Chapter 83 Flaw: What to do when your wife likes role-playing? Then...
"Fellow Daoist Bai, let's go!"
Before Ye Rugo could finish speaking, she had already caught up with Huo Lan. The two of them pressed their backs together, facing the swarm of sand spiders that surged towards them like a tide.
Bai also saw her take out a guitar, no, a pipa, and hold it in her arms. Her slender fingers lightly swept across the strings, causing them to vibrate and sending waves of sound forward.
The swarm of sand spiders that rushed in front of her were instantly shattered as if struck by an invisible blade.
She's so cool, so stylish, I love her!
"Stop being a fangirl." Bai also chuckled and scolded, but he had to admit that the two of them each had their own charm and were both exceptionally talented.
"However!" Bai Ye's tone shifted abruptly, and he transformed into lightning, flashing in front of the two of them. "I'm the coolest one!"
She held a small, dark blue lightning ball in each of her palms.
"Double Rasengan, please have some!" Haku forcefully hurled two lightning balls at him.
"Jiaojiao is the most dazzling one." Jiaojiao hummed and peeked her little head out from Bai Ye's clothes.
A golden halo emanated from Bai Ye's chest and quickly spread throughout his body, completely protecting the man and the tortoise.
"Boom! Boom!"
The lightning ball exploded, and blinding lightning scattered outwards. Bai Ye's attack was not very powerful, only killing a few sand spiders at the very front.
However, the stray arcs of electricity struck the rock walls on both sides, and with a "sizzle" and an explosion, the spider eggs touched by the lightning exploded one after another like firecrackers being lit.
This action wiped out tens of thousands of unhatched spider eggs.
"Squeak squeak squeak!!!"
A sharp screech erupted from the depths of the rift. The sound did not come from any single spider, but rather seemed to be a shockwave formed by all the spiders converging at that moment.
The sonic wave struck directly at her soul. Even with Huo Lan's cultivation level, she was caught off guard and her body swayed involuntarily, her eyes momentarily unfocused.
Thanks to Jiaojiao's protection, Bai also escaped unharmed. She reached out to support Huolan and asked with concern, "How are you? Are you alright?"
Huo Lan leaned against Bai Ye, her face pale, and did not reply.
"snort."
Ye Rugo snorted coldly, her slender fingers quickly plucking the strings of the pipa, and a clear and melodious tune echoed in the depths of the rift valley.
The music was gentle yet carried a chilling, murderous aura, like the rushing sound of an icy spring or the clear clang of metal striking metal.
As the sound waves passed, the disturbing hissing sounds receded like the tide, and the frenzied sand spider swarm also strangely quieted down.
The melodious music brought Huo Lan back to her senses. She looked at Bai Ye's face, which was so close to hers, and teased, "Getting so close, are you worried about me?"
Bai let go of her speechlessly, saying, "If you're alright, just stand there by yourself."
Huo Lan pulled away from her embrace and looked at Ye Rugo, who was quietly plucking the strings of her zither. She grabbed Bai Ye's arm and said, "Let's go find the Spider Queen. Ye Rugo will cover our retreat here."
Bai was dragged forward, and she looked back at Ye Rugo standing in the sand spider swarm. Ye Rugo's eyes were slightly closed, she was holding a pipa, and her slender fingers were quickly plucking the strings. She was completely unprotected.
"Jiaojiao, go help her." Bai also took the little turtle out of his arms and threw it in Ye Rugo's direction.
She did this not because she cared much about Ye Rugo, but simply based on her judgment in the battle.
Ye Rugo is clearly a mage-type character who controls the battlefield, and she needs a tank to protect her. Both she and Huo Lan are melee fighters, so Jiao Jiao wouldn't be of much use by their side.
Moreover, both of them cultivated the Star Body, making their physiques far stronger than those of ordinary cultivators. Based on a comprehensive assessment, Ye Rugo is the one who needs the most protection.
"You seem to care about her quite a bit," Huo Lan said sourly.
Bai rolled her eyes. She was surrounded by swarms of sand spiders, and she was too lazy to deal with Huo Lan's unreasonable behavior at this moment.
"I knew it, you just think she's prettier than me, don't you?" Huo Lan cleaved the swarming sand spiders in two with a single stroke, limbs and blood splattering everywhere. She didn't even look at them, only turning her head to stare at Bai Ye.
