Darian ran through Spiderwood Hollow, moving as fast as he could without tripping over the tree roots that blanketed the forest floor. One wrong step would leave him sprawled out on the ground. If that happened, he was dead.
Blood thundered in his ears, and his heart pounded against his chest like a drum. Blood oozed from a wound on his upper arm. It dripped onto the ground, leaving a trail behind him as he ran. Despite that, the wound itself didn’t hurt. The area around it felt numb. Poisoned. Darian used his spirit energy to seal off the wound, preventing the poison from spreading throughout his body.
Behind him, Darian heard grating shrieking as a Five Poison Spider chased after him. It leapt from tree to tree, closing in on him.
After killing the first two Five Poison Spiders, Darian took a meandering route towards the center of Spiderwood Hollow, hoping to run into more spiders. The forest granted his wish. Several spiders ambushed him along the way, though none caught him off guard like the second one did. All of them were in the mid Foundation Establishment stage, and most were a realm below him. Darian dispatched them with relative ease and collected their corpses.
It helped that he grew more adept at spotting the Five Poison Spiders. While they blended in well with their surroundings, Darian learned to recognize the signs that indicated their presence. Their aura differed from their environment just a little, though this difference was difficult to spot.
The one that gave him the most trouble was a Five Poison Spider in the same realm as him. It was bigger than its brethren, moved faster, and was stronger. However, thanks to the unorthodox nature of The Nine Gates of Destruction, Darian was stronger than any cultivator or creature within the same realm as him. It wasn’t by much, but it gave him an edge.
Darian managed to defeat the Five Poison Spider with minimal injury. After that, he took a moment to rest. That was when he spotted a patch of high-grade Spirit Grass. Spirit Grass could only be refined into Spirit Energy Pills for Foundation Establishment and Energy Gathering cultivators, so it wasn’t that valuable. However, as someone in the Foundation Establishment stage, Darian couldn’t pass it up.
Before he gathered the grass, Darian took out the formation flags Lucius had given him and used them to create an obfuscation formation. This formation would hide him from the Five Poison Spiders. That way, he could collect the Spirit Grass in peace. He wished he had remembered that before collecting some of the moss. Maybe he wouldn’t have been attacked otherwise.
On second thought, no. He had enjoyed the fight.
After Darian collected half of the Spirit Grass, leaving the rest to regrow, he took down the formation flags and put them back into his holding bag. That was when a Five Poison Spider in the late Foundation Establishment stage attacked.
Darian saw the attack coming, but the spider was faster than him. It wounded him even as he tried to dodge it. To his surprise, the spider didn’t bite him. Instead, it used one of its legs to slash his upper arm. Darian noticed that its front two legs were different from the rest. They looked thinner, but sharper. The leg must have been coated in poison, because Darian felt the area around the wound grow numb. He sealed it off and started running.
First a hot and cold poison, and now a numbing poison. That was two poisons right there. What were the other three like?
As Darian ran, his mind whirled with activity as he tried to figure out how to deal with the Five Poison Spider. Running away wasn’t an option. With his mind sense, Darian saw that it was gaining on him. His lead hadn’t been big in the first place, and it was shrinking fast. Wings of Wind might give him a boost, but he needed to save his spirit energy to keep the numbing poison from spreading to the rest of his body. He didn’t think the burst of speed would be enough to get away.
Fighting back wouldn’t be easy. This spider was much bigger than the previous ones, about the size of a wolf, and it was also stronger. It seemed that Five Poison Spiders grew larger the more powerful they became. It was only a single realm above him, but that single realm made a significant difference.
If neither running nor fighting were an option, what about hiding? Darian shook his head. The forest was pretty uniform in nature, and there were very few hiding spaces. Unlike the spiders, he couldn’t camouflage himself and blend in with the background.
No, but he could obfuscate himself. Maybe that would be enough. A plan formed in his mind, and he put it into action without hesitation.
“Wings of Wind!”
Using a lot of his remaining spirit energy, Darian surged forward with a burst of speed. The Five Poison Spider let out a shriek as it saw its prey running away. When he had enough of a lead, Darian hid from its sight and took out the formation flags in his holding bag. In seconds, he threw them out in the obfuscation formation Lucius had taught him. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to be enough.
As the formation activated, the Five Poison Spider burst into view. Darian watched it look around for him, and let out another frustrated shriek. The formation worked. Thank the ancestors.
