Chapter 1009: How Many Second Ladies Are There?

"How can this be?" everyone exclaimed in shock. Was the Young Master truly going into the wolf's den alone?

Wanqifeng said, "Whether you come or not, the result will be the same. Since it's a negotiation, we must show sincerity."

The Bailong people had no retort.

Wanqifeng looked at them, secretly sighing. Since the dock and warehouse hadn't exploded, and Island Master He had faked his death, it was highly likely their explosives had already been disarmed. What leverage did he have left?

The word "negotiation" was just for his tribesmen's benefit. He thought it over and realized they had no other option; they could only beg Island Master He for mercy.

This was truly the most helpless and shameful course of action.

However, both Qiuhu and other residents of the archipelago had said the Island Master was reasonable. He and his four hundred tribesmen hadn't actually engaged in any fighting tonight, so if they spoke to the other party properly, there might still be hope.

It was worth a try. At worst, they would face complete annihilation.

If they had to die, they would at least die with clarity.

Ye Qing's gourd was pressed against the spider demon, and he had issued the command, shouting "Collect" twice, but Madam Zhu Er's stout body remained in place, not disappearing.

What was going on?

The potent poison specially formulated by Grand Preceptor Shuangye was clearly still effective; the spider demon was completely immobilized.

Why couldn't he collect it?

Hou Er, behind him, suddenly said, "Knock those small spiders off its back!"

Could these things be interfering? Everyone quickly acted, pulling down several small spiders.

Ye Qing tried again, but still couldn't collect it!

This meant either the artifact was malfunctioning, or the spider demon wasn't "immobilized" at all!

Was it waiting for them to walk into a trap?

Sweat immediately beaded on Ye Qing's forehead. He quickly said, "Fall back, quickly!"

The team had long worked together on the battlefield; they retreated immediately upon hearing the command, without hesitation.

But at that moment, from the direction they were retreating, two handfuls of spider silk shot silently from the shadows of the trees, striking two teammates in the back.

The impact was forceful, but it didn't work!

One of Ye Qing's subordinates had a wild wolf with shiny, abundant fur. Yet, the spider silk, supposedly capable of sticking to anything, merely slid off the wolf's fur.

The Beijia squad knew they might face Madam Zhu Er's spider army, and that spider silk was exceptionally sticky. So, they had preemptively applied a special, water-resistant, very slick grease to themselves.

No matter how sticky the silk was, it couldn't adhere to the grease.

"Behind us!" the two teammates warned everyone.

However, as soon as they turned, they saw a faint green light flash on their bodies, and felt surprisingly refreshed.

Then, the carefully applied layer of grease... was gone!

A cleansing spell.

The opponent had actually cast a cleansing spell on them?

In ancient times, this was a minor spell known to all cultivators. It had no offensive capabilities but was very practical for cleaning clothes, ornaments, and even tidying up, saving them from breaking a sweat over housework.

But in the current era, who would expend precious true energy on mere cleaning? That's what disciples were for.

Because it had no destructive power, their protective aura wasn't even triggered. However, the dirt, sand, and twigs that had clung to them during the fight, along with the grease, were all cleaned away.

The one utilizing the cleansing spell so effectively was, of course, Madam Zhu Er. It shot out two more clusters of silk, dragging back two different targets.

These two reacted quickly, not only shouting loudly but also swinging their blades backward.

But the spider silk had astonishing tenacity, and they lacked sufficient primal energy; no matter how they hacked, they couldn't cut it.

Ye Qing and the others turned back in alarm, only to see a colossal figure that had emerged from the forest at some point, pinning down their two comrades and wrapping them into white cocoons.

The action was incredibly practiced, possessing a cruel beauty.

Their comrades, bound, had no power to resist.

A mountain-like physique, a vivid star map on its abdomen...

Who else could it be but Madam Zhu Er?

But... but how could there be two Madam Zhu Ers?

Everyone subconsciously looked at the gigantic spider that was working, then at the wooden Madam Zhu Er behind them.

One couldn't say they were slightly different; they were identical. But... but...

Ye Qing suddenly realized: "We were just fighting a shed spider skin! We need to start over!"

Why was the "Madam Zhu Er" behind them so dull and rigid, so easy to deal with?

The best explanation was that it was just a discarded shell!

Yu Zecheng had been tracking Madam Zhu Er for a long time, and everyone had observed its method of moving its entire clan: filling several discarded shells with offspring to control their movement.

However, the way the spider offspring controlled the shed skin was very clumsy; it couldn't move with the agility of Madam Zhu Er herself. At best, it could only move haltingly, with no ability to attack.

Yu Zecheng had originally planned to launch an attack during Madam Zhu Er's next relocation, but unexpectedly, it came to nest on the southern island and received protection from He Lingchuan, settling there permanently.

Now Madam Zhu Er was using a shed skin to deceive them!

When Ye Qing and the others first saw the giant spider appear, its eight legs moved rapidly. It seemed to be rushing to rescue He Lingchuan, surrounded by a surging tide of offspring, fearlessly lunging forward. They immediately assumed it was Madam Zhu Er without thinking.

Besides Madam Zhu Er, where else on the archipelago would there be such a huge spider? Who else could command so many cave spiders?

They never imagined it was an empty shell!

