Divine Tang Era

Chapter 149 The Evil-Faced Earth Spider (Part 1)

Suddenly, countless stars appeared in the inky sky, like countless dazzling gems inlaid in the boundless black silk, shimmering with a mysterious and cold light.

Under the cover of night, the plateau seems to merge with the sky, exuding an indescribable profound loneliness.

Occasionally, a few wolf howls could be heard in the distance, breaking the stillness of the night, but also adding a touch of life to this endless, desolate wilderness.

Suddenly, a gentle breeze blew from the woods on the hillside, carrying something that seemed to be drifting towards the tents the group had set up. By the faint starlight, it became clear that they were soft silk nets, with delicate threads connecting them.

The silk thread was very long, extending deep into the forest, as if being pulled by something, constantly adjusting the direction in which the net fell.

Finally, the silken net drifted with the wind over the tents, slowly descending like a dome covering them, sticking together and anchoring to the ground. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a spider web shaped like a Bagua (eight trigrams).

A rustling sound came from deep within the woods, sounding particularly abrupt in the quiet night.

The sound was very soft, and everyone was sound asleep, so they did not notice anything unusual.

The rustling sound grew closer, accompanied by a soft, stringy sound.

After a while, dark figures crawled out from the shadows of the woods. Countless evil-faced spiders followed the pulled spider silk to the top of the tents, spitting out silk threads to wrap the tents tightly.

These spider silks are incredibly tough and sticky; once a tent is wrapped in them, it's as if it's glued in place, making it impossible to move.

The Evil-Faced Earth Spider has an extremely bizarre appearance. Its upper body is that of a spider, while its lower body resembles an African drum, with a hideous, twisted, and eerie smiling face painted on the drumhead. At first glance, a sinister and malevolent aura emanates from it, sending chills down one's spine.

Each of these ground spiders is as tall as a person, with eight strong and powerful limbs, comparable to a giant.

Although they are tall, they crawl so gently that each step they take leaves no trace.

On the tent roof, the eight compound eyes of the evil-faced ground spiders gleamed with a cold, eerie light. They slowly turned their bodies, examining the prey trapped inside by their silken webs, constantly spitting out more silk to reinforce the enormous "cage."

As the spider silk gradually enveloped the tent, someone seemed to sense something amiss in their sleep. They turned over, but ultimately couldn't resist the drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep again.

Gradually, a pale moon appeared on the horizon, and the curtain of the long night was gently lifted.

The distant mountains slowly emerged from the haze, bathed in a light golden glow by the rising sun.

The wilderness forests and meadows were awakened by the soft light, bursting with vitality.

"Ah! What is this? Everyone get up and look!" Suddenly, a terrified scream broke the morning's tranquility.

Xu Dan suddenly woke up from his dream, got up and dressed, but then felt something was wrong. Why was the tent so low? It was almost touching his head. He poked the tent above him with his finger and felt as if something heavy was pressing down on it. Could it be that it was snowing heavily?

It won't be good to dig for treasure when it snows heavily; we might have to head home immediately.

With these thoughts in mind, Xu Dan quickly dressed and put the bed, cabinets, clothes racks, and other furniture into a storage bag to avoid being in a rush when tidying up later.

After packing my things, I opened the tent door. For some reason, the tent door seemed to be glued shut, making it difficult to open, so I used a little force. Once it opened, I was immediately stunned by the sight outside.

What the hell is going on?

Sticky spider silk tightly bound the tent. Originally, the spider web was in the shape of a Bagua (eight trigrams), but thanks to the relentless efforts of the evil-faced spider, the Bagua shape eventually became concentric circles around the tent.

Xu Dan looked around, took out the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, and poked at the spider silk; it was sticky.

The evil-faced spider, which was lying on top of the tent spinning silk, noticed the movement and poked its head down.

Xu Dan was startled when he suddenly saw eight compound eyes gleaming with a cold, eerie light. After regaining his composure, he realized it was a spider! How did it get onto the tent? Damn, did it mistake him for prey?!

"Junior brother, are you alright?" Xue Diao's concerned voice came from the side.

"I'm fine. Are you and Bao'er alright too?" Xu Dan asked.

"I'm fine."

"I'm fine too."

Xu Dan was relieved to see that they were all alright. It seemed that the spider only wanted to trap them and didn't intend to eat them immediately; if it wanted to, it would have done so long ago.

"Everyone be careful, this is the Evil-Faced Earth Spider, the most cruel and bloodthirsty. Remember not to look at the pattern on its rear end, it has a bewitching power that will make people dizzy." Lu Shizong's voice came from the side.

Exclamations and curses came from the surrounding disciples. To get a better look at the situation, Xu Dan took out his Eight Degrees Sword, cut a small opening in the tightly packed spider web, and crawled out. He was immediately stunned by what he saw outside.

The tents were covered in thick spider silk, resembling giant white cocoons.

The spider silk shimmered eerily in the sunlight, and the campsite was a mess.

Lu Shizong, Beiqiu Shu'ao, Bu Lugu, Zhang Bin and other martial arts school disciples, along with Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er, broke free from the tent trapped by the spider silk. Upon seeing this scene, everyone's face was filled with shock and fear.

"What on earth is going on?" a martial arts school disciple asked curiously.

