Volume One: The Dragon Soul Awakens Chapter 92: Wailing Phantom: Blade of Exile!!!

“What do you mean?” Mo Xing frowned, sensing something wicked in Gou Ge’s smile.

“...” Orange raised her staff.

“What do I mean?” Gou Ge burst into laughter. “You’ve all fallen for it, hahahahaha!”

“What did you do to us?” someone roared.

“You’ve been poisoned!” Gou Ge’s grin turned even more sinister. “The moment you touched those spider-silk puppets, every one of you was infected. Soon you’ll be collapsing on the ground, hahahaha!”

“Gou Ge! You... you actually betrayed us!” Mo Xing bellowed.

“Now, now, little junior brother, that’s not fair,” Gou Ge sneered. “Ever heard the saying that life comes before everything? If it means surviving, anything is worth it, haha!”

“What do you gain by standing against everyone?” Orange demanded.

“Gain? Of course there is gain!” Gou Ge laughed. “I made a fine deal with the Spider King—if I can lure you here, it will grant me freedom!”

“Damn you!” one of them shouted, dragging his weapon as he charged forward. “Die!”

“Too late for that!” Gou Ge narrowed his eyes. “The poison has already spread through your bodies. Getting angry will only speed it up!”

No sooner had he spoken than the man’s eyes rolled white and he fell flat to the ground. The others followed suit.

In the blink of an eye, only Mo Xing, Orange, and Gou Ge remained.

“You two were clever enough not to go near those spider-silk puppets...” Gou Ge laughed. “But you still got fooled by my brilliant acting, hahahahaha!”

“Gou Ge! You heartless bastard!” Mo Xing roared. “After all, we saved you!”

“No point wasting words on him!” Orange swung her staff. A red magic circle bloomed beneath her feet, and several fireballs made of blazing elemental energy crashed down from above toward Gou Ge.

Blazing Bomb!

“Earth, earth, earth!”

With a flick of his hand, Gou Ge conjured a wall of earth elemental power and spun around to flee.

“Don’t even think about running!” Mo Xing shouted. A sheet of ice formed on the ground, racing along Gou Ge’s path and freezing him in place at once.

Frozen for a Thousand Miles!

“Damn it all! That again!” Gou Ge cursed over his shoulder. Just as the ice began creeping up his body, he hurriedly cried out, “Spider King! Save me!”

At that very moment, a massive black shadow flashed by. The ice on Gou Ge’s body shattered at once, and he was yanked into the air by a strand of purple silk.

“Mmph—”

Spider silk coiled around Gou Ge from head to toe, wrapping him tight and suspending him above the cavern opening. Bound so completely, he could scarcely breathe.

“Your usefulness has been squeezed dry,” said a voice from above.

Mo Xing looked up and saw a woman hovering in the air: short gray hair swept across her forehead, dark wine-colored clothes, pale violet skin, and a thread of spider silk trailing from her back.

Spider Queen.

Mo Xing tightened his grip on his Frostless Divine Blade, cold sweat beading on his brow. He could feel that this woman was no simple foe.

Beneath that mesmerizing beauty and elegance lurked the cruelty and darkness of a deadly predator.

“Mm... why so tense? Relax,” the Spider Queen purred, brushing a finger past her lips. Her alluring eyes flickered with teasing charm. “Come on, little handsome one, little beauty—come play with me~”

“Rumble—”

A thunderous crash split the air as a bolt of lightning fell from the sky. The Spider Queen narrowed her eyes and vanished in a flash.

Lightning Strike!

“The little beauty seems rather gentle~” the Spider Queen said with a smile, her eyes gleaming with something sinister. “I didn’t expect her to strike so hard~”

“You can’t show mercy to enemies,” Orange said. She waved her staff, and a red magic circle flared beneath her feet. In midair, dozens of fireballs like falling meteors appeared.

Sea of Blazing Fire!

“I am the spider, and you...” The Spider Queen turned into a shadow and suddenly appeared behind Orange, baring sharp claws. “...are prey caught in my web~”

“Ice Pillar!”

At that instant, Mo Xing rushed in. A ring of ice pillars descended from above, blocking the Spider Queen’s ambush.

“Oh my~” The Spider Queen smiled. “I heard men are very fond of long-legged ladies. Who knew you’d be so cruel to her~”

“Quit making me sick! You’re not even a lady!” Mo Xing thundered. He swung his blade and unleashed Frost Blade, sending rows of razor-sharp ice blades surging across the ground toward the Spider Queen.

“But I have exquisite taste~” The Spider Queen smiled. To her, those ice blades could be shattered with the slightest wave of a hand.

Wait.

She suddenly realized something and glanced back just in time to be struck directly in the spine by two ice dragons.

Dragon Dance of Ice!

“Aaah—”

Before she could recover from the blow, the Frost Blade in front had already torn through her flesh.

Orange appeared behind her. Earlier, she had used Shadow Clone Technique to evade the Spider Queen’s ambush, leaving behind a decoy while her true body slipped into invisibility.

Mo Xing had no idea and had rushed over to rescue the “Orange” he saw. Meanwhile, while the Spider Queen was distracted speaking to Mo Xing, Orange had cast her ice-element spell: Dragon Dance of Ice.

“Binding of Wood!”

Orange cast again, and several green vines shot forth to bind the Spider Queen. Then she shouted, “Mo Xing, freeze her now!”

