Chapter 576: Dredging

The Swordsman had targeted his attack at the edge of the swamp.

Once they knew what they were dealing with, they could search out spots hidden below the surface where the web had been anchored. With how large the Swamp Genesis Spider was and how big the web it built was, it would need an equally strong place to attach the edges. The giant spider had to dig tunnels under the surface of the water and fill them with webbing like making its own sticky stakes. With all the mud and debris that accumulated in the swamp, within a few weeks the signs of the spider’s web were already minimal. This particular swamp had likely been around for years, so without knowing what they were looking for the cultivator’s would have never noticed it.

The man’s sword had been targeted at the most important part. The spider had chosen to place its web in what had once been a bay, and the most structurally significant places were the points of the web that ‘sealed’ up the bay, stretching from shore to the other. Not only would it be subjected to the fiercest pressure from the tides, but it was also supporting one side of the web. The other anchors were spread equally around the edges of the bay, so their load was much less. On top of supporting the edge of the web and facing the sea, there was also another web placed in a vertical position, dropping to the bottom of the bay like a net. At this spot the web was many feet thick, with dozens of rope sized strands of silk woven together into a massive support line.

Attacks from hundreds of Cultivators had caused the whole web to ripple and sway back and forth. The immense weight of the Living Disaster moving towards the center and stomping the whole way gave the web a bouncing momentum. Like a trampoline that didn’t want to stretch, it was reluctantly forced to flex to keep from breaking. The spider silk wanted to keep its shape, but when forced it stretched out. The sort of stretch that wasn’t elastic, the threads getting pushed longer and longer, giving even more room for it to shift and creating more room to cause damage. The Swordsman’s blade passed through the water and the thick support, facing no resistance. There was a snapping sound, but the web was too thick for just one cut and the man’s face twisted. Then he made another swipe with his sword and leapt backwards. The others saw his action and with a delayed reaction they all fled from the water’s edge.

Nearly half of the giant web had suddenly been freed, the loss of the major support spread the weight to the nearby anchors and they snapped or were torn out of the ground as well. The tide net had anchors on the sides of the bay, but those were snapped as well as the whole side of the web fell downwards. With the giant turtle near the center of the web as well as the mass of the mud and trees of the swamp, with that pillar of support severed, a chain of failures quickly followed. The giant turtle was stomping up and down to make such a thing happen, but it also didn’t quite realize exactly what it was doing. The water level rose up its legs and it started to move, but it was already too late. The giant tortoise shrieked weakly and let out a jet of flame into the sky. The cold water was the antithesis of its fiery stone body.

Unfortunately, the tortoise was not defeated so easily. Instead of sinking beneath the water, the peak of the mountain upon its back stayed above the surface. It leaned its head back and stretched its neck upwards, keeping its nose above water. The bay was just not deep enough. It shifted around for a few minutes and then it rose upwards coming partway up the shell. Even deep as it was here, the peak of the tortoise’s shell rose to two thousand feet. As close as they were to the shore, it was still not easy to submerge a whole mountain without heading to the deeper sea.

The giant tortoise smashed around in the water for a while, taking out its moment of fear upon the seabed. During this time that the web was failing and the tortoise was sinking, the Fu Clan hadn’t been idle. They spread out across the mouth of the bay. The Nascent Soul’s black smoke had formed into a bridge like line, spanning the entrance to the sea and creating a pier for his clansmen to stand on. At least temporarily. After spreading out, they began to take out various magical tools to support them. Some of them took out small boxes that expanded into large wooden rafts. Others had large inflatable spheres which they attached together with ropes to create buoy platforms. They grouped up together on these watercraft, but the vast majority of them had individual devices. Some had expanding flippers and dove into the water, but the most elite of them had boots that glowed with energy, allowing them to walk upon the water.

The Fu Clansmen had their eyes turned down towards the water and they took out even more magical tools to assist them in seeing beneath the surface. By the time the tortoise had finally acclimated to the water and stomped around for a few minutes, the Nascent Soul of the Fu Clan had started to curse. His subordinates had already vacated his smoke bridge before it dissipated so he could throw a new line of smoke and run back across it to the shore. The other leaders had already gathered again, with the exception of Whitestaff who was still riding on the tortoise’s head.

“Did you find him?”

Hei Bai couldn’t help herself, burning with desire for revenge. The masked Fu man shook his head. The lower half of his face was covered by his mask, but there were frustrated wrinkles apparent between his brows as he spoke, “Nothing. We didn’t find a thing.”

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“Even if that spider is large, the bay is larger. Maybe it dug out a den beneath the surface?”

“I’ve already got divers heading down to search, but our detection techniques haven’t found anything.”

The Yincha woman and the Fu Clansmen took to ignoring Hei Bai again and consulting with one another. The old woman was not pleased, but they cared little for her at this time. To the side, the Swordsman was calm, he’d done his part already. It had taken a good bit of his power to make those two slashes. He was a warrior, so he wasn’t in the mood to start trawling the bottom of the sea. He let the two of them figure it out.

The Yincha woman frowned and then she took out a Messaging Jade. Then she looked to the masked man again, “I’ve informed Whitestaff. She said she can still feel Lang Sheng beneath them, but that the feeling is growing weaker.”

“The sea can’t block her power, can it? It must be the distance. Is there really a passage down there? Oh no…”

The woman seemed to realize at the same time, “Nascent Soul. Damn. We forgot. They’re much more resistant to the Yang energy of the world than other spirits. That punk is just sinking into the ground.”

The man shook his head, “Its only a temporary setback. Once he gets deep enough into the ground, the Yang energy of Earth Flames will stop him. He can’t possibly escape us, Whitestaff can sense his soul. He’s just wasting our time.”

The Swordsman finally chimed in, “That settles it then. Get all of our people searching the seabed. That spider is enormous, it should be easy to find the path that can fit that monster inside, right?”

Hei Bai suddenly frowned. She couldn’t help but think that was just the sort of statement that would jinx them!

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