Chapter 1416: Our Trump Card

Zhudaniang, having regained her freedom, advanced towards Qi Yuncheng, braving a rain of arrows and magical attacks, and dispatching two more people along the way.

Her cultivation was profound, but she had never been on a battlefield and didn't know how to deploy troops. If Xue Zongwu had been here, seeing Zhudaniang covered in a hard shell, he would never have ordered archers to fire. Instead, during the active period of "Grounding Cage," he would have ordered everyone to quickly ascend to the "Wild Boar's Den" to occupy the open terrain and defend against the powerful enemy.

But it was not to be.

In an instant, another three or four people were tackled by the small spider demons. This terrain was treacherous for humans, but for the spider demons, it was like a leisurely stroll; they wouldn't fall even if they walked with their eyes closed—

If they could close their eyes, that is.

Fortunately, Qi Yuncheng's magical ability had also been fully prepared, and he finally launched an attack against Zhudaniang.

Fu Wending rushed forward to aid his master, but he had only taken two steps when the nearby forest rustled, and a giant rock flew towards him.

He dared not catch it and dodged out of the way.

To his surprise, a colossal creature then burst out of the jungle, smashing trees as thick as two arms could encircle and sending wood chips flying.

To Fu Wending, it seemed as if the broken wood was about to smash into his face. His lightness skill was excellent, and with a leap, he cleared the falling timber.

At first glance, he thought the attacker was a giant clad in bronze armor. But a closer look revealed dense fur covering its body. Although it wore a helmet, its face had bulging eyes, a protruding snout, sunken cheeks, and a mouth that stretched back to its ears, revealing four fangs.

This was no human; it was a giant ape!

As he leaped over the giant ape, just as he was about to fire a sleeve arrow at its nape, a pair of hands unexpectedly emerged from the ape's rear shoulders and violently seized his shoulders!

Wh...

Absurd! How many hands did this monkey have?!

Fu Wending was greatly alarmed, but in the next instant, he immediately employed a shrinking technique, his body becoming as slippery as a loach, and he wriggled out through the giant ape's fingers.

The tighter the ape grasped, the faster he slipped away.

The Ghost Ape roared in frustration. Not again! Why did all its recent opponents excel at escape techniques?

None of them allowed it to experience the joy of tearing an enemy apart with its bare hands.

However, Fu Wending had barely taken two steps after landing when he felt a sudden chill on his back, followed by piercing agony.

It was truly heart-piercing; a living creature was burrowing within his chest, gnawing at his heart!

He cried out in pain and bent over.

Seeing this, the Ghost Ape behind him took a single stride, grabbed him in the same manner as before, and with a tear of its hands, brutally ripped the living man in half!

Blood rained down from the air. The Ghost Ape opened its mouth, lapped up a few mouthfuls, and laughed uproariously.

"Roar!" It was delighted!

The nearby soldiers were terrified and fired arrows at it. The Ghost Ape swung the two halves of the corpse to block the arrows and bounded through the rugged mountains and dense rocks, pursuing people.

It pursued one, tore one apart.

In just a few breaths, both of Qi Yuncheng's disciples were dead.

Seeing their side completely routed, several soldiers scattered and fled. This location was not far from Xiaotao Villa; if these monsters didn't pursue them, there was still hope of escaping back to the villa.

There were trees everywhere.

After running a few dozen steps, they all crashed into soft yet tough webs.

Like moths flying headfirst into a spiderweb.

They frantically drew their weapons to cut, but the spiderwebs were layered, inside and out, and even with their internal power, they found it difficult to cut through them immediately.

Earlier, while Dong Rui and He Lingchuan were traveling by snail-toad, Zhudaniang had calmly and unhurriedly laid out a vast net. Qi Yuncheng daring to lead his team back to the villa via a shortcut was essentially walking into a trap, delivering himself and these dozens of men into Zhudaniang's death trap.

No matter who the prey was, anyone who fell into this ancient great demon's meticulously laid trap had a bleak future.

Because the mission He Lingchuan had given Zhudaniang was not to let any prey escape.

To catch them all, leaving no one behind!

Qi Yuncheng did possess some skill, but after only a few rounds with Zhudaniang, he looked around to see soldiers screaming, wailing, fighting, and fleeing, the scene utter chaos.

In such a narrow and rugged place, any formation was out of the question.

The Grand Emperor of Nine Hells hadn't even appeared yet, and the situation was already beyond salvaging.

He gritted his teeth and roared, "We have no enmity, no grievances! Why did you ambush me?!"

Zhudaniang chuckled, "I was minding my own business, enjoying the cool air here. You insisted on crawling into my net. Why would I refuse live meat delivered right to my doorstep?"

Qi Yuncheng knew she was talking nonsense. "Whatever conditions the Grand Emperor of Nine Hells promised you," he said, "I'll offer three times as much!"

By this point, the Ghost Ape had already killed several soldiers. It then changed direction and charged directly at Qi Yuncheng.

Just dealing with Zhudaniang alone, Qi Yuncheng had repeatedly faced perilous situations and was almost grinding his molars into dust. Where did this giant spider come from? How had he never heard of such a fierce monster in central Shanjin or within the borders of Yao State?

Seeing the Ghost Ape also charging over, intending to make it two against one, Qi Yuncheng knew he had no chance of winning. The only solution now was to escape back to the villa as quickly as possible!

He could no longer bother with the Xue family soldiers on the monkey path. He slapped the head of the Flea Golem and roared, "Rise!"

The Flea Golem's hind legs had astonishing jumping power. With a powerful push off the ground, it shot up more than five zhang (approximately sixteen meters) high, like being launched from a slingshot!

Fast and far.

However, Zhudaniang's speed was also not slow. With a lift of her spinneret, a stream of light red silk shot out, precisely hitting the Flea Golem's left hind leg!