"No," Bai replied loudly, conjuring a lightning longsword in his palm. The sword light swept across, and the scattered electric sparks instantly paralyzed a group of sand spiders.
Upon seeing this, Huo Lan immediately leaped forward, her blade flashing, and the immobilized sand spiders were instantly decapitated.
The two worked together seamlessly, one controlling and the other dealing damage, greatly accelerating their advance.
"We're teammates!" Bai quickly finished his sentence during a break in the advance. "Teammates are meant to never give up on each other. We're going to kill the Spider Queen, leaving her alone to face so many sand spiders. She's the one in the most danger, and she needs protection."
"Of course I know we can't abandon our teammates! Our mercenary team never abandons its members!" Huo Lan flashed back to Bai Ye's side, smiling as she asked, "If I stay behind to cover the retreat, will you leave Jiao Jiao behind to protect me?"
Bai continued her swordplay without pause, pondering her words for a moment. Thinking of Huo Lan's formidable record of single-handedly defeating a group of people, she realized that if Huo Lan had been covering their retreat...
"Hey!" Huo Lan looked at you like she'd caught you red-handed. "You hesitated. You just thought she was a music practitioner and looked a bit weak, so you treated her better, didn't you?"
"I didn't." Bai also shook his head in denial. Admitting it at this time would be the real problem, and Huo Lan would definitely not let it go.
"Hmph~" Huo Lan let out a soft snort from her nose, her tone rising, "At least you still have some conscience."
The two bickered and killed monsters at the same time, and in the blink of an eye they had traveled nearly a hundred miles.
The surrounding scenery became increasingly terrifying. The spider eggs that were previously visible embedded in the rock walls were now covered by layers of sand spiders. Bai Ye's lightning ball, which landed on top of them, could no longer harm the spider eggs.
The sand spiders that rushed up were visibly much larger, and the color of their carapaces had changed. If the previous enemies were only sixth or seventh-tier minions, these were now elite monsters comparable to Nascent Soul or Divine Transformation cultivators.
Bai also blocked the forelimb of a ninth-tier sand spider with his sword, and a thunder planet appeared in his palm. He stuffed it directly into the sand spider's wide-open mouth, thus strangling and killing it.
"What level is this Spider King?" Bai shouted to Huo Lan, who was wildly slashing at the front. "Why are the soldiers coming out getting stronger and stronger?"
"Eleventh rank!"
Without turning her head, Huo Lan said that these elite monsters still couldn't last a single move against her; she could kill them one by one with a single slash, as easily as cutting melons and vegetables.
"Huh???" Bai's eyes widened. "An eleventh-tier great demon? Isn't that equivalent to a cultivator in the Ascension Realm? You think you can handle that?"
"Of course!" Huo Lan replied decisively. "If I can't handle it, do you think that pipa player can?"
Bai was also rendered silent. After a while, he said, "That's not what I meant. I meant, how could a great demon's lair of this level be arranged in the Sand Hunt?"
“Oh, this wasn’t arranged by the Sand Hunters. This spider nest wasn’t on their cleanup list; the danger rating was too high. Ye Rugo insisted on choosing this place herself,” Huo Lan explained casually.
"Wow." Bai clapped his hands dryly twice, his tone completely flat. "You guys are really brave."
"Stop joking around." Huo Lan tugged at her in annoyance, and with a swift movement, the two of them turned into a narrow path hidden by spider webs.
The path wound its way downwards, so deep it seemed to lead to the very core of the earth. But strangely, not a single spider egg could be seen on the rock walls on either side of the passage.
The further you go in, the more you smell a faint, sweet fragrance in the air.
"Is there something good here? I think I smell something fragrant?" Bai asked in a low voice, leaning close to Huo Lan's ear.
"Shh!" Huo Lan raised her hand to signal people to be quiet. "The Spider King's aura is just ahead."
Bai obediently shut his mouth and followed Huo Lan forward. After traveling dozens of miles in the darkness, an extremely soft light appeared in their field of vision.
Huo Lan and Bai exchanged a glance. She held her sword horizontally in front of her and said in a low voice, "Hide behind me."
