Forge a path to success

[Characteristics: Suspected to be a Bone-bound Beast, active during the day. Its carapace is hard, its claws are sharp, and its silk is highly adhesive. Please be extremely careful.]

Chu Hengkong took the lead in accepting the hunting mission. Xiang Fuzi nodded slightly upon seeing this and said, "This monster is ferocious, brother, be careful... brother?"

Chu Heng worked swiftly with his empty hands, peeling off all the papers. He folded them together and tossed them into Xiang Fuzi's hands.

"Get everything done before sunset," he said.

Chapter 75 Let me show you my special skill

"Hey Chu Hengkong, there's a limit to how much you can show off," Vande said, glancing sideways. "There are a maximum of 18 tasks. How many can you possibly complete in a single day?"

Chu Hengkong had just left Yingshi Town and stepped into the western plains. The plains were still quiet during the day, and the steel giant was nowhere to be seen.

According to Qisu, the giant only moves at night, but Vande didn't quite believe it. He still felt uneasy, always feeling that the thing might suddenly appear out of nowhere and smash him into a pulp.

Chu Hengkong looked around for a while, and after confirming that no one was around, he squatted down. He took out a dark metal box from his pocket, and Fan De curiously leaned over to take a look. He saw that the box was labeled: "Multi-functional Auxiliary Magic Spider Puppet V658".

Chu Hengkong opened the box and scattered a handful of small, steel-bead-like objects. Upon landing, these small steel beads automatically absorbed the surrounding soil, forming six legs and a small head, resembling a metal spider.

"12 mushrooms, 8 round stones, 7 tall grasses over 2 meters tall..."

Chu Hengkong took out the mission briefing and explained it to them one by one. The Demon Spider Puppets gathered around and listened attentively. They quickly scattered and ran to various parts of the grassland to search for their targets, leaving Fan De, who was watching from the sidelines, dumbfounded.

"So convenient, what kind of mechanical art is this?"

"The signature product of Magic Scholar comes from a dusty island called Dustless Land." Chu Hengkong took out the matching control crystal screen from the box and carefully adjusted it. "It's very convenient for finding directions and things. I use it often when I'm working."

“Magic manipulation techniques… I think I vaguely remember them,” Vande muttered. “They’re probably related to some sensitive technology, which I’ve sealed away.”

"A seal?" Chu Hengkong raised an eyebrow.

"I've read countless books in the past, but a significant portion of that knowledge was deliberately sealed away because it was too dangerous. Otherwise, if my fate were corrupted, I'd have nowhere to cry..." Vande said, on the verge of tears. "But now that I'm with you, this jinx, it doesn't matter whether I know it or not..."

Chu Hengkong listened to its mutterings while observing the screen. The crystal screen was initially empty, but soon it began to display "terrain" layer by layer as the magical spider puppets moved, drawing a simple map.

Chu Hengkong glanced at it a few times and roughly understood what was going on. He first ran to a large tree and kicked the trunk in half. He used his tentacles to wrap around the trunk and, with one hand like a knife, chopped and carved the trunk into a plank with his bare hands. He then took out another small black box from his pocket and placed it on the wood. Two pairs of tires grew from the sides of the plank, making it a skateboard.

Chu Hengkong sped forward on his skateboard, heading towards the northern part of the grassland. Fan De had already scurried into his pocket, praising it repeatedly: "Are the Magic Scholar's gadgets this convenient? Are there any others? Let me borrow them and take a look."

"There are many headquarters, I only brought two with me." Chu Hengkong said with a hint of regret, "If you had summoned them later, this wouldn't have happened."

"It's been a whole day, can't we just stop talking about the summoning?" Vande said dejectedly.

"Let's get to something useful. What did you learn last night?"

“This place is strange,” Van Der said confidently. “Do you understand the concept of a divine kingdom?”

"don't know."

