SQUELCH—!

A sickening tearing sound echoed!

The spider’s massive mouthparts pierced through Liu San Niang’s Protective True Qi without any resistance and plunged viciously into her soft chest!

Its venomous chelicerae instantly injected a massive amount of poison. Liu San Niang couldn’t even let out a scream as her body convulsed violently. Her eyes filled with horror and agony as the light of life rapidly faded.

"Liu San Niang—!!!"

Witnessing this, Yue Mountain felt as if he had been struck by lightning!

His eyes looked ready to pop from their sockets as he let out a gut-wrenching roar, instantly descending into a complete frenzy!

His eyes turned completely bloodshot as he stared daggers at Jiang Bohong. "Jiang Bohong! You animal!!!"

But in the same instant that Liu San Niang blocked the fatal blow with her body, Chen Qing and Zhao Tieying’s attacks landed!

A cold glint flared in Chen Qing’s eyes. A cyan light flowed along the shaft of his spear, transforming into a brilliant, condensed stream of azure light that precisely pierced the vulnerable joint between the Red Blood Ghost-faced Spider’s head and carapace from the side!

SHIIINK—!

The spear tip plunged through with unstoppable momentum!

Almost simultaneously, Zhao Tieying gritted his teeth against the searing pain and poured all his strength into his right arm. The Wind-Splitting Saber, accompanied by a sharp whistle of air, viciously chopped down on one of the spider’s supporting legs on the other side!

CRACK! With a crisp snap, the thick spider leg broke!

The Red Blood Ghost-faced Spider shrieked mournfully. Its enormous body convulsed and thrashed, wildly spraying a mixture of green body fluids and poisonous mist.

Finally, it crashed heavily onto the muddy ground. Its eight legs twitched feebly a few times before it went completely still.

Only Yue Mountain’s low, wounded-animal-like growls remained in the hollow.

Jiang Bohong ignored the scene, instead taking out a Qi Recovery Pill and swallowing it.

’How ruthless!’

A chill ran down Chen Qing’s spine, and alarm bells screamed in his head as he watched Jiang Bohong.

Yue Mountain stared at the body of his wife, Liu San Niang, as it rapidly blackened and swelled from the poison’s corrosion. He then snapped his head up, his blood-red eyes locking onto Jiang Bohong. "He killed her! A debt of blood must be paid in blood!"

He turned to Zhao Tieying and Chen Qing, his voice cold. "Kill him! The Treasure Medicine, the spider’s corpse—I, Yue Mountain, won’t take a single thing! It’s all yours!"

Hearing this, Zhao Tieying’s heart leaped.

Those seven or eight stalks of Treasure Medicine, especially that nearly twenty-year-old Silver Pattern Blood Ginseng, were of simply incalculable value!

Add to that the Red Blood Ghost-faced Spider’s Spider Silk Pouch and Poison Sac, and it was a windfall that could drive a man to madness!

He subconsciously tightened his grip on his Wind-Splitting Saber. His gaze flickered toward Jiang Bohong, whose breathing was also somewhat ragged, and then he glanced at the silent Chen Qing.

Chen Qing, however, remained expressionless, as if he hadn’t heard Yue Mountain’s words.

With clean, efficient movements, he walked over to the corpse of the Red Blood Ghost-faced Spider. He used his Cloud-Coiling Spear to precisely slice open a specific gland on its abdomen, carefully extracting a Spider Silk Pouch covered in silver threads. Then, he cut open the Poison Sac and collected the viscous venom inside a special Jade Bottle.

’I’ll just secure the goods first,’ he thought.

Jiang Bohong watched Yue Mountain’s frenzied state, then glanced at the clearly tempted Zhao Tieying. Not only was there no fear on his face, but a cold, mocking sneer appeared instead.

He dusted off his mud-stained sleeves and sneered, "Brother Zhao, if you and I fight until we’re both grievously injured, who do you think benefits in the end? Wouldn’t we just be handing everything to Brother Yue? Do you dare believe a word he says right now? What will you do when, after we’ve fought to the death, he goes back on his word or even stabs you in the back?"

When Zhao Tieying heard Jiang Bohong’s words, his heart sank again, as if doused with a bucket of cold water.

Jiang Bohong’s words had struck his greatest fear!

Yue Mountain was clearly in a state of frenzy; his words couldn’t be trusted at all.

Moreover, Jiang Bohong was the strongest, and he himself was injured. Even if the three of them ganged up on him, they might not secure a victory against Jiang Bohong.

And even if they won, it would be a pyrrhic victory. Facing Yue Mountain and Chen Qing afterward... the situation would only be worse!

After a moment of contemplation, Zhao Tieying suppressed his greed for the treasures and said in a low voice, "Brother Yue! The dead can’t be brought back to life! Brother Jiang... was just trying to protect himself in a moment of desperation. He didn’t mean to kill Madam Liu! Right now, this Ghost Wail Swamp is fraught with danger, the poison mist hasn’t dispersed, and the smell of blood is thick. We could attract other ferocious creatures at any moment! We should quickly gather the Treasure Medicine, divide it, and get out of here immediately! Leaving this godforsaken place is the only sensible thing to do!"

He was trying to de-escalate the situation and steer the conversation toward splitting the loot and leaving.

Yue Mountain, however, just stared at Jiang Bohong, completely deaf to Zhao Tieying’s words.

"Leave!?"

Jiang Bohong reacted as if he’d heard the funniest joke in the world. "Oh, Brother Zhao, Brother Zhao, you’re so adorably naive! Leave? The dead... don’t need to leave!"

Chen Qing’s True Qi began to circulate quietly within him. His heart turned to ice. ’As expected,’ he thought, ’in the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp, the most venomous things have never been the Exotic Beasts.’

"What do you mean?!"

Zhao Tieying’s expression changed. "Jiang Bohong! What... what are you trying to say?! Have you no regard for the code of the Jianghu? We were traveling companions!"

"The code of the Jianghu? Companions?"

Jiang Bohong scoffed. "Zhao Tieying, you’ve been running around the Ten Thousand Poison Swamp for so many years, yet you’re still so childish? You think some vague, ethereal ’code of the Jianghu’ is enough for you to take a share of these priceless Treasure Medicines right from under my nose? One of them is a Silver Pattern Blood Ginseng, a rare treasure nearly twenty years old! Wouldn’t I be taking a huge loss?"

"When faced with real profit, what is this bullshit about honor? What are promises and oaths? They’re all just farts in the wind! The only thing that’s real is what you hold in your own hands, the meat you put in your own stomach!"

His words were laced with disdain.

So many Treasure Medicines would tempt even an ordinary Astral Force master.

Zhao Tieying gritted his teeth. "Jiang Bohong, if that’s how it is, then don’t blame us for what comes next."