Chapter 330: That Experimental Ball?

The opponent was not to be outdone; it shot up, reaching even higher than Madam Zhu had risen.

It was a giant black-and-gray python. Its body was coiled in the reeds, its full length unknown, but its chest diameter was nearly five feet (1.6 meters), and it had whiskers under its jaw.

It opened its mouth in a display of dominance, its fangs protruding like curved blades, each over four feet long.

The wind was blowing directly towards the shore, and He Lingchuan soon caught a whiff of a foul odor.

Tensions were high, as if a battle was about to erupt. He Lingchuan quietly retreated.

It was unclear how the two sides communicated, but after about a dozen breaths, the giant python lowered its head, and Madam Zhu retracted her legs.

A moment later, the python demon turned north and slithered away.

Madam Zhu watched it leave before slowly crawling back.

As it passed He Lingchuan, it suddenly said, "Are you delighted, thinking that with two strong ones fighting, you'd have a chance to slip away?"

"How could that be?" He Lingchuan replied with a perfunctory smile.

"Lord Boshan loves to eat humans, especially raw," Madam Zhu said. "Prey swallowed whole by it can still feel themselves being digested in its stomach." Madam Zhu seemed to smile as well. Having lived for thousands of years, did she not possess more cunning than a mere greenhorn? "If you fell into its hands, your fate would be ten times worse!"

Then, with its bulging belly, it leisurely padded back to the demon lair.

This commotion dissipated before any actual conflict began.

From He Lingchuan's perspective, the giant python seemed more apprehensive.

It's worth noting that during this period, the spiders frequently found bodies carried by the water in the swamp. Sometimes these were wild animals, sometimes livestock, and sometimes humans. They were often accompanied by large amounts of driftwood and boat planks, mostly washed down from upstream.

These were all consequences of the Han River flood.

He Lingchuan occasionally found floating corpses of Yuan people. After so many days adrift and reaching the swamp, they were so bloated as to be unrecognizable, only their clothing allowing identification.

He wondered how the war in Yuan North was progressing. He couldn't go back, so he could only quietly dig graves to give them a peaceful burial.

In fact, over the past dozen days, he had noticed the spider swarm's attitude towards the two humans shift from neutral to unfriendly.

Especially towards Dong Rui.

Not Madam Zhu, but the swamp cave spider swarm.

This was due to Dong Rui's cruel experimentation, or more specifically, his cruelty towards spiders. The spider demons designated as test subjects would enter intact and healthy, but come out with six or seven legs broken, which was considered minor. Some had enlarged limbs, some had their legs attached backward, and some were so swollen, as if injected with water, that they wobbled when they walked.

Some even lost their heads, while others frantically rammed their cages, disowning their kin, as if suffering from mania.

In any case, the results were bizarre and none ended well. Let alone spider demons with awakened intelligence, even He Lingchuan felt a chill just by watching.

He finally understood why this fellow provoked outrage from both humans and gods in every country:

His capacity for depravity knew no bounds.

He Lingchuan reminded Dong Rui more than once. Even Madam Zhu, upon hearing the spider swarm's protests, came to confront the demon puppeteer. However, he shut them down with a single line: "If I don't do it this way, I won't get results."

"Oh, so this approach actually works?" He Lingchuan was not optimistic.

Every time he passed the spider swarm and heard the rustling sounds behind him, He Lingchuan could feel the spiders' animosity. The demon lair swamp was no place to stay long-term. Even if Madam Zhu eventually agreed to let them go, these smaller spiders would likely be looking for revenge later.

However, at least for now, with Madam Zhu's orders acting as a protective charm, He Lingchuan was safe. The spider demons were simple-minded by nature, with better discipline than worker bees. Aside from assisting Dong Rui, he spent his time wandering around under the cold stares of most of the spiders.

During these wanderings, He Lingchuan discovered that the demon lair's actual size was at least more than twice that of the Crimson Peak Mine. Its passages and caves were sturdier and more spacious, and it even boasted comprehensive defensive fortifications. After all, this place had been managed for over a decade, while the other was hastily constructed in a few days, leading to a significant difference in quality.

Just by looking at the scale of this demon lair, he knew that the tormentor who originally resided here was of a very high rank. He wondered how the Kingdom of Beige had managed to defeat it back then.

The strange thing was this:

Logically, that battle should have been quite brutal, yet he saw few traces of divine power or indiscriminate bombardment here, not even damage from fighting.

One must remember that even just three patrol teams entering the Crimson Peak Mine left numerous traces there.

Perhaps the demon lair was too powerful at the time and could self-repair.

Too many things didn't add up.

However, the nests created by tormentors were largely similar in structure, as they were all modeled after the human body.

He Lingchuan wanted to explore the 'Coiled Intestines' area but was stopped every time, told it was a restricted zone. The spider guards at the entrance were nearly as large as the guards at Madam Zhu's own door, and they formed trios, guarding it tightly.

Since he wasn't allowed in, he didn't force it. He Lingchuan, being highly observant, noticed that cave spiders entered and exited this area in groups far more frequently than any other part of the demon lair.

Moreover, they transported fluorescent spores, fodder, algae, and even some fermented fertilizer. It was the first time He Lingchuan had seen demons skillfully composting.