"The pinnacle of the totem worship system, the final form of the Ancient Dragon City, is the Promised Land ruled by the Ancient Dragon 'God Lord' of Quantity 7. The super bigwigs of Quantity 7 have become part of the Submerged Realm; you can surely see the stars they represent if you observe the night sky," Vande said. "But last night I stared at the stars for a long time and couldn't find the star of the 'Netherworld God Lord' Sakura Dragon. Do you think that makes sense?"

“That’s unreasonable,” Chu Hengkong said. “It’s as unreasonable as the people of the Divine Kingdom asking me to kill strange beasts.”

The power of the ancient dragon of point 7 should far exceed their imagination. It is highly unlikely that such a dragon would allow a corner of its divine kingdom to become a barren mountain.

There might be a problem with the Netherworld God Kingdom. I just hope it's not so big that even an intruder like me can't survive.

The grassland, though vast, was deserted and quiet, undisturbed by any strange beasts. Vande, huddled in his pocket, hummed an unpleasant song out of boredom. Chu Hengkong occasionally extended his tentacles to pick up mushrooms or round stones he saw along the way, but his haul was meager. This route didn't connect to the collection points marked by the townspeople; after all, his primary target was the spider.

About an hour after leaving the town, Chu Hengkong finally caught a whiff of movement, like the soft, rustling sound of a blade scraping across pebbles. Not far ahead lay a swamp, and within it, a strange figure could be vaguely seen. He jumped off his skateboard, hid in the tall grass, and stared intently into the swamp—

“…This spider is really a spider,” Chu Hengkong said.

Van der displayed a calm despair: "There must be something wrong with either my common sense or the common sense of the people of God's Kingdom."

That thing was indeed a spider, unmistakably a spider from any angle. It had a two-sectioned body, four pairs of legs and chelicerae, and a round head with eight compound eyes. Structurally, it would be hard to find a more standard spider. However, it was about 8 meters tall, its body covered with a layer of steel armor at least half a palm thick, each of its legs had four nozzles for high mobility, there were three gun muzzles on each side of its head, and its eight compound eyes flashed with lasers.

Old man. Old man.

The giant spider emitted a strange electromagnetic sound as it moved, and it emitted scanning lasers from its eyes, circling and scanning its surroundings. To avoid the barrage, Chu Hengkong began circling the spider, uttering a heartfelt sigh: "The evolution of life is truly amazing..."

"Evolve my ass! How on earth do I evolve from a spider into a 'spider-type'?!" Vande was utterly devastated.

"This is what people often refer to as the wisdom of using tools that evolved in the face of harsh survival conditions."

"Forget using tools, this has become a tool! It's a Spider-Type Mobile Combat Beast!! And stop talking nonsense, that thing is looking over here, its eyes are glowing!!!"

The mechanical spider had its sights set on the two, and its compound eyes began flashing at a high frequency. The next moment, eight high-heat laser beams pierced the air, striking the two figures hidden in the tall grass!

Without a word, Chu Hengkong turned and mounted his skateboard, creating distance. The mechanical spider followed closely behind, its immense power kicking up clouds of dust behind it, its six mechanical legs creating the momentum of a thousand-strong army. At the same time, its compound eye lasers continued to fire continuously. This thing was incredibly destructive; any tall grass grazed by it turned to ashes without even a chance to burn.

Chu Hengkong maneuvered his skateboard, dodging and weaving as if he had eyes in the back of his head to evade the laser pursuit. Seeing the enemy's agility, the mechanical spider changed its tactics. It extinguished the lasers in its eyes, and four rows of launch ports opened on its body, instantly firing sixteen missiles that followed closely behind the skateboard!

Chu Hengkong turned sharply, riding the skateboard backward. He drew his rock blade with one hand and swung it casually. The blade seemed to have a strange elasticity, and the missile was deflected upon contact, crashing into the spider itself instead.

Missiles exploded one after another, and the mechanical spider was shrouded in smoke and dust. Vande was overjoyed: "Great opportunity! Let's use the trick we used to take down the centipede now!"

Chu Hengkong casually sheathed his sword, sighing heavily, "Alas... I don't know why I have no motivation to fight today, I don't want to fight..."

