Chapter 22 The Prey: Countless ores, countless burning eyes

Inside the guest house.

The summer heat had not yet dissipated, and the servants thoughtfully added borneol and borneol to the Boshan incense burner to soothe the restlessness of the people in the room with the coolness of borneol.

On the soft couch beneath the window sat an exquisite lacquered table inlaid with gold and silver, upon which rested a matching lacquered chessboard, with jade pieces scattered about. Bathed in moonlight, two sides, one black and one white, calmly battled it out amidst the swirling fragrance of camphor. Were it not for the occasional cries of birds and beasts echoing from the distant mountains, one would easily mistake it for the residence of a refined scholar in the Central Plains.

"Your Highness is impatient."

With a smile, Jia Qianyang placed a black piece in the heart of the white pieces' territory. The moment the black piece landed, the white pieces, who had previously held the advantage, were cut off from their path. The seemingly casual arrangement now revealed its true purpose: to annihilate the white pieces within an encirclement.

"Is that so? Sir, you have a truly shrewd plan."

Qin Yuqi leaned back, his gaze sweeping over the entire chessboard, and couldn't help but smile as he finally understood.

He raised an eyebrow, revealing the arrogance of youth, "However, we are not at our wits' end yet, sir, you are speaking too soon."

As he spoke, Qin Yuqi engaged in a fierce battle with the black pieces, his movements seemingly reckless and reckless, resulting in numerous losses, yet he was full of strategy. Although he could not break through the black pieces' blockade, he also prevented the black pieces from further expanding their territory, and the game remained undecided for a long time.

"Your Highness possesses such a tenacious spirit at such a young age, remaining calm in the face of setbacks. Given time, you might even become the ruler of the entire Central Plains upon inheriting the throne." Jia Qianyang's smile deepened, his gaze remaining fixed on the chessboard, but his admiration for the person opposite him was evident.

"You flatter me, sir. Whether the wishes of generations of my Great Yong can be fulfilled depends on your continued assistance in the future," Qin Yuqi said modestly, but his dark eyes shone brightly, filled with ambition and confidence.

Qin Yuqi suddenly remembered something. He turned to look out the window. The mountains became blurry black shadows in the night. His voice also became ethereal. "If those stones can be forged into divine weapons as you say, then unifying the Central Plains will not be wishful thinking."

Jia Qianyang placed a black piece, which he had been caressing for a long time, next to a white piece. "Your Highness need not worry..."

Before he could finish speaking, Jia Qianyang's eyes suddenly flashed, his dark eyes turning to the dense forest outside the window. His narrow eyes narrowed, his gaze seemingly able to penetrate the forest. "It seems that there will be prey coming in again tonight."

*

The spider's tall, slender legs gleamed with a cold, metallic light, and its long hairs trembled with the commotion caused by the collapse of the stone gate. Two jet-black eyes on its enormous head stared at the three people with the gaze of a homeowner looking at uninvited guests who had suddenly intruded.

The three of them remained perfectly still, without daring to make a sound.

But this giant spider had no intention of letting the intruders go so easily. It crawled along with its long legs and slowly turned its huge head, trying to see if the humans in front of it were still alive.

Xiao Jiang held her breath. As the spider's icy aura drew closer, goosebumps slowly crept onto her exposed neck.

The spider's coarse, long hairs brushed against her cheek and then slowly moved behind her.

The cave was so quiet that only the rustling of spider legs on the gravel floor could be heard...

One, two...

The spider's enormous body, supported by its numerous long legs, made each step land lightly, yet each step felt like a blow to the hearts of the three.

Xiao Jiang's five senses are all extraordinary. In this quiet environment, besides the sound of spiders crawling, she can hear the heartbeats of three people, three different violent beating frequencies, one after another. She can even hear the sound of blood flowing in her own veins, a faint thumping.

The burning sensation on her back and shoulder blades returned, a sharp pain accompanied by an itchy itch, as if something desperately wanted to burst through her skin. An unyielding force roared within her blood, a primal thirst for battle causing her body temperature to rise rapidly.

