Lolth’s scarlet lips had become the same, dark colour as her clothes. Her bearing was just as solemn and noble, but her undisguised, sunken malice had completely vanished. Her expression was calm and cold. Only by peering deeply into her pitch-black eyes would a sense of bloodthirstiness and brutality be noticed.
From meeting her eyes once again, Li Qingshan knew he could not depend on her making any mistakes with her battle tactics anymore. She had already turned back into that natural predator, the being who calmly wove the net.
Strands of spider silk criss-crossed throughout the large cavern. Some were as thick as rope, while others were so thin that they were invisible to the naked eye.
At first glance, it seemed like a disorderly mess, but upon closer examination, each strand balanced and complemented one another, forming a three dimensional net. It possessed a geometric beauty.
At the same time, Lolth also stared at Li Qingshan, studying the greatest prey she had ever met.
Simply by standing there at ease, he gave off an imposing bearing like the unbroken mountains or surging seas. Without a question, he had become even more powerful than before, and he had done so at an unbelievable speed.
To daemons, time should have been something that passed by extremely easily, yet he seemed to seize every second to become stronger. Compared to his current strength, what left her even more stunned was still the rate at which he improved.
If she could not capture him while he was still a fledgling, there would be a day when he would break free from the spider web like a bird and fly off into the sky.
“You’ve finally come.”
Li Qingshan smiled. “Mother of my child, that’s quite the attire. I do believe it’ll be even more interesting when I rip it off you.”
“I’ll be waiting for you!” Lolth smiled gorgeously, like a legendary Poisonfeather bird, magnificent yet highly venomous.
“Aren’t you worried that we’ll tear down this place when we fight later? The night roamers have spent a lot of effort building this for you.”
Li Qingshan pointed at Cobweb city behind her. Ever since Ye Liusu unified the night roamers, the colosseum built specially to please the Spider Queen had emptied out. It had become a ghost city.
“That’s just a boring toy. Do you want to continue spouting nonsense, Northmoon?”
Lolth had never tried to understand the craftsmanship and sculptures of the night roamers. To her, there was no basic difference between a majestic city of delicate beauty and an empty cave. It only provided her with more places to watch the conflict between the night roamers from above. And, as long as she wanted to, she could get the night roamers to build her another hundred cities for her.
“I’ve come. I want to fu-”
Li Qingshan sniggered, but he suddenly stopped half-way through. He remembered Xiao An was hidden in the depths. Probably no one would truly treat Xiao An as an ordinary girl after transforming into a skeleton, but he was still reluctant to use foul language in front of her.
However, Li Qingshan would never be stupid enough to walk into the opponent’s trap willingly. Lolth had chosen here to fight with him, which was what he would have wanted too because right beneath his feet was the end of an underground river.
As it was simply too close to Cobweb city, and he did not want to provoke Lolth beforehand, he had never refined it. However, seeing how he was making this trip exactly to take her on in battle, that was no longer something that bothered him.
The discharge of the waterfall came to a sudden halt. The surging water constantly roared behind Li Qingshan as the water level rapidly rose until it filled the entire cavern. The pressure from the shapeless water was beyond imagination. The surroundings of the cavern cracked, but not even a droplet of water crossed Li Qingshan’s shoulder.
Li Qingshan stood tall with his arms crossed, like a dam. Surging daemon qi permeated the river flow behind him. He tamed the river like he was taming a wild beast.
Lolth also became stern. She knew she could not allow Li Qingshan to build up his strength any further.
The tower beneath her feet collapsed. She had already crossed several thousand meters and arrived in front of Li Qingshan. With a wave of her right hand, a black whip unfolded. It suddenly sprung alive as she channeled her strength and daemon qi into it, like a dancing black dragon as it shot towards Li Qingshan.
She’s actually using a weapon!
Li Qingshan frowned, afraid to be careless. The strongest part of daemon cultivators were their bodies. With Spider Queen Lolth’s strength, the power behind a casual swipe or bite completely surpassed the power of regular arcane artifacts.
Yet, she was actually giving up the claws and teeth she was born with and the legs she had grown accustomed to. That in itself explained some issues. As it seemed, the whip had also been woven from silk, but that was very normal. Although daemons could use daemon qi to refine human spiritual artifacts and arcane artifacts, they often were not suitable for the way daemons fight, adversely affecting the strength they would unleash.
Daemons of relatively higher intelligence would mostly choose to create a suitable weapon from materials they could produce themselves. But for some reason, the whip was the same as her clothes, all pitch-black. Normally, items woven from spider silk should have been snow-white and translucent.
These thoughts flew through Li Qingshan’s head in a flash. He drew out the Dragon Seizing bident and spat out two streams of water, revolving together and catching the whip. He was not seeking to vanquish the enemy with that, just to earn some time.
With the warnings of the spirit turtle, Li Qingshan dared not show the slightest negligence in this battle. Although he had the powerful support of Xiao An, that was more of a safeguard than anything else. He would not let Xiao An interfere unless he was truly about to die.