"Okay." Bai nodded readily and flashed behind Huo Lan.
Facing an eleventh-tier demon, she was very aware of her own limitations as a mere Nascent Soul cultivator: she absolutely must not recklessly rush in to her doom!
Huo Lan was the first to step out of the path and into the light.
Bai followed closely behind, taking a step forward. The two stopped almost simultaneously, looking at the world covered in spider silk before them.
This is a huge underground cavern; as far as the eye can see, all one can see is an endless expanse of snow-white spider silk.
Unlike the dirty spider webs seen outside, every strand of spider silk here is crystal clear.
However, each spider silk emitted a faint white light, and the light emitted by hundreds of millions of spider silks illuminated the underground cave as bright as day.
Not far in front of the two, the spider king, crawling on the snow-white spider silk, looked particularly terrifying.
It was enormous, like a small mountain, with a deep black carapace that seemed to devour all light. Eight sharp claws, like spears, were embedded in the spider silk below, supporting its massive body.
The Spider King slowly spoke, its voice seemingly emanating directly from its abdomen, "Cultivator, how dare you!!!"
However, the two people at the cave entrance were focused on the overwhelming amount of spider silk.
Bai Ye's eyes lit up as he looked at the spider silk covering the ground. "So much spider king silk! How many spirit stones is this worth? Huo Lan, we're rich!"
"Money-grubber." Huo Lan patted her head, somewhat amused and exasperated. "Don't be careless. Spider silk is extremely sharp. Be careful when you collect it."
Their oblivious interaction completely enraged the Spider Queen.
"How dare you ignore me?" the Spider King roared in a low voice, unleashing a terrifying mental attack like a tidal wave.
"No, no, how could I ignore such a big, ugly thing like you?" Huo Lan replied loudly. "The same trick only works the first time, you know."
Before she finished speaking, her aura suddenly erupted, and a powerful surge of Yin energy poured out, instantly creating a semi-transparent mental barrier in front of her and Bai Ye.
The incoming mental attack crashed against the barrier, only creating ripples before failing to advance any further.
At the same moment, she slashed out with her twin blades in a cross pattern. The power of Yin energy was attached to the cross-shaped blade light, and wherever the blade light passed, the incredibly tough spider silk shattered.
Along with the blade's light, Huo Lan herself burst forth, her figure almost merging with the blade's light, transforming into a sharp arrow that shot straight at the Spider King's enormous compound eyes.
With a deafening roar, the violent shockwave overturned countless spider webs.
Bai glanced at Huo Lan, who was at the center of the battle, and seeing that she and the Spider Queen were fighting quite fiercely, he looked away and stopped paying attention.
She crouched down at the cave entrance, her eyes gleaming as she harvested the priceless spider silk.
"Today is such a good day~ all my wishes will come true~" Bai hummed a tuneless little tune as he put spider silk into his storage ring.
"Tsk tsk, so much top-grade spider silk, enough to make several sets of defensive robes. I just don't know if the Hundred Refinements Sect will still accept my orders." Bai was also thinking to himself, he seemed to have offended their young master quite badly before.
However, she quickly dismissed the thought. If the Hundred Refinements Sect didn't accept the order, she could just find someone else. After all, the Hundred Refinements Sect wasn't the only one with weapon refiners.
While Bai was immersed in the joy of making a fortune, the battle in the center of the nest was becoming increasingly fierce.
Explosions and the clang of metal clashing filled the air. The battle between Fire Orchid and Spider King appeared to be evenly matched, but in reality, it was far from over.
Her blade, powerful enough to split mountains and shatter rocks, struck the Spider King's thick carapace, but aside from creating a series of sparks, it barely left any substantial damage and was completely unable to penetrate its defenses.
The Spider King didn't seem to have any intention of pressing its advantage; its massive body remained firmly in place, never moving an inch from its initial position.
It merely used its eight spear-like claws for passive defense.
Huo Lan noticed something amiss, dodged back, and shouted to Bai Ye, who was happily picking up spider silk behind her, "Little money-grubber, stop picking it up, set it on fire!"
"Huh? Coming!" Bai Ye looked up at the Spider King, who was eyeing him menacingly in the distance, and held his palm up. Instantly, a golden star the size of a fist, so dazzling that it was impossible to look directly at it, condensed into shape.
