The Tang Sect Crisis

Chapter 10

Devil and Immortal Spiders

(1)

The setting sun grew dim, the curtain of night was about to fall.

In the blurred and boundless twilight, the old temple seemed even more quiet and still.

Behind the temple there was a small house made of stone bricks with a little chimney on the roof belching out puffs of black smoke.

Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Now was the time to make a cookfire, and there was nothing out of the ordinary about there being someone in there cooking. Yes, someone really was cooking. The husband and wife couple who watched over the temple were people, not gods or immortals. They of course would not be ‘avoiding the food of common mortals”.

But what were they planning to eat tonight?

For sure no one could easily guess what, because the dishes they ate were not fit for human consumption.

What they were preparing to eat was a jar of venomous spiders.

× × ×

There’s nothing so special about spiders.

But there are many kinds of spiders. Some spiders are common, they appear before you all the time, even end up crawling on you. Some spiders are not only common, they don’t present any threat to humans whatsoever.

But there are some spiders that are very rare. Even if you put all your heart and soul into finding them, they still won’t be easy to find.

Of course, even if you don’t find spiders disgusting, they aren’t lovable either.

The vast majority of people avoid spiders whenever they see one, or smash them. But who would go looking for spiders?

But this old couple were spider hunters.

They had spent no less than a decade to find 999 devil spiders!

It was no easy feat to find 999 spiders, and devil spiders were especially hard to find.

Devil spiders were extremely ugly.

Spiders, those small little critters, were not good-looking to start with, and this spider was the ugliest of uglies. Anyone who saw one would feel nauseated.

But this husband and wife couple regarded devil spiders as the most valuable treasures.

This spider was often found in just one place.

Coffins.

Not empty coffins either, but corpse-filled coffins.

They didn’t eat mosquitoes, didn’t eat flies, because these spiders didn’t even have much interest in making webs.

They only liked sucking the blood from corpses’ heads.

× × ×

Were these spiders venomous?

Strange to say, they actually were not venomous. If one bit you there wasn’t much to worry about. These spiders weren’t venomous.

But what about 999 devil spiders plus a an immortal spider?

× × ×

If devil spiders are the ugliest spiders in the world, then immortal spiders are the exact opposite.

Its much larger than a devil spider, its color more dazzling and extraordinarily gorgeous.

It’s like the empress of spiders, colorful and mysterious, its bearing noble and haughty.

Compared to other spiders, the immortal spider deserves to be haughty.

Because it’s not only has a multicolored exterior, at the same timer it’s also the most venomous of venomous spiders.

Though they were all spiders, they were not friendly with other spiders.

Spiders often fought, and often there were “murder cases” because of these fights.

Even husband and wife would fight. If the husband didn’t eat up the wife, the wife would take the husband as a snack and slowly eat it up.

Spiders were savage creatures.

The immortal spider even more so.

It had the special ability to be able to methodically swallow up another spider without even having to fight it.

It could spray a mist.

A sort of “instant kill spray”, a rare poison that no vicious spider could withstand.

But devil spiders were an exception.

Though they don’t release venom whenever they bite someone, devil spiders do have a natural resistance to toxins.

Immortal spiders can kill any kind of spider, can even kill any large animal, but they are at their wits’ end with devil spiders.

Devil spiders regularly have it out with immortal spiders. They were natural enemies. Sometimes devil spiders would be bitten to death by the immortal spider, but the immortal spider was not a surefire winner. Sometimes they made mistakes and were assaulted by the devil spiders and were defeated.

In the world of small critters, defeat often meant death.

How could it not be the same with humans?

× × ×

999 devil spiders plus one immortal spider were placed into a wine jar.

Wine jars were for holding wine.

This wine jar was no exception. Though there were a lot of spiders in it, there was also wine.

Spiders couldn’t drink wine.

Even if they could, there was so much wine it would kill them just the same.

Because they were drowned to death in by the wine.

This husband and wife couple was in their little house eating supper. What they were eating was spiders cooked in wine. The wine was fragrant to begin with, but wit the spiders added the fragrance disappeared completely and turned into a an unpleasant stench. But the old couple ate it with gusto.

The old man drank wine and ate spiders, then scooped up two mouthfuls of white rice and swallowed it all.

The old woman put on a happy face. “After we’ve mastered the Devil-Immortal Spider Dharma, who in the Tang Sect would dare fight with us?”