Xiao Jiang caught a glimpse of the blue ore on the wall out of the corner of her eye; the smooth, dark blue surface reflected her burning golden eyes.

Countless ores, countless burning eyes.

The throat moved up and down, and a swallowing sound followed.

It was Wu Hu, who swallowed hard because he was so nervous.

A cold light flashed on the blue ore.

The giant spider sensed the sound beneath it, bared its metallic fangs, and prepared to pierce the tiger's veins, where the sweet, warm blood it had longed for surged.

The girl behind him leaped up, raised her hand, and the blue veins on her hand holding the short knife burst forth, all the most primal power in her bloodline gathering in the blade.

Tiger's eyes widened as he watched the spider's fangs draw ever closer, yet he remained frozen in place, unable to move. His mind screamed for escape, but his body wouldn't obey, stiff and lifeless. His throat felt blocked; he couldn't utter a single cry for help. He wasn't grown up yet, not yet the strongest warrior in the village; he didn't want to meet his ancestors so soon!

"laugh--"

Wu Hu didn't see his ancestor; he saw the spider's fangs stop less than three inches away from him, and then the spider's huge body split in two, revealing Jiang Yuhuo holding a short knife behind it—

His fair face was stained with blood, and his golden pupils burned like fire.

She...she...used a bone knife to split such a large spider in two!

Her bone knife was still dripping a liquid that looked like blood or brain matter. Wu Hu had seen this knife before; it was just a small knife made from animal bones, and its sharpness was far inferior to the real weapons his father owned, and even less than the sickles that ordinary people used to cut grass.

How much force must it have taken to pierce and tear through a spider's hard exoskeleton with such a toy-like knife?

Wu Hu felt like he didn't even recognize the person in front of him anymore.

He fell to the ground with a thud, whether from being frightened by the spider or from seeing Jiang Yuhuo's eyes—those piercing eyes that made one want to submit from the bottom of one's heart.

Xiao Jiang put away her knife and wiped her hands, which were also covered in sticky liquid, haphazardly. "Are you alright?" she asked, reaching out to Wu Hu to help him up from the ground.

Wu Hu was frightened, but he still offered her his hand. The two hands, both belonging to a young man and even calloused, clasped together. The burning heat came from the other hand, and at that moment, Wu Hu felt that the owner of this hand was incredibly reliable.

But then he saw something, and his pupils constricted sharply.

"careful!"

Wu Hu exclaimed in surprise and instinctively pulled Xiao Jiang to the ground.

Caught off guard, Xiao Jiang was nearly knocked over by Wu Hu's sudden burst of power. Fortunately, she reacted quickly and regained her balance. At the same time, she saw the blade of his foot swinging down towards her head in Wu Hu's eyes.

The blade fell in an instant. Xiao Jiang's uninjured right hand was tightly gripped by Wu Hu, and he could only defend himself with his previously injured left hand. If he did not defend himself, the dying Spider Sharp would have already shredded their bodies.

Faced with the choice of cutting off his arm to survive, Xiao Jiang knew the answer without even thinking.

Just as the foot blade was about to touch Xiao Jiang's arm, a blue beam of light, faster than her hand, shot up from her side and shattered the razor-sharp spider leg into pieces.

The change happened in an instant, but all three people in the cave saw it. Xiao Jiang subconsciously looked down at her waist. The transparent glass bottle emitted a pale blue light, and the merman inside was looking at her through the bottle's opening. She could see a hint of reproach in the merman's tiny face.

After just one glance, Xiao Jiang gripped the bottle tightly in his hand.

Qingdai and Wuhu's gazes fell on Xiaojiang's waist, but they only had time to catch a glimpse of a glowing bottle before Xiaojiang hid it.

Wu Hu was even more amazed; Xiao Jiang not only possessed incredible martial prowess, but also had a magical treasure.

Qingdai's gaze towards Xiaojiang became even more complex, but she had no time to think further. The giant spider's body, split in two, rapidly vanished, and the surrounding environment changed in the process.

