Volume One: The Emperor’s Sword Chapter 138: The Head Within the Cocoon

The gaps in the spider web were not wide enough for a person to pass through, but the Corpse King Worm was able to crawl out.

Yun Que had no intention of letting a treacherous fellow like Yan Xu escape alive.

It was only fair that everyone shared the burden together.

In truth, Yun Que wanted to release the Blind Serpent. If he did so, the Tier 4 Blood-Feathered Spider would be utterly vulnerable.

At the very least, the Blind Serpent would be wary of the Wangchuan Sword River and might not necessarily go on a massive slaughter, making it far superior to the bloody predation of the Blood-Feathered Spider.

Unfortunately, it was impossible.

Due to the natural restrictions within the Mirage Realm, demonic beasts exceeding Tier 4 simply could not exist. Forcibly releasing the Blind Serpent would lead to only two outcomes.

Either the space within the Mirage Realm would collapse, or the Blind Serpent would be torn apart by the realm's laws.

It was much like trying to stuff a massive water vat into a wine bottle; the outcome would be either the vat shattering or the bottle cracking.

Unable to borrow the power of the Blind Serpent, Yun Que had no choice but to release the Corpse King Worm first to trap Yan Xu.

The Corpse King Worm hovered outside the spider web, not daring to approach.

To a Tier 1 demonic insect, the Blood-Feathered Spider exerted a natural sense of oppression; the two were simply not in the same tier.

Furthermore, the Corpse King Worm preferred feeding on dead things and spiritual entities, showing no interest in living beings.

As the Blood-Feathered Spider emitted continuous screeches, the people trapped in the web grew increasingly panicked. Yet no matter how they struggled, not a single person could break free.

Wails filled the air.

"The Blood-Feathered Spider hasn't fully hatched yet, we still have hope!"

Someone shouted loudly.

Many people looked up toward the top of the tree. Sure enough, the Blood-Feathered Spider showed no immediate signs of hunting, but instead fixed its eight eyeballs downward while its body slowly writhed, as if making its final effort to break out of the cocoon.

The lower half of the Blood-Feathered Spider's body remained retracted inside the cocoon, suggesting it was not yet fully mature.

This reignited hope among the crowd.

"Break open the outer strange cocoons to create a gap! Our only hope lies in these cocoons!"

Hao Ziliang shouted at the top of his lungs, managing to wrench one arm free and swinging his sword fiercely toward a tall, strange cocoon in front of him.

Having fled relatively quickly, he was currently positioned at the edge of the spider web.

The entire perimeter of the spider web was ringed with strange cocoons. These cocoons had previously been buried deep underground, connected to one another by spider silk. Now gathered in a circle, they resembled a ring of stone pillars.

Viewed from a distance, the hundreds of strange cocoons combined with the spider web formed by the giant tree looked like a grand array, and the key to breaking this array was the giant cocoons protruding from the ground.

As long as one giant cocoon was breached, it would be equivalent to opening a passage leading outside the spider web.

Otherwise, once the Blood-Feathered Spider fully hatched, none of the thousands of people present would survive.

A few people close to Hao Ziliang followed his example, mustering all their strength to draw their swords and begin attacking the giant cocoon. One disciple who lacked a sword even resorted to biting it with his teeth in his desperation.

"Let's do what they're doing!"

Zhou Yuanliang struggled to pull out a long sword; there was also a giant cocoon beside him.

The nearby Swallow Sword Palace disciples immediately rushed to help, each one trying harder than the last.

Mu Qingyao was not far away. Clutching her Flower Spirit Sword tightly, she struggled mightily, coming within inches of reaching the giant cocoon.

In the current situation, whoever broke the passage first would escape first. Relying on the disciples of other sword palaces to save oneself was entirely unrealistic.

Only by relying on one's own efforts could one fight for a glimmer of hope.

Nearly all the disciples near the giant cocoons went into action; everyone wanted to survive.

Yun Que felt this was a viable method. Although he was a bit far from the silk cocoons, he was confident he could break away from the spider web momentarily.

While the spiritual energy within everyone else was sealed by the spider web, Yun Que still had his sword meridians.

His sword meridians could still circulate spiritual energy.

However, once spiritual energy was utilized, it would immediately trigger the spider web's seal, allowing it to be channeled for only the briefest moment. Therefore, this chance had to be reserved as a last resort, to be used at the most critical juncture.

Either he would unleash sword techniques to attack a single point, or he would cut the spider silk to free himself first.

Just as he was hesitating over how to open a path for Zhou Yuanliang and Mu Qingyao, Yun Que suddenly caught sight of Landuo in the crowd.

