Chapter 15 – Resurrected Spider Demon

Translator: Kouki

Editor: Crooked

Jiang Luo suddenly felt a prying gaze that made him extremely uncomfortable.

This prying gaze was like that of a vicious venomous beast, making his body tremble wherever it roamed. Jiang Luo frowned. He put down his book and looked up, meeting the gaze of the young man sitting opposite of him.

Jiang Luo’s tight frown slightly loosened as he asked tentatively, “What are you looking at me for?”

Qi Ye: “My name is Qi Ye.”

Jiang Luo: ”Oh.”

Qi Ye’s eyebrows instantly became tightly crumpled; a confounded expression was displayed on his face. It seemed that he hadn’t at all expected that, after knowing who he was, the other person would just indifferently go, “Oh.”

The barrage was filled with ruthless ridicule.

[hhh here lies the site of Qi Ye’s overturned car]

[Angry-faced Qi Ye: There are actually still people in this world who don’t know of me, this genius?]

“You don’t know who I am?” Qi Ye asked in a raised voice.

Jiang Luo was a bit absent-minded. He stood up, looking left and right, searching for something as the sun set upon the darkening night. “Didn’t you say your name’s Qi Ye?”

Qi Ye felt his words get caught in his throat. After a moment, he became intrigued by Jiang Luo’s actions. ”Oy, what are you looking for?”

Jiang Luo’s gaze gradually settled upon a spot amidst the trees. There was no wind, yet it was moving by itself, as if something was hiding there. He suddenly looked towards Qi Ye, “Are you very skilled?”

The words carried a skeptical tone, provoking Qi Ye. He coldly scoffed, “At the very least better than you.”

He deliberately glanced at the book in Jiang Luo’s hand and sneered, “A luopan manual? It’s really interesting how you even got here.”

Although he said this, in fact, Qi Ye did not underestimate Jiang Luo. If he could reach here without even looking at his compass, it proved that this person was either extraordinarily talented or extremely lucky.

Sometimes, luck was also a kind of strength.

The suspicion swimming within Jiang Luo’s eyes became even stronger. “Really?”

Although he hadn’t said anything in particular, his attitude made others feel even more infuriated. Qi Ye’s chair screeched as he shot up, “What are you trying to say?”

“No other meaning. It’s just that I have always been a person who would never just talk if I could just do,” Jiang Luo said. “After all, anyone could talk big. If you want me to know that you’re amazing, you should bring out some concrete evidence. There seems to be something hidden in those woods. Do you dare to go and take a look?”

After Jiang Luo had said this, he considerately added: “It doesn’t matter even if you don’t dare. After all, it’s not a shameful thing to like bragging.”

Qi Ye took a deep breath, turned around, and walked towards the woods. “I never f*cking brag.”

Jiang Luo: “Aiya, do you really want to go over there? Don’t, it’s so dangerous. Okay, okay. Don’t be mad…”

Seeing that Qi Ye’s pace grew faster and faster as he headed towards the suspicious spot, Jiang Luo slowly shut his mouth. He comfortably stood in place like an apathetic bystander¹隔岸观火 – to watch the fire from across the shore; an idiom meaning to look on while others are in trouble without helping and watch the scene with amusement., observing Qi Ye’s movements.

Who knew that not even ten seconds later, Qi Ye would rush out from the back of the woods with a composed face. Fleeing at a quick pace, he hollered to Jiang Luo: “Quick, run. It’s a Spider Demon—“

Before he finished speaking, Jiang Luo had already turned around in a flash and ran. Qi Ye blanked for a second, then quickened his pace to catch up.

The two people ran out of the pavilion one after the other. Jiang Luo instinctively went to his left. Qi Ye, remembering that Jiang Luo was one step faster than himself within the Eight Trigrams Array, followed without hesitation.

The trees became more and more clustered. Under the moonlight, their shadows seemed to twist and come alive. The more Jiang Luo ran, the more he felt that something wasn’t right. It wasn’t until a familiar pavilion appeared before him that he realized they had returned to their original location.

Qi Ye stopped beside him panting slightly. He looked at the pavilion and then looked at Jiang Luo, his expression gradually becoming ugly. “Did you run back here on purpose?”

Jiang Luo: …I really didn’t.

