Chapter 18: A Glimmer of Hope

“The thing stopping me is spider silk. Spider silk is invisible, and the spider demoness weaving it is invisible as well. Could it be that anything wrapped in spider silk also becomes invisible?”

When the spider demoness suddenly appeared, countless thoughts flashed through Chen Fan’s mind.

Could those elite demon beasts that launched surprise attacks have bypassed the encirclement because their bodies were wrapped in this spider’s silk?

Yet when he remembered the terrifying demon wolf from earlier, he shook his head. That beast’s body had been six or seven zhang tall—far too enormous. The amount of silk it would have required must have been astonishing, and although this spider was also at least at the seventh level, it might not have had enough.

Of course, at this moment, how those demon beasts had emerged from Qiyun Mountain ahead of time was no longer important to Chen Fan. What mattered was how he could find a way to survive.

Although this spider woman possessed a human upper body, she had no intention of communicating with Chen Fan. Her lower body suddenly tensed.

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

She had clearly spat out another mass of invisible silk.

At the same time, her eight spider legs swept through the air like scythes, carrying a terrifying pressure as they closed in on Chen Fan!

Though this demon beast was not as large as the others, such terrifying pressure could only be produced by a seventh-level demon beast.

How could Chen Fan dare underestimate her? Lightning raged around his body as his sword flashed horizontally, slashing at the air before him.

Crack!

The sword strike burst with electric light. Flames instantly coiled through the air, severing the invisible spider silk!

“Lightning can produce extreme heat, which perfectly counters this silk.”

Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief. He then raised his sword and slashed horizontally once more, sending waves of sword qi toward the eight great legs sweeping at him.

Yet the sword qi that had always served him well—sword qi capable of slicing effortlessly through the bodies of sixth-level demon beasts—was easily shattered by the spider’s scythe-like legs.

“What terrifying strength!”

Chen Fan’s expression changed drastically. Lightning surged beneath his feet as he retreated at top speed.

The spider was clearly not large, yet her strength far exceeded anything Chen Fan had imagined.

With so many legs, she was astonishingly fast as well. She could easily keep pace with Chen Fan, her “scythes” descending again and again.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Chen Fan raised his sword repeatedly to block the spider’s scythe-like legs. His tiger’s mouth throbbed with pain, his blood and qi churned violently, and a mouthful of blood burst from his lips.

“No! I can’t hold her back!”

His expression changed dramatically.

The spider woman appeared small, but her strength and speed were both astonishing.

Even though Chen Fan had mastered the Lightning Intent, making every sword strike tremendously powerful and granting him speed comparable to a grandmaster, his strength was still somewhat lacking.

“Lightning Flash!”

His body transformed into lightning. Gritting his teeth, he glanced past the spider woman, then abruptly turned around.

Lightning flickered as Chen Fan’s figure shot away like a bolt.

The spider woman lowered all eight of her legs and, swift as wind and lightning, instantly gave chase.

One man and one beast—one pursuing, the other fleeing.

Chen Fan’s expression grew increasingly grim.

“This demon beast is far too fast—much faster than that demon fox!”

When Chen Fan had previously stopped the Blackflame Demon Fox, it had already been seriously wounded. Although its speed had not been slow, it had still been slightly inferior to his. This spider demon was much smaller than the fox, yet she was even faster.

At the same time, the spider woman continuously spat out invisible silk, obstructing Chen Fan’s movements.

He had no way to escape.

Chen Fan suddenly halted. He reached into his chest and drew out the talisman he had kept close to his body. Gritting his teeth, he glanced at the spider woman and poured his true essence into it.

Three precious uses—but he had no choice but to expend one now!

Whoosh!

Blue light shimmered around Chen Fan. In an instant, wind and clouds surged, and his body abruptly transformed into a streak of light. He shot toward the spider woman, brushed past her side, and sped directly eastward.

Hiss, hiss, hiss!

The spider woman’s eight scythe-like legs swept across the air, yet they failed to touch even Chen Fan’s shadow.

