novelraw Chapter 82 : Heavenly Flame
Chapter 82 : Heavenly Flame
"I can cut through it." Even when tied up, Mo Qingchen couldn't lose his aura of arrogance. He coldly said, just about to use his spirit sense to summon the long sword that had fallen to the ground,
The next second, the sword was wrapped in spider silk, disappearing from sight with a "whoosh."
"......"
The spider beast was extremely cautious, fearing they might have another opportunity. It once again used its sturdy silver-white spider web to carefully wrap all the present cultivators in layer after layer.
In no time, the ground was covered with rows of plump white cocoons.
It's over, it's over. Now they had all fallen into the trap, with no way to escape.
The cocoons were all panicking helplessly, hoping for another savior to descend from the sky. Unfortunately, after waiting and waiting, there was no movement.
"Isn't that Chu Sang usually quite good at causing trouble? Why is she so quiet now?" Zhao Yun was exasperated, feeling like all her tricks were just used to bully him.
Another frequent victim, Qiu Xiude, also deeply agreed.
"You two stinking men, don't slander my Little Junior Sister." Tantai Ming, her loyal fan, argued reasonably, "My Little Junior Sister is clever as ice and snow, brave and peerless, with miraculous plans. She seems to have fallen into the trap, but actually... actually, it's because she's afraid we'll be lonely on the road to the underworld, so she came to keep us company voluntarily. Really, Little Junior Sister, I'm crying to death, wuwu!"
Others: "......" This die-hard fan was beyond saving, still making excuses even in the face of death.
Usually, spider silk is quite afraid of fire. Cultivators with fire spirit roots tried to burn through the spider web with spirit fire, but found they couldn't burn through it at all.
Now, they truly had no way out.
Outside, there was still a glimmer of hope, but once wrapped in spider silk, death was certain!
The group of pitiful mummies were wrapped up tightly, naturally unable to see that as the spider beast completely relaxed its guard and prepared to enjoy its feast, another figure snuck stealthily into the cave from behind.
This furtive figure was, of course, Chu Sang. She had applied two more concealment talismans to herself and walked towards the depths of the cave.
The benefits of reading extensively usually manifest at times like these. She had once read about the Dark Spirit Thread Hundred Spider in a demon beast encyclopedia. The spider silk produced by this type of demon beast was extremely tough, like water and iron, and most notably, fire-resistant. Even ordinary spirit fire could hardly damage it.
Fundamentally, this was because the Dark Spirit Thread Hundred Spider liked to eat a kind of stone called fire crystal stone.
Fire crystal stones contained very concentrated fire-attribute energy, with an energy intensity exceeding ordinary spirit fire. Over time, the spider silk also acquired strong fire resistance.
The method to cut through the spider silk was quite simple and crude, with only two options.
One was to overwhelm it with brute force. As long as one's cultivation reached the Deity Transformation stage or above, they could easily cut through it violently.
But obviously, this method wasn't very realistic for them at present.
So, they could only adopt the second method—using a fire source more powerful than fire crystal stones to burn away the spider silk.
It's worth noting that the conditions for producing fire crystal stones are extremely demanding. Either the area was previously a lava zone, or there's a heat source underground. There's another possibility... that a heavenly flame is hidden in this place.
The various heavenly flames are the supreme fire sources on the continent.
What flame could be stronger than a heavenly flame?
Chu Sang wanted to try her luck and take a gamble.
Clearly, she gambled correctly.
Although she didn't have a clear concept of the system's so-called numerical growth, it was obvious that the higher her luck value, the higher the rarity of heavenly treasures she encountered. The luck value of 17 had been a great help to her.
Xiao Bai's devouring domain expanded, dark purple energy silently covering this area, imperceptibly seeping underground.
"Whoosh!" A flame, red with hints of gold, urgently emerged from a crack in the ground, rushing towards the cave exit.
"Trying to run?" Chu Sang smiled, curling her lips. She wouldn't give it this chance.
Her spirit sense spread out in an instant, like a dense net, quickly entangling the small heavenly flame that wanted to escape.
Although her cultivation was only at the Golden Core stage, her spirit sense strength was almost comparable to the Nascent Soul stage, perhaps... even stronger?
The heavenly flame was instantly tightly wrapped by her spirit sense, unable to move.
It urgently increased its flames several times, intensely burning her spirit sense, trying to make her give up.
The pain of the spirit sense being burned was indescribable, far more intense than physical pain!
If it were an ordinary cultivator, they would certainly have been unable to endure this intense pain and given up early. But the heavenly flame probably hadn't counted on the cultivator coming to capture it today being a fire spirit root.