"You're telling me this now?!"

"At times like these, my partner will take the initiative to cut the enemy to pieces before I can speak."

"Your partner's initiative is terrifyingly high. Are you two a killer duo?"

Chu Hengkong didn't retaliate. He dodged the missile with acrobatic-like acrobatic feats and casually pulled the Vande from his pocket. Vande sat on his palm, its eyes numb and vacant.

"What do you think you're doing, you little brat?"

Chu Hengkong raised his right hand high, directing his eyes to the bright sunlight: "So today, you'll be in charge of the battle. Go, Vande!"

"You're totally planning to get me killed! Seriously, can't you show some respect for the enemy? That thing has stopped firing missiles! It looks really angry!"

The mechanical spider's missiles stopped silently. It trembled slightly, seemingly trembling with anger at the two idiots in front of it... Suddenly, a new launch port opened on the mechanical spider's back, and hundreds of proportionally shrunk spiders jumped out, leaping forward with the agility of fleas, spraying spider silk to attack!

Chu Hengkong shook his head repeatedly, then flicked his whip in the air, using the shockwave to shatter the spider silk: "The spider is starting to spit on you."

"If I didn't lack a mouth, I'd spit on you right now!!" Vande roared in fury. "So you just want to see what I'm capable of, huh? Fine! Go around in circles like a spider and whip the ground with your tentacles until I yell 'stop!'"

Chu Hengkong did as instructed, running and merrily scooping up dirt with his tentacles. Slime remained on the ground after each scoop, forming several small silver dots. After six scoops, Vande leaped up, pointing his long tentacles at the spider like guns: "Fire!"

The remaining slime on the ground sprang up at the command, transforming into six transparent ropes that firmly bound the mechanical spider in the center. These transparent slime ropes possessed astonishing adhesive strength, binding not only the spider's main body but also the smaller spiders within it. The mecha spider struggled fiercely but couldn't break free, like a small insect trapped in a spiderweb.

Vande, with his many tentacles on his hips, laughed loudly: "See this? This is my unique skill, the slime trap."

"That's quite creative," Chu Hengkong nodded. "But what if it gets violently dismantled?"

The mechanical spider's eyes flashed, and it was about to fire another laser to shatter the slime binding. But Vande was no longer flustered. It jumped off Chu Heng's empty hand, touched the slime net with its tentacles, and spoke in a faint and hazy voice.

"Don't move," it said.

The mechanical spider stopped moving immediately, frozen in place like a stone, completely giving up resistance, utterly lifeless. Vandal turned around, his eyes gleaming with the light of twilight.

"And this is my true secret technique, the one that makes me invincible throughout the world—"

It said proudly, "Hypnosis!"

Chapter 76 The Best Hunter in the Village

Hypnosis is a common element in artistic creation, and its extent varies depending on the type of work. The yellow-skinned monster wielding a pendulum in the grass can at most put its opponent to sleep for 1-3 rounds, while the bald old man with a metal helmet can mind control an entire army with the help of his equipment.

Chu Hengkong had always thought that such convenient and quick abilities only existed in virtual works, but today he was once again taught a lesson by the all-encompassing world of Shen Dong.

The eyeball monster, Vande, sat atop the hypnotized giant spider, smugly intertwining his short tentacles: "Have you seen the true power of yours, Vande the Great?"

"Quite practical." Chu Hengkong carefully examined the spider's condition. "It needs the help of mucus to activate?"

“Strictly speaking, it requires ‘contact,’ physical contact or eye contact will do. But that’s too dangerous, so I usually use mucus to indirectly hypnotize people,” Vande explained cheerfully, then hesitated, “It’s not that I’m intentionally hiding it, but you know, this thing is after all…”

"I understand," Chu Hengkong nodded.

Among numerous dangerous abilities, hypnosis ranks among the top. Its very existence can erode trust between people; the mere fact that someone knows how to use hypnosis will inevitably breed endless suspicion. Who knows if your actions have been influenced by the other person? Who can guarantee that your current thoughts are of your own free will?

