After completing the absorption, Bai Jie spent a while on the spot savoring the lingering aftertaste.
No drowsiness came, so he simply opened his Status Panel.
Name: Bai Jie (Bai Zhi)
Title: Night Goddess Nyx
Race/Species: Violet Lightning Man-Eating Demon Spider (High-Tier Awakened Form)
Vitality: 58
Skills: Advanced Intimidation Lv.2, Stealth Camouflage Lv.3, Mutation Venom Lv.4, Egg-Laying Lv.4, Leg-Blade Slash Lv.9, Bite Lv.9, Razor Spider Silk Lv.9, Urticating Hair Poison Needles Lv.11, Poison Arrow Shot Lv.12 (MAX), Corrosive Deadly Toxin Lv.12 (MAX)
Talents: Poison-Refining Gu, Spirit-Devouring Body, Thunder and Lightning Dominion
Satiety: 80%
Body Length: Leg Span 85cm
His skills had basically all improved, and he had also grown another 5cm.
"Sigh, being too big isn't all good either. At least Stealth Camouflage has leveled up too, so the time I can lie low each time I activate the skill has also gotten longer."
"Regardless, my sense of security is fuller now."
Seeing that the sun had only just vanished beyond the horizon and night was about to arrive, Bai Jie decided to continue exploring.
He discovered a spider cave, presumably the old lair of the Blood-Shade Spider Queen.
Not long after, he had roughly reached the shaded side's halfway point up the mountain.
The sky gradually darkened, but it did not affect Bai Jie's vision or perceptive abilities in the slightest.
A cool, clear evening breeze blew through the forest. Leaves rustled, and the grass was no longer silent, with occasional chirping insect calls drifting over.
"Should I call out a couple of times too, to echo these bugs? After all, I'm pretty much a bug myself now."
Enjoying the pleasant cool summer night, Bai Jie's state of mind was as tranquil as the nightscape itself. With a stir of his thoughts, he let out an inexplicable self-mocking remark.
Bai Jie slowed his pace and withdrew the perception he had been meticulously scanning with.
He decided to properly savor this moment, stealing a moment of leisure from this fleeting life.
He no longer defined his current actions as searching for food and seeking toxins, but changed it to taking a stroll.
Suddenly, delight flashed in Bai Jie's eyes, but it was not because he had sensed numinous essence. Rather, he had caught sight of a pool of clear, pure, and limpid water.
At the center of the pool, a silver moon quietly bathed within.
Bai Jie drew closer, leaned down, and tasted the pool water. It entered his mouth as exceptionally refreshing and sweet.
Ding! A system prompt interrupted Bai Jie's smacking lips.
[Faint Numinous Essence Reaction Detected!]
"Hm?"
Only then did Bai Jie notice that on the opposite bank of the small pool, a small snake with alternating gold and white patterns lay on the sandy bed beneath the water, motionlessly sizing him up.
Within its red snake eyes, there seemed to be a trace of curiosity.
Target: Corn Spirit Water Snake (Mutant Form)
Vitality: 9
Body Length: 25cm
Status: Stable
(Faint Numinous Essence Reaction Detected)
Being scrutinized like this by such a weak creature, Bai Jie felt he had lost considerable face.
Thus, after one second as stiff as a statue, Bai Jie moved.
He lunged out like a cheetah. The water's surface churned at once, sending waves spreading to both sides, and the silver moon in the water was also smashed into shattered fragments.
Murderous intent flickered through his eight pitch-dark eyes, and the blade of his forelimb thrust upright toward that gold snake silhouette beneath the water.
Splash!
As the pitch-black blade pierced the water's surface, the expected bloody stain spreading through the pool did not occur. That golden snake silhouette, just like the silver moon, wavered up and down and then shattered into pieces.
"An illusion?"
As Bai Jie was puzzled, the golden snake silhouette slowly vanished.
Something suddenly occurred to Bai Jie. A wave of pressure from enormous Vitality rapidly spread outward.
