Chapter 379 – Meeting the Spider Queen (1/2)

Li Qingshan sighed emotionally. Without the civil engineering of the school of Mohism, only otherfolk had the ability to build such structures, and only daemons had the patience for it.

On the outskirts of Cobweb city, the relatively flatter surface below the mountain formed an extremely complicated urban area. The structures of night roamers rose and fell endlessly.

There actually were no streets designed. Li Qingshan felt like he was crossing through a series of buildings. The space was completely sealed up there.

Black rain pitter-pattered against the roofs. That was the only sound here. There were not even whispering conversations like in Blacklustre city. The only thing they exchanged were gestures and aura or the points of their daggers.

The night roamers here were clearly much more powerful than those in Blacklustre city. Shadows flickered passed him silently, and they would even pass by a matriarch like Ye Mingzhu without any acknowledgement.

“Isn’t this the territory of the Shadow Spider clan?” Li Qingshan’s voice disturbed a huge region. Pairs of eyes gazed over in the darkness, as if he had done something unprecedented, but they were slightly hostile too. Only when they spotted the pair of horns on his head did they look away.

“This is a mixed region of the outskirts. You can find people of every single clan here.” Ye Mingzhu still chose to communicate through her aura.

Apart from their usual business, the main priority of the night roamers who resided here was to find opportunities to assassinate night roamers of other clans. This was a battlefield of assassins. Every night roamer only had the right to enter the inner city and become a middle level member of their clan once they had gone through the test of this place. “They sure don’t have a lot to do.” They clearly hated each other to the core, yet they just had to choose to reside together. He could imagine a scene that came right out of a book occur here—Among the stall owners, the craftsmen, the pedlars, and the children, they all suddenly draw their weapons and try to kill you.

They sure were pitiful to be born as night roamers, but it was rather funny too. Spider Queen Lolth’s scheming was probably not everything. The inherent, dark nature of night roamers was at work as well!

Only after entering the inner city did the situation take a turn for the better. The clans were divided into a few major regions. Of course, every corridor and hall was still filled with killing intent and unease.

Walking around inside Cobweb city, Li Qingshan marvelled at the grandeur and detail of the structures. Every rock seemed to have been carefully polished by a craftsman before undergoing long periods of wear and use, allowing them to become even smoother and more stately.

Li Qingshan was very curious about what the Spider Queen would be like as someone who reigned over this region. Could she see through his mirror clone? Should he tell her about what had happened to the three elders?

His various questions were all waiting to be answered.

The only thing that brought him relief was that daemons were unable to replicate the complicated administrative formalities of humans. Ye Mingzhu’s request to see the Spider Queen was passed along very quickly.

Climbing up the spiral staircase, they arrived at a higher level in Cobweb city before passing through a long, twisted pathway. A stone door opened silently, and a huge, trapezoid terrace unfurled before Li Qingshan. It stood like a cliff, or more accurately, it had always been a cliff.

A woman with a long, red dress that dragged along the ground stood by the edge of the cliff with her back towards them. Only when Li Qingshan approached her did she turn around, revealing her magnificent appearance.

However, the first thing that Li Qingshan felt was not magnificence, but undisguised, venomous cruelty. Her lips were scarlet red, like she had just drunk human blood, and her eyes seemed to ripple with venom.

Humans, no matter how wicked they were, would still try desperately to mask this. They would find various excuses to complain about the degeneration of human nature in the darkness of society, or mention opinions that sounded very philosophical to justify their actions. The thought processes of both geniuses and madmen would always be bound to the stigmas of the society. There were no exceptions.

She was not. She had no sense of morality, no humanity. She did whatever she wanted. Apart from power, she was not shackled by anything, forming true, undisguisable wickedness.

Even in human form, living in human-sized structures, she was still a huge, brightly-coloured spider. She was just smarter, stronger, and even more vicious, dwelling at the centre of her web and quietly awaiting the arrival of prey.

However, none of this damaged her bearing that was as noble as a queen. Instead, it gave her a strange charm that humans did not possess.

Li Qingshan felt like he had experienced this before. The figure he thought of was actually Gu Yanying. Yes, that was acting without restraint, absolute freedom. Had he fallen in love at first sight back then exactly because of being drawn to this bearing, desiring to break free from all shackles?

“Are you the new Daemon General? What’s your name?”

The person who asked this was not the Spider Queen. Only then did Li Qingshan notice the existence of three Daemon Generals by her side.

One of them was a pale, handsome man with a cloak. He had short, messy hair and sunken eyes, which immediately made Li Qingshan think about vampires that appeared in legends.

One of them was a bald man swollen with muscles. He stood as tall as two men and his body seemed to flow with endless strength. A mighty battle intent flowed from his eyes constantly.

The last one was an old man with a hunched back. He was extremely thin and small. As he sat there, he bent over like he was giving way to a huge burden. The hunch that bulged through his clothes became his most prominent feature. Every single movement from him was very slow, and even his voice was extremely slow. Li Qingshan had already taken three breaths in the time it took for him to finish asking the questions.

Every single one of them was a unique, distinct existence, but Li Qingshan had almost missed them as they stood behind the Spider Queen. From the moment he stepped onto the terrace and spotted her, before he had even seen her appearance, his heart had already become entranced by the bright-red smear in the darkness.

Of course, he was no longer the same kid from the mountains anymore. He immediately composed himself. He just wondered whether he would have fallen in love at first sight too if she was the one he saw instead.