132: Soul-Devouring Spider Mother!

The resource point's defensive grand Formation rippled continuously under the bombardment of Formations and the mothership.

The hum of swords and the sounds of spiritual power collisions rose and fell one after another.

In this situation, the Cultivators of the Bitao Faction couldn't help but feel a bit flustered as their magic power and Spirit Stones were rapidly consumed.

Seeing that the grand Formation likely wouldn't be breached anytime soon, Su Ling simply retreated quietly into a corner.

Sweeping his Divine Sense across the resource point, he immediately discovered the location of a mine.

The Shadow Soul Crystal Mine was buried deep underground; one had to dig down carefully during extraction, always on guard against the Soul-Devouring Spiders hidden within.

But at this moment, there seemed to be no Cultivators left inside the mine.

Su Ling cast a subtle glance around, seeing that everyone's attention was focused on the Formation's light barrier.

He then activated the Turtle Breath Technique, supplemented by the Mist Concealment Spell attached to his robes, and crept toward the mine while hiding his presence.

A moment later, Su Ling found a spacious entrance in a mountain hollow.

Due to the earlier surprise attack by the Qingming Faction, the Cultivators guarding the mine had all rushed to reinforce the battlefield, leaving only a faint defensive spiritual light at the entrance, clearly set up in haste.

A sharp light flashed in Su Ling's eyes as a small compass appeared in his palm.

A high-grade magic treasure, the formation eye compass!

Driven by magic power, the needle of the formation eye compass spun rapidly.

After a few breaths, the needle emitted a faint brown glow and stopped moving, pointing in one direction.

Su Ling raised an eyebrow and extended his Divine Sense along the direction of the needle, soon discovering the location of a Formation node.

A wisp of lightning element condensed at his fingertip, and he lightly tapped the Formation node.

The lightning arc burrowed into the Formation node like a thin snake, instantly disrupting the flow of spiritual power. The already weak Formation light shield dissipated with a "hum."

Putting away the compass, Su Ling slipped into the mine, and a chilly aura immediately rushed at him.

But contrary to the darkness he expected, the spacious mine tunnel was dotted with many Glowstones, appearing unusually bright.

After going a hundred zhang deep, he could see some translucent crystal particles emitting bits of gray light.

These were the yet-to-be-formed Shadow Soul Crystal Mine deposits.

The floor of the mine tunnel was covered with a thin layer of bone powder, making a soft "rustling" sound when stepped on, which was exceptionally clear in the silent mine.

As he went deeper, the chill within the mine intensified.

Su Ling didn't dare to be careless; the thunder shadow sword and coiling dragon bell appeared one after another, protecting him.

After traveling about three hundred zhang along the tunnel, a fork suddenly appeared ahead, with three tunnels extending into the unknown depths like the throats of monsters.

Su Ling pondered for a moment and estimated his current position to be about thirty zhang underground.

The Bitao Faction had occupied this place for several years, so the Wandering Souls near the tunnels should have been cleared out long ago.

With this thought, Su Ling simply chose the right-hand tunnel and walked straight in.

After walking for fifteen minutes, his steps suddenly halted.

In the shadows of the tunnel wall ahead, several translucent Wandering Souls were huddled.

Some were shaped like wild beasts, others like demonic spiders, their soul fires as weak as candles in the wind.

They were mostly second-tier Wandering Souls, their strength pitifully weak.

Upon sensing Su Ling's aura, they instinctively shrank further into the shadows, their soul bodies trembling slightly.

Even a mosquito's leg is meat; Su Ling took out the ten thousand souls banner and gave it a light shake, and the banner surface unfurled.

A black suction force gushed from the banner, quickly pulling those Wandering Souls inside.

Unlike the remnant souls collected after killing Cultivators, these Wandering Souls in the mine were weak but relatively complete. After being sucked into the ten thousand souls banner, the soul shadows appearing on the banner were also more vivid.

Su Ling felt a surge of joy and quickened his pace.

He continued along the tunnel, his Divine Sense scanning every shadow like radar, taking out the ten thousand souls banner whenever he encountered scattered Wandering Souls.

Wherever the black suction passed, those shivering soul bodies were all taken into the banner.

The Shadow Soul Crystal Mine deposits found along the way were all unformed, so he ignored them.

