C17 Strange Movement

Several Level 9 Warriors trailed behind Kou Quan, summoned by him to investigate an unsettling feeling that had taken root in his heart. Kou Quan sensed that something was amiss, and he suspected that Li Ping, a fellow mercenary, had likely met with a fatal encounter.

As the captain of the Mercenary Team, Kou Quan was duty-bound to investigate, despite the anxiety that gripped him. He couldn't show any sign of fear in front of his team, or he would lose their respect.

With a gulp, Kou Quan advanced. Li Ping had excused himself to attend to personal matters in the woods behind the camp, but within minutes, disaster had struck.

Approaching the forest's edge, Kou Quan was hit by an overpowering stench of death, confirming his worst fears—Li Ping was certainly dead.

The mercenaries following Kou Quan caught the scent as well, their faces twisting with dread. One, shorter than the rest, hesitated behind Kou Quan and stammered, "Captain, maybe... we should leave. Li Ping... he's probably gone. Venturing further could be dangerous."

The short mercenary's face was ashen, terror draining his color even though they had yet to see anything. His fear was understandable; the unknown always holds the greatest terror. In the Demonic Beast Forest, the most fearsome creatures weren't the massive ones that announced themselves with fiery breath and crashing waves. Those beasts could be sensed and avoided from a distance. It was the stealthy, murderous ones that were truly horrifying—Demonic Beasts with abilities like invisibility and ambush, whose levels were invariably high.

These bloodthirsty beasts reveled in the kill, and slaying a human cultivator could yield them precious treasures to aid in their own sinister growth. With such incentives, why wouldn't they kill?

Even Kou Quan, a Level 9 Warrior, felt his legs and stomach quiver with fear. When Li Ping met his end, he hadn't made a sound—except for that one blood-curdling scream. There was no hint of the Demonic Beast's presence. It was highly probable they had encountered one with the ability to hide. Kou Quan swallowed hard, contemplating retreat, but the thought of his Mercenary Team watching held him back. If he turned tail now, the gossip would be relentless.

Kou Quan whipped around and barked, "Cut the crap and come with me. Let's check it out. If it's nothing, we'll head back." With that, he parted the foliage and strode into the Demonic Beast Forest, the three reluctant mercenaries trailing behind. They had no choice but to muster their courage and follow.

Not far into the woods, Kou Quan stumbled upon a sight he'd never erase from his memory. Suspended between two trees was a massive spider web, and there, ensnared in its center, was Li Ping. But the web's gruesome artistry wasn't the worst of it.

Li Ping's eyes were wide open, frozen in terror, as if he'd seen something unspeakable in his final moments. His body had been segmented into six parts—head, torso, and limbs—all neatly disassembled, then grotesquely reassembled with the web, leaving gaping spaces between each piece.

The sight of Li Ping's horrific end was too much for the short mercenary following Kou Quan. He retched, doubling over to vomit on the forest floor.

The other two mercenaries turned ashen, clearly struggling with their own nausea. Kou Quan's expression was grim. Then, from the depths of the forest, a rustling sound reached his ears.

Kou Quan's complexion drained of color as realization dawned. He bellowed, "Run! Everyone, just run!" He spun on his heel and dashed back the way they had come. The two mercenaries behind him snapped to attention at his command and took off running. The short mercenary, however, lagged behind.

By the time he snapped to his senses, Kou Quan and the two mercenaries had already blasted seven or eight meters away. It was too late for him to even think about catching up.

From behind the trees, a black shadow darted out, materializing in front of the diminutive mercenary in a flash. Before him loomed a massive black spider, its four-meter-wide body dominated the view. Its shell gleamed darkly, resembling a suit of armor, utterly devoid of hair, making it look unlike any typical spider.

Each of its eight legs bristled with sharp spines, the tips glinting ominously, as if eight spears were wildly thrashing about. Atop the spider's head were four pairs of eyes, glistening like black jewels, radiating a relentless thirst for killing. Bizarrely, the spider's abdomen bore three human faces, their twisted expressions sending a shiver down the spine of anyone who caught sight of them.

The short mercenary didn't even have a chance to scream for help before his vision blurred and a cold sensation swept over him. The spider's legs seemed to swipe at him a few times, and then darkness engulfed him as he lost consciousness. His body was eerily sliced into dozens of pieces that fell to the ground, each cut as smooth as glass, a testament to the lethal sharpness of the spider's legs. He didn't have a moment to stop the spider; from the time he noticed it to his demise, it was over in an instant. The black spider, with its shell casting strange reflections, moved swiftly in pursuit of Kou Quan.

Kou Quan bolted, bursting out of the woods in an instant, and bellowed to the waiting Mercenary Team, "Prepare for battle!" The seasoned mercenaries, no strangers to the perils of the Demonic Beast Forest, wasted no time. At Kou Quan's command, they immediately began channeling their Qi.

Their captain had emerged in such a disheveled state; it was clear the Demonic Beast within was a force to be reckoned with. Lin Yaoyang stood there, watching Kou Quan's frantic escape from the forest, his confusion mounting. What kind of Demonic Beast could instill such fear in Kou Quan?