Rescue

Little kids were the only ones who would make such a hasty choice. As for the grownups, they didn't have that privilege anymore.

The battle had already started.

Li Qingjun struck with her glinting spear. Surprised by the abandoned tacit agreement, the demon spider looked infuriated. It raised a leg to fend off the attack, and the impact made a metallic clanking sound.

The spider raised another leg and stabbed at Li Qingjun's face, as though it was wielding a sword. Li Qingjun shifted slightly, and the leg missed its target and only scraped her hair, cutting a strand off.

She quickly lifted her spear and swiped sideways at the spider's midriff, but it blocked her attack again and they both made a step back.

More than half a dozen human cocoons were scattered on the ground. Li Qingjun raised her spear with one arm and pointed at the demon. Her fear had vanished, and there was only a decisive look in her eyes.

The rain poured down on her long hair, and a few strands stuck to her cheeks. She was even more soaking wet than the night she burst into Qin Yi's courtyard, but she kept her back ramrod straight and wouldn't back away.

"Where are the Taoist priests who used to live here?"

The spider guffawed and started talking. "I ate them, of course."

Yes, it did. Li Qingjun could see a pile of bones in one corner of the backyard, and some of them still had Taoist robes on them.

Taking a deep breath, she said sternly, "That's punishable by death!"

The glinting spear charged out again, ripping through the dark night. The spider knocked the spear off its course, and the blade opened a big hole in the cob wall.

Li Qinglin had come out into the yard as well and was watching on the side with his spear on his back. He wasn't planning to join the battle because he was trying to train his sister.

Liusu sighed. "Those men offended her, so why bother saving them at all? As for those priests, they're already dead. It's just not worth it."

Qin Yi ignored him. He didn't think there was anything wrong with what Li Qingjun was doing. Insted, he found her rather admirable. After some thought, he quietly moved to the exit of the yard and drew a simple formation on the ground with the sharp tip of the spiked club.

It was a simplified, small-scale demon-restraining formation, which was identical to the one he used on that demon tiger. He had no idea if it would work on this spider, but it was better than nothing.

The fierce battle continued. Her long hair flapped in the wind, her silver spear moved around like a dancing dragon, and her face looked exceptionally fair with the pouring rain and flashing lightning. It was so pleasing to watch her make her way through the white threads. Her opponent had a ferocious face, and its growls were like thunderclaps. The two appeared in stark contrast to each other, making Li Qingjun look even more fairy-like.

"I never realized how pretty she was before. I guess it's all about comparison," Qin Yi whispered.

Liusu chuckled.

All the human-sized cocoons still made Qin Yi's stomach turn, so he asked tentatively, "Apart from tying people up, does this demon have other skills?"

"Most spiders are venomous," Liusu said. "I don't think it's learned anything more advanced yet. After all, it hasn't been a demon for that long, and in terms of fighting skill, I don't think it's a match for Li Qingjun. But its tricks can be quite a handful, and I don't think Li Qingjun can defeat it all by herself."

In the courtyard, Li Qingjun brushed aside a few streaks of white threads and aimed her spear at the spider's shoulder.

The spider failed to dodge. It growled in pain and stumbled back with its multiple legs. There was an open wound on its seemingly tough body now, and green blood was gushing out.

However, the spider web immediately covered the tip of the spear, and Li Qingjun wasn't able to retract it. Immediately after that, a deep green color started crawling up the spear and reaching for Li Qingjun's hands.

Li Qingjun broke the spider web with one forcible shake and jumped away with her spear at the last moment.

Rubbing his chin, Qin Yi murmured, "You're right. This demon spider may seem terrifying, but it's not that powerful. I think even that demon tiger was stronger than it."

"Its power is determined by its natural endowments, but this spider has much stronger cultivation tricks," Liusu said. "Especially in making traps. Li Qingjun hasn't been tricked, that's all. The main difference between demons and beasts isn't in their strength but in this aspect."

"You mean their intelligence?"

"Yes. Look, it doesn't dare to provoke Li Qinglin, but it's been darting glances at you. I think it sees you as an easy target. If things go south, it'll probably try to escape from your direction. How clever."

"…"

Meanwhile, Li Qingjun was losing ground.

It was as Liusu said—the spider wasn't that impressive a fighter, but Li Qingjun didn't have much experience in handling these tricks either. Every time she gained some leverage, she would be forced back by new tricks.

While Qin Yi was enjoying watching the fight, Li Qinglin feared that his sister might be injured and joined the fight.

Whoosh!

No one saw how he got there, but now his spear was already at the spider's face. The fierce energy coming out of the blade made the spider's hair stand up. Involuntarily, it raised a leg to ward off the spear. However, a smell of something burning soon filled the air— it was from the sudden burst of spinning energy hitting the spider's leg.

Meanwhile, a glow was coming out of Li Qinglin. The demon spider shrieked in fear and took off in Li Qingjun's direction, ignoring the fact that her spear was also aimed at it.

Liusu sounded intrigued. "Li Qinglin is carrying something… You can't achieve that effect by practicing martial arts alone…"

The demon spider seemed to have been so intimidated by Li Qinglin that it had forgotten about dodging the weapon. It knocked the tip of the spear out of its way with its shoulder and tried to force its way through. With the side of her left palm, Li Qingjun hit it on the throat just below its human face. Despite the pain, the spider was still advancing and pushed Li Qingjun back with it.

