After thinking of this, Shucao immediately wanted to share her guess with Xiao Simeng.
Suddenly, accompanied by another sharp cry from the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider, the ground beneath their feet began to shake violently.
“Eh? What’s happening?”
The sudden intense shaking caused Xiao Simeng to lose her balance instantly, and she was about to fall to the ground.
Then the ground under her feet split open abruptly, like a giant beast opening its bloody maw to devour her.
Seeing this, Shucao immediately kicked off the ground and rushed toward Xiao Simeng.
She concentrated her magic power behind her back, suspending herself in the air.
“Quick, grab my hand!”
Shucao extended her hand and flew quickly toward Xiao Simeng at a low altitude while shouting to her.
Pink light immediately illuminated the dim mine tunnel, enveloping Xiao Simeng and carrying her away from the shaking ground.
“What’s going on?”
Xiao Simeng asked, held in Shucao’s arms.
“There’s another Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider. A mid first-rank Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider shouldn’t have been able to eliminate all those missing cultivators, so there must be another upper first-rank one, or even something stronger.”
Shucao immediately told Xiao Simeng her previous guess.
“It looks like that vibration just now was caused by the divine ability of that stronger Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider.”
The two looked toward the ground where the vibration had occurred.
The cracks were growing larger, and the dying Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider fell right into the fissure.
“My spider silk!”
Xiao Simeng shouted as she watched the spider they had been hunting disappear into the crack.
Then, the ground directly ahead of the pair in the air suddenly developed numerous cracks.
Accompanied by a violent rumble, the cracks expanded rapidly, and a massive figure burst out from the fractured ground.
It was another Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider.
Emerging from the earth, it opened its enormous maw and bit toward the two in the air.
Shucao immediately flew in one direction to avoid the attack.
The Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider that missed its strike landed on the ground, its eyes locked firmly on them.
The pair who had dodged the attack looked at the newly appeared Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider.
This one was even larger than the previous, with the most notable difference being the many dark red patterns on its pure white horn and gray-black body.
The dark red markings on its horn continuously emitted a scarlet glow.
“What’s this?”
Shucao murmured softly.
Seeing the red light, she felt a sense of familiarity.
“Even though a new spider has appeared, this one looks much harder to deal with. It couldn’t be about to break through to second rank, could it!”
Xiao Simeng couldn’t help saying as she looked at this Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider.
“Ugh, we should have finished off the previous one earlier.”
While Xiao Simeng was still regretting not obtaining the spider silk from the last Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider, the one below had already moved again.
The red light on the horn atop its head flared brilliantly.
The surrounding earth and stones gathered under its control, forming one stone spike after another that shot toward Shucao and Xiao Simeng at extreme speed.
Seeing the stone spikes whistling through the air, Shucao hurriedly channeled her magic power to maneuver in the sky, barely evading them.
At the same time, Xiao Simeng took out the flying sword talisman she had stored earlier and activated it immediately.
Several small golden swords appeared fiercely, slicing apart the incoming stone spikes before flying straight toward the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider.
However, just before the small swords could stab into the demonic spider’s eyes, it used its sharp forelimbs to block them directly and sent them flying away.
“What!? This new one is way too tough.”
Xiao Simeng said in surprise.
Although it was only a Qi Refining stage talisman, the flying sword talisman’s power could easily shatter the protective spiritual light of late Qi Refining cultivators.
Therefore, the defensive power of this dark red-patterned Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider was actually superior to that of an ordinary late Qi Refining cultivator!
“Looks like we need to think of something else.”
“Shucao, can you release that kind of attack from earlier again?”
“I can use it a few more times, but it will take some time to prepare.”
“Good. Then let this young miss buy you some more time.”
Shucao looked hesitantly at Xiao Simeng in her arms and said.
“Do you really have to do this? That thing looks extremely difficult to handle.”
Xiao Simeng nodded firmly.
“After all, it was my idea to hunt this creature. Even though the situation has changed, I have to take responsibility. Besides, I still haven’t gotten my spider silk yet. Moreover…”
Xiao Simeng glanced at the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider staring intently at them from the side.
“That thing probably won’t let us leave easily.”
With things having come to this, Shucao had no choice but to release Xiao Simeng, letting her land on the ground.
She then began accumulating magic power in the air once more, preparing to unleash another Spiral Magic Power Beam.
Seeing Xiao Simeng land, the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider let out a hiss.
It lifted its body, and several bundles of spider silk shot out from its rear toward where Xiao Simeng had landed.
Although Xiao Simeng dodged the silk bundles, the moment they hit the ground, the threads composing them exploded outward, covering the area with highly adhesive spider silk.
“So you want to restrict this young miss’s movement? What a petty trick!”
Xiao Simeng immediately took out her long whip again.
As she swung it, flames flickered once more, burning away the spider silk around her.
At that moment, red light blazed intensely on the demonic spider’s body.