The intense, violent fire of the sun surged within the stars, and the extreme heat dissipated, causing the surrounding air to distort and deform.
Bai also aimed at the giant spider and threw out the golden star from his palm with all his might. Like the sun piercing the sky, the golden star hurtled towards the spider king's massive body at an extremely fast speed.
Just as the golden star made its move, Huo Lan also moved. The power of Taiyin surged on her twin blades, transforming into two silver-white crescent arcs, which she slashed down fiercely.
This attack forced the Spider King to raise its claws to block, and just then, the golden star fell on the Spider King without any obstruction.
"boom!"
The true fire of the sun erupted instantly, and the golden flames engulfed the Spider King's enormous body. The heat wave swept outwards, and the tough spider silk slowly began to twist and deform under the scorching heat of the true fire of the sun.
In the firelight, the Spider King's massive body, as large as a small mountain, shrank at a visible speed, as if it had truly been completely incinerated by the supremely yang fire of the sun.
Seeing this, Bai asked expectantly, "Did it work?"
Huo Lan shook her head, her voice tinged with uncertainty, "It shouldn't be. The defense of an eleventh-tier demon is far beyond our imagination."
As if to prove her words, the moment her voice fell, the raging golden flames suddenly faded, and the Spider Queen's figure appeared before the two of them.
Its size has indeed shrunk, but not because it was burned; it has been upgraded.
The Spider King's carapace was no longer the black it once was, but a dark red color, like cooled lava, after being tempered by high temperatures. It was covered with dark gold patterns and exuded an extremely fierce aura.
Faced with the Sun's True Fire, which was powerful enough to incinerate everything, the Spider King not only remained unharmed but also crossed the eleventh level and reached the twelfth level.
What it had been so tightly protecting was finally revealed to the two of them. It was a celestial herb, no more than a foot tall, that seemed to be formed from billions of stars.
The gentle yet powerful energy of the stars flowed among the blades of grass, forming an indestructible natural shield that protected them.
Bai also gasped in shock, "Star Grass, this damn thing has been guarding the Star Grass and absorbing it."
A hint of solemnity appeared in Huo Lan's eyes. A twelfth-tier cultivator—unless the true body comes, even in her current state, it would be difficult for her to contend with it.
"Squeak, you two annoying little bugs, eat them, eat you both!" The Spider King, having completed its advancement, let out a sharp roar, and its shrunken, even more ferocious body suddenly moved.
quick!
It was so fast that it was beyond the reach of sight and divine sense! It seemed to have directly distorted space, ignored distance, and appeared directly in front of Bai Ye.
Bai only felt a blur before his eyes, not even catching a glimpse of the other's afterimage, before a suffocating pressure of death swept over him.
She had no time to think; relying solely on her fighting instincts, she raised her arms to cross and block, conjuring a lightning shield in front of her, and taking out the jade pendant she had snatched from the young master of the Hundred Refinements Sect.
But that's all.
With a "whoosh," the sound of a sharp blade piercing through flesh and bone rang out.
The moment that sound was heard, time seemed to slow down.
Bai could clearly see how the dark red claws easily pierced through the lightning shield, then through the light shield emitted by the jade pendant, and the light shield hastily set up by Xiao Lü.
All three layers of shields shattered, and she heard the "crack" sound of the jade pendant breaking.
The claws relentlessly pierced through her flesh and bones, which were as hard as gold, and then plunged into her chest, with droplets of blood slowly floating in the air.
In that frozen moment, the two snow-white longswords, carrying all of Huo Lan's anger and power, slashed down with earth-shattering force.
With a snap, the dark red claw broke off.
Huo Lan made a lightning-fast move, grabbing Bai Ye's limp waist and stomping her toes on the Spider King's compound eyes. Using the recoil, she shot backward like a meteor, instantly creating a distance of nearly a thousand feet between herself and the Spider King.
Only then did time, which had been infinitely slowed down, seem to resume its operation, and the delayed excruciating pain surged back like a tide.
Bai's body trembled violently, and he vomited a mouthful of scalding blood, his face turning ashen white instantly.
"Time..." Bai Ye's gaze was fixed on Huo Lan's face, his eyes shining brightly.
