Chapter 132: Subjugation

None of these young members of the Xu Clan had ever seen a Fifth-Grade Elixir before. Even Xu Ziyan found it very difficult to make a Fifth-Grade Elixir now. If the Scarred One-Armed Man had not given her a large quantity of cultivation elixirs, and if these Qi Refining Stage elixirs were no longer useful to her current self, Xu Ziyan would never have been this generous!

Although the Xu Clan disciples had never seen Fifth-Grade Elixirs, they knew that the elixir before their eyes was many times better than what their clan had given them! Moreover, their clan had only given them Spirit Nurturing Pills. Spirit Nurturing Pills were considered high-grade in the Mortal World, but in the Sects, they were low-grade. Meanwhile, Spirit Burst Pills were high-grade even within the Sects.

Xu Qi poured out a Spirit Burst Pill and sniffed it. He looked at Xu Ziyan with a dazed expression and said,

“Ziyan, what… what elixir is this? I have never seen it before! It does not look like a Spirit Nurturing Pill!”

“This is not a Spirit Nurturing Pill!” Xu Ziyan explained with a smile. “This is a Spirit Burst Pill!” Xu Ziyan thought to herself, that Scarred One-Armed Man never gave her any Spirit Nurturing Pills. It seemed he disdained making such low-grade elixirs.

But her words shocked Xu Qi and the other Xu Clan disciples into a stunned silence. Spirit Burst Pills! They had only heard of them before. Those were things only Sect disciples could get! Now Xu Ziyan had given each of them two bottles, a full hundred pills each. Even if they took one pill a day, it would last them a hundred days!

“Hmm! I need to save these, and only use them when I am trying to break through a barrier!”

That was the inner voice of every Xu Clan disciple in the cave. But then Xu Ziyan’s next sentence made their hands tremble, almost dropping the pill bottles.

“Starting today, take one pill each day. When you finish them, I will give you more!”

In their hearts, everyone was shouting one thing: “We hit the jackpot, we struck it rich!”. When they looked at Xu Ziyan again, their gazes held not only respect but also gratitude. At this moment, Xu Ziyan’s status rose sharply in everyone’s hearts. Before, they admired her combat power and wisdom. Now, they felt genuine gratitude towards her from the bottom of their hearts. Just think, who would give away such precious elixirs for free, even to their own Senior Brothers and Junior Sisters! Now, everyone’s hearts truly gathered around Xu Ziyan. She had conquered everyone present spiritually and became the leader of this generation of young Xu Clan elites.

Xu Ziyan scanned the crowd, her expression serious as she said, “Do not mention to anyone that I gave you these elixirs, not even your closest relatives. The Female Immortal who taught me my cultivation method did not give me many elixirs initially. I do not want this matter to cause unnecessary trouble!”

“Ziyan! Don’t worry, we will absolutely not speak of this to anyone!” Xu Tianlang tightly gripped his pill bottle and said excitedly. In his heart, nothing was more important than improving his cultivation level.

The others also quickly made vows, promising not to leak even a little bit about Xu Ziyan giving them elixirs. Xu Ziyan nodded in satisfaction. She then took out a stack of Freezing Talismans from her Storage Pouch and gave ten to each person. She told them to put one on themselves every time they entered or left the cave, and the spiders would not dare approach them. After saying this, she pointed at the Light Curtain currently concealed by the Illusory Realm Talisman and said,

“That Talisman Array will operate for nine days. When the time comes, I will replace it with new Talismans, so everyone, don’t worry. Just stay here and focus on your cultivation. Everyone, take a Spirit Burst Pill now! After you finish your cultivation sessions, at dawn tomorrow, we will split into groups to explore the surrounding terrain.”

Everyone nodded firmly. Then, with excited hearts, each found a spot, took a Spirit Burst Pill, and entered a state of cultivation.

Xu Ziyan saw that everyone had entered cultivation, including Xu Lin, who also took a pill and sat in a corner of the cave to cultivate. She quietly stood up, placed a Freezing Talisman on herself, and walked towards the cave entrance.

Xu Ziyan did not start cultivating herself. She was already at the Foundation Building Stage. Achieving another breakthrough would not be as easy as it was during the Qi Refining Stage. Most importantly, after days and nights of fleeing, Xu Ziyan felt sticky and uncomfortable all over. She really wanted to go out and find a Water Pond to take a bath.

As soon as she stepped out of the Light Curtain, the spiders noticed her. They moved their eight legs, approaching Xu Ziyan one by one. But when they got within a meter of her, they were repelled by the cold energy released from the Freezing Talisman on her body, and they all halted, not daring to come closer.

