Jiang Tang was once celebrated as a genius, but his remarkable abilities eventually turned him into a resource that powerful organizations wanted to control. After escaping that role, he enters a world filled with cultivators, factions, and larger-than-life figures who all seem determined to define him before he can define himself. Some see a future ruler, others a dangerous rival, and still others simply a useful worker. Jiang, however, insists that he wants an ordinary life. The problem is that every new encounter makes that ordinary future harder to reach—and reveals more about why his abilities matter.
Chapter 8: Slaughter
A drop of viscous liquid burning with black flame fell onto the thick spiderweb, and instantly, a strange scene unfolded! The spiderweb seemed to come to life, twisting and warping into a viscous mass. Far from burning away or evaporating, it simply grew even more resilient. Dongfang’s eyes sparkled with excitement. She cupped a gel-like mass formed from the spiderweb in her small hand and asked, “Jiang Tang, do you know what this means?” “It means you’ve wasted a drop of the Underworld Fire Ant’s essence blood on you, you wasteful brat.” Jiang Tang didn’t even turn his head, his eyes fixed on the ant chamber deep in the corner. Although he hadn’t yet reached the Yiwu Realm and couldn’t project his divine sense outward, his perception through divine sense was exceptionally powerful—he could already sense the formidable aura emanating from the ant chamber. The nests of the Netherfire Ants contained anywhere from a hundred to over a thousand ant chambers, with a vast network of interconnected passages. Yet, in this particular ant tunnel, there was currently only a single path. Jiang Tang was now in the passageway between the third and fourth ant chambers, clearly sensing the aura of a bone spider emanating from the fourth chamber. “It’s definitely an early Second-Tier Bone Spider. It must have spotted me too. But the passage here is this narrow—whoever moves first dies first!” Jiang Tang’s gaze darkened. All along the way, the cave had been filled with incredibly sticky spiderwebs that made movement difficult; he certainly didn’t dare to charge headlong into the intricate web of traps deeper inside. Yet this spider lair—once an ant nest—was remarkably well-preserved, which suggested that no one had ventured down here in a very long time—or perhaps no one had ever ventured this deep at all! What could be found in an abandoned ant nest? Black crystal was a certainty, but there was another thing that drew people in: Netherfire! Not long after arriving in the Sand Sea, Jiang Tang had heard people in Earth City talk about the Netherfire. Rumor had it that some Netherfire Ants absorbed the Netherfire before hatching; otherwise, the ants that emerged would be very weak and could only serve as worker ants, tunneling through the cave and mining crystals. The origin of the Netherfire began with the Ant King and Ant Queen nurturing a flame with their essence and blood. Generation after generation, they sacrificed their lives to nourish the flame with their essence and blood until it developed a spirit of its own, capable of independently absorbing primordial energy to cultivate itself. As it grows stronger day by day, it eventually becomes too much for the Netherfire Ants to bear. Therefore, every few decades or even centuries, they cultivate a new flame. When they depart, they take only the flames that pose no threat to them, abandoning the powerful Netherfire in a separate ant chamber to fend for itself. Consequently, many cultivators have discovered Netherfire in the abandoned nests of the Netherfire Ants and tamed it; several of them have even become legends, such as the Shenwu Emperor of the Shenwu Empire! Although some knew of the nest where Jiang Tang was located, few dared to venture down into it, for no cultivator would rashly set foot in any cave entrance covered in spider webs. The Bone Spider is an extremely voracious demonic insect; much like humans, it is not content with merely absorbing vital energy, but preys on every living creature it can capture, devouring them to strengthen itself. The vast population of Netherfire Ants made them a prime target; one can only imagine how dangerous the cave entrance was. