Ling Feng's pupils shrank. The black cat Ye Yi was always with Mu Qianxue, so for it to make such a loud screech meant Mu Qianxue was in danger.
But how could there still be hidden dangers within this alchemy room?
Immediately, Ling Feng followed the sound, and everyone else in the room also sprang into action. In just a few quick movements, Ling Feng discovered that in the deepest part of the alchemy room, there was a broken wall covered in a massive spider web.
On the web crouched an enormous spider, over six feet tall, with eight extended legs and a row of cold, sinister eyes surveying the room. It emitted a chilling, intimidating aura.
To make things worse, from the cracked wall within the web, fist-sized spiders were crawling out continuously. The black cat Ye Yi had transformed to the size of a panther and was busy dealing with these smaller spiders.
Ling Feng's eyelid twitched wildly; the aura from the spider was different from that of ordinary demonic beasts. It seemed tainted with a trace of demonic qi and carried a strong medicinal scent from spirit pills.
After pondering for a moment, Ling Feng realized what had happened. This spider likely swallowed a medicinal pill in the alchemy room, underwent a mutation, and then continued devouring various spirit pills. Gradually, it transformed from an ordinary creature into a monster comparable to a demonic beast.
Seeing the growing number of people gathering, the giant spider's eyes gleamed with a strange blood-red light. Suddenly, a wave of smaller spiders surged forth like a tide, as though aiming to engulf everyone in a sea of spiders.
"How long has this monster been alive to produce so many baby spiders?"
Jiang Xiaofan drew his sword and unleashed a mighty strike, but although he shattered a wave of spiders, another quickly replaced them. The group was forced to retreat continuously, as the spiders were highly venomous and couldn't be touched recklessly.
"Thunder Incarnation: Thunderstorm!"
Li Bufan summoned his wind and thunder powers, unleashing rolling thunder upon the spider swarm. The violent thunder energy spread out, electrocuting the spiders into heaps of charcoal and slowing the spider tide's advance.
"Scorching—Sky Blaze!"
Ling Feng seized the opportunity, activating the Mystical Yellow true fire within him. With a powerful swing, he unleashed the Scorching Sky Blaze.
Wherever the flames passed, an unpleasant burning smell filled the air as the spiders turned to ash. The powerful sword qi erupted forward, forcibly shattering the wall occupied by the giant spider with a single strike.
The giant spider let out a sharp screech, frantically spitting webs in a final attempt to fight back. But with a swift shadow, the black cat Ye Yi's claws struck the spider's head, smashing it to pieces.
The spider's body convulsed on the ground for a while, its vitality slowly fading until it finally became a lifeless corpse.
Ye Yi used its sharp claws to tear at the spider's abdomen a few times but, unable to find a demonic core, scowled before leaping back into Mu Qianxue's arms, shrinking mid-air back to his small, adorable form.
Ling Feng shook his head with a smile and patted Ye Yi's small head, saying calmly, "This was a medicinal spider, not a demonic beast, so naturally, there's no demonic core."
With that, Ling Feng crouched down and carefully cut open the giant spider's corpse, extracting a sticky, jelly-like organ from its abdomen and storing it in his storage ring.
This action made the surrounding women's hair stand on end, and even Jiang Xiaofan, with his typical nerves of steel, turned his head away with a shudder.
Such a disgusting item, yet Ling Feng was still interested in it.
Seeing everyone's looks of distaste, Ling Feng shrugged and explained, "This medicinal spider must have consumed countless spirit pills and herbs, so its poison sac is a priceless treasure to alchemists. If I can extract any medicinal essence from it, it could at least be used to refine ninth-tier spirit pills. This is an invaluable find!"
"Mr. Ling..." Yue Yunlan, frowning, backed away. "Even so, could you at least clean off the sticky liquid?"
"The sticky liquid is the spider's eggs. I plan to take some of those as well; they might be of some value. Nothing should go to waste."
As a poison master and an alchemist, Ling Feng knew that this highly venomous medicinal spider had high research potential.
With a grin, Ling Feng incinerated the remaining spider corpse with his Mystical Yellow true fire, finally dissipating the unpleasant stench after a while.
Then, everyone's gaze shifted toward the spider's nest behind the broken wall.
If this medicinal spider guarded this nest so fiercely, there had to be something valuable inside.
"Let's go in and see."
Without hesitation, Ling Feng led the way and jumped into the spider's lair.
With the spider's size, its lair was large enough for several people to stand upright and walk side-by-side.
Yue Yunlan and the others exchanged looks. While the dark and foul-smelling space wasn't exactly inviting, the potential for a huge opportunity inside outweighed their discomfort.
Inside the lair, winding passages seemed to have been dug through the walls of the entire Tiandan Pavilion, even leading underground.
Ling Feng kept his Mystical Yellow true fire burning, using it both for illumination and to deter any hidden spiders lurking in the darkness.
Following the twisting tunnel, they walked downward for nearly half an hour before they arrived at the end of the lair. There, amidst a pile of empty pill bottles, stood a huge alchemy furnace about six feet tall in the center of the cavern.
Underneath the furnace, a six-pointed star-shaped magic array had been drawn with mystical materials. It released a faint blue flame, appearing to be actively refining a medicinal pill.
"Whoa, that's... impossible!" Jiang Xiaofan shouted in surprise. "Big Brother, how could this be? Did the spider become enlightened and learn alchemy?"
Ling Feng shook his head with a laugh. "It's not that the spider became enlightened; it's that this alchemy furnace has likely been sitting here for tens of thousands of years."
"What kind of pill needs to be refined for tens of thousands of years?"
Jiang Xiaofan took a deep breath, asking in disbelief.
Everyone was transfixed, including Yue Yunlan, Mu Qianxue, Tuoba Yan, and Li Bufan, staring at the massive alchemy furnace before them. They could feel the faint warmth radiating from it.
This furnace was still in operation!
But what kind of fuel could sustain it for tens of thousands of years and keep the array functional? That was almost beyond belief!