Chapter 1003: Capturing Second Sister

These ancient monsters are just stubborn; they won't shed tears until they see the coffin. Ye Qing chuckled in anger, then turned his head and called out, "Hou Er!"

The Bega people had been fighting them for over half a year, and they were more familiar with the types of cave spiders than even He Lingchuan. A man behind him rushed forward at the sound, clutching a whisk, and swung it violently forward.

With a whoosh, he unleashed countless dense ice spikes across a fan-shaped area in front of him.

Under this indiscriminate, wide-ranging attack, smaller spiders were directly impaled to the ground, while larger ones were wounded. Ice crystals immediately seeped from their injuries, and in less than two or three breaths, even the largest cave spider elites were covered in frost and unable to move.

This attack, unleashed by ancient artifacts, was called Haoshi Ice Crystals. In the hands of an ancient immortal, its power would have been several times greater.

However, this naturally could not faze Matron Zhu Er. With a gentle shake, the frost covering her joints shattered.

Immediately, a second wave of spiders leaped from her body and charged, each one utterly fearless.

The sheer number of her offspring was astounding; the scratching sound of their claws on the ground drowned out the wind.

No matter how powerful ancient artifacts were, how many times could these Bega people use them? Did they truly believe themselves to be immortals?

If it came to a war of attrition, she could exhaust all the trump cards these few people held.

However, while they were repelling the first wave of small spiders, Ye Qing pulled out an opaque black sphere and threw it directly into a puddle in front of him.

The rain was getting heavier, and water had collected in the potholes on the ground.

As soon as the black sphere landed in the puddle, the water level in the puddle instantly dropped, and the sphere rapidly expanded.

In the blink of an eye, it covered the road surface within a ten-foot radius and absorbed all the rainwater—

It transformed into a mud golem over one and a half zhang tall.

It turned to look at Ye Qing, who pointed at Matron Zhu Er and issued the attack command: "That's the target, go!"

The mud golem immediately charged towards Matron Zhu Er.

Several spiders shot white webs at it, but could only tear off chunks of mud.

Dark, wet mud.

Matron Zhu Er flung a large web at it, the end of which stuck to a large tree trunk behind her with a hiss.

The mud golem did not dodge and was caught in the center of the web.

But it wasn't trapped.

It pushed forward, and the mud from its entire body squeezed out through the web's holes.

Just as a net cannot hold water, no matter how sticky a spider web is, it is similarly useless against such a mass of mud.

In less than a few breaths, the mud golem safely escaped, leaving only much sludge on the web's mesh.

It set a new record for the fastest escape from a web for Matron Zhu Er's prey.

Then, in a few strides, it leaped directly onto Matron Zhu Er.

It should be noted that the Queen Cave Spider was covered in sharp barbs, and this fearless, self-sacrificing spirit even startled Matron Zhu Er.

The mud golem was impaled on the spot.

But it didn't care at all; as soon as it attached itself to Matron Zhu Er, it dissolved, unable even to maintain its humanoid form, becoming truly mere mud.

It turned out that the mud golem's appearance was just a disguise; its true form was a slime monster!

A specialty of the Howling Marsh in central Bega, and one of the most unusual demonic species.

From everyone's perspective, Matron Zhu Er was now completely covered in mud, and the mud was rapidly spreading, conquering every small crevice even beneath her spikes.

This was the first time Matron Zhu Er had encountered such an opponent.

This thing surely had malicious intentions; a portion of the smaller spiders quickly climbed onto their ancestor's shell, carrying away the mud like worker ants.

But the slime had already extended beneath the spider demon's abdomen, acting as a stopper to block the spinnerets!

Cave spiders spray their webs entirely through the four pairs of spinnerets under their abdomen. The tubes inside can spray liquid, which only turns into silk threads upon contact with air.

By blocking them, the slime monster temporarily crippled Matron Zhu Er's most effective ability.

A spider demon unable to spray silk and weave webs would have its lethality reduced by at least half.

Meanwhile, the slime near the spider demon's head rapidly moved towards Matron Zhu Er's eyes, then spread out and fiercely encased them!

Matron Zhu Er still had nine eyes, and four of them were now encased in mud.

As soon as they were encased, the spider eyeballs immediately grew eight legs and scuttled away frantically!

The slime monster summoned by Ye Qing carried a strange bee venom, extracted from three types of spider wasps, each requiring venom from the abdominal sac of a spider wasp with at least two hundred years of cultivation.

Spider wasps prey on spiders, injecting venom into their victims with their stingers to paralyze them before feeding or laying eggs.

Even an ordinary spider wasp sting can cause full-body spasms, making a person writhe, scream, and roll on the ground as if struck by lightning. And after spider wasps transform into demons, they further specialized this venom, increasing its lethality to spiders tenfold.

Moreover, Bega's further refinement and improvement of the bee venom exponentially increased its power.

Matron Zhu Er's eyeballs, too, scurried away like spiders, but convulsed after only a few steps, with pale green, tumor-like growths appearing at their joints.

Once bee venom enters a spider's body, it induces flesh tumors, blocks nerves, and releases an unparalleled sensation of pain.

Immediately after, the growths began to harden, spreading across the entire body of the eyeball spiders.

When they rolled off Matron Zhu Er, they landed with a thud, like wooden carvings.

As soon as the eyeball spiders climbed away, clearing the way, the slime monster immediately rushed into Matron Zhu Er's eye sockets, extending its soft legs into bee stingers, and furiously plunged them in!