Van der was a perceptive person and naturally understood these concerns, so he quickly began to ramble on: "This ability isn't actually that convenient. It doesn't take effect for long, and it can only be applied to one object at most within a short period of time. The more complex the command, the worse the effect... In short, what I'm trying to say is..."

"It's alright, I believe you," Chu Heng said without looking up. "This ability is useful; we'll find an opportunity to develop it properly later."

"Oh." Vande twirled his tentacles back and forth. "You're a pretty nice guy."

It was somewhat moved; in this perilous and eerie place, receiving a word of "belief" was a rare comfort. Little did it know that Chu Hengkong hadn't thought that far ahead. He genuinely believed this eyeball was a coward, and wouldn't dare use hypnosis to launch a sneak attack even if given a thousand lives…

Besides, how could a seasoned assassin like him, with intelligence already in hand, possibly be hypnotized?

He drew his rock sword and tested it against the spider's carapace. The ordinary strike was immediately deflected, the recoil causing a slight numbness in his hand. Chu Hengkong flicked his wrist, channeling his inner energy into the blade, and slashed again.

This time, the blade penetrated nearly halfway into the armor, but still hadn't completely destroyed the spider's armor. The mechanical spider's six legs began to twitch erratically, as if trying to awaken from its hypnosis. Chu Hengkong released the blade and thrust out his palm. As his palm touched the outer armor, his entire body suddenly sank, and the concentrated energy he had gathered entered the spider's body with this single strike, then exploded with a deafening roar!

Sparks flew across the mechanical spider's surface, and after a few flashes, its compound eyes went out completely, ceasing all movement. Van der clapped his hands with his short tentacles: "Well done!"

Chu Hengkong traced the slash marks on the spider's exoskeleton inch by inch with his fingertips, simulating the action in his mind. This spider's shell was incredibly hard; ordinary attacks were ineffective, and at close range, at least a single, relentless strike would be needed to break it. The ideal method to break this kind of shell would be to use the internal explosive power of the Chaotic Star technique, but unfortunately, the fallen leaves had only just returned to their roots yesterday, making it unavailable for the time being…

Without Vande, it would have been quite a struggle to defeat this spider.

“You just gave me that ‘this guy is surprisingly useful’ look, didn’t you!” Vand said.

"You're quite useful." Chu Hengkong chopped off a spider leg with his knife and placed it on the silver-eyed book, but no words appeared. He put away the book and quickly dismantled the mechanical spider. Chu Hengkong was pondering how to move this behemoth back when he looked down and found that the smaller spiders were still alive and kicking, just running around like headless flies because their main body was dead.

"Vande," Chu Hengkong said thoughtfully, "can your hypnosis be used on multiple targets?"

"If they're all small fry, it's fine. What's wrong?"

·

Two hours later, in Yingshi Town.

Qi Su sat on the edge of the Cherry Blossom Dragon statue, tapping the stone steps with her short cane, her small face filled with visible anxiety. Xiang Fuzi stood beside her, offering words of comfort: "Qi Su, I see that Brother Chu's skills are superb; he must have received the true teachings of the Dragon Village. There's no need to worry so much..."

"Even if he's just a point mass, what's the use of mastering the technique?" Qi Su gritted his teeth in frustration. "Which architect can beat those... things! Besides, he's just a skilled craftsman! These idiots have no self-awareness at all, daring to put a spider hunting manual on the board. From now on, any new commissions must be reviewed by me first; such outrageous requests are not allowed again!"

Xiang Fuzi outwardly agreed, but inwardly thought, "Who told you to run away this morning because you were so concerned about saving face? Now you're blaming me." Just then, a townsman floated over, his face a picture of extraordinary surprise: "The outsider is back."

"Oh... I'm glad you're alright..."

Qi Su breathed a sigh of relief, patting her flat chest repeatedly. She jumped down from the statue, straightened her outer garment, and instantly reverted to her arrogant and self-important demeanor. Xiang Fuzi chuckled behind her. Qi Su didn't notice that she slung her short cane over her shoulder and walked towards the town's exit like a leader inspecting his achievements.