As for why the empty shell's movements were so fluid just now—

Ye Qing thought of Madam Zhu Er's relocation scenes: a shed skin filled with countless small spiders could barely stand and walk, moving almost like a zombie.

Who knew it could run so agilely!

Madam Zhu Er had indeed been feigning weakness, misleading them all along.

It used the shed skin to deceive the Beijia people, causing their side to act fiercely, pouring out all their firepower, only to find...

...they had all struck an empty target.

Ye Qing's concern was that they didn't have much of their specially formulated poison left.

Even a hawk uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit, let alone facing a great demon like Madam Zhu Er? Ye Qing worried the poison wouldn't be potent enough; that single attack had already consumed seventy to eighty percent of Grand Preceptor Shuangye's toxin.

How effective would the remaining twenty to thirty percent be against Madam Zhu Er's true body? His heart pounded with uncertainty.

But this concern couldn't be revealed. Captain Yu wasn't here, so he could only command everyone to attack again.

A teammate behind him quickly formed a hand seal and threw a stone sphere towards Madam Zhu Er.

The stone sphere, smaller than a palm, emitted a faint green glow. But upon touching the ground, its volume rapidly expanded. After just two breaths, it transformed into a stone python thirty feet long, with a girth comparable to a round table!

This treasure, named "Kun Lao," was refined from the heart of an ancient mountain range. It could transform itself according to the user's will, releasing the inherent power within the mountain heart.

Although massive, the stone python moved swiftly, springing from the ground and lunging at Madam Zhu Er.

The cave spider was covered in venomous spines, but the stone python showed no fear. Madam Zhu Er's offspring still attacked like a tide, but they couldn't harm the giant python in the slightest.

Madam Zhu Er dodged twice with a lightness far exceeding her own weight, then sprayed a web toward it.

The Cave Spider Queen's web had astonishing stickiness and tenacity; it should have stuck this thing to the ground, rendering it immobile. But the stone python rolled on the ground and sank beneath it, leaving the web behind.

A few breaths later, the stone python surfaced from another spot on the ground, going after Madam Zhu Er again.

Once the target was constricted, others could find a way to capture it.

Just as Ye Qing was about to step forward, two handfuls of dark red spider silk suddenly shot down from the cliff above, silently sticking to the back of his neck and his back.

He felt a cold stickiness on his back, and suddenly his body felt like it was floating.

Damn it!

He instinctively plunged his knife into the rock wall behind him to anchor himself.

But the opponent's strength was astonishing; with a sudden pull, Ye Qing's knife scraped a shower of sparks from the rock wall.

As his body spun, he looked up and saw a massive body, a rounded abdomen with a vivid star map, and eight long, spiny legs...

Another... another Madam Zhu Er?

Ye Qing's mind went blank. The spider demon that had caught him moved swiftly and possessed immense strength; it definitely couldn't be a shed skin.

Had his previous deduction been wrong?

How many Madam Zhu Ers were there, actually?

Then, the spider demon's size rapidly expanded in his vision.

"Captain Ye!"

Other teammates cried out anxiously, and two rushed over to rescue him. With a whoosh from the jungle behind a boulder, another dark figure leaped out, hitting the two men with a bang, like a stone from a slingshot, sending them flying.

These two came quickly and left even faster; before they could even cry out, they were knocked off the cliff.

In the faint light, the new monster that had joined the fray also revealed its true form:

It was broad-shouldered and wide-bodied, clad in bronze armor. From its back, the Beijia people might have thought it was a bronze-armored strongman summoned by the enemy. However, when it turned around, it was a giant ape over ten feet tall, with outward-curving tusks, a face like a demon, and blood-red eyes that glowed faintly in the dark night.

Like humans, its vital points were protected by thick armor, but this hundreds of pounds of heavy armor did not impede its movements at all.

As soon as the giant ape appeared, it went straight for the stone python.

Among the opponents Madam Zhu Er had encountered, this stone python's attack power wasn't particularly strong. However, its hard stone shell meant it wasn't a creature of flesh and blood; it feared neither spider venom, strong acid, nor even spiderwebs.

Madam Zhu Er had encountered enemies that even her silk couldn't bind twice tonight.

Entangled by the stone python, she couldn't free her limbs to attack the Beijia people.

The more Madam Zhu Er fought, the more alarmed she became. The Northern Demon Kingdom had indeed thoroughly studied her habits; the weapons they wielded weren't world-shaking, but every single one was designed to counter her.

As expected of a demon kingdom, their understanding of demons was far more profound than that of humans.

Having lived to her age, she naturally understood that magical artifacts weren't about overwhelming power; rather, they simply needed to adhere to the principles of mutual generation and restraint, and be effective.

After all, in the current environment, artifacts with greater power consumed more energy and couldn't last as long.

Had she not accepted He Lingchuan's invitation to settle in Yangshan Archipelago, her situation would now be precarious.

At this moment, the demonic ape charged in from the side, grabbing the stone python's large head and casually gouging out its two glowing green eyes.

"What good is gouging out its eyes?!" The little monkey was still too green, Madam Zhu Er exclaimed. She lunged over and lifted the stone python's tail, getting it completely off the ground so it couldn't escape, then instructed, "Dig out its core!"

Her combat experience was extensive; she immediately saw that the stone python drew power from the ground, so isolating it from the earth was the key to dealing with it.

Before she finished speaking, the giant python suddenly coiled around the demonic ape, squeezing tightly.