Drip. Drip.
Ice-cold water droplets fell onto Mo Yao’s face, pulling him awake from his deep sleep.
“How long… have I been asleep?”
Mo Yao murmured. An Qianhua responded at once.
“I’m not entirely sure. Maybe a full day? I can’t observe the outside world from your current state, and even if I could down here underground, it’d be impossible to tell time properly anyway.”
He stretched his limbs and stood up. The exhaustion that had weighed down his body earlier had mostly vanished. That pill really was effective.
After quickly confirming that his body was fine, he turned to look at Xiao Simeng, who was still sleeping soundly beside him. A faint layer of spiritual light glowed across her skin as her body slowly recovered.
“Looks like Miss Simeng still hasn’t woken up.”
“Yeah. She was more heavily injured and depleted far more spiritual power than you.”
“It’s actually a good thing she hasn’t woken yet. Otherwise, Xiao Yao, you’d have to figure out how to explain everything to her.”
“Mm. Though I think she might have caught a glimpse of me when I pulled her out.”
“Have you thought of an explanation?”
“Of course. But I’ll wait until she asks.”
As he spoke, Mo Yao transformed into Shucao. After confirming her magic power was flowing smoothly, she reached down to lift Xiao Simeng so they could fly out of the underground chasm.
But the moment she picked her up, Shucao seemed to remember something and gently set her back down.
“What is it?”
An Qianhua asked curiously from the Heart Realm.
“I just realized we never actually accomplished what we came here for.”
“Oh right! We came to hunt for spider silk! But the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider we fought earlier got completely blown apart. What do we do now?”
Shucao lowered her head in thought for a moment.
“There’s still the other one. I’m pretty sure the blood qi-corrupted spider sent it back to their nest. Since both of them climbed up from this valley floor, the nest should be somewhere nearby.”
Shucao gathered magic power onto her magic wand, making it glow. Using the light, she began exploring the chasm.
The valley was fairly wide, so she wasn’t sure where to start at first. Fortunately, the two Sharp-Horned Demonic Spiders had left plenty of traces behind. After wandering for a while, she followed the tracks and finally located their nest inside one of the mine tunnels.
Stepping into the nest, she found spider silk covering every corner. The first Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider they had hunted lay motionless in the center.
Shucao fired a light bullet at its body. No reaction.
She cautiously approached and poked its head with her wand. Still nothing. Only then did she relax.
“Looks like it’s completely dead,” An Qianhua said.
“But how do we handle it?”
Hearing her, Shucao thought for a moment. She had zero experience dissecting demon beasts, so she wasn’t sure which parts to keep and which to discard.
“Mm, I’ll just disassemble the whole thing and store it all!”
She took out a knife, coated the blade with magic power, and stabbed straight into the soft joints of the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider, neatly separating its limbs from its body.
After preserving as many intact body parts as possible, Shucao placed the disassembled corpse into her storage pouch.
“I’ll just bring it back like this. Simeng can deal with it later.”
Once the corpse was stored, Shucao returned to where Xiao Simeng lay. Seeing she still hadn’t woken, she picked her up once more and flew out of the chasm.
Reaching the entrance they had used earlier, Shucao shifted Xiao Simeng onto her back and slowly walked out, following the path they had taken before.
Even without a map, after a short detour she managed to recall the route and locate the mine entrance.
“Finally outside.”
Looking at the sunlight streaming through the mine entrance, Shucao let out an emotional sigh. She stepped out of the dark tunnel and bathed in the warm light.
Gazing up at the slightly glaring sun, she felt an overwhelming sense of having survived a disaster.
“Looks like more than a day has passed. We really came close to dying this time.”
She sighed, then rose into the air.
“The blood qi boost on that Sharp-Horned Demonic Spider was way too strong. Why would the demon beasts here even be contaminated by blood qi in the first place?”
“Maybe a village nearby was attacked by the Blood Fiend Sect?” An Qianhua suggested.
“You remember what Bai Yumo said earlier? That array might have the ability to store blood qi underground. Maybe that’s why the underground Sharp-Horned Demonic Spiders got corroded by it.”
“That does make sense, but…”
While thinking, Shucao scanned the area in every direction from the sky, hoping to spot any mortal villages nearby. After a thorough look, she found none.
With the search proving fruitless, Shucao decided to return to Ningzhou City first and report everything to Bai Yumo before making further plans.
The only problem was that she didn’t know which direction Ningzhou City lay in, so she picked a random heading and flew for a while.
After flying some distance without any sign of the city, she started to worry.
“I didn’t get lost… did I?”
“Judging by the results, yes,” An Qianhua said.
Shucao landed with Xiao Simeng still on her back, found the official road, and began walking slowly in one direction, hoping to come across a signpost or someone who could give directions.
After walking for a short time, she spotted a merchant caravan approaching from ahead. The members all wore grim expressions.
Shucao waved at them from the roadside to get their attention, then stepped forward.
“Um, hello everyone from the merchant caravan. Could you please tell me how to get to Ningzhou City?”
The man who looked like the caravan leader answered.
“Little girl, you’re heading to Ningzhou City? Just keep following this road straight ahead.”
“Haha, Shucao, you were going completely the wrong way,” An Qianhua said, barely holding back laughter.
“It’s not like I meant to go the wrong way. Can’t be helped.”
Shucao turned back to the caravan leader.
“Thank you so much, big brother.”
After glancing at Shucao and the unconscious Xiao Simeng on her back for a moment, the leader added,
“Little girl, what happened to your companion? It’s not safe to be carrying her alone like this out here. Why don’t you ride in one of our carts and travel with us?”
“No need, no need. Thank you everyone.”
Shucao quickly waved her hands, refusing the offer.
“I see. Then I suggest you be careful, little girl. The villages around here seem to have been cursed, so there might be danger nearby.”
“Cursed? What do you mean?”
Seeing Shucao’s confused look, the leader explained.
“We just passed a village where everyone inside had turned into dried corpses. Scared us half to death, so we ran straight out and ran into you.”
Hearing this, Shucao’s brows furrowed immediately.
“May I ask exactly where that village is?”
“Just a short distance back along this road. Wait, little girl, you’re not thinking of going there to check, are you?”
“Mm.”
“That place is really eerie. Going there rashly could be dangerous.”
“It’s fine.”
Shucao waved her hand.
“Thank you for your concern.”
The moment the words left her mouth, she shot away at extreme speed, leaving the entire caravan stunned.
“Eh? Where did she go? Did we just run into a ghost?! How could a little girl be out in the middle of nowhere like this? This really is cursed!”
The leader’s face changed. He immediately ordered his men to hurry and get away from the area as fast as possible.
Meanwhile, Shucao arrived at the village the caravan had mentioned. After a quick inspection, she confirmed her suspicion.
“It’s the Blood Fiend Sect.”
Hearing her, An Qianhua added,
“Mm. But this village is quite a distance from that mine tunnel. Why would it affect the Sharp-Horned Demonic Spiders underground?”
“Something feels off about this. It’s probably connected to whatever larger scheme they’re planning. We should return to Ningzhou City quickly and let Senior Bai Yumo think of a solution. Besides…”
Shucao glanced at Xiao Simeng, who was still unconscious on her back.
“I need to get her proper rest and treatment for her injuries.”
After a brief, unsuccessful search for any array disks that might have been left in the village, Shucao immediately took to the sky. She decided to head back and inform Yu Qing so she could come investigate later.
A streak of pink light shot across the clear blue sky like a meteor, racing toward Ningzhou City.