The Timeless Profound Stamen grows for three hundred years, buds for three hundred years, blooms for three hundred years. When it blooms, it matures—taking nine hundred years total. It blooms for only one month and is an exceptional rare medicinal material for expanding spiritual veins.
For immortal cultivators, Timeless Profound Stamen is a precious treasure, and the same goes for demon beasts. During the nine hundred years of growth, budding, and blooming, large amounts of spiritual energy gather around the Timeless Profound Stamen, attracting demon beasts to guard the treasure.
The demon beast guarding the Timeless Profound Stamen was a spider. Its full name was the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider. However, in Gu Changhuai's eyes, it was just a spider—and a very cunning spider at that.
Before they'd even found the direction where the Timeless Profound Stamen was growing, while walking halfway, Gu Changhuai's mouth was suddenly covered. Just as he was about to call for help to Rong Ye ahead, his waist suddenly tightened. He looked down to see a pitch-black spatial rift suddenly appear beside him, a white spider silk emerging from it and quickly wrapping around his waist several times.
Hm?
Before Gu Changhuai could be surprised, the spider silk suddenly tightened. The other end seemed to be exerting force. A slight tug and he was dragged away.
Help!
In broad daylight under a clear sky, it was robbing him forcibly!
Before being dragged into the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider's cave, Gu Changhuai blinked hard. Since he couldn't speak, he could only make whimpering sounds from his throat, trying to attract Rong Ye's attention.
Unfortunately, before he was completely dragged into the pitch-black space, Rong Ye ahead still didn't even turn his head, seemingly completely unaware.
...Good, good, good. Rong Ye had gone deaf.
The Demon Venerable is wise!
It's time to change the dynasty in the cultivation world!
________
The Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider used space as its cave, excelling at creating illusions, and enjoyed collecting human skins. The prettier the appearance, the easier it is to be targeted.
Although its strength wasn't enough to create a convincing small world, it released a certain type of toxin. The toxin penetrates deep into people's minds, making them unable to stop recalling their most beautiful moments from the past.
In reality, the poisoned person's body is sealed in a spider cocoon in slumber. All their cultivation and physical body would unknowingly become nourishment for the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider.
The Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider's cave was pitch black. As soon as Gu Changhuai was bound and dragged in, he felt himself fall into an oval sphere. This sphere was made of spider silk. After lying inside, his back was all soft. At the same time, the spider silk began releasing toxins. In the narrow space, a sweet scent instantly filled the air.
Gu Changhuai furrowed his brows, pulling his sleeve to cover his nose and mouth.
It wasn't that he feared falling into an illusion. Shadow demons of the Demon Clan were born for killing. This level of toxin had no effect on him—it just smelled disgusting.
After the toxin had been releasing for a while, he felt the sphere he was lying in shake and tremble, as if it had landed somewhere solid and was being dragged forward.
Silence all around, only the sound of friction continuing.
Gu Changhuai perked up his ears and listened for a while. He wasn't clear where he'd be transported to, but he could determine that he wasn't the only one being dragged. He heard two heavy objects fall to the ground beside him, and his cocoon stopped along with those sounds.
There was some rustling outside. They should be repeating the process from earlier. Then his cocoon started moving again.
Gu Changhuai hesitated.
Could it be that Rong Ye was also bound?
No, impossible. It couldn't be Rong Ye. If he wasn't afraid of exposing himself, the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider wouldn't even have the ability to bind him, let alone bind Rong Ye.
But it made no sense that he was bound right behind Rong Ye, yet as an Immortal Lord, Rong Ye had no countermeasures at all...
Thinking this, Gu Changhuai suddenly understood, instantly laughing in anger.
Good, good, good. Rong Ye wasn't deaf—he'd used him as bait. Once the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider was hooked and they followed it to its nest, wouldn't they find the Timeless Profound Stamen?
Sinister!
Gu Changhuai secretly ground his teeth, deciding that once he got out, he'd use three hundred different assassination methods.
Gu Changhuai felt the two cocoons beside him being dragged alongside him. He didn't care, but the two beside him might not be so lucky. He didn't know when Rong Ye would come to rescue them. Those two had better hold on and not get sucked dry.
Just as he was thinking, heaven and earth suddenly shook. Several booming explosions sounded, seemingly far yet near.
He's here.
The Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider immediately let out a shriek, instantly abandoning the three cocoons it was dragging and rushed toward where the commotion was happening.
Almost the moment the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider left, Gu Changhuai instantly cut open the cocoon. The sweet scent of the toxin was unbearable. He looked around—there were indeed two cocoons lying beside him.
Currently, their three cocoons were tied to one spider silk, casually placed on the ground of a spacious cave. Looking up, he could see many empty shell cocoons hanging in the cave. These cocoons were still glowing. If nothing unexpected happened, the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider was planning to hang the three of them up too.
Around the cave was a circle of pitch-black tunnels. A rough count showed there should be seventeen or eighteen, extending into many twisted, complex paths.
From these cave entrances, he could still hear continuous explosion sounds. While splitting open the outer shells of the two cocoons beside him to rescue people, Gu Changhuai muttered: "This commotion... isn't he blowing up its offspring?"
Otherwise, why would the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider leave in such a hurry?
From one cocoon, he pulled out a sixteen or seventeen-year-old, fair and tender youth. From the other... Gu Changhuai had a bit of a headache. He didn't expect the one captured to be Kong Huai, who should have been leading the outer disciples in training.
