Chapter 82 Silk Spiders

"It's too dark here, Jiang Ming." Yuan Chunhua said as soon as they got inside the hidden cave.

"I know, let me use my Moonstow Flame." Jiang Ming replied.

With a snap of his finger, the Moonstow Flame appeared and illuminated the area.

Once the area had been lit up, Yuan Chunhua was awestruck by the space available for them to walk in.

"How could such a large cave be hidden for so long?" She held a dumbfounded look and tried to wander around.

However, Jiang Ming quickly held her wrist and stopped her.

Yuan Chunhua raised an eyebrow when she felt his warm hand touching her.

"Instructor Yuan Chunhua, I forgot to warn you, but make sure you stay close by my side. Otherwise, I might not be able to save you in time." He said solemnly.

His seriousness surprised her. Throughout their journey here, he had always been carefree and joking all the time.

Yet, he was now all serious and cautious at their movement.

"I understand," She said after a moment and made sure to stay near him.

Jiang Ming nodded his head.

He released his grip on her and proceeded to glance around their surroundings.

Wherever he scanned, he made sure to check on the map provided by the GLCS. This way, he could verify whether the information on the map is accurate.

In a place filled with numerous unknown variables, Jiang Ming wasn't going to play around.

With each step he took, Jiang Ming proceeded with extreme caution.

After walking for a long time, they arrived at a narrow stone path.

Yuan Chunhua didn't walk ahead and merely stared at Jiang Ming, seemingly waiting for his decision.

Right now, she was relying heavily on him since she believed he was much more knowledgeable than her regarding this matter.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ming rubbed his chin slightly.

"Narrow stone path… aren't they being a bit too obvious?" He muttered.

He found it suspicious that the hidden cave would develop such an obvious path that is literally screaming it's a trap to them.

The atmosphere quickly became silent, with the exception of the dripping water that came from the ceiling.

A few droplets of water managed to land in front of Jiang Ming, prompting him to ponder over the situation.

"Damn it, this is bad." Jiang Ming suddenly cursed and held onto Yuan Chunhua.

Before Yuan Chunhua could understand the situation, Jiang Ming had already activated his movement technique and retreated.

While getting carried by Jiang Ming all of a sudden, she managed to see the place collapsing just seconds after they left.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

'How did Jiang Ming know that the place would collapse soon?' She wondered silently.

Sometime later, Jiang Ming went back to their first steps as he carefully placed Yuan Chunhua down.

His face was grim as he tried to inspect the other available paths ahead of him.

Yuan Chunhua didn't want to interrupt his thoughts so she kept quiet and waited for him to come up with a solution. She was extremely inexperienced in this place, and asking pointless things wouldn't help the situation.

Jiang Ming continued to walk around in a circle, seemingly in deep thought.

"Damn it, everything is just not going in my favor." He suddenly cursed aloud and kicked the wall, causing it to tremble slightly with some debris falling down.

"Relax Jiang Ming, take a step back and recalculate things." Yuan Chunhua said as she patted his shoulder, calming him down.

"Remember the first rule of a cultivator? Never panic and think rationally. You'll figure things out when you start taking a step back and breathe easy." She added.

Jiang Ming nodded his head.

"You're right, Instructor Yuan Chunhua." He said calmly.

"Anyway, how did you know the path was going to collapse?" Yuan Chunhua asked.

She was curious as to how he figured it out when there was no context or hint about it.

"Did you remember those droplets of water that were dripping down from the ceiling?" Jiang Ming asked.

"Un, isn't it normal for a cave to have those?"

"Normally yes, but not this particular cave, Instructor Yuan Chunhua." Jiang Ming said and decided to snap a small tree branch.

With the small tree branch, he began drawing something in the soil for Yuan Chunhua to see.

A visual image was always better than explaining with mere words.

Sometime later, a miniature spider was drawn on the soil. The miniature spider had a few marks on top of the shell. It was a curvy, wavy line, almost like a sine wave.

"What's this spider supposed to be?" Yuan Chunhua asked.

"Besides the wavy lines on the shell, I don't see how it differs much from a normal spider."

"The wavy lines are actually the crucial symbol to recognize its species known as Silk Spiders." Jiang Ming said calmly, highlighting its significance.

"You asked me before how I knew the area was going to collapse, right? The Silk Spiders are known for their corrosiveness from their fangs and webs. The droplets of water in the cave weren't actually water, but it was their saliva when they were using their fangs." He explained.

"I see… but I still don't get why it collapsed at that moment. Like why didn't they corrode the cave before we ventured inside?"

Jiang Ming shrugged his shoulders.

He was no saint nor god to understand every logic. The only thing he could do is make inferences and use context clues to solve the mystery.

"Anyway, you should have a protective barrier around you at all times now, Instructor Yuan Chunhua." He warned.

"The Silk Spiders also have another feature that is extremely deadly for women, and trust me, you do not want to know."

He then flashed a wicked grin and started staring her up and down.

Yuan Chunhua was suspicious of his evil look and stepped backward.

"Hmph, you should watch out for yourself instead, Jiang Ming. Don't forget, my cultivation base is higher than yours." She snorted coldly and activated her protective barrier.