Unfortunately, Mei Hua had used up all of her strength. Her last cry had forced her to breathe even more poison. Seeing that the plants had started blocking the tunnel, she was at least reassured by the fact that Cao Yun and Sun Liao would recognize them.
When the crawling noises were so close that she could feel the ground shake beneath her, Mei Hua looked up. She had been right all along. What she saw was a spider whose body was almost as large as hers. It consisted of two parts. The first part looked rather small and flat while the second one was very round and ended in a small sting. On this part, there were several patterns and some black protuberances. All of these created beautiful geometrical forms. Moreover, this spider was very colorful despite crawling in a dark tunnel. From the first part of the body where the head of the spider was, eight very long and slender legs were moving incredibly fast.
There were three beasts. And they were so colorful that it was easy for the young men to see them even though their view was reduced by these stalks. Now, Mei Hua had completely lost consciousness and the beasts went around her. From their stings, they produced a sticky white silk and weaved a cocoon around their prey.
This was too much for Ren Chao. He took his hammer and charged to break down the stalks and save his friend. Despite the excitement, he remembered to hold his breath. Cao Yun followed along, and even though he stayed behind, Sun Liao decided to act as well. Drawing his bow, Sun Liao tried to aim through the stalks. The arrow whistled in the air and hit the demonic beast that was holding Mei Hua right in its abdomen. As the projectile sank into its chitin, a blue liquid dripped down on its body.
The beast writhed in pain and all the eyes of the beasts stared at the group. With one strike from his hammer, Ren Chao broke down all the stalks. They almost looked like dark red bamboo stalks. Although they looked robust, against Ren Chao's strength, they were nothing at all. But, just as he was ready to step forward, new stalks grew almost immediately. This time though, they aimed toward Ren Chao himself. He had the reflex to jump backward and his robe protected him from minor lacerations. However, the surprise made him breathe in.
He quickly understood what had happened to Mei Hua. As the poison spread into his system, he felt his strength leaving him. Even with his incredible physique, he was unable to fight. In fact, the more he tried to struggle, the faster the effects were spreading to all his body. But he was stubborn and still tried to break down more of these stalks. The only thing he had in mind was Mei Hua. He couldn't abandon his friend.
Cao Yun saw the reaction of the stalks and tried to attack from a small distance with his spear. But, their growth was so fast he could do nothing at all. In fact, just like Ren Chao, he was also targeted by their sudden growth despite the distance between him and the plant.
Sensing that Ren Chao was also getting affected by the poison in the air, Cao Yun had the feeling that they couldn't save Mei Hua. This situation woke up the trauma of his family. In fact, he even circulated his mind cultivation to prevent the Drop of Wrath from taking over, but it was now almost an afterthought as he had a good grasp on it. Once more, he was feeling powerless. But he wasn't! He knew these beasts and he knew these stalks. He could use his knowledge as a weapon.
As the one who had lead his friends here, he had to get them out alive. Right now, the fight was lost because they couldn't even breathe without being poisoned. If Mei Hua had been unable to fight off the poison, no one could. The alchemists were always more resistant to poison as they had learned to control the medicinal essence of pills within their body. As such, they could somewhat control the flow of toxins and even poison through their system. It didn't mean though that they could completely block it, only slow it down.
Understanding the situation, Cao Yun took a handful of the destroyed stalks and looked back at Sun Liao. The archer was still firing on the spiders behind the stalks. Ironically, by attacking the stalks, Ren Chao and Cao Yun had made them even more numerous. Right now, Sun Liao had almost no way of reaching his targets. And each time he took down several stalks, even more grew in their stead.
It was clear that they were all reaching their limit. From behind the stalks, one of the spiders had left with the body of Mei Hua imprisoned within a cocoon of silk. Cao Yun had to fight off the urge to rush forward. Maybe by using 'Dragon's Heart', he could literally go through the stalks and reach the other side. But he couldn't fight alone against these beasts, without even breathing because of the poison. Moreover, within the tunnels, these spiders were way faster than humans. He had no way of catching up.