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that the nest below was empty! But Jiang Tang could already guarantee it—because if there were any Netherfire Ants present, the Bone Spiders would absolutely never dare to come down! “Jiang Tang, look.” As Jiang Tang hesitated, Dongfang held out a large chunk of white, gelatinous substance in front of him. “You’re crazy!” Jiang Tang rolled his eyes and was about to turn away to take a closer look when he saw Dongfang rub some sticky spider silk against the gel-like substance—only for the silk to remain stuck to his little hand. “Do you get it now?” Dongfang asked. Jiang Tang shook his head. “Jiang Tang, you’re so stupid…” “Get lost.” Dongfang wasn’t the least bit upset; he said with a straight face, “Spider silk burned with the essence blood of the Netherfire Ants not only loses its stickiness but also becomes resistant to it. I’ve discovered that under high temperatures, it doesn’t evaporate—it decomposes. As far as we know, one type coagulates into a gel-like substance, while the other turns into an oily substance. In other words, if you make clothes out of white glue, the spider silk will no longer be an obstacle to you.” Jiang Tang was a bit bewildered. He touched the gel-like substance; it felt slippery, and there was indeed a layer of oil coating it. “Wouldn’t it work if I just rubbed the oil directly on my body?” Jiang Tang asked curiously. “I haven’t tried it, but it wouldn’t work for me. The gel’s anti-adhesive properties are stronger than my body’s, and humans have pores in their skin…” “Alright, I’ll make a suit.” With that, Jiang Tang and Dongfang began collecting spider silk as if rolling cotton candy, while slowly retreating to the third ant chamber. With great effort, he pulled his hand free from the ball of spider silk. Jiang Tang used his curved blade to clear a flat patch of ground, placed the two large clumps of spider silk on it, and then Dongfang took out the Netherfire Ant essence blood, pouring out more than half the bottle as Jiang Tang watched with a pained expression. As the spider silk slowly dissolved, twisted, fused, and liquefied, it wasn’t long before a pool of gelatinous substance covered the ground. Although this gel was fire-resistant, it could not withstand a sharp blade. So, just as if peeling a radish, Jiang Tang swiftly used his curved sword to shave off the uneven protrusions, then, starting from the top, gently sliced a wide, intact layer of gel off horizontally. Meanwhile, Dongfang collected the spilled oil and absorbed it into the wolf pelt. After half an hour of hard work, once he’d finished making a simple, form-fitting gelatin skin suit, Jiang Tang immediately put it on, followed by the foot covers, gloves, and hood—all in one go. “This rubber suit is incredibly tough—it’s just like a condom,” Jiang Tang said, then froze. “It’d be even better with some lube.” Dongfang hit a nerve, and with a slap, the wolf pelt struck Jiang Tang’s body, beginning to rub against him. With everything ready, Jiang Tang stared at the circular passageway—only five feet in diameter—crouched slightly, and held his single sword horizontally in front of him. He hadn’t maintained this strange posture for long when the ground beneath his toes suddenly cracked, and his entire body vanished into the ant chamber in an instant. At the same moment, runes flashed around Dongfang, and in the next instant, he transformed into a streak of light, following closely behind Jiang Tang. In the pitch-black ant chamber, devoid of even a glimmer of light, a massive bone spider with legs eight feet long suddenly flashed a cold gleam from its eight eyes. Despite its enormous size, it moved with the agility of a flea within the thirty-square-foot chamber, darting left and right and leaping up and down. In just three breaths, it had spun three layers of thick spiderwebs! However, the bone spider showed no signs of stopping—because of the danger! The Bone Spider couldn’t understand why the faint presence it had just sensed suddenly filled it with an unprecedented sense of danger! It realized that three layers were nowhere near enough—it needed more, thicker webs to fend off the intruder! But before the Bone Spider could finish setting up its fourth web, a human figure instantly cut through the layers of webs—treating the webs that once entangled and confined everything as if they were nothing—and appeared unhindered beneath the belly of the Bone Spider, which had just leaped into the air. “Ssssh!” A very faint, almost inaudible cutting sound rang out from the bone spider’s abdomen. “Splash!” A torrent of spider venom rained down, drenching the figure from head to toe. “All at once!” Without a moment’s pause, the figure gritted their teeth and dashed toward the fifth ant chamber like a bolt of lightning. Dongfang, holding Jiang Tang’s storage pouch, skillfully used his demonic energy to break several incredibly complex restrictions, then plundered everything he could from the fourth ant chamber, leaving nothing behind! Kill! Starting from the fourth ant chamber, Jiang Tang actually fought his way all the way to the eighth ant chamber before stopping, slaying three first-tier bone spiders and two second-tier bone spiders along the way—all in less than ten breaths! He had intended to press on in one go, but when he burst into the Eighth Ant Chamber, he was forced to stop. The Eighth Ant Chamber was enormous, with no fewer than nine tunnels—and a strong sense of danger emanated from all eight of them except the one behind him! His only escape route lay behind him, yet Jiang Tang stood motionless—for in his heart, there was no way out! “Here.” After Dongfang tossed the curved blade