Chapter 8: Spider King Grass

  Looking at the serrated poisonous beast's corpse on the ground, Liu Tao took a deep breath and said, "There is only one serrated poisonous beast left, hopefully everything goes smoothly."

  "He will be fine."

  In the previous battle, Yao Qing didn't exert much effort, it was just that Ye Chen's sword was too fast. At this time, she had a hopeful expression on her face, "How did you practice your swordsmanship? Can you teach me?"

  Liu Tao furrowed his brow, "Yao Shimei is too rash, don't be reckless, sword techniques can't be easily taught." The True Spirit Continent's door rules are extremely strict, even if the master teaches their disciple, they won't pour out all their skills, let alone when both parties have no relation.

  "Nothing much to teach, but you can practice basic sword moves a hundred times a day and see results in a month."

  "Really." Yao Qing didn't believe it.

  Ye Chen smiled and didn't explain.

  In the mountain cave, a saw-toothed poisonous beast was shockingly large. Its head alone was as big as a water vat, and its pair of bronze bell-like eyes emitted blood-red light beams, ferocious and cruel.

  "Everyone, let's go up." Liu Tao took the lead and chopped out four palms towards the serrated poisonous beast.

  Closely following was a flash of snowy light, dense and fine sword edges, twisted blade lights, as if surging out like a tide. The saw-toothed poisonous beast that had been repelled by Liu Tao let out a series of mournful cries, retreating again and again. In its anger, it opened its mouth and spat out a cluster of purple toxic smoke that emitted flames.

  Liu Tao was shocked, and immediately mobilized all the internal energy in his body. A faint black arc of light appeared between his hands, and all the purple poisonous smoke that sprayed at him exploded as soon as it touched the arc of light, shaking him back repeatedly, his arms numb. The others didn't dare to stay where they were, and fled in disarray.

  Just then, Ye Chen moved, his body flashed out, and the steel sword pierced into the still open mouth of the Saw-toothed Poisonous Beast, and with a slight upward lift, it emerged from the tip of the sword as if cutting tofu.

  The saw-toothed beast struggled in vain for a moment, then its head slumped to one side and it died.

  "Dead?" Liu Tao saw Ye Chen didn't act according to plan, thinking he had forgotten, but didn't know that with one sword, the serrated poisonous beast was knocked down.

  Shaking off the blood on his long sword, Ye Chen slowly sheathed it and said: "When the Saw-toothed Poison Beast spits out poisonous smoke, there will be a momentary pause. And above its mouth, there is a meat hole the size of a cup's mouth, which is its biggest weakness, directly connected to the brain marrow."

  Yang Wu, the twin brother, admired: "Awesome, killing two Sawtooth Beasts and finding their fatal weakness."

  "Finding weaknesses is something a swordsman must master."

  "Hehe, in any case, the Saw-toothed Venomous Beast has been taken care of." Yao Qing smiled and said.

  The cave is not deep, only about 70-80 feet.

  Lighting up a fire starter, Liu Tao took in a cold breath, "It's actually not Toxic Heart Grass, but Spider King Grass."

  "What, Spider King Grass? Brother Liu, are you mistaken?" Yang Wen exclaimed from behind.

  Liu Tao confirmed: "The poisonous heart grass is purple, shaped like an orchid, while the spider king grass is black, with the top leaf resembling a poisonous spider, absolutely no chance of mistake."

  Upon hearing this, even the normally calm Ye Chen couldn't help but quicken his breathing. The Toxic Heart Grass was indeed precious, worth around two to three thousand taels of silver, and was quite beneficial for those cultivating poison techniques, making it a rare and valuable herb. In comparison, the Spider King Grass was even more extraordinary, not only could it be used in medicine and aid in poison technique cultivation, but what made it truly priceless was that in the martial world, there existed a dark and sinister martial art called "Thousand Spider Ten Thousand Poison Hand" which required the Spider King Grass to reach its highest level. If those who cultivated this technique were to find out that Ye Chen had the Spider King Grass, they wouldn't hesitate to pay any price, even if it was more than ten thousand taels of silver. Of course, there was also a high possibility that they would resort to killing and robbery.

