299: Chapter 293 Five Nascent Souls!

"Hiss—" A sharp hiss pierced the silence.

It was as if it were a signal.

The previously motionless swarm of black spiders instantly surged into a frenzy.

Like a black tide, they rushed madly in the direction of the group.

Their eight long legs paddled rapidly across the swamp, kicking up waves of foul-smelling mud.

"Act!" A deep shout came from Ren Quanxu.

A strong fluctuation of Spiritual Qi suddenly erupted from his body.

Just as everyone thought he was about to attack the enemy and unleash thunderous methods.

His figure underwent a strange change.

He did not bring out a Magic Treasure, nor did he cast any offensive Spell.

Ren Quanxu's entire body actually began to melt right before everyone's eyes.

His body became soft and fluid.

In the blink of an eye, he transformed into an earthen-yellow wave.

This wave was not ordinary water, but was filled with heavy Earth-element Spiritual Qi.

"Splash!"

The earthen-yellow wave slid rapidly along the ground.

It was astonishingly fast and incredibly agile.

Weaving left and right through the dense swarm of Black Abyss Demon Spiders, it easily avoided all their interceptions.

Chen Zhiwen only felt a flash of yellow light before his eyes.

The wave that Ren Quanxu had turned into had already broken through the encirclement.

It flowed straight into the entrance of a huge cave in the distance.

That was the interior of the Sea Spiritual Vein, and also the place where the Spiritual Qi of this swamp was most dense.

"This..." True Lord Shenhuo was stunned for a moment; he hadn't even managed to throw the flames in his hand.

He clearly hadn't expected that Ren Quanxu, the initiator, would be the first to "run."

But it was only a momentary shock before everyone understood Ren Quanxu's intention.

"What a Fellow Daoist Ren." Zhang Xing sneered, the transparent small blade in his hand trembling slightly.

"He is going to rush into the dragon's den ahead of us."

Daoist Master Xu Wen flicked his horsetail whisk, his expression remaining indifferent.

"Since Fellow Daoist Ren promised to act as a distraction, he naturally needs to find the target, the most troublesome Spider Queen, first."

"With the commander out, the battle begins immediately."

Daoist Master Xu Wen stepped forward. His originally cloudy eyes were now incredibly clear, with starlight faintly swirling within them.

Facing the overwhelming tide of spiders, he showed no fear at all.

He parted his lips slightly and chanted a string of ancient, low incantations.

"Taiyi Transformation, Earth and Fire Combined, Falling Star—Drop!"

As the last word was spoken, this dim underground space suddenly became sweltering.

In the Void Realm above, intense ripples appeared, and a red light flared brightly.

Hundreds of massive millstone-sized rocks appeared out of thin air. These rocks were entirely crimson and burning with raging flames.

That was pure Samadhi True Fire, capable of melting gold and iron.

Daoist Master Xu Wen pressed his right hand into the air, his fingers spread wide, as if he were a god controlling the heavens and earth. Then, he pressed down violently.

"Boom!" A thunderous sound like the heavens collapsing and the earth splitting.

Those hundreds of flaming giant rocks poured down from his fingers like a meteor shower from the heavens.

Carrying an Aura of utter destruction, they smashed fiercely into the spider swarm below.

At that moment, the firelight illuminated the entire swamp, revealing those hideous spiders in every detail.

"Rumble!" The flaming meteor shower struck precisely into the swarming spiders.

Mud splashed, and the sea of fire churned. Miserable hisses resonated across the fields.

Those Tier 3 spiders rushing at the very front couldn't even react in time.

Their fragile carapaces were as weak as paper in front of the burning giant rocks and were instantly smashed to pieces.

Green blood had barely splattered before it was evaporated by the high temperature into clouds of foul-smelling poisonous mist.

The Spider Demon's defensive line collapsed in an instant.

With just one strike, more than twenty Tier 3 spiders were crushed into a bloody pulp by this Divine Might falling from the heavens.

The smell of burning flesh instantly filled the air.

Daoist Master Xu Wen withdrew his hand and lightly brushed his sleeves, as if he had only done something trivial.

This was the method of a Nascent Soul Cultivator. With a mere wave of his hand, he could unleash a natural disaster.

However, Yao Beasts were, after all, Yao Beasts. The miserable deaths of their companions did not make the remaining spiders feel fear.

Instead, it stirred the ferocity in their bones.

Seeing that their companions were either dead or injured, the remaining six largest Spider Demons went completely insane.

The fuzz on their bodies exploded outward, each strand standing on end like black steel needles.

"Hiss, hiss, hiss!" As their fangs opened and closed, they emitted a sharp, ear-piercing hiss.

The red light in their eyes intensified.

Instead of retreating, they stepped on the corpses of their companions and lunged forward even more madly.

Their speed was thirty percent faster than before.

