"What's this? Poisoned?"
Another bandit pointed at the spider molt. "There's something on it... a red spider!"
By the light of the fluorescent spores, the men squinted and indeed saw a red spider, slightly smaller than an average rice bowl, perched atop the mound-like spider molt.
The bandit who had just climbed up had likely been ambushed by it.
Small as the creature was, its venom was ferocious.
Lao Liu's eyes darted about, and he pointed at another spider molt. "Don't tangle with it! Grab another one!"
It was a sensible suggestion. Another bandit snatched up a cloth bag and scrambled onto a smaller molt.
Halfway up, he heard a shout from below: "Careful, that red spider is gone!"
Gone? It had probably leaped onto this second molt!
The molts were huge, casting large shadows where the red spider's tiny frame could easily conceal itself.
The men also realized its movements were startlingly fast—far too swift for human eyes to track.
Though the second bandit took every precaution and moved as slow as a snail, he still fell prey. Ambushed, he tumbled down.
At the same time, another bandit quietly hurled a grappling cord toward the top of the smallest molt. It caught hold easily, and he scurried up the line in a flash.
His movements were as nimble as a monkey's, barely pausing as he reached the crown of the molt in one fluid sequence.
"The bag!"
Overjoyed, the men below hurriedly tossed the bag up—only to realize something was amiss.
Wait, that... that didn't look like one of their men?
The figure kept his head down, face shadowed against the light, impossible to make out clearly.
Yet his movements were remarkably deft. He promptly pulled the snakeskin bag—no, the Qiankun bag—down over the head of the molt.
Whether the snakeskin bag grew larger or the spider molt shrank, it slipped right inside.
With a soft whoosh, the figure dropped back to the ground.
The spider molt was gone, and he held a bulging snakeskin bag in his hand.
The red spider pounced, only to hit empty air. Enraged, it spoke with a human voice:
"He Lingchuan, you court death!"
The person who had appeared out of thin air was none other than He Lingchuan. The bandits snapped back to their senses and lunged forward to seize the bag, but he slipped past them one by one using his Returning Swallow footwork.
He was no swallow—he was an eel!
He Lingchuan threw out his grappling cord again, swung through the air in a wide arc across the cavern, leaped onto the largest spider molt, and brought the snakeskin bag down over it.
Huh? It wouldn't budge over the head.
He tried twice more, but it still wouldn't fit. It was full; nothing more could go in.
Even so, the capacity of this snakeskin bag was vastly greater than that of the immortal ring on his finger.
The red spider darted up, sneering, "A shoddy snakeskin bag thinks it can contain my ancient true body?"
"Just testing it out," He Lingchuan said as he dodged. "Hey, I'm on your side, all right? Without this snakeskin bag, they can't steal your true body!"
Hearing this, the bandits below came to a sudden realization.
"The one talking to that kid is that giant mother spider outside!" Lao Liu shouted. "Run!"
Lord Boshan's ploy of luring the tiger away from the mountain hadn't succeeded completely. While Zhu Erniang's main body had left, she had kept an avatar behind to watch over her molts.
Only by keeping an eye on them personally could she feel at ease.
The bandits knew these monsters always possessed bizarre magic. Now that the small spider had discovered them, the Spider Queen would probably charge in at any moment!
They were quick to heed the warning, abandoning their two wounded comrades and turning on their heels to flee.
Yet the red spider did not pursue them, glaring only at He Lingchuan. "Put it back!"
He Lingchuan shrugged, walked over, and gave the bag a downward shake. The spider molt materialized out of nowhere, back in its original spot.
"Returned to its rightful owner." He jumped down from the top of the molt. "Want to come with me to chase down those petty thieves?"
The red spider snorted. "Where's the snakeskin bag? Hand it over!"
He Lingchuan tossed the bag to it.
For reasons unknown, the moment the snakeskin bag touched the spider's leg, it shrank until it vanished, stashed away wherever the red spider kept its things.
Then it leaped onto He Lingchuan's shoulder, using him as a mount to dash out of the cavern in pursuit of the bandits.
Outside the cavern entrance, He Lingchuan halted and looked left and right.
The red spider snapped impatiently, "What are you looking at!"
"Which way did they go?"
"West!"
"Which way is west?" This underground palace had countless twists and turns and never saw daylight—who knew which way was west?
"Left!"
"Oh, right!" He Lingchuan hurried after them.
"Those bandits were sent by Lord Boshan to steal your spider molts," he asked as he ran. "You're a spider and he's a snake—what use are your molts to him?"
"I am an ancient demon immortal. Within my shed molts lies a trace of power that communes with the mysteries of creation, something turbid monsters like them desperately covet. Furthermore, the pattern on my abdomen is a born divine relic; they wish to steal it to comprehend the secrets of the heavens and stars." Contempt dripped from the red spider's voice. "Stupid, ignorant brutes—do they think they're worthy?"
He Lingchuan understood. "So that's why the nobles of Beijia Kingdom stole one of your molts, too?"
The red spider merely huffed.
So that was it. No wonder the divine bone necklace had set its sights on this treasure. It was a picky eater, refusing to consume anything mediocre. He Lingchuan asked again, "I remember you originally had five molts here. Why are there only four left now?"
Zhu Erniang had originally possessed six molts, savings accumulated from ancient times down to the present day. One had been stolen in Beijia Kingdom, so five should have remained. But according to his count just now, there were only four.
