Chapter 59: The Spider Demon

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In the early hours before dawn.

“Master Pudu, you must have made all the necessary preparations by now?” Li Xintian had just arrived outside the county when he saw Pudu already waiting there.

“Amitabha. As expected, nothing escapes Benefactor Li’s perception. All that remains is for you to act as bait to lure out the Spider Demon,” Pudu intoned a Buddhist blessing.

“Then lead the way. The sooner we rid ourselves of this Spider Demon, the fewer innocent lives will be lost for no reason,” Li Xintian nodded.

“Benefactor Li, please follow this humble monk,” Pudu said, then leapt over five meters ahead.

Li Xintian followed closely behind.

Five kilometers outside the county, there stood a pavilion.

“Benefactor Li, we’re here. In a moment, you will sit alone in the pavilion and pretend to be reading, to attract the Spider Demon. I shall conceal myself nearby. Once she emerges, we will strike together. We must not let her escape,” Pudu said, glancing at the pavilion.

“Master Pudu, be sure to hide yourself well. You’ve fought the Spider Demon before—she’ll remember your aura. Don’t let her sense anything amiss,” Li Xintian replied, entering the pavilion where the Four Books and Five Classics had been laid out.

“You are right, Benefactor Li,” Pudu nodded.

With that, Pudu left to find a hiding spot, and Li Xintian did not trouble himself to see where.

Li Xintian sat on a bench in the pavilion, picked up a copy of the Analects, and began to read.

He was alone in the pavilion, with nothing but the rustling leaves in the wind for company.

A kilometer away, a black Spider Demon, two meters wide, crouched. At her feet lay a man whose life essence had been utterly drained.

The man’s face was deathly pale, his eyes sunken and dark, his mouth gaping.

“Haha, at last I have crossed the threshold to a millennium of cultivation!” the Spider Demon exulted.

She spat a web from her mouth, wrapping herself completely, and as the silk transformed, it became the shape of a woman—enchanting, voluptuous, dressed in a tight black gown.

The Spider Demon gazed toward Li Xintian’s direction, licking her lips seductively.

Then, transforming into a swirling black mist, she flew toward Li Xintian.

Li Xintian sat reading the Analects, listening to the chirping of crickets and the sighing wind, silently wishing the Spider Demon would hurry up.

When the Spider Demon was five meters from the pavilion, she assumed her alluring feminine form.

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Li Xintian sensed her arrival behind him but feigned ignorance, continuing to read.

The Spider Demon glided up behind Li Xintian, her eyes flashing red and a cold smile curling on her lips.

As she drew near, she summoned her demonic power, her hands glowing with pink energy, and placed them on Li Xintian’s shoulders.

At the same time, Li Xintian, aware of her presence, quietly set his Aura Brush beside the Analects.

“Young sir, do you think I am beautiful?” the Spider Demon asked, her eyes glowing with pink light as she turned Li Xintian’s head to face her.

Li Xintian pointed to his mouth, indicating he could not speak, then picked up the Aura Brush, signaling he would write instead.

“So, you’re mute. What a waste of a fine appearance. Very well, write. I’d like to see what you have to say,” the Spider Demon said, releasing him.

“No wonder my aphrodisiac pollen had no effect—he’s a mute,” she thought, though she was mistaken.

Li Xintian swiftly traced the character for ‘trap’ in the air with his Aura Brush.

As he wrote, the Spider Demon suddenly sensed the power of righteous energy and recoiled in terror, turning to flee.

But as she tried to escape, dozens of pale blue cords, formed from the aura’s energy, shot out from the character and ensnared her.

The Spider Demon spun and spat webbing, breaking the blue cords apart.

Realizing she’d fallen into a trap, she wasted no time and tried to flee.

Just then, a string of prayer beads flew toward her.

She leapt, twisting in midair to evade the beads, then spat webbing to intercept them, cutting the string and hurling the beads back toward Li Xintian.

Li Xintian dodged, and the beads struck the pavilion, shattering it with a thunderous crash.

“Amitabha. Spider Demon, today there is no escape for you,” Pudu declared, retrieving his beads with a surge of Buddhist power.

“Bald monk, where did you find such a powerful helper, one who wields righteous energy?” the Spider Demon sneered, recognizing her adversary from the previous night.

“Spider Demon, today you cannot escape your fate,” Li Xintian said, writing the character for ‘seal’ in the air with his Aura Brush, enclosing the area within a semicircle of a kilometer’s radius.

“Haha, how laughable! If I hadn’t reached my millennium of cultivation, I might truly have fallen into your hands!” the Spider Demon mocked.

“You have revealed yourself, harming innocents and taking lives. Even with a millennium of cultivation, you will taste defeat and regret,” Li Xintian replied.

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With that, Li Xintian put away his Aura Brush, unleashed his entire righteous energy, and, gathering it in his palms, summoned pale blue lightning that he hurled at the Spider Demon.

The Spider Demon’s eyes widened in alarm. She spat out a web to form a net, channeling her demonic power into it.

There was a thunderous explosion as lightning and web collided.

Pudu did not stand idle. He summoned his Buddhist power, forming a spinning swastika, and hurled it along with the prayer beads at the Spider Demon.

She tried to escape into the sky but struck the wall of righteous energy, shrieking as she fell. The beads and swastika followed, slamming into her back and causing her to cough blood as she reverted to her true two-meter spider form and crashed to the ground.

Li Xintian seized the opportunity, drew the character for ‘destroy’ in the air with his Aura Brush, and a beam of pale blue energy pierced straight through the Spider Demon.

She thrashed on the ground, flames erupting from her body with a loud hiss, her form dissolving into red smoke that drifted skyward.

“Amitabha, may you find peace,” Pudu intoned, witnessing the scene.

“I did not expect Benefactor Li to wield righteous energy with such mastery,” Pudu remarked as he watched Li Xintian reclaim his aura.

Li Xintian was about to reply when he sensed that the Temple’s World-Suppressing Sacred Lantern had been disturbed.

“Benefactor Li, quickly, come with me back to the temple,” Pudu said, taking the lead.

“Doesn’t he even care whether I agree?” Li Xintian grumbled inwardly but held his tongue for the sake of access to the Sutra Library.

When Pudu and Li Xintian returned to Yunxiang Temple, Hu Xin had already left.

“Senior brother, the World-Suppressing Sacred Lantern was disturbed just now. Did you see anything?” Pudu asked Puming.

“There was no trace of anyone when I came out,” Puming replied, shaking his head.

“Junior brother, was your plan to destroy the Spider Demon successful?”

“That Spider Demon had already reached a millennium of cultivation. If not for Benefactor Li’s help, tonight might have ended in mutual destruction—or worse, I might have been gravely injured,” Pudu replied, relieved to see the Sacred Lantern unharmed, and asked no further questions.