"Hmph, you took almost a whole day to complete such a simple task. You outsiders are really something—what have you two been doing?!"

Qi Su let out a trembling scream, and many of the townspeople watching followed suit. Dust billowed from the west side of the town, and a large swarm of spiders marched in with perfectly synchronized steps. A small portion of the swarm consisted of magically manipulated spider puppets resembling small steel balls, while the majority were native, mechanical spiders. They carried stones, mushrooms, and grass stalks on their backs, and a dozen or so in the middle worked together to carry the remains of a large spider.

Chu Hengkong and Fan De sat on the spider's corpse and waved to the crowd: "Mission complete."

"What on earth did you do to turn this hunting mission into this?!" Qi Su cried out in an even louder wail.

"Hehehe, Mountain Eye has a brilliant plan~" Vande jumped out of his pocket and waved his tentacles at the group of spiders: "Thank you all for your hard work. Now that you've put down the goods, you can go home."

The spiders sorted and placed the various odds and ends down, the hypnotized ones running far away, while the original puppets returned to Chu Hengkong's box. The townspeople, overjoyed, rushed forward, picking up the various items before turning and running away without a word, as if afraid someone would steal their mushrooms. Qi Su stood silently in place, like a sapling drifting in the wind.

Chu Hengkong didn't mind and lowered his head to say, "I have completed what I promised. May I ask who crafted the equipment you promised?"

"I'll do it..." Qi Su looked like he was about to collapse, "You can just leave it to me..."

Chu Hengkong looked at the corpse that resembled an abandoned tank, then at the little girl in front of him who was not even as tall as a spider's leg, and felt deep skepticism about the so-called equipment manufacturing.

·

Half an hour later, at Qi Su's studio.

"Big squid, give me that head. Chop the front claws into smaller pieces; their current size is too inconvenient."

Chu Hengkong handed over the spider's head, curiously observing Qi Su's actions. The little girl was tapping a piece of spider carapace with a short staff, and with each tap, tiny characters flashed from the staff tip and disappeared into the carapace, looking like some kind of mysterious magic.

Fan De watched with great interest, nodding occasionally. Chu Hengkong picked it up and asked, "You can understand it?"

“It uses the inscription technique of ‘secret script,’ which is similar to the talismans of Longquan Township but the principle is different,” Fan De explained. “Talismans use the qi and blood of martial arts practitioners, while secret script is used to draw upon the power of materials, environment, or religious totems. One focuses on internal cultivation, while the other draws upon external forces.”

Qi Su didn't even look up: "It's no use talking to him about this. After all, he's just a stupid brute who only knows how to fight."

"Indeed, the Path of Unity is full of muscle-headed idiots... Pfft!"

Vande shook his head, exuding an air of intellectual superiority. Chu Hengkong casually pressed him flat on the table: "I don't understand what this has to do with 'bitter staffs.' Can you bitter staffs all project words onto the staff?"

"Sigh, you barbarian squid," Qi Su sighed. "What do you think is the difference between 'stone' and 'staff'?"

Chu Hengkong thought for a while: "One is round, and the other is long."

“Okay, zero points, failing grade.” Qi Su tossed over a piece of scrap material. “The correct answer is that one is ‘material’ and the other is ‘tool’. This is the essential difference between point mass 1 and point mass 2.”

Materials and tools... to polish a stone into a walking stick? Well...

"The condition for transforming the Foundation Stone into the Staff of Suffering is to forge the extraordinary item from your transformation into a relic specifically for your use?"

“Now you understand, you silly squid.” Qi Su removed the spider’s eyes. “So all of us with the Bitter Staff have the ability to create extraordinary items—in other words, relics. My expertise in runes is just one method; other Bitter Staffs naturally have their own methods, just like you barbarians have different ways of boxing.”

Chu Hengkong pondered for a moment, then frowned and asked, "If someone uses a high-level relic to upgrade a foundation stone, how would they transform it into a Bitter Staff?"