Even if he collected them, he would have to hand them over to the Bitao Sect later in exchange for points.

Of course, if Su Ling were to collect and use them directly, the points deducted would be relatively fewer.

The entire Nether Prison Plane was the private property of the Seven Sects; how could they allow a group of trial Cultivators to hoard items?

Just as he reached nearly a thousand zhang deep and had collected over a hundred Wandering Souls, a faint "dripping" sound suddenly came from deep within the tunnel, like water droplets falling on rock.

Su Ling's steps came to a sudden halt, and his Divine Sense instantly tensed.

Although the sound was faint, it carried a chilly aura completely different from the Wandering Souls, as if something was waking up from the depths.

He hesitated for a moment: should he continue collecting Wandering Souls or return immediately?

But on second thought, the Qingming Nascent Soul Sword Cultivator outside the Formation could break the defense at any time; he might not get another chance like this.

Su Ling gritted his teeth, activated the coiling dragon shield, and walked cautiously toward the direction of the sound.

At the end of the tunnel was a spacious grotto. In the center of the grotto was a black pool covered by a Formation; the "dripping" sound was coming from the surface of the pool water.

And on the rock walls around the black pool, over a hundred Wandering Souls were densely attached.

Their soul bodies were clearer than those seen along the way, and they all looked toward the black pool with expressions of confusion and fear.

These were actually third-tier Peak Wandering Souls!

"So many high-tier Wandering Souls!"

Su Ling was shocked and was just about to take out the ten thousand souls banner to collect these Wandering Souls.

Several nearly imperceptible transparent threads suddenly shot out from the pool, coiling toward him!

Su Ling's expression changed drastically, and he instinctively swung the thunder shadow sword, the blue-green lightning arcs slashing at the transparent threads.

With a "sizzle," the threads were instantly severed by the lightning arcs.

A water column suddenly exploded in the center of the black pool, and a massive, pitch-black spider lunged out from the bottom.

The spider's body was covered in a pitch-black carapace with dark purple patterns all over it. Its eight thick legs were covered in barbs, each gleaming with a ghostly green poisonous light.

The compound eyes on its head were like two dark gems, locked tightly onto Su Ling.

Before Su Ling could react, the Soul-Devouring Demonic Spider suddenly opened its mouth in a screeching posture.

"Screech..."

An extremely sharp screech reached Su Ling's Sea of Consciousness, crashing against his Divine Soul like a wave.

[Soul-Devouring Spider Mother, fourth-tier Early Stage Demonic Beast, capable of releasing Soul-Binding Spider Silk, Soul-Shaking Shriek, Poisonous Sting, and other innate magic.]

This silent scream was precisely its innate Spell, 'Soul-Shaking Shriek'!

Invisible sound waves spread out like blades, and the chilly aura in the air instantly became violent.

Even though Su Ling's Divine Soul strength already exceeded those Peak Core Formation Cultivators after advancing to the Core Formation Mid-stage...

He still felt a sharp pain in his Sea of Consciousness, as if countless thin needles were piercing his Divine Soul, and he even experienced a brief moment of dizziness.

Even the Wandering Souls within the ten thousand souls banner became restless, the hideous faces appearing faintly on the banner's surface letting out silent roars, seemingly in extreme pain.

"bodhi soul nurturing plaque!"

Enduring the sharp pain in his Divine Soul, Su Ling hurriedly activated the bodhi soul nurturing plaque within his Dantian Qi Sea.

A soft white light gushed from the soul-nurturing plaque, protecting his Divine Soul like a barrier, and the impact of the Soul-Shaking Shriek instantly weakened by more than half.

But the Soul-Devouring Demonic Spider clearly wouldn't give him a chance to breathe. It swung two pedipalps, and dozens of Soul-Binding Spider Silks shot toward Su Ling like sharp arrows.

Su Ling's pupils constricted, lightning surged beneath his feet, and his figure dodged to the side like a ghost.

But the Soul-Binding Spider Silk was too fast and covered a wide area; although he avoided most of the silk, several strands still grazed him.

"Chila!"

The transparent spider silk actually cut frantically at the coiling dragon shield like blades.

An invisible force penetrated through the coiling dragon bell and directly invaded Su Ling's Divine Soul.

Causing his Divine Soul's operation to experience a slight stagnation.