He vigorously patted Kong Huai's face. "Wake up, wake up."
Seeing Kong Huai in a dazed state, Gu Changhuai drew back his palm and delivered crisp slaps left and right: "Wake up! Wake up!"
The crisp slapping sounds and his rapidly swelling red cheeks finally woke Kong Huai. Kong Huai's eyes opened, smacking his lips, confusedly saying: "Dad, where's my pork knuckle..."
When he saw clearly that it was Gu Changhuai standing before him, his consciousness gradually returned. He immediately leaped up as if facing a great enemy, protecting Gu Changhuai behind him, looking around: "Junior Brother Gu, be careful! There's danger!" As he spoke, it affected his cheek, and he hesitantly touched his face again. Strange, why does it hurt a bit...
Gu Changhuai didn't give Kong Huai time to react. He pulled up the youth from the other cocoon and stuffed him into Kong Huai's arms, saying seriously: "Senior Brother Kong, fortunately you intimidated the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider. Otherwise, we'd all be its meal. While it's away, let's hurry and find the Immortal Lord!"
Kong Huai: "Is... is that so?" He felt a bit embarrassed as he clenched his fist. "So I'm this amazing."
Gu Changhuai urged him, "Yes, Senior Brother. Quick, put him on your back. If we don't leave, the spider will come back."
"Okay, okay." Kong Huai hurriedly nodded and put the youth on his back. Looking at the seventeen or eighteen cave entrances around them, he didn't know which way to go.
But he saw Gu Changhuai had already reached a cave entrance. "Senior Brother, go this way. There are marks on the ground here. It should be the exit."
A long dragging mark was particularly obvious at the cave entrance. Seeing this, Kong Huai immediately followed.
Gu Changhuai led the way, asking: "How did Senior Brother get captured? Do you recognize this young fellow daoist?"
"It's a long story." Kong Huai sighed. "This is Pei Tianyi, the youngest son of the Enforcement Elder. He secretly followed the Immortal Lord. I was worried, so I followed all the way. Who knew that just approaching the inner layer, we'd be captured."
Pei Tianyi, poisoned by the toxin, remained unconscious, sprawled on Kong Huai's back, fast asleep.
Gu Changhuai glanced at him and smiled. "Commendable courage."
Troublesome kids are always full of energy.
However, the name Pei Tianyi... Gu Changhuai thought for a moment and remembered.
In the original novel, Pei Tianyi was a villain cannon fodder on the male protagonist's growth path, repeatedly making things difficult for the protagonist out of jealousy that he'd been taken as Qing Lian Immortal Lord's disciple.
Gu Changhuai sighed inwardly. How come even now there was still no shadow of the male protagonist, yet he'd already encountered both the cannon fodder and the golden finger?
The further in they walked, the closer the sounds of fighting and explosions became. Kong Huai listened with trepidation, as if every step walked on a knife's edge.
Gu Changhuai's expression didn't change as he silently counted in his heart.
Five.
Two more consecutive explosions.
Four.
The Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider's death throes—a miserable wail.
Three.
The entire cave seemed to be shaking.
Two.
The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.
One.
Three feet away in front of him, a flying sword came horizontally to slash and sever the path. The cave was instantly pierced through. Gu Changhuai raised his eyes to look in the direction the sword came from.
He saw Rong Ye withdraw his hand and recall the sword, standing in place in his deep blue robes without a speck of dust. Around his feet lay countless scorched spiders and cocoons. Not far away lay a colorful giant spider, motionless, already dead.
Kong Huai was instantly overjoyed, showing tears of salvation: "Immortal Lord!"
Gu Changhuai's gaze looked around. In the air, there was still faintly the scent of a spiritual treasure. He only smelled it but didn't see the Timeless Profound Stamen—it seemed to have already been put away. He was thoughtful. His eyelashes lifted and his gaze met Rong Ye's. Gu Changhuai froze, not yet having time to react. But Rong Ye seemed to have only casually cast his gaze over, lightly sweeping over him before withdrawing it again.
"..." Gu Changhuai looked at Rong Ye again with some doubt in his heart. He always felt something was strange. But with Kong Huai as cover, his identity shouldn't have been discovered. Otherwise, Rong Ye should have already cut him down.
_______________
The time flow inside the Five Spirits Moon Illusion Spider's spatial cave was different from the outside world. In a little while inside the cave, half a month had already passed outside.
The training time for Xinnan Immortal Sect's outer disciples was proportional to their strength. It was about time for the training to end. Before ending, the five teams needed to gather at the Lengtai Slope entrance. After counting the people, they'd board the immortal boat together to return to the sect.
Still shaken, Kong Huai and the still-unconscious Pei Tianyi were given priority to board the immortal boat.
Thanks to Rong Ye, as an attendant, Gu Changhuai didn't have to squeeze together with most people and also had his own private room.
Not long after the immortal boat took off, finally having a chance to meet up, in the quiet room, the door was opened and then closed. Hua Mei sat down at the table.
This was the first time the two had met since entering Xinnan Immortal Sect.
The two pairs of eyes met.
Gu Changhuai: "..."
Hua Mei: "..."
Gu Changhuai hesitated to speak: "..."
Hua Mei: "..."
Gu Changhuai: "..."
Hua Mei angrily pounded the table: "If you want to laugh, just laugh!"
The corners of Gu Changhuai's mouth lifted. He couldn't hold back suppressed laughter. After laughing for quite a while, he barely managed to stop, asking in a friendly and calm manner: "...May I presumptuously ask, how did you get charred?"