Yin Xiu awoke refreshed once more to the soothing sounds of birdsong announcing the start of the new day. As he got up he casually straightened his increasingly destitute looking robes, before removing the leaves that had become entangled in his hair. Breathing in the cool autumn air he felt his mind relax for a few moments before made his way over to Hu Meng who was already awake, eating the badger beast meat that Yin Xiu had given him the day before. They nodded to each other before continuing their own things in silence. Hu Meng focusing on his breakfast, while Yin Xiu mentally prepared himself to take a risk.
'I just have to trust in Hu Meng, and defend myself when needed. If I end up getting bitten it won't be the worst outcome at least, as my physique should incorporate the venom reducing the risk by a lot... I'm a little more worried about being speared with the spiders legs though...' Yin Xiu kept going over potential contingencies in his mind when his musings were interrupted by Hu Meng.
"We should probably start making our way over, it would be beneficial to us if we can go ahead and face the enemy now. It'll stop us agonizing over it all day, and also ensure we arrive before the Spirit Herb fully matures." Hu Meng suggested reasonably.
Yin Xiu agreed with the idea starting to walk side by side with Hu Meng. While the duo navigated their way through the different zones of the forest. Neither spoke for the majority of the trip, as the gravitas of the situation weighed on them. Success would mean a possible leap in cultivation for the both of them, while failure would have potentially disastrous consequences.
Just as they entered the beautiful tableau that was the spring area, Yin Xiu finally broke the tense silence. "Hu Meng, if you do end up getting bitten by the White Dahlia spider I could possibly be able to remove the toxins. I'd have more confidence if I was able to manipulate Qi, but I believe it should be doable."
Hu Meng's expression eased slightly before he replied "That's good news at least... if the plan works well we shouldn't be fighting this thing for long, but I have a weird feeling it won't be that easy."
Yin Xiu took note of Hu Meng's intuition before smiling ruefully "Well, we've made the plan as best as we possibly could. We're entering from the side farthest away from the spider correct?"
"Yes, that should be the best option if you're going to be using yourself as bait. The more distance it has to cover, the more likely you'll be able to react in time to defend yourself if something goes unexpectedly." Hu Meng explained his reasoning as they approached the area around their target. "Alright, I'm going to lurk nearby and try and strike as hard as possible. After you distract it and I attack, try and throw your needle if you can, to give me some more room to maneuver."
Yin Xiu nodded with a serious expression show he understood what he needed to do. As he approached the route they had designated for him to enter. He took a deep breath while he steadily took steps into the field. His heart started pumping violently in his chest, as adrenaline coursed through his veins. His vision tunneled directly towards the faint glow that was barely visible through the obstruction from the various flowers that gave of a vibrant beauty even in such a tense moment. He took one last step into the interior of the field when his foot seemed to suddenly stick directly to the ground, in a flash the glowing object seemed to flash before hurtling its way towards him at an incredible speed, the spiders eight legs making disturbing clacking sounds as they hammered onto the earth.
Yin Xiu observed the opponent rushing towards him calmly as he wrenched his foot away from the ground and took only managed to make a single step backwards before the Dahlia Spider was upon him. Yin Xiu finally observed the beast in detail as it its too white forelegs down directly at his chest. The monstrous spider was eery to behold, but displayed the grace of hunter. Its eight eyes a brilliant blue which shone with a merciless light while its mandibles leaked out a deadly toxin which were poised to bite at any moment. All of which was contrasted be the beutfiul Dahlia like growths along its back, pure white with a touch of indigo interspersed along the edges.
Yin Xiu contorted himself to the side as he managed to dodge the left foreleg, and barely deflected the right which knocked the needle out of his hand in a shower of sparks, lodging itself in the ground a meter or so behind him. The air seemed to scream passed his ears after the brief collision. Unarmed and off balance, Yin Xiu's pupils shrank as the spider lunged at him once more with its mandibles approaching his head at an unimaginable speed. At just the right moment Hu Meng landed on the tigers back with a roar leaving a grievous wound along the spiders abdomen while pushing it further out of the range of the field.
*Hiiisisis CLICK CLick* the spider made an incomprehensible cry of pain as it reeled under Hu Meng's weight.