The spider moved around, searching for him. Darian prepared to attack as the spider came close to the border of the formation. While it hid him from view, the formation wouldn’t stop the spider from stumbling upon him by accident. Once it entered the formation, it would be able to see him.
Rather than wait, Darian decided to attack, something he had planned to do anyway. It never occurred to him to keep hiding until it went away. Otherwise, he would have to deal with it later on. At least now he had the advantage. This time, it was his turn to ambush the spider.
“Fire Fist!”
The moment one of the spider’s legs crossed the border of the obfuscation formation, Darian attacked. He managed to catch it off guard, punching it right in the face. The spider reared back, unused to being ambushed. Darian didn’t let up. Using the first six stances of Fist of the Mortal flame, the most aggressive ones, Darian launched a barrage of attacks at the spider. He didn’t let up, otherwise it would regain its bearing and he would be in trouble.
Darian poured as much spirit energy into his Fire Fists as he dared, while still keeping the numbing poison at bay. His reserves ran low, but he didn’t care. He gave it his all.
The spider’s carapace cracked and broke under the relentless assault. It let out a fearful shriek, and tried to run away. While it was faster than Darian, its injuries slowed it down. Darian grabbed the spider by its rear legs and swung it towards one of the nearby trees, using the same tactic he used with the second Five Poison Spider he encountered.
The spider hit the tree with a splat, green ichor spreading everywhere. It was still alive, even after that, so Darian continued to beat it until it was little more than a collection of green ichor and smashed spider. A savage sound, akin to a frenzying animal, echoed through the forest. Darian realized it came from him.
Once he was sure that the spider was dead, Darian stumbled into the obfuscation formation, which remained active. He pulled out an antidote pill and a Medicine Pill from his holding bag, and popped both into his mouth. The minty taste of the antidote mixed with the sweet and floral taste of the Medicine Pill, creating an odd but not unpleasant combination.
A part of him noted that the resources he was spending to acquire this Bell Blessing Blossom were probably worth more than the flower itself. Then again, the important part was acquiring the flower. The Bell Blessing Blossom itself was secondary to his goal.
Once the pills started to work, Darian let out a sigh and leaned back, using a tree root for support. That had been intense. That had been the closest to dying he had ever come. No other fight even came close. Despite this, or maybe even because of it, Darian’s lips stretched out into a smile. Like before, he felt more alive than he ever had before.
Maybe there was something wrong with him. Life and death situations left him feeling invigorated instead of fearful. Most people wanted to avoid risking their lives like this. Darian wanted to seek them out, if only to keep feeling this way. Was he some sort of death seeker?
These past few days had been rather enlightening for him. He had learned a lot about himself.
Regardless, Darian thanked Matriarch Ava in his mind. Without her challenge, he wouldn’t have considered doing something like this. Or maybe he would have, but at a much later date. Because of her, he got to enjoy this death seeking thrill sooner rather than later.
As he rested against the tree root, Darian knew that he would do something like this again. Maybe not go into a hidden realm, though there were plenty of “public” hidden realms within the Myriad Rivers region. No, he would have to seek out dangerous situations again. Not for resources, though he would have to make sure to acquire those. Not for his cultivation, though he could tell that it benefited from this. No, he would do it because he enjoyed it.
Ancestors, if his friends could hear his thoughts now, they would think he was crazy. Maybe he was.
That said, he didn’t have to be an idiot about it. Skills, preparation, and luck were the key to surviving dangerous and difficult situations. If it hadn’t been for the preparations he had made with his friends’ help, Darian would have been in a much more difficult situation. The poisons of these Five Poison Spiders were nothing to scoff at. That wasn’t to mention their fangs and their sharp legs.
Darian closed his eyes as he rested. The silence of the forest around him felt peaceful now, rather than eerie and dreadful. Soon, he fell into unconsciousness.
----------------------------------------
Darian opened his eyes some time later. It was difficult to determine how much time had passed, since the light never seemed to change in this place. It was always gloomy, as if Spiderwood Hollow was stuck in a perpetual twilight. That seemed to be a recurring theme in this place.
Stagnation. Lifelessness. Stasis.
They were all tied together, and as Darian considered them, he gained new insights into the cycle of creation and destruction. He closed his eyes to ponder them. More time passed as Darian meditated. When Darian opened his eyes again, his comprehension of The Nine Gates of Destruction had increased.
