their view.
Zhu Erniang crawled into view.
"Got wine?"
Turns out she had followed the scent.
He Lingchuan retrieved another jar from his storage ring. "You want some?"
Zhu Erniang did not even need him to crack the mud seal; she plunged her mouthparts straight through and began sucking. With her ability to drain a living man dry in a single gulp, finishing a jar of wine took only two or three breaths.
"Any more?"
"Here's another."
In the blink of an eye, she polished off four jars of He Lingchuan's fine wine. When she asked for more, He Lingchuan spread his hands.
"All gone. That was the last of it."
That the giant spider enjoyed wine came as a surprise to both of them. Yet wine was a broom that swept away sorrows, and after drinking, Zhu Erniang was noticeably more genial, even letting out a wine-tinged burp. "Good wine. Quite a kick—better than the merchants' stuff."
"Merchants?" He Lingchuan looked slightly surprised. "There are merchants here?"
"Did you think this place was cut off from the world?" Zhu Erniang chuckled. "You human merchants come once a month to buy spider silk."
Of course. The silk of burrow spiders was exceptionally tough, and Zhu Erniang's craftsmanship rivaled that of the most dexterous human weavers. The cloud brocade she wove was as light as floating down yet tougher than iron.
Those casual remarks made He Lingchuan's eyes light up.
Over the past days, Zhu Erniang had summoned him for conversation, chatting idly about changes in the Yuan Kingdom over recent years, affairs of the He family, his relationship with Dong Rui, and the like.
She seemed especially interested in the Beijia Kingdom, though He Lingchuan knew little about it.
He Lingchuan had also wanted to pry some information from her, but she was an experienced old monster, after all, and kept her lips sealed tight.
Though both sides appeared to chat amiably, it was strictly idle talk without an ounce of warmth.
And it wouldn't stop Zhu Erniang from devouring him the moment she grew bored.
When would the merchants enter the swamp next? He Lingchuan did not ask, nor did he allow Dong Rui to ask. Instead, he casually changed the subject:
"What's wrong with the Beijia Kingdom? Why didn't you want to stay there?"
The northern demon kingdom held a renowned reputation, having stood strong for nearly six centuries—practically the longest-surviving empire in the world. Demonkind everywhere yearned for it, so why had Zhu Erniang left after going there?
He Lingchuan recalled that the Crocodile God had also fled the Beijia Kingdom; and Hong Chenglüe had preferred to retreat to Xiazhou with his wife, living in destitution.
Why was that?
"You'd understand if you'd been there—glamorous on the outside, but a chaotic mess within!" Zhu Erniang sneered. "Some 'demon kingdom' that is, bowing and scraping before humans with cautious respect! In ancient times, demon immortals ruled their own domains, and commoners were like ants—eaten whenever we pleased, used whenever we liked! Where were all these suffocating rules back then?"
He Lingchuan and Dong Rui exchanged a glance. To Zhu Erniang, the two of them were likely consumables to be "eaten whenever pleased, used whenever liked" as well.
As a living relic of antiquity, Zhu Erniang naturally missed the glory days of ancient great demons.
Times had changed, however, and her mindset no longer fit today's demon kingdom. Forcing herself to remain in Beijia would only court trouble.
Yet Zhu Erniang went on, "Those in high positions treat humans well enough, but they're thoroughly underhanded toward their fellow demons! I hadn't been in Beijia two months before something important of mine was stolen!" She laughed coldly.
Both men asked what had been stolen, but Zhu Erniang refused to elaborate.
A realization dawned on He Lingchuan.
Could it be her demon immortal shed husk? The largest and oldest among the six.
He phrased his question differently: "Did you get it back later?"
"The culprit flatly denied it," Zhu Erniang said. "Their clan holds great power and prestige in the Beijia Kingdom, with throngs of subordinates and origin power protecting them. They thought a rustic monster like me could do nothing against them!"
He Lingchuan thought to himself: *If you had a way, would you have fled to this deserted Demon Nest Swamp?*
According to Zhu Erniang, she had left her cultivation inside her shed husks. That meant the demon immortal shed husk held the deepest store of power.
If so, it was no wonder the other party refused to return such a treasure.
"Fuming with rage, I maimed and killed several of their whelps!" Zhu Erniang tapped the ground. "The Beijia Kingdom dispatched troops to apprehend me, so I came here."
He Lingchuan gave a drawn-out "Oh." "So you want a way to counter origin power, then return to Beijia to take your treasure back?"
Zhu Erniang said sinisterly, "All they rely on is the protection of Beijia's origin power. As long as I eliminate that nuisance, I'll have a way to deal with them."
He Lingchuan noticed she said "have a way," not that victory was guaranteed. Evidently, even stripped of their origin power, the other side was no pushover.
A high-ranking, powerful clan, was it?
