With Zi Di in tow, Zhenjin returned to the spider's hunting ground.
"My lord, you're here! You really haven't given up on me, thank heavens!" Huang Zao's tone was full of surprise and gratitude.
But soon, his mood dropped again, unable to hide his disappointment, he asked, "My lord, just the two of you? Where are the others?"
"It's just the two of us," Zhenjin spoke.
"M-my lord, are you confident?" Huang Zao stammered, his life at stake, he was very nervous. "Maybe we should call for more people."
Zi Di snorted coldly, "If there were more people, would they come to save you or to die? You must trust us now."
Huang Zao choked, finally squeezing out a sentence, "My lord, you must be very careful!"
Zi Di took out bottles of potions from her small leather pouch and handed them to Zhenjin.
Zhenjin continuously tossed them, each potion arcing through the air, hitting tree trunks or rocks, shattering and spreading their contents rapidly.
A strange, unpleasant smell filled the air, like a mixture of chicken feathers, dog feces, and dried squid being burnt.
If magic could be used, with Light Body Skill or Flying Technique, rescuing Huang Zao who was suspended high in the air would be easy.
In this current situation, Zhenjin and Zi Di were adopting a potion-based tactic.
These were all flammable potions, accurately thrown by Zhenjin to key spots.
After his injuries healed, Zhenjin discovered his strength had noticeably increased.
Discussing with Zi Di, the latter thought, "This might be the effect of the temporary mixed potion created with the Monkey-tailed Brown Bear's blood at that time."
This type of potion was not rare.
The most well-known was the Strength Potion.
After consuming it, the user's strength could be permanently enhanced.
Of course, repeated consumption would greatly reduce the potion's effectiveness.
Another possibility was that the life-and-death battle had partially awakened Zhenjin's bloodline.
Nobles were one of the groups with the most excellent bloodlines in the world.
This was why they had superior talents and abundant gifts.
The Hundred Needle Family used to be a prominent noble family in the south, naturally their bloodline was excellent. It was rumored that their bloodline could be traced back to the Legendary Magic Beast, the Golden Needle Queen Bee.
People with this bloodline were swift and steady, with excellent precision.
This bloodline was not known for strength, but Zhenjin might have other hidden bloodlines.
The most common bloodlines included the Dragon Bloodline, Giant Bloodline, Ogre Bloodline, and even Demon Bloodline.
Due to the frequent intermarriage and extravagant, licentious lifestyle among nobles, bloodlines often mixed. Sometimes, a bloodline could remain hidden for a lifetime; hence, it was hard to determine how many bloodlines a person carried.
Examples like Zhenjin, who awakened hidden bloodlines under life's extreme hardships, resurfacing their life potential, were not rare in the histories of various races.
Another possibility was Zi Di's previous speculation.
Zhenjin's true cultivation might not be Silver, but Golden Level.
Silver Level reached the limit of human capability, while Golden cultivation exceeded this limit, resulting in extraordinary changes in speed, strength, and recovery.
If Zhenjin was at Golden Level cultivation, he was likely not a veteran Golden Level expert considering his age. He must be in a growth phase.
Thus, his increase in strength could be the result of Golden Level fighting energy constantly nourishing his body.
Regardless of the reason, Zhenjin's increase in strength was a good thing.
After almost depleting Zi Di's stock of flammable potions, Zhenjin brought out a Starfire Stone, producing a dazzling blue spark.
The spark landed on the potions, and with a whoosh, a fierce flame sprang up.
The flames quickly spread, igniting the flammable potions along the way, forming a blazing fire wall in the blink of an eye!
The fire wall burned fiercely, starting to climb the surrounding trees, growing taller.
From the high treetops came a series of squeaking sounds, and the eight-legged spiders began to stir.
Huang Zao felt the air below becoming rapidly hot, his heart pounding, not expecting the young man and woman to create such a big spectacle.
"So this girl is a pharmacist. But how will they rescue me?"
While Huang Zao was guessing, Zhenjin moved again.
He took out a short spear from his back, with the tip coated in flammable potion. Holding the short spear, he slightly swayed the tip over the flame at his feet, igniting it effortlessly.
The next moment, Zhenjin lightly swung back his arm and then threw it fiercely.
The short spear arced beautifully through the air, accurately piercing into a prey.
This was a leopard-like prey, already suffocated to death in the web.
As soon as the short spear pierced it, the flames spread quickly, burning away the web.
The leopard prey almost instantly fell to the ground.
As Zhenjin expected, it was a Scale-Horned Black Panther. Due to the fish-scale-like armor on its body, the slight flames on the panther's body quickly extinguished.
Short spear after short spear was thrown by Zhenjin, and prey after prey fell to the ground.
Some continued burning, while the flames on some went out.
"Here they come," Zi Di's heart trembled slightly when she saw a number of eight-legged spiders descending swiftly to the ground with silk, starting to re-web the fallen prey.
Some prey engulfed in flames were doused by the spiders' oral spray of thick green liquid before re-webbing.
Clearly, they were not entirely defenseless against fire.
Soon, no new eight-legged spiders landed.
A total of twenty-six Bronze level beasts appeared before the boy and girl.
Most of the spiders were busy reclaiming their food reserves, only three leaped at Zhenjin and Zi Di.
