Chapter Fifteen: The Root of Decay

  Remember in one second

  The battle without suspense came to an end, and the Spider's Nest returned to calmness.

  A dying young spider struggled weakly in the mother's sticky cocoon, and was crushed by Lei's foot.

  Facing the piles of spider wreckage, Leiga had no sense of ease. Since fighting against a tenth-tier opponent like Red Roland, he couldn't muster up any enthusiasm for such small victories anymore.

  A gloomy wind blew from the deeper part of the cave, and the smell of rot was hard to shake off. With each breath, I felt a bitter taste at the root of my tongue.

  He tried to peel off the spider silk wrapped around the Cang Hu Sword, but at this time, the Cang Hu Sword had absorbed the blood of the magic beast and its temperature was extremely high. Even he himself couldn't easily touch it. The spider silk wrapped around the sword body, however, was strangely unaffected by the high temperature and instead hindered the power of the legendary sword.

  The task is complete, and it's wisest to leave this accursed place quickly, but Rega feels like he's missed something even more important. He furrows his brow, staring at the scattered spider limbs on the ground, lost in thought.

  The feeling of being watched by something in the dark made his back tense up, and his mind suddenly became clear.

  Since there are spider eggs, there must be a mother body; otherwise, the demon spiders would not have appeared at all. Those two giant demon spiders from before looked like they were just guarding the spider eggs and could not possibly be the Spider Mother. To thoroughly eradicate the demon spider's nest, one must find the rotten root source.

  Making such a decision wasn't difficult at all. Leiga now urgently needed higher-level challenges, and the spoils of war from the Mother Spider would certainly be rich. High-quality demonic beast blood was bound to be something that blacksmiths and alchemists would flock to.

  He kicked away the spider's forelegs that blocked his way and walked towards the dark cave.

  Deep within the cave, there was no light at all, and the growth of the fluorescent grass came to an abrupt halt. Fortunately, the crimson blade tip of the Azure Crane Sword could illuminate the way, allowing Lei Ga to continue onward.

  The ground underfoot was as dry and soft as lime powder, devoid of any vitality. The thin boots sank into it, with a burning sensation on the entire sole. The cave grew narrower and narrower, with the rocky walls pressing in tighter and tighter, until it was only wide enough for one person to pass through.

  Just as Laga thought there was no way to go, he saw a beautiful spider web hanging at the end of the rock wall. A faint light seeped out from the dense gaps in the web, and a hidden stone cave was behind it.

  The web is extremely delicate, completely different from the coarse spider web at the entrance of the cave. Each thread of this spider web is as fine as a silver hair, almost impossible to distinguish with the naked eye. The beautiful threads are woven in circles from the center of the web, forming a three-dimensional pattern that is extremely aesthetically pleasing.

  Lei Ga blew a probing spider web, and the light spider web immediately fluttered in the wind, like newborn skin, fragile and vulnerable.

  But after all, it didn't break.

  Lei Ga raised the Cang Hu sword without hesitation and chopped at the spider web - although doing so would temporarily reduce the power of the Cang Hu sword, it was even more foolish to recklessly use his hand to touch these eerie spider threads before everything became clear.

  The delicate spider web was cut off by a sharp slash, and slowly split into two pieces, falling gently to the rotten ground like swan down, disappearing in an instant. However, the spider silk stuck to the sword did not dissolve, but instead entwined with the previous coarse spider silk, tightly wrapping around the Cang Huai sword. The bright red blade's luster weakened again, and the heartbeat-like rhythm also slowed down.

  A gust of dark wind swept past Rega's nape, as if someone was pushing him forward from behind. Rega pursed his lips, and the fingers grasping the hilt of his sword couldn't help but open and close repeatedly. He disliked the feeling of spider silk wrapping around his sword, it was just like being bound himself, but for now he had no choice, taking advantage of the special effect of the Cyan Sword to get rid of the Spider Mother as soon as possible was the best option.

  The opening behind the web was very small, and there were signs of artificial excavation. Lea had to crouch down to crawl in. This gave him a strange sense of security, with such a small opening, the Spider Mother's body must not be too large.

  After entering the stone cave, his eyes adapted to the previous darkness, and the dazzling firelight inside made him blink for a long time before he could see things clearly in front of him.

  The cave's earthen floor finally yielded a massive fire pit, flames crackling and swirling upwards to the smoke-blackened ceiling. The walls were half rock, half earth, with massive white tree roots twisting through them like thousands of slow-moving white snakes.

  The high temperature in the stone cave made Rega sweat, but he didn't have time to wipe it away and quickly looked around for the hiding place of the Spider Mother.

  Apart from a few water bottles and some stored firewood, the cave was empty. Further away from the bonfire, the dead tree roots formed a sort of stairway leading up to an opening in the mud above. Rega climbed up cautiously and was immediately stunned by what he saw.

  A thin spider silk hung in the empty air, and a human female with her head bowed was tied under it. Leica couldn't see her face, but that pair of large buttocks, which were roasted by high temperature and covered with sweat stains and oil stains, made him immediately think of the woman's identity.

