The jungle inside the Dragon's skull was a realm of suffocating white.
It wasn't snow. It was silk.
Every tree, every rock, and every patch of ground was draped in thick, sticky webs. The air smelled sweet, like rotting flowers and old perfume.
Kaelen walked slowly. His legs felt like lead. He was carrying his mother, Lyra, on his back. The Life Transfer technique had left him with less than 1% of his Spirit Qi. He was basically a mortal right now.
'One step. Another step. Don't fall.'
Rai, the Thunder-Spirit Hawk, perched on Kaelen's shoulder, his feathers puffed up in alarm. The bird's golden eyes darted around, unable to focus. The webs vibrated with a frequency that confused his senses.
Snap.
Kaelen's foot caught a tripwire made of transparent silk.
Instantly, the jungle came alive.
Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!
Hundreds of silk strands shot out from the canopy. They didn't aim to kill; they aimed to bind.
"Rai, fly!" Kaelen shouted, throwing his shoulder up to launch the bird.
Rai screeched and took flight, narrowly dodging a net of webbing.
But Kaelen wasn't so lucky.
A thick strand wrapped around his ankle. Another grabbed his wrist. He was yanked off the ground, suspended upside down in the air.
He held onto Lyra tight, refusing to let her drop. He curled his body, turning himself into a human shield so the webs wouldn't touch her skin.
"Well, well..." a voice drifted from the shadows above. It was smooth, seductive, yet vibrated with a terrifying, insect-like clicking sound. "A mother and child? It has been a century since I tasted such... tender love."
A figure descended from the darkness.
She was breathtakingly beautiful. Her upper body was that of a woman with pale, porcelain skin and long, silver hair that floated as if underwater. Her eyes were crimson red, filled with an ancient, melancholic madness.
But below her waist...
There were no legs. Instead, her body merged into the massive, bulbous abdomen of a Black Widow Spider, supported by eight razor-sharp legs tipped with crimson poison.
The Spider Queen, Arachne.
She crawled down the web upside down, her human face inches from Kaelen's.
"You smell of Dragon blood," she whispered, her tongue flicking out to taste the air near Kaelen's neck. "But you are weak. Empty. Why would a dragon come to my graveyard with no fire?"
Kaelen looked her in the eye. He was hanging upside down, defenseless, but his gaze was steady.
"I am not here for you," Kaelen said. "I am here for the flower."
Arachne laughed. The sound echoed like chimes made of bone.
"The Resurrection Flower?" She caressed Kaelen's cheek with a sharp claw, drawing a drop of blood. "That flower grows on the grave of my heart. To take it, you must give me something in return."
"What do you want?"
"Life," she hissed. Her beautiful face suddenly twisted into a mask of hunger. "I am cursed to rot. My human half is dying. I need vitality. Your mother... she smells full of sweet, unrefined life force."
She reached for Lyra.
"Don't touch her!"
Kaelen's eyes flashed. He had no Qi. He couldn't use the Dragon Sword Art.
But he had the Void Cauldron.
He couldn't use it to attack, but he could use it to Command.
"Rai! Now!"
SCREECH!
High above, Rai dove like a silver bullet. He wasn't aiming for the Queen. He was aiming for the web holding Kaelen.
Zap!
A bolt of thunder cut the silk strand.
Kaelen fell.
He twisted in mid-air, landing on his knees to break the fall, shielding Lyra. The impact jarred his bones, but he didn't collapse.
He stood up, panting. He drew his black sword.
"You want life force?" Kaelen aimed the sword at the massive spider monster. "Take mine. But if you touch her, I will burn this entire jungle down."
Arachne descended to the ground, her eight legs clicking menacingly. She towered over him, at least twenty feet tall.
"You possess no fire, little dragon," she mocked. "You are bluffing."
She lunged.
It was too fast. Kaelen couldn't dodge.
Thud.
One of her massive legs pinned Kaelen to the ground. The tip of the leg—a spike of bone—stopped millimeters from his heart.
She loomed over him, drool dripping from her fangs.
"Any last words?" she asked, preparing to feast.
Kaelen looked at her. He looked at the red veins pulsing on her human neck. He looked at the way her human hands were trembling.
He saw it. The Emperor's Knowledge unlocked the mystery.
"It's not a curse," Kaelen whispered.
Arachne froze. "What?"
"You didn't choose this form," Kaelen said, his voice calm despite the death hovering over him. "You were a cultivator. You practiced the 'Yin-Weaving Scripture'. But you failed the transformation because your lover betrayed you during the ritual."
Arachne's eyes widened. The hunger vanished, replaced by shock.
"How... how do you know that?" she shrieked, pressing him harder into the dirt. "Who sent you?! Was it Him? Did he send you to mock me?"
