Jiaotu, who was in the water, discovered that the maids who came to clean every day were gone, and the footsteps that often walked on the bridge had also disappeared along with the maids.
“It’s the busy farming season now, they might go back to harvest the crops,” the Snow Woman said.
Some of the Yuki-onna (snow women) who marry humans will return to the village during the busy farming season, transforming into ordinary people to help their husbands with the harvest.
"Yeah?"
Jiaotu fell into deep thought.
A few days later
"spring……"
The snow woman flew into the spring's courtyard.
"What's wrong?"
"I have something to tell you," the Snow Woman said solemnly, her face showing a hint of fear.
"What?"
"You're all alone here now."
Quan looked up at her. "I've always been the only living person here."
"That's not what I meant. It's that... the people here left last night, taking some food and money with them. They might never return," the Snow Woman said in a low voice.
"..."
The Oda family was terrified of the new lady, and the arrival of the monster was too sudden. People rushed to take everything they could, forgetting Izumi, who had just married into the family.
When the young master of the Oda family thought of this lady during his escape from Heian-kyo, he simply comforted himself and his servants, saying, "My eighteenth wife is a powerful Onmyoji. Perhaps she can survive. There's no need to feel guilty." He comforted himself in this way.
On this gloomy morning, no, before the day even began, everyone in Heian-kyo had left.
It's hard to imagine that this place has become a ghost town, and Quan is trapped here with no food or water.
Now, only these shikigami with magical powers are by her side. What can they do? Can they successfully rescue Izumi from this isolated island? Everything remains to be seen.
"As expected, I'm all alone here now..." Quan murmured.
Izumi's family thought the Oda family would take her away, but the Oda family believed she was a powerful Onmyoji who could remain calm in the face of danger when yokai appeared, so they kept her. At this moment, she was truly... speechless.
"Quan, we've sensed a demonic aura coming from the Ghost Gate in the north since this morning. Quan, let's leave!"
The Snow Woman said firmly.
"We can't leave anymore."
According to the system's prompt, the monsters had already stormed into Ping'an Jingdong from Suzaku Avenue, and the Xiaotian family was in this inauspicious location.
"……What?!"
Aoandon flew in and landed in front of them. "Izumi, why are you still here? Let's go! How could this happen..."
She felt a wave of despair, while the shikigami, filled with fear and anxiety, pondered a countermeasure.
"I can't leave."
Quan gave a bitter laugh.
One by one, the little spiders crawled out of the ground and onto the surface. They had black tentacles and pale white teeth.
When Izumi saw them, she thought of the little spiders of the Jorogumo, who were much cuter than these little guys.
"No matter what, let's go outside first." Qingxingdeng opened the door, and a white mist enveloped the outside.
"Ahem, Lord Ootengu, Lord Yasha, are you still there? Ahem..."
There was no response from outside.
Aoandon sat on the lantern and flew away, preparing to take them away from here.
"careful!"
Quan saw that it was getting light outside, and the sticky spider webs were hidden in the white mist, making them hard to distinguish.
"ah!"
Freezing in mid-air, Aoandon let out a shriek as the end of the lantern stuck to the spider web. The lantern and the web became one, and a huge spider head emerged from behind the web.
The ground spider lives on the ground, moving among the grass in spring and clinging to the grass in autumn. The ground spider doesn't catch insects by weaving webs; instead, it first digs a hole in the ground and lines it with silk.
Once the pit is dug, the earth spider will equip it with a sturdy, circular, movable door made of multiple layers of soil, silk, and silken hinges. It is then concealed externally with moss and other plant materials, making it virtually undetectable.
After doing this, the earth spider waits patiently for its prey. It lays smooth silk around the perimeter of the pit to trip the prey. Then it waits behind the half-open door. When an insect slips through the silk, the earth spider senses its movement, immediately pounces, grabs it, and drags it into the pit.
"The Blue Lantern was dragged inside!"
The Snow Woman watched this scene in surprise. Blue light flashed in her hand, and sharp icicles fell from the sky, piercing the spider web. Aoandon struggled out of the pit.
"Don't come out, hide inside!"
After saying that, she quickly flew into the air and reunited with the Great Tengu.
The Snow Woman and Izumi hid in the house, neither daring to light a lamp. After a while, the Yaksha jumped in through the window.
"Are you alright?" he asked them.
"It's alright, did Aoandon go out?"
Quan locked himself in a corner, poured all the usable cinnabar into a jar, and then shaved peach wood into thin slices and mixed it with the cinnabar.
"what are you up to?"
Yaksha anxiously watched the increasingly dark night outside. Although it was daytime, it was almost as dark as night, with traps laid by earth spiders everywhere.
"Can we escape?"
The snow woman asked seriously.
"Da Tengu sent Jiao Tu and the one-eyed monk away first. We agreed that I would take you out first, and he would come to help along the way, but now it seems impossible."
Yaksha sighed inwardly.
"Where are the White Wolf and the Fox Spirit? Where are they?" Izumi hadn't forgotten about the two new shikigami.
"They're still outside, trying to stop the earth spiders from invading," Yaksha said.
"Let them leave. I can't escape. I hope this room is sturdy enough to hold out until Lord Seimei returns."
Quan continued grinding the cinnabar.
"Leaving now might still save us," Yaksha pondered for a long time.
"The fox's claws are sharp enough, and the white wolf's arrows can burn through a layer of spider webs."
"May I?"
The spring stopped.
"roar--!!"
The howling roars pressed down on the houses, causing them to creak and groan in pain.
"It's too late, it's coming!"
A spider's leg tore through the window screen, reaching in to search for food, its huge eyes peering through the hole.
"It's huge!"
Quan exclaimed in surprise and continued grinding.
"The Earth Spider is brutal; its eight legs, fangs, and steel hairs are all weapons of death. Snow Woman, let's attack these areas!"
The Yaksha thrust its fork into the Tsuchigumo's leg, the steel fork piercing the joint precisely, yet not a drop of blood flowed.
"Damn hard!"
Yaksha put away his trident, and behind him, Quan began to draw magic circles on the ceiling, windows, and walls with a brush.
"roar--!!"
As one of the earth spider's legs landed, the house cried out again, seemingly on the verge of turning into a pile of rubble, and Quan fell off the ladder.
"spring!"
The snow woman flew over and pulled her up. Izumi coughed a few times and handed her the brush. "The magic circle needs to be drawn on the roof. Help me..."
"I'll do it!"
Yaksha snatched the brush and quickly began to draw on the roof. A drop of cinnabar fell on his shoulder, leaving a bloody pit.
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