chapter 1772: spider

it was taboo to spy on cultivators in general, yet to do so in the privacy of their living quarters was next level in terms of violation. to be spied on so deviously was an uncomfortable experience; wei wuyin refused to allow such blatant disrespect to go unrewarded!

wei wuyin couldn't help but think of a particular saying as he looked at the astonishing, heaven-born beauty that was wei xiaotian: "fortune and calamity aren't predetermined and are instead summoned by one's actions." the arachnids were hovering over the sharp edge of learning this phrase eternally.

the sinister spider was trapped in an invisible cage, segmented off by void force, entirely unaware of its situation as it attempted to execute a myriad of arts and spells to decipher the secrets that wei wuyin contained, yet the feedback was distorted as frosted glass.

his next action was understated as the severely damaged, near-crippled fei linglin was unable to perceive the slightest ripple. he lightly, slowly, and carefully lifted his barefoot a total of three inches, and then lowered it onto the spider an inch.

in a faraway realm coated in a particular shadowy mist, enshrouded by the laws of darkness, there was a twisted palatial structure affixed atop an exceedingly multiple starfield-sized gargantuan black spider's back, its eight legs stabbed into the walls of the spatial realm that was as intricate and beautiful as glistening crystal webs, serving as its stabilizers and first line of defense. the creature was a genuine star-devourer. moreover, it was a legend that those of the resolute dusk galaxy would identify with remarkable ease from the startling qualities of runic markings on its legs that exuded an enticing purplish color that formed webs.

this was especially sage hathor, who had relied on this spider long, long ago to obtain a unique cultivation legacy that allowed her to create a dantian that was like a series of world-expanding webs that could contain copious amounts of energy far beyond a typical sage. the palatial structure on its back was gloriously designed, seemingly formed of black and violet crystals. within the structure were dark-robed cultivators with purplish markings of a descending spider tethered to a single thread of web. there was a room of three dozen of these cultivators, gathered into a ritualistic formation as runes and formations glowed intermittently, serving as an intermediary for great arts and spells—the origins of that spying spider.

a manifestation of a shadowy spider hovered over the group with faint, spine-chilling sounds of the chelicerae of a spider clicking ferociously in hunger. it acted both as protection and a medium to display the depth of their success. unfortunately, the shadow released none of the violet webs of spiritual information that they were expecting. "it's been far too long. has nothing been received?" a husky voice that could make one's skin crawl and blood churn resounded with clear dissatisfaction. the origin was a night black and sandy brown-robed cultivator at the edge of the ritual formations and runes, standing in observance. from their hood, the sight of soul-piercing light glistened.

an enlightened sage!

"lord sicarius, there's an obstruction. we believe it's an obfuscation spell guarding against divination that is inadvertently affecting our eyes. we're breaching it now," a few robed members spoke this sentence in portions with eerie proficiency. it was clear their spiritual aspects were inexplicably linked by a miraculous method, each acting as the eyes, legs, and body of the spider.

outside the ritual, lord sicarius mumbled indistinct words. and further outside, right at the head of the star devourer, between its gigantic set of ocelli, wei wuyin manifested in a vague blink. this was a false god avatar imbued with his spiritual will, infused with a single percentage of his total energy and essence. the star devourer's eyes moved sharply, on the verge of executing an alert. "so this is where you were neith?" wei wuyin halted the spider's action as it came to a startled pause, inspecting the unearthly visage of the humanoid figure before it. when was the last time it had heard its name? wei wuyin mused. neith was a star-devourer that traversed the edge of resolute dusk galaxy, and a few silk battle armors at the mystic-world grade were made by its silk. imentet's clothes were made with her silk. the resolute dusk galaxy had an ongoing and heavily honored agreement with neith, feeding it solar stars in exchange for silk and fending off void creatures, but roughly ninety thousand years ago, it vanished without rhyme or reason.

neith was not the only star-devourer of her species known. if delved further into the history of the greater galaxies and their neighbors, there existed seven distinct members of her species, and they were elusive. they were collectively known as zhizhujing, but their racial name was ximu, much like the tiangou. however, there were a lot of strange happenings around these all-female spiders that traversed the dark void and nested randomly within galaxies. for example, neith wasn't the only one of the zhizhujing that vanished without reason, said to have disappeared more than six hundred and ten thousand years ago. if timelines were to be matched, that was about twenty thousand years prior to the creation of the arachnids.

but they did have a habit of being nomadic, so it wasn't suspicious that neith vanished without reason in the resolute dusk galaxy, and sage hathor and the others couldn't find further information about her after becoming sages.