Unlike the others, Landuo not only refrained from moving closer to the surrounding giant cocoons, but instead rolled desperately across the spider web, determined to stay as far away from those cocoons as possible, even as more and more spider silk wrapped around her body.

Beast Spiritual Root...

Recalling Landuo's innate talent, Yun Que made a prompt decision and shouted:

"Young Master, stop!"

Zhou Yuanliang was hacking away vigorously, intending to escape a step ahead of the others, only to hear Yun Que shout for him to halt.

Had it been anyone else, he certainly wouldn't have stopped; at such a critical juncture, every moment delayed could mean the loss of his life.

But Yun Que was different.

Zhou Yuanliang trusted Yun Que implicitly. Upon hearing the command, he immediately withdrew his sword and stopped the others from hacking away.

While lingering in doubt and confusion, Zhou Yuanliang saw that Hao Ziliang's side had successfully breached the giant cocoon.

A cheer erupted from the Shaowu Sword Palace disciples.

Hao Ziliang seized the initiative, grabbing the gap in the giant cocoon in an attempt to leverage it to free himself from the spider silk.

Puff!

The sound of a sharp object piercing something rang out.

Amidst the horrified gazes of the crowd, a slender proboscis emerged above Hao Ziliang's head, closely resembling that of the Blood-Feathered Spider, albeit much smaller.

Gurgle, gurgle.

The sound of fluids being sucked away echoed out.

Hao Ziliang's entire body convulsed, his skin withering away at a speed visible to the naked eye until nothing was left soon afterward but a human hide!

The surroundings fell silent.

No one dared to strike those seemingly harmless giant cocoons ever again.

"They're all... they're all Blood-Feathered Spiders!"

A female disciple wailed with a tearful voice, her face full of despair.

A peak Tier 4 Blood-Feathered Spider was already matchless; if all hundred-odd giant cocoons were filled with Blood-Feathered Spiders, everyone present would completely lose any hope of survival.

Zhou Yuanliang turned deathly pale with shock, casting a grateful glance toward Yun Que.

Had it not been for Yun Que's warning, he might have died even faster than Hao Ziliang.

Who could have imagined that the ring of giant cocoons surrounding them wasn't food hunted by the Blood-Feathered Spider, but its own kind!

The situation grew increasingly perilous.

No matter how clever Zhou Yuanliang was, he could not think of a single countermeasure.

Yun Que kept his gaze fixed on the giant cocoon with the split opening, sensing faintly that the matter was not that simple.

If someone had left behind an unhatched Blood-Feathered Spider last year, then these giant cocoons surrounding the spider eggs shouldn't all contain Tier 4 demonic beasts.

The hatching of a Blood-Feathered Spider certainly required special conditions; the one on the tree had succeeded only after absorbing the Silkworm King.

The Mirage Realm simply did not possess that many Silkworm Kings to feed a hundred spiders.

Therefore, Yun Que judged that other things might be hidden within the hundreds of surrounding giant cocoons.

While he was deep in thought, the spider web began to shake.

Two disciples from the Crimson Glow Sword Palace were snared by a pair of spider strands and dragged toward the giant tree, quickly ascending to the treetop.

Amidst their shrill screams, the two were sucked dry by the Blood-Feathered Spider one after the other.

Following that, the Blood-Feathered Spider shook its fat body, and the individual strands of spider silk connected to it turned blood-red.

The crimson color spread along the spider web like a conveyor belt, instantly reaching the strange cocoons all around.

People panicked, wailing incessantly.

Yun Que remained entirely calm.

Observing the movements of the Blood-Feathered Spider, he quickly noticed a subtle difference.

The strange cocoons connected to the Blood-Feathered Spider all began to shake in unison after being nourished by the crimson color, resembling a nest of fledglings crying out for food, greedily absorbing the sustenance sent by their mother.

A single word surfaced in Yun Que's mind.

Feeding!

After absorbing two living humans, the Blood-Feathered Spider transmitted their blood via the spider web to the hundreds of giant cocoons surrounding them—it was feeding blood to those strange cocoons!

Could his guess have been wrong?

Yun Que grew puzzled. What was unfolding before his eyes clearly indicated that those giant cocoons were filled with baby spiders.

A snapping sound rang out.

The opening of the giant cocoon that Hao Ziliang had slashed earlier widened slightly, and a head poked out from within.

It was a human head!

The forehead was painted with oil, the top of the skull was deeply indented, and a small spider rested motionlessly right in that depression.

A barbarian!

Yun Que recognized the identity of that head at a single glance; it was undoubtedly a member of the barbarian race.

Furthermore, it was a barbarian fused together with a demonic beast!