"Does it hurt?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the demonic mist suddenly boiled, and the seven demonic eyes as big as millstones glowed red. Green demon blood dripped from the sword head on the broken eye.
Li Changan looked at him coldly and let his chelicerae swing around his head.
"Bah."
The claws flew through the air, leaving a trail of blood on Li Changan's cheek. Next, the spider "empress" did nothing to Li Changan, a prisoner who did not know whether to live or die. It turned left and right several times, then suddenly swung its jointed limbs to take out a human head cocoon, clamped the cocoon and brought it to Li Changan.
There was a middle-aged woman wrapped in this cocoon. Li Changan could clearly see the rough skin under the inferior gouache and the crow's feet that could not be covered up at the corners of her eyes. She was still sleeping in a dream, her eyes and the corners of her mouth were slightly curved.
"Oh, what does this mean..."
Li Changan's sneer was still on his lips, and his pupils shrank violently.
The spider demon stretched out one of its chelicerae, which trembled slightly in the air, and actually squeezed out a black translucent needle from the tip.
With a slight click of the chelicerae, the needle penetrated through the woman's Tianling Gai.
The woman finally woke up from the illusory dream. Her head kept shaking, her head raised slightly, her eyes widened, and her mouth opened in pain.
But she couldn't see anything and couldn't shout anything.
Because her mouth, eye sockets and even nasal cavity were covered with a spiderweb-like white film.
Amidst the creepy sucking sounds, liquid was constantly being sucked away from the Tianling Gai by the needle. The woman's trembling stopped, and her skin shriveled up, like a drink bag that had been emptied. But the spider demon still didn't give up. It continued to reach down with its chelicerae, squeezing the withered head into the cocoon, sucking up the last bit of residue, just like a modern person sucking milk from the bottom of a box.
Then, the woman's head slowly "grew" out of the cocoon. At first it was shriveled and tilted on her neck, and finally it slowly swelled and turned back into the head twisted in pain.
The skin bag was like a balloon, which was blown up by the spider, and then spit out a ball of spider silk to seal the wound on the top of the head. Finally, the spider demon actually hung the empty shell next to Li Changan.
Then, the spider demon grabbed another cocoon, and there was a man wrapped in it. It stretched out the needle again, but this time it didn't eat. It just stabbed the man's neck gently, injected its own venom, and then hung it next to Li Changan.
This man's dream seemed to be very enjoyable. His big mouth opened slightly, and white filaments grew and spread on his lips at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It doesn't take long for these filaments to form a film and seal all the man's orifices. There is no need to worry that he cannot breathe or eat, because by then, he will have been turned into a bag of thick liquid.
Li Changan couldn't bear to look anymore and turned his head, but he saw the woman's ferocious face.
He is really a monster, and his taste is very bad.
Li Changan closed his eyes.
……………………
Feifei woke up from a series of nightmares.
She dreamed of being taken away from her slingshot and sword, stuffed with an armful of books and embroidery, and then tied into a red sedan. But in the blink of an eye, the red sedan turned into a ferocious spider.
When I first woke up, my whole body ached, my throat hurt, and my head was pounding.
She opened her eyes, and the pale sunlight filtered through the knotted dead branches, covering her face covered with bruises.
The last scene in her memory was of being tortured by the spider demon.
"This is... the underworld?"
"Am I dead?"
This result is not worse than the situation in the dream.
Soon, she found that she couldn't move. She nodded slightly and lowered her eyes. The whole area under her neck was wrapped in a white cocoon.
"Feifei wakes up!"
The owner of this voice was quite excited and happy. Who is this? Something familiar. Feifei's mind couldn't move for a while.
"It's a bad time to wake up."
The voice was calm and calm, as if the owner didn't care about anything. This is... a Taoist priest!
With a thought in his mind, Feifei hurriedly turned around to look for it.
Li Changan was hanging on a dead branch diagonally opposite her, swaying in the wind, with a circle of cocoons hanging around it.
Seeing this familiar short hair, Feifei felt more at ease for some reason. Just thinking about it in the blink of an eye, why is it said that it is not the right time to wake up?