She was fine yesterday, how come she woke up like this after being watered?

"Who knows?"

"This looks like an Evil-Faced Earth Spider." A martial arts school disciple recognized the spider's origin.

"It is indeed the Evil-Faced Earth Spider!" Lu Shizong said. "I have read in ancient books that the Evil-Faced Earth Spider is like a cat. After catching its prey, it does not kill it immediately. Instead, it slowly plays with it until the prey is exhausted and loses its ability to resist before killing and eating it, or taking it back to its nest to store as food for the winter."

A short while later, the people from the Mo Clan Martial Arts School and Xu Dan and the others came out of the tent, gathered together, and discussed countermeasures.

The Evil-Faced Earth Spider also stirred, turning its body and standing atop the tent, looking down at the crowd. Its compound eyes, gleaming with an eerie light, resembled cold, merciless machines, sending chills down one's spine.

Xu Dan felt that the way this guy looked down at them was like he was looking at a group of dead people.

Xiu Ran and the evil-faced earth spiders turned around in unison, their hideous, twisted, and eerie smiles facing the crowd.

"Everyone be careful! Don't look at the patterns on it, they have a mind-controlling power that will make people dizzy!" Lu Shizong shouted, but unfortunately, some people had already fallen victim to it and collapsed.

"Go, kill them!"

Mo Shiwei shifted her gaze, drew her sword, and charged towards the Evil Spider, with the other martial arts school disciples quickly following behind.

Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er also took out their bows and arrows, found a safe spot, and shot at the evil spider.

The evil-faced earth spider on Xu Dan's tent seemed to have taken a liking to this chubby, fair-skinned little guy. A bloodthirsty glint flashed in its compound eyes, and it opened its mouth to spit out a strand of spider silk, which flew towards Xu Dan. Then the earth spider leaped up from the tent, its entire body flying forward along with the silk.

Xu Dan never expected the Evil-Faced Earth Spider to have this move; it's simply outrageous.

Some martial arts students were caught off guard by this move and accidentally got bound by the spider silk, unable to move.

Some of the evil-faced spiders, seeing them charging towards them, leaped high into the air with a kick of their hind legs, their eight segmented limbs like sharp blades, stabbing towards the nearest martial arts disciple. The disciple couldn't dodge in time and was slashed on the arm by the segmented limbs, blood gushing out immediately.

"call out"

"call out"

Just as the evil-faced spider, which had bound and slashed the martial arts school disciples, was about to snatch its prey, Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er's arrows shot out, stopping them. The other martial arts school disciples also rushed forward to rescue them. Enraged that its prey had been stolen, the evil-faced spider hissed and charged at the two men.

Xue Diao and Xue Bao'er were archers, so they didn't know how to face the enemy head-on and started running around the camp.

They shot while running; the archery skills of the Xue family members were undoubtedly superb.

Before long, the evil-faced spider was riddled with arrows, and streams of green blood flowed down its carapace in a pitiful state.

Seeing the Earth Spider flying towards him, Xu Dan immediately took out the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer and rushed forward, thrusting the hammer straight into the Earth Spider's abdomen. The Earth Spider reacted quickly, its eight limbs tapping in mid-air as it leaped to the side, easily dodging the fatal blow. At the same time, it opened its large mouth and spat out a large ball of spider silk, covering Xu Dan's body.

Xu Dan put away the Soul-Devouring Yin-Yang Hammer, took out a longbow, nocked an arrow, and channeled the fire energy in his heart into the arrow.

The arrow seemed to catch fire instantly, bursting into flames.

With a release, and with a "whoosh," the flaming arrow shot swiftly away from the bowstring. The flaming arrow pierced through the gaps in the spider silk and shot out into the mouth of the evil spider outside.

"boom"

Flames exploded, scattering shards of arrow that pierced the spider's face and skull, preventing it from spitting out another thread. The ball of fire, however, was completely consumed by the raging flames, leaving nothing behind.

"Quickly! The silk of the Evil-Faced Earth Spider is afraid of fire. Everyone, burn it!" A disciple shouted when he saw what was happening to Xu Dan.

"Be careful not to burn the tent."

Upon hearing this, a martial arts disciple circulated his inner energy, wielded his sword, and unleashed a blazing sword beam that struck the spider silk like a raging fire. The sticky spider silk ignited and turned to ashes in the blink of an eye. Other sword beams were as swift as water, ruthlessly severing the silk and cutting through it in one stroke. Still others were fiercely sharp, showing no fear of the stickiness of the spider silk.

A spider silk flew from the tent next to him. Zhang Bin quickly swung his sword to block it, but the spider silk stuck to the sword, slowing down his movements.

Upon seeing this, Xu Dan immediately drew his arrow and shot it.

The Five Elements Arrow, specifically the Flaming Arrow, burned fiercely, transforming into a brilliant beam of light as it flew towards the Evil Spider.

Sensing the intense heat, the Evil-Faced Earth Spider had no choice but to abandon its attack on Zhang Bin and turn to dodge the Flaming Arrow. The arrow exploded behind it, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Hiss"

Seeing the exploding Flame Rocket and sensing Xu Dan's intense killing intent, the Evil-Faced Earth Spider was no longer in a hurry to cause trouble for Zhang Bin, and instead turned to attack Xu Dan.