Chapter 16: The Underground River
Time passed swiftly.
In the blink of an eye, another half-month had gone by.
Lin Feng had found quite a few rare treasures within the Nine Nethers Secret Realm, yet there was still no trace of the Bianhua Flower.
The most promising lead remained the deep pool where he had encountered Medicine King Valley and the black-robed figures — but unfortunately, what the ice boa had been guarding was not the Bianhua Flower.
Although only a third of the time had passed, with two months still remaining before the Secret Realm closed, the fact that he had yet to find the Bianhua Flower left him feeling restless and anxious.
Evening.
Lin Feng was tired and hungry.
He found a slightly open spot by the riverbank and started a fire.
From the Qiankun Pouch, he cut a large chunk of meat from the ice boa's carcass and set it over the flames to roast.
The ice boa was the most delicious exotic beast Lin Feng had eaten since entering the Nine Nethers Secret Realm, and its nutritional value was extraordinarily rich.
The meat was tender and flavorful — the moment it hit the fire, it sizzled and dripped with fat. With a dash of his secret seasoning, the aroma was simply irresistible.
Yet even the most delicious food could not lift Lin Feng's gloomy mood.
If he still had time after finding the Bianhua Flower, he figured he'd make a point of tasting every exotic beast in the Nine Nethers Secret Realm.
Exotic beast meat was far superior to that of ordinary wild animals — though of course, their strength was on an entirely different level as well.
After eating and drinking his fill, Lin Feng leaned against a large tree to rest.
The countless insect calls all around him and the occasional distant roar of some unknown beast did nothing to disturb him.
Over the past half-month, Lin Feng had truly exhausted himself. In his search for the Bianhua Flower, he had barely rested at all. Combined with the mental burden he carried, even his formidable body had grown weary.
Just as he closed his eyes to recuperate.
The dense forest around him began to stir with faint, subtle movements. The sounds were masked by the insect chorus, and before long, a spider the size of a washbasin — bearing what appeared to be a human face — was lured out of the undergrowth by the scent of roasting meat. It crept forward and fixed its gaze on Lin Feng, who leaned motionless against the tree.
This was a Human-Faced Demon Spider — jet-black all over, a gregarious creature with potent venom. It was nocturnal, preferring to hunt in darkness.
It stood still for a moment, and upon seeing that Lin Feng had not moved, the Human-Faced Demon Spider launched its attack. It coiled its lower limbs and shot itself toward Lin Feng.
But before it could get close, a sword beam sliced it in two. Green blood splattered everywhere — and that stirred up a hornet's nest.
Countless Human-Faced Demon Spiders leapt out of the dense forest, each one the size of a washbasin.
Yet their fate was the same as the first — every single one was cut in half. Their corpses piled up like a small mountain, and the pooling green blood flowed into the nearby river, poisoning a great swath of fish and shrimp in mere moments. The potency of their venom was plain to see.
Only when no more Human-Faced Demon Spiders leapt from the forest did Lin Feng slowly rise. With a light spring, he jumped up onto a tree branch.
Despite the carnage all around him, not a speck of dirt touched his robes.
Standing on the branch, Lin Feng fixed his gaze on a spot deep within the forest. He drew a finger lightly through the air, and a sword beam swept outward.
"Squeak! Squeak!!"
A shriek rang out from within the forest.
A massive Human-Faced Demon Spider revealed itself — at least dozens of times larger than the ones before, comparable in size to a small car.
One of its legs had been severed, and great quantities of green blood poured from the wound, instantly dissolving the vegetation on the ground wherever it dripped.
Two crimson eyes, each as wide as a bowl, glared fixedly at Lin Feng. Its fangs were over ten centimeters long.
Man and giant arachnid faced each other in a standoff.
It was Lin Feng's first time encountering an exotic beast spider of such size, and he found himself genuinely intrigued.
About half a minute later, the Human-Faced Demon Spider suddenly launched its attack — spitting several webs of silk toward Lin Feng before wheeling around and fleeing at speed.
After dodging them with ease, Lin Feng followed at a leisurely pace. This particular Human-Faced Demon Spider was clearly different from the others; it had developed a faint glimmer of intelligence. He wanted to follow it and see where its lair was.
More than ten minutes later.
The Human-Faced Demon Spider arrived at the entrance of an underground cave and leapt in without hesitation.
Lin Feng drew close and examined it. The cave mouth was enormous — its diameter had to be several hundred meters across. Below was very likely the spider's main nest.