That was when he locked eyes with Sun Liao. Their gazes were the same, full of rage and resignation. Right now, they had to run and leave behind Mei Hua. Even though they didn't want to accept it, they had to act fast. A loud noise forced them to act. Ren Chao fell on the ground. Until the very end, he had tried to resist but ultimately, the poison had won.
Taking Ren Chao's body, the group ran toward the exit of the tunnel. The two other spiders were waiting behind the stalks. As they had walked in the tunnels for less than an hour, by running as fast as they could, it took them less than the time to burn two incense sticks to leave.
The moment they emerged in the cave, Sun Liao immediately started to set up an array formation. On the other side, Cao Yun was tending to Ren Chao. With his powerful constitution and now that he could breathe poison free air, he regained conscious after a few minutes. When he woke up, Ren Chao realized that he was in the cave where the entrance to the tunnels was. The only thing on his mind was Mei Hua. Looking around, he didn't see her at all.
Suddenly, he jumped back up. Beside him, Cao Yun tried to stop him as he was going straight back into the tunnels. But on his way was Sun Liao setting up an array formation.
"Let me through!"
This time, Cao Yun put himself between Sun Liao and Ren Chao.
"Brother Ren, I know what you're thinking. Let Brother Sun finish his work. We have to think before we act."
"Think?! What is there to think about?! Mei Hua is back there! We have to save her!"
"Moron! If we go straight ahead without thinking, how can we save her?! Rush forward if you like, but you'll just end up captured and you won't be of any use to Sister Mei! Since you're useless, sit in a corner and wait!"
Sun Liao was venting his own frustration. When he spoke, he realized that he had gone too far, but leaving Mei Hua behind was harsh on all of them. For once, Ren Chao's face was dark. Cao Yun had never seen this complexion on his friend, not even once. It was clear that he was enraged. If he had been alone, Ren Chao would have still rushed toward Mei Hua without any regard for his life. However, he had to admit that Sun Liao was right.
Seething with rage, Ren Chao's breathing was erratic. The only way he had to calm down was to go punch a wall. Venting his anger and frustration, Ren Chao punched the rock wall of the cave, again and again, and over again. Even his powerful hands were bloody after this. But two craters were now scarring the solid wall.
Both Cao Yun and Sun Liao left him alone.
Cao Yun had to analyze everything he had seen. Moreover, he had a handful of stalks with him. They looked like bamboo sticks. Very rigid, they were dark red and within, a greenish liquid was acting as though it was the blood of the plant. This plant was a Burrowing Deadly Typha. It was extremely rare and shouldn't have been within the Lunar Marsh at all.
This was considered as a 5-star Human plant or even a pseudo 1-star Heaven one. Indeed, it wasn't actually conscious but it had a bit of instincts to it. This plant was living underground and reacted to vibrations. When it felt someone over it, thousands of small sprouts would let out a vicious gas. As soon as anyone breathed it in, they would quickly lose control over their muscles and then their consciousness.
But it could also attack more directly by producing many stalks in a very short time. And if the poison was not enough to kill its prey, the plant would simply skewer them. Once the prey was dead, the plant could slowly digest the corpse's nutrients. In fact, the presence of the spiders was a good thing. If they hadn't caught the body of Mei Hua, she would have been killed by the effects of the poison from this Burrowing Deadly Typha.
In a way, it almost looked like these spiders had planted the Burrowing Deadly Typha here as a trap. However, from what Cao Yun knew about these beasts, it shouldn't have been possible. But once again, this plant shouldn't have been in the Lunar Marsh. Could they have both been brought here by the demonic cultivators? But then, Xiao Xuefeng should have sensed them... Unless other demonic cultivators brought them later.
Finally, Sun Liao stopped working. From the several flags he had set up, small sparks erupted before quieting down. After this work, Sun Liao's clothes were drenched in sweat. In less than an incense stick, he had set up one of the most complex array formations he knew. This Infernal Heart Cannon array formation was a 5-star Earth array formation meant for attacks. As he had seen him set it up, Cao Yun could easily see through it. And this array formation would create a powerful fireball shooting down anyone who would get too close to it. With each fireball, the flags themselves would be consumed in flames. However, this array formation could shoot down even late Mortals.
