The view of the transporting hall slowly changed, revealing a vast expanse of white, deserted land.
The place was blisteringly hot. As a cultivator, one could suppress this kind of pressure with effort. Even so, Meng Xuan was still struggling, already drenched in sweat. Immediately after they entered, a wave of suffocating heat washed over them.
There was no wind, but the white sand constantly shifted, revealing grain after grain of scorched terrain. Holes dotted the ground.
One of them crouched down, staring curiously at the strange formations.
"There's no sun here... So where is the heat coming from?"
A senior who had ventured here before had warned me:
"There's an abyssal inferno spider at the end of this demonic zone. It generates all the heat you feel."
"Such a terrifying creature, for a lower-tier zone..."
"Tsk!" Li Feng clicked his tongue. "Didn't you hear? This demonic zone is on the verge of evolving."
"Shit..."
Meng Xun pulled a pill from his storage ring. He had been meticulous enough to gather information about the abyssal demonic zone, so he was aware of the heatwave's source. A mortal cultivator like him, born without holy force, had no natural resistance to this kind of hellish pressure.
Immediately, he swallowed the Cold Heart Pill. A wave of freezing pressure surged from his body, eliminating all the heat around him.
Meng Xuan took out the map, but his brows furrowed instantly.
"The conditions... They don't match." He narrowed his eyes.
The map wasn't correlating with the terrain before him. According to the guide, an abyssal spider was only meant to be sighted after walking ten meters in. But now, he could already see a different set of holes at their feet—wide enough to contain a human fist.
"The spider lives underground..." he murmured.
He wasn't surprised. The abyssal demonic zone was clearly evolving into a higher-tier region. Different anomalies would naturally occur.
At this point, the map was useless. They could only rely on instinct and skill.
Li Feng, the guy with the red gloves, walked toward a formation of holes.
Four vertical cavities on each side were spaced evenly, separated by a distance close to a meter.
He crouched down, staring curiously at the white sand between each vertical hole.
Suddenly, the sand began to shift.
As if sensing an intruder in its territory, the ground parted. A white abyssal spider slowly emerged from beneath the surface.
It was the size of a large wolf, covered in a white metallic carapace. Its long, slender legs were wrapped in pale, fleshy skin.
"Just a normal abyssal spider," Li Feng muttered, his eyes scanning the two blood-red orbs that stared back at him.
The group collectively sighed in relief. Li Feng's voice calmed their nerves.
Thankfully, they hadn't encountered a mutated or master-stage spider...
The creature let out a shrill, ear-piercing cry.
Fwoosh!
It spat a white lump of web the size of a fist toward them.
Li Feng's body shot backward with insane speed, as if an invisible hand had yanked him away.
If they hadn't been watching closely, they would've thought he'd teleported.
Li Feng ducked his head to the left just as a white lump of web shot past him.
Rising from his crouched position, he raised his palm toward the spider, and an invisible force dragged it closer.
The creature must have sensed a threat to its life because it fought back, thrashing against the unseen pull. But resistance was futile. With a shrill cry, it opened its mouth, spitting out sticky clumps of web in a desperate attempt to break free.
"Li Feng!"someone shouted.
This time, Li Feng didn't dodge. With a subtle twist of his wrist, he redirected the spider's body, forcing it to hurl its web away from them.
Left, right, up— the spider spun violently, but Meng Xuan had already closed the distance in a flash. His fist struck true, smashing into the creature's abdomen.
A wet, visceral sound erupted as blood and tangled intestines spilled to the ground. The abyssal spider screeched one final time before collapsing with a heavy thud.
---
The fall of one abyssal spider only heralded the arrival of more.
The team raised their heads. The battle wasn't over. They sank into their stances, ready for war.
Heaven's essence arts flared to life—blades of energy, waves of force, shields of light. But among them, the most valuable person was Li Feng, who manipulated the spiders with a mysterious, invisible power.