Xu Ziyan walked forward slowly. Whenever she got close to any spiders, they panicked and scurried aside. Xu Ziyan moved through the mass of dark spiders like a Monarch. After walking less than a hundred meters, Xu Ziyan stopped. She saw the Spider King blocking her path in the middle of the road. It raised its front legs, propping up its upper body and exposing its abdomen, as if preparing to shoot silk at her. Furthermore, Xu Ziyan noticed that all the spiders in the cave seemed to have received an order from the Spider King. They all assumed various postures, exposing their abdomens towards Xu Ziyan.

Xu Ziyan thought, “This is bad.” She did not want to be wrapped up like a dumpling in spider silk. At this moment, the Xu Clan disciples were all behind the Light Curtain, so she was not afraid of exposing her cultivation level. She immediately pushed her Foundation Building Stage cultivation to its peak, releasing an overwhelming Aura Pressure that pressed down on the surrounding spiders.

The Aura Pressure of the Foundation Building Stage was very intimidating to these mere Second-Level Monster Beasts. Many spiders trembled on their long, hairy, thin legs, unable to shoot any silk. However, some of the more powerful Monster Beasts stubbornly managed to shoot their silk. Xu Ziyan quickly waved her hand and activated a Talisman above her head. It flowed down like molten magma, forming a fiery shield around her. The spider silk instantly turned to ashes upon contact.

Seeing Xu Ziyan release the scorching flames, the Spider King fearfully backed away. Now protected by the flame shield, Xu Ziyan was no longer afraid of the spider silk. She withdrew the Mighty Pressure she was radiating outwards and concentrated the full force of her First Layer of Foundation Building Stage power directly onto the Spider King. Simultaneously, she manipulated the flames outside her body, forming them into a Flame Blade burning with intense heat, which she sent slashing towards the Spider King.

The scorching Flame Blade reached above the Spider King’s head in an instant, but it stopped, hovering half a meter in the air. Because Xu Ziyan suddenly noticed that the Spider King was now lying on the ground, trembling, and repeatedly bumping its ugly head up and down, as if kowtowing and begging for mercy.

“Is it begging me for mercy?”

Xu Ziyan tentatively raised the Flame Blade a little higher and saw that the Spider King was still trembling and kowtowing. She simply withdrew the Flame Blade, reabsorbing it into the flame shield around her. She stared intently at the Spider King and saw that it stopped trembling but kept kowtowing incessantly. Xu Ziyan looked around and saw all the millstone-sized spiders lying on the ground now, with their heads deeply bowed, presenting a picture of submission.

Xu Ziyan dispersed the flame shield around her but kept the Freezing Talisman active. She looked at the Spider King not far away and said calmly,

“Do you wish to submit to me?”

The Spider King seemed to understand Xu Ziyan’s words. It looked up at her, then nodded frequently. Xu Ziyan stared at the Spider King for a while, then said calmly,

“Tell your underlings to move aside!”

In front of Xu Ziyan, the Spider King’s antennae trembled vigorously, as if emitting some kind of mental wave. The spiders immediately cleared a path for Xu Ziyan. Xu Ziyan nodded slightly. She was now fairly certain that the Spider King before her, out of fear, had submitted to her.

Xu Ziyan walked forward slowly, not letting her guard down just because the Spider King showed submission. Seeing Xu Ziyan approach, the Spider King quickly and cautiously moved aside, acting very respectful.

Xu Ziyan walked past it. Seeing that none of the spiders made the slightest move, her tense heart relaxed. She turned to the Spider King and said,

“You can understand my words?”

The Spider King nodded gently. A look of understanding appeared on Xu Ziyan’s face. She sternly shouted at the Spider King,

“Listen to me! You are not allowed to harm the people I brought!”

The Spider King hurriedly nodded.

“You must not reveal our hiding place to anyone else!”

The Spider King again hurriedly nodded.

“We will not stay here for long. When we leave, we will return your Abode to you!”

The Spider King paused slightly this time, then nodded rapidly again.

Xu Ziyan lowered her head and thought for a moment. She was somewhat worried that these spiders, under the Aura Pressure of experts pursuing them in the future, might submit to others just like now and reveal their whereabouts. However, it was impossible for her to kill all the spiders here. The best solution was to completely subjugate this Spider King. Her mind raced, and she took out a Spirit Nurturing Pill that she herself had made from her Storage Pouch. She waved it in front of the Spider King. A Yao Xiang wafted through the cave. The Spider King immediately straightened up and looked at Xu Ziyan, its spider silk unknowingly dripping from its abdomen.

Seeing the Spider King’s reaction, Xu Ziyan knew her action was successful. She threw the Spirit Nurturing Pill in front of the Spider King. The Spider King ate the pill in one bite, then looked up at Xu Ziyan and started kowtowing repeatedly again. Xu Ziyan said coldly,

“As long as you follow my commands, I will give you more elixirs like this. Otherwise…”

Xu Ziyan’s tone turned sharp and cold as she said, “I will kill you!”