Chapter 2277 — So That Was It, Part 1

The Heaven-Rank Spider was somewhat surprised. It had never told Wei Zhao and the others in which direction of the mountain range the natural treasures were produced, yet the Heaven-Rank Thunder Pig had pointed out the approximate direction precisely! So at this moment it was all the more convinced that the Thunder Pig truly possessed real ability!

"Let us go over and take a look together," the Heaven-Rank Spider thought, and its attitude toward Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan grew considerably friendlier. It believed they genuinely wished to help it.

"Agreed!" Wei Zhao nodded and said, without ever entertaining the thought of escape. After all, these spiders' so-called "Heaven-and-Earth Net" was rather terrifying, and fleeing from that great net would be extremely difficult.

The Heaven-Rank Spider went in person, bringing along several Mystic-Rank spiders, and together with Wei Zhao and Sun Jingyan, they followed the Heaven-Rank Thunder Pig at a quick pace toward the direction it indicated.

Looking at the numbers of the spider clan, Wei Zhao found it hard to imagine that under such lopsided conditions of population, the Fire Lion clan could actually be a match for the spider clan and even be evenly matched... Most likely, the spiders' offensive capability was comparatively weak while that of the Fire Lion clan was comparatively strong, and this was precisely what had created the situation in which neither clan could do anything about the other!

The key was that the natural treasures here were limited. Those in the same trade are rivals, and one mountain cannot hold two tigers, so small skirmishes were certainly ceaseless. This Fireflow Divine Bomb was perhaps the weapon for breaking that great net, but Wei Zhao had only one left, and he did not think he could escape the siege of so many spiders.

As the Heaven-Rank Thunder Pig walked farther and farther, the Heaven-Rank Spider grew more and more astonished, for the direction the Thunder Pig was traveling was precisely where the natural treasures that the spider clan needed grew!

Yet astonished as it was, the Heaven-Rank Spider grew increasingly worried at heart. Since the Thunder Pig had found the place where these natural treasures were produced, but had not found the place where the natural treasures currently were, what was the reason for that?

After all, the natural treasures here had already been harvested, and along with them the Heaven-Rank Spider's son, the little spider, had vanished without a trace! The Heaven-Rank Spider had also sent its subordinates to search back and forth along this path many times, yet had found no sign of the little spider!

"Along this path, I have sent my subordinates to search back and forth many times, and have found no trace of my son," the Heaven-Rank Spider said to the Thunder Pig. It spoke in human tongue throughout, so that Wei Zhao could understand as well.

"Ji ji..." The Thunder Pig, however, shook its head and made a response to the Heaven-Rank Spider, meaning for it not to make noise and to be patient for a moment!

A spirit beast at the peak of the late Mystic Rank was actually treating a Heaven-Rank spirit beast this way. At any ordinary time, the Heaven-Rank Spider would long since have flown into a rage, but now it had no choice but to obey the Thunder Pig and await its next judgment.

The Thunder Pig arrived at the place where the natural treasures were produced. It was a great tree, its fruit already plucked, yet the Thunder Pig still lingered here for quite a while, carefully sniffing the scents of the place for a long time, then suddenly turned around and headed off in another direction!

That way lay a steep cliff. The Thunder Pig's destination left the Heaven-Rank Spider, Wei Zhao, and the others all bewildered. Could it be that the little spider had fallen off the cliff?

But clearly that was impossible. The Heaven-Rank Spider was the first to reject the notion. Its clan could spin silk, and no matter how deep the cliff, they could climb back up by continuously spitting thread. This was precisely why it had never sent anyone to keep watch over the cliff side.

Yet the Thunder Pig, having come to the edge of the cliff, pointed down below it and squealed "ji ji" without cease.

"What? You mean to say my son fell off the cliff?" the Heaven-Rank Spider asked in bewilderment.

"Ji ji..." The Thunder Pig nodded.

"Are you certain?" The Heaven-Rank Spider was somewhat disinclined to believe the Thunder Pig's words, yet the fact that the Thunder Pig had tracked all the way from the spider clan's territory to this place compelled it to credit the creature's ability to find treasures and lost things.

"Ji ji..." This time the Thunder Pig was somewhat impatient.

"Very well!" The Heaven-Rank Spider nodded and said to its subordinates, "Spin a net! We go down together to take a look!"

For these spiders to descend the cliff, there was no need to spin a net; a single thread would carry them down. But Wei Zhao, Sun Jingyan, and the Thunder Pig could not manage that. Though Wei Zhao's strength would have allowed him to descend on his own, why refuse a ready-made great net "cable car" when one was offered?

The Heaven-Rank Spider went down first, while Wei Zhao and the others descended seated upon the great net formed by the other spiders. But no sooner had they reached the bottom of the valley than they heard a cry of alarm from the Heaven-Rank Spider! For amid a rubble of shattered stone, it had found the little spider!

At this moment the little spider was pinned beneath a heap of rocks, unable to move. Seeing the Heaven-Rank Spider and the others come to rescue it, it immediately began to whimper and cry out!

This little spider seemed to have little strength and no offensive power to speak of. But that was only natural: the spider clan relied chiefly on spinning nets to ensnare their enemies, and their strength was not especially great. The little spider in particular, with strength only at the early Yellow Rank, could certainly not have much force. No wonder that once pinned beneath a heap of rubble, it could not get out.

At the Heaven-Rank Spider's command, the spiders that had followed quickly worked together to shift the rubble away, and the little spider was rescued. It was only that several of the little spider's legs had been crushed and injured by the stones, so for the moment it could not walk.

And the reason the little spider had fallen off the cliff was now made clear as well.

It turned out that the little spider had spotted a natural treasure at the cliff's edge and wanted to pick it on the way back. But who could have foreseen that the rocks at the cliff's edge were loose, and the thread the little spider spun failed to hold, instead dragging the loosened rocks down with it. And so the little spider fell to the bottom of the cliff, its body pinned beneath the rubble and several of its legs injured, so that naturally it could not struggle free on its own...

So the matter had been that simple all along, yet the spider clan had overlooked the cliff and searched only the nearby mountains, so naturally they could never have found any trace of the little spider!

Only, when the Heaven-Rank Spider glanced at the natural treasure the little spider had been picking at the cliff's edge, a shadow of gloom flickered across its eyes, as though it were somewhat troubled.