Seeing this, he knew what was going on.

Cave spiders were not naturally highly cooperative creatures; they were rather disorganized. However, once a demon appeared within such a group, it could easily transform into a biological structure similar to a beehive or ant colony. For instance, leopards were originally solitary hunters, but the family of the leopard demon Shiying would live, cooperate, and cultivate together, and even a hundred years later, their descendants still did the same.

Now that these cave spiders were working together in an organized manner, they must be tending to a food source.

Finally, one day, He Lingchuan saw several cave spiders entering the area, carrying something like sticky rice balls on their heads—white, soft, and still moving.

This was something he had seen in his dreams—

Aphid larvae.

Sure enough, Madam Zhu had led the spider swarm to resume their old business in the demon lair!

Running a farm.

The human intestine is astonishingly long, at least six meters when straightened. The total space in this part of the demon lair was considerable. While it couldn't compare to the old nest in the Ghost Needle Stone Forest, as long as the spider swarm controlled the temperature and humidity, the fungal mat could thrive, and the aphid-cows could produce honeydew, providing the swarm with a stable food source.

He knew that these cave spiders wouldn't easily change their diet to only fish and shrimp.

However, in reality, Madam Zhu had not had her aphid farm burned down by He Lingchuan. Otherwise, she would never have kept humans so close to the farm within her lair.

Should he repeat his old trick and re-enact his dream in reality? But even if he could escape Madam Zhu's territory, how would he break through the mirage at the edge of the swamp?

He Lingchuan secretly pondered this, occasionally consulting Dong Rui.

Currently, Dong Rui was entirely engrossed in his experiments, aiming for thirty days of intense, rapid work, with little regard for anything else. He paid no mind to He Lingchuan's new information, merely uttering a faint "Oh."

So the cave spiders were starting a farm, so what? What did that have to do with them?

He Lingchuan grabbed the hand holding the medicine bottle. His voice was barely a whisper, almost only audible to the two of them:

"More than half a month has passed," He Lingchuan whispered. "I'm asking you, can Madam Zhu's medicine actually be produced?"

Dong Rui glanced towards the entrance and whispered, "No."

"...That's so blunt?" He Lingchuan exclaimed. "Then what the hell are you experimenting for! Why aren't you thinking of a way to escape?"

Dong Rui sighed, and with the patience one might use to instruct an amateur, he said, "Compounding the medicine to create demon puppets isn't difficult. I have the experience and the techniques; some of the drugs are even ready-made and only require minor adjustments. The biggest problem lies with Madam Zhu herself."

"What's wrong with her?"

"No two monstrous beasts have identical characteristics, and the same applies to demon puppets," Dong Rui explained. "The key to creating them is to induce non-directional mutations." He shook his head. "But Madam Zhu is an ancient demon immortal. Although she reduced her cultivation through transformation, her body and demonic essence are too stable—not just stable, but rock-solid. These drugs might not even have any effect on her, at most causing diarrhea."

"Furthermore, even if the drugs were to take effect, she would endure cruel and prolonged agony," Dong Rui continued. "I've experimented on so many demons; not a single one could withstand the pain during the process of transforming into a demon puppet."

The process would be extremely painful, and the outcome unknown. Would Madam Zhu be willing to pay such a price just to counteract elemental power?

"Then what have you been busying yourself with these past few days?" He Lingchuan asked, puzzled.

"To experiment on a living ancient demon immortal and her shed skin, even just a small part—what a luxurious opportunity!" Dong Rui chuckled. "She also has a whole brood of disciples and descendants, practically downgraded copies of her. And they're willing to be my test subjects! Where else would I find such a good opportunity?"

In the past, whenever he wanted to create demon puppets, he had to fight tooth and nail first. The higher the rank of the demon beast he wanted to capture, the greater the risk he took. Otherwise, why would he be wanted by the Kingdom of Beige?

This place was practically his research paradise.

"What will you do when the deadline arrives?" He Lingchuan reminded him to focus on the immediate problem, as time was passing quickly.

Dong Rui scratched his head. "We'll see," he said.

After being interrupted by He Lingchuan a few times, Dong Rui finally disengaged from his workaholic mode. Of course, it was also because his mind was struggling after such intense labor.

It was a full moon that night, so the two of them simply walked to the entrance of the demon lair, sat by the water in the sinkhole, drinking, and watched the silver moonlight spill across the ground.

He Lingchuan always kept good wine in his storage ring. He took it out then, giving one jar to each of them.

Looking up from their spot, they saw the full moon, like a silver basin. Its light shimmered on the water, sparkling like stars.

Dong Rui stared blankly for a moment, then let out a long sigh.

"Could someone like him feel melancholy over the changing seasons?" He Lingchuan wondered. "What are you sighing about?"

"Nothing," Dong Rui replied. He no longer wore his face mask. No creature in the swamp found him ugly; in the eyes of the spider demons, He Lingchuan was probably just as ugly as he was.

Every time he drank, a little wine would leak from the corner of his crooked mouth.

He Lingchuan had grown accustomed to the gruesome face. He asked him again, "What exactly happened to your face?"

Dong Rui just drank, saying nothing.

After a long while, he finally wiped the wine from his mouth and said, "A woman did this."

He Lingchuan was startled. "That fierce?"