And not just any fire spirit root, but a top-grade heavenly fire spirit root.
Chu Sang's fire resistance was much stronger than others, and she could even absorb the heavenly flame's fire to temper her own spirit root.
"Burning nicely, want some more?" Her originally pale, sweaty face gradually became rosy, looking even more at ease than when she started.
This was truly unbelievable.
The small heavenly flame finally realized something was wrong, almost extinguishing itself from the shock of this terrifying reality.
At this critical moment, Chu Sang finally completed the contract spell in her hand, swiftly striking it on the heavenly flame. As she chanted the incantation, a brilliant light flashed—
The contract was formed!
The successfully contracted heavenly flame obediently flew to her palm, absorbed by Chu Sang into her dantian.
Of course, she didn't leave behind the large patch of fire crystal stones in the cave either, scooping them all up.
After making sure nothing was left behind, she unhurriedly left the cave, looking to see which unlucky one had become the demon beast's first appetizer.
Oh, that unlucky one was her, or more accurately, "her."
Evidently, her earlier earth-shattering, ghost-crying operation had earned her special attention from the beautiful spider beast. Without even glancing at the others, it rushed over to eat her first.
Peeling away the thick white cocoon, the spider silk was clearly poisonous. The red-clothed "young woman" who looked exactly like Chu Sang was unconscious with closed eyes.
The spider beast extended its black claws, sharper than blades, intending to disembowel the cultivator before it.
But a hidden blade broke through the air and struck!
The hidden blade, enhanced with Wind Rune 2.0, was several times more powerful. It hit the beautiful spider beast's arm, leaving a wound.
"Hiss hiss!" The demon beast turned angrily, clearly confused when it saw Chu Sang's face. It turned to look at the unconscious "young woman" beside it, its CPU overheating, unable to figure out what was going on.
"Third Senior Brother's craftsmanship truly lives up to its name. This puppet can indeed pass for the real thing."
As the demon beast attacked, she disappeared on the spot, flashing to the side of the white cocoon. She made a hand seal and chanted, retrieving the puppet into her storage bag. Patting her hands, she seemed to sigh, "Don't break it for me. I want to use it a few more times. After all, Third Senior Brother only makes puppets once. If it's broken, he won't make me another one."
"Damn, Chu Sang? That's her voice outside, right? I'm not hallucinating from the poison, am I?" Zhao Yun sat up startled, as if rising from his deathbed. They could naturally hear the commotion outside. They had been prepared to hold hands and go to the underworld together, not expecting Chu Sang to make a comeback.
But he had clearly seen her caught by the demon beast and wrapped in a white cocoon just like them.
They couldn't escape, so how did she get out?
Mu Chihuai, having more pills, held out longer than the others. Hearing snippets from outside, he guessed most of it, "Little Junior Sister probably was never caught by that demon beast from the beginning......"
"Just before the demon beast launched its attack, she likely used a concealment talisman to slip away. Then, before others could react, she brought out a puppet to replace herself, confusing the demon beast and letting it lower its guard."
"The Little Junior Sister in the white cocoon just now was fake. The real one had long since escaped."
"Shameless, truly shameless." Zhao Yun gave his highest evaluation of Chu Sang. If he were that spider, he'd be furious by now.
Mu Chihuai couldn't laugh though. So many of them being caught was already a fact. One escaping was better than none, but why did Little Junior Sister come back after she had already run away?
Was she afraid the demon beast wouldn't be full and came back for seconds?
Of course, he was just joking. But with her strength alone, there was no chance of defeating a Nascent Soul stage demon beast. A late Nascent Soul stage demon beast wasn't like those pushovers they encountered before.
Tantai Ming was also anxious. Although they had previously taken down a peak Nascent Soul stage demon beast, that was only achieved through their combined efforts using a sword formation.
But now, with only her outside and no other help, the spider's web was dense and impossible to cut through. Honestly, it was even more troublesome than the Black Lizard King. Once caught, there was only death waiting.
"Cunning human cultivator, how dare you deceive me!" The beautiful spider woman also realized what had happened and became furious immediately. Silver-white silk threads shot out,
Like scattered flowers from heaven, a vast net covering earth and sky.
There were simply too many spider threads. Even if she pushed her speed and dodging to the limit, it was impossible to withstand thousands upon thousands of spider threads attacking simultaneously.
After just a few exchanges, she was unfortunately caught. The moment the spider silk touched her, it wrapped around and bound her entire body like a poisonous snake.
