Cao Yun's group put all their strength into running. They used all their martial arts and Qi to increase their speed. As many stalks were piercing through the tunnels, Ren Chao was the one who had the worst time. Sun Liao and Mei Hua were both very perceptive. Thus, they felt the stalks growing underground way before they became a threat to them and were able to dodge them. With his movement technique, Cao Yun was also able to reduce the stalks targeting him. Besides, he too used his great perception to avoid them. In fact, he could have been even faster but he would have had to stop using 'Stopping the Waves'. And he would also have had to leave Ren Chao alone in the back.
While running away, Ren Chao activated 'Unbreakable Iron Bones' and circulated his Qi in his superficial tissues. Some stalks grazed him but none could pierce his skin full of Qi. As Cao Yun was not particularly targeted, he decided to further help his friend. Each time they attacked a stalk, several more grew in its stead as a defensive mechanism. But they didn't really care now, quite the contrary.
They were trying to run, so the stalks would grow back behind them. In fact, they would hinder the pursuing Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras more than they would block their own path.
The moment Ren Chao really looked in trouble, Cao Yun used 'Imperial Throne'. A large movement of his spear caused a form of whirlwind around him and blew away many stalks. With his great physique, Ren Chao, who knew exactly what was going to happen when he watched his friend, was not affected in the slightest.
Despite these Burrowing Deadly Typha stalks, the group almost didn't slow down at all. The effects of the Purifying Muddy Source pills combined with their slower metabolisms protected them from the poison as they were not exposed to it for a long period of time. Mei Hua also forced the two unconscious cultivators to eat a pill each. There was nothing more she could do for them. When they got out, she would have to use her alchemy to make sure they were fine though. Thanks to her knowledge, she was able to further reduce the effect of the poison on her. But she couldn't do so for someone else until she became a Mortal Warrior.
As the group was getting closer and closer to the exit, they were hearing the noise of the Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras literally ramming through the Burrowing Deadly Typha stalks. The males were so fast that they were not worried at all by the idea of being impaled by these stalks. On the other hand, the females were bigger and their chitin more resistant. Some did suffer from a few wounds but only superficial, not a single stalk was able to penetrate their flesh.
Finally, after this insane run, the group came back into the cave where Cao Yun had first slaughtered the demonic cultivators. On the way, a few array formations activated as well to try and slow down the spiders.
The moment Ren Chao jumped out of the tunnel into the cave, two males with some wounds on their bodies could be seen right behind him. Thankfully, the Infernal Heart Cannon array formation activated. The flags still in the ground burned away when the beasts got too close. All of a sudden, several sparks rose in the air and flew toward the beasts. Now that Sun Liao had stopped running, he also took his bow and shot a few arrows.
"Three lights in its claws". Three arrows left his bow and started rotating around each other. Passing through the entrance of the tunnel and the array formation, they caught on fire. Amplifying the effect of the Infernal Heart Cannon array formation, the arrows pierced through the beasts.
"Brother Ren!"
Hearing Sun Liao's command, Ren Chao knew what he had to do. In order to activate the array formation, all the flags had burned away and the spirit stones had crumbled into dust. There was no more protection. They had used everything they had. With a powerful strike from his hammer, Ren Chao collapsed the entrance of the tunnel.
However, this wasn't over.
Tremors shook the wall. Knowing what was about to go down, Mei Hua put the two unconscious cultivators in a corner of the cave. One way or another, this would end in this cave. The night had now fully fallen. Trying to run through the Lunar Marsh with several demonic beasts chasing them would be literal suicide. In the best case scenario, the various traps had weakened or even killed some of the females. If their count was right, the males should be mostly dead. But they weren't that dangerous anyway.
The rocks and the sand got blown away by the face of a spider. A true vision of nightmare appeared right in front of Ren Chao and Cao Yun who were holding position between the tunnel and Mei Hua and Sun Liao. This was a female alright, but not any female. The demonic beast they were facing right now was a bit bigger than her companions. Her face almost looked human but as though spider appendages had torn apart its flesh. Her cephalothorax was also slowly becoming a proper thorax separated from the head.
