Chapter 198: Full Army Summary

Secondly, General Nanke also discovered that the Baling army had not followed them into the Ghost Needle Stone Forest. Therefore, the Panlong City army needed to change their strategy, gather together, and leverage their numerical advantage to resist the Cave Spiders' invasion.

"There's an exit, but the river doesn't go there," the guide said, mentally calculating the distance. "After we get ashore, we'll still have to walk a few more miles to reach the rendezvous point marked by the flares, and then another ten-odd miles to the northeast exit."

The Ghost Needle Stone Forest was truly vast.

Willow cursed, "Damn it! If we could fight our way out of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, we might be able to break through the Baling encirclement ahead of time."

"Perhaps the Baling people have already set a trap," He Lingchuan said, looking around. "If I were General Nanke, I wouldn't be in a hurry to leave the Ghost Needle Stone Forest. The Cave Spiders are tough opponents, and the Baling people wouldn't want to risk coming in here either."

"If only we could find a way to deal with these Cave Spiders," Liu Tong frowned. "This damned place always puts me on edge."

The light was dim. No one could clearly see the spiders' movements, but they could hear the rustling of their long legs scraping against dead branches and fallen leaves. The cumulative sound was unnerving.

A merchant couldn't help but ask, "Are these things going to follow us the whole way?"

How could anyone dare to go ashore given that?

No one had an answer to this question. They could only proceed one step at a time.

The patrol guard, Sun Jiayuan, was walking right beside He Lingchuan. He had multiple spider bite marks on his wrists and neck. He Lingchuan glanced at him and suddenly asked, "How did you lose your fingers?"

He noticed that Sun Jiayuan was missing the little finger on both hands.

Others had ten fingers, but he only had eight.

Sun Jiayuan said nothing.

Just when He Lingchuan thought the man wouldn't answer, he spoke again: "A few years ago, two mantises became demons after consuming Emperor's Essence Dew. Their scythe-like arms were very sharp."

He Lingchuan let out a long "Oh."

What a coincidence, both little fingers were severed by demon mantises? And it happened to be the little fingers, which least hindered work or combat?

It seemed the man had a story, but He Lingchuan didn't ask further.

Before long, a smell of smoke and charring wafted on the wind.

The further they went, the stronger and more acrid the burnt smell became, making everyone cough repeatedly.

Everyone even saw large stretches of forest by the river that had been burned bare.

Now, it could only be called the remnants of a forest: charred wood and black earth were everywhere, and the soil had even been burned into crystalline matter.

The further they moved towards the center of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, the more dreadful the scene became.

"This is not good," Willow murmured. "The Baling people set the forest on fire, probably burning down the Cave Spiders' nests. No wonder they're so furious."

These spider demons probably couldn't distinguish between the Baling people and the Panlong City people. Anyway, humans had burned their nests, so it was only natural for them to retaliate against humans.

She rolled her eyes at the merchant who had spoken earlier: "See? The spiders only went wild and attacked after their nests were destroyed. Normally, any guide could lead the way without a problem."

The merchant was speechless. Sun Jiayuan gave her a grateful look and then cursed the merchant a few times, getting out his earlier frustration.

This time, the merchant dared not retort. He was still relying on the patrol guards to lead him out of the dangerous area.

After wading for another half an hour, the damaged forest and spider holes gradually decreased. According to the guide, they were now nearing the central area of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, where Cave Spiders never allowed human travelers near and where no one dared to travel.

The Cave Spiders here were more numerous and larger. He Lingchuan occasionally spotted several huge figures among the spider hordes, but the dim light prevented him from seeing their full forms.

Seeing more and more spiders gathering on the bank and starting to stack on top of each other, Liu Tong's heart pounded. He finally ordered the torches to be extinguished.

He Lingchuan and his group continued to wade through the water in the darkness.

However, after the fires were out, the commotion on the bank indeed subsided. Although they had dozens of eyes, most spiders could only perceive changes in light. Their eyesight was actually very poor, and they primarily relied on smell and hearing to navigate.

The group continued forward. Along the way, they encountered a half-grown wild boar standing in the middle of the river, drinking. Judging by its size, it weighed no more than a hundred pounds, and had probably been scared into the river by the spiders.

He Lingchuan urged Menban to capture the wild boar alive. Its four hooves were tied with ropes and it was tossed onto a horse's back. A cloth was stuffed into its mouth, to prevent its cries from being too piercing in the quiet night.

After another hour of travel, they reached the end of this leg of their journey—

Another deep pool.

Directly above it was a waterfall, fifty feet high.

The cliff was dangerously steep; even if the patrol guards could climb it, the merchants and carriages could not. Therefore, continuing upstream was not feasible. They could only go ashore here and head east, to reach the rendezvous point designated by General Nanke.

In the past two-odd hours, the flare signals had appeared three more times, guiding the warriors in the darkness.

Along the way, the group passed several rapid rocky shoals, and everyone was soaked. Perhaps the turbulent sound of the water masked the noise of their advance, as fewer and fewer spiders followed them.

Upon reaching the deep pool, there were no spiders left on the bank.

The guide estimated the distance, his face beaming with joy: "In at most three more miles, we'll rendezvous with the main force!"

Of course, he meant three miles as the crow flies.

"It's best to be cautious." Tree shadows flickered on the bank. Who knew if monsters were hiding within? This was where the wild boar came in handy.