In many ways, the stagnation and stasis of Spiderwood Hollow was the opposite of destruction. At least with creation, there was still change. There was no change here. Everything remained the same, stuck in a perpetual twilight. Stuck at the threshold between one state and another, but belonging to neither. Unable to move forward, but also unable to move backwards.
Speaking of moving forwards, Darian shook his head. He would consider the insights he gained here at a later time. Right now, he had a task to accomplish. While Matriarch Ava hadn’t given him a time limit, he figured that the faster he finished his task here, the better.
Stiff from sitting down for who knows how long, Darian stretched to limber up his body. He also made a meal out of some meat jerky and water he had brought along. The jerky was tough and tasteless, but it was fuel. He also collected the pulped body of the Five Poison Spider.
Once he was warmed up and ready to go, Darian collected his formation flags and set out again. Due to the chase earlier, and his abysmal sense of direction, Darian was thoroughly lost. However, this didn’t worry him. Vera’ words from earlier reminded him that as long as he found the edge of Spiderwood Hollow, he could use that to eventually make his way to the center. From there, he could return to the boulder, which was located within the “southern” area of Spiderwood Hollow.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Of course, without a sun, how would he determine what south was? Did Clan River Heart make any markers? He would figure that out later. For now, he picked a random direction and moved forward.
Hours passed by as Darian walked. To his complete lack of surprise, he ended up at the misty wall that marked the border of Spiderwood Hollow. Along the way, he encountered a few Five Poison Spiders, though they posed little threat to him at this point. After the fight with the Five Poison Spider in the late Foundation Establishment stage, these weaker ones seemed trivial to deal with in comparison.
Using the misty wall to orient himself, Darian turned around and headed towards the center of Spiderwood Hollow. More hours passed. Darian took a few breaks to rest and eat. He sighed as he remembered Ellen’s cooking, and his desire to finish this task and leave this place increased.
As he drew closer to the center, Darian felt a change in the air. It was subtle, but it gave him a feeling of dread. As he moved forward, the feeling of dread increased in strength. He sensed danger approaching, but no matter how much he focused his mind sense, he saw nothing.
A part of him thought it was all just in his mind, except Darian noticed a distinct lack of Five Poison Spiders. There were fewer and fewer of them the closer he came to the center of the Spiderwood Hollow, as if they were avoiding it. In fact, for the past half hour or so, he hadn’t spotted a single one.
The feelings of dread and danger grew stronger and stronger. Darian started to smell something…wrong. He didn't know how else to describe it. It reminded him of the rotten smell of his poisoned blood from earlier, but worse somehow. It smelled corrupted.
It wasn’t just the smell either. Darian noticed that the pale white trees started to grow darker and darker, turning gray. The change was gradual, but it was obvious that there was something wrong with them. Holes started to appear in the trees, as if they had started to rot away.
At this point, Darian paused. It was clear that there was something wrong with Spiderwood Hollow. He didn’t know what, but if even the trees were starting to blacken and rot, it must be serious. The smart thing to do would be to turn around and try to find his way out of this place. While it might take a while, he figured he would find a way out of Spiderwood Hollow eventually.
Darian didn’t for two reasons. First, he had a task to accomplish. While it seemed trivial in the face of whatever this rot and corruption was, Darian still wanted to accomplish it. Besides, if he was going to report of a corruption spreading in Spiderwood Hollow, he figured he would at least find the source of this corruption.
Two, there was something almost familiar about this corruption. It hovered along the edges of his awareness, beyond thought and memory. It was as if a part of him deep in his being knew what this was.
It bothered him. He was both curious and repulsed by this familiarity. Despite this, it drew him in. He wanted to find out what it was, to figure out why it resonated with him. While a part of him knew that he would regret it, Darian continued forward.
The corruption grew stronger the closer Darian drew to the center of Spiderwood Hollow, and it was a corruption. The trees were now completely black, with hundreds of holes in each one. The air was thick with the smell of poisonous rot and decay. Darian would have breathed through his mouth to avoid smelling it, but that would mean tasting it. Even the ground itself had turned back. It squished unpleasantly beneath Darian’s boots.
Worst of all, Darian sensed that the spirit energy in the area was tainted. The corruption had infected the very soul of this land. Not only that, but it was spreading. It was slow and steady, but it was spreading. Even as Darian watched, he saw this corruption seeping through the world. At this rate, it would take months, maybe even years, to spread through the entirety of Spiderwood Hollow. Yet, unless it was stopped, spread it would.
