Chapter 2277 — So That Was It, Part 1
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 3
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.