Where had the other one gone?
The red spider replied coolly, "None of your business."
So it hadn't been lost, but put to some other use? He Lingchuan pondered in silence.
Along the way, they encountered several spider guardians. Just as they flared with hostility, they noticed the red spider on He Lingchuan's shoulder, immediately calmed down, and dutifully fell in behind them.
After several turns, the red spider abruptly said, "Go find Dong Rui."
"Huh?" He Lingchuan was puzzled. "We're about to catch up to them."
"Go!" The red spider's tone was dark and chilling.
It was perched right on He Lingchuan's shoulder; terrified it might give him a bite, he had no choice but to swerve toward Dong Rui's workshop.
Fortunately, it wasn't far.
In just a dozen breaths, He Lingchuan arrived at the workshop.
Dong Rui was bent over his desk, writing and sketching. Hearing the commotion, he looked up with a blank expression. "What is it?"
"Zhu Erniang is here to see you." He Lingchuan pointed at the red spider on his shoulder, breathing a quiet sigh of relief inside. Earlier, Dong Rui had piloted the demon puppet to drop him off outside the display chamber before slipping back here; the timing had been extremely tight.
"This is Zhu Erniang?"
The red spider said coldly, "Didn't you hear the racket outside?"
"I heard it." Dong Rui remained indifferent. "What does that have to do with me?"
When this man buried himself in work, he truly paid no heed to the outside world. The red spider had nothing to say to that and turned to He Lingchuan: "Go chase the bandits." Then to Dong Rui: "You come out too!"
There was only a single path between here and the molt display chamber, with no fork in between. Seeing Dong Rui here with its own eyes put its mind at ease, proving that neither human had plotted against its molts.
With its true body locked in a world-shaking battle against two great demons outside, the underground palace was short-handed. It could not leave the demon puppet master here unattended.
What it did not know was that the moment it and He Lingchuan had left the display chamber, another He Lingchuan stepped out from behind the very molt that had just been released from the snakeskin bag!
Wasting no time at all, he pressed the divine bone necklace directly against the spider molt.
The divine bone glowed red with delight, and the rock-hard spider molt abruptly collapsed.
Like a sand sculpture tapped with a finger, it caved in instantly.
Yet this "sand" did not scatter elsewhere; instead, it was sucked straight into the eye of the vortex within the divine bone.
The speed was astonishing. In merely three to five breaths, the enormous spider molt was gone, leaving the site completely clean—without even a speck of dust behind.
Immediately after, that "He Lingchuan" vanished on the spot.
With no one holding it, the divine bone necklace fell in free drop.
Yet before it could strike the floor, it too vanished.
The display chamber returned to its quiet self as always—except one spider molt was missing.
In truth, at the same time He Lingchuan had returned the molt, he had released his avatar, instructing it to hold the divine bone necklace and hide behind the molt.
The molt was enormous and leaned against the wall; the shadows behind it were more than large enough to conceal several people.
With the red spider's attention entirely focused on He Lingchuan's true body, how could it notice an extra "person" behind the molt?
He Lingchuan had lingered for a few breaths outside the cave specifically to give his avatar time to draw out the divine bone necklace and absorb the molt's essence.
An avatar would automatically disperse once it was more than twelve zhang away from him. As for the divine bone necklace, it was an item he couldn't get rid of even if he wanted to; once separated by distance, it would automatically return to his body.
This theft had been accomplished without leaving the slightest trace.
He Lingchuan exhaled softly, feeling thoroughly satisfied!
The first time he had used his Avatar Shadow Art in reality wasn't to fight monsters, but to commit theft—so long as one used their imagination, divine abilities had versatile uses.
Since so many demons coveted Zhu Erniang's molts, they were undoubtedly treasures. It didn't matter if he couldn't comprehend them himself; the divine bone necklace had need of them.
He had left alongside the red spider, so it had no reason to suspect him.
And Dong Rui hadn't left his workshop, clearing him of being a thief as well.
In this chaotic brawl among demons, it seemed he was the fisherman who reaped the greatest spoils.
Provided, of course, that he managed to leave the marshland alive.
With He Lingchuan's footwork, they quickly caught up to the band of bandits.
He handled two, Dong Rui handled one, the red spider bit down three on its own, and the rest were wiped out by the spider guardians that rushed over upon hearing the noise. Only a trembling Lao Liu was left.
The red spider ordered one survivor kept for interrogation.
Thus, the spider guardians spewed webbing to bind him hand and foot before casually tossing him back into the wine cellar.
...
When He Lingchuan reached the entrance of the underground palace, he caught an increasingly thick scent of green grass, reminiscent of walking through a newly harvested wheat field.
The smell ought to have been refreshing, yet after inhaling it, he couldn't help but yawn. If it affected a human this way, spiders—who had even less resistance to such scents—naturally staggered on their feet.
The red spider said coldly, "This is certainly one of Lord Boshan's tricks. He's always concocting new ways to help his minions devour my brood." The snake produced an astonishing variety of toxins, which was why Zhu Erniang had developed new demonic arts to flush poisons into her eyeballs and discard them once and for all.
He Lingchuan thought to himself, *You're hardly any better, old dame. Spiders make meals out of the small snakes they catch, too. You two are neighbors who never want to see each other, fighting every single time you meet.*
Chapter 339