Chapter 36: Stealth Shadow Roaming Spider

Ji Xinghuo shot a willow leaf arrow that flew swiftly, passing through gaps in the forest and hitting its target a hundred meters away in mid-air, burying itself in a pulsating shadow.

“Hiss, hiss, hiss…”

The spider plummeted, its ugly mouth emitting a sharp cry.

Only then did everyone get a clear view of the creature—a gigantic spider over one and a half meters long, with a body painted in jet black and dark red patterns on its abdomen, its thick spider legs coiled up tightly, an arrow piercing one eye, leaving just a small part of the shaft visible.

“It really is a Stealth Shadow Roaming Spider,” Chi Zhonglin’s voice echoed in the minds of his teammates.

This large spider is one of the primary sources of the “Shadow Evasion” mutation.

They are numerous, tend to group together, but don’t nest in one place. Instead, they roam the forests, lurking in the shadows to ambush their prey.

Now that the creature’s identity was confirmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The threat was there, but minimal.

Even an ambush by this group of Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders couldn’t harm the team given their strength.

However, unknown to Ren Mian, Chi Zhonglin, and Jiangnan Caiyi, Ji Xinghuo, who was new to combat, had just activated the interface of the Myriad Star Pupil.

His previously depleted spiritual source energy now read “1.”

Ji Xinghuo was exhilarated.

Killing creatures did indeed grant spiritual source energy, confirming his speculation. While it was only 1 point, that single point was worth several days of practicing his abilities. And surrounding him were dozens of large spiders, circling to enclose on him.

This was all spiritual source energy!

Eyes gleaming with anticipation, Ji Xinghuo waited for the perfect moment and then shot a second arrow.

Snap!

Another Stealth Shadow Roaming Spider fell from a tree, but his spiritual source energy didn’t increase.

“What’s going on?”

Ji Xinghuo paused, noticing that this spider was much smaller, about half the size of the first one.

He quickly guessed that only by killing targets with abilities could he gain spiritual source energy.

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

The bowstring of Ji Xinghuo’s compound bow vibrated continuously as he fired arrows in various directions. It seemed random, but every shot resulted in a large spider falling to the ground with a painful screech.

“Just as I thought.”

Monitoring the changes in his spiritual source energy and comparing them with his targets, only those Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders of a certain strength granted him energy.

The interface displayed that his spiritual source energy was now at 3 points.

“The spider horde is encircling us,” communicated Ji Xinghuo, sensing over fifty spiders using the trees as cover, some jumping forth from the front and others dispersing to the sides to form a circle.

“Kill their leader, and the horde will scatter,” Ren Mian told Ji Xinghuo. “Can you identify its position?”

“Over there.”

Ji Xinghuo pointed with an arrowhead. “About 180 meters away and 22 meters up a tree. It’s cautious, my arrows can’t reach it.”

He had actually spotted the leader of the spider horde early on.

This elite monster’s body measured over three meters, lurking behind a tree in the shadows, only occasionally stirring.

It was an elite-level monster!

Using the standards of Star Realm nations, Earth’s countries classify Star Realm creatures into three categories.

The first category includes civilized races with intelligence and culture, capable of crafting tools, practicing abilities, mastering languages and scriptures, and creating splendid civilizations. They are regarded as high-class species in the Star Realm and are the true rulers.

Civilized species of the Milky Way are referred to as “Star Realm Aliens” by native species from the Star Realm.

In turn, Star Realm Aliens call civilized species from the Milky Way “Extraterrestrial Species.”

The second category comprises monsters that rely solely on instincts for reproduction and evolution. They are the most numerous and endlessly growing, with rare powerful monsters emerging, although barely any evolve intelligence and remain mere monsters.

The third category includes wisened creatures, possessing intelligence and often exceeding the strength of monsters, capable of communication and are extremely rare.

Over 95% of creatures in the Star Realm fall under the category of monsters.

The lowest level, “ordinary” monsters lack abilities and are comparable to Earth’s wild beasts, relying only on physical prowess to hunt.

As they age and evolve, many ordinary monsters awaken abilities and become much stronger.

Evolved monsters are termed “Curious” level.

Among the Curious level, stronger individuals arise, awakening more abilities, often leading their kind, yet they do not evolve further and are considered elite among the Curious level.

Some elites are strong, while others are weak, with a vast disparity in strength.

The weak are roughly on par with common wild beasts.

The strong surpass high-level extrahumans in power.

Earth’s extrahuman hunting teams primarily target “Curious” and “Elite” level monsters.

Elite monsters evolve further only when they transcend their species’ limits, awakening more latent abilities in their genetics, and like intelligent races, merge with other species to become truly formidable.

These are termed “Super-Group” level monsters.

The spiders Ji Xinghuo had just killed were mostly ordinary monsters, with only three being Curious creatures.

Their leader was an elite-level monster.

Judging from its magnetic field strength, this elite Stealth Shadow Roaming Spider was about as powerful as a high-level extrahuman, but it didn’t think, relying solely on instincts to hunt.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Ren Mian commanded, “Xiaochi, draw it out. Caiyi, follow and protect Xiaochi from the shadows, but remain within Xinghuo’s shooting range.”