Qi Ye thought about it more and more. With a faintly furious tone, he asked: “Did you think I was lying to you? Therefore you purposely took me to run round in a circle and run back here to see if there really is a Spider Demon?”

Jiang Luo: “… Um.”

Qi Ye laughed coldly. He grabbed Jiang Luo and walked behind the woods, “Then come, let’s see if I lied to you!”

Jiang Luo vigilantly observed his surrounding environment. “No need. Hurry up and go.”

After saying this, he looked back only to find that Qi Ye was nowhere to be seen.

Jiang Luo was stunned. In the next moment, a thick, sticky strand of spider silk was spat out from behind and wound around Jiang Luo. After a bout of violent, dizzy spinning, Jiang Luo became tightly bound to a spiderweb. Beside him was Qi Ye, who had also been caught.

The giant spider web almost covered all of the surrounding areas like a layer of misty gauze. Qi Ye freed an arm from the spider web that was comparable to 502 glue²a type of krazy/super glue., then said to Jiang Luo with schadenfreude, “See, I wasn’t lying to you.”

Jiang Luo’s hair had also been stuck to the spider web, which practically prevented him from moving at all. He first tried his best to liberate his hands from the spider silk. He glanced at Qi Ye speechlessly, before muttering, “Just wait until this trial is over, I’ll definitely chop this annoying hair off.”

Hearing this, Qi Ye turned to look at him. The black-haired youth was wholeheartedly trying to break free from the web. A few strands of white spider silk were stuck to his black hair. His clothes were dishevelled. At his slightly exposed collar, his fair and beautiful neck appeared even more slender.

His long hair was quite pretty…

Qi Ye came back to his senses and said, “How come we haven’t seen the Spider Demon?”

As soon as he said this, the giant web beneath him started to shake.

From the edge of the spider web, eight hairy legs crawled up. An extremely large spider quickly and skillfully climbed up along the thin spider silk.

The spider had yellow and black stripes and was about the height of an adult man. What was extremely strange was the fact that it had a human face and the upper torso of a human being.

The Spider Demon’s face was very pale and its eyes were so black it was extremely terrifying. It slowly climbed over Jiang Luo and Qi Ye. Compared to Jiang Luo, Qi Ye was closer to the outside. The Spider Demon arrived beside Qi Ye first. His front legs stretched out and shredded the clothes on Qi Ye’s upper half. It placed a fuzzy leg on Qi Ye’s abdomen.

Qi Ye’s always indifferent expression immediately changed. Gritting his teeth, he said, “Damn, it’s actually a male spider who just wants to find someone to incubate its eggs. So f*cking unlucky.”

Under normal circumstances, Qi Ye could effortlessly put this Spider Demon to death; however, he currently only had a compass on his person, and he was stuck on the extremely huge spider web with no way of immediate escape.

Just as the Spider Demon began examining whether Qi Ye’s stomach was suitable for raising its offspring, Jiang Luo’s expression became unseemly. He didn’t want to be a tool for the Spider Demon to hatch its eggs. Jiang Luo glanced at the drone out of the corner of his eye. After confirming that the drone was blocked by the trees and couldn’t see the movements of his hand, he slid a folding knife out from the cuff of his sleeve. He opened the knife with two fingers and slashed the web beneath him.

The Spider Demon had his back to Jiang Luo and couldn’t see Jiang Luo’s movements, but Qi Ye could see it as clear as day. Although he didn’t know where Jiang Luo got this contraband item from, it wasn’t the time to pursue the issue.

He endured the nausea and remained motionless, trying his best to delay the time for Jiang Luo. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to fit the Spider Demon’s requirements. The Spider Demon retracted its legs from his abdomen and turned around to look at Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo was already almost sitting up. His movements were quick and focused as he cut the spider silk that bound both of his legs. Sensing his intentions, the Spider Demon hissed angrily, using its eights legs to quickly rush towards Jiang Luo.

At the very last moment, Jiang Luo had successfully cut the spider silk. He protected his vital points and jumped down from the spider web that was more than three metres high. Just below the spider web was a thick, soft pile of decaying leaves which eased the impact of his landing.

Seeing that he had succeeded, Qi Ye yelled, “Quickly leave!”

Jiang Luo nimbly stood up, made an ‘ok’ gesture with one hand, then swiftly disappeared into the darkness.