Two of the spiders even kicked off with their hind legs, their massive bodies soaring into the air, opening their blood-filled maws to spray waves of foul-smelling poisonous venom at the group in mid-air.

"Vile beasts, you are courting death."

On the other side, Zhang Xing, who had been silent the whole time, finally moved.

He looked at the spiders lunging at him, his eyes cold and devoid of any warmth.

It was as if, in his eyes, these were not ferocious Yao Beasts, but a pile of dead meat waiting to be slaughtered; he flipped his palm.

He brought out four transparent small blades with strange shapes.

These four blades were extremely disproportionate. The handles were three feet long, polished from the bones of an unknown beast.

But the blades were only an inch long, as thin as cicada wings and completely transparent.

If one didn't look carefully, one couldn't even detect the existence of the blades.

"Go!" Zhang Xing was expressionless as he reached out and pressed down into the air.

The movement was simple and direct, without any flourish, but the sharp Aura that erupted in that instant made even Chen Zhiwen feel a slight prick between his brows.

"Hum!" A slight vibration echoed in the air.

The four transparent small blades instantly vanished from their spot. Immediately after, four beautiful, full-moon-like blade rays appeared out of thin air.

They crisscrossed in the air, carving out perfect arcs. It was dreamlike and illusory, yet carried deadly killing intent.

Those few Tier 3 Late Stage Spider Demons, which were already severely injured and in a frenzied state, hadn't even had time to land.

The full-moon-like blade rays were already before them; the Spider Demons still wanted to resist in their final moments.

From their mouths, they continuously spewed out half-gold and half-black silk webs.

These silk webs were exceptionally tough, and ordinary Magic Treasures could hardly damage them at all, as they attempted to block the life-taking blade light.

However, as soon as the silk webs touched the blade rays, they instantly dissolved, just like a hot knife cutting through butter.

The blade rays did not lose momentum; carrying unrivaled sharpness, they slashed down.

"Puff, puff, puff!" A series of muffled sounds came. The spider carapaces, which were as hard as iron, were ridiculously fragile in front of the blade rays.

The blade light flashed by. They didn't even have time to let out a scream.

In mid-air, those massive spider bodies suddenly stiffened for a moment. Immediately after, they burst apart one after another.

It was as if they had been thrown into an invisible meat grinder, being ground to pieces alive; a rain of blood, mixed with severed limbs and broken arms, fell down with a splash.

It stained the swamp below a ghastly green.

The few remaining survivors, seeing this scene, finally revealed a trace of fear in their originally frenzied eyes.

That was fear born of instinct. Their bodies suddenly paused.

Their eight legs carved deep trenches into the muddy ground as they tried to stop their momentum, preparing to retreat like lightning.

However, their reaction was clearly too late. Zhang Xing hooked his finger lightly.

The four blade rays drew a strange angle in the air. Following like a shadow, he said, "Slash."

Zhang Xing spoke the word softly. The blade rays flashed by once more.

Fast. Too fast. Chen Zhiwen only saw a few faint afterimages left in the air.

Immediately after, spider heads, spider pincers, spider legs... fell, with flesh and blood flying everywhere.

Those spiders that wanted to escape were instantly dismembered into countless pieces of minced meat.

In just a few breaths' time, the battle was over.

The once aggressive spider army had now turned into a pile of corpses.

"For a Nascent Soul Cultivator to deal with these is simply too easy."

Chen Zhiwen stood with his hands behind his back, hovering in mid-air. He didn't even move a finger; he didn't even have any intention of unsheathing his life-bound Flying Sword.

He just watched all of this quietly, secretly evaluating the strength of his teammates in his heart.

Daoist Master Xu Wen's large-scale Spell bombardment had astonishing power. Zhang Xing's Flying Sword was eerie and unpredictable, with extremely strong single-target lethality.

These two people were no easy targets.

As for True Lord Shenhuo, although he hadn't made a move yet, Chen Zhiwen could feel the restless fire power within his body, which likely had even greater destructive power than Daoist Master Xu Wen's.

"Let's go." True Lord Shenhuo swept a glance over the corpses on the ground and curled his lip in disdain. "A bunch of trash, a waste of time."

The four of them did not stop. They stepped directly over the corpses and followed the Aura left by Ren Quanxu into the depths of the swamp.

The further they went inside, the more bizarre the surrounding environment became. The damp feeling gradually disappeared.

In its place was a suffocating dryness. Yes, dryness; even though they were in a swamp, it gave one the illusion of being in a desert.

The Tier 3 Spider Demons on the periphery had all been slain. The path was unobstructed all the way.

Soon, the four of them passed through the mushroom forest and arrived at the edge of a huge basin.

The terrain here suddenly dipped, forming a huge pit several miles in diameter.

Chen Zhiwen stood on the edge and looked down. His pupils constricted suddenly.

The scene inside this sunken basin was horrifying. As far as the eye could see, there were only spiders everywhere. No, to be precise, it was spider webs everywhere.