Ancient spider demons had almost achieved the state of an immortal with no weaknesses; their shells were incredibly hard. To penetrate Matron Zhu Er's armor, one either had to wait for the opportune moment of her molting, as He Lingchuan once did, or—

Attack the eye sockets!

The eye sockets contained abundant optic nerves and were relatively fragile, exposed to enemy attack after the eyeball spiders escaped.

With this plunge, the slime monster injected all its toxins into them.

A sharp scream seemed to emanate from within the eye sockets, and then pale green tumors, each larger than a pomelo, grew out.

At the same time, Matron Zhu Er's injuries showed a strange change:

Her originally smooth and hard shell became coated with a layer of coarse wood.

Matron Zhu Er shuffled a few steps, stumbling as if drunk, her movements becoming slower and slower.

If He Lingchuan were here, he would instantly recognize this bizarre spread of toxicity; he had witnessed it twice before.

Once in the Panlong World, and once in reality.

Wood Transformation Art!

Strictly speaking, this was not a human divine ability, but a divine art of the heavenly gods.

Wen Daolun's son, Wen Xing, was attacked by the Ghost Mother of Jindu's offspring and struck by a wooden thorn, and his father watched helplessly as he turned into a wooden carving;

And when Fu Shanyue's younger brother, Fu Shanji, was struck by the Wood Transformation Art back then, his body rapidly turned woody as well.

This divine art was equally effective on Matron Zhu Er because it had been meticulously prepared, spreading at an unusually fast rate.

The spider wasp toxin and the Wood Transformation Art were combined, not conflicting but providing a synergistic boost, and the original power was amplified tenfold to rapidly take effect on the formidable ancient spider demon.

This was a special toxin developed specifically for Matron Zhu Er, claimed to be able to immobilize even an ancient spider immortal's body for twenty breaths.

Yu Zecheng himself couldn't achieve this.

It came from the hands of the Frost Leaf Grand Tutor!

"Capture the spider demon, quickly!" Ye Qing urgently ordered, leading his people forward.

Although the Frost Leaf Grand Tutor's specialized toxin was potent, the Grand Tutor had explained in advance that while ordinary people afflicted by the Wood Transformation Art had no choice but to await death, the ancient spider immortal's vitality was too powerful, and it would likely exhaust the Wood Transformation Art and spider wasp toxin through sheer resilience.

This process would not last long.

Yu Zecheng didn't know much about the Wood Transformation Art and wasn't aware that it primarily consumed the victim's life force. The life essence of an ancient spider immortal, having survived until now, was so powerful that even Hundred-Battle Sky's Annihilation Divine Skill couldn't shatter it.

Therefore, this combination attack would only be effective for a maximum of twenty breaths, and it had to be timed precisely, striking the spider demon when it was unprepared. If they tried this tactic again, it might already have a countermeasure.

They first had to get past the small spiderlings protecting their matriarch.

Hou Er, behind Ye Qing, pulled out three silver needles and scattered them into the spider horde.

The silver needles touched each other, and in the dark night, two became four, four became eight, eight became sixteen... growing exponentially.

By the time they reached the small spiders, they were already densely packed.

Each silver needle was laced with potent venom; those struck died instantly.

When fighting outnumbered, one couldn't afford to consider martial ethics.

They had to clear the obstacles and capture Matron Zhu Er as a prisoner in the shortest possible time.

The poor little spiders were instantly mowed down in large numbers.

The Bega people successfully reached Matron Zhu Er.

The closer they got, the more colossal the monster seemed. If it hadn't been temporarily immobilized, a mere lift of its leg could have turned them into human shish kebabs.

If it hadn't been far from its lair, tonight's capture operation certainly wouldn't have been so smooth.

A thought flickered through Ye Qing's mind:

Was it too smooth?

Were ancient demon immortals so easy to capture?

But the thought was only fleeting. After all, Commander Yu had been planning this capture for half a year, even sending urgent messages to the Frost Leaf Grand Tutor for guidance, before finalizing this entire combo. It could be said that he had a complete grasp of Matron Zhu Er's weaknesses.

When the right method was used, demon immortals weren't that difficult to catch after all.

After all, Bega had extensive experience in dealing with great demons, more so than ordinary human nations.

As soon as Ye Qing reached Matron Zhu Er, he took out a glowing green gourd, pressed its opening against her body, and shouted, "Collect!"

Yu Zecheng had long designed the entire capture plan. A great demon like Matron Zhu Er had astonishing self-healing abilities; not only could the spider wasp toxin and Wood Transformation Art not trap her for long, but even if all eight of her legs were severed, she would quickly regrow them.

Killing her was even less feasible; Bega was waiting for her confession.

So, how could they trap her and bring her back to Bega for trial?

Conventional locks and handcuffs certainly wouldn't work. If Matron Zhu Er just squatted down, given her tonnage, no carriage or vehicle could possibly move her.

Ultimately, they still needed the aid of a magical artifact.

This Azure Grand Gourd contained a self-contained miniature world and could collect immobilized enemies.

Yu Zecheng also had no worries about Matron Zhu Er escaping, because the gourd's world was an extremely complex labyrinth. If the gourd's owner did not release the trapped person, according to the rules of the miniature world, the unfortunate ones could not get out without solving the labyrinth.

According to Yu Zecheng, the fastest person to solve the labyrinth took five months. He believed Matron Zhu Er was probably not that clever.