The sound of tiny splashes rose from behind. Bai Jie immediately looked over.
He saw a small gold-and-white snake struggling under the pressure, revealing its form.
"Hmph, just a petty trick adding novelty, only making me more excited."
Bai Jie gave a cold snort, then smiled.
He approached unhurriedly, like a cat toying with a mouse it had caught.
But then, a golden glow abruptly flashed across the small gold-and-white snake's body, and it actually broke free from the intimidation's suppression, swiftly darting into a crevice at the bottom of the pool.
Leaving Bai Jie frozen in place.
"Got careless, didn't dodge! Even a lion uses its full strength to catch a rabbit - I let my guard down..." Bai Jie was filled with extreme regret.
"No, there's still a chance." Bai Jie suddenly had a revelation.
With a thought, countless electric arcs crackled and sizzled as they plunged into the pool water.
Even though he was in the water, because he possessed the Talent · Thunder and Lightning Dominion, Bai Jie naturally had no need to fear the conduction of the arcs.
Uncertain if it would work, Bai Jie had no choice but to continuously increase the arcs' power. For a time, the entire surface of the pool was shrouded in electric light, illuminating the surrounding stretch of forest.
But Bai Jie did not poison the water. Perhaps he could not bear to ruin such clear and sweet water.
One could say small sections were neglected, but the greater principle remained unblemished.
"Let's see if you come out..."
The sound of demonic cackling echoed in Bai Jie's heart, but it quickly ceased. "If the crevice below connects to other waterways, couldn't that mean it just got away?"
After all, the conduction distance of electric arcs in water is limited.
"Stop hitting me."
Right at that moment, a clear feminine voice, as crisp as pearls dropping onto a jade plate, suddenly rang out in Bai Jie's mind.
Bai Jie: "???"
Bai Jie froze again, thinking he was having auditory hallucinations.
"Stop hitting me, it hurts so much." That melodious voice came through once more.
As if possessed, Bai Jie retracted the electric arcs, but the entire spider remained in a state of dazed confusion.
It was only when a small golden head poked out from the crevice beneath the water that Bai Jie reacted - it was actually this little snake speaking to him!
"Was that you, this snake, talking?" Bai Jie tried to transmit his voice toward that voice, but only muttered to himself within his heart.
Because the little snake timidly stared at Bai Jie's enormous form and spoke again: "Please, I beg you, stop hitting me. I'll give you that thing, just let me go, okay?"
Which thing?
But no matter how Bai Jie asked, his spiritual thoughts could not reach the little snake.
It seemed the little snake had a skill for conveying thoughts, but could only transmit in one direction; it could not establish a mechanism for mutual communication.
Bai Jie nodded his head as a response, regardless of whether the little snake understood.
After a few seconds, the gold-and-white little snake brought out a small stone from the crevice, immediately making Bai Jie elated.
The small stone was pitted and scarred, glowing with a pink-purple light, and exuded an aura of uncanny strangeness.
Without needing the system to prompt him, Bai Jie knew - this was a meteorite fragment!
Swish! Swish!
The moment Bai Jie released Advanced Intimidation, his two forelimbs rapidly shot out.
One scooped, one stabbed, carrying both the gold-and-white little snake and the meteorite fragment away from the water's surface.
All is fair in warfare.
The little snake, caught by the blade, continuously twisted its body while ceaselessly repeating the same thought: "Please, spare me, I beg you..."
Bai Jie felt as though he was surrounded by surround-sound.
"I already gave you the treasure, you big bad bug, monster!"
Amidst the crisp begging for mercy, there were even mixed-in huffs of exasperated cursing.
Several black lines slowly lowered over Bai Jie's eight pitch-dark eyes: "..."
Thank goodness he had been quick of eye and swift of hand, otherwise he truly could not have caught this slippery little snake, Bai Jie lamented.
Skill · Mutation Venom, activated.