The old man said plainly, “Yep, not even Tang Zhi’s might will be suppressed by us.”

The old woman drank wine and ate spiders.

They ate with relish. Their expressions were wicked and cheerful.

× × ×

Just as the old couple were eating spiders and drinking wine, the Battle of Shady Grove concluded.

The Han Family Escort Agency put everything it had into the battle.

But Tang Zhi had planned for this and was determined for his Shady Grove plan to work.

Han Xiang didn’t have a resounding reputation in the jianghu, but Xu Qiaozhi had not misjudged him. He really was a martial arts master.

And then there was Liang Ping. His skill with a knife was equally strong.

But unfortunately the Evil Sect was much stronger. In addition to the twelve halfmasked blackclothers, there were also dark path masterhands lying in low in the grove who suddenly came out to fight.

The battle was extraordinarily violent.

In the end the Han Family Escort Agency suffered its first critically serious setback.

Han Xiang was wounded.

Liang Ping fought bravely but was tragically speared to death.

Not one of the four escorts managed to survive.

More than half of the runner were also killed. Only as remaining few fled in disorder.

Xu Qiaozhi fought hard against Tang Zhi for more than a 100 moves, but in the end he couldn’t defend anymore and was hit with a palm strike.

It was a poisoned palm and its poison had already begun to take effect.

× × ×

After drinking a jar of wine, sounds of “Your fuckin’ granny’s a bear” lingered

This was the House of Tang.

Not the Tang Sect of Shu but the Hangzhou House of Tang.

The Tang family father and son went back to Hangzhou at the same time but soon parted company once again.

Old Tang went to go catch ghosts.

Tang Zhuquan was interested in “catching ghosts” as well, but Old Tang ordered him to return home at once, because the Tang family needed Tang Zhuquan to hold down the fort.

Tang Zhuquan went back to the Tang residence with Long Chengbi and Wei Kongkong.

They had just got back home when Xu Qiaozhi and Han Xiang arrived, wounded.

Han Xiang was crestfallen. He just kept saying over and over, “Finished, finished.”

Tang Zhuquan looked at him.

Han Xiang said again, “Everything’s finished.”

Tang Zhuquan couldn’t help but roar, “If you want to be finished then might as well go hang yourself now, or go fall in a well or slit your wrists. Don’t stay here and suffocate you old man to death!”

Han Xiang’s expression was wooden, as if he had no reaction to that at all.

His his “finished” did cease.

He had three wounds on his body, the one on his left leg from a spear jab was the worst. The speartip had nearly broken his femur.

Xu Qiaozhi reclined in an armchair, his face deathly pale.

Tang Zhuquan had his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth,. Suddenly he clenched his teeth and said, “Shi Jiugong, that old cu…”

He only said it partway, then stopped.

Actually he wasn’t “saying” it, he was “cursing” it.

What he wanted to curse was, “Shi Jiugong, that old cuck, why isn’t he here yet?”1

In fact, Shui Jiugong had been on his way to Hangzhou to reinforce Xu Qiaozhi, but as luck would have it, the horse he was riding suddenly fell ill.

Shi Jiugong could have gotten there already even without using his lightness skill, but he was an “enthusiastic doctor” and had to treat his horse before he hurried on to Hangzhou.

So he was late and Xu Qiaozhi was wounded.

By the time Shi Jiugong arrived at the main hall of the Tang residence, Tang Zhuquan was in the middle of cursing him.

But once Shi Jiugong suddenly showed up, Tang Zhuquan stopped himself.

Shi Jiugong hmphed and glared at Tang Zhuquan. “If this old fellow is an old tortoise then you’re the son of a tortoise, you tortoise egg…”

Tang Zhuquan couldn’t help but fume, “Alright alright, what else you got?”

Shi Jiugong went “Bah” and kept on cursing him, “By the looks of you I’d say you’re simply a pile of tortoise shit!”

Tang Zhuquan brandished his fist and nearly came to blows with Shi Jiugong.

But then his expression suddenly relaxed and dropped the fist that wanted to beat someone up.

“Your old man isn’t going to squabble with you.” Tang Zhuquan was panting with rage. “Hurry up and treat Valleylord Xu. If anything happens to him, your old man guarantees you’ll crawl out of here with your leftovers!”

