In the dark of night, a ghost-faced spider had woven an odd strand of web that suspended it in midair. It hung upside down, a huge ghostly face on its underbelly clearly visible, striking fear in those who saw it.
On the ground stood hundreds of people on the mountain ridges and in the snow. They looked up at the ghost-faced spider in the sky, wooden devotion and frenzy on their faces.
The ghost-faced spider sprayed out hundreds of translucent strands of web, each strand corresponding to one person. The strands entered through the mouths of the people facing upwards, into their throats, internal organs, limbs, flesh and blood.
Then, from every person's mouth emerged a milk-white spider crawling along the web strand. They were the size of thumbs, climbing upwards along the strands towards the ghost-faced spider in the air.
Hundreds of milk-white spiders emerged from hundreds of human mouths, all converging towards the ghost-faced spider.
They moved swiftly, reaching the ghost-faced spider's belly where the ghostly face was in no time. They stopped there on its dark underbelly.
The ghost-faced spider was black while the little spiders were milk-white. They cluttered its dark belly, layer upon layer, writhing subtly. It looked as if the black ghost-faced spider had grown hundreds of milk-white compound eyes on its abdomen.
After the milk-white little spiders had settled on the underbelly, the human corpses on the ground were also pulled up by the strands, suspended in air around the ghost-faced spider...
Li Shiyin watched with her own eyes as those hundreds of human corpses were led by the strands to form an enormous, bizarre and ghastly pseudo-human structure that completely engulfed the ghost-faced spider.
"Screech screech...hiss..." excited cries of the ghost-faced spider came from within the gigantic human corpse monster, sending chills down Li Shiyin's spine.
After the corpse monster had fully formed, it slowly shuffled towards Li Shiyin.
In the beginning, it had not adapted to the body so it moved very slowly and awkwardly. Gradually, Li Shiyin noticed venom flowing out from its mouth and nose, dissolving the corpses and fusing them into one whole. The movements of the corpse monster became more fluid.
The dissolved corpses turned into a strange sticky black sludge on the surface of the monster. It would drip onto the ground occasionally, leaving a trail of footprints behind.
Seeing the monster approach, Li Shiyin retreated subconsciously while holding onto Tian Wenjin.
The combat abilities of this corpse monster may not be outstanding, but it was simply too horrifying and disgusting.
"Shiyin, stay calm," came the feeble voice of Tian Wenjin at this time. Li Shiyin lowered her head to see Tian Wenjin lying there with eyes closed and face ghastly pale, reminding her. Stay calm?!
"Master is right. No matter what unexpected situation, fear, panic and alarm are useless..." Li Shiyin also closed her eyes. "Only calmness works!"
She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, no longer a trace of fright within, just tranquil as still water. She had turned into the peerless female sword immortal.
Li Shiyin found a large flat rock nearby and placed Tian Wenjin on it. She then took out some medicinal pills for healing injuries, detoxifying and restoring spiritual power from her Universe Bag to feed Tian Wenjin.
Next, she turned around, raised the Tilted Star Sword, and faced the twenty-zhang tall corpse monster before Tian Wenjin.
"Nine Revolutions Star Sword Technique," she murmured.
In the pitch-black sky, stars began to twinkle.
A purple-black halo lit up around Li Shiyin's body.
Then...star sword qi!
"Celestial Soaring Immortal!"
She bent her legs slightly and leapt upwards with force, instantly disappearing and reappearing next to the head of the corpse monster.
"How foolish," she commented.
The ghost-faced spider was originally a peak level three demonic beast with tremendous brute force, spiritual disturbance abilities, venom and spider spawns. It would have been difficult for Li Shiyin to deal with it then.
But it seemed creatures of nature widely believed greater size meant greater power. This ghost-faced spider insisted on amalgamating these corpses into such a massive and disgusting monster.
Other than frightening Li Shiyin initially, this corpse monster had no other use. After calming down and thinking it through, it was nothing more than a gigantic meat target.
How powerful could a body molded from ordinary human corpses be?
In the darkness, magnificent sword qi lit up. With a slash, Li Shiyin effortlessly cleaved through the monster like a hot knife through butter, lopping off one of its arms without meeting any resistance!
She showed not an iota of mercy, continuously flashing about and appearing at different spots around the corpse monster. In but a blink of an eye, she had deprived it of its four limbs.
With a heavy thud, the corpse monster crashed onto the ground.
In the dim night with only the faint glow of stars, a woman stood sword in hand amidst the snow, behind her the collapsed hulk of a gigantic monster.
Just as Li Shiyin turned to thoroughly slice open the corpse monster and dig out the ghost-faced spider within, she clearly saw the severed limbs getting pulled back by some mysterious force...to be precise, they were dragged back by spider silk! She had cut off the limbs but not completely through. The interior of the corpse monster was not only melted by the venom but also permeated by the spider silk.
Corpses connected by unbroken threads.
But in the few breaths that she was distracted, the limbs had reattached onto the corpse monster. Fused by the viscous fluids again, it was restored in an instant.
Moreover, it had rushed to attack her when she was caught unawares!
"What should I do now?" Li Shiyin evaded hastily, at a bit of a loss.
It seemed she could neither kill nor completely dismember this repulsive corpse monster...
Li Shiyin retreated repeatedly and unleashed multiple strikes that grievously injured the corpse monster, but to no avail as it would revert to its original state in a flash.
"This won't do!"
She sheathed her sword and returned to Tian Wenjin's side.
"Stake it all on Celestial Soaring Immortal?"
She shook her head over and over at the gigantic corpse monster. Unless Celestial Soaring Immortal could cleave right through to the ghost-faced spider's main form, it would be a suicidal move since its position within the corpse monster definitely kept changing.
"There's still one other way," she sighed.
Regardless of the reason, Li Shiyin was most unwilling to resort to this method, but now she had no choice!
She turned her palm and reached into her Universe Bag, taking out a medicinal pill...
Tribulation Thunder Pill!
The very last Tribulation Thunder Pill!!
Qin Ran's master had concocted three Tribulation Thunder Pills in total. Together with the three Qin Ran had refined himself, those were already used up. Currently, only Li Shiyin had one remaining. It was given to her by Qin Ran before they left to forge swords.
"Go!"
Without even glancing at it, Li Shiyin flung the pill straight at the corpse monster. The instant it landed on the corpse monster, she unsealed it. Crazed blue tribulation thunder exploded forth, blasting the corpse monster into pieces with a sizzling crack while injuring the ghost-faced spider simultaneously.
Painful and jarring cries emitted from the wounded ghost-faced spider, assaulting the mind and aggravating the nerves.
"Wenjin, watch over my mortal form!" Li Shiyin said to Tian Wenjin before driving her Tilted Star Sword into the ground beside her and sitting down cross-legged in the snow.
With Tian Wenjin's injuries somewhat stabilized, he propped himself up with effort upon hearing that, standing guard over Li Shiyin's body.
Next, one could see a dazzling purple soul fly out from between Li Shiyin's brows. Grasping the Dusk Sword, she charged towards the blasted remains of the corpse monster...