Li Qingjun didn't panic. As the spider forced its way forward, she quickly adjusted her spear, held it by the end of the blade and stabbed it forcibly into the spider's mouth. The spear shattered its fangs and went right into its mouth.

The spider screamed in pain. Suddenly, red smoke gushed out of its mouth, immediately shrouding Li Qingjun nearby.

It was a poisonous smoke, and no one knew what type of poison it was.

Startled, Li Qinglin was about to run to his sister's rescue when he paused and stopped.

The spider was about to stab Li Qingjun's throat with a foreleg when a cracking sound rang out, and it screeched in pain again. The leg that was supposed to be in Li Qingjun's neck had hit a spiked club instead.

The spikes jabbed into its leg, and despite its hard outer shell, the pain was still excruciating.

As it turned out, the spider had been pushing Li Qingjun in Qin Yi's direction and had reached his side.

While blocking the spider leg with his spiked club, Qin Yi held Li Qingjun's waist with his free arm and pulled her backwards. As soon as they stood still, he took out a pill and stuffed it into Li Qingjun's mouth.

Li Qinglin didn't come any closer; he stayed where he was and observed Qin Yi.

Li Qingjun was surprised as well.

The pill immediately melted in her mouth, and a refreshing sensation spread out from her head to all four limbs. Her head had felt muddled from the poison, but the pill cleared it up in no time, and there was strength in her arms again.

Turning around, she saw Qin Yi's smiling face.

"That's a genuine pill that can neutralize all poisons. I tried to give it to your brother, but he wouldn't take it."

Li Qingjun pursed her lips and wanted to say something, but Qin Yi had grabbed her by the waist again and quickly jumped back a meter or so.

After a small break, the spider roared and was charging at them again.

Qin Yi led Li Qingjun to the exit, and when the spider reached them, it suddenly froze.

Something it stepped on made its legs feel like they were stuck to the ground by glue. It tried to attack Qin Yi and Li Qingjun with its forelegs, but it couldn't reach them.

Looking up, it saw Qin Yi grinning at it while raising his spiked club.

"Did you just take me for an easy target? My spiked club doesn't agree."

…

"Thank you so much." After they were released from their cocoons, the travellers thanked them repeatedly. "We promise we'll go to the Eternal Temple to pray for you after we go back home. May god bless you all!"

"Hey!" Li Qingjun was displeased. "I'm the one who saved you people. Why would you go to the Eternal Temple?"

"Well, of course we're very grateful for your help, but we saw a real demon this time and it just makes more sense to respect the immortals now…"

Li Qingjun didn't know how to answer and had to watch them leave after expressing their gratitude repeatedly.

The three of them left the temple as well and went to sit in a pavilion on the mountain. The air was very fresh which was such a nice change from the stinky air in the temple a moment ago.

Li Qingjun's mood improved as well. She stretched and said, "I actually killed a demon that feeds on human flesh. Does that make me a fairy?"

Qin Yi found her very amusing. What he had been meaning to ask was, "It's been a while. Don't you need to relieve yourself?"

While he was studying Li Qingjun, Li Qinglin was studying him. "Brother Qin, thank you for your help earlier."

Li Qingjun pursed her lips, turned to look at the mountains in the distance and didn't comment.

Qin Yi said, "Don't worry about it. I only did it on a whim. Come to think about it, even if I did nothing, Brother Li would've still ensured your sister's safety. That demon was never going to be a match for you."

"Anyhow, Brother Qin, you still helped us," Li Qinglin said with a smile. "Moreover, you were the first to detect the demon. That was very impressive."

Qin Yi smiled awkwardly.

Li Qinglin then looked at Qin Yi's spiked club and chuckled. "However, I'm surprised by your weapon. Your spiked club looks quite ordinary, and I didn't think it could smash that demon's head."

"Hah! It had a human head, and that wasn't as hard as the rest of its body." Qin Yi didn't want them to pay too much attention to the spiked club, so he changed the subject. "Judging by what Brother Li said before, you didn't believe there were immortals in the world. That winged tiger could be considered a mutated animal, but you saw that demon spider. Why weren't you surprised?"

Li Qinglin explained. "Brother Qin, you've misunderstood me. What I don't believe in is the possibility of an exaggerated eternal life, not demons or the cultivation techniques that can subdue them. The former is only a groundless rumor, but there's more than enough evidence for the latter two. As a matter of fact, I've killed monsters before myself."

"I see…" If that was the case, Li Qinglin's definition of "immortals" was different from most people. To common folks, anyone who had cultivation skills could be considered an immortal, but to Li Qinglin, they were just other human beings who had learned some special tricks. As a matter of fact, they might not even be able to defeat him.

Without eternal life, a man would still be a man.

That explained why he wasn't interested in his sister's immortal-seeking trips. A lot of people might've met "immortals" or monsters, but neither could impress him.

Li Qinglin went on. "Actually, people are a lot harder to handle than monsters."

Qin Yi was baffled. "Why is that?"

"Because monsters aren't that complicated. You stick a spear into their bodies and they'll die, and killing them won't make you feel guilty. Even if the demon you killed hadn't done anything evil, people will still praise you for your good deeds. However, killing a human being can have a lot of repercussions. No matter how influential you are, you can't just do whatever you want."

Qin Yi fell silent.