High Martial Arts: Become a God by Spending Money, Start by Spending All Your Compensation Funds

Just as Lin Yun was frowning at the numbers on the system panel and pondering his next hunting plan, a commotion of footsteps suddenly came from downstairs.

Lin Yun instantly collected his thoughts, placed his hand on the short sword at his waist, and looked around.

The hunters on the second floor were also alerted. Several experienced hunters grabbed their weapons and looked towards the stairwell.

"Let's go down and take a look," the bearded man said in a low voice, getting up first and heading downstairs.

Lin Yun followed behind the crowd.

As soon as the group reached the first-floor stairwell, they saw Brother Hei leading four or five of his men up from the underground parking garage entrance.

The men's trousers were stained with dirty water and dark green insect fluid. The black man carried an alloy crowbar, the tip still dripping with residual acid, and in his other hand, he held several dead black iron ants. Seven or eight old hunters had already gathered in the hall, all staring down at the insect corpses on the ground, their faces grim.

Blackie walked to the open space in the center of the hall and casually threw a few black iron ant corpses on the ground, making a few dull thuds.

The hunters who had gathered around looked down and frowned.

The black iron ants had several strands of extremely fine grayish-white spider silk wrapped around their carapaces, and two fine puncture wounds on their thorax and abdomen, with slightly blackened edges, clearly pierced by the mouthparts of some kind of venomous insect.

"They didn't get lost and wander into the basement." Blackie's voice was deep as he twirled a strand of spider silk between his fingers. The silk was extremely sticky, and a single pull would create a long, thin thread. "They were being chased so desperately that they dug through the pipes to escape. They were chased by spider-like monsters."

A hunter nearby exchanged a slight glance: "A spider? Could it be a Shadow Spider?"

"It's not certain yet, but they'll definitely be tough to deal with." Blackie stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. "Everyone will take turns on night watch tonight. Keep your weapons at hand and stay alert. Tomorrow morning I'll lead a scouting team to find a new base. This place is no longer safe."

Everyone nodded in agreement; no one dared to be careless.

Anyone who has stayed in the occupied zone for a long time knows that spider-like creatures are the most cunning and can sneak into the camp without making a sound. By the time they are discovered, it is often too late.

Lin Yun stood in the crowd, his gaze falling on the spider silk, and he frowned slightly.

He had heard of the Shadow Spider's reputation; most were late-stage Tier 1 spiders, skilled in stealth and web-spinning for hunting, with exceptional night vision, making them very difficult to deal with.

However, with Blackie, a martial arts master, in charge, he wasn't too worried and just treated it as normal precautions.

That night, all the kerosene lamps in the stronghold were extinguished on time.

To avoid attracting distant beasts, the outpost strictly controls light sources at night, with only a small lamp covered by a black cloth left at the stairwell entrance, the light so dim that one can barely see the path under their feet.

Lin Yun sat cross-legged on his bunk on the second floor, circulating his cultivation method to nourish his qi and blood. As sleepiness gradually crept in during the latter half of the night, he leaned against the wall and dozed off, his hand always resting on the short sword at his waist.

I don't know how long I slept, but a heart-wrenching scream suddenly broke the silence, followed by the dull thud of a heavy object falling to the ground and terrified roars.

"Wake up, all of you! Get downstairs!"

The shout, trembling, echoed in the empty corridor.

Lin Yun opened his eyes instantly, all sleepiness gone.

Almost instinctively, he put on his Po Jun gauntlets, grabbed his short knife, and rushed downstairs with the awakened hunters.

The hallway was filled with chaotic footsteps; everyone realized something was wrong, and it was serious.

Just as Lin Yun rushed to the top of the stairs on the first floor, his steps suddenly stopped, and a chill ran down his spine.

In the dim light, more than twenty grayish-white "cicada pupae" hung densely from the ceiling of the first-floor lobby.

Those things were wrapped in thick spider silk, hanging from the load-bearing beams and swaying slightly, and you could vaguely make out human outlines.

Some had half of their faces turned blue and purple, while others had a stiff, blackened hand hanging down, showing very little sign of struggle.

From the foremost "cicada pupa," half of a dark blue cloth jacket was visible, which was what Boss Chen often wore.

Apart from the people who were hanging, there was almost no blood on the ground floor, and the tables, chairs and shelves were all neatly arranged.

It was as if these people were silently bound and hoisted to the ceiling while they were asleep, without even being able to utter a complete cry for help.