  Yao Qing said at this time: "Liu Shixiong, it's too dark here, I can't see anything."

  "Right, let's go out."

  Liu Tao carefully dug out the spider orchid and was the first to walk out of the cave.

  Under bright conditions, the appearance of spiderwort is clearly exposed to everyone for the first time.

  The grass is seven inches high, with seven leaves, and the whole body is ink black, with a faintly visible glow. On the top of the spider king grass, there is a fruit that looks like a black spider, which makes it difficult to distinguish whether it is alive or dead, giving people goosebumps.

  "This is Spiderwort, it's grown too scary!" Yang Wenyang and Yang Wu brothers clicked their tongues.

  Liu Tao recalled: "When I joined the Golden Light Sect back then, I was fortunate enough to see the Great Elder obtain a Spider King Grass, and this one is exactly the same. Who would have thought that today I also obtained one."

  Wang Haichuan stared at the Spider King Grass, licking his lips. "One Spider King Grass can sell for at least 10,000 taels of silver, divided among six people is 1,666 taels each, I don't even make that much in half a year."

  When Wang Haichuan said this, Liu Tao suddenly remembered the matter of dividing the spoils and said to Ye Chen: "Brother Ye, you and I have different sects and it's not convenient to contact each other. The Saw-toothed Poison Beast and Spider King Grass will take some time to sell, why don't I just divide the silver with you directly, what do you think?"

  Ye Chen wasn't really interested in Spider King Grass and agreed to come down.

  "Alright, two ordinary Saw-toothed Venom Beasts are worth around 2,000 silver coins. One elite Saw-toothed Venom Beast is worth 1,500 taels, plus the Spider King Grass is worth 10,000 taels of silver. The total is 13,500 taels. Divided among six people, that's 2,250 taels each, which is equivalent to 225 taels of gold. Here are two gold notes, one for 100 taels and one for 10 taels. First, take them, Wang Shidi, Yang Shidi, and Yao Shimai. You three gather the silver coins and give them to Ye brother."

  A few people gathered together, but still lacked fifty taels of gold, so they had to use some materials from the body of a poisonous beast with saw-like teeth as substitutes.

  He put away the golden ticket and materials, Ye Chen's ears moved slightly, and he said in a low voice: "Someone."

  Putting away the jade box containing the Spider King Grass, Liu Tao loudly shouted towards a not-too-distant place: "I am Liu Tao, disciple of the Golden Light Gate. Whoever is coming, please show yourself."

  "Haha, Golden Light Gate, isn't that the small and unremarkable sect?" The bushes rustled as a group of burly men emerged from the dense forest. The leader was ugly in appearance, with half of his skull chopped off, leaving only two-thirds remaining, extremely terrifying.

  "Shut your crap." Wang Haichuan was furious.

  The ugly Han man's eyes slanted sideways, emitting a fierce glow, with an air of murderous intent.

  Liu Tao knew that the newcomers were up to no good, and this group of people was probably a gang of fugitives. His face suddenly turned unpleasant as he said, "I don't know what you want to instruct me on."

  "Haha, I'm a bit tight on cash recently, it would be great if you guys could show some filial piety."

  Liu Tao furrowed his brow, "We don't have much silver on us, but we can give you the demon beast materials, which should be worth several thousand taels of silver!" He couldn't see through the other party's internal energy cultivation, and it was no surprise that they had reached at least the tenth layer of Qi Refining Realm. If a fight were to break out, except for him, his fellow disciples would likely suffer greatly, including Ye Chen.

  The ugly Hanzi burst into a loud scolding, "You think we're beggars, trying to fool us with just a few thousand taels of silver. Now give you a choice, leave the spider king grass immediately, and by the way, that little girl can't go, it's just right for me to vent my anger."

  As soon as this remark came out, those big men burst into strange laughter.

  Yao Qing's face was pale, her teeth biting her lower lip.

  Liu Tao's face sank, suppressing his anger and said: "Are you kidding me?"

  "Whoever is joking with you, I'll count to ten. If you don't behave yourselves, don't blame me for being ruthless." The ugly man grasped the hilt of his knife behind his back.