Crap! Feng Ming thought, bringing up his Magma God’s Spear. He could barely hold the thing, and it took everything he had to mobilize his qi to block the incoming swords. He executed a single technique: Magma God’s Thrust. A spray of lava accompanied the spear strike toward the swords, just barely deflecting them away from him. Those that weren’t deflected luckily avoided any vitals, cutting him only shallowly in the process. He didn’t have time to worry about those small wounds, however. He braced himself, grunting in pain as the king’s main sword, clearly a transcendent treasure, struck the Magma God’s Spear. The red-hot spear, which had survived months against the Taotie, cracked. Then, the crack widened, and the entire spearhead broke.
“Damn it!” Feng Ming cried out. His spear exploded, and the molten explosion forced back the remaining swords. It also forced him and several spiders through the rift. He used the momentum to accelerate his retreat. The king and the lady didn’t follow. They were clearly distracted by the larger spider and the incoming swarm.
The city was a disaster. Nearly a third of the palace was in ruins, with soldiers sifting through the rubble. The northern streets were filling up with deadly miasma and spiders, which the army and the city guard were collaborating to take out. To the west, a fire was burning where Gong Xuandi was fighting. And to the south, there was an unexpected fire. No, not a fire. Smoke was rising from an intact building. Was it a trick of the light?
To the west, an even more terrifying presence was approaching. Dozens of experts were fighting it, slowing it as it crawled desperately toward civilization and the energy it desperately craved. Transcendents stood by, worried about inserting themselves in the conflict, but bitterly acknowledging that if they didn’t do anything about it, all would be lost.
Only one word could describe the city’s situation: chaotic.
“Chaos is cash,” Feng Ming muttered, flying over to the northern section of the palace. Conflicts in four different locations meant that the palace, and therefore, the treasury, was lightly guarded. Now all he needed to do was guess the combination. He was good at guessing.
“Heavens above, I hate spiders,” Bear One muttered, hiding in a hastily carved-out hole from the spider swarm that had appeared out of nowhere. He and his group, the new Bears Two through Five, had been preparing to go out with the next quake. Unexpectedly, it hadn’t come from the canyon—it had come from the wall itself.
The new Bear Four, a spindly, jovial man, was cut down before they could even react. They were all body cultivators, yes, but how did you deal with a sudden intensification in the life-leaching aura, combined with a dozen fatal wounds to the head? You didn’t, it seemed.
Fortunately, Bear One was a fast thinker. He recalled Bear Six’s—or whatever his real name was—warning and slapped a protective talisman on his arm and on the remaining three bears. It was a good move, it seemed, as the spiders began avoiding them from then on.
They’d been cowering in their hole ever since. No sense rocking the boat. Lying low was definitely the best course of action, though they’d have a tough time explaining exactly how they’d survived the onslaught.
“Who would have thought there’s be so many spiders underground,” Bear Two said, shaking his head. “You only see a dozen or so every quake. But here, there are thousands. Tens of thousands.”
Bear Three scoffed. “You ever seen a spider’s nest?”
Bear Two shook his head.
“Spiders have sacs. They have thousands of little babies, and carnivorous ones are even worse. Why, I’ve seen mortal spiders the size of my fist dragging goldish out of a pond, then draggin’ ’em back to their younglings. Gone in three hours, tops.”
Bear Two’s eyes widened.
“We can all relax for now,” Bear One said. “We are safe, and the spiders are gone. We’ve got a hole to hide in, and hours to spare until we have to return. Besides…” He sniffed. “The life-leaching isn’t so bad right now. We might even have a whole day.”
Bear Five, an obese but strong man, trudged up to the wall beside where Bear One was lying. He sat down on the ground, which let out a soft tremor. Bear Five was an odd one. He was dreadfully daft, but results couldn’t be ignored. Something about his big bones made it so he could never retract his gravity field, which was many times stronger than normal. While that didn’t mean much for everyone else, it meant that his every movement bore his entire strength. He was also much stronger than any marrow-refining cultivator Bear One had ever seen, and he could dig like the devil himself.
“Time to rest,” Bear Five said, shutting his eyes.
Bear One flinched and ducked to the side as Bear Five, blissfully unaware of the impact he had on his surroundings, rested on the mountain wall. It collapsed inward. The other bears cursed, but Bear One ignored them.
“Look at what we have here,” Bear One said, pleasantly surprised. Bear Five was out cold, since he’d decided to sleep and nothing anyone did could convince him otherwise. The other two bears, however, saw what Bear One saw. A glittering treasure trove, dozens of different colors. Ores, gemstones, and all sorts of goodies lay just beyond the fragile shell he’d managed to collapse.
“Taking that man in was the best decision I have ever made,” Bear One muttered, making his way into the treasure trove. He glanced up and noticed the others weren’t following. “Heavens above, you damned lazy louts had better get yourselves moving, or so help me god, I am going to give you the beating of a lifetime.”
He looked to Bear Five, who was still sleeping, and gave him a good kick. “You too. You’re not
