Bai Ye left the creek and plunged back into the mountain forest, heading towards the summit.
He already had a general route in mind. Eliminating the areas where he knew three spider demons resided, only one direction remained.
That was—North!
As it turned out, Bai Ye's guess was correct.
After an unknown amount of time running through the forest, Bai Ye suddenly slowed his pace.
There was a smell of blood, very strong!
Bai Ye twitched his nose, walking forward while looking at the ground.
The soil underfoot was covered in a layer of red. Looking at the trees on the side, the thick trunks bore clear marks.
If he wasn't mistaken, Bai Ye thought it was spider silk.
Then...
He continued forward!
Soon, a scene of purgatory appeared before Bai Ye.
Under a large tree nearby, a woman sat slumped, headless. Her head had been severed and lay in her hands, cradled as if she were holding it.
Directly ahead, a man was bound to a tree with spider silk.
The spider silk had dug deep into the man's body. When a gust of wind blew, pieces of flesh would suddenly fall off, hitting the ground.
Further ahead, on a tree, countless strands of spider silk were entangled, with a woman hanging from them.
Her limbs were wrapped by the silk, contorted strangely.
She looked like a dismembered doll, with her limbs and head reattached haphazardly. Without a doubt, all her bones were twisted.
Continuing forward, the smell of blood intensified, and bloodstains were everywhere.
Along the way, Bai Ye saw over a dozen corpses.
Each one had met a gruesome end. It was rare to see a complete body; most were dismembered. Those who had only lost their heads were considered fortunate.
Slowly, mist began to appear around Bai Ye, tinged with a faint crimson hue.
At this moment, Bai Ye sensed something and quickly leaped to the side.
The instant he leaped away...
Some spider silk attacked from behind, hitting the ground with a...
Boom!
The power of the silk was astonishing, pulverizing the ground.
After the attack, Bai Ye looked in the direction of the silk's trajectory and saw a figure on the treetops, leaping rapidly forward, treading on the branches as they moved.
Without hesitation, Bai Ye immediately dashed forward, swiftly pursuing the figure.
As he ran, a golden light screen appeared behind Bai Ye, followed by rings of golden ripples.
Weapons shot upwards, emitting loud roars, continuously breaking branches.
However, after the branches were broken, Bai Ye could not find the figure.
Broken branches and leaves continuously fell around him, but the opponent was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, a piercing sound echoed through the air.
Bai Ye spun around sharply, looking behind him, and saw spider silk descending from above, taut like sharp arrows.
Bai Ye quickly leaped up, dodging backward.
Boom, boom, boom!
The spider silk repeatedly shattered the ground, kicking up large amounts of dust that obscured vision.
In the next moment, amidst the dust, a flash of silver light appeared. Threads shot out again from Bai Ye's sides, taking advantage of his obscured vision to quickly entangle his arms.
Bai Ye felt his arms being constricted. Before he could react, the threads wrapped around the nearby trees and slowly pulled him up into the air.
"Caught you!"
A voice sounded from in front of Bai Ye.
A young boy emerged from behind a tree. He wore white clothes, had white hair, a pale face, and red markings on his forehead, like a spider's eyes.
The boy walked towards Bai Ye, saying, "You seem stronger than the others."
Bai Ye smiled and looked down, "Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Demon Moons?"
"Oh? How did you know?" The boy slowly moved the hair covering one of his eyes. "Most people think my father is the Lower Rank."
In his exposed eye, writing was eerily printed: Lower Rank Five!
The boy lowered his hair, opened his palm, and countless spider silk threads gushed out.
"Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Demon Moons," the boy said. "My name is Rui!"
The moment Rui finished speaking, the threads in his hand shot out, entangling Bai Ye's body.
"I like you very much, because you are stronger than others," Rui said to Bai Ye. "Would you like to be my brother? If you do, I can give you some of Muzan-sama's blood."
Bai Ye replied, "I don't need that."
Rui gradually tightened the spider silk. "Then you can only die here. So, won't you consider it?"
Bai Ye tilted his head, then said, "Alright, it seems I've been misunderstood. When I said I don't need that kind of thing, I meant I don't need you to give it to me."
Rui looked confused. "Huh?"
Bai Ye said, "If I kill you, I can take as much of your blood as I want."
A look of disdain appeared on Rui's face. "You humans are always so hypocritical, spewing nonsense. Don't you understand your current predicament?"
As Rui spoke, he flicked a finger, and the spider silk entangled around Bai Ye tightened again.
"Will the pain make you come to your senses a little?" Rui asked again. "One last chance. If you agree to become my family and fight to protect me, I can spare you."
Bai Ye sighed. "It seems you haven't realized yet. Let me demonstrate directly!"
The moment Bai Ye spoke, he suddenly exerted force, spreading his arms to the sides.
Almost instantly...
The spider silk wrapped around Bai Ye snapped, and Bai Ye fell from the air.
"This is impossible..." Rui's eyes widened. "You can't possibly break free from my silk!"
Rui's spider silk was incredibly strong, and most importantly, extremely sharp.
Even if Bai Ye possessed the strength to break the silk, his body would be sliced to pieces because of its sharpness.
So...
Bai Ye didn't break the silk with brute force, but rather...
With poison!
After corroding the spider silk with the poison from his poison-fruit ability, Bai Ye could easily snap the threads with a slight exertion of force.
Bai Ye stretched his limbs and looked at Rui. "Now, do you understand what I mean?"
Rui gritted his teeth, and spider silk appeared in his hands again.
"Blood Demon Art!" Rui called out softly. "Killing Cage!"