When he first noticed the taint, Darian stopped. As curious as he was to find out why it felt familiar to him, that didn’t mean he wanted it to spread to him. However, he needn’t have worried. Despite breathing it in this entire time, the corruption and taint didn’t bother him. It touched him, but had no discernible effect, as far as he could tell. Darian wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not.
Soon, Darian came across the clearing Matriarch Carlisa told him about. It was about the same size as the clearing that surrounded the entrance to Duskfall Hall. However, it wasn’t a meadow. Instead, it was a blighted and barren land. Nothing grew here. No trees. No grass. No Bell Blessing Blossoms.
In the center of this clearing was a black mass. Right away, Darian could tell that this mass was the source of the corruption. It emitted vile spirit energy. It was like a poison in the land, spreading its filth by its mere presence. What disturbed him the most was that Darian almost felt a…kinship with this thing. They were different from each other, but at the same time they were the same.
A chill ran down his spine. Several possibilities ran through his mind, but one stood out from the rest, though Darian refused to acknowledge it.
Before he could ponder this further, the mass moved. That was when Darian realized that it was a living creature.
“A little morsel appears before me,” the mass said in a voice that grated on Darian’s nerves. “Good. I was getting a little hungry.”
The mass extended out, revealing the form of a Five Poison Spider. However, it wasn’t like any of the Five Poison Spiders Darian had encountered before. It was as twisted and corrupted as the land around it. Patches of fur and scales covered its body. Horns covered its deformed carapace. When it turned to face him, Darian sucked in a breath. A demonic face replaced the spider’s eight eyes and mandibles. Its front two legs were now arms with clawed hands at the end.
The sight of this thing revolted Darian. It was something unnatural, something that should not be. He wanted to kill this thing and purge it from the world.
At the same time, the thing made him…hungry.
Darian felt drumming in his chest. The sight of this thing stirred his demonic nature. That was the resonance he felt earlier.
A demon. This thing was a demon. It had to be. One at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage from the feel of it.
“Hmm,” the spider demon said. “Not a River Heart. No. It is too early for them. An interloper then?” It gave him a smile, baring its sharp teeth. “No matter. I will devour you all the same.”
Before Darian could say anything, the spider demon rushed towards him. Due to its cultivation level, it was terrifyingly fast. It was on Darian before he had a chance to react.
While he had sparred with cultivators at the peak Foundation Establishment before, there was a difference between sparring and fighting for one’s life.
The demon slashed at him with one of its claws. By some miracle, Darian managed to dodge the attack, though it still grazed him across his chest.
The claw marks felt like burning lines of fire, but didn’t bleed. The burning grew stronger, and Darian realized that there was something corrosive on its claws. This corrosion burrowed into his chest, before spreading throughout the rest of his body. More poison. That was number three.
Darian used his spirit energy to isolate the poison to keep it from spreading. However, unlike the others, the corrosive poison ate at his barrier of spirit energy. It took more of his power to keep it at bay.
At the same time, Darian lashed out at the demonic spider. It blocked his attack with ease and laughed at him.
“It’s no use, little morsel,” the demon said. “I’ll devour you body and soul.” It paused. “Or perhaps I’ll spare your body and possess it. Yes, that is what I’ll do.”
Darian didn’t respond. Instead, he put some distance between them, even as the demon attacked him. Its claws grazed him all over. More corrosive poison entered his body. To keep it from spreading, Darian dedicated more and more of his spirit energy towards keeping the poison isolated.
The thing was toying with him. Darian saw it in its eyes. While his wounds burned, they were shallow. The thing hadn’t done any serious damage to him. It didn’t matter. Darian didn’t question his good fortune. He would use it to his advantage.
He knew that attacking the spider demon was useless, even with Fire Fist. The difference in strength between them was too great. His strike earlier showed him that. In that case, perhaps it was time to give the thing a taste of its own poison.
Even as the demon slashed at him again, grazing his cheek with its claws, Darian reached into his holding bag and pulled out the corpse of the late Foundation Establishment stage Five Poison Spider. Its body was pulped, but its legs were still intact.
Darian used one of the spider’s front legs to attack the spider demon, the ones coated in the numbing poison. The spider demon let out a screech that scrambled Darian’s thoughts. That didn’t stop him from turning around and running for his life.
Thank the ancestors that worked. It seemed that Five Poison Spiders weren’t immune to their own poison.
Using his mind sense, Darian saw that the demon spider remained where it was for a few seconds before it started to chase after him. His trick didn’t give him much of a lead, but he still had a lead.
