Where Immortals Once Walked

Chapter 344: Dong Rui’s Monster Puppet and Zhu Erniang’s Army

“Alright, I’m coming.” Dong Rui exchanged a glance with He Lingchuan, and then they both headed back together with the spider guard.

“Huh?” Yellow Hair was momentarily taken aback. These two have actually been busy with something here?

Earlier, they had all been drinking and eating fish together. On the surface, the two looked like they had blended right in, yet in truth, they had not said a single word the whole time.

So what exactly are they doing here?

In the blink of an eye, He Lingchuan and Dong Rui vanished into the forest.

Left with no other choice, Yellow Hair returned to make his report, disgruntled.

Tu Zhongli glanced up at the sky. The moon had already begun to descend toward the west. He made a swift decision and said, “Forget about them!” Then he shot Yellow Hair a meaningful look.

Understanding at once, Yellow Hair took advantage of the moment while adding firewood, tossing several packets of medicinal powder into the bonfire.

The firewood crackled and popped, occasionally spitting out sparks. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Yet without anyone noticing, a faint fragrance of grasses and herbs began to spread through the forest.

The scent blended seamlessly with the marsh’s own smells. Even the spider guards stationed nearby failed to sense anything amiss.

About fifteen minutes later, the spiders in the area began to slow, as if drifting into a dazed stupor.

Yellow Hair waved a hand in front of one spider guard.

These creatures kept their eyes open whether asleep or awake, making it hard to tell whether they were actually sleeping. He even prodded the spider guard with a branch. Only when it failed to react at all did he give Tu Zhongli a thumbs-up.

Tu Zhongli then ordered one of his men to swim across to the opposite bank, find a good position, and tear apart a wind-summoning talisman.

At once, gentle breezes stirred, blowing from west to east, carrying the medicated smoke from the bonfire straight toward the Demon Nest.

Another quarter-hour passed. Even the spiders near the merchant caravan began to move sluggishly, drowsy and unaware of their own condition.

Tu Zhongli produced yet another packet of powder. This time, he made no effort to hide it, flinging it openly into the fire.

With a loud boom, the bonfire surged upward by more than a meter, spewing thick clouds of smoke—an eerie, bright yellow, like a raging blaze.

In the darkness of night, that dense yellow smoke wafting skyward was impossible to miss.

* * *

Back in the workroom inside the Demon Nest, He Lingchuan checked outside and saw no spider guards posted. He turned to Dong Rui. “They’ll make their move tonight. Take it out.”

Dong Rui blinked in surprise. “Take what out?”

“Don’t play dumb.” He Lingchuan sneered. “You’ve been tinkering here for over half a month. You’ve ruined forty to fifty spiders already. Don’t tell me you haven’t gotten a new monstrosity.”

“What monstrosity?” Dong Rui glared at him. “It’s called a monster puppet!” With that, he walked deeper into the stone cavern.

The innermost section was piled high with materials, bits and pieces everywhere. By Dong Rui’s standards, however, it was arranged with perfect order—a bizarre system all his own. Anyone who touched his things got an earful of abuse. After half a month, even the spider guards had learned to keep their distance and never lift the black cloths covering the area.

Dong Rui now yanked one of those cloths aside, revealing what lay beneath. He Lingchuan bent to look. “This doesn’t look any different. You’re sure this is a monster puppet?”

Under the cloth was a single intact spider, massive in size. Even with its legs tucked in, it stood over one and a third of a meter tall. It had twelve pitch-black eyes and eight legs bristling with coarse hair.

It looked no different from other burrow spiders.

Compared to the ghost ape or the werewolf, it was downright plain.

“Use your brain! If I turned it into some freakish abomination, how would it carry us out of here?” Dong Rui snapped, exasperated. “And besides, I made this in barely over ten days. You should be thanking the heavens! Normally, creating a monster puppet, from construction to calibration to training, would take at least two years. Two whole years!”

“Fine, but can it actually listen to you?” He Lingchuan frowned. “It won’t throw us off halfway, will it?”

“It understands basic commands, but don’t expect it to handle complex combat.” To make it fight like the ghost ape, swinging wildly in battle, would require years of meticulous adjustment. Dong Rui patted the spider. “Stand up and walk around.”

The spider rose obediently and scuttled about the chamber, its movements even more agile than those of an ordinary spider guard.

In truth, this had been the strongest and largest specimen among Zhu Erniang’s experimental spiders. Dong Rui had officially reported it as lost during experiments, while secretly refitting it into this form.

After all, how many laboratory materials were consumed and how they were used was entirely up to him.

This was how one took advantage of laymen.

Once the monster puppet was complete, all they needed was the right opportunity.

He Lingchuan circled it, a touch envious. “Will it listen to me, too? Just in case.”

“Put your hand on its head. Let it get used to your scent.”

He Lingchuan did so. Dong Rui leaned close to the puppet’s ear and murmured a few words in a low voice. He Lingchuan could hear him but could not understand a single word he said. It was clearly a private mode of communication between Dong Rui and his creation.

The spider monster puppet actually sniffed at He Lingchuan’s hand and nuzzled against it.