He Lingchuan removed the cloth from its mouth and untied it. As soon as its four hooves touched the ground, before it could even stretch its limbs, it splashed through the water and bolted for the bank.

With a crashing and snapping sound, it broke many branches as it fled. Its disgruntled grunts faded from near to far.

The group stood in the river, holding their breath and listening intently.

There was no rustling sound of spiders walking on the bank. The wild boar, not far away, was still running wildly, apparently having encountered no mishap.

Only then did Liu Tong give the order: "Go ashore, to the rendezvous point."

No one dared to delay. After going ashore, they galloped east on their horses.

***

The northeastern river valley of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, where the flares were ignited.

General Nanke's forces regrouped here. Over the past few hours, more than 1,300 people had arrived and converged here in succession, including over 900 Panlong soldiers and more than 400 merchants.

Although everyone who arrived was in disarray, injured, and had spiderwebs in their hair, they had miraculously preserved seventy percent of their goods.

This place had now become the busiest spot in the entire Ghost Needle Stone Forest. Because the flares ascending into the sky caused too much commotion, the enraged spiders were all converging here.

Looking out from the river valley, a vast, dark sea of spiders stretched as far as the eye could see, with not an inch of empty ground.

The river formed an "L" shape at the bottom of the valley, with a depth of at least eight feet. The Panlong City army had discovered that spiders dared not enter the water. Therefore, General Nanke temporarily set up his main camp in the center of the valley, at the bend of the "L" shape.

This way, with the river protecting their rear, the army only needed to focus on dealing with enemies from the front.

To deal with these pervasive spiders, General Nanke's solution was to construct fire walls.

A large number of Cave Spiders, driven by spider demons, could temporarily suppress their fear of fire, but they had no magical defenses against it. Being roasted by fire would still kill them, char them, and turn them to ash.

The Panlong City army, while killing spiders, swiftly cut down more than a dozen large trees, preferably those with dense foliage. They then doused them with lamp oil and set them on fire.

Woosh! Flames shot into the sky.

Using this method, the Panlong City army hastily built fire walls over ten feet wide. The blazing flames formed a barrier that most spiders could not cross.

With deep water behind them and fire walls in front, the temporary camp was temporarily out of danger.

However, General Nanke, with his many years of combat experience, ordered his men to open a gap in the northernmost fire wall, a gap of no more than four or five feet wide.

The spiders outside, seeing the fire wall had an opening, disregarded everything else and charged straight towards it!

Though they surged like raging waves against the shore, the Panlong army held their ground, defending fiercely. They impaled every spider that entered, throwing the spider corpses into the fire wall as fuel.

Casualties occasionally occurred, but it was incomparable to their previous frantic flight.

General Nanke's confidant asked, puzzled, "General, why don't we completely seal off the fire wall?"

"That way, the soldiers wouldn't suffer any more casualties."

"These spider demons aren't stupid," General Nanke said, seeing the situation gradually coming under his control. He finally had time to take out his water skin to quench his thirst, and also offered some water to the black-spotted falcon resting on his shoulder. "If there's no opening, they'll find ways to break through elsewhere, leaving us exhausted trying to deal with them. So, it's better for us to create an opening ourselves, let them all surge towards it, and then the entire fire wall will be secure."

Control versus uncontrolled; this is both an art and a matter of timing. Otherwise, with fewer than a thousand soldiers against hundreds of thousands or even millions of spiders, even with elemental energy protecting them, they wouldn't last.

General Nanke looked at the falcon. "You said earlier, how much longer until reinforcements arrive?"

"Before dawn," the falcon preened the feathers on its back. "Soon."

It had flown from Puxi Gully to Panlong City for reinforcements, and then flown back to the Ghost Needle Stone Forest to report, completing a large triangular journey in a hurry.

In another half an hour, the sky would begin to lighten.

General Nanke looked towards the northeast, his expression grave. Even if they broke out of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, there would still be a fierce battle ahead. The Baling people would surely have set up an ambush at the exit. Therefore, even though the Ghost Needle Stone Forest was fraught with danger, he insisted on waiting here until dawn before leaving. Ideally, they could coordinate with the reinforcements, catching the Baling people in a pincer movement.

Just half an hour more to hold on.

He also expressed some dissatisfaction: "If General Hong had been willing to send some troops, I would have sent these Baling people home long ago!"

"General Hong said the original operational objectives remain unchanged."

A commander's order must be obeyed. General Nanke let out a heavy snort.

***

After silently galloping for half an hour, Liu Tong suddenly waved his hand: "Stop, something's up ahead!"

Everyone dismounted and proceeded slowly. As they pushed aside the dense foliage, the view ahead suddenly opened up.

Beyond this low-lying forest, lay a large, open hillside, a stark contrast to the cramped jungle.

At the top of the slope stood a centuries-old tree with lush foliage, while the hillside itself was covered with fine, soft grass, tender green, smooth, and clean, as if meticulously maintained.

The deepest parts of the Ghost Needle Stone Forest were rarely visited by humans. The only ones capable of maintaining it like this could be... spider demons?

The fact that people could see this hillside clearly at night was due to the scattered white lights on the slope.

These luminous clusters were larger than pomegranates, their color almost pearl-white. They weren't soft, but exceptionally bright.

Menban whispered, "These are bioluminescent spores."

They grew concentrated around a large cave.