to Jiang Tang, he sat down at the exit tunnel, his gaze rapidly darkening like stagnant water. “Bring it on!” Jiang Tang gripped the scimitar with both hands, standing motionless as a mountain in the center of the ant chamber. Suddenly, a scene that made one’s scalp tingle unfolded! The eight tunnels burst open like a flood, and countless swarming little bone spiders surged into the Ant Chamber like surging waves. Among them were even a few massive first- and second-tier bone spiders. Their hissing sounds felt like sharp claws scratching at the heart, sending shivers down one’s spine. Yet under Jiang Tang’s powerful spiritual perception, these sounds had absolutely no effect on him. With a single swing of his twin blades, Jiang Tang stood as if in the eye of a storm, shattering the tidal wave of countless fist-sized bone spiders into pieces. Not even the first-tier bone spiders could escape; their venom rained down like a torrential downpour, ravaging the ant chamber! Ten strikes in a single breath, a hundred strikes in a single breath—Jiang Tang’s blade speed had become too fast for the naked eye to follow, and his entire figure had long since blurred into a blur! “Clang!” Suddenly, like a wildly spinning top that had been forcefully pressed down, the motion came to an abrupt halt. A spider leg, as thick as a bone spear, appeared before Jiang Tang, its tip just one inch from his heart! Yet it was precisely that one inch—no matter how much force the owner of the bone spear exerted, he could not advance even a fraction of an inch. But in that split second, Jiang Tang’s body was instantly swarmed by tiny bone spiders! “Peak Second Tier!” Facing the massive giant bone spider, Jiang Tang showed no fear. He shook his body violently, flinging off countless tiny bone spiders, and crossed his twin blades like scissors—in an instant, the bone spear floated upward, detaching from the body of this peak second-tier bone spider. “Ssssh!” The bone spider seemed to let out a agonized scream as it simultaneously raised another leg to strike. But while it was fast,but Jiang Tang was faster still. In the blink of an eye, he severed the bone spider’s raised leg with a single stroke. Without a moment’s pause, he unleashed blow after blow, each faster than the last. Whether it was the massive peak-tier, second-stage bone spider before him or the small bone spiders and first-stage bone spiders swarming in from all directions, they were all hacked to pieces by him,their bodies scattered across the ground. With his final strike, Jiang Tang seemed to unleash his full power; the blade came crashing down like a bolt of lightning from the sky, cleaving through the peak second-tier Bone Spider’s head! “Whoosh!” Countless small bone spiders that had been swarming toward Jiang Tang instantly receded like a tide, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye, leaving only a pool of milky-white spider fluid on the ground. “Looks like that biggest one was their leader. You can rest now.” As he spoke, Dongfang grabbed his storage pouch and began frantically cleaning up the battlefield. As for Jiang Tang, he truly looked as if he’d been drained of all strength, lying sprawled on the spider fluid and gasping for breath. “I wasn’t prepared enough!” Although Dongfang’s delicate face showed no expression, her tone was filled with regret. It wasn’t his fault, though—the spider fluid covering the ground was a treasure to him, but he didn’t have enough containers to hold it all. After processing the Bone Spider leader’s fluid, Dongfang floated over to Jiang Tang’s side. A gleam returned to his eyes as he scanned the countless tiny blood holes on Jiang Tang’s body. “The color of his blood hasn’t changed. The Bone Spiders really aren’t venomous.” “You didn’t come to check on me until after you’d cleaned up the battlefield—is that right?” Jiang Tang grumbled. “What else was I supposed to do? Demon insects lose their essence even faster than demon beasts after death—especially their spider venom. Besides, I’d already dissected the Bone Spider’s corpse back in the city and found no venom sacs. As for the second-tier…” “Please stop talking. Let me rest for a bit.” Jiang Tang was utterly speechless at this guy; he spoke weakly before closing his eyes. Dongfang knew when to back off; he moved to the side and began dissecting the Bone Spider leader’s corpse. Everything in this world held infinite fascination for Dongfang. This world offered explanations regarding the formation of wraiths: those who became wraiths must have had an obsession. Dongfang’s obsession was the exploration of the unknown. He refused to accept his fate; there were simply too many things he wanted to understand—the composition of all things, the birth of the universe. Was it truly, as humanity currently believed, nothing more than a single explosion? To unravel the endless mysteries, he must stay alive and grow stronger—not just for himself, but also for the one who introduced him to this world!