Dong Rui exhaled in relief and said, “Alright, it recognizes you now. Generally speaking, the monster puppets I make only acknowledge me as their master.”

He Lingchuan rolled his eyes. “What, you think I’m going to persuade it to betray you? By the way, you said generally. Are you saying that there have been exceptions?”

“There have,” Dong Rui replied casually. “Before Beijia put out a warrant for me, before I finished Thirty-Four, there was a time I was completely cornered. I had no choice but to custom-make a monster puppet for someone else in exchange for help escaping Beijia.”

That experience taught him a painful lesson, which was that four legs were never as good as wings. That was why he went and created the bird monster puppet, Thirty-Four.

“Oh? So this isn’t your first time working for someone like Zhu Erniang?” He Lingchuan asked curiously. “Who did you make that one for? And hey, could I—”

“No!” Dong Rui nearly spat at him. “Do you think this is something you can just whip up on a whim? I’ve told you countless times that making monster puppets is incredibly difficult, and what you end up with depends heavily on luck!”

He rarely shared his secrets with outsiders, yet this guy never seemed to listen.

“But you still made one.”

“That time, I was lucky. I happened to have a suitable puppet base that met the client’s requirements. A few modifications, and it was usable. Even so, something rushed like that always has flaws. That monster puppet needs to ingest large quantities of self-heal herb[1] every few days, or it can’t sustain itself.”

“What number did you give it?”

“Thirty-One.”

“Is it still alive?”

“Of course. It’ll live as long as it’s maintained properly!” Afraid of further questions, Dong Rui quickly changed the subject. “All right, back to business. How do you think they’ll make their move?”

He paused. “Zhu Erniang mistaking thieves for guests, that’s our opening.”

Zhu Erniang had not dealt with humans in a long time. Any who wandered into the Demon Nest Swamp were usually eaten along with her offspring. The only exception in recent years had been that merchant caravan.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui could see through human disguises, but the spiders could not.

This was their small advantage.

“It depends on their target. They can’t possibly be after Zhu Erniang herself. With their numbers and skills, they couldn’t handle an ancient greater monster.” Bandits sought wealth. “If they’re after something in the Demon Nest, they’ll have to find a way to draw Zhu Erniang away.”

As he spoke, He Lingchuan suddenly sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

The Demon Nest was already damp, with fungus mats and aphid cattle giving the air a constant scent of rot. Now, however, there was a faint fragrance of fresh grass, flowers, and fruit. Given the circumstances, He Lingchuan grew wary. He took two pills from his robe, swallowed one, and handed the other to Dong Rui.

“Antidote pills. They counter most soporific incense.”

Dong Rui glanced at it and shook his head. “No need. That stuff won’t work on me.” He practically lived among medicine bottles; unless it was something on the level of poison dragon saliva, ordinary toxins could not affect him.

Then, Dong Rui asked the inevitable question, “So, whose side do we help?”

“The side with the better odds.” Pick wrong, and they would pay dearly. Zhu Erniang was not benevolent, but these bandits were worse, and they likely had a mastermind behind them.

“The side with the better odds...”

Before he could finish, a shrill, piercing howl tore through the air outside.

What could make such a sound?

It did not sound like a tiger, wolf, or bear. The harsh, ear-splitting, yet powerful enough to echo even through the labyrinthine passages of the Demon Nest.

Dong Rui hesitated before saying, “That sounds like—”

“A pig being slaughtered?”

The wail really did sound like that.

“Yes!” Dong Rui was about to speak when the spider monster puppet suddenly stirred, stepping toward the exit. Dong Rui barked two commands in quick succession. The monster puppet staggered, as if struggling with itself, and barely stopped, its claws tapping anxiously against the ground.

“Tsk, it’s still a half-finished product.” Dong Rui clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. “It’s receiving a command from the Spider Queen. She’s ordering mid and high-tier offspring to rush to the Jiana ruins for support.”

The commands of its old master and its new master were now clashing in its mind. In the end, however, Dong Rui’s control prevailed.

Moments later, a rustling sound rose outside.

He Lingchuan leaned against the doorway and watched as spiders streamed past the entrance of the workroom. A seemingly endless and densely packed swarm of spiders made its way through the passage, and there were so many of them that the passage itself nearly vanished beneath their round bodies and blurring legs.

The sight sent chills down his spine. He did not think that the Demon Nest had actually been housing so many spiders.

He waited patiently until the spider tide finally thinned.

Then, a massive silhouette appeared in the corridor, radiating oppressive presence.

Zhu Erniang had arrived.

This passage was the only route to the surface.

In the crisis, she did not spare the two humans a glance as she passed.

Thanks to the glowspores lighting the tunnel, as well as He Lingchuan’s keen eyesight, he noticed something odd about her eyes.

Zhu Erniang had twelve eyes, arranged along both sides of her head. But from his angle, it seemed as if some were missing?

Where had her eyes gone?

Several more spider guards followed, spewing layers of webbing that sealed the workroom door completely.

Crude as she might seem, Zhu Erniang was thorough. She had not overlooked the two stray small fry in her nest.

1. This is also known as Prunella vulgaris and heal-all. ☜