“No problem.”

Chi Zhonglin’s spear paused, heating up and turning red, scales emerging on his skin as he charged towards the spider leader.

In just a few seconds, he was in the heart of the spider horde.

The entire horde erupted like a disturbed hornet’s nest, scarlet compound eyes appearing in the shadows above the trees, emitting shrill squeals.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Ren Mian pressed her hand onto a nearby Fireworks Treeforcing the entire tree to shake violently. Dozens of leaves fell from the branches above Chi Zhonglin and then exploded.

Bang, bang, bang…

A series of explosions filled with flames and bright light engulfed the forest area, setting many branches and leaves ablaze within dozens of meters.

Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders, being creatures that fear light, immediately fled from the shadows.

Yet, they didn’t retreat but focused on the nearest prey and dove towards Chi Zhonglin on the ground, their fangs bared and abdomens spraying a large web.

Amid the flames and screeches, the sound of the vibrating bowstring was drowned out.

Ji Xinghuo kept shooting.

His right hand moved so fast it almost appeared as a blur, firing seven arrows within five seconds.

Each arrow hit its target, and one even pierced through one ordinary Stealth Shadow Roaming Spider before embedding into a second one—a two-for-one shot!

Chi Zhonglin stood in the middle of the ground, originally prepared to face the monsters.

Before he could launch an attack, eight spider corpses rained down around him.

Ji Xinghuo glanced at his interface.

【Spiritual Source Energy +2】

Just then, a Curious-level spider attacked from the side, within five meters, spraying a white web towards Chi Zhonglin. A blade of light suddenly appeared from the air, slicing through the web and cutting the Stealth Shadow Roaming Spider in half.

Jiangnan Caiyi flashed by, disappearing again.

【Spiritual Source Energy +1】

As Ji Xinghuo pulled out the arrows, he realized that he could gain spiritual source energy even from targets he didn’t personally kill.

After killing another ordinary spider, he reminded silently, “Sister Ren, watch out behind the tree on the left.”

Two Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders had already flanked to both sides.

They were cautious, not daring to appear directly in the bright light of the Fireworks Tree but using their shadow evasion to creep closer from under the trees.

“Leave it to me.”

Ren Mian pulled out a thorny vine and casually threw it toward the large tree where the two large spiders were hiding.

The thorny vine took root upon hitting the ground, instantly growing to four or five meters long, as thick as an arm and covered in spikes, like a python wrapping around the two Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders and then contracting inward. The spikes pierced the spiders’ bodies, strangling them to death.

【Spiritual Source Energy +2】

Ji Xinghuo felt the joy of a bountiful harvest.

Chi Zhonglin on the ground was like a beacon, his flesh attracting the spiders like moths to a flame, but none could get within five meters of him—they were shot through the air before they could reach.

Spider corpses hit the ground one by one.

Chi Zhonglin stood amidst the corpses, idly scratching his chin. A spark had landed there earlier, causing a slight itch.

The battle lasted less than half a minute, and the number of spiders had drastically reduced.

The monsters’ survival instincts took over.

No more spiders came forth. Ren Mian’s plan to lure out the elite leader using Chi Zhonglin as bait had failed. According to Ji Xinghuo’s magnetic field sensing, the remaining Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders, including the elite leader, were retreating.

“It’s trying to escape.”

Ji Xinghuo felt a rush of urgency.

The Curious-level spiders had been mostly eliminated. Ordinary spiders fleeing didn’t matter, but the elite leader couldn’t be let go—that was spiritual source energy!

He immediately activated his Gale War Boots, greatly increasing his speed, and ran dozens of meters forward, catching up to Chi Zhonglin’s position and continuing forward.

At this moment, the elite leader had retreated quite far, about two hundred meters away from Ji Xinghuo. It was rapidly jumping between trees, growing ever more distant, only occasionally visible as a shadow flickering through the dense foliage, almost impossible to see clearly.

Ji Xinghuo pulled out an Electro-Capacity Arrow and mounted it on his bow, pulling the string.

At the same time, the Myriad Star Pupil locked onto the giant spider. He turned his back on his three teammates and activated Myriad All-Seeing!

The world seemed to stand still.

Illusory streams of light appeared in front of Ji Xinghuo’s eyes, countless light and shadows intersecting, deducing possible futures.

A moment later, he fired the dazzling Electro-Capacity Arrow.

Then he deactivated Myriad All-Seeing.

To Ren Mian and the others, Ji Xinghuo seemed to have casually shot an arrow while chasing, barely aiming as the Electro-Capacity Arrow pierced through layers of branches and disappeared into the dim forest.

Chi Zhonglin shook his head and laughed, “You just threw away ten thousand Asiatic Yuan.”

Before he finished speaking, painful roars and the sounds of many branches breaking could be heard from a nearby forest.

Thump!

A heavy body crashed to the ground—it was the leader of the Stealth Shadow Roaming Spiders.