Though the night sky was pitch-black, the white sand glowed faintly, like scattered pearls illuminating the battlefield.
"What do you think of this Li Feng?" He asked quietly.
Meng Xuan stood at the back of the group, his face unreadable.
He has no holy force,so The spiders don't even see him as a threat.
"Master, Li Feng is using a gravity-based essence art—pulling things toward himself. It looks powerful, but it has flaws," a voice muttered.
"From his earlier fight, it seems he can only control one abyssal spider at a time, and only within ten meters. He might have the upper hand now, but…"
---
The face of someone with seasoned combat sense never lied—there was always the possibility they might lose.
"Master, you should also be wary of him. His intentions… they don't seem pure."
"There's balance in this world. No heaven's essence art is truly the strongest or the weakest—they all have their strengths and weaknesses."
"I know." Meng Xuan had been suspicious from the start.
He leapt to the side as an abyssal spider slammed into the spot he had just vacated, its eight needle-like legs piercing the earth.
Why did it suddenly attack me? he thought, dodging another strike, barely avoiding a sticky ball of web.
But the spider didn't relent. Its front legs fused into a spear-like shape, while its remaining six legs flared outward. It lunged.
Meng Xuan narrowed his eyes, chest rising and falling with measured breaths.
Beside him, Xiao Ling turned back, her expression conflicted. Seeing Meng Xuan in danger, she hesitated, torn between fear and the desire to help.
But she was also tangled up in a fight with an Abyssal Spider. She could only lift her head slightly to see Meng Xuan battling with the creature.
Meng Xuan rolled along the floor, missing the needle-like leg of the spider by a hair's breadth. Immediately, the Abyssal Spider closed in on him. Reacting swiftly, he raised the short sword he had just drawn, plunging it into the side of the spider's head.
Clang!
The sound of metal striking a hard surface rang out.
Before entering the academy's Demonic Zone, law dictated that weapons would be dispatched, but one could also bring their personal arms. Meng Xuan had wisely chosen a short sword — just in case something bad happened.
He propped himself up with the short sword, then dashed forward, sprinting away from the spider. The Abyssal Spider was hell-bent on killing him, spewing white balls of web from its mouth. Its eight legs glided across the sand-like ground with eerie grace.
Meng Xian continued to dodge the white arrows of web, but he knew it wouldn't last. Soon, he wouldn't be able to keep up and would be caught in the sticky trap.
"Master, you can do this! Killing a normal spider is still within your reach," the voice inside him urged.
Meng Xuan stopped in his tracks.
He had once defeated an upper-tier cultivator with three moves. He had also managed to cripple his class bullies. So what's an Abyssal Spider who's only as strong as a disciple-stage cultivator?
Its legs gripped the white sand as it backflipped, perfectly dodging the webs. While airborne, the webs shot out — but Meng Xian twisted midair, narrowly avoiding them.
He landed behind the Abyssal Spider. With the short sword in his hand, he thrust it down onto the spider's head.
At first, only the sound of metal striking a hard surface could be heard, but as time went on — and with enough force — the thin crack he had created in the spider's head widened with every thrust.
He stopped only when he knew the spider was done for. Blood spurted endlessly from the head of the Abyssal Spider, pooling beneath it with a thud. Its eight legs flailed as if still trying to strike.
Meng Xuan rose from the lifeless body of the spider. As he turned back, he was met with a terrifying sight — another ball of web racing toward him.
Before he could react, his body was wrapped in white webbing. The web contained tiny needles that pierced into his skin, growing tighter the longer they clung to him.
Pain exploded across his body. Blood oozed from his skin as veins bulged across his face.
"Meng Xuan!"
[Heavenly Transformation!]
A girl with emerald eyes ran toward Meng Xian, tears brimming in her eyes.
The webs binding Meng Xian's body slowly turned to dust, crumbling to the ground.
The girl was quick to catch him, shouting the name of a healer as she held him tightly.