Yin Xiu leapt backwards while keeping an eye on the fight to try and grab his needle, and find the oppurunity to open a opportunity for Hu Meng to finish off the monstrous spider. By the time the needle was resting in Yin Xiu's hand once more Hu Meng had been forcibly removed from the back of the Dahlia Spider by its long forelimbs, and forcibly thrown into a large tree. Just when they thought it would continue its attack it made a move to return to the field, where it had laid its webs, which would give itself an absolute advantage over the two.
Time seemed to slow in Yin Xiu's vision as he raised his needle back, extending it beyond the limit of normal human flexibility in order to utilize more momentum, he hurled it forward through the air. The needle giving off a quiet hiss as it rapidly flew just ahead of the spider. The Dahlia Spider forcibly stopped itself as the needle was picked up in its vision. Its balance slightly effected by the forceful interruption. Preventing it from fully re-entering the field. W it managed to right itself, Hu Meng instantly caught up, diving beneath the spider's abdomen ripping it apart from the middle with a burst of strength, before coming out underneath its head.
The spider began curling up in pain as it slowly succumbed to its wounds, its previous beauty destroyed under Hu Meng's relentless assault. A few seconds passed in agony as it thrashed before its legs curled inwardly and its struggles ceased.
Yin Xiu shakily walked over to Hu Meng, as he slowly managed to calm his disordered breathing. "That was a nerve-wracking experience haha..." he laughed mirthlessly.
Hu Meng nodded in agreement "I was terrified when it almost went back into the field. If it had, I don't know if we could have continued. Speaking of which, that was a great throw, if it had continued moving forward it would have pierced its head. You haven't even practiced your throwing skills yet." Hu Meng said with a bit of admiration.
Yin Xiu scratched the back of his head awkwardly while replying "It was all instinct if I'm being honest, if you asked me to do something similar again it would definitely be impossible... Should we put this in the storage bag for now while we wait for the spirit herb to reach maturity?"
The black tiger nodded before joining Yin XIu in placing their defeated foe away with excitement. 'Its as strong as I thought, I'll definitely take a step forward once I consume it.' Saliva almost slipped out as Hu Meng speculated on how it would taste later.
Once that was done they both walked fully into the field while occasionally removing the webs that were sticking to their feet with annoyance. "We definitely would have ended up on the losing side if we fought on its home ground, The only reason I think it had even come out was because it could tell I was so much weaker than it." Yin Xiu sighed in contemplation. Yin Xiu then walked over and picked up the needle he had thrown earlier, looking at it with an unpleasant expression. His first weapon had a large crack running lengthwise along the whole thing. Yin Xiu showed it to Hu Meng, before remarking "It looks like I'll need to get a new weapon soon."
Hu Meng patted his back before suggesting, "Why don't you try, and use one of the legs off of this spider to make a new one, they seemed sharp enough." Yin Xiu nodded contemplatively while they continued on. Quickly distracting himself with the testing aroma floating off of the spirit herb.
The duo approached with greedy expressions as they both felt the abundant energy the fruits exuded. "We'll only have to wait a couple of hours at most before these are completely mature and ready to be harvested. How about I stay here to guard the plant while you go around the area and collect any more poisons you can find, before we meet back up to go home and use the spoils."
Yin Xiu readily agreed. He then spend two hours to quite thoroughly search the area, ultimately collecting five kinds of various poisonous flowers, four of which he had never seen before while the fifth was the bell shaped flower he had refined the day before. When he returned to the field he caught sight of Hu Meng sniffing the air crazily as the fruits on the plant flashed with green light rapidly as they were entering the mature stage. A tempting aroma quickly filled the air as the fruits eventually reached a total energy saturation. "Yin Xiu hurry up, and pick these things!" Hu Meng gesticulated wildly with his paws. Yin Xiu then hurriedly approached before carefully plucking all three fruits and placing them in jade boxes that they had prepared just for this purpose before they left in the morning.
The braided vine quickly withered and turned to ash after the fruits had been picked, seemingly having exhausted its life after completing its purpose.
"Let's hurry back, I'm sure that smell is going to attract some curious beast, and we already had to deal with a strong foe this morning." Hu Meng urged before they both took off rather quickly back home in high spirits. Excited to turn their new gains into strength as soon as possible.