Chen Fan was so fast that within a few breaths, he had thrown the spider woman far behind.

The spider woman turned her head. Her compound eyes watched the direction in which Chen Fan had vanished, while the corners of her mouth curved into an arc that seemed to carry a hint of mockery.

A demon beast of this level already possessed intelligence no weaker than that of a human.

……

Amid the shimmering blue light, Chen Fan charged recklessly forward at an astonishing speed.

He did not know how many trees he had smashed into. Even with his strength, he could only barely control his direction; he had no way to guarantee the finer details of his movement.

As he gradually moved eastward, he soon returned to the place where the spider woman had intercepted him earlier.

At the same time, he felt more and more invisible obstacles filling the air, and his speed began to slow.

Even with the Seven Stars Drifting Cloud movement art, his speed had dropped sharply.

He swung his sword. Lightning flashed, and a sheet of flames surged into being.

“There’s invisible spider silk everywhere. Has that spider built her nest here?”

Chen Fan’s lightning could destroy the silk. Once ignited by the intense heat, the silk would quickly burn away.

But his speed was inevitably affected. Every time he advanced a short distance, he encountered more invisible silk.

He also came under attack from many smaller spiders.

The spider silk was completely invisible, and Chen Fan had no way of knowing how much more of it lay before him.

At last, the blue radiance around his body faded. His Seven Stars Drifting Cloud movement art had reached its limit, and his heart sank.

He glanced toward the open ground to the east, then abruptly turned around and swept his sword through the air. Several shrill cries rang out, and a number of half-man-sized spider demons revealed themselves, instantly transformed into lumps of charred flesh.

“No. If I continue eastward, I don’t know how long it will take to leave this area. If that seventh-level spider catches up with me, I’m finished!”

He had no idea how many layers of invisible webs still blocked his path. Breaking through eastward was clearly no longer realistic. Though his face was grim, he made his decision in an instant and headed northwest.

After traveling far enough to leave the spider’s nest behind, he did not encounter the returning spider woman, and the number of demon beasts around him also visibly decreased.

“This should be near another small outpost beside our base. I wonder whether it has also been attacked by demon beasts…”

Chen Fan moved toward the outpost.

He was walking through the forest when—

Boom!

A shadow vast enough to blot out the sky suddenly descended from above!

Chen Fan’s expression changed instantly. The back of his neck turned cold as he felt an overwhelmingly terrifying pressure.

Brilliant light flowed around him. The defensive formation of the Luminous Feather Robe activated, and a translucent shield as thin as an eggshell appeared around his body.

With Chen Fan’s current strength, this shield could withstand the full-force blow of a seventh-level grandmaster.

Bang!

A gigantic beast claw, large enough to cover Chen Fan’s entire body, slammed into the shield around him.

Terrifying impact rippled outward in an instant.

Dust scattered in every direction.

The shield around Chen Fan trembled on the verge of collapse. The force of the blow sent it flying, carrying Chen Fan high into the air with it, and the shield shattered instantly.

Chen Fan’s blood and qi roiled violently. His heart filled with shock as he turned to look at the demon beast.

It was a gigantic black panther nearly three zhang long.

Its strike had failed to kill him, yet it did not pursue Chen Fan.

Instead, its body flowed toward the shadows beneath the trees. In an instant, its enormous form became a vortex of darkness and vanished without a trace.

“To think there’s a demon beast like this!”

Chen Fan’s expression was grim.

The demon beasts that had managed to bypass Qiyun Mountain each possessed their own methods of concealment. This beast was already stronger than Chen Fan, and with such techniques at its disposal, he had no ability to resist it at all.

He took out the talisman that sealed the Seven Stars Drifting Cloud technique and activated it with his true essence.

Whoosh!

His body once again transformed into blue light. He turned and vanished at top speed.

The instant he disappeared, the black panther reappeared at the place where Chen Fan had stood moments earlier. Its enormous claw slammed down, smashing a deep depression into the earth.