Moreover, an ancient demon who had lived two to three thousand years like Zhu Erniang possessed more cunning than eyeballs. It was hard to tell how much of what she said was true and how much was false.
Zhu Erniang turned to Dong Rui. "How is my potion coming along?"
"There's good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"
Without hesitation, Zhu Erniang said, "The good."
Beside them, He Lingchuan shot frantic glances at Dong Rui, but Dong Rui acted blind to it. Zhu Erniang, however, caught it and mocked, "Did your eye cramp up?"
She had twelve eyes; thinking he could hide his expressions from her was a joke!
Dong Rui took a swig of wine. "I tested over thirty spider demons, and one succeeded. That's an astonishingly high success rate. Clearly, your brood inherited superior bloodlines, far purer than ordinary demons."
All the spider demons here were direct descendants of Zhu Erniang, possessing bloodlines pure enough to look down on common demons of mixed ancestry.
Thus, the rate at which her offspring attained demonic sapience was extraordinarily high.
"Tested over thirty times, and only one succeeded?" And that was considered high? Zhu Erniang didn't bother belittling him. "Then when can I use it?"
"That's the bad news." Dong Rui sighed. "With the materials I have on hand, I'm afraid the concoction won't meet your requirements."
He Lingchuan pressed his temples.
"Meaning it can't be made?" Zhu Erniang, who had been resting flat against the ground with legs tucked in, suddenly stood up like a small mountain rising on the spot.
The two men looked up at her. The spider demon's mouthparts looked terrifyingly grotesque under the moonlight.
Since Dong Rui dared bring it up, he had already prepared his follow-up. "I only said materials are lacking, not that I can't make it! Drifting into the Demon Nest Swamp was an accident. How could anyone gather all the necessary ingredients in such a desolate backwater?"
Dong Rui met Zhu Erniang's gaze, neither subservient nor overbearing. "You once possessed the body of a demon immortal, tempered through a thousand trials. Trying to induce mutation with a potion is like trying to poison this rock." He kicked a large stone before him. "It's not impossible, but you need a far stronger ingredient to destabilize your body's foundation!"
"Which ingredient?"
"Toxic dragon saliva."
Zhu Erniang thrust her head right in front of Dong Rui, her mouthparts hissing sharply. "You actually dare propose using toxic dragon saliva on me?!"
Seeing her anger flare, He Lingchuan quickly stepped in to defuse the tension. "Does such a thing as dragon saliva even still exist?"
There were no dragons left in the world; where would dragon saliva come from?
"Doesn't exist?" Dong Rui lifted his chin, practically looking down his nose at him. "Look at my face! This is the result of toxic dragon saliva diluted a thousand times! Just one drop was used—one drop!"
Staring at it too long would surely bring nightmares, so He Lingchuan promptly looked away.
Dong Rui turned back to Zhu Erniang. "To tell you the truth, even if you obtain toxic dragon saliva, even if the medicine is brewed, and even if it takes effect upon consumption, the agony you endure will be purgatorial! Are you truly willing to pay such a price for a single treasure?"
Zhu Erniang fixed all twelve eyes upon him, seemingly evaluating whether he spoke the truth.
Refusing to be outdone, Dong Rui tilted his head back and held her gaze.
*When this fellow decides to stand firm, he really does stand firm,* He Lingchuan thought with grudging admiration.
After a long pause, Zhu Erniang said in an eerie voice, "Did you deliberately bring up this ingredient knowing full well toxic dragon saliva is kept in the Beijia capital?"
Unable to counter origin power, she had left Beijia; yet the most crucial ingredient to help her counter origin power was kept in Beijia.
If she possessed the capability to march straight into Beijia and seize toxic dragon saliva, why not simply reclaim her demon immortal shed husk while she was at it?
And if she could reclaim her shed husk, why would she ever need to swallow toxic dragon saliva?
It was a complete paradox.
Noticing the aura around her growing increasingly turbulent, He Lingchuan quickly intervened. "You don't have to go in person. Couldn't you find someone to steal the toxic dragon saliva or your treasure? It can't be that the saliva and your... your treasure are kept by the very same clan, can it?"
"Send who?" Zhu Erniang snorted. "You two?"
"If you can't find anyone else, we can do it," He Lingchuan said, thumping his chest. "No problem at all."
Dong Rui immediately chimed in, "I hold an amnesty decree handwritten by National Preceptor Shuangye of the Beijia Kingdom. I can travel freely throughout Beijia without hindrance."
Zhu Erniang burst into hearty laughter that shook the leaves above into a rustling shower. "You think such petty tricks will get me to let you go?"
She turned and began crawling toward the top of the sinkhole. "Stay right here. If you can't produce the potion within thirty days, I'll swallow you both alive!"
"Hey!" He Lingchuan protested indignantly. "He's the one who can't make the potion! Why swallow me?!"
Chapter 326