Qi Ye: “…” Although it was himself who had told Jiang Luo to go, seeing Jiang Luo leave without any scruples suddenly left a bad taste in his heart.

The Spider Demon helplessly roared in anger a few times before turning around and ferociously heading towards Qi Ye. Qi Ye’s heart sank slightly.

Once people were caught by a male spider, if they didn’t become the Spider Demon’s breeding tools, they would be eaten as its meal. It was hard to tell which of the two was worse, but if Qi Ye had a choice, he would rather be eaten than become a humanoid tool who has his stomach stuffed full of spider eggs, only to be eaten inside out by the small spiders that burst out of his stomach.

As the most talented and powerful leader of the current younger generation, Qi Ye felt that this manner of death was just too humiliating.

The Spider Demon had already arrived in front of Qi Ye. Its mouth was wide open, saliva dripping down from the corner of its mouth. Qi Ye tilted his face away in disgust, trying to avoid the saliva, when he suddenly caught sight of something stunning.

He saw on the thick branch of a very tall tree stood a black-haired young man.

The long-haired youth had his right hand wrapped around the tree trunk with his left hand holding a knife. He quietly hid within the branches and leaves, like an experienced hunter who takes advantage of the night to catch his prey.

After noticing that Qi Ye had seen him, the long-haired youth lifted a finger from his knife-holding hand and placed it before his lips. A cold light flashed, as he silently went “shhh”.

Qi Ye was dazed for a few seconds before regaining his senses. He stiffly averted his gaze and turned to stare at the Spider Demon’s ugly face instead.

The Spider Demon was unaware of its imminent danger; it stretched open its mouth wide, ready to bite into Qi Ye’s chest. At the most critical moment, the black-haired youth leapt down from the tree and heavily thrusted the sharp dagger into the Spider Demon’s head.

Viscous, green blood sprayed out. Jiang Luo flipped over and sat up on the Spider Demon’s neck; his two legs tightly secured around the Spider Demon. He forcefully pulled out the dagger before ruthlessly stabbing it into the Spider Demon’s neck.

Large amounts of green-coloured blood flowed out, staining Jiang Luo’s body with its filth. A few drops of blood splashed onto the back of Jiang Luo’s hands and his cheeks. Jiang Luo’s lips were tightly sealed to prevent the Spider Demon’s blood from going into his mouth. He waited until after the Spider Demon stopped struggling and fell down before calmly getting off the Spider Demon’s body. Step by step, he strenuously made his way across the damp and sticky spider web to Qi Ye’s side and helped cut the spider web beneath Qi Ye.

Seeing Qi Ye foolishly staring at him in a daze, Jiang Luo wiped his face and laughed, “Scared silly?”

Qi Ye subconsciously replied, “Impossible.”

He frowned in irritation. Right when he was about to speak, his pupils suddenly shrank, “Duck!”

Jiang Luo reacted quickly and rolled onto the floor. He got stuck on the spider web once again, but what was even more terrifying was that the Spider Demon—that had just been completely killed by Jiang Luo—surprisingly had slowly and jerkily stood up.

There was still blood on the Spider Demon’s neck and its head, and its bloodless face still wore a contorted, fearful expression. However, it had crawled up, as if it had never been killed by Jiang Luo.

Jiang Luo tried lifting his hand; his hand was stuck. He stared straight at the “resurrected³死而复生 – transliteral: dead but came back alive; a idiom that means resurrection and implies immortality.” Spider Demon and couldn’t help cursing in a low voice,“F*ck.”

This sound seemed to attract the Spider Demon’s attention. Its empty eyes slowly turned towards Jiang Luo’s position. Suddenly the corner of its lips drew back into a distorted and eerie smile.

Such a smile on the Spider Demon’s plain and mediocre—perhaps even ugly—face gave it a layer of weird yet neurotic, contradictory charm.

T/N: Merry Christmas!! No extra chapter, but hey, you can still get one for Christmas! 😊

• 1
  隔岸观火 – to watch the fire from across the shore; an idiom meaning to look on while others are in trouble without helping and watch the scene with amusement. ↩︎
• 2
  a type of krazy/super glue. ↩︎
• 3
  死而复生 – transliteral: dead but came back alive; a idiom that means resurrection and implies immortality. ↩︎