Lin Jin was just as excited. He too wished to get rid of a scourge like Yan Shenjun. His instincts told him Yan Shenjun still had tons of tricks hidden up his sleeve. Lin Jin did not want an enemy who had a limitless potential to keep on living, especially when he was a profound immortal. If Yan Shenjun had a few more tricks similar to the spirit devouring ghost worms, Lin Jin could never sleep peacefully at night.
What’s left now was to wait.
With three profound immortals and a team of half immortals around, Lin Jin only had to wait patiently for the battle to end. However, time slipped by increasingly, and there were still no signs of any immortal escaping from the cave.
Lin Jin’s brows furrowed.
Logically speaking, Yan Shenjun and his group couldn’t possibly last this long against the heaven weaving spider, no matter what trick they used. The chances of them coming out on top was practically nil.
Just then, Mr. Qi came over to ask about the large spider down there. He had been thinking about it since they arrived. This was the point where he finally yielded to his burning curiosity.
Lin Jin told him the specifics of the creature, including the name of its species.
Upon hearing this, Mr. Qi’s expression shifted.
“Mr. Lin, did you say the ‘heaven weaving spider?’
Judging by Mr. Qi’s reaction, it seems he had heard of the creature before. It was no wonder he wore such a solemn expression before.
On second thought, Lin Jin found it reasonable.
After all, Mr. Qi was a profound creature as well. At his strongest, he was Rank 8, which made him equivalent to an unfettered immortal. He had lived for just as long as the spider too, so he might know of its existence. What’s more, since they were beasts, they should have a community of their own.
Sure enough, Mr. Qi’s fingers trembled in excitement as he said, “The heaven weaving spider has too profound a background. I-It used to be Saint Kun’s divine general. Back when I was just a fledgling, the heaven weaving spider’s name was already known throughout the lands.
Although Lin Jin already knew how incredible the heaven weaving spider was, upon hearing Mr. Qi’s statement, he knew he had severely underestimated the spider.
Lin Jin also overlooked one thing. According to the museum’s evaluation, the spider possessed ‘an intelligence that exceeds that of humans’.
In other words, the heaven weaving spider was probably smarter than Lin Jin.
Even if Yan Shenjun relied on underhanded tricks down there, the spider should be able to see through the lie easily. Simply put, in terms of power or strategy, Yan Shenjun was destined to fail.
There was no way around it.
Yan Shenjun couldn’t possibly defeat the heaven weaving spider.
So why hasn’t he come out yet?
Lin Jin and Inferno Monk exchanged a glance. Both men saw something in each other’s eyes. Surprisingly enough, they shared the same idea.
Not only them, but Miao Yan Zhenren and Xuan Yue Zhenren also exchanged glances. They knew something peculiar had occurred down in the cave.
Sure enough, Miao Yan Zhenren said, “Perhaps Yan Shenjun and his fiendish comrades died in the hands of the heaven weaving spider?”
Lin Jin and Inferno Monk had thought just that. It was the only plausible explanation.
Yan Shenjun died?
This seemed reasonable. After all, they were up against the legendary heaven weaving spider. Even an experienced profound immortal like Yan Shenjun didn’t stand a chance against it.
Besides escaping, there was no other option but death.
“Let’s wait a little longer, just to make sure we’re right,” said Miao Yan Zhenren. Everyone agreed with the veteran’s suggestion.
As there was only one way out, if Yan Shenjun wanted to escape, this was the only place he could go through.
If he does not emerge from the cave, the only other possibility left was that he was dead.
And so, everyone continued to wait. Roughly eight to ten hours have passed but no immortal ever emerged from the underground cave. Not only that, but they couldn’t sense any foreign auras either.
“Looks like the wicked Yan Shenjun has truly died in the hands of the heaven weaving spider,” said Xuan Yue Zhenren.
And she truly thought so.
The best way to make sure was to venture down there and confirm it themselves. Though, after learning that the heaven weaving spider was the one guarding the cave, no one, not even Miao Yan and Xuan Yue dared to step foot inside.
After all, the heaven weaving spider was just that notorious. It was the sacred beast of Saint Kun.
Since ancient times, when the world first came to be, two human saints came to life, Saint Qian, and Saint Kun.[1] One was a man, the other a woman, and they both possessed phenomenal abilities no immortal could compare to.
It was said that Saint Qian and Saint Kun were the founders of immortality, the real grandmasters of all immortal sects.
Every immortal sect had its collection of stories about the two saints, and each tale was as earth-shattering as the other. Among them was the legend of mending heaven. It was said that Saint Kun single-handedly turned a disastrous situation around by ordering the heaven weaving spider to mend a hole in the sky.
Of course, the authenticity of such tales was difficult to prove. However, something of that sort must have happened. These tales alone taught the immortals that the heaven weaving spider was a divine creature they couldn’t provoke. More importantly, the creature was insanely powerful. If they were to enter the cave and and disturb it, they might end up paying the ultimate price for it.
After a round of discussion, the group decided against venturing into the cave to confirm Yan Shenjun’s death. No one had the guts to do so.
Lin Jin was able to, but he didn’t speak up.
This wasn’t a good time to go against the crowd. Even the profound immortals were unwilling to take the risk, so if he insisted on going down there, it would be no different from making an announcement that he had special abilities.
He couldn’t use Curator as an excuse either. After all, in their eyes, Curator was only an average unfettered immortal. The heaven weaving spider was much stronger than any unfettered immortal.
It hadn’t been long since Lin Jin came to know this. Many immortal tomes refer to the spider as ‘Heaven Weaving Shenjun’. This alone indicated to Lin Jin how incredible the creature was. Judging by Mr. Qi’s earlier reaction, he clearly looked up to the spider as his elder.
Not only was Lin Jin trying to avoid the spotlight, but he was also genuinely worried about the risk.
Just to be safe, their group stayed here for one whole day. Unless he was already dead, Yan Shenjun had to come out by now.
There was no meaning in waiting anymore after that. Since the heaven weaving spider wouldn’t come out, that proved it didn’t want to be disturbed. The profound immortals discussed among themselves and decided to place a restriction formation at the cave entrance.
This would prevent unsuspecting adventurers from venturing toward their death, and also to alert them if anything emerges from below. The formation was set up in such a way that it would instantly kill Yan Shenjun and his group if they tried to escape from the cave. Even if the formation fails to kill their targets, it would leave trackers on their bodies, so no matter where Yan Shenjun fled to after that, Miao Yan Zhenren could hunt them down.
[1] Qian-Kun (乾坤) means heaven and earth; Yin and Yang. The universe.