“I’ll eat your soul bit by bit!” the demon spider screeched. “I’ll make it last, so you’ll suffer for a long time. You’ll watch as I eat you alive!”
An icy claw gripped Darian’s heart when he heard this. He didn’t know much about demons, so he had no choice but to believe its words. The fear of having his soul devoured pushed Darian to run faster.
“Wings of Wind!”
Even though this movement technique took a lot of spirit energy, now was not the time to hold back. Despite his lead, the demon spider was gaining on him. It would catch him in seconds. His only hope was to use the same trick he pulled earlier with the late Foundation Establishment stage Five Poison Spider. Only this time, ambushing it wouldn’t work. He might get an attack or two off, but that wasn’t enough to kill this thing.
Throughout all of this, the drumming in his chest grew stronger and stronger. However, Darian had neither the attention nor the energy to spare to keep his demonic nature in check.
As before, Darian ducked out of sight and hid behind one of the blackened trees. He pulled out his formation flags from his holding bag and threw them out to create the obfuscation formation. At the same time, Darian pulled out an antidote pill and swallowed it. It went to work right away. Unfortunately, it had a lesser effect on the corrosive poison. The antidote weakened it, but didn’t neutralize it. At least it kept the corrosive poison from eating at his spirit energy barriers.
The spider demon rushed into view. When it didn’t see him, it spun around in circles while searching for him.
“You think you can hide from me, little morsel?” it asked. Amusement tinged its grating voice. “I know you’re still here. I can smell my poison on you as it eats away at your flesh. Sooner or later I will find you. When I do…” The demon spider licked its lips. “Oh, I will enjoy eating you.”
The words caused Darian to freeze. The drumming in his chest grew stronger and stronger. At first Darian tried to rein his demonic nature in, but then stopped. An idea occurred to him. It was a terrible idea, but it was either that or let the spider demon kill him and eat his soul.
What if he used his Demon’s Wrath ability?
Even as he thought this, the spider demon skittered about, searching for him. It drooled. The drool sizzled and smoked when it hit the black soil.
That settled it. Darian tried to use his Demon’s Wrath ability, but then realized he had no idea how to do so. It was an innate ability, but what did that mean? Did he just think about using it? Darian tried that, but it didn’t work.
As he did this, the demon spider drew closer and closer to his hiding spot.
“Come out, little morsel,” it said. “You can’t escape. If you give up now, I’ll make your death nice and painless. You’re going to die anyway. Why not make it easier on yourself?”
Darian wanted to curse at this poisonous, rotten creature.
“If you don’t,” the spider demon continued, all traces of amusement gone from its voice. “I’ll make your death as painful as possible. Not only that, I’ll possess your body and use it to kill your loved ones.” It let out a cold laugh. “I can just imagine the looks on their faces as I betray them wearing your face. The mere thought warms my heart.”
Darian sucked in a breath at this.
It dared.
The drumming reached a crescendo as he thought about this creature hurting his loved ones. He grew so angry that he started to shake.
“Your parents, your friends, your wife. I will devour their souls as well. That way, you can all be together again for eternity, as a part of me.”
As it said this, the spider demon stumbled into Darian’s obfuscation formation. Its face lit up with unholy joy as it spotted him. At the same time, something cracked from within Darian. Wrath surged through his veins.
Kill. Destroy. Consume.
The spider demon leapt at Darian, its clawed hands outstretched. Darian reached up and grabbed its arms. The spider demon’s body slammed into him, knocking him back into the blackened tree. The soft rotting wood caved in a little. The two of them were face to face. He snarled at it, his voice deep and demonic. A shocked expression crossed the spider demon’s face.
“What?” it said.
The drumming continued. With each beat, Darian felt more and more cracks inside him. Wrath poured into him from these cracks. It burned, but at the same time, it gave him power.
Darian heaved and threw the spider demon off of him. It landed on its feet and screeched. Darian roared back, his voice echoing throughout Spiderwood Hollow.
More. He needed more.
The drumming continued. Darian kept cracking on the inside. And then, with one final beat, he shattered. The amount of Wrath he felt before was paltry compared to the amount that flooded through him now. He felt it twisting and changing his body wherever it went. It felt as if pure power filled his entire being.
Another shocked expression crossed the spider demon’s face.
“What are you?” it screeched.
Darian didn’t bother responding. He roared at the demon spider again and attacked.