Inside the sewer,
As the black liquid receded, the flesh worms, withered hands, and faces finally dissipated as well.
The sewer returned to its usual state of disgust, except for the many new cracks on the passage walls—which, once again, proved just how solidly this sewer had been built.
Ding!
A system notification rang out:
[Worm Hell's status has been updated to "Annihilated"]
Bai Jie breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
He shook his head and turned to look toward where Yang Shining and the Nine-Tailed Spirit Fox had been.
They were no longer there.
"Thanks to her warning, I was able to find the so-called core. And thanks to that fox's spirit power replenishment too."
Bai Jie approached the exploded tumor, finding amidst a pile of sludge a stone emitting a pink-purple glow. It seemed this had only appeared after the "Worm Hell" was annihilated.
Exhaustion filled every inch of his body and mind, but at least he had found some consolation.
Then he swiftly evacuated. He didn't want to stay in this place for even a single moment longer.
...
The back mountain of Xingchuan University.
Back in the spider nest, he had just set down the meteorite fragment wrapped in spider silk. Bai Jie hadn't even gotten the chance to stretch when he went completely blank with shock.
He—had been ambushed and overwhelmed by a sudden fright!
He saw, on his sleeping spot, that thick, soft bed woven of dense spider silk, five little black spiders lying on their bellies.
That's right. The spider eggs had hatched again. Before the last batch had even been sent away for long, the second batch had arrived.
The five little ones were about seventy percent similar to the demonic spider's current appearance—pitch-black bodies, eerie blue-violet patterns printed on their backs, and pink-purple bristles covering their abdomens and legs.
An image inexplicably surfaced in his mind: a person holding a big basin filled to the brim with tiny spiders, grinning ear to ear and saying cheerily, "Hahahaha, the little brats have arrived."
"..."
He hurried to snuff out that bizarre mental image.
The demonic spider felt that its brain must still be foggy, having been badly frightened by these sudden little creditors.
Information about the little spiders automatically appeared before his eyes.
[Target]: Poison-Devouring Demonic Spider (Semi-Demonic-Evil Body · Juvenile)
[Vitality]: 6
[Body Length]: Leg Span 23cm
[Status]: Healthy
"Poison-Devouring Demonic Spider, is it?"
"I wonder if they'll inherit my Ten Thousand Binding Threads and Spider Sense abilities."
"Hmm... I'll have to wait until you grow a bit more before I can test that out."
Rustle rustle...
One of them noticed Bai Jie's arrival and, unable to contain its urgency, scrambled clumsily toward him.
The other four little ones were also stirred awake, and they too swarmed toward the big spider, forming a fluffy encirclement. They didn't seem to mind the strange stench the big spider had brought back from the sewer.
The big spider wanted to cry but had no tears. It wanted to beautifully sleep after extracting the spiritual essence, because it had experienced way too much today.
The five little ones nuzzled, pressed close, and crawled all over.
"Can you let your daddy sleep well for once?"
The big spider sent out a mournful mental message and received vague, childish responses from the little spiders in return.
Infuriated, the big spider stomped the ground fiercely. "What 'Mama'? I'm your daddy!"
Fortunately, the spider nest already had some preserved "poison insect snacks." The big spider felt that the five little ones weren't hungry—they must have already eaten before it got back.
Suddenly, Bai Jie remembered something.
"Hey, right. What about that dumb snake, Bai Huahua?"
"Forget it. Maybe the little ones ate her. I'll go to her place for a nice bath when I wake up."
So he gently nudged the tiny spiders aside, returned to his soft bed, and began extracting the spiritual essence from the meteorite fragment.
"I don't have time to look after you. Go play somewhere else."
But the little spiders didn't listen. They crowded around again.
Thankfully, after they each found a spot on, beside, or atop the big spider to settle down, they finally stopped fussing.
As the pink-purple-glowing "spiritual essence" entered his body, Bai Jie's Vitality experienced a long-overdue climb.
He was quite eager to see what kind of changes this meteorite fragment would bring him.
431, 432, 433...
440!
450!
...
Before long,
His Vitality had already reached 490!
However, even after the spiritual essence within the meteorite fragment was completely gone, Bai Jie still didn't hear that anticipated mechanical voice.
But drowsiness still arrived right on schedule.
...
When Bai Jie woke up, it was already sunrise the next day.
After confirming that the five little ones were all in good condition, he opened his Status Panel.
[Name]: Bai Jie (Bai Zhi)
[Title]: Demonic Spider Bai Zhi, Night Goddess Nyx
[Race/Species]: Shadow of the Dark Thunder (Demonic-Evil Body)
[Vitality]: 499 (MAX)
[Skills]:
The Eternal Night Descends Lv.3, Dark Summoning Lv.3, Darkest Hour Lv.5, High-Level Self-Regeneration Lv.5, Ten Thousand Binding Threads Lv.7, Spider Sense Lv.7, High-Level Intimidation Lv.9, Invisibility Camouflage Lv.9, Mutant Venom Lv.10, Egg Laying Lv.11, Foot-Blade Cut Lv.12 (MAX), Maul Lv.12 (MAX), Razor Spider Silk Lv.12 (MAX)...
[Talents]: Poison-Refining Gu, Spirit-Devouring Body, Thunder and Lightning Control, Night Affinity, Mysterious Forbidden Domain (Awakening)
[Satiety]: 65%
[Body Length]: Leg Span 160cm
"What a shame. Just a little short of breaking 500. Now my OCD is acting up."
Bai Jie carefully scanned downward, first pausing on the [Vitality] column. Although he hadn't been able to Evolve, at least he confirmed that his sixth Evolution wasn't far off.
After giving the [Skills] column a cursory glance, his gaze lingered for a long time on a string of characters in the [Talents] category.
"Mysterious Forbidden Domain... Awakening in progress..."
"???"
"What does that even mean? So it's awakened, but not fully awakened?"
Ding. Slightly illusory system information appeared before his eyes.
[Mysterious Forbidden Domain]: A mysterious Talent currently in the process of awakening. Current Awakening Progress: 5%.
Note: When Vitality is elevated to the extreme and the physique has Evolved to a powerful stage, the brain gradually develops its latent potential. Through special cultivation methods or spiritual essence stimulation, this potential transforms into a mysterious Psychic Power.
The greater the Awakening Progress, the broader the brain's developed domain, the stronger the Psychic Power, and thus the more wondrous variations that can be derived.