The beast paused where it stood, raising its head to watch Chen Fan’s body vanish into a streak of light. Once it confirmed that it could not catch him, it silently melted back into the darkness.

……

The blue streak of escape light crossed the sky like a shooting star.

When the light finally vanished, Chen Fan plunged headfirst onto the ground.

He struggled to his feet and looked around. After confirming that there were no demon beasts nearby, he breathed a slight sigh of relief, though his expression grew even more troubled.

He knew that returning east to Voidboat Town was no longer possible. He had to seek out another possibility.

He swallowed the human-grade healing pill he had once obtained, the Snow Lotus Pill, and held essence stones in his hands as he continuously restored his true essence.

Then he climbed the tall tree beside him and confirmed his position.

“It isn’t only our outpost that was attacked. It seems the surrounding areas have all been designated as targets for surprise attacks by the demon beasts. I’ve taken such a long detour, yet it was all for nothing. If this continues, by the time the beast tide from the west draws near, it will be difficult for me to break out…”

The map of the surrounding terrain flashed through his mind.

“The beast tide is in the west. The spider has built her nest to the east, and there’s also that shadow panther. I can’t return to the Voidboat Town outpost. I can only choose to break through either north or south. I just came from the south, so there’s no way I can turn back. As for the north… the north is…”

He gazed into the distance, and his eyes suddenly lit up.

“The Clear Spirit River! If I can break through to the Clear Spirit River and dive beneath the water, I can avoid most land-dwelling demon beasts. Then, by following the river downstream, I may still have a chance of survival.”

He remembered chatting with the disciple he had rescued two days earlier. The Clear Spirit River was a natural barrier that could keep out many land-dwelling demon beasts.

The demon beasts that had invaded Clear River Commandery this time were almost all land beasts. Otherwise, they would not have hidden themselves within Qiyun Mountain.

However, with the beast tide from the west gradually approaching, Chen Fan might also encounter the herds if he headed north.

“Although there are many demon beasts in the herds, I may not be more likely to encounter seventh-level demon beasts than I would be to the east…”

Elite demon beasts were rampaging through human outposts, so there naturally would not be too many of them within the herds.

The beast tide was dangerous, but as long as he did not encounter a seventh-level demon beast, he still had a chance of breaking through with his movement techniques—provided he did not become trapped for too long and exhaust too much of his true essence.

His eyes sharpened.

If he wanted to survive, taking risks was unavoidable!

Chen Fan made his decision in an instant and immediately headed north.

“As long as I don’t encounter a seventh-level demon beast, then even within the beast tide, I can break out so long as I’m not trapped for too long or drained of too much true essence!”

His movement technique had reached the Unity Realm. Even in the midst of a beast herd, he was confident that he could survive for a certain period of time.

Just then, he heard rustling behind him.

He turned around, only to see demon wolves charging toward him.

“These demon wolves are incredibly fast! Has that giant wolf demon from earlier set its sights on me?!”

These wolf demons were not as large as the giant wolf, but each one was still a zhang tall. They were at least sixth-level wolf demons.

Chen Fan’s heart tightened. How could he dare hesitate? The second layer of his Essence Core erupted.

“Sword Qi Corrodes the Heavens!”

A sword ray containing blue lightning shot into the sky, instantly devouring the lives of two giant wolves.

Chen Fan’s body transformed into an illusion. Lightning Flash erupted repeatedly, and the sword in his hand did not pause for even an instant.

In less than ten breaths, he had slain all more than a dozen giant wolves. Yet he did not dare linger, fearing that the enormous demon wolf might catch up with him. He immediately transformed into an afterimage and vanished.

After running northward for quite some time, he did not encounter another demon beast. Before long, however, he heard the rumbling of the beast tide from the west.

The earth trembled.

At last, he reached the plain where he had exterminated demon beasts two days earlier. The riverbank lay just beyond the northern edge of the plain.

(End of Chapter)