This ancient great demon's dynamic vision was vastly superior to that of a frog, accurately calculating the Flea Golem's landing point.

After the silk stuck to the Flea Golem, Zhudaniang tugged backward, intending to pull it back onto the cliff.

To her surprise, the Flea Golem's stuck hind leg suddenly detached and was pulled back by Zhudaniang. But its main body, still carrying Qi Yuncheng, landed at the end of the "Wild Boar's Den."

The Flea Golem relied entirely on its hind legs for jumping; its wings were too short for flight, only serving for brief gliding. With one leg torn off, it could no longer leap, so Qi Yuncheng jumped off before it landed, preparing to use his movement technique to climb hand-over-hand.

His speed of advance was no slower than the Ghost Ape's.

However, just as he landed and steadied himself, he saw a figure in black armor leaning against an old tree directly ahead, wearing a dragon-head mask.

The figure said nothing, just waited silently for him.

"The Grand Emperor of Nine Hells!" Qi Yuncheng's scalp tingled, and a chill ran down his spine.

The true master had finally appeared!

But the last person he wanted to see now was the Grand Emperor of Nine Hells.

"There was a path to heaven, but you didn't take it," He Lingchuan sighed, looking at him. "There was no gate to the Nine Hells, yet you insisted on coming!"

Qi Yuncheng was now filled with extreme regret. He said hoarsely, "Let me go, and I will repay you generously! I wasn't your original target; the Grand Emperor of Nine Hells only kills truly evil people, right?"

He Lingchuan did not reply.

His original target had indeed only been Xue Zongwu. While Qi Yuncheng was no good person either, he wasn't worth the Grand Emperor of Nine Hells taking action personally.

But who allowed Qi Yuncheng to have a method to track him?

The Grand Emperor of Nine Hells could not reveal his true form. To eliminate future trouble, He Lingchuan had no choice but to invite both the master and disciple to reunite in the Nine Hells.

At this moment, the forest rustled as Zhudaniang and the Ghost Ape also caught up. The three entities formed a triangular encirclement, trapping Qi Yuncheng in the center.

This man, and those thirty-odd men, all had to die!

Zhudaniang's twelve dark, gleaming eyes each reflected Qi Yuncheng's expression of despair.

He should never have taken that shortcut!

Over a hundred Xue family soldiers took the long route around the west slope and finally arrived at Xiaotao Villa, only to hear that their Master had not returned.

Along with the thirty-plus elite guards, all were gone without a trace.

Realizing something was wrong, everyone rushed towards North Mountain.

Passing the hall where the Grand Emperor of Nine Hells had previously slain Xue Zongwu and continuing up the mountain path, dawn was already breaking.

At the top of the cliff, where He Lingchuan and the Weng brothers had previously glided away, stood a thick tree branch.

Tied to the branch was a human head with slightly graying hair.

Everyone gasped in horror, instantly recognizing it as none other than Villa Master Qi, Elder Qi, who had been missing for half the night!

Villa Master Qi had led his men to pursue the Grand Emperor of Nine Hells; little did he expect that in the end, it would be his own head that was sent back by his adversary.

Tied to the branch was also a piece of silk cloth, likely torn from Qi Yuncheng's clothing, with four dark red blood-written characters: "Well-deserved death."

Everyone was speechless with horror.

Xiaotao Villa had been in chaos all night. It was only after dawn that they managed to organize a search party to descend to the bottom of the cliff.

Gusts of mountain wind swept into the Wild Boar's Den, but they could not disperse the thick scent of blood.

The soldiers and villa servants who descended were aghast:

This was nothing short of an Asura's battlefield; everyone who had tried to take the shortcut back to the villa last night had died here, without exception!

The mountain wind continued to wail, making everyone feel threatened, as if the killers were still lurking nearby, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

They quickly went back to call for more people.

Xiaotao Villa expended great effort to finally transport all the bodies back to the villa.

The absurd horrors of that past night quickly spread over the next few days, embellished by those who had witnessed them.

After killing Qi Yuncheng, the group of killers boarded the snail-toad and headed west towards Apricot Lake.

They had already delayed too long; Mang Prefecture had likely already sealed its gates, and the snail-toad might not be able to slip out of the city.

But He Lingchuan had considered this possibility in advance and had already planned a second escape route: by water.

One of the reasons he chose to act in Mang Prefecture was that it had lakes and rivers, making it difficult for officials to implement a complete blockade. Yao State had been peaceful for a long time, and Mang Prefecture had not seen war for decades, so no river barriers had been set up.

Apricot Lake also connected to the river, so as long as this group of killers had a clear understanding of the waterways beforehand, escaping would not be difficult.

When they surfaced again, they were already outside Mang Prefecture.

The tall grass on the bank was taller than a person. He Lingchuan stood in ankle-deep water, looking up at the spider demon beside him, saying, "Daniang, you're still the most reliable!"

When Daniang acted, there were no survivors.

Logically, he should have given Daniang a hug, but he didn't dare.

Zhudaniang grunted, "Good thing I came, wasn't it?"

After lurking for so long, it finally got to have some fun.

"It certainly was," He Lingchuan chuckled. "You are our trump card, never deployed lightly."

The trip to Yao State was fraught with danger and offered little promise of good fortune, and with Qingyang as the biggest variable, He Lingchuan had to be fully prepared. Therefore, when he decided to keep his appointment with the King of Yao, he blew the horn into Zhudaniang's eye socket.

Zhudaniang, this ancient great demon, had obediently stayed on Yangshan Pan-Si Island for over a year. Every day, she either watched her sister fish or argued with King Siwen. She had long been bored out of her mind, so as soon as she received the summons, she joyfully took a Yangshan flight to Shanjin Plain.