Cultivation Begins From The Desert-Chapter 66: Flame-devouring Spider

Time flies.

In the blink of an eye, Zhouyang had been stationed at Haoyang Cave for three years.

During these three years, he rarely left Haoyang Cave; apart from daily cultivation, he spent his time either researching the artifact refining inheritance he obtained from the old Clan Leader Zhou Minghan or accompanying his mother Lin Yuting to experience the life of ordinary mortals in the mortal city.

Lin Yuting was only a few years younger than Zhou Xuanhao, and after Zhou Xuanhao’s Foundation Establishment, it was impossible for the couple to grow old together. Therefore, in the last twenty years of her life, she chose not to stay by her husband’s side at Baisha River Oasis, but to accompany her only son Zhouyang at Haoyang Cave.

Zhouyang actually understood his mother Lin Yuting’s thoughts very well. He knew that her coming to accompany him was not only to make up for the separation of the past twenty or thirty years between mother and son, but also because she didn’t want her middle-aged husband to see her grow old day by day.

He also fantasized about helping Lin Yuting enter the Foundation Establishment Stage, but each time he had such a fantasy, it was shattered by the brutal reality.

Not to mention Lin Yuting’s nearly hundred-year-old age and only having Eighth-Layer Qi Cultivation, her gentle and weak willpower might not even be able to pass the "Divine Sense Barrier."

If it were his foster mother Xuan Yu, Zhouyang wouldn’t be concerned about this at all.

Changing a person’s will is not impossible, but in Lin Yuting’s current situation, there’s evidently no time to work on this, not to mention Zhouyang can’t even get a second Foundation Establishment Pill right now.

So all he could do was spend more time with his mother in the next twenty years, accompanying her through the last moments of her life, making sure she wouldn’t have any regrets.

One day, Zhouyang was accompanying his mother Lin Yuting in Baisha River Oasis helping Eighth Aunt Zhou Xuanyan build the oasis, when he suddenly received a Sound Transmission Talisman requesting help from the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein.

After reading the talisman, his face first darkened, but then soon returned to normal.

He smiled slightly and nodded towards Lin Yuting and Eighth Aunt Zhou Xuanyan beside him, saying, "It’s nothing major, just a few clueless demon beasts breaking into the mine and injuring people. I’ll handle it and be right back."

The truth was certainly not as simple as he said.

If it were just ordinary demon beasts breaking into the mine and injuring people, Thirteenth Aunt Zhou Xuanying, who was stationed there, would have already taken care of them.

It’s important to know that as the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein started being mined, the net income generated each year for the Zhou Family had already reached seven hundred Spirit Stones, and this number was still growing each year, with a stable annual revenue of fifteen hundred Spirit Stones being no problem at all.

Seeing this obvious profitability of the ore vein, Zhouyang had sent Thirteenth Aunt Zhou Xuanying, who was at the Seventh-Layer Qi Cultivation, to protect the miners closely.

Now, even Thirteenth Aunt Zhou Xuanying, at the Seventh Layer, needed to send a Sound Transmission Talisman to seek help from him, indicating that the demon beasts appearing in the mine must be comparable in strength to the Tier Two Top Grade Demon Beast "Gold-Eating Rat" he encountered at the Refined Iron Ore Vein.

"It’s a Tier Two Top Grade Demon Beast [Flame-devouring Spider], and there are at least five of them. The miners accidentally dug above their nest during mining, resulting in twenty or thirty miners being captured and wrapped in spider silk by these creatures and dragged away. The mine has been temporarily sealed, waiting for the Clan Leader to handle it."

As Zhouyang landed on his flying sword, the one who had sent the rescue Sound Transmission Talisman, Zhou Xuanying, hurried over to report the situation to him.

Upon hearing the words "Flame-devouring Spider," Zhouyang’s eyebrows raised, and a knowing expression flashed in his eyes.

"Flame-devouring Spiders," as their name suggests, like to devour flame and Fire Attribute Celestial Spirit objects, so they are often found in volcanic hot areas. With Red Flame Iron being a Fire Attribute Spiritual Object, it is normal for such demon beasts to appear beneath its ore vein.

And spiders are best at hiding themselves. Flame-devouring Spiders hidden at tens of meters deep in the ore vein are difficult to detect, even if someone like Zhouyang, with a Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s Divine Sense, scanned the ground below.

He nodded seriously with understanding, and said sternly, "I understand the situation now. Thirteenth Aunt, you did the right thing. Now, continue to evacuate and comfort the frightened miners. I will go down myself to assess the situation and decide what to do next."

After he spoke, he released his flying sword to break the seal made by Zhou Xuanying on the mine entrance with the Dragon-breaking Stone, and with a move, he entered the mine.

Zhouyang’s Divine Sense was incredibly strong. The mine at the Red Flame Iron Ore Vein had only been newly excavated for a few years, so it wasn’t deep. As he entered the mine, his Divine Sense swept through, immediately discovering the location where the Flame-devouring Spiders were attacking the miners.

However, his reckless Divine Sense sweep also disturbed the Flame-devouring Spider group hidden underground. Sensing his formidable Divine Sense aura, they immediately burst with presence as a warning against him.