Finally, she found a flaw in her plan.
This woman is indeed Zhong Jiuli.
Huo Lan's hands trembled as she wiped away the blood that kept spilling from Bai Ye's mouth, the bright red color driving her to the brink of madness.
Her gaze was fixed on the dark red claw that had pierced through Bai Ye's arms and chest, her eyes bloodshot.
"I'm fine...I'm fine..." Bai Ye struggled to press his forehead against Huo Lan's heaving chest, gently rubbing it, and said in a trembling voice, "Don't worry, you know I have Xiao Lü protecting me, I won't die."
She kept repeating to comfort Huolan, "Both my hands... are frozen in place, I can't move them, but I'll be alright, I'll be alright."
The crimson in Huolan's eyes gradually faded. She looked at Bai Ye, who was trying to comfort her despite the excruciating pain, and tears finally fell from her eyes.
"Don't cry, I'm really fine. Help me pull the claw out. It's just a minor injury, it'll be fine in a bit."
Just as Huo Lan reached out and grasped the sharp claws, the Spider King, whom she had kicked back, attacked the two of them again.
The air whistled as sharp claw spears tore through the air and plunged towards the two men's heads.
Huo Lan didn't even turn her head.
"Yezai, I'm here!"
A dazzling golden light, in an unparalleled manner, stood between the two and the Spider King.
"clang!"
The Spider King's claws struck the tortoise shell with a deafening roar. The golden tortoise shell withstood the attack, remaining completely unmoved.
Ye Rugo's clear, cold voice, like an icy spring, echoed in the cave, "Heal her wounds first."
Huo Lan did not respond. She suddenly exerted force on her claws and pulled them outwards.
"Ugh..." Bai trembled violently, a muffled groan escaping his throat.
The moment the claw left the body, the wound revealed was extremely shocking.
Bai Ye's two arms were almost severed by sharp claws, and through the hideous wounds, one could see her damaged internal organs and bones.
The venom remaining on the Spider King's claws was frantically eroding Bai Ye's body, and the wound continued to widen.
"I really owe you one."
Little Green cursed under its breath as its vibrant emerald energy surged toward the wound like water, rapidly repairing the damaged muscles and bones.
A bottle of healing medicine appeared in Huo Lan's palm. She opened the stopper and poured it all into Bai Ye's mouth.
Under the combined effects of the medication, the horrific wound stopped bleeding almost instantly, and granulation tissue began to grow rapidly, healing at an alarming rate.
Inside the cave, melodious music filled the air, each note carrying a calming power.
Under the influence of this mysterious music, the Spider King, which was originally violent, ferocious, and murderous, gradually calmed down.
Its enormous compound eyes gradually became hazy and unfocused. It stopped its frenzied attacks, retracted its sharp claws, and lay prostrate on the spider web, listening intently to the heavenly sounds echoing within the cave.
About half an hour later, Bai slowly opened his eyes.
Before she could see clearly, she fell into an embrace that carried a faint smell of blood.
Huo Lan wrapped her arms around her waist and back, pulling her into her embrace.
"How are you, Yezai?" Jiaojiao's anxious voice came from the side. She couldn't squeeze in, so she could only rest on Bai Ye's shoulder and rub her cheek with her little head.
"It's okay, you won't die." Bai was also a little breathless from being choked, but he still slowly raised his hand and placed it on Huo Lan's back, hugging her even tighter.
[Hey kid, is she really Zhong Jiuli?] Xiao Wang couldn't contain his gossip and went online to start gossip mode.
"Yes, when I was attacked by the Spider Queen just now, she used the law of time."
Then let's expose her true colors and condemn her!
"No, since she wants to play, let's play along." Bai Ye's voice carried a hint of amusement.
What to do if your wife likes role-playing? Of course, you should indulge her.
Huo Lan heard their conversation clearly. Her arm around Bai Ye stiffened. In her haste, she had indeed used the law of time.
But she didn't regret it; she only regretted not taking precautions sooner, which caused the little tiger to be seriously injured.
As they embraced tightly, Ye Rugo, who was providing accompaniment inside the cave, silently rolled her eyes. She looked at the two of them and shouted, "Gentlemen, if you keep hugging like this, I won't be able to control the Spider Queen."
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