"Seems like we need to add some force." Old Liu, having perceived Ye Xiu's situation from his high vantage point, twisted his body to evade the web's relentless assault. By the time he spun above Ye Xiu's head, he was already prepared to deliver a powerful kick. "Let me handle this one."

Ye Xiu looked up and immediately understood Old Liu's intent. He used the giant spider's body as leverage to leap upwards with great force himself. At that moment, both their targets were the hilt of the Tianmiao Sword stuck fast in the giant spider's eye.

"Pfft..." As the combined weight of Old Liu and Ye Xiu landed squarely on the Tianmiao Sword, thick, murky green fluid erupted from the giant spider's eye. At this juncture, even the hardest defense could not withstand the force of the pair. The spider's eye was injured; it shrieked in agony and plummeted into the canyon below in utter panic.

Watching the flora and fauna in the canyon being crushed beneath the massive spider, Ye Xiu wiped a bead of cold sweat from his brow. "This thing is practically indestructible all over, but the weakness in its eye was quite apparent."

"What now, keep moving?" Old Liu watched the canyon walls collapse on either side, letting out a breath of relief. He turned and took the lead. The man-eating flowers that had been swaggering moments before were completely gone, flattened by the giant spider. "We probably won't reach the final Xuanji until we leave this canyon. This Hongya Tomb's realm is truly astonishing; it seems to encompass the mysterious powers of all the clans within the Boundless Realm."

Ye Xiu stepped on the mossy ground, feeling a pang of revulsion. "Are there only mindless fiends in this Corpse Demon Forest? Can this even be considered a faction?"

Old Liu shrugged, shaking his head. "Who knows? All I remember is subjugating so many monstrous things, and they were all just brainless things that only knew how to roar."

"Oh dear..." Suddenly, a strange cry echoed from the giant spider behind them, and a stream of viscous saliva shot from its maw, aimed directly at the two men.

"Damn..." Ye Xiu, bringing up the rear, didn't even finish his warning before finding himself stuck fast by the thick, sticky substance. Before he could react, the viscous mass contracted like a tube, pulling Old Liu along with him straight into the giant spider's mouth.

"Whoa!" Old Liu roared, pulling out his Thin Face Blade, intending to cut through the goo. But before he could make a move, he was overwhelmed by a wave of potent, acrid stench. After cursing loudly, he was unceremoniously dropped into a pool of green liquid, everything a wreck.

Ye Xiu struggled to his feet beside Old Liu, shaking the goo off his hand as he looked around. "Did the giant spider eat us? Is this its stomach?"

Old Liu clambered up, spitting wildly. "Ugh... the acid fumes in here are choking! Look at those undulating membranes over there—we must have been swallowed by this spider. This is probably its stomach."

Ye Xiu surveyed his surroundings. It was indeed a pool of green liquid, with thick mist rising from the surface. Within the pool, traces of bees and man-eating flowers were visible, though they were clearly incomplete, having been partially digested by the acid. "Phew... it really is the spider's stomach. What do we do now? Climb up and crawl out through its mouth?"

Old Liu snatched up the Demon-Breaking Sword and poked at the surrounding, fluctuating, flesh-colored membranes. The interior was lined with blood vessels of various colors, and every prod stimulated the tissue's peristalsis. He pointed toward a fleshy tube ahead. "Remember the intestinal passage we went through in the Nine Poisons Fierce Array the first time? It looks like we have to travel through an intestinal tract again."

Ye Xiu was certainly reluctant to navigate such a passage, but being digested in the giant spider's stomach was even less appealing. "I’m actually curious to see the structure of this behemoth. Who knows how large the demons in the Boundless Realm truly are."

Old Liu nodded and took the lead, his hand trailing along the contracting intestinal wall. He crawled through the elongated, fleshy tube, and fleshy lumps began to float up around them. "I wonder what this thing eats every day to grow this large."

"Didn't you notice that everything in this canyon is larger than its natural counterpart?" Ye Xiu shot Old Liu a look, carefully observing the nearby nodules. They kept writhing, as if something was gestating inside them. "There's something in here. Be careful!"

"Bang..." As Ye Xiu finished speaking, one of the nodules burst open with a wet pop. After a series of squeaking noises, several small spiders shot out from the viscous fluid. They moved incredibly fast, heading straight toward Old Liu above them.

"No way, targeting me!" Old Liu was momentarily stunned, immediately whirling his Demon-Breaking Sword wildly. However, the light from the sword only produced a series of kaka sounds upon striking the small spiders. It turned out these spiders, though small, were still covered in a hard carapace. "Hurry up and burn them!"

"You... stop moving!" Ye Xiu focused on the crawling paths of the small spiders. Since Old Liu was higher up in the gut, the creatures were climbing upward, but a faint, hidden light flickered behind Old Liu. In fact, the spiders weren't aiming for Old Liu; they were moving toward that light. "Step aside. It looks like those things are congregating somewhere."

"Crack! Crack!" At that moment, every nodule burst open, flooding the entire passage with thick fluid, and the small spiders poured out like a tide, surging toward the source of the light.

Old Liu held his breath, watching the spiders crawl past his feet. Every one of them possessed razor-sharp teeth, stark white and fully exposed. "These small spiders are about the size of our fists. We killed their mother; do you think they'll come after us for revenge?"

"If they wanted revenge, they wouldn't have left you alive," Ye Xiu stepped onto the sticky fluid, nearly losing his footing. "There seems to be some light above. Let's follow it; maybe we can find a way out."

