Watching as Zong Biao Yao Jiang and his followers fled as if their lives depended on it, Du Niangzi’s face was filled with deep resentment.
She turned her gaze to Lin Xue and the others, her expression instantly twisting into something vicious and cruel, both triangular eyes flashing with sharp and venomous light.
This Du Niangzi was a spider demon who had cultivated for over two hundred years.
Back when she was at the middle stage of Body Tempering, as she began to take human form, she had focused solely on increasing her cultivation and paid no attention to her appearance.
Without anyone to teach her the art of transformation, she could only fumble through on her own, resulting in a form that was both ugly and fat.
Du Niangzi was, after all, female, and harbored a love for beauty.
Once her cultivation advanced, she saw the other female demons around her, each one charming and alluring, catching everyone’s eye, while she herself was always ignored.
This sparked her own desire to become beautiful.
But for demons, transformation is like reincarnation—once decided, it’s basically impossible to change.
Du Niangzi searched everywhere for a method to reshape her form, but all her efforts were in vain.
In the end, utterly disheartened, she gave up on the idea of becoming beautiful.
Whenever she saw the other female demons in the mountain, all she felt was envy, jealousy, and hate.
A few years ago, Hei Pi Yao Wang’s end was near. Zong Lie Leader found him the Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Life-Extension Grand Method.
Overjoyed, Hei Pi Yao Wang ordered every unmarried female demon in the mountain who was at the late stage of Body Tempering or above to practice this technique so he could dual cultivate and extend his life.
Du Niangzi had no choice but to cultivate this method as well.
However, because she was simply too ugly, when she lay on the Demon King’s bed, Hei Pi Yao Wang truly couldn’t bring himself to sleep with her, and finally ordered her to get dressed and get out.
Du Niangzi could be said to have benefited from a misfortune—she wasn’t defiled by Hei Pi Yao Wang.
Because she had practiced the Yin-Yang Dual Cultivation Life-Extension Grand Method, Bao Lie recommended her to Hei Pi Yao Wang, so she was assigned to teach the newly recruited female demons from other peaks.
Thus, Du Niangzi obtained the task of training new recruits.
Lin Xue, Hong Yanzhi, and the others ended up in her hands because of this.
Looking at the group of young and attractive female demons before her, Du Niangzi felt waves of hatred rise in her heart.
Her body suddenly rose and swelled, growing thicker and larger, eight thick, barbed legs sprouting from her back.
She transformed into a giant spider, her massive form covering the entire courtyard beneath her.
Strands of spider silk shot from her abdomen, instantly surrounding the entire courtyard, turning Qian Si Yuan into a gigantic spider’s nest.
The entire courtyard grew dim and chilly, a biting cold pervading the air.
A surge of Grand Demon’s oppressive aura rushed at Lin Xue and the others.
Hong Yanzhi and the other six female demons at the Body Tempering stage immediately collapsed to the ground, shivering uncontrollably as a primal terror gripped their hearts.
Although Lin Xue’s cultivation was only at early Jindan, a minor realm lower than Du Niangzi’s, she was still a Grand Demon and was barely affected by Du Niangzi’s pressure.
But to keep a low profile and avoid attention, she continued to display only the strength of a minor demon at the Body Tempering stage, and so collapsed to the ground alongside the others.
She wore a look of terror on her face.
Half of it was an act, and half was genuine fright.
She’d only ever seen such a scene in horror movies—a giant spider with a human face appearing before her in all its grotesque glory. Lin Xue was truly startled, and felt extremely uncomfortable inside.
Du Niangzi saw all eight of the little demons submitting under her initial show of force, and was greatly pleased.
She looked down at Lin Xue and the others from above, letting out a cold, sinister laugh, and said, “Since the Mountain Lord has handed you little bugs over to me, I, naturally, must do my duty and properly instruct you these next few days.”
“There’s an old human saying: ‘Nothing can be accomplished without rules and standards.’ Today, I’ll lay down a few rules for you all, so prick up your ears and listen well. Don’t go breaking them by accident and end up punished by me.”
“First, when I am speaking, you are not allowed to interrupt or make any noise.”
“If anyone interrupts me, gossips, coughs, or farts while I’m talking, and makes a sound, it’s a hundred slaps to the face!”
“Second, my orders must be followed to the letter. Whatever I tell you to do, you must do. Even if I order you to eat shit, you have to eat it for me! Violation: a hundred slaps to the face!”
“Third, whatever I say, you must answer with ‘Yes, madam,’ or ‘Understood, madam.’ Violation: a hundred slaps to the face!”
“That’s it for now, just these three. If I think of more rules later, I’ll add them.”
Lin Xue rolled her eyes inwardly.
How much do you love slapping faces, you ugly old witch?
You’re ugly yourself and can’t stand others being good-looking, always ready to slap someone’s face at the slightest provocation.
And you want people to call you ‘madam’—truly, ugly people cause more trouble.
The female demons felt these rules weren’t too hard to accept, and their faces subtly relaxed a little.
But then Du Niangzi let out another cold laugh and said, “Do you know what happens to the one who gets punished the most over these next few days?”
She stretched out a spider leg, flicked a strand of silk into the house, and dragged out a bloody severed leg.
This leg was long and fair, clearly belonging to a woman.
Du Niangzi opened her gaping mouth, used her spider leg to bring the severed limb to her mouth, and began to crunch it up, blood splattering, a trickle running from the corner of her lips.
While chewing, she spoke with a cold smile:
“This leg belonged to a little bug just like you who came here for training last time.”
“For every five bugs sent here, the Mountain Lord allows me to keep one as rations.”
“This one, because she was disobedient and punished too often by me, ended up as my food.”
“You lot are eight in total, so according to the rules, I can keep one as rations. When your training is over in a few days, whoever has made the most mistakes will get to spend eternity in my belly! Hahahaha!”
She finished off the entire severed leg, throwing her head back and laughing.
Her eight thick, long spider legs bent, and her ugly form pressed down, leaning closer to one of the female demons.
She licked her blood-stained, crimson lips and whispered close to her, “Will you be the one left behind this time?”
The demoness seemed especially timid; her face went deathly pale, her eyes rolled back, and she fainted on the spot.
Du Niangzi brought her face close to another female demon and sneered, “Or will it be you?”
That demoness was shaking all over, her teeth chattering uncontrollably.
Du Niangzi chuckled.
She reached out with a spider leg, which transformed into a hand, and stroked that demoness’s face.
“Look at you. Didn’t I just say? When I’m talking, don’t make any noise. Your teeth clattering like that is making noise, isn’t it?”
The demoness’s face was bloodless, pale as paper. She immediately knelt and kowtowed, crying, “Please spare me, madam! Please spare me, madam!”
Du Niangzi shook her head and continued,
“Look at you. Didn’t I just say, when I’m speaking, don’t interrupt? Did I give you permission to speak? And here you are, already breaking two rules right off the bat. If I don’t punish you, the other little bugs will follow your example—how am I supposed to manage you then?”
That demoness was scared out of her wits, sitting limply on the ground, not knowing what to do.