Li Shiyin felt uncomfortable as soon as she entered the village. She hated that her perception wasn't acute enough to discern what made her so uneasy.
Now as she chased after Tian Wenjin towards the back mountain, alarm bells rang loudly in her mind. A sense of crisis and unease spread through her body, making her even more uncomfortable.
Scenes of villagers smiling at her and their whispered voices kept flashing back in her mind. The more she asked them questions, the more she felt something was wrong, yet still did not know where the problem lay.
The two Sword Immortals moved swiftly, passing through the village to the back of the mountain in just a few minutes. Before Li Shiyin could think carefully, they arrived at the entrance of a cave.
This was probably the Taoyuan Cave. The entrance was not big, surrounded by rubble. The temperature near the mouth seemed high as there was no snow around it. The ground in front of the cave had yellowed grass, tall and lush but parched yellow, as if they had grown healthily but were scorched by a big fire.
One look was enough to know this was a treacherous and bizarre cave, having nothing to do with the beautiful Taoyuan it was named after.
The Taoyuan Cave had no peach blossoms or springs; only rocks and withered grass.
Tian Wenjin stood in front of the cave entrance, seemingly about to head inside.
"Wenjin!" Li Shiyin called out as she approached.
Suddenly a gust of wind blew out of the cave. Thanks to the cold outside, the wind felt warm...and foul-smelling.
A wave of hot stench rushed into their noses and mouths.
Li Shiyin had to stop talking and immediately covered her nose and mouth. Recalling her master's caution, she circulated her mystic arts to keep the foul wind away from her.
Peering past Tian Wenjin into the dark cave, she could see nothing inside at all.
After the foul wind passed, Li Shiyin spoke again, "Wenjin, going inside?"
She did not want to enter, but was unwilling to suggest retreating and lose face as a sword cultivator. Also, this mission was led by Tian Wenjin, so she asked for her opinion first.
"What's wrong? Scared?!" Tian Wenjin said coldly.
"It's not about being scared or not..." Li Shiyin replied.
"You're one of the top ten prodigies of the Dao Sword Sect, a peerless female sword immortal! How could you be afraid?" Tian Wenjin suddenly sneered.
Seeing Tian Wenjin's back, Li Shiyin knew something was wrong with her. This was not something a normal Tian Wenjin would say.
"Wenjin!" She walked up, trying to stop Tian Wenjin by force.
But at that moment, Tian Wenjin in front suddenly moved. Her figure flashed as crisp electric crackles sounded. Bluish arcs of lightning flickered and she disappeared from Li Shiyin's sight into the cave in an instant.
Li Shiyin was too late to stop her.
Tian Wenjin was no weaker than anyone!
When Qin Ran first met Tian Wenjin, he thought she and Li Shiyin would form the most stunning pair of beauties in the sword cultivation world. Li Shiyin was a peerless genius of the sword path, and so was Tian Wenjin!
Although Li Shiyin was personally nurtured by Qin Ran while Tian Wenjin just grew unfettered like wild grass, their strength was not necessarily higher or lower if they really competed. One comprehended Sword Qi and the other comprehended Sword Intent.
Seeing Tian Wenjin enter the Taoyuan Cave, Li Shiyin hesitated briefly before following her in a rush into the pitch-black cave.
The Taoyuan Cave was a gourd cave. That is, the entrance looked very small but the interior was huge. Dashing from the tiny mouth into the interior darkness gave a feeling of sudden openness and vastness.
Li Shiyin's Qingxing Sword was already unsheathed. Holding the sword out front, she saw Tian Wenjin in the darkness ahead standing with her head lowered, blue electric currents crackling erratically around her body.
"Wenjin?" Li Shiyin called out softly. Tian Wenjin did not respond.
She took out an Illumination Pellet from her Universe Bag, tossed it upwards, and struck it with a sword qi. The pellet burst open and bright light flooded the cave, dispelling the darkness and illuminating the interior.
When the Illumination Pellet shattered, Li Shiyin reflexively narrowed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw Tian Wenjin in front turning and attacking her with a sword.