Old Liu saw Ye Xiu start climbing and followed closely. The light was faint, but in the total darkness inside the spider, it seemed like a beacon of hope. He scrambled through the steep, slick passage and arrived on a wide platform made of membrane. It turned out all the small spiders were gathering here because a massive, oval-shaped nodule was dangling from the center of the platform. "The light seems to be emanating from this nodule."

Ye Xiu shivered looking at the dense swarm of spiders. "The surroundings are all fleshy membranes. Look at that dangling nodule—what does it look like? There appear to be some vein-like structures flowing inside it."

The small spiders continuously swarmed onto the nodule. There was light inside, but the swarm obscured it, making the glow very dim. Old Liu navigated around the spiders on the ground and speculated, "Look at the veins inside that nodule; they seem to be circulating blood to the surroundings. Could these two monstrous objects be the heart of that giant spider?"

"More than just a heart; there must be something hidden inside this heart," Ye Xiu said, brandishing the Black Flame. He sent a ball of fire toward the nodule. Some small spiders were scorched and tumbled off, revealing a small circle of red markings. That pattern was unmistakably the Red Cliff Heavenly Scroll. "I get it. The Red Cliff Heavenly Scroll is hidden inside the nodule!"

Old Liu sucked in a sharp breath. A tiny corner of the Heavenly Scroll had indeed been exposed, but it was quickly covered again by a sudden influx of spiders. "It seems we have to get the Heavenly Scroll to figure out how to get out. How are we supposed to deal with this many spiders?"

Ye Xiu stared coldly at the surroundings. These small spiders were clearly not harmed by the Black Flame, and ordinary blades and swords probably wouldn't do much either. The only immediate course of action was to first deal with the small spiders and then figure out how to obtain the Red Cliff Heavenly Scroll from the nodule. "You get close to the nodule first. Wait until I use the Black Flame to scatter these little things, then you go for the Scroll!"

Old Liu nodded and leaped up, climbing onto the fleshy tube suspending the nodule. He tested the toughness of the veins with the Demon-Breaking Sword. Unexpectedly, the veins were extremely soft, so soft that stabbing them with a blade yielded no purchase—like trying to slice through soft silk. "This thing doesn't seem easy to deal with."

"Try it!" Ye Xiu commanded, gathering the Nine Dragons Black Flame and striking the small spiders from all directions. The spiders already had hard shells; the Black Flame merely heated the shells, scorching them until they rolled onto the floor. This exposed the entire nodule to Old Liu's sword.

"Ah!" Old Liu seized the moment, driving his sword down hard into the nodule. The nodule contracted like a punctured ball, and the Demon-Breaking Sword met resistance as if striking tough sinew; it simply could not pierce it. "This thing is soft!"

"Soft? Then let's try to roast it until it's cooked!" Ye Xiu saw some light-seeking spiders beginning to crawl toward his feet. He hopped off, landing on the intestinal wall, and thrust the Tianmiao Sword, enhanced with Black Flame, into the nodule at a single point.

"Hiss..." Suddenly, smoke billowed from the nodule, releasing a scorched smell. Under the continuous stimulation of the Tianmiao Sword, the nodule's flesh was exposed, and the bright crimson Heavenly Scroll rolled out from the inner wall. Its brilliant light instantly attracted countless spiders.

"Ice Dragon Qi!" Old Liu swept his sword in a circle, blasting the area around the nodule. Frost instantly formed, creating an ice wall around the vicinity. "Ye Xiu, hurry up and see what marvel is revealed in the Red Cliff Heavenly Scroll!"

"A marvel? Let's deal with these small spiders first," Ye Xiu swept outwards with the Tianmiao Sword, batting away the small spiders trapped outside the ice wall. Ignoring the disgusting goo around the nodule, he leaned in for a closer look. The Red Cliff Heavenly Scroll was indeed floating within the nodule.

Under the golden light, how many ages flickered within, filled with both heroic sacrifice and utter despair.

The battle raged endlessly—the misfortune of that generation's Emperor, and the heroic feat of the rebels of the same era. Amidst the dim light of thousands of halberds, the great hall was brightly illuminated, yet the Emperor upon the dais was no longer the one from the beginning.

"Report, Prince Yan, we have not found any trace of Zhu Yunwen." Outside the main hall, a general delivering news knelt hurriedly before a middle-aged man clad in imperial robes. "He... he might have already fled!"

"Nonsense! Keep searching!" The middle-aged man was imposing, possessing an aura of chilling intent in his eyes. This was Prince Yan, Zhu Di, the one who usurped Zhu Yunwen's throne. "How could he escape my grasp? Find him! Bring him to me alive or bring me his corpse!"

"Yes, yes, your subordinate obeys." Several generals bowed in terror and retreated. In their eyes, Zhu Yunwen had merely been a scholarly and refined ruler, lacking in martial prowess and ambition, content only to be a dutiful emperor managing internal affairs.

Zhu Di observed the scene in the great hall, holding his sword. He had long coveted this throne. "Hahahaha! Who told me to be wary of the frail Emperor Zhu Yunwen? The battle isn't even halfway over and he's bolted—what a disgrace to my Zhu family!"

"Is that Zhu Di?" Old Liu seemed to finally grasp the narrative. The scene unfolding clearly indicated Zhu Di had successfully seized the imperial power. "This fellow looks like an ordinary man. How could he have taken the throne from Zhu Yunwen, who had already become Death Incarnate?"