Seeing the young woman try to use fire, the beautiful spider woman curled her fingertip, twirling her long hair, and sneered, "It's useless. Mere Golden Core stage, still thinking you can burn through my spider silk? Such wishful thinking!"
"Oh, is that so?"
The spider beast didn't catch the neither-hot-nor-cold tone in her voice. It only narrowed its eyes dangerously, instinctively feeling that the cultivator before it was somehow different from the others, giving it an inexplicable sense of urgency. It wanted to quickly eliminate this variable.
With a tug of the spider silk, it easily pulled Chu Sang, who was dozens of meters away, to its side. Before it could bite into her flesh, a fiery palm directly slapped its face, causing it to emit a sharp, terrifying screech. It retreated several meters, the horrifying heat almost melting its entire being!
Chu Sang had long observed that this spider beast always adopted long-range attacks, avoiding close combat with cultivators. This indirectly reflected its weakness in close combat and poor defensive abilities.
She took advantage of the moment when the demon beast pulled her close and lowered its guard, giving it her favorite big slap in return.
"Ahhhh!"
The beautiful spider woman was enraged to the extreme, her beautiful eyes almost transforming into six. This damned cultivator was supposed to be bound by the spider web, how could she break free?!
"Ordinary spirit fire can't burn my spider web at all. You! How did you manage this?!"
"Ordinary spirit fire doesn't work, but heavenly flame can." Chu Sang waved the talismans between her fingers, shooting them out.
The soft talisman paper was like a sharp blade, shot out from her ten fingers, cutting through iron like mud.
The spider had learned its lesson this time and didn't dare underestimate this human again. Dodging these talisman attacks wasn't difficult for it.
As it happened, Chu Sang wasn't aiming to attack it at all. The talismans hit the dozen or so white cocoons behind it. The burning talismans she had modified with the heavenly flame immediately burst into red flames tinged with gold.
The incredibly sturdy spider silk was instantly consumed by the flames.
The trapped cultivators fell to the ground one by one, severely poisoned, unable to stand for a moment.
Mu Chihuai, who could barely walk, distributed the remaining antidote pills to them.
Seeing its food about to escape, the spider beast became more anxious and wanted to go stop them.
The young woman blocked its path, smiling brilliantly and boldly, "I'm your opponent."
"Get lost!" It cursed angrily.
"Hmm, you tell me to get lost and I just get lost? Where's my face in that?"
The spider beast was about to be driven mad by her. Since it couldn't eat anyway, it might as well kill this cultivator completely!
Chu Sang was extremely skilled at drawing aggro, luring the spider beast farther away to give the others time to recover.
The spider beast was determined to finish her off, attacking like a madwoman.
Although the heavenly flame in her hand could melt the spider web, it couldn't eliminate the attacking power of the spider silk itself. Those spider threads, imbued with terrifying demonic power, were like knives and blades, easily able to pierce through a cultivator's chest.
Her endurance and speed couldn't match a late Nascent Soul stage demon beast. After just a few exchanges, she was caught up to.
Just before the spider silk could pierce through her body, a dark purple domain suddenly expanded, enveloping both human and beast within.
The spider beast suddenly found it couldn't use any of its demonic power, but similarly, Chu Sang couldn't use spiritual power within the devouring domain.
But it didn't matter, she could use her spirit sense.
Spirit sense doesn't belong to the material world, directly linked to a cultivator's consciousness.
Her spirit sense was equivalent to the Nascent Soul stage, a 50-50 match with the spider beast whose demonic power was temporarily sealed. No problem.
The formless, harmless spirit sense in her hand transformed into countless tiny blades, easily hidden in the air, coexisting with all things, impossible to trace, just as no one can trace the wind,
In a single breath, countless spirit sense blades slashed across the spider beast's body.
"Ahhhh!" It was both pained and enraged, again shooting out tens of thousands of spider threads.
Chu Sang destroyed part of the spider silk with the heavenly flame, but some threads almost penetrated her Golden Armor Talisman, striking her body hard and sending her flying several meters. She couldn't hold back the sweet taste in her throat.
She also had several bleeding wounds on her body.
Xiao Bai's current strength was limited, only able to maintain the domain for the time of an incense stick burning. After that time, the domain disappeared, and both of them were injured.
"Now, let's see what other tricks you can pull out?!"
Within the domain, the two had fought to a draw, but outside the domain, the spider beast, with its demonic power restored, could crush a Golden Core stage cultivator like her as easily as an ant.
The spider beast's previous success in being ambushed by Chu Sang was purely because it hadn't taken her seriously at all, being careless.
But now it understood how cunning this person was, and naturally wouldn't give her another opportunity!