He stepped forward, placing his foot on empty air — yet he did not fall. Step by step, he walked to the center of the cave opening, and his body began to descend slowly.
Throughout this process, Lin Feng relied on no external aid whatsoever. The fact that he could do this by his own power alone indicated that he had reached at least the fifth realm of cultivators — the Sky Mastery Realm.
The Sky Mastery Realm was considered the threshold of true strength even on the Li Continent.
And within the Shenxiao Sword Sect, ordinary Elders were precisely at the Sky Mastery Realm.
In other words, based solely on the cultivation level Lin Feng had displayed so far, he was already on par with an ordinary Elder of the Shenxiao Sword Sect.
He descended over a hundred meters before finally reaching the bottom of the cave. Inside, it was pitch black — not even a hand held before his face could be seen.
However, for a high-level cultivator like Lin Feng, night vision was a basic skill, and so he could clearly make out the full scene around him.
Beneath his feet lay layer upon layer of bleached bones.
Clearly, no small number of creatures had perished in the jaws of the Human-Faced Demon Spiders.
Lin Feng even spotted quite a few human skulls among them.
He swept his gaze around.
The surrounding rock walls were riddled with small cave openings of varying sizes — diameters ranging from tens of centimeters to several meters — and there was even one that reached thirty to forty meters across.
"Skree skree skree… Skree skree skree…"
A grating, scraping sound arose.
Pair after pair of crimson eyes appeared at the openings of the surrounding caves.
An ordinary person in such an environment would likely have fainted from fright long ago. Lin Feng, by contrast, remained utterly calm, without the slightest trace of panic.
It wasn't an act — he genuinely had no regard for the Human-Faced Demon Spiders.
If he wished, a single move could eliminate every last one of these revolting creatures.
"Skree skree…"
A sudden sound rang out, noticeably louder than before.
Following the sound, he saw a colossal Human-Faced Demon Spider crawl out from the largest cave opening — as big as a three-story building.
Faced with the dense swarm of Human-Faced Demon Spiders all around him and one enormous demon spider exotic beast, Lin Feng remained perfectly composed throughout.
"Skree!!!"
The demon spider exotic beast let out a piercing shriek.
As if responding to a command, every Human-Faced Demon Spider around leapt from its cave and surged toward Lin Feng.
Lin Feng, standing at the center, stirred his intent.
Countless sword beams materialized from thin air. Within seconds, every last Human-Faced Demon Spider had been slaughtered, their bodies crashing to the ground and completely burying the bones beneath.
This was the terrifying power of a high-level Sword Cultivator — their destructive and offensive might surpassed all other cultivators.
Yet Sword Cultivators had a weakness: low defensive capability. Anyone who could withstand a Sword Cultivator's assault had a chance to turn the tables.
Perhaps sensing the overwhelming power of the human before it, the demon spider exotic beast quickly retreated back into its cave.
Lin Feng followed right after.
After walking several hundred meters, the ceiling of the cave became dotted with objects resembling silkworm cocoons, hanging overhead in various sizes — likely prey the spider exotic beast had wrapped in silk.
He pressed on another hundred meters deeper.
At last, he reached the widest and deepest part of the cave.
Yet when Lin Feng looked around, there was no sign of the spider exotic beast anywhere.
He had clearly watched it enter — how could it have vanished into thin air?
A spider that enormous, gone without a trace?
He hadn't passed any forks in the path along the way either!
Lin Feng was baffled. He was certain something had gone wrong somewhere — he must have missed something.
Still, he had no intention of searching further.
It would be too much of a waste of time.
He had more important matters to attend to.
If it ran, then it ran.
It was just a spider exotic beast, after all.
To others, its inner core and venom sac would both be highly valuable — worth good money or tradeable for cultivation resources. But to Lin Feng, it wasn't worth spending a great deal of time on.
Just as he was about to turn and leave.
A large, semicircular stone deep in the cave caught Lin Feng's attention.
There appeared to be signs that it had been moved.
He drew closer for a look.
Indeed — the rounded stone had been shifted from its original position nearby.
Lin Feng guessed the spider exotic beast had pushed it over to block the passage it had used to escape.
He flicked a finger, and a sword beam shot from his fingertip, slicing the boulder into countless small pieces.
Another cave passage revealed itself before him, and from within came the sound of rushing water — "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."
Could this be a passage connected to an underground river?