Clearly, this demonic beast was in the process of forming her fourth core.
On her nightmarish face, there were some residues of dirt and blue blood. She had literally rammed through the corpses of the others to get out of the tunnel. Here and there, there were even pieces and parts from both males and females. All over her body, there were also some dents and scratches. Some of her legs were either partly scorched, frozen or simply broken. However, despite all of this, she appeared full of vigor, animated by a powerful bloodlust against those humans. And as soon as she was fully visible, she made sure that everyone knew about her feelings. Through the entire cave, a skull-splitting shriek echoed.
"The winged Longma pulls". Immediately, Sun Liao shot an arrow thicker than usual using his fourth mantra. With a powerful impact, it completely stunned the spider for an instant. The impact should have been enough to crush a 2-core demonic beast, but the female did not even move. She merely got stunned. However, Ren Chao used the opportunity.
'Earth Crushing Charge'. Ren Chao charged toward the female. And this time, using the head of his hammer, he pushed her back. Her chelicerae fully opened, pushing back the hammer. At the end of both her chelicerae, she had spikes as large as Ren Chao's torso.
'Unbreakable Iron Bones'. The moment she tried to pierce through his skin, he circulated his Qi to protect himself and also put his hammer between them. Despite the strength of the beast, the spikes didn't pierce all the way through. However, they still began to inject a powerful acid into his body.
Having seen this process in the mind of the spider trying to devour her mind, Mei Hua acted at once.
'Digging Roots Dive Toward Heavens'. Her rope dart flew toward Ren Chao, almost touching the ground. When the blade passed right beside him, Mei Hua suddenly changed its trajectory. All of a sudden, the blade went directly for the mouth of the spider, where her tissues were the softest. Shrieking in pain, she let go of Ren Chao and put down one of her legs on the rope. She was so strong that it forced Mei Hua to release her grip on her own weapon once more. In terms of mind, she was way stronger than any spider, but her fighting abilities were really weak compared to her friends.
'Humiliation Cleansed by Fury'. With powerful swings from his hammer, Ren Chao unleashed all his rage while shouting loudly. Sensing the danger, the spider retracted her chelicerae and used them as a form of shield. But the strength of Ren Chao was so great that her chelicerae became more and more tender as the chitin broke under his strikes. Even for her, fighting Ren Chao head-on was too much.
When she decided to move away and attack from a distance, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora felt an immense pressure over her entire body. 'The Dragon's Belly is Contorted'. Cao Yun had started moving around Ren Chao and the beast. Unfortunately, he couldn't control his technique to the point where he would only target the spider. Even Ren Chao felt this incredible pressure on him. He simply ignored it and kept on swinging his hammer around.
From the sky, a blazing ball of fire fell on the spider's abdomen. "From the East, the Vault rises". Using his second mantra, Sun Liao was shooting in a curved trajectory.
Despite all these attacks, the beast kept her vigor. As she couldn't fight both the pressure from Cao Yun's attack and Ren Chao's crazy unleashing of hammer strikes, she made a choice. With a swift movement, she sent her front legs toward Ren Chao. All her legs looked like sharp spears coated with thousands of small spikes. Even with 'Unbreakable Iron Bones', Ren Chao's skin would probably not be able to stop such an attack. And as he was absorbed in his raging attack and pressured by Cao Yun's technique, he would be unable to dodge and would get skewered.
'Crafty Harassment'. In an instant, Cao Yun's technique changed. The pressure completely dissipated and Ren Chao used one of his own strikes to jumped backward. The moment he did, tens of weak 'Dragon's Twin Horns' hit the spider all over. These attacks were all superficial but made the beast angry as it was specifically targeting her legs, trying to pin her down.
Cao Yun was moving all around. And this time, Ren Chao could not even get close to the beast or he would get hit as well. Instead, he observed the beast. Despite his incredible strength, Ren Chao was not a good fighter. In fact, only Cao Yun had a good fighting sense in the group. Maybe Sun Liao could be considered as a good fighter as well, but only at a distance. His perception combined with his proficiency with a bow made him a frightening archer.