Suddenly, thick fog spread over the dry forest.
Seven giant scarlet eyes appeared in front of him.
…………
The mist subsided and the spider demon returned to its lair.
Another human head cocoon was hung on the branch next to Li Changan.
"Die like this?"
Feifei's face was pale, and the scene of the spider biting people was really terrifying.
"He died like this."
The scholar sighed. He woke up earlier, but no matter how many times he saw it, he still felt that there was nothing more cruel in the world than this.
He saw the panic and helplessness in Feifei's eyes, and comforted him: "It seems that the spider demon's intention is to save the three of us until the end. At least... we can live a little longer."
Feifei smiled miserably: "Wouldn't it be even worse?"
The scholar's heart trembled, but he was speechless.
Yes, those who died in the front can be settled in a sweet dream, but the three of them still have to suffer before they die. It's better to die then!
Li Changan, who had been silently listening to the conversation between the two, suddenly spoke.
"Death? That's not necessarily the case."
He turned his head to face diagonally downwards, where the spider man was clinging to the tree trunk with his arms behind his back and stuffing a hose into the mouth of a cocoon with a human head.
Li Changan took a deep breath and called out.
"Niu Xiucai."
After saying that, he stared at the spider man, or rather the spider man's only normal arm. On that hand was a unique concentric ring. This spider man was dirty all over, but this ring was as clean as new.
Feifei and the scholar suddenly called the monster "Niu Xiucai" when they saw Li Changan. Is it possible that this monster is an old acquaintance of the Taoist priest? The two of them were full of doubts. Feifei couldn't hold back his temper and was about to ask, but was stopped by Li Changan's eyes.
He continued to test:
"Now Niuban City covers the sky with one hand in Qixian County. The people in Qixian County also believe that the spider demon in the mountain is a deity descended from the sky. Only Niu Xiucai's wife said that the Weaver Girl was a demon. Niu Xiucai's only son even made a fuss in the Weaver Girl Temple. Repeatedly three times and four times, that bull can’t get off the stage.”
"Do you think Niu Bancheng will just send that kid here? If so, will he turn into a monster like you, neither human nor demon? Or will he simply be wrapped in a cocoon and sucked into an empty shell?"
After saying these words, the spider-turned-man was still like the stone and wood, without any movement, just repeating his same work day after day.
Li Changan felt empty-headed, could it be...
"I dare not call you a scholar. I am just a little boy."
With just a small sentence, the three of them were like grabbing a straw in the torrent. Li Changan breathed a sigh of relief. That’s right! He was about to speak.
"No need to say more, I know what you want to say."
Niu Xiucai cut off his words. While speaking, his hand movements were still orderly.
"But it's no use."
Seeing the twists and turns, life is about to emerge from a desperate situation. But in a blink of an eye, this life-saving straw wants to be cut off by itself.
Feifei was so anxious that he blurted out: "You monster...how do you know it's useless!"
"Yes!" The scholar said, "Did you see the spider demon's eyes? It was the Taoist priest who stabbed them blind."
Niu Xiucai glanced at their faces, but his voice was still dull.
"What's the matter? Have you seen my eyes? Eight. One of them is blind, and there are seven more of them. What about you? Aren't you hanging on the tree waiting to die?"
With that said, he turned towards Li Changan.
"The mist all over the mountain is a spider's web. Even if I help you escape from the cocoon, you can't escape from this web of mist, unless..." Niu Xiucai raised his head, and the eight randomly distributed eyes on his face flashed. The light of hatred.
"...You have a way to kill this spider demon!"
Kill the spider demon? Feifei and the scholar's expressions darkened. Easier said than done?
"I know."
Li Changan nodded calmly.
"Do you have any idea?" Niu Xiucai asked urgently.
"I have no idea."
Niu Xiucai was stunned for a while, the light in his eyes slowly dissipated, and he was about to turn back into a stone and wood, but Li Changan smiled and said:
"It doesn't mean that others can't do anything."
"Am I right?"
He suddenly turned his head and looked at the empty tree beside him.
"Master Xue."