wei wuyin silently floated to neith's head, reaching out. the ximu sensed no malice from him, so it only observed. using his mind-reading abilities granted to him by a mixture of magi, anima-devourer bloodline, and alchemic energy of eden, wei wuyin delved into its memories. neith was captured long ago, lured by a group of dark-robed individuals to a shell world, and transported here. it wasn't exactly unwilling as she feasted on the solar stars that left as bait happily. she wasn't exactly a caged creature either, and she was here because the food they provided her was next level. she was a very long-lived existence that went into hibernation often, and these last ninety thousand years have been a happy cycle of enjoying scrumptious meals and going to sleep. she wasn't mistreated at all. in fact, this isolated realm was her nest.

not even resonant soul realm experts would be able to easily enter or exit without difficulty, let alone enter without alerting the inhabitants. of course, this was not an issue to a true void dragon. that said, it made sense the arachnids could operate if their headquarters were like this.

wei wuyin whispered, "hathor and imentet missed you."

"keep tempting me. see where that gets you," wei wuyin huffed, his eyes returning to their original silver now that he was with her.

wei xiaotian was fearless. her pink tongue licked her succulent lips, she fixed her glasses, and smoothed out her outfit, exposing her luscious curves, all while eyeing wei wuyin suggestively. she was playing with hellfire, and she enjoyed the danger, yet seeing wei wuyin's self-restraint for her, she felt a tremendous surge of warmth with an underbelly of guilt. she was well aware that she was an unparalleled beauty sculpted by the heavens, further enhanced by wei wuyin's various bloodlines.

she decided to change the topic, "what about that false sage you mentioned?"

wei wuyin cleared his throat. he was truly on the verge of throwing caution to the wind, disregarding all consequences, but the shift of topic helped calm his roaring inner flames. "skytouch?"

she had accompanied sage avenging heart—zai yingwen—and had been suppressed violently by fei linglin, unable to lift her head without exposing her true cultivation base. she had glided in the background after everything had ended. she fled immediately with an excuse, seeing that her facade couldn't last for much longer after that battle. wei wuyin allowed her to leave.

but upon reaching a certain point, wei wuyin had snatched her outright mid-transit in the dark void. she no longer had any sage-level external power to rely on, so as an original magistrate, she could only accept her fate.

wei wuyin waved his hand. a slumbering skytouch was summoned comfortably onto the bed. wei xiaotian's eyes observed her for a brief while. her sleeping appearance was enchantingly fascinating, startlingly beautiful without equal.

"another yin physique?! your fortune with women is astonishing," wei xiaotian clicked her tongue in wonder. the primal yin aura emanating from skytouch was ragingly intense. she was a perfect dual cultivation partner.

wei wuyin echoed her sentiments, at least regarding the point of skytouch being the perfect dual cultivation partner. she had a richer, purer, and vaster primal yin source than fairy silence by far. but he had a feeling she wasn't his fortune.

"she has the overhaul sky yin physique, a very overbearing physique. her primal yin is like the sky, vast and boundless, and its purity and latent secrets are enough to overhaul destiny and twist fate. she could turn an inept cultivator into a glorious demonic talent of the ages. this yin physique is among the top ten beneath the heavens," wei xiaotian explained. she was a shard of heaven, the apple that contains forbidden knowledge, and dual cultivation with her would similarly overhaul someone's fate, granting them profound knowledge, insight, and depth of understanding regarding cultivation. all of this was tied to her primal yin after she was determined as a woman, and the same could be said for every virgin woman.

"she's no catalyst body, but yin physiques like hers, especially those who cultivate pure yin cultivation methods, have their advantages that catalyst bodies will always pale in comparison to." wei xiaotian ruefully remarked. if anyone else was in wei wuyin's position, this graceful, slender, and refreshingly gorgeous woman would have long since been beneath them, her primal yin siphoned cleanly, and her corpse likely tossed out afterward.

she looked at wei wuyin with rapid blinks of her delicate eyelashes. she then leaned in. curiosity blazed within her eyes.

wei wuyin felt the urge to shove her face away. but who was he? she wanted to tease? she wanted to lean in? he met her directly, leaning in as well, his eyes focused on hers. "both of them are outclassed by you."

wei xiaotian was briefly taken aback as they were no more than a few inches from each other, capable of feeling the warmth of each other's breath. she looked down at his lips that held a smug smile, and then right back up at that silvery gaze that she had seen at her first real breath in this world.

without thinking, she leaned in further.

two pairs of lips interlocked.