As a result, he had made up his mind as soon as he arrived in Cobweb City. He wanted to be on the defence first. As long as he could refine the river behind him, he would be able to connect his water systems directly from Moon Court lake to here. As long as he succeeded with that, he would be undefeatable.
As soon as the two streams of water wrapped around the black whip, they were dyed pitch-black. Spiritual qi scattered and receded.
The omen of warning in Li Qingshan’s hand intensified. He unleashed the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell instinctively, forming a hemispherical barrier.
Boom! It sounded like a clap of thunder right by his ear.
Basically the moment the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell had assembled, Lolth’s whip landed on it heavily.
A long crack immediately appeared on the barrier in front of Li Qingshan.
He was not worried in the beginning. His comprehension of the Spirit Turtle Transformation had deepened, so the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell had become tougher. It could not be shattered so easily. As long as he earned a little more time, he would be able to refine the river. With the endless supply of spiritual qi, it was even possible for him to hold his ground and drag Lolth into a battle of endurance.
However, the crack was clearly black, and it rapidly spread and seeped into the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell like it was alive. In the blink of an eye, it had eaten away a crack, and it continued to expand.
The whip is poisonous! What kind of poison can even eat through the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell?!
Li Qingshan’s expression changed. As his strongest defensive innate ability, the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell possessed a special characteristic of being able to block out everything. It had been shattered from overwhelming force in the past, but never had it been eaten away by something before.
He had once personally experienced Lolth’s venom, but it definitely was not as potent as that. Otherwise, a slight brush with it would have been enough to eat away half of his body.
“Take a look! Nortmoon, this is my true strength. Do you really think you can defeat me?”
Lolth shrieked as her smile twisted. This was the pleasure of revenge. She did not seem to do anything special, but the poisoned whip writhed and stabbed into the crack in the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell. This was no longer a regular whip, but an extension of her body.
Li Qingshan would never let the whip touch him. Pouring out with daemon qi, the Dragon Seizing bident in his hand that seemed like a two-headed snake immediately sprang alive. Two snake heads opened their mouths and bit down on the poisoned whip.
At the same time, he channelled his daemon qi to repair the Spirit Turtle’s Profound Shell in an attempt to trap the whip. After all, the arcane artifact had been forged from extremely tough materials and humans thoroughly tempered them. Imbued with his daemon qi, it should have been able to stop the whip for a while at the very least.
However, the black poison spread onto the Dragon Seizing bident mercilessly. The imposing, twin-headed snake from moments earlier immediately began to wither away, losing its power to seize dragons, while Li Qingshan’s daemon qi only managed to block the spread of the poison for a moment.
In a single clash, the Dragon Seizing bident had been destroyed.
Like a venomous dragon that had broken free, the whip unleashed a dazzling dance. Blurs enveloped Li Qingshan’s surroundings, filled with an aura of death.
Even if he came into contact with a smear of the poison, he would have to pay an extremely horrific price.
Li Qingshan instead calmed down. He spat out the Tiger Demon’s Breath which entangled with the whip, but as soon as it made contact, even the wind turned black.
Logically speaking, toxins could only eat away at tangible objects, yet Lolth’s bone-eating venom could even eat away spiritual qi and daemon qi.
Fortunately, Li Qingshan’s breath was endless. He finally managed to stop the whip’s advance slightly, but Lolth had yet to even strike properly.
The Tiger Demon’s Breath could stop the whip at most, but the eight legs behind her must have also been smeared with the same venom. How was he supposed to stop them?
The battle had just begun, but Li Qingshan already understood why the spirit turtle’s daemon core had given him such a stern warning. There really would be life-threatening danger in this battle.
As a Daemon Commander, Lolth possessed three innate abilities. Li Qingshan had witnessed two of them in the past. One was the gaze that could pierce any obstacles, making it convenient for her to chase down prey. The other was turning silver all over, granting her a powerful defence.
However, there was one more that Li Qingshan had yet to witness. It also happened to be her only offensive innate ability, the Bone-eating Venom.
Indeed, she had injected potent venom into Li Qingshan’s body countless times during the clash last time, but the effects had not been satisfactory. However, that was merely an aspect a venomous spider possessed naturally. It was nowhere close to an innate ability.
That was because the innate ability was not the type that could be used on the spot. Instead, it required tremendous amounts of daemon qi and effort to further refine her venom.
Who knew how many years it had already been since she had last met an opponent that could put up a fight, so why would she normally go out of her way to use this innate ability and refine the terrifying Bone-eating Venom?
Without her only offensive innate ability, she was like a toothless, clawless tiger. She still possessed her physical strength, but she was unable to unleash even a hint of lethal power to kill. As a result, she suffered a defeat in Li Qingshan’s hands in an extremely frustrating fashion.
Now was her time for revenge.
