Nonsense! How could my adopted son be a villain?

Zhou Fuying, who was hiding in the shadows, followed Xu Lingguang all the way down the mountain and saw him chatting and laughing with a skeleton the whole way before following the skeleton back to its lair.

Zhou Fuying: "..."

Before Xu Lingguang attempted to escape, he was pondering whether Xu Lingguang was faking it or genuinely hadn't realized it.

As it turned out, Xu Lingguang truly failed to see through this clumsy sleight of hand.

He was entangled by a white thread as thick as a finger and dragged helplessly into the little demon's lair.

In the present day, the ancient gods of Shangyang Continent have almost disappeared, leaving only the human and demon races standing in a tripartite balance of power.

The human race established its capital in Fufeng City, with the Human Emperor Baili Shangyang presiding over it. Beyond Fufeng City were seventy-two other cities of varying sizes, most garrisoned by generals appointed by the imperial court, but a small number were governed by powerful local sects.

For many years, the imperial court and the major sects have maintained a relationship of coexistence and cooperation while also being wary of each other. However, no one is prepared to break the current peace because outside the northern border, there are demons in the far north who are eyeing the country covetously.

The far north is adjacent to the miasma-filled Boundless Land, which is barren of resources and has a harsh climate. As a result, the demon race has always tried to cross the northern border and plunder the northern cities.

Over the past few thousand years, the two sides have fought countless battles, large and small, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries. However, the human race has always been more powerful and dominant, while the demon race has been forced to retreat to the far north.

However, the demon race possesses strange and unpredictable abilities, and some demons will always secretly cross the northern border and infiltrate mortal cities to cause trouble.

The people who kidnapped Xu Lingguang this time were clearly demons who had infiltrated Qingyu City.

The infiltrating demons should have been killed by the disciples of the Qingyu Sect. However, after Xu Lingguang's death, the Qingyu Sect fell into decline, giving these demons an opportunity to become even more rampant.

Zhou Fuying frowned as she recalled the demons who had gone to Qingyu Sect to find Song Nanchu, but still concealed her presence and sneaked in.

*

Xu Lingguang was roughly dragged into the village.

Once inside, he discovered that what appeared to be a normal village from the outside had transformed into a dark and damp cave. The cave ceiling was covered in spiderwebs, with strands of white spider silk hanging down and the ends of which were connected to terrifying skull lamps.

The warm candlelight shone through the skull's eyes, adding to the eerie and sinister atmosphere.

Xu Lingguang was suspended by spider silk, with a flickering skull lamp in front of him. He dared not look directly at the lamp, and instead looked down—

The old man who had tricked him also came in, but Xu Lingguang only noticed now that he looked very strange. The coarse cloth shorts he was wearing looked very loose, and his neck was strangely tilted to one side.

Perhaps sensing his gaze, the old man looked up, and a skeletal face revealed a sinister smile.

"..."

Xu Lingguang took a deep breath to comfort himself.

Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, if you get scared, you lose.

Having watched so many horror movies, he knew that those who screamed in terror were often the quickest to die. In such situations, one had to remain calm and collected before trying to escape.

Xu Lingguang forced back his scream, his eyes scanning the surroundings as he tried to find a way to escape. Just then, he heard a voice beside him say in a low voice, "This newcomer is quite bold; he didn't even scream."

Xu Lingguang looked in the direction of the sound and saw heads emerging from the white cocoon hanging in mid-air, staring at him.

Those heads all had dark circles under their eyes, sunken cheeks, and were emaciated, looking no better than the old skeleton below.

Seeing Xu Lingguang looking at him, the one closest to him said to Xu Lingguang, "Zhu Sanniang likes people like you the most. If you want to live, try to please her more, and maybe she can let you live a few more days."

Xu Lingguang looked at them with suppressed terror: "Are you human or ghosts?"

"If only it were a ghost." The person who spoke rolled their eyes and said weakly, "There are nineteen unlucky ghosts here in total. I am the eighteenth, and you are the twentieth."

Xu Lingguang asked, "What about the nineteenth one?"

The man's gaze fell upon a cave: "You'll see it soon enough."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Xu Lingguang smelled a strong, pungent, fishy odor. The smell was so overpowering that Xu Lingguang coughed after a few sniffs, feeling nauseous. He tried to hold his breath and suppress the nausea, but then he noticed that the person who had just been talking to him had become dull and fanatical. The cocoons hanging in the air began to struggle, and one by one, emaciated, naked men struggled desperately to emerge from the cocoons, then slid down the spider silk to the ground with inhuman agility, making obedient gestures as if they were welcoming and waiting for something.

It was only then that Xu Lingguang noticed that their abdomens were abnormally swollen, just like those of pregnant women.

The sight was so bizarre and terrifying that Xu Lingguang looked away, no longer daring to gaze, and turned towards the depths of the dark cave.

In the complete silence, he heard a sound of a hard object rubbing together coming from the depths of the cave, as well as some indescribable sounds that made his heart race and his face flush.

The sound grew closer and closer, and soon, several long, thin spider legs covered in bristles stepped out. Xu Lingguang was startled when he saw the raised pincers, and then he discovered that the huge spider's abdomen was connected to the body of a human woman.

What emerged was a woman who was half-human and half-spider.

The woman's face was not particularly beautiful, and her figure was even more robust. When her eight thick spider legs stood up, they could look Xu Lingguang, who was hanging in mid-air, at eye level.

Xu Lingguang felt a chill run down his spine from her gaze and could only politely return a forced smile.

"This is good. Tell my older sister I'm taking it."

The woman speaking was Zhu Sanniang. She looked Xu Lingguang up and down with satisfaction. The huge claws on the spider's abdomen snapped the spider silk that was holding Xu Lingguang and dragged him in front of her.

Xu Lingguang fell to the ground and smelled the strong, fishy stench emanating from the spider's claws. He finally understood where the strong fragrance mixed with the fishy smell came from—it was the body odor of these spiders.

He was dragged by Zhu Sanniang deeper into the cave. As they passed through the dark cave passage, he saw a young man lying on a stone platform in another cave. He was also pale and had sunken cheeks, but he looked much better than the men in the cocoons. On his limp arm, the word "nineteen" was branded.

Xu Lingguang strained to turn around and finally saw two half-spider-woman maids insert a thick, long bamboo tube into the man's throat, then pour orange-yellow, pea-sized spheres down the tube...

Xu Lingguang didn't get to see any more, as he was soon dragged into a deeper cave.