My wariness of the world beyond Kunlun for hundreds of years afterward stemmed largely from failing to form a good impression during my first venture outside.
The evil spirit took me to its lair—a place our scouts had been sent to find but never located, a small valley two hundred miles from Kunlun.
Not a blade of grass grew in that valley, as the evil spirits dwelling there were so numerous that the air was nearly polluted enough to suffocate me.
When I was dizzy and bound, thrown to the ground, I wondered if my Kunlun commander token could transmit my location back to Kunlun. Then a hard claw pressed against my chin.
I looked up to see a face with eight eyes and a vertically elongated mouth, fangs protruding with a cold gleam—just the appearance alone made me gasp.
I had seen strange-looking creatures before, but never one this bizarre…
It appeared to be a spider demon turned evil spirit. Its fangs constantly ground against each other with a “crunch, crunch” sound that was extremely unpleasant to my ears. Liquid dripping from its vertical mouth formed thread-like silk when it hit the ground.
Its eight eyes kept rotating, each one staring at my face.
“So you’re the one Xie Zhuo married?”
A hoarse voice emerged from its mouth, with a strange intonation, as if the words didn’t come from its mouth.
“After so much effort, I’ve finally managed to bring you out to meet me.”
Puzzled, I asked directly: “Who are you? What connection do you have with Xie Zhuo? Why have you captured me?”
I asked, “What are you plotting outside of Kunlun?”
The spider demon didn’t answer me but let out a strange laugh, then turned its head to look around: “Come see, this is Xie Zhuo’s wife…”
A commanding sound came from the spider demon’s throat, “Remember her…”
The eerie aura of evil spirits surged around me. I turned to look around, and in the darkness, countless bloodshot eyes flickered, all fixed on me with a bloodthirsty glow.
My knowledge of my husband Xie Zhuo was pitifully lacking at that time. I truly had no idea where he had offended such a group of evil spirits, who appeared to harbor a deep blood feud against him. He had been in Kunlun for a hundred years, yet so many evil spirits still came seeking vengeance.
Even now, I still don’t know what connection he had with these evil spirits…
“Master, he’s here.”
A deep voice reported from the entrance of the hall.
I didn’t know who had arrived, but the next moment the spider demon raised its hand, and sticky silk adhered to my shoulders. The silk expanded, enveloping my entire body in an instant.
The silk covered my eyes and ears, wrapping me like a cicada. I felt as if I had plunged into the sea—my eyes were covered, my ears filled with buzzing, isolating me from the sound of the spider demon’s madly grinding fangs and all other sounds.
I was hung upside down from the ceiling of the hall.
Only then did I vaguely see that this was a sizeable stone hall with a half-open stone door at the entrance, revealing a small gap.
All the evil spirits’ attention was fixed on that gap. They seemed both vigilant and fearful, as the aura in the hall surged and rolled.
No one paid attention to me anymore, so I began to think of ways to escape from the silk cocoon.
My hands were bound behind me. Just as I tried to channel my internal energy to break free from the restraints, the silk that had initially stuck to my shoulders penetrated my skin like needles.
I felt a cold energy enter my body. My whole being shuddered, and I broke into a cold sweat as my heartbeat suddenly accelerated. When I opened my mouth, black blood gushed out.
Then I realized that when a poisonous spider hunts, it injects venom into its prey, wraps it in silk, and waits for the poison to dissolve all the prey’s internal organs before sucking out the juices…
I seemed to have become the spider demon’s prey…
My mind grew foggy as I tried to mobilize my internal energy to resist the poison.
At that moment, in the hall below, the stone door was blown away by a powerful force. The impact shook the silk wrapping me, causing my body to tremble.
Someone stepped through the door. My vision was blurry, and I couldn’t see his face. The commotion below was silent to my ears, and even the passage of time became uncertain in my mind.
It seemed that in the blink of an eye, all the evil spirits below had gone silent. When I opened my eyes, the intruder was gripping the spider demon’s head.
That terrifying eight-eyed head in his hand was crushed, skull and all, as if without effort.
The moment the spider demon lost its head, the silk binding me instantly loosened. As I slowly slid from the cocoon, I finally saw the intruder’s face…
Who else could it be but Xie Zhuo?
But the cold killing intent on his face was something I had never seen before. He was like a demon from hell, his murderous aura filling the entire hall, with fresh blood at his feet.
Counting back, this was the first time I had seen Xie Zhuo kill without restraint.
His methods were cruel, efficient, unhesitating, clearly tempered through countless battles.
I opened my mouth, wanting to call his name, but as if sensing my thoughts, he looked up at me.
In that instant, all his killing intent vanished, as did his cruelty and efficiency, replaced by alarm and concern.
The last bit of silk holding me snapped, and I fell from the ceiling. Xie Zhuo caught me, immediately noticing something was wrong as black blood continued to flow from my mouth.
“Jiu Xia.” He called my name, even seeming somewhat helpless.
“Poison…”
I uttered one word, and he immediately understood, quickly finding the puncture wound on my shoulder.
He placed his hand on my wound: “Bear with me…”
Xie Zhuo’s energy entered my body through the wound. Unlike the coldness I felt when poisoned, as his energy flowed through me, I felt my numbed limbs gradually regain sensation.
He helped me expel the poison from my body bit by bit. I didn’t feel much pain, but seeing his expression as he examined me—eyebrows furrowed, lips pressed together—he seemed to be in unbearable agony.
I wanted to comfort him, but at that moment, the headless spider demon behind Xie Zhuo suddenly stood up.