She defended with her sword and took a quick look around the cave. What she saw made her hair stand on ends!
The entire Taoyuan Cave was densely covered in white spiderwebs, layers upon layers turning it into a spider's nest.
In the web-filled cave, ahead on open ground was a pile of white bones shattered beyond recognition. Hanging from the ceiling and suspended in midair were one after another human corpses entangled in spiderwebs!
After entering the village, Tian Wenjin's behavior gradually became abnormal. It was only after the dark-faced man took the village chief away and talked to her face to face that she completely acted erratically. She seemed to be under some influence, control, manipulation.
Just now, Li Shiyin's sword qi provoked her and she immediately went berserk...
"Why are you so lucky?!" she shrieked.
Blue electricity split the darkness, striking at Li Shiyin's vitals.
Li Shiyin was both frightened and angry. What on earth happened? Why were there so many corpses? What on earth happened to make Tian Wenjin become so strange? Unable to unsheathe her sword in time against this strike, she could only use the Immortal Seeking the Way to swiftly dodge.
But Tian Wenjin was no pushover either. She had her own advantages. While Li Shiyin had immortal arts like the Immortal Seeking the Way, her movement technique was also formidable. Bolstered by lightning-fast speed, she could chase after Li Shiyin's evasive Immortal Seeking the Way and attack her with the sword.
Fearing injury to Tian Wenjin, Li Shiyin only used one layer of the Battle Spirit Method to fight back, imbuing it with sword qi while staying on the defensive. The two of them began an intense battle in the spider cave.
Perhaps due to her condition, Tian Wenjin could not utilize Sword Intent. And Li Shiyin also did not go all out, without actively attacking. For a time, the battle was anxious and intense.
The sounds of thunder, slicing qi, explosions, and rocks shooting through the air reverberated loudly in the echoing cave.
After prolonged entanglement with Tian Wenjin, Li Shiyin still could not find a way to end the fight.
But at a certain moment, a strange force suddenly targeted Li Shiyin's sea of consciousness. Her primordial spirit within perceived it, stood up from the sea of consciousness, and ripped the force apart with a grab.
"A mental attack!" She finally confirmed, "Wenjin doesn't have a primordial spirit, her soul isn't as strong as mine, she must be under some mental control!"
Realizing this, she took out the Awakening Pill left by Qin Ran from her Universe Bag. Finding an opportunity in close combat, she popped the pill into Tian Wenjin's mouth.
"Mental attacks, primordial spirit attacks, soul attacks..." Li Shiyin muttered inwardly, "When will that lousy master procure primordial spirit divine abilities? Always passively taking hits."
After consuming the Awakening Pill and fighting Li Shiyin for a while more, Tian Wenjin gradually regained clarity. Recalling her memories from this period, she realized she had been foolish.
She quickly sheathed her sword and apologized to Li Shiyin, "Sorry, I slipped up for a moment and fell under control."
"It's fine," Li Shiyin shook her head, also relieved to see her awake.
Without further words, Tian Wenjin looked around at the horrifying scene in the spider cave.
"That thing just tried to control me too, it must be inside this cave." Li Shiyin said, seeing that Tian Wenjin had sobered up.
Tian Wenjin nodded. Borrowing the light from the Illumination Pellet, she carefully examined every inch of the cave. At one point, she fixed her gaze on a certain spot...
This was an outer cave of a gourd cave, so there should be an inner cave too.
The spider must be in that inner cave, hidden behind the webs at the cave mouth!
She signaled Li Shiyin with her eyes. Li Shiyin understood, circulating sword qi which flashed like a rainbow. With one slash, the barrier between the inner and outer caves was severed!
Suddenly, sharp screeching sounded, painfully grating on their ears.
Li Shiyin unconsciously retreated. Looking ahead in the Illumination Pellet's light, she saw a terrifyingly large black spider nimbly crawling out of the inner cave on white webs, quickly scurrying up to the ceiling.
"It's not a Rat-Catching Demon Spider!" Tian Wenjin said in a deep voice.