172 Chapter 170 - Early Retreat
"I'm okay," Ao Wen reassured Feng Xi with a squeeze. "I think my head hit the ground when I fell, that's all."
"It didn't feel like that was all," Feng Xi disputed. "You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
"Just a headache," Ao Wen said, waving off her lover's concern. "Jin? How's your shoulder? Let me take a look," she said to the young Soldier as she borrowed Feng Xi's help to stand.
"I'm fine," Tang Jin said weakly. "It only got my left side so I can still fight. I just wrenched my arm a bit back there," he added with a smile that was clearly forced as he attempted to demonstrate that he was still capable.
"You don't sound like you're fine," Ao Wen said, walking over to Tang Jin and grabbing his hand to take his pulse. "This isn't all from the injury though," she said. Tang Jin's energy circulation had become disordered and chaotic. A storm of rage had poured through him but he'd refused to allow it to take over his rationality. In doing so, he was able to pull Ao Wen back from danger and create an opening for Feng Xi to kill the Dark Weaver Spider but once the spider had died, his rage was left without a target. "I have something for you," she said, drawing a small porcelain vial out of her cosmos sack. "You'll like this one, it's sweet."
"It can't be worse than the last thing you made Brother Bai and me drink," he teased, taking the vial and knocking the thick liquid back like it was strong liquor. When the elixir hit his tongue, he was pleasantly surprised that it really was sweet as Ao Wen promised. Not too sugary, but it had a flavor like honey and lemon in soothing tea. Moments after he swallowed the sweet liquid, his breathing steadied and his complexion began to recover. "Thank you, Sister Wen," he said with a smile that was less brittle than the one he'd showed her earlier.
"Now, turn around, give me a good look at that wound," Ao Wen commanded, From his pulse and his complexion, it didn't seem like he'd been infected with any venom but she wanted to make absolutely certain that there were no hidden dangers. Seeing the jagged gash that tore through his flesh, Ao Wen cursed the fallen spider for hurting her younger friend and went to work stitching the wound before covering it with a thick medicinal paste and binding the injury.
"What now?" Zhang Bai asked, glancing further down the tunnel. "Now that we've seen one of these, I think we'll fare better against the next one, but with Brother Jin and Sister Wen injured, I'm not confident in facing more than one at a time if they're all this big."
"This one looks like it's bigger than the one that bit Kui Chong," Ao Wen said, glancing at the monstrous spider that had almost succeeded at sinking its fangs into her. Her heart swelled with pride in Feng Xi when she saw the two arrows that had precisely pierced the Dark Weaver Spider's eyes but she knew that it wasn't always easy to replicate such incredible feats of archery. "I think we should take this one back to the villa and learn more about these things before we come back down here," she finally said after several moments' consideration.
"Are you sure?" Feng Xi asked. "I know that getting materials from these beasts is important to you."
"It is important," Ao Wen agreed. "But I don't even know which parts of this thing Understudy Lau will want to make use of. Who knows, we might have enough given the size of it. More than that though, while I want to harvest what gains I can from these beasts, it isn't like we need these materials to save someone's life. It was my mistake to press on in the Thunder Cloud Forest to hunt the Rage Queen after we fought her cubs and Jin nearly died for it," she admitted. "This time, we achieved a close victory and none of us have injuries that are difficult to recover from. Let's take it one step at a time, we can return and go further next time."
"We'll want to wall this place back up," Zhang Bai said. "There's something else bothering me though, and I think I figured out what it is. Looking at the maps, we're about fifty meters from the next shaft leading further down and the first branches to side tunnels. If I was going to pick a place to station a guard dog, this is a good one," he explained. "It's far enough into the mine that people who are less cautious about clearing webbing might not be able to run away from this beast if it pursued them, but also far enough from the connecting tunnels that no one could easily rush past it. We're on the upper levels, miners are in and out of here every day that they work in the spirit crystal mine. This thing built a nest here after the miners sealed up the mine," he concluded with a worried frown. "But if the mine is sealed up, it can't go outside to hunt for more food. It doesn't make sense for it to build a nest here."
"Unless something is binding it to do so," Feng Xi agreed with a nod. "I tried to get a sense for its emotions before the fight started but the darkness around it prevented that. I don't know any Beast Taming songs and I don't think there are any in my cultivation manual, but I've heard of Beast Taming Flutes that could compel something like this," she mused. "Wen, can you think of anything that could do this?"
"Too many things," Ao Wen said. "The Sacred Flame Celestial Temple doesn't look favorably on most Beast Taming and many of the arts that are similar to it. Mutual pacts between intelligent beasts and cultivators are fine, but the only way to command something like this monster is to enslave it. Even against the Yin Fiends, the sect wouldn't stoop so low," she explained, clearly uncomfortable with the notion that this beast might be doing someone else's bidding. "We should report back to the Loose Cultivator's Association with our suspicions but it's hardly strong evidence. I doubt they'll do much about it."
"We could report to the Lord Mayor's office if you think that would be better," Zhang Bai suggested. The Lord Mayor herself might not be available but his family connection might give his words more weight there than at the association.
"Let's just tell both," Tang Jin said. "Simpler that way, right?"
"Unless someone at the association or the Lord Mayor's office is involved in whatever this is," Zhang Bai said after a moment's thought.
"Bai, I trust you," Ao Wen said definitively. "You know this place better than we do, you know who we can trust. If you're not sure, stay quiet until the Lord Mayor is back and we can tell her directly."
"That's reasonable," Zhang Bai said. "We have some time to think about it. We should get out of here first and seal the place back up. Brother Jin, is your arm good enough to help move this monster?"
"What arm?" Tang Jin asked with a relaxed smile. "This one? I don't even feel it," he said, smacking his left shoulder with his right hand.
"Jin!" Ao Wen scolded him. "You can't feel it because the medicine is working. Don't abuse yourself, you don't know how much you're really injured right now. Xi, help cover us while we get this out of here, Bai, I can help you carry it, my head's not in that bad of shape. Once we get things out of the cave, Xi and I can break down the carcass to take home," she continued, passing out crisp instructions.
Soon, the entire group had completed their tasks, replacing the barricade over the entrance of the mine and leaving the mysteries of the guard spider and whatever had created the disturbance for another day. They might be back soon, but not without making better preparations given what they'd learned so far. Next time, they'd be venturing even deeper.