This group of Flame-devouring Spiders totaled eight; each was as large as a calf, their shells vivid crimson, and their eight fist-sized compound eyes were filled with ferocity and hostility. Even sensing Zhouyang’s Foundation Establishment Cultivator aura, they showed no fear, instead releasing intense hostility as a warning towards him.

"Get out!"

Zhouyang shouted, and his Divine Sense suddenly pressed down, instantly crushing the ferocious and hostile will emitted by the Flame-devouring Spider group.

Squeak squeak squeak—

A piercing screech filled with rage erupted from the depths of the mine tunnel; the "Devouring Flame Spider" swarm had been enraged by Zhouyang’s attitude and had actually emerged from their lair into the mine tunnel.

"Hmph, it’s said that insect-type demon beasts have the lowest intelligence among demon beasts, and seeing it today proved true. Mere Tier Two High-Grade demon beasts dare to initiate an attack on a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, truly not knowing the limits of their lives!"

Zhouyang let out a cold snicker, showing great disdain for the spiders’ reckless behavior.

With a pinch of his sword technique and a guiding of his divine sense, the Tier Three Lower Grade flying sword "Crimson Gold Light Sword" slashed toward the emerging "Devouring Flame Spiders," radiating dazzling sword light.

As the sword light approached, the spider swarm certainly wouldn’t sit still for slaughter. They all opened their mouths, spewing spider silk towards the sword light, attempting to block it.

The spider silk of the "Devouring Flame Spider" is crimson, harder than refined iron, and extremely tensile. An average Tier Two flying sword caught by this silk would soon be completely enveloped, losing touch with its cultivator.

Moreover, due to the spiders’ preference for flames and fire attribute spiritual objects, their silk doesn’t fear fire, unlike other types of silk, nor does it fear being burned. It can even weaken the strength of fire magic. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

In the cultivation realm, a magic robe knitted from the spider silk of "Devouring Flame Spiders" is more expensive than a regular Tier Two Middle Grade spiritual artifact and highly sought after.

However, the spiders clearly miscalculated today.

Under Zhouyang’s sword light, as golden and fierce as a blazing sun, the spider silk shot out by them was crushed into powder, like snow in the mountains.

The sword light passed by several spiders, not killing any demon beast, only severing half of their legs, temporarily immobilizing them.

The remaining spiders, witnessing this, were both astonished and enraged. The fist-sized eyes under their abdomens were filled with fear and fury, glaring at Zhouyang while screaming continuously, their bodies involuntarily retreating in the direction from which they came.

Despite their low intelligence, upon seeing this, they realized that the two-legged creature walking upright was something they couldn’t provoke.

Their animal instinct told them that only by distancing themselves from the upright creature could they preserve their lives.

"Now you want to run? Isn’t it too late?"

Zhouyang coldly smirked, not intending to spare the remaining spiders.

With a guiding of his sword technique, the "Crimson Gold Light Sword" once again transformed into crimson sword light, pursuing the remaining spiders.

These "Devouring Flame Spiders" were very agile in the mine tunnels, able to shift sideways several meters with a swipe of their eight legs, far beyond human pursuit.

Unfortunately, no matter how fast they fled, they couldn’t outrun Zhouyang’s flying sword.

Zhouyang controlled his sword through spiritual sense, and amid the flicker of sword light, all the fleeing spiders followed their companions’ fate, having half their legs severed, collapsing in the mine tunnel.

"You dared to devour members of the Zhou Family, and you should all be slain, but simply killing you would be too easy. I’ll spare your lives and have you produce silk for the Zhou Family as atonement."

In the mine tunnel, Zhouyang retrieved his flying sword, gazing coldly at the struggling, angry screeching spiders scattered all around.

As he mentioned, if not for the value of their silk, given these creatures’ man-eating nature, he wouldn’t have shown mercy.

These spiders are mature demon beasts, unable to be domesticated. He spared their lives only to exploit their remaining value; when they could no longer produce silk, that would be their end.

Coincidentally, there are still two spirit beast chambers in Haoyang Cave unused; these eight spiders could be divided into two groups and housed there. With the Tier Three Lower Grade array "Earth and Metal Spear Array" suppressing them, even if he were to leave Haoyang Cave in the future, he wouldn’t worry about them causing trouble.

Spider-type demon beasts possess strong vitality, almost all capable of limb regeneration. Zhouyang wasn’t concerned about the severed-leg injuries causing death, wanting to punish the man-eating creatures further, neither knocking them out nor healing their wounds immediately. Instead, he performed the "Earth Escape Technique" to bypass the creatures and sneak into their lair.

As Zhouyang had anticipated, the spider lair contained not only leftover demon beast bones from previous meals but also corpses of Zhou Family miners previously taken. Most of these miners were wrapped in spider silk, hanging on the cave walls, with only four or five corpses reduced to mere bones and clothing, discarded on the ground.

He gazed silently at the hanging corpses for a moment before waving his sleeve to release his flying sword, slicing open silk cocoons to drop the shriveled bodies to the ground, then packed all the spider silk in the lair into his storage bag; they are excellent materials for artifact refining.

Suddenly, Zhouyang’s face lit up, seemingly having discovered something valuable, as he hurried to a corner of the lair.

In a corner, a cluster of crimson spider silk was piled with over a dozen fist-sized silk egg sacs, each containing a chicken-egg-sized white spider egg.