Putting two of her legs in front of her, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora increased the defense of her face. Then, she lowered her body and jumped high. She almost touched the ceiling of the cave, but getting to the ceiling was not her objective. Instead, she had aimed toward Mei Hua who was the farthest from the fight. After analyzing the situation, she understood that Cao Yun was just too fast for her. In fact, she couldn't even figure out where he was. However, she knew that the humans wouldn't let her kill one of them without reacting.
And the demonic beast was right. Sun Liao shot several burning arrows into the bottom side of the jumping monstrosity. Some penetrated her flesh but not that deep. However, the ground around her landing site got covered in blue blood. As he was very close to the spider when she landed near Mei Hua, Sun Liao got targeted as well. The spider turned violently and rammed its body into Sun Liao. Unable to dodge, Sun Liao got blown toward the wall. The impact was so brutal, Sun Liao's right arm broke and he let go of his bow.
Mei Hua had nowhere to go. She wasn't fast enough. At once, both Ren Chao and Cao Yun ran toward her. However, Ren Chao would never be able to reach them in time. On the other hand, even with 'The Moon Grounds the Sun', Cao Yun felt that he was too slow. Accelerating his Qi to his absolute maximum for a split second, Cao Yun used 'Dragon's Heart' and got four times faster. Luckily, he managed to control his own Qi and arrived right between Mei Hua and a leg of the spider.
'The Son of Heaven's Spear and Shield'. As the leg tried to penetrate his robe, its elasticity allowed it to resist. However, the shock of the attack was sent toward Cao Yun's body. Then, he channeled most of it into his own arms and riposted with the most powerful spear stabbing he had ever performed. Very acute to the danger, the spider moved aside. Her left chelicera and two of her legs got literally torn apart. After a powerful shriek, her legs grew back but her chelicera that was denser in tissues did not.
The female Soul Weaving Cyrtophoras could easily regenerate their eight legs, but other parts of their body could not grow back at all.
Enraged, the female just rammed into Cao Yun. Seeing that he couldn't send back this attack, he preferred 'Dragon's Chest' to resist the blow. Cao Yun got sent toward a wall and got buried more than a meter into it. This time though, the spider completely neglected Mei Hua and went straight for the wounded Cao Yun. It was clear that her main goal was this specific boy and it got Mei Hua thinking. However, the fact that the beast did not consider her a threat at all annoyed her.
Mei Hua quickly grabbed her weapon from the ground. 'Circle of Thorns'. Her rope wrapped itself around the abdomen of the spider. With a powerful move of her wrist, it then completely went back to her while lacerating her entire body in the process. Once more, a terrifying shriek shook the cave and just after, Soul Silver Silk shot out of the strange spike she had at the end of her abdomen. Caught in this sticky substance, Mei Hua had difficulty moving and could not control her weapon at all.
As the beast was close enough to finally kill her prey, Ren Chao still hadn't reached her.
'Kill the Hundredth Son'. With a swing, Ren Chao sent his hammer toward the beast. This time, he had targeted the spike at the end of her abdomen, from where she was shooting her Soul Silver Silk. Backed up by his incredible strength, the hammer completely crushed this spike that got bent into a painful angle. Actually, this spike was composed of several spinnerets connected together, but now they were all crushed toward different directions. As soon as the hammer hit, the spider writhed in agony all over the ground, in terrible spasms.
After this attack, the Soul Weaving Cyrtophora completely forgot her orders. Indeed, although she had been the one to command her comrades to kill Cao Yun, she had herself been ordered to do so by someone else. However, not the pain, but the mutilation of her body made her see red. If she could finally form her fourth core, this wound would be mostly healed. But there would always been some traumas from it.
In this fight, all her nest was dead, her left chelicera got destroyed. And now, her spinnerets got broken. She couldn't even spin a web anymore. More so than Cao Yun whom she had to kill, she wanted to slaughter Ren Chao.