Chapter 947: Irritated Zhu Erniang

Chapter 937: Zhu Erniang's Annoyance

He Lingchuan realized he was still inside a cave, as a massive stone ceiling loomed above. The cave entrance opened into the sea, forming a calm, "sea pool"-like area. Daylight streamed down through a high, eroded hole diagonally above, illuminating schools of fish in the water.

It would be difficult to reach this place by walking down from the mountain; a high dive through that eroded hole would be the only way.

Here, many Burrow Spiders were busy piling rocks into the sea and securing them with sticky spiderwebs.

"What are they doing?" He Lingchuan asked, observing a natural reef extending into the sea. The Burrow Spiders appeared to be extending it.

“They’re building a fish weir,” Zhu Erniang’s voice came from behind, as Zhu Daniang remained silent. “After the tide recedes, fish and shrimp will be left inside.”

He Lingchuan turned to see Zhu Erniang’s dark, massive figure emerge from behind the rock. “If we leave two spiderwebs at the weir’s opening, we won’t have to personally go into the sea to catch fish.”

He Lingchuan gave a thumbs-up. “Clever! Have you lived by the sea or caught sea fish before?”

In the Demon’s Nest Swamp, Burrow Spiders could only cast nets into the lake to wait for fish. But at the seashore, there are tides; when the tide recedes, fish are automatically trapped by the nets, saving time and effort.

Moreover, the mesh size of the spiderwebs can be adjusted. If the fish are too small, the Burrow Spiders don’t bother to catch them.

“Of course,” she replied. They were ancient monsters, thousands of years old; what place hadn’t they been?

Each fearsome giant spider was as large as a wooden house. Standing together, their twenty-four eyes stared, making anyone in front of them feel immense pressure.

Only He Lingchuan was an exception.

He found a relatively flat rock, brushed off the sand, and sat down.

“How have you been these past few days, Erniang?”

“Quite well, and quite busy,” Zhu Erniang replied. She had been building their new home and had no time to rest.

The new terrain and cave required a completely new, adapted design.

Zhu Daniang had offered several suggestions beforehand, but Zhu Erniang had her own ideas and adopted none of them. This angered Zhu Daniang, who stopped helping and went out to amuse herself.

Oh well, Erniang would set aside a good room for her anyway; she could just be a hands-off manager.

“Being busy is good,” He Lingchuan sighed, taking out four or five jars of aged wine from his storage ring. Each jar was sealed with red silk. “This is the best wine from Bladeport, a housewarming gift for you two.”

He remembered Zhu Erniang loved drinking the most, even trading with human caravans for liquor in the Demon’s Nest Swamp.

Of course, he hadn’t forgotten Zhu Daniang’s share either.

Each of the two giant spiders took a large jar. Without opening the seal, they directly pierced their mouthparts into the clay stopper and began to slurp.

This action was chilling, as it was how they usually fed on prey. He Lingchuan could hear a few gurgling sounds from the bottom of the jars, indicating the wine was quickly being drained.

Zhu Daniang was more refined, but Zhu Erniang instantly finished two jars of fine wine before tossing the jars aside. “The taste is just so-so,” she commented.

“A large area of plum trees and wild cherries has been newly discovered on Dragon’s Back Island,” He Lingchuan said after making small talk. “Perhaps next year we can brew our own wine.” He then turned to the main topic. “Daniang said you wanted to discuss something important with me on the island?”

Zhu Erniang grunted in affirmation. “When I settled in eastern Mou State, the Beijia found me. I only had about a month of peace after I moved once.”

Zhu Daniang couldn’t help but ask, “The island is so secluded. You moved here, can they still find you?”

This time, He Lingchuan and Zhu Erniang spoke in unison: “Yes, they can!”

Zhu Daniang and the Soul-Capturing Mirror were speechless.

The Soul-Capturing Mirror immediately cried out from He Lingchuan’s embrace, “Hey, hey, what should we do!”

After the great disturbance in the Heavenly Palace, they had fled far and wide, even crossing vast oceans to this unfamiliar place, all to avoid the Beijia, right?

They had just arrived at the Yangshan Archipelago, and Zhu Erniang was already exposed. What now!

Will this bring about a deadly disaster?

“It’s true that your sisters’ settlement on Pan Si Island is secluded, isolated, and surrounded by vast oceans. But even if you can hide for a while, when the products from Pan Si Cave are continuously sold, it’s hard to guarantee the Beijia won’t notice,” He Lingchuan analyzed truthfully. “The Yangshan Archipelago and Bladeport will be well-connected ports, with cargo ships coming and going. Zhu Erniang’s fluorescent spores and aphids are unique skills, and you won’t find many similar ones in the entire world.”

Zhu Erniang: “Exactly.”

“If someone is determined to find you, they can still trace the clues back to you,” he said, also to the Soul-Capturing Mirror. “Don’t underestimate the Beijia.”

Once business started, the subsequent implications would be beyond his control.

Despite his words, Zhu Daniang still looked at him calmly. “Aren’t you worried?”

“What’s the use of worrying?” he replied. “Should we stop doing things just because we’re afraid the Beijia will come knocking? For the Yangshan Archipelago to develop, we must rely on Erniang’s products; we can’t give up eating for fear of choking.” He then asked Zhu Erniang, “How did the Beijia find you when you first settled in eastern Mou State?”

Eastern Mou State was far from Beijia; the latter certainly had a long reach.