In fact, if Cao Yun wasn't careful when approaching this kind of array formation, he could very well be shot down himself. Using his own compass, he quickly determined that this place was not suited for such an array formation. This meant that not only Sun Liao had been incredibly quick to set it up, he had also managed to adjust this array formation with his surroundings faster than Cao Yun thought possible. It was no wonder that he was so tired.
"Are you done?"
Still exhausted, Sun Liao heard Ren Chao's voice behind him.
"Yes..."
Barely had he spoken that Ren Chao grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against a wall of the cave.
"Explain yourself! How are we going to save Sister Mei?!"
Fearing that Ren Chao would attack Sun Liao, Cao Yun tried to separate them.
"Brother Ren, calm down. Sister Mei should be fine for now. Hear us out, please."
Breathing heavily, Ren Chao's face was distorted by rage and guilt. Finally, he let go of his friend. Thrown to the ground, Sun Liao stood up, helped by Cao Yun. After catching his breath, Sun Liao started to explain the situation.
"The beasts that took Sister Mei, they're Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras. In fact, they were probably male Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras."
Cao Yun stayed silent because he had recognized them as well from the various books he had memorized.
"So what?! Get to the point!"
"Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras are 3-core demonic beasts. They're social spiders. And if they're here, that means their nest is close by. It's safe to assume that there are at least twelve to twenty of them inside. But the good news is the way these beasts feed. They capture human cultivators inside cocoons. The silk from these cocoons allows them to penetrate into their preys' mind. Then, they slowly devour their mind. As long as they're not done with the mind, they don't devour the flesh. Thus, they can keep their victims alive for several hours or several days depending on the resistance of their mind."
"How is that a good news?!"
"Brother, do you think that these beasts will be able to easily devour Sister Mei's mind? Personally, that's really not something I'm worried about."
Thinking about it, Ren Chao realized he was right.
"So, what? We're just wasting time! What's your plan?"
"The real threat is this plant."
"Yeah. And you didn't even feel it!"
"Brother Ren. Even Sister Mei didn't feel a thing until it was too late. The mere fact that she reacted before we could get poisoned ourselves is impressive. This plant is a Burrowing Deadly Typha. To be honest, with our level, we almost had no hope of sensing it before it attacked. We got too confident..."
Hearing reason, Ren Chao could not reply anything. Himself didn't know who he had to be angry against. In fact, he was angry at himself.
"But I may have a solution. I grabbed a few of the stalks you broke. If I combine them with some detoxifying pills Sister Mei refined, I should be able to produce something to protect us long enough. This plant is not that dangerous if you know it's here. After all, it can only infect you if you breathe its poison. If we're prepared, we should be able to go through it with ease. Trying to fight it head on is impossible with our strength, but brute force is not the only way. Then, we just need to find the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora's nest."
The words 'brute force' shook Ren Chao. Once more, he was confronted with his uselessness.
Sun Liao took over.
"I can help with that. With my arrows, I also shot an array formation. As long as it's in contact with the blood of my prey, I can follow it around using my compass."
The fact that Cao Yun and Sun Liao had sound plans made Ren Chao even more angry. He really felt that he was useless to the group. Even in a fight, his only strong point was his strength. His perception was lower, his speed was slower, even his technique was cruder. After all, he was meant to be a blacksmith not a fighter, not an alchemist and even less so an array formation master.
"Fine! Just get on with your plans! I can't wait to squash these disgusting bugs!"
Sun Liao thought "They're not bugs. They're spiders.". But never mind that... This really wasn't the time to be a smart-ass. Usually, he would have teased Ren Chao about it. But he could see that he was frustrated by the fact he had nothing to do. As Sun Liao was feeling frustrated as well, he could only imagine what was going on in Ren Chao's head. Not a single one of them was happy with the situation.