Not walk out of here but “crawl” out.2

This mouth on the Tang family’s eldest young master sometimes really made his belly explode with rage.

Although Shi Jiugong’s belly didn’t explode, his eyeballs nearly bulged out of his head.

Had Xu Qiaozhi not been wounded, the first one Shi Jiugong would have dealt with would have been Tang Zhuquan.

× × ×

Xu Qiaozhi had been hit by a poisoned palm, and hid injury was not slight.

If he had not had several miracle drugs on him and if his medical skills had not been proficient, he might have died in Hangzhou.

But he was still in a dangerous state now. Luckily Shi Jiugong had finally arrived.

When Shi Jiugong examined Xu Qiaozhi’s injury, he couldn’t help but heave a long sigh.

Tang Zhuquan couldn’t help but ask, “Is his life in danger?”

Shi Jiugong said coldly, “Valleylord Xu is infinitely blessed, how could his life be in danger?”

Tang Zhuquan hmphed but said nothing.

Long Chengbi couldn’t help but laugh to himself.

Xu Qiaozhi’s injury was not slight, yet with Shi Jiugong here, there was always a way to save him.

Because of this, the enmity between the Evil Sect and Healer Valley would of course grow deeper and deeper. The Evil Sect would not let Healer Valley off, and Healer Valley would also strike back at the Evil Sect in retaliation.

(2)

With the sun set, the night was as black as the the black coffin inside the coffin home.

This black coffin had only recently placed inside the coffin home.

Till now it had been brand new.

But the dead person inside the coffin suddenly vanished after its second day at the coffin home.

Turned to a zombie?

No, this corpse hadn’t undergone any changes aside from soon decaying.

The body had been ousted and then put into a neighboring coffin.

In other words, this black coffin didn’t have a body in it, and another coffin had two bodies stuffed in there.

Whose work was this?

In fact it was the masterpiece of the only remaining coffin home night watchman.

He had only one aim in emptying out this black coffin.

He fancied this coffin and took over this coffin as his resting place.

× × ×

Whether or not there were ghosts in the coffin home was one thing, but the night watchman’s actions were really on another level entirely.

He slept during the day and slept in the coffin.

At night he crawled out of the coffin and walked back and forth throughout the coffin home like a spirit.

Coffin home night watchmen were generally alcoholics.

They were used to being surrounded by death, but wine gave courage and made the time pass quicker.

It’s easy for a tipsy person to kill time. Maybe their sense of time was flushed away by the alcohol.

But this coffin home night watchman never drank alcohol.

For sure he didn’t drink strong liquor, but not even a drop of weak, watered-down wine would touch his lips.

He only liked to drink tea, brewed with local mountain spring water.

The night watchman was called He Kuan. His appearance was ordinary. He looked like any regular old man.

But was He Kuan a regular old man?

Of course not.

His hands were pitifully emaciated, yet could wring someone’s neck at any time, and the flesh of the victim’s neck would resemble rotten tofu afterwards

The other coffin home night watchman had been strangled to death by He Kuan.

That old night watchman didn’t know martial arts, but he never dreamed that He Kuan was a hidden martial world masterhand!

× × ×

He Kuan’s real name of course was not He Kuan.

His original surname wasn’t He, but Tang.

He was the former head steward of the Tang Sect of Shu, Tang Zhengbang.

Tang Zhengbang’s nickname was “Poison Spirit.”

If the Tang Sect of Shu had not had Tang Zhengbang in the family, the clan’s reputation within the jianghu would be much better than it currently was.

Regrettably, there were very few people as adept at using poisons as Tang Zhengbang was who didn’t have a venomous heart.

Not only the Tang Sect of Shu, every major family of the jianghu had similar situations.

But once Tang Baixiao became the head of the Tang Sect of Shu, Tang Zhengbang suddenly mysteriously vanished.

No one knew why he had disappeared.

Only Tang Zhi knew.

Tang Zhengbang and Tang Baixiao could not coexist in the clan. They were too prejudiced against each other.

Tang Zhi didn’t lose the chance to use Tang Zhengbang. He found Tang Zhengbang and did his best to persuade him to join the Evil Sect.

Tang Zhengbang agreed.

There were two others who joined the Evil Sect in addition to Tang Zhengbang, a couple who had earlier left the Tang Sect of Shu. They were the old couple at the temple.