"No one sent me," Kaelen gasped for air. "I see the Love-Hate Seal on your heart. You aren't eating people because you are hungry. You are eating them because you are trying to fill the hole he left."
Silence descended on the webbed forest.
Arachne trembled. The massive spider body shook. Tears—real, human tears—leaked from her crimson eyes.
"He promised..." she sobbed, her voice sounding like a broken girl. "He promised we would ascend together. But he stole my cultivation... he left me like this... a monster..."
She screamed in agony, slashing the trees around her with her legs. The pain of thousands of years of solitude exploded.
Kaelen took the opportunity. He pushed her leg off his chest.
He didn't attack her. He didn't run.
He stood up, dusted off his robes, and walked closer to the terrifying monster.
"You are only a monster if you let the hate win," Kaelen said softly.
He reached into his spatial bag. He didn't pull out a weapon. He pulled out the Resurrection Flower.
Wait. No. He didn't have it yet.
He pulled out the Silver Bone Needle—the one his father had used to seal him. It still contained a trace of pure Solar Energy.
"I cannot turn you back into a human," Kaelen said honestly. "The damage is too deep. But..."
He held out the needle.
"...I can stabilize your soul. I can stop the pain. You won't need to eat humans anymore."
Arachne looked at the needle. She looked at the boy.
"Why?" she whispered. "I tried to kill you. I am hideous."
"Because," Kaelen looked back at his sleeping mother. "I know what it's like to be broken by someone you trusted. And I know that everyone deserves a second chance."
He tossed the needle to her.
Arachne caught it with a human hand. She stabbed it into her own heart.
Flash.
A burst of golden light enveloped her. The red veins on her neck faded. Her trembling stopped. The madness in her eyes cleared, leaving behind a deep, ancient wisdom.
She looked at her hands. They were steady. The hunger was gone.
She looked down at Kaelen. This time, there was no malice. Only respect.
"You are strange, Little Dragon," she murmured. "You have the heart of a saint and the eyes of a killer."
She turned around and slashed a thick cocoon of web behind her.
Rip.
Inside the cocoon wasn't a corpse. It was a garden. And in the center, blooming with a ethereal white light, was a single flower.
The Resurrection Flower.
"Take it," Arachne said. "It is yours."
Kaelen walked over and gently plucked the flower. As soon as he touched it, he felt a wave of pure life force wash over him.
He walked back to Lyra. He crushed a petal and placed it on her lips.
The color returned to Lyra's face instantly. The Blood-Lock Seal on her heart slowed down, suppressed by the flower's power. It wasn't a cure, but it bought them time. Months, maybe years.
Kaelen collapsed, sitting beside his mother. The relief was overwhelming.
"Thank you," Kaelen said to the Spider Queen.
Arachne lowered her massive body. She brought her face close to Kaelen's.
"Do not thank me yet," she whispered. "The flower has a price. By taking it, you have alerted the Guardian of the Deep."
"The Leviathan?" Kaelen guessed.
"Yes. It will hunt you now. But..."
She leaned in and kissed Kaelen's forehead.
It wasn't a romantic kiss. It was a transfer of power.
A small, red spider mark appeared on Kaelen's wrist.
"This is my Silk Mark," Arachne said. "If you are ever in a forest, call my name. My children will answer."
She backed away into the shadows.
"Go, Kaelen. The Eclipse is hunting you. The Ocean is hunting you. And soon... the Heavens will hunt you too. Make sure you are strong enough to bite back."
With a final flash of silver, she vanished into the canopy.
Kaelen touched the mark on his wrist.
He picked up his mother.
"Rai," Kaelen called. "To the boat."
They walked out of the jungle.
Bo was waiting at the shore, holding a large stick, shaking. When he saw Kaelen emerge alive, he dropped the stick and cheered.
"Boss! You're alive! Did you kill the spider? Did you burn it?"
"No," Kaelen placed Lyra gently in the boat. "I made a friend."
Bo looked at the red spider mark on Kaelen's wrist and turned pale. "You... you befriended the Spider Queen? Remind me never to introduce you to my sister."
Kaelen smiled. He felt his cultivation slowly returning.
"Let's go, Bo. We have the flower. Now we need a place to hide and prepare."
"Hide?" Bo started the engine. "Where can we hide from the Eclipse?"
Kaelen looked at the map. He pointed to a region marked with skulls.
"There," Kaelen said. "The Shattered Isles. It's pirate territory. Lawless. Chaotic. Perfect for us."
As the boat sped away from Dragon Bone Island, Kaelen looked back. High up in the webbed trees, a silver figure watched them go.
He had survived the Spider. Now, he had to survive the Pirates.