Almost the instant the spider disappeared, the cave changed completely.

There was no stone gate or hairy spider left; all that blocked their view was an unfinished stone wall with deep and shallow chisel marks, and some of the workers' tools were still left on the gravel ground.

This is what a normally man-made mine should look like. So what was that place just now?

Xiao Jiang felt a chill on the back of his neck, a faint breeze blowing from the cave entrance. Inside the cave, however, there had been no wind at all, as if it were an isolated space where no air could be felt moving.

Qingdai stretched out her hand, letting the wind slip through her fingers, and she also noticed the previous abnormality.

"It was an illusion. Someone set up a formation in the mine. We must have accidentally walked into it, so we kept going around in circles in the illusion. We only returned to reality after we killed the spider, which was the guardian of the formation, causing the illusion to collapse from the inside."

Wu Hu was completely stunned. He had experienced too many unbelievable things that night, and his mind was completely blank, making it even more difficult for him to understand these words he had never heard before.

Xiao Jiang frowned as she looked at the eerie cave. She believed Qing Dai's explanation; she just couldn't understand how the illusion was triggered. If they could accidentally enter the illusion, could others do the same?

—For example, her father.

The faint sound of a child sobbing could be heard on the wind. Qingdai and Wuhu immediately followed the sound and found Liuchong'er huddled in a corner, hugging her knees.

"Six Insects, is that you? What are you doing here? Where did you go? We couldn't find you anywhere." Wu Hu immediately stepped forward and bombarded the cowering Six Insects with a long string of questions.

"Waaah... I don't know, when I turned around, you were all gone. I'm too scared to move, waaaah... I'm so scared... I'm all alone..." Liu Chong'er sobbed incessantly, wiping away her tears, unable to utter a complete sentence.

"You mean the people around you suddenly disappeared? So you didn't see us in the cave before?" Xiao Jiang, who was walking at the back, couldn't help but ask when he heard Liu Chong'er's words.

The mine only had one path. If Liu Chong'er had stayed in the same place, they would have met when they came in with torches. But they didn't meet each other. So there is only one possibility: Liu Chong'er also accidentally walked into an illusion that can make people disappear.

Xiao Jiang was about to ask another question, but was interrupted by a glare from Qing Dai.

"It's alright, it's all alright, it's all over. Don't be afraid, Liu Chong'er, we're going home now." Qingdai picked up Liu Chong'er and gently patted his back. Hearing that they were going home, Liu Chong'er calmed down considerably, but he still clung tightly to Qingdai's neck and sobbed softly on her shoulder.

Qingdai turned her head to Xiao Jiang behind her and said, "Let's go. Now that we've found the person, let's get out of here quickly. This place is not a good place to stay, nor is it a place to talk. We can talk about anything else later. You should also go see the witch doctor about the injury on your hand immediately."

Xiao Jiang said no more. The four of them walked towards the entrance and quickly emerged. It wasn't nearly as deep as when they had entered. If the exit was the real mine, then when did the changes they experienced upon entering begin?

As they emerged, Xiao Jiang observed the cave the entire way. The monotonous stone walls and the blue mineral stones scattered among them made it impossible to discern anything unusual.

Where are you going?

Xiao Jiang was still lost in thought and didn't notice that she had reached the fork in the road between the temple and her home. She subconsciously chose to take the way home, but Qing Dai grabbed her forearm.

"Come back to the temple with me. Your injuries must be treated by the shaman."

Upon hearing the word "treatment," Xiao Jiang immediately pulled away from Qingdai's hand. The burning and itchy pain on her back constantly reminded her that she absolutely could not let anyone see it.

Perhaps because she had witnessed Xiao Jiang's injury firsthand, Qingdai was very insistent this time. When she grabbed Xiao Jiang's hand, she noticed that her body temperature was much higher than normal. She touched Xiao Jiang's forehead and found it was burning hot again. She frowned and looked into Xiao Jiang's eyes, her worry genuine. "You have a fever. I can't let you go home like this."

A note from the author:

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