Zi Di secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
These spiders were beasts after all, without the cunning and sinister nature of that Blue Fur Evil Wolf. This regained the girl's sense of superiority and confidence as a member of the Human Race.
As the three spiders closed in, Zhenjin remained motionless.
Waiting until they were at the ideal distance, Zhenjin calmly ignited the flammable potion at his left foot.
A second fire wall surged up, trapping the three approaching spiders within.
The spiders screamed in horror, attempting to shoot silk towards the treetops to escape.
However, the silk burned when it reached the flames.
As the fire wall spread, Zhenjin easily forced the three spiders into a desperate situation.
With no other choice, the spiders attempted a breakthrough.
They managed to burst through the fire wall, with some flames on their bodies.
Squeaking frantically, they appeared terrified and panicked.
The spiders trying to reclaim their prey were thrown into turmoil upon seeing their burning companions rush towards them.
"Now!"
Zhenjin's eyes gleamed brightly for a moment.
He threw three burning short spears in quick succession, accurately hitting the silk above Huang Zao.
The silk suspending him consisted of four strands, like four thick white ropes. The silk burned and snapped almost instantly.
Suspended by only one strand now, Huang Zao lost stability, swinging in an arc before crashing into a tree trunk with a thud.
Afterward, Zhenjin's fourth short spear flew out, burning the last strand of silk.
Huang Zao let out a low cry, falling to the ground.
Although it was painful, he was not injured.
Because the extremely sticky silk had excellent elasticity, when he hit the tree trunk, the silk stretched, leaving him only two meters from the ground.
Unfortunately, a spider, which had just successfully hoisted its prey, noticed the disturbance and rushed towards Huang Zao.
Seeing this, Huang Zao, his eyes widening in shock, suddenly let out a low roar, and rolled into the fire wall.
The flames quickly burned off the silk covering him, then began scorching his skin and hair.
But at that moment, Huang Zao demonstrated the seafaring man's tenacity and ruthlessness, running silently through the fire wall until he emerged from another side.
He successfully escaped the spider, but now faced the risk of being burned alive.
"Good!" Zi Di exclaimed, "Come here!"
Without needing her call, Huang Zao instinctively ran towards Zhenjin and Zi Di.
They quickly closed the distance, and Zi Di raised her arm, scattering a bottle of potion.
Blue powder sparkled as it fell on Huang Zao.
Huang Zao let out a blood-curdling scream.
The flames on him strangely subsided, and were suppressed by the blue powder.
Huang Zao trembled all over.
In such a short time, he was unrecognizable, his hair mostly burnt off, emitting thick smoke. His face and exposed hands and arms were charred black.
He gasped, rushing past Zhenjin and Zi Di, "Run, run! There's a big one!"
As soon as he finished, a surge of intimidating beastly aura descended from the sky.
Zhenjin and Zi Di turned pale.
This was a Silver Level eight-legged spider leader.
It was larger, with denser blue hair, and longer legs.
It cut through the air with a sharp screech, attacking Zhenjin, Zi Di, and Huang Zao with astonishing speed.
"You go first!" At the critical moment, Zhenjin reacted first, glaring at Huang Zao, then stepping forward with a stern look.
Swish, swish, swish.
He rapidly threw one short spear after another.
However, the spider leader was as swift as the wind, easily dodging all the spears.
Soon, Zhenjin ran out of spears. He gritted his teeth, raised his long spear high, and charged at the spider leader.
"My lord!" Zi Di cried in alarm.
"Run, don't let us be a burden," Huang Zao also shouted.
But in their hesitation, they missed the golden opportunity.
The spider leader suddenly shot three strands of silk, accurately hitting the three of them.
Zhenjin's long spear and hands were bound by the silk, leaving him wrestling with the spider leader.
Zi Di's cloak got caught in the silk. The girl, displaying the agility and flexibility of her young body, swiftly shrugged off the cloak and bent down to draw the dagger strapped to her leg.
"My lord, catch!" Zi Di was about to throw the dagger to Zhenjin when a mass of silk attacked.
The silk rapidly expanded in the air, forming a fine web. The spider web hit Zi Di, covering her chest and waist, knocking her down and sticking her firmly to the ground.
Conflicted by the impact, the dagger fell from her hand. Though she managed to throw the dagger, it landed close to Huang Zao instead of Zhenjin.
Huang Zao's right foot was entangled in silk. Lying on the ground, he struggled desperately but couldn't match the spider leader's strength, being dragged closer.
Huang Zao instinctively grabbed the dagger.
He drew the dagger, wildly slashing it. After two missed swings, he finally cut through the silk.
Huang Zao barely escaped the predicament and quickly retreated.
"Throw the dagger to my lord!" Zi Di screamed.
"No, no, I don't want to die! I don't want to die!!" Huang Zao seemingly didn't hear her, shouting manically, fleeing frantically.
Unexpectedly, the spider leader did not pursue him, letting him disappear into the forest.
"Damn it!" Zi Di was both shocked and furious; at this critical moment, Huang Zao took the only cutting tool and ran away!
Zhenjin and Zi Di had thought of every possible way to rescue him, only for him to betray them and choose to escape alone.