The spider webs here were no longer the ordinary white color, but presented a strange dark gold color, layered and dense.

Even in the black seawater flowing at the bottom of the basin, layers upon layers of thick spider silk floated. It was as if the entire world had been sealed by these golden threads.

The reason for such a terrifying sensation was not because there were too many Spider Demons. On the contrary, in this huge basin, there were only four living creatures in total, roughly speaking.

But these four spiders were enough to make anyone's heart and gallbladder crack with fear. Their size was several times larger than the ordinary Black Abyss Demon Spiders outside.

Each one was like a moving small hill. Most shocking of all was that the fuzz on their bodies was not black, but a brilliant golden color!

Under the dim light, they shimmered with dazzling golden light, like statues cast from gold. They lay on the golden spider webs, their eight thick legs deeply pierced into the rocks below.

"Boom!" One of the golden spiders seemed to have detected the scent of living humans. It moved slightly, hooking and pinching.

The entire basin seemed to tremble. The earth shook and the mountains swayed, and the swamp mud below split open for over ten zhang. The ground was covered with hideous cracks. This was a display of pure power.

"Tier 4 Early Stage..." Chen Zhiwen felt that undisguised Demonic Qi, and his expression changed slightly.

The Aura emitted by each of these four golden spiders was comparable to a human Nascent Soul Cultivator at the Early Nascent Soul Stage! And because Yao Beasts had powerful Physical Bodies, they were likely even more difficult to deal with than an average Early Nascent Soul Cultivator.

"Those are Black Abyss Demon Spiders!" Zhang Xing's voice became somewhat dry. He stared fixedly at the bottom, gripping the transparent small blade in his hand even tighter.

"How could there be four?"

Daoist Master Xu Wen's expression was no longer as indifferent as before. The horsetail whisk in his hand trembled slightly, clearly showing his heart was extremely unsettled.

"Didn't Fellow Daoist Ren's previous intelligence say there was only one male Spider King?"

The four looked at each other. A sense of anger at being deceived rose in their hearts.

One Tier 4 Early Stage, and four Tier 4 Early Stage. These were two completely different concepts!

What's more, in the center of those four Black Abyss Demon Spiders, in the core of those layered golden spider webs, there was an even larger shadow.

It was a huge spider that was entirely snow-white, with a strange human-face pattern only on its abdomen. Its size was a circle larger than those four Spider Kings. Its Aura was as deep as an abyss.

Although it hadn't moved, that invisible pressure made every Nascent Soul Cultivator present feel some difficulty breathing.

That was a Spider Queen comparable to the Mid Nascent Soul Stage!

"Damn it!" True Lord Shenhuo couldn't help but curse out loud. The firelight on his body leaped violently, displaying the owner's irritability.

"There are actually 4 Spider Kings and 1 Spider Queen comparable to the Mid Nascent Soul Stage here!"

"A full five Nascent Soul level combatants!"

"That old fox Ren Quanxu, is he trying to get us killed?"

Chen Zhiwen did not speak. But the coldness in his eyes was more intense than anyone else's.

He looked at the Yao Beast lineup waiting in battle Formation below, calculating quickly in his heart.

Ren Quanxu's whereabouts were currently unknown. He said he was going to distract the Spider Queen, but now the Spider Queen was lying there just fine, with four Protectors by her side.

Clearly, that so-called "distraction" never happened. Or rather, Ren Quanxu had concealed key information from the very beginning.

"Everyone." Chen Zhiwen spoke slowly, his voice terrifyingly calm.

"It seems we have encountered big trouble." He slowly drew the "hidden edge" sword from his back. The blade was as bright as autumn water, reflecting his cold, stern face.

"It is probably too late to retreat now."

Because, in the short moment they hesitated, the four Black Abyss Demon Spiders below had all raised their heads in unison.

Eight pairs of golden eyes locked firmly onto the four people standing on the edge of the basin. At that moment, killing intent surged like a tide.

"Prepare to fight for your lives." Zhang Xing took a deep breath, and the four transparent Flying Swords rotated rapidly around him, emitting bursts of shrill whistling sounds.

"If we don't kill them all, none of us will walk out of here alive."

Daoist Master Xu Wen also stopped talking nonsense. He flicked his horsetail whisk, and countless Talismans flew out of thin air, setting up layers of defensive Formations in front of him.

"Fellow Daoist Shenhuo, you can now burn to your heart's content with your fire."

True Lord Shenhuo sneered. "Just what I wanted!" "I'd like to see if these beasts' shells are harder, or if my True Fire is harder!"

Although they spoke fiercely, everyone's heart felt heavy.

Five against four—although in terms of numbers, adding the missing Ren Quanxu, they seemed evenly matched, this was the Yao Beasts' home turf. Moreover, there was still a Spider Queen with the strongest strength watching them like a tiger eyeing its prey.