Bai Ye left the stream and plunged back into the mountains, heading towards the summit.
He already had a general route in mind. Excluding the areas where he knew three spider demons resided, only one direction remained.
That was to the north!
As it turned out, Bai Ye's deduction was correct.
After an unknown duration of running through the forest, Bai Ye suddenly slowed his pace.
There was the smell of blood, a strong scent!
Bai Ye twitched his nose, walking forward and glancing at the ground.
The soil underfoot was covered in a layer of red. Looking at the trees on the side, there were distinct marks on their thick trunks.
If nothing was out of the ordinary, Bai Ye believed it was spider silk.
Then…
He continued forward!
Soon, a hellish scene unfolded before Bai Ye.
Beneath a large tree nearby, a woman sat slumped, her head missing. Her head had been severed and was held in her own hands, cradled as if in a bowl.
Directly ahead, a man was bound to a large tree with spider silk.
The silk had dug deep into the man's body. When the wind blew, chunks of flesh would suddenly fall off, hitting the ground.
Further ahead, on another tree, countless strands of spider silk were entangled, and a woman hung from them.
Her limbs were wrapped by the silk, twisted grotesquely.
She looked like a dismembered doll, with its limbs and head haphazardly reattached. It was clear without a doubt that all her bones were broken.
Continuing onward, the scent of blood grew even more intense, and bloodstains were scattered everywhere.
Along the way, Bai Ye saw over a dozen corpses.
Each one had met a gruesome end. It was rare to even see a complete body; most were dismembered. Those who had lost only their heads were considered lucky.
Gradually, mist began to surround Bai Ye, tinged with a faint crimson hue.
At this moment, Bai Ye sensed something and quickly leaped to the side.
The instant Bai Ye leaped away…
Strands of silk shot from behind, striking the ground with a…
Boom!
The power of the silk was astonishing, shattering the ground.
After the attack, Bai Ye looked in the direction of the silk's impact and saw a figure leaping rapidly from the treetops, moving swiftly forward, treading on the treetops.
Without hesitation, Bai Ye immediately sprinted forward, rapidly pursuing the figure.
As he ran, a golden light screen appeared behind Bai Ye, followed by rings of golden ripples.
Weapons shot upwards, emitting deafening roars, constantly breaking through branches.
However, after the treetops were shattered, Bai Ye could not find the figure.
Broken branches and leaves fell all around, but the opponent was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, the sound of something cutting through the air rang out.
Bai Ye sharply turned his body and looked behind him. He then saw silk descending from above, taut as a series of sharp arrows.
Bai Ye leaped up quickly, dodging backward.
Boom, boom, boom!
The spider silk continuously shattered the ground, kicking up large amounts of dust to obscure vision.
The next instant, 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, slowly pulling him up into the air.
"Got you!"
A voice rang out from in front of Bai Ye.
A young boy emerged from behind a tree. He wore white clothes, had white hair, and a pale face. Red markings adorned his forehead, resembling spider eyes.
The boy walked towards Bai Ye and said, "You seem stronger than the others before."
Bai Ye smiled and looked down, "Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki?"
"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."
Within the revealed eye, a bizarre inscription read: Lower Rank Five!
The boy lowered his hair, opened his palm, and countless spider silk threads poured out.
"Twelve Kizuki, Lower Rank Five," the boy said. "My name is Rui!"
The moment Rui finished speaking, the silk threads in his hand shot out, wrapping around Bai Ye's body.
"I like you very much, because you are stronger than the others," Rui looked at Bai Ye and said. "Would you like to be my brother? If you agree, I can give you some of Muzan-sama's blood."
Bai Ye replied, "I don't need such things."
Rui gradually tightened the spider silk. "Then you can only die here. So, aren't you going to reconsider?"
Bai Ye tilted his head and said, "Alright, it seems my words have been misunderstood. What I meant by not needing those things is that I don't need you to give them to me."
Rui looked puzzled. "Hm?"
Bai Ye continued, "If I kill you, I can take as much of your blood as I want."
A look of contempt appeared on Rui's face. "Humans are always so deceitful, spewing careless words. Don't you understand your current predicament?"
As Rui spoke, he beckoned with a finger, and the spider silk constricting Bai Ye tightened further.
"Will the pain help you regain some clarity?" Rui said again. "This is your last chance. If you are willing to become my family and fight to protect me, I can spare you."
Bai Ye sighed. "It seems you haven't realized yet. I'll demonstrate it for you directly!"
The moment Bai Ye spoke, he exerted force and spread his arms to his 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 break free from my threads!"
Rui's spider silk was incredibly strong, and more importantly, extremely sharp.
Even if Bai Ye possessed the strength to break the silk, his body would have been torn to shreds due to its sharpness.
Therefore…
Bai Ye hadn't broken free with brute force, but rather…
With poison!
After Bai Ye corroded the spider silk with the poison from his Fruit of Poison, a slight exertion of force allowed him to easily snap the threads.
Bai Ye stretched his limbs and looked at Rui. "Now, do you understand what I mean?"
Rui gritted his teeth and conjured spider silk in his hands again.
"Blood Demon Art!" Rui let out a soft cry. "Killing Cage!"