"Old Chen..."

One of the hunters cried out, his voice filled with barely concealed fear.

Boss Chen and a dozen or so vendors, along with four of Brother Hei's men stationed on the first floor, were all here.

"Watch out for what's above you!"

Blackie's roar came from deep within the hall, interrupting everyone's stunned silence.

Lin Yun looked in the direction of the sound and saw dark figures leaping out of the darkness.

Those strange beasts were at least two meters tall, with eight long legs covered in barbs supporting their round bellies. Their bodies gleamed with a faint, eerie light, and their eight compound eyes glowed with a chilling green light in the darkness.

It was indeed the Shadow Spider.

More than a dozen shadow spiders emerged from the cracks in the ceiling, the corners of the walls, and the entrance to the underground passage, their silk threads shooting towards the crowd like gray-white arrows.

The two hunters at the front who couldn't dodge in time got their arms stuck in the spider silk. The fabric was instantly corroded, creating holes, and their skin quickly became red, swollen, and blistered.

Blackie stood in the very center of the hall, holding a thick-backed straight sword in his hand. The blade was infused with the blood and qi of a Martial Master, gleaming with a chilling bloody light.

At his feet lay the corpses of three or four Shadow Spiders, all cleaved in two by a single blow, their carapaces shattered, and dark green fluids flowing across the ground.

"How dare you cause trouble on my turf!"

Blackie looked furious. He dodged the spider silk that came from the side, took a step forward, and slashed his thick-backed knife diagonally.

A flash of gleaming light appeared, and the attacking Shadow Spider didn't even have time to raise its front legs before it was cleaved open from head to chest and abdomen. Its massive body slammed heavily to the ground, its eight legs twitching twice before going still.

With a single strike, he killed a late-stage Tier 1 Shadow Spider.

Clean and efficient!

This is the strength of a Martial Master.

His blood and qi were so refined that they far surpassed the peak of martial apprentices. When infused into weapons, they could cut through armor like paper and kill first-tier beasts as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

The old hunter beside Lin Yun gasped in shock: "It really is a Shadow Spider! No wonder the brothers on the first floor couldn't even send a signal..."

Before he finished speaking, three more burly figures emerged from the passageway deep inside the hall.

These three Shadow Spiders were significantly larger than ordinary ones, with carapaces as dark as ink and gleaming with a metallic sheen; they were clearly three peak-level first-tier Shadow Spiders.

Instead of attacking directly, they spread out in a triangular formation and simultaneously spit out spider silk from three directions.

Three grayish-white spider silks, accompanied by the sound of tearing through the air, blocked all of Blackie's escape routes from different angles, and the sticky spider silk spread out into a large net in mid-air.

"Watch out, Black guy!"

Someone shouted.

Blackie remained unfazed, stomped his foot on the ground, and leaped into the air, twisting and turning in mid-air.

He twirled the thick-backed sword in front of him, unleashing the full power of his martial arts master's blood and energy. The sword hummed, and the air around it seemed to be distorted.

"break!"

With a low shout, the blade's light suddenly surged.

The three strong spider silks snapped instantly, falling lightly like cotton wool with broken threads.

The moment Blackie landed, he darted to the leftmost peak-level first-tier Shadow Spider.

Just as the Shadow Spider raised its barbed forelegs to stab, Blackie's knife had already precisely struck the junction of its head and thorax.

With a crisp snap, the hard, iron-like carapace was cut open like tofu, and the enormous spider head rolled to the ground, spraying dark green fluid half a meter away.

Seeing this, the remaining two Shadow Spiders pounced from the left and right sides at the same time, the barbs on their long legs gleaming coldly, and they kept spraying acid from their mouths.

Blackie neither dodged nor evaded, his thick-backed knife slashing horizontally and vertically with steady yet swift strokes, each strike precisely hitting the gaps in the spider's armor. In just a few moves, the second Shadow Spider was disemboweled, its internal organs mixed with bodily fluids spilling onto the ground, dying instantly.

Seeing the situation was dire, the third spider tried to turn and escape back into the passage, but Blackie flicked his wrist, and the tip of his knife shot out, precisely piercing its abdomen and pinning it firmly to the wall. The shadow spider kicked and thrashed wildly with its eight legs, but it couldn't break free no matter what it did. After struggling for a dozen seconds, it became completely still.

Three strikes, and all three peak-level first-tier Shadow Spiders were killed.