× × ×

It was not far from the Tang House of Hangzhou.

Tang Zhi had long since deployed his huge plan.

His speedy deployment was multifaceted.

He would not let this opportunity pass by, and he would not let off anyone who opposed him.

In his mind, there were only two kinds of people in the world:

—Those who weren’t friends were enemies.

He only had one principle in dealing with enemies:

—Either you die or I die.

His ultimate ideal was:

—Kill all dissenters, I alone am supreme.

The Evil Sect had been established with his own hands. In using the word “evil” in his sect’s name it was not hard to imagine how wildly bold he was.

The old husband and wife couple eating spider wine behind the temple, when it came to seniority, were not below Tang Zhi.

The old man was Tang Zhi’s younger cousin, called Tang San.

Tang San was just one year younger than Tang Zhi. But Tang San’s wife, Mo Huizhen, was older than Tang Zhi.

Tang San’s marriage had been vehemently opposed by the old head of the Tang Sect of Shu.

But opposing it had done no good.

Tang San was a very rebellious person. He was not afraid of anyone.

In the past, the old head of the Tang Sect had opposed his marriage to Mo Huizhen because Mo Huizhen was a demoness of the greenwood. She had committed many crimes and used savage methods to do them that made people bristle with anger.

Even though the Tang Sect of Shu’s reputation in the jianghu was not good, the old head of the Tang Sect still stood by his view.

He believed that a bad reputation could be rehabilitated. He was prepared to change the jianghu’s impression of the Tang Sect of Shu within the next 30 years.

But his ideal was never realized as he died suddenly sick on his deathbed.

Tang San didn’t get along well with people in the Tang Sect of Shu. He didn’t just not get along with them, he was nasty toward them.

He really was a very difficult person to get along with.

In the end, he and his wife left the Tang Sect and ventured out in the world.

They had once formed their own underworld gang.

But this gang was not successful. Five years after it was founded, it was dealt a heavy blow by the Eight Major Schools of the jianghu, and Tang San and his wife were seriously wounded.

For many years Tang San and his wife had been unable to practice martial arts and their skill had regressed considerably.

Until a few years ago when their condition took a turn for the better, but they had already squandered several years.

Tang Zhi never overlooked anyone who was useful to him, so he recruited them again and had them join the Evil Sect.

The old temple was a branch of the Evil Sect established near Hangzhou.

On the surface it looked as if people rarely came around there. Aside from the dead at the coffin home there was just the old night watchman and the old couple in the temple.

But in fact this was not the case.

Behind the temple and the coffin house there was a mysterious cave that harbored many Evil Sect masterhands!

× × ×

Tang San and his wife may have joined the Evil Sect, but they hadn’t forgotten about the gang they had established before.

They were like Tang Zhi in that they did not abide by the laws.

Over the last decade, they had been searching all over for devil spiders and immortal spiders and had finally completed production of their spider wine.

This was their only way to cultivate their Devil-Immortal Spider Dharma.

Their cultivation of the Devil-Immortal Spider Dharma was a secret.

A very big secret.

They could absolutely not let Tang Zhengbang know, and they really couldn’t let Tang Zhi know.

Tang Zhengbang’s heart was venomous, but Tang Zhi’s was even more venomous.

And Tang San and his wife’s?

How could they be good people?

× × ×

The spider wine was all drank up.

Not only was the wine gone, the 999 devil spiders and the immortal spider were parceled out and now in Tang San and his wife’s stomachs.

Tang Sang and his wife smiled cunningly.

The Devil-Immortal Spider Dharma was a supremely evil, supremely poisonous martial art. One month from now, they would have it mastered.

Cultivating this martial art was not too difficult.

The hardest part was just finding the spiders.

Just as they were smiling proudly at each other, there was a sudden booming knock on the door.

Tang San’s face sank.

He immediately rushed outside and fumed, “Who is it?”

Around the corner came an ice-cold laugh.

The person said coldly, “I’m your neighbor.

“Tang Zhengbang?”

“That’s right.” A spirit-like person slowly walked out from around the corner. He had two thick ropes in his hands.

This person had no color in his face at al, but his lips were a dark bloodred.

It sure enough was Tang Zhengbang!

The ropes in Tang Zhengbang’s hands were pulling two heavy objects.

They were coffins. Two battered, old coffins that were beginning to mildew. There were several words written on the coffins.