Chapter 95: Hidden Dragon's Precious Bone

These ghost skulls, which could ignore physical obstacles, were excellent at scouting. They often detected Ghost-Eyed Spiders from a considerable distance, providing great convenience for the duo's hunting mission.

Fortunately, the Ghost Eye Cave was perpetually dark, with a high concentration of Yin-attribute spiritual energy, making it as comfortable as home for them.

Killing spiders in groups was difficult, so the two mostly targeted solitary ones or those gathered in small groups of two or three. In just half an hour, they had collected 20 Ghost Eyes and five complete spider carcasses.

"That's enough," he said. "Next, we need to find peak-tier 1 Ghost-Eyed Spiders."

"Alright, many thanks, Senior Brother Situ."

"No problem."

Apart from the invisible Ghost-Eyed Spider they encountered upon entering, subsequent ones were much more normal, with only one or two possessing this special ability. This situation allowed them to secretly breathe a sigh of relief; as long as not every Ghost-Eyed Spider had this ability, dealing with them remained relatively easy.

Inside the cave, the path gradually sloped downwards, revealing many interconnected passages. Occasionally, these passages would link up with other Ghost Eye Caves. When this happened, spiders from the two different colonies would fight. At such times, disciples were needed to intervene, at least to block the connecting points and then seal them with talismans or restrictions, which was quite troublesome.

"It's almost noon now," Situ Hong suddenly remarked during their journey, seemingly out of the blue. "We must exit the cave before *xushi* (around 7-9 PM). Besides illumination, this light-emitting pearl also shows the way back outside." Wang Yu, of course, understood his meaning. The anomaly in Ghost Eye Cave No. 5 suggested the presence of an unknown treasure, which would be difficult to share between two people, and their required mission quota was already complete. Splitting up now might allow them to find the source of the spiders' mutation.

Wang Yu played along. "Since that's the case, Senior Brother, why don't we split up? That way, we won't have to argue over the distribution of the Ghost Eyes."

"Alright," Situ Hong agreed.

Situ Hong nodded, shaking the Hundred Ghosts Banner in his hand. The active ghost skulls outside promptly returned and, following his direction, headed into the left passage. In his view, with his superior scouting methods, he had a better chance than Wang Yu of finding the source of the Ghost-Eyed Spiders' mutation. While ordinary spider hunting was one thing, encountering a fortuitous opportunity meant it was only right to enjoy it alone.

Seeing him walk away, Wang Yu shook his head and entered the right passage. With a flick of his finger, several strands of spiritual energy condensed into an ice crystal, which he embedded in the wall. After leaving a trace of his divine sense within it, he quickly moved forward.

Not long after, once he was sure Situ Hong was far away, Wang Yu also put the light-emitting pearl into his storage pouch. His vision plunged into darkness, with only the faint glow of the two crescent moons in his eyes providing illumination.

Similarly, just as Situ Hong wanted to claim everything for himself, so did Wang Yu. The Night Stealth Charm activated naturally, transforming him into a shadow that swiftly moved through the cave passages. He ignored all the Ghost-Eyed Spiders he encountered along the way.

He merely noted the locations of the peak-tier 1 Ghost-Eyed Spiders to deal with later. His priority was to first map out the internal terrain. Given the cultivation of the demonic beasts here, even a tier 2 Spider Queen would find it difficult to see through the Night Stealth Charm. In the dark environment, he was completely in his element.

After nearly three hours of mapping out the cave's terrain, he regrettably found no trace of a Spider Queen's lair. This implied it might be on Situ Hong's side. If possible, he would have liked to try acquiring a tier 2 Ghost Eye. What a pity.

However, he did make a discovery related to the invisible spiders. This was a vertical passage, with faint white light filtering down from above, likely leading to the summit of Spider Mountain. Although described as vertical, the passage had a slight curve and was covered everywhere with spiderwebs. Half-human-sized giant spiders clung to them. There were at least a dozen of them, varying in strength, but they all shared one striking characteristic: they could turn invisible!

Sticking close to the cave wall, Wang Yu carefully navigated through the dense cobwebs and peered down the vertical passage. After a brief moment of thought, he decisively took action. Forming a spiritual seal with his hand, he slapped it towards the ground.

As surging spiritual energy burst forth, a thick layer of ice divided the passage into upper and lower sections, separating a dozen or so spiders. Wang Yu seized the opportunity to leap from the shadows. Looking up, he unleashed his Flame Breath! A roaring torrent of pale grey, almost white, cold flame, enveloped in a blue outer layer, erupted from his lips. It looked like he was just blowing, yet it brought terrifying extremes of both cold and heat!

The spiders were caught off guard and fell one after another, their legs flailing chaotically. Only a few peak-tier 1 Ghost Spiders managed to spit out shadow spikes. These were innate bloodline spells for demonic beasts.

The solid shadow spikes, after passing through the cold flame layer, were significantly weakened by the time they approached him. Wang Yu activated his Black Scale Shield, deflecting all of them with a few thuds. With his right hand forming a sword-finger seal, his perfected Ice Sword Art, which typically created ten ice swords, now condensed into two vastly improved ice swords. This was different from mere enlargement; this overlapping technique aimed for qualitative compression! It was his secondary development and application of perfected spells, allowing them to serve different purposes in various environments.

Under Wang Yu's focused divine sense, the significantly enhanced ice swords swiftly struck, turning the spiders into charred fragments that fell around him.

Without time to process them, he swept all the fragments into an empty storage pouch. Wang Yu then looked down; below the thick ice layer that sealed off the passage, numerous Ghost Spiders had already gathered. Spiritual energy surged. The ice layer beneath his feet automatically melted, forming a finger-width hole. Wang Yu repeated his technique, forcefully unleashing his Flame Breath through the opening.

The thin, elongated flame erupted after passing through the three-meter-long narrow passage, and increasingly more shrieks of agony filled the air. He could clearly see the situation below.

After waiting for three breaths of time, the ice layer completely dissolved. The two sharp ice swords, enhanced by five layers of qualitative transformation, struck again. Wang Yu descended while simultaneously slashing. Within a few breaths, he landed smoothly.

Immediately afterward, a large number of body fragments fell, completely surrounding him. The spider remains were somewhat disgusting, so Wang Yu collected them all before he had time to examine his surroundings.

The environment below was completely different from the Ghost Eye Cave. It seemed more like the dwelling of some large creature, with remnants of shed, dull scales clinging to the walls. In the corners, numerous weathered, unknown skeletons were piled up. This clearly wasn't how spiders fed. Although there were now many spiderwebs, their fresh appearance indicated that the Ghost Spiders hadn't invaded this place long ago.

After a thorough examination and search, Wang Yu discovered a seven-to-eight-meter-long skeleton lying on a patch of dry grass. It was densely wrapped in spider silk, and several palm-sized small spiders were clinging to it. Wang Yu casually struck them down with a few sword slashes.

Following the tail to the skull, his gaze suddenly sharpened. Using his ice sword to clear away the spider silk, he found a bone fragment inscribed with mysterious symbols at the skull's location. It emitted unusual fluctuations.

"This is a treasure bone..."

"The treasure bone of a Hidden Dragon???"

Treasure bones are formed from demonic beasts whose bloodline has reached a certain level after their demise.