Chapter 432: Chapter 432 : Huang Taichen’s Cri (1)
In a single, fluid motion, his hand flew to the hilt of his sword. Steel sang as it kissed the moonlight, a silver flash splitting the darkness.
From the tangled shadows, a shriek ripped through the stillness. A blur of fur and fangs launched itself at him, its eyes blazing with feral hunger. Claws, like honed daggers, scraped the air re inches from his face.
"Ugh!"
Qiao Wei spun on a di, blade flashing as he deflected the beast’s strike. Razor-sharp claws hissed past his ear, missing by a hair’s breadth. But not quick enough. The beast’s back claw found purchase, ripping through his right sleeve in a shower of crimson snow. Ignoring the throbbing pain, Qiao Wei launched an attack at his furry opponent, forcing the creature back with a flurry of steel.
The first beast let out a howl. Its cry for help triggered the other two beasts to pounce at Qiao Wei as well.
Gritting his teeth, Qiao Wei held his sword in front of him and launched an attack at all three of them.
His spiritual power materialized itself in the form of a bright blue light that poured out of his sword and shot at the creatures.
The force of his attack sent all three flying into the distance.
Qiao Wei turned on his heel and resud his ascent. Moonlight, filtering through skeletal branches, painted silver stripes across his path. Suddenly, a glint snagged his eye, shimring like a fallen star amidst the gloom.
Qiao Wei halted imdiately, his instincts snapping taut. Though urgency gnawed at him, an unseen hand clamped on his resolve. The glint, he realized, wasn’t a stray diamond, but sothing far more unsettling. Silken threads, shimring like ghostly cobwebs, stretched from the trees, weaving their way up the hill’s rocky face.
When a stray leaf was whipped up the ground by a gust of wind and hit the web of silken threads, it was cut into pieces in an instant.
It might not look like it, but Huang Taichen had turned the deserted hill into a fortress, to defend himself against unwanted visitors.
Qiao Wei pondered about the rit of destroying the silk webs. On one hand, it would give Huang Taichen ample ti to escape the siege tomorrow. On the other hand, the many cultivators who ca to join the siege might just be lynched to pieces.
Thinking about the innocent people who might fall victim the next day, Qiao Wei decided to destroy the silk web.
He already cut through several silk threads when a voice called out to him from so distance ahead of him.
"Master Qiao Wei honors
by coming here personally. Can you please leave the silk webs alone? The spiders worked very hard to create them."
Qiao Wei narrowed his eyes at the silhouette that stood beneath a dead tree, his face hidden in the shadow. Only a pair of athyst eyes shone through, pinning Qiao Wei with a penetrating stare.
Huang Taichen’s eyes used to be the color of the night.
"Huang Taichen?"
Huang Taichen nodded his head stiffly.
"The one and only."
Huang Taichen unsheathed a long, gnarled flute and unleashed a wail that tore through the night air.
The eerie lody set Qiao Wei’s nerves ablaze, prickling his skin and sending shivers down his spine.
From the inky shadows, monstrous spiders scuttled, their obsidian bodies glinting like malevolent eyes. With a sickening rip, they tore a gaping maw in their silken prison, big enough for a man of Qiao Wei’s size to squeeze through safely.
And yet, the sight of more than ten demonic spiders around the gaping hole gave Qiao Wei an unsettling feeling.
Huang Taichen lowered his flute and stared at Qiao Wei.
"What’s wrong, Master Qiao Wei?" He asked. "Are you scared?"
Qiao Wei took one step to the gaping maw.
"Are you going to hurt ?" He asked.
"What about you, Master Qiao Wei?" Huang Taichen answered with another question of his own. "Are you here to hurt ?"
"You should answer my question first."
Huang Taichen and Qiao Wei stared at each other for a while before Huang Taichen lowered his eyes.
Fiddling with his flute, he then murmured, "No, I am not."
"Alright."
Huang Taichen watched as Qiao Wei calmly stepped over the big hole. As soon as he passed through, the demonic spiders worked on repairing the web. When they were done, it almost seed as if the hole never existed in the first place.
"Interesting," Qiao Wei remarked.
Huang Taichen turned on his heel and walked toward the peak of the hill.
"Master Qiao Wei has been kind enough to pay
a visit. Please allow
to invite you to my humble abode."
Huang Taichen’s so-called humble abode consisted of several simple huts made of rock and clay. Thin, dirty curtains hung at the entrance instead of doors.
"I live here alone," Huang Taichen said. "I didn’t clean up often, sorry for the ss."
Huang Taichen took Qiao Wei into one of the larger huts.
A simple hearth, its blackened stones bearing the kiss of countless flas, nestled in the corner of the hut like a slumbering beast. Above it, suspended from a chain forged in fire, hung an iron cauldron.
Beneath it, the firewood was crackling softly as it was consud by fire.
"Oh, it seems that my soup is ready," Huang Taichen remarked after he checked the contents of the iron cauldron.
He took two chipped bowls from a box and ladled so questionable greenish-yellow liquid out of the cauldron.
Qiao Wei could not recognize the unshapely lumps inside the soup. They all shared the sa color.
Huang Taichen observed Qiao Wei’s facial expression with amusent when he put one of the bowls before the latter.
"I am not a good cook, but I can at least guarantee that it is not poisoned."
Qiao Wei’s eyes quietly drifted from the bowl of soup to Huang Taichen’s face.
"Can I have a spoon, please?"
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