Rise of the Wang Clan: Starting with a Portable Farm

Chapter 194: The Blue Ghost Spider

“Sister Wenzhu, are you absolutely sure the Blue Ghost Spider is here?” Wang Wenjiang asked, wiping snake blood from his blade after slicing a three-foot venomous serpent in two.

Wang Wenzhu peered into the dense foliage. “Positive. Blue Ghost Spiders love this exact environment. A rogue cultivator friend of mine spotted one on the forest edge just six months ago. Spiders don’t change nests that quickly.”

Suddenly, a rustling sound echoed from the underbrush ahead.

Wang Hao checked his Wicked Map. No demon beasts appeared ahead; the noise had to be people.

“Turn around,” Wang Hao ordered quietly. “We detour.”

It was best to avoid meeting other cultivators in the wild. There was no telling what they might do.

The group circled wide. Wang Hao swept the area with his Divine Sense, detecting a squad of nine late-stage Qi Refining cultivators. The other group had evidently sensed them as well, as they were also altering their course to avoid confrontation.

“Nightfall will make this place even more dangerous,” Wang Hao said, checking the darkening sky. “Pick up the pace.”

Each of the six took a Spirit Recovery Pill and an Antidote Pill, then hurried through the forest.

An hour later, they crested a small hillock.

Thwip!

A thread of white silk shot from the canopy of a towering tree, aiming straight for Wang Wuxiang at the front of the formation.

Wang Hao’s Divine Sense caught it instantly: a Tier 1 Middle-Grade Blue Spider. Wang Wuxiang was at the sixth layer of Qi Refining; he could handle this.

The young cultivator reacted instinctively. He tucked into a forward roll, dodging the silk, while a yellow barrier of earth energy sprang up around him. Earth-element spells were the gold standard for defense when facing an unknown enemy.

The other four reacted quickly, hurling their magic tools at the blue spider.

The spider didn’t stand a chance. It was instantly hacked into twitching chunks.

“A Blue Ghost Spider? Why is it only middle-grade first-tier?” Wang Wenjiang asked. “Fifteenth Sister, were you misled?”

Wang Hao saw webs scattered around them. His Wicked Map still showed a few small white skulls, though the area had not been fully revealed.

“There isn’t just one,” Wang Hao said, his eyes narrowing. “We’ve stumbled into a nest.”

The juniors’ eyes lit up. A nest meant volume, and volume meant profit. With Wang Hao guarding them, danger was an afterthought.

“Stay sharp. Clear the Tier 1 spiders first.”

They formed a tight defensive phalanx and advanced up the hill.

The forest here was choked with white webbing. Even with sharp Divine Sense, avoiding every strand was impossible. The vibrations alerted the hive.

Spiders began to pour out of the shadows.

At first, the five dealt with the spiders easily. Then seven Blue Ghost Spiders appeared in succession, including two high-grade first-tier ones, and they began to struggle.

Wang Hao watched from the rear, arms crossed. “Need a hand?” he teased.

“No! I can hold!” Wang Wenzhu shouted stubbornly.

“We’ve got this, Fifth Brother!” Wang Wenjiang added, gritting his teeth.

Wang Hao hadn’t intended to step in yet; he just wanted to distract them slightly to increase the difficulty.

The spiders, however, didn’t pause for banter.

Fortunately, Tier 1 spiders had limited attack patterns: physical lunges or web shots. While the juniors couldn’t kill them quickly, their defenses held firm.

Stung by Wang Hao’s teasing, Wang Wenzhu wanted to end the fight quickly.

She activated her jade bottle. A blue stream of water caught the silk coming from several spiders and ran along it to cover the two nearest spiders. She then used a Freezing Talisman.

Crack!

The two Blue Ghost Spiders froze inside blocks of ice.

Wang Wenjiang tapped them with his spirit sword, killing both.

With the numbers thinned, the remaining spiders were quickly dispatched.

At the end, exhaustion and carelessness let a strand of web strike Wang Wenzhu’s shoulder. The injury was slight, but it spoiled her chance to boast, and she did not dare invite Wang Hao’s scolding.

Suddenly, Wang Hao stood up.

He pointed a finger at a dense patch of weeds nearby. A dragon of fire erupted from his hand, incinerating the brush.

The flames revealed a dark, gaping hole in the earth.

Inside, thick layers of webbing burned away with a sickening crackle, releasing a pungent stench.

“Its nest was this close? Why did the second-tier spider stay inside?” Wang Wenjiang asked, shaken.

A second-tier Blue Ghost Spider emerging at such close range might have injured one of them before Wang Hao could save them.

Wang Hao was wondering the same thing. A massive skull icon had suddenly appeared on his map, prompting his attack.

“Something kept it inside,” Wang Hao mused. “Normally, a beast wouldn’t ignore the slaughter of its brood.”

They entered the cave.

The answer awaited them in a spacious underground cavern. The Tier 2 Blue Ghost Spider—a High-Grade specimen—was in the middle of labor. It was surrounded by a clutch of nearly a hundred eggs.

If only the Fourteenth Granduncle was this productive, Wang Hao thought idly.

The birthing process had left the matriarch severely weakened. Its aura had fallen from High-Grade to Low-Grade Tier 2.

Seeing intruders invade its nursery, the mother spider went berserk. Maternal instinct overrode exhaustion. It shrieked, unleashing a storm of white ice needles.

Wang Hao stepped forward, raising his shield.

Thud-thud-thud.

The needles shattered harmlessly against the barrier.

The spider opened its maw again. Wang Hao expected webbing, but instead, it spewed a cloud of green, toxic mist.

Poison mist, ice needles, and webbing? Wang Hao’s eyes lit up. Three innate skills?

Most second-tier spirit beasts had only one skill besides their physical attacks. These eggs might let the Wang family raise several valuable Blue Ghost Spiders.

In its prime, the poison mist might have troubled Wang Hao. But in its weakened state, the toxin couldn’t even corrode his basic protective aura.

However, the juniors behind him had no such immunity.

To protect the five Qi Refining cultivators from the poison, Wang Hao had to finish the fight quickly.

He summoned the Chaos Earth Seal.

The heavy seal appeared above the spider and bathed it in yellow light. Its movements stopped; it could no longer budge.

Wang Hao slashed with his green light sword. Several sword shadows struck the spider with metallic clangs.

The juniors had no protective spiritual radiance; breathing the poison was dangerous, and this spider had too many skills to use for training. Wang Hao summoned his Heaven-Dazzling Bowl.

It expanded to the size of a house and struck the spider.

The spider was crushed into a pulp. The cavern trembled, and small stones fell from above.