“I first lived in the Lingdong Grand Canyon in eastern Mou State, but I didn’t get along well with the local monsters,” Zhu Erniang explained. “I wanted to be closer to trade routes, but even remote places had owners. So…” she paused, “I had a few fights.”

Her fungal mat produced an exceptionally abundant supply, making it best to trade with humans for the fine wine, medicinal herbs, and various cultivation resources she needed.

He Lingchuan rubbed his nose. For monsters, it seemed perfectly reasonable that a blessed land should be occupied by the capable, without regard for who arrived first.

“Didn’t Mou State intervene?”

“They did,” Zhu Erniang said dejectedly. “They said I hadn’t obtained official permission. While I was arguing about this, several of my offspring suddenly went missing.”

In the wilderness, it wasn’t unusual for small spiders to go missing for various reasons. However, “losing a few every day was suspicious. So I used my ‘Shared Vision’ ability and discovered that a group of people had kidnapped my offspring. Their exact numbers were unclear, but there were both humans and monsters among them.”

“Shared Vision” is the innate divine ability of the Burrow Spider Queen, allowing her to share sight and hearing with her offspring. Both Daniang and Erniang had shared this ability with He Lingchuan to a limited extent, which enabled him to use his Eyeball Spiders.

“After they captured my offspring, someone even asked if they could confirm these creatures were Burrow Spiders from the Demon’s Nest Swamp, since they didn’t speak.”

Wild spider demons were not uncommon, but anyone who could mention “Demon’s Nest Swamp” likely knew Zhu Erniang’s origin.

“A white bird then said it had seen me crawl onto the surface, and I had a star chart on my abdomen, so it must be me.”

“These guys wanted to execute my offspring on the spot! Through my offspring’s mouths, I asked them who they were,” Zhu Erniang said with a chilling tone. “Their leader replied that anyone targeted by the Beijia’s bounty would be found, no matter where they fled. If the Beijia wanted to find someone, they definitely would!”

“I asked them what they wanted, and those few individuals demanded that I come out to meet them, then proceeded to kill several of my offspring.”

Zhu Daniang interjected, “Did you go?”

“No,” she replied.

“...But there were only a few of them,” Zhu Daniang retorted. Her sister commanded a spider army; what was there to fear?

Zhu Erniang countered, “They dared to stand on the edge of my territory and taunt me. Do you think they came unprepared, sticking their necks out?”

Zhu Daniang was displeased. “Even so, we shouldn’t let them off!”

“I ignored them at the time, but I sent out spider scouts to monitor the surroundings,” Zhu Erniang continued, addressing He Lingchuan and ignoring her sister. “These fellows were quite skilled; they repeatedly cleared out my scouts.”

“I still didn’t go. They waited until dusk, then left. After that, they disappeared for several days, and I didn’t think much of it.” So what if they were from Beijia? This place was thousands of miles away from Beijia, and their army couldn’t reach here. Besides, half the canyon was Zhu Erniang’s territory; anyone daring to enter the spider’s nest would be devoured by thousands of spiders and drained like jelly.

So, Zhu Erniang wasn’t overly concerned at that point.

Zhu Daniang asked curiously, “Then why did you move?”

“I have business dealings with humans, as you know,” Zhu Erniang said. “Later, while trading with a caravan, poisonous smoke suddenly emerged from the supplies I had just moved into the storage cave. In a fit of rage, I killed them all!”

He Lingchuan grunted in acknowledgment; this certainly matched Erniang’s style.

“After that, I conducted four more trades, and three of them went wrong, so I had to suspend operations,” Zhu Erniang said, clearly frustrated. “Word also spread in the human world that I was wantonly devouring people in the Lingdong Canyon, and Mou State officials immediately sent people to question me.”

“I told them the Beijia’s adversaries had followed me, but they didn’t care. They just told me to move as quickly as possible.” Mou State officials already had objections to her seizing territory and occupying the canyon, and seeing her kill people, they had to take action.

“I was too lazy to argue with them, so I simply moved to Butterfly Valley, several hundred miles away.”

Even a mighty dragon can’t easily suppress a local serpent.

Officials were officials; if she offended them, she couldn’t stay. This was a lesson she had learned over a hundred years ago from the Coiling Dragon Wasteland.

“As a result, I had barely a month of peace before these Beijia people came knocking again, constantly looking for opportunities to hunt my offspring,” Zhu Erniang recounted, clearly annoyed. “I had my mirage demon release a mist, but it couldn’t stop them. Someone among them must have been a Mou State official, able to see through the mist with their Yuan power!”

“I sent out spider guards to clear out the enemies, but these fellows had truly laid down vicious formations and traps, causing heavy losses to my spider guards…” Zhu Erniang’s voice was resentful. “However, in several clashes, I also eliminated many of their people, but their leader was as cunning as you—”

The “you” referred to He Lingchuan.

When she had fought He Lingchuan before, he was slicker than an eel and impossible to catch!

He Lingchuan grinned at her, tilted his head, and made a spiraling upward gesture with his left hand near his ear, indicating he was “honored.”

“—And they had many formations and magical artifacts. Twice I trapped them, but they escaped with their subordinates,” Zhu Erniang said, tossing several copper talismans that clattered as they bounced on the reef. “One time, they used these.”

He Lingchuan picked up a gleaming yellow copper talisman and examined the intricate, delicate patterns on it. “A Small Mountain-Moving Formation? Ho, quite wealthy indeed.”

(End of Chapter)