"Finally... sent that thing back to Goat Village..."
Bai Jie noticed that the Dark Young's status had been displayed as "Annihilation," rather than "Deceased."
Although both signified complete disappearance, it nonetheless left Bai Jie suspecting that the Dark Young hadn't truly died.
"Could it be that what Li Jiayu summoned was not the Dark Young's true body?"
Even though it sensed something off, upon hearing the system notification, Bai Jie still breathed a sigh of relief. It felt as though every ounce of strength had been drained from its body, and it no longer had the will to think any deeper.
The Dark Young was the most powerful creature it had ever faced—its Vitality over 40 points higher than its own—and the first Demonic-Evil Body lifeform it had ever encountered.
The lightning faded into obscurity. The ruined, colossal frame collapsed with a thunderous crash. From the corpse, massive quantities of black particulate matter slowly floated upward before settling back down. And thus, the Dark Young met its absolute end.
"Wait... what is that?"
The spot where the Dark Young had vanished now served as the core. The ground within a radius of 30 meters was entirely blanketed in black particulate matter, forming a circular domain of darkness.
Within this domain, the ground continuously sank, converging and collapsing toward the center like quicksand.
Bai Jie found no trace of Li Jiayu's body. All that remained at the original spot was a single crystalline body that radiated pink-purple brilliance. Though not large in size, the radiance it emitted—and the profound mystery contained within—far exceeded any meteorite fragment Bai Jie had ever laid eyes on.
"Li Jiayu must have offered herself completely. I can't harvest the spiritual essence from her anymore either."
"Regardless, at least I've gained something. I just wonder how much spiritual essence this thing holds?"
Just as the pink-purple crystal was about to sink into the collapsing black earth, a strand of spider silk shot out and adhered to it.
[Moderate spiritual essence reaction detected.]
"A moderate spiritual essence reaction? But it's different from those meteorite fragments. This one actually looks like a crystal." The demon spider murmured inwardly.
With a swift tug, the crystal was drawn before Bai Jie by the silk thread.
"Lord Bai Zhi, what in the world just happened?"
Only after confirming the Dark Young had completely disappeared did Lin Binbin dare to approach. He stared in shock at the enormous crater that had formed before his eyes.
The crater's depth was still increasing. By now, Lin Binbin could no longer see the bottom.
Even Bai Jie couldn't perceive where the bottom of this abyss led. But it couldn't exactly admit it knew nothing.
Thus, the demon spider transmitted in a detached tone: "You need not know—lest you become entangled in the karma of an evil god."
In truth, Bai Jie wasn't just making this up. Gazing deeply at the gigantic crater before it, it had already begun to suspect that this might be some sort of vestige left by the Dark Fertile Mother Goddess within the human world.
Now, the night sky had returned to silence. But the noise of human voices was growing increasingly distinct—among them, the sounds of law enforcers and enforcement vehicles approaching.
"Leave this place immediately." Bai Zhi transmitted to Lin Binbin.
Right after, wrapped in spider silk and bearing the pink-purple crystal, its form vanished into the night.
"As you command!"
Lin Binbin responded. His long-held wish had been fulfilled. He knew that Li Jiayu was already gone... and had Li Jiayu not died, even more humans would likely have mutated and lost control.
Thus, aside from a sense of resolution and some faint reflection, he felt no excess emotions.
...
"Keep watch for me." The demon spider transmitted its orders.
"Understood." Lin Binbin acknowledged.
After returning to the back mountain, Bai Jie had Lin Binbin remain there until it awoke before departing—and even gave him two drops of Mutagenic Venom on top of that.
Climbing onto its spider nest, Bai Jie was not surprised to find the gold-and-white little snake snuggled up with the five spider eggs, sleeping soundly.
In the demon spider's eyes, Bai Huahua had long since transformed from a water snake into an amphibious creature, and was even not far from becoming a fully terrestrial reptile...
"Does my lair really have some kind of fragrance, making this dumb snake willing to abandon the ease of life in the water?"
"Of course, she might also just be craving my 'Mutagenic Venom.'"
Ever since Bai Jie completed its fifth evolution, it had allowed Bai Huahua to watch over the spider eggs while it was away from the nest—on the condition that she didn't eat the eggs out of hunger. Otherwise, Bai Jie would treat Bai Huahua the way one treats a corncob and gnaw her down.
The little snake, which had been soundly asleep, suddenly opened her ruby-like eyes.
"Sister Bai Zhi, you're back?"
With a slither, she shot over to the demon spider's feet.
But the demon spider was far too exhausted, showing absolutely no inclination to engage with the little snake.
This exhaustion was more spiritual fatigue than physical. Its injuries and Vitality had already recovered through Skill: Advanced Self-Healing. But the mental confusion caused by the "Corruption" curse, as well as the spiritual weakness lingering after activating "Darkest Hour," still affected it.
"Sister Bai Zhi, why did you put a rock under the 'bed'?"
"A rock? What rock?"
"This one."
The little snake fished out a flat, rectangular object—blue like a distant mountain peak—from beneath the webbing.
"...That's my phone."
"Holy sword? What holy sword?"
With a brittle crack, a fissure instantly appeared on Bai Jie's fruit-brand phone.
"Let go! Put it down! Stop biting it with your teeth!"
"Oh."
The little snake obediently set the phone onto the ground web. Bai Jie quickly shot out a strand of spider silk to reel it back and carefully inspected it.
Very soon, Bai Jie discovered that big trouble had arrived.
The cracked screen was one thing, but—
"What's going on? Why won't it turn on?"
"Wait... why is the phone all damp...?"
...
One minute later.
"Sister Bai Zhi, why are you just staring at your holy sword?"
And you have the nerve to ask. I'm trying to think of an excuse to get Lin Binbin to fix my holy sw—fix my phone.
The demon spider said coldly: "Go back to sleep. Don't bother me."
The little snake asked cheerfully: "Then can I sleep on top of Sister Bai Zhi's head?"
"No. At most, you can sleep beneath me."
"Why?"
"I'm afraid you'll wet the bed."
"Dummy Sister Bai Zhi! That was clearly just my drool! And I can't even pee!"
"If you keep making noise, go back to your pond to sleep."
"Oh."
Bai Huahua finally quieted down, obediently curling up in the space formed by the demon spider's four right legs.
...
Beneath the tree.
After receiving the "spirit fluid," Lin Binbin's vigor and spirit were instantly restored to full capacity, and his Vitality also rose to 32.
However, even more than obtaining the "spirit fluid," what delighted Lin Binbin beyond measure was that he now had the chance to be in close, extended proximity to Lord Bai Zhi.
Combined with having witnessed Lord Bai Zhi's avatar descend and unleash its divine power not long ago, Lin Binbin knew he had earned Lord Bai Zhi's trust. One might even say that he was the most favored human!
Of course, that was purely his own assumption.
Thus, while Lin Binbin stood guard with outward solemnity, his heart was in turbulent upheaval. Scenes of Lord Bai Zhi crushing the Dark Young continuously flashed through his mind.
Bai Jie paid no mind to what he was thinking. It spent a little over an hour absorbing the spiritual essence from the pink-purple crystal, then relaxed into slumber.
Here on this back mountain, one person stood watch beneath the tree, one snake lay curled beneath his legs. Silent and still, time flowed gently.
But in the East District of Yongan City, all hell had already broken loose.