“Huh? Right!”

Mo Xing snapped back to his senses. The “Orange” behind him had dissolved into a phantom, while another Orange had appeared elsewhere, leaving him momentarily dazed—rather like a shadow clone from some ninja manga.

“Frozen for a Thousand Miles!”

Mo Xing swung his blade. The temperature around them dropped in an instant, and ice crystals raced along the vines until they spread over the Spider Queen’s body.

“Don’t think you can bind me!” the Spider Queen cried. With a shriek, she sprayed purple fluid in all directions from her body, as if shedding an outer skin. A new form was hauled upward by a strand of spider silk and broke free of the control.

“Drink my venom!”

“Damn it!” Mo Xing saw the purple poison surging toward him and quickly raised an Ice Pillar to block it, but the venom rapidly corroded the defense.

“What the hell? Is that chemical acid or what?”

Before he could finish complaining, someone yanked his arm aside.

“Purification of Light!”

Orange raised her staff, and a golden radiance burst forth. The venom in front of them was completely purified.

“Orange... Sister Orange! That move is way too broken!” Mo Xing gasped. His teammate being this powerful made him feel almost invisible.

“After all, I am one of FEIHUO,” Orange said with a faint smile.

“A six-element mage?!” The Spider Queen froze. This girl called Orange actually mastered six different kinds of magic—Lightning Strike, Sea of Blazing Fire, Dragon Dance of Ice, Shadow Clone Technique, Binding of Wood, and Purification of Light. That truly had not occurred to her.

“Something like that.”

Orange smiled. A green magic circle lit up beneath her feet, and a violent gale rose at once, converging into a fierce force that cut the spider silk behind the Spider Queen clean in two.

Gale Art!

“Damn it!” The Spider Queen bit her finger, flicked blood into the air, and shouted, “Entangle in my web!”

As her words fell, countless strands of spider silk stretched in every direction, weaving into a colossal web.

“Use fire!” Mo Xing realized suddenly.

“Fireball Spell!”

Orange waved her staff and unleashed dozens of fireballs in every direction. They crashed onto the web with thunderous force, and blazing flames roared upward.

“Every web is a masterpiece,” the Spider Queen said, stroking her delicate shoulder with a claw and smiling. “How could it burn away so easily?”

“What?!” Mo Xing stared in disbelief. The web was not only unharmed by the flames, it was spreading madly instead. At this rate, it would soon become a vast spider nest.

“Pull one string, and you can watch the dance of marionettes,” the Spider Queen said, casting out yet another screen of silk that transformed into a great swarm of spider-silk puppets. “Go on, my dear pets! Hunt them down! Offer their bodies and souls to the Ghost Cry King!”

“Frozen for a Thousand Miles!”

Mo Xing swung his blade, releasing ice crystals that sealed the enemies ahead in ice. He knew perfectly well not to touch those puppets directly, or he would end up like the others from Scarlet Moon Academy, poisoned and collapsed on the ground.

“Blizzard!”

Orange waved her staff. A blue magic circle appeared beneath her feet, snowflakes danced in the air, and soon she summoned a raging blizzard, adding another layer atop Frozen for a Thousand Miles.

“Double-layer freeze control?” the Spider Queen laughed. “Useless! My pets are unstoppable!”

Boom—

Suddenly, a massive explosion sounded from below. The Spider Queen turned alertly toward it and saw a shaft of dark light soaring up from the altar.

“Who dares touch the Ghost Cry Flowing Blade?” The Spider Queen leapt down. The strange dragon-man guarding the altar had already been dealt with, and a figure was standing at the center, preparing to pull the blade from the dais.

“Ice Water: Spinning Strike!”

Mo Xing released dozens of curved ice blades toward the Spider Queen. He could not see clearly who the figure at the altar was, or what purpose they had, but there was one saying that fit perfectly: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As long as it stopped the Spider Queen, that was enough.

“Damned thing! Don’t get in my way!” The Spider Queen roared, spat a strand of silk from her mouth, and swiftly knocked Frostless Divine Blade from Mo Xing’s hand. At the same time, she bound his whole body and dragged him downward, intending to smash him to death.

“Mo Xing!” Orange shouted. She summoned Burning Wings and dove after him.

“I’m done for! I’m swinging like a damn swing!” Mo Xing struggled with all his might, but it was useless. He was being flung around in midair like a rag doll.

Whoosh—

Suddenly, a gust of wind sliced through the air. Mo Xing felt a mighty force cut the spider silk before his eyes, and inertia sent him crashing down in the center of the altar.

“Ah, that hurts, that hurts!”

Clutching his injured shoulder, Mo Xing cried out from the ground. He laboriously подняв his head to look at the figure before him, and the pained expression on his face turned to shock.

“L-Little Ming?!”

The other person frowned as well, looking at him. Then, with a deafening crash behind them, both turned around to find the Spider Queen landing on the altar and charging toward them. Her entire body became a gigantic spider, and the fangs in her mouth screamed:

“Anyone who approaches the king’s divine weapon must die!”

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The first volume is about to draw to a close.

Today marks the ninetieth consecutive day of updates.

There are still 7,000 words left, and then the first volume, Awakening of the Dragon Soul, will come to an end. The novel will soon enter the preparation stage for the second volume, Blossoming of the Stars. During that time, I will take a break to rest and adjust, and also study relevant writing knowledge and techniques. I will return when the time is right!