It kicked off with its hind legs and rapidly closed in on Xiao Simeng.
Simultaneously, red light flashed across the horn on its head again, causing the surrounding ground to shake once more.
“Damn it.”
Xiao Simeng inwardly cursed.
While struggling to maintain her balance, she fired several more talismans to slow the demonic spider’s charge.
Several fireballs smashed into the demonic spider’s body with a boom, but it charged toward Xiao Simeng without the slightest reduction in speed, as if it had suffered no damage at all.
“This guy is completely insane!”
Xiao Simeng shouted.
She quickly took out the flying sword talisman, transformed it into small swords, grabbed the hilt of one, and let it carry her flying away.
Shucao, watching the red light from the air nearby, suddenly recalled the blood qi that Lin Han had used back in Qinglu Village.
Is that blood qi? Why would it appear on this demon beast?
After realizing this, Shucao immediately called out to Xiao Simeng.
“Be careful! The red light on its body is blood qi. That must be what’s making it so frenzied.”
Hearing Shucao’s warning, Xiao Simeng—who had flown to the rock wall using the flying sword talisman—thought to herself.
Looks like I can’t fight it head-on. This young miss doesn’t have many talismans left.
While she was considering how to stall the demonic spider, its horn flashed with light once again.
The rock wall Xiao Simeng clung to suddenly trembled.
A stone spike shot out directly from the wall behind her, stabbing toward her.
Xiao Simeng had little time to react.
The instant she sensed something wrong with the rock wall, she covered her body with protective spiritual light, but she was still a step too slow.
Although the stone spike failed to pierce her protective spiritual light, the hastily deployed defense couldn’t fully withstand the heavy impact of the spike’s mass.
She was sent flying off the rock wall.
“Simeng!”
Shucao cried out.
She immediately canceled the accumulation of her magic power beam and flew toward the airborne Xiao Simeng.
Seeing this, the demonic spider unleashed its divine ability once more, controlling the earth and stones on the ground to smash toward the flying Shucao.
Shucao waved out several light bullets, shattering the incoming projectiles.
“Are you okay?!”
After catching the sent-flying Xiao Simeng, Shucao asked urgently.
“Cough, cough. Haha, this young miss messed up. I actually didn’t notice it.”
Xiao Simeng coughed a couple of times with a strained expression as she looked at the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider on the ground.
“This blood qi has strengthened the thing to around peak Qi Refining level. It’s going to be tricky.”
An Qianhua in the Heart Realm added.
This one’s casting speed is nearly instantaneous, and the range of earth and stone it can control has increased so much. That’s just cheating.
“Sister Qianhua, do you have any ideas?”
“You’ll have to launch long-range attacks from the air, keeping a certain distance from both the ceiling and floor. But your regular light cannon can’t penetrate its defense, and the spiral light cannon takes too long to charge. It’s difficult.”
While dodging the continuous barrage of earth and stone projectiles, Shucao spoke to An Qianhua.
“If I speed up my magic power output, can I fire the light cannon faster?”
“It’s possible, but if you output too much magic power at once, the transformation might dispel.”
“There’s no other choice. We can’t just let this thing wear us down here.”
After finishing her exchange with An Qianhua, Shucao immediately looked toward Xiao Simeng, who was also looking back at her.
“Um…”
“Um…”
They spoke at the same time.
“You go first,” Shucao said.
“This young miss has another method that can stall for some time,” Xiao Simeng said, looking at Shucao with firm eyes.
“I can still use one spiritual item. However, using it will consume a lot of my spiritual power, and I might faint afterward. So I’ll be counting on you after that.”
Shucao paused for a moment before replying.
“I… I also have a way to fire that previous move faster.”
Hearing this, Xiao Simeng smiled.
“That’s perfect. At least I can take it a bit easier.”
As she spoke, she took out a small box from her storage pouch.
Shucao looked over and recognized it as the one containing the flying needles Xiao Simeng had used when making clothes for her that day.
“Is this the needles you used to make clothes that day?”
“Mhm. Actually, it’s a spiritual item I prepared for my Foundation Establishment. I just don’t use it at full power when making clothes normally. I originally didn’t want to use it, but now there’s no choice.”
The set of crimson flying needles flew out from the box, hovering above Xiao Simeng’s palm before converging together to form a single flying needle that emitted a dazzling glow.
“Put this young miss down. Next, I’m going to use my full strength.”
Shucao quickly fired several light bullets, clearing away all the incoming earth and stones ahead.
She then set Xiao Simeng down at a low altitude before flying back up into the air.
Once more, she gathered her magic power, but this time the energy felt even more powerful.
Upon landing, Xiao Simeng staggered slightly but steadied her stance.
She opened her palm and aimed the crimson-glowing needle at the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider.
“This is this young miss’s Foundation Establishment spiritual item, named the Red Cloud Needle. Please, behold it.”