  "Ah Xing?"

  The woman suspended in mid-air by a spider's web lifted her head, revealing a pair of tear-filled eyes beneath her disheveled brown hair.

  "Your Excellency... is it really you?"

  The granddaughter of the village head of Fenglin Village had obviously suffered a lot, her clothes were tattered, her shoes had long since disappeared from her feet, her shoulders were covered in bloodstains, and the originally thin fabric of her chest was torn open with small cracks, white milk flowing out from the gaps, two purple grapes-like **were visible through the sweat-stained clothes. She saw Leiga and became extremely excited, her body involuntarily trembling, making the already stifling hot stone cave even more restless.

  For Leiga, Hong Luolan's chest he had not only seen but also touched, yet still didn't have the feeling of being so shocked to the heart as now. Hong Luolan's was slender and compact, like a lotus bud in spring lake water that had just begun to develop and hadn't bloomed yet, while A Xing's chest was like an vast ocean, just one wave could completely submerge a man's ambition.

  "Your Excellency..."

  A Xing saw Lei Ga's furrowed brow and stood still on the spot, hastily trembling and begging: "Please save me, let me down..."

  Lei Ga raised the Qing Hua sword in his hand, but instead of cutting off the spider silk hanging down, he turned his hand over and lifted open the only remaining clothes on A Xing's body, leaving her completely exposed in front of him.

  A Xing let out a scream and tried to protect her body, but unfortunately, her hands were tied behind her back, only to be met with the spider's web-like movements and her face flushed with shame.

  She burst out of her clothes, hopping up and down like a jade rabbit, but she could only clench her legs tightly together, yet the lush secret garden was still exposed to Rega's gaze.

  "What do you want to do?"

  "Ahh, spare me! This is the lair of the demonic spider, please save me, don't hurt me, my grandfather will give you money!"

  Lei Ga's plea to A Xing fell on deaf ears, as he stared intently at her body, as if trying to scrutinize every inch of her. Only after confirming that she had no spider bites or other abnormalities did he calmly ask, "How did you end up here?"

  A Xing painfully opened his mouth, his voice hoarse as he said: "I just went out to clear my mind in the Wind Forest Village, but I didn't expect to be kidnapped by a demon spider and brought here. Please, let me down first..."

  "Why doesn't the Devil Spider just eat you directly?" Rega's voice was soft, like the sound of a sword blade sliding in its scabbard, full of threatening inquiry.

  "I...I don't know." Ah Xing was drenched in sweat, weak and barely able to respond.

  "Why did you bring me into this stone cave?"

  "I don't know..."

  "What else have you seen besides the demon spider?"

  "I don't know, I really don't know!"

  A-star's neck veins bulged, clearly unable to contain her anger. "I fainted and when I came to, it was you! I wanted to ask, what is your relationship with the demon spider? Why did you tear my clothes..." She choked back tears again at this point.

  Lei Ga's eyebrows furrowed slightly. He found it hard to believe Ah Xing's words, for when he should have been finding the mother of the demon spider, he instead discovered this strange woman, and explaining it away as mere "coincidence" was not convincing. Yet, whether he looked at Ah Xing's body or used his aura to probe her, she seemed completely normal, just like her facial expression showed - full of fear, grievance, and a hint of indignation from being humiliated.

  "I'll let you off this time, but this matter isn't over yet."

  Saying so, Lei Jia wrapped one arm around A Xing's warm body and with the other hand raised Qinghe Sword to cut off the spider silk.

  A Xing let out a sigh of relief and pressed his two arms tightly on Le Ga's arm.

  "Of course it's not over—"

  A Xing's throat was no longer so dry, and her beautiful voice had not a hint of shyness, but instead said sweetly: "Actually, the fun has just begun."

  Lei Ga's heart tightened, and he hastily withdrew the Cang Hu sword. However, the suspended spider silk suddenly burst open, entwining the sword body along with it, firmly binding the legendary sword, leaving no room for maneuvering.

  The A-star in her arms was still stuck to her body like a willow, but she had completely changed her state. The terror and unease in her eyes had disappeared, replaced by cunning and complacency. She hooked up her index finger from Rega's tightly clenched chin and stroked it, "Bounty hunter, without your weapon, how are you going to deal with this mother of the magic spider?"

  Lei Ga tried to push A Xing away, but his body suddenly became paralyzed and completely out of control.

  This is the characteristic of poison-type attributes, but what exactly is poisonous?

  A Xing saw through Le Ga's doubts and intentionally used her soft and plump chest to rub back and forth on his arm, "My body is full of poison, you'd be saving me a lot of trouble if you just ripped off my clothes."

  Lei Ga's heart was shocked, but his face remained calm, "I've known you had a problem for a long time."

  "But you still got cheated by me."

  A-star burst out laughing, "Didn't anyone teach you that women with bigger busts are more dangerous? You little fool?"