Not able to find out how the natural formation was still able to stay active even after the death of the spiders had died, Xuan Hao decided to once again use the Dao of Fire to destroy the natural formation that was moving the black ash away from the cave system. Hoping that destroying the natural formation might be able to give him some idea of where the energy fueling the formation was coming from.
Crack~
The natural formation stood no chance against the terrifying flame and soon collapsed, causing the black ash to stop moving. However, this only lasted for a short while before the natural formation reappeared. The black ash resuming journey out of the cave system.
Observing all of this happening, Xuan Hao was not too surprised after seeing how the natural formation had appeared again after he destroyed it. After all, he had already destroyed it once before when killing the spiders earlier, so he had expected it to some extent. Instead, the thing he was surprised about was the source of energy fueling the natural formation.
Although he had only managed to get a brief glance following the formation being reconstructed after he destroyed it just now, he finally located the source of the formation and the thing that kept it from being fully destroyed, a cluster of small floating lights located at the center of the mass of black ash.
The souls of the spiders!? But how are they still alive? Shouldn't they have been killed by the attack earlier…?
Seeing the small cluster of floating lights that appeared at the center of the black ash, acting as fuel for the natural formation, Xuan Hao could not help opening his eyes in surprise after realizing what the cluster of small lights was.
To put it simple, it was indeed the souls of the spiders… But looking at it in another way, the souls of the spiders had already been destroyed and reduced into a form of soul energy that was flowing through the black ash from the cluster of light. Only capable of keeping the natural formation active through the remaining intent of the Domain Lord Realm spider that had been able to keep some level of its consciousness alive through the protection of the soul energy. At the same time also allowing it to escape his detection.
If not for the fact that he had noticed the fact that the black ash had been moving because of the natural formation, he would probably have ended up missing the fact that the Domain Lord Realm spider was still alive. Something that could have caused quite a few problems considering that there was a high chance that it would inform the rest of the nest that it came from about what had happened and how the demon beasts they had been chasing suddenly went missing.
Although it might not be a problem for him to deal with the spiders and the queen spider that was undoubtedly behind the spider swarm. Even if the spider queen had reached a realm comparable with the Soul Ascension Realm, the same could not be said for the Flying Sword Sect that would not have him around to protect it constantly. Not to mention, setting up a formation to stop someone in the Peak of the Domain Lord Realm or above that, was not something he had the ability to do with his current mastery of formations.
All things considered, the most likely outcome if the Domain Lord Realm spider got away and informed the rest of the spider swarm, would be the inevitable destruction of the Flying Sword Sect, as there was no way for him to stay at the Flying Sword Sect all the time to ensure its safety.
Maybe I should try and improve my mastery over formations after returning to the sect- No, I should properly also improve on my alchemy and blacksmithing…
Suddenly realizing that he had been neglecting his professions after having reached the Dao Domain Lord Realm, Xuan Hao could not help shaking his head awkwardly before turning his attention back towards the floating orbs of light that the remaining consciousness of the Domain Lord Realm spider was hiding inside of.
Although it was hard for him to find these orbs of light containing the souls of the dead spiders at first, now that he had already found them, it would be close to impossible for him to lose sight of them again. Especially considering that the souls didn't have any way to move without the help of the formation, as it seemed like they had been bound together with the black ash that had once been their bodies.
Even the Domain Lord Realm spider's soul was no exception to this, as it was also bound to the mass of black ash through the formation. Likely a side effect of using the souls of the other spiders to protect itself.
Whoosh~!
Waving his hand in the direction of the soul cluster at the center of the large mass of black ash, a silver light streaked through the air before turning into a single sword that soon split up into an endless number of smaller swords, each heading towards one of the countless souls contained inside the cluster of light.
The only exception was the Domain Lord Realm spider's soul, who was instead greeted with close to a thousand of these smaller swords, who soon merged together into a single powerful silver sword. More than powerful enough to deal with a weaker Soul Ascension Realm Expert, let alone the remnant soul of a First Stage Domain Lord Realm demon beast…
Screeech-!
Realizing that it had been discovered and was about to die, the Domain Lord Realm spider let out a terrified screeching sound before trying its best to escape from the large silver sword-ραпdαs `n?ν?| сom
Swish~!
In the end, it had no way to outrun the silver sword given that it was still bound to the black ash, unable to escape as the silver sword pierced through its ethereal body.
Scree-
Not even able to scream in pain before the core of its essence was shattered and its soul began to disintegrate at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Only the brief expression filled with terror as its existence was consumed by the silver sword gave him some idea of the agonizing pain it must have experienced when its soul disintegrated.
At least compared to the Domain Lord Realm spider, the rest of the spider souls had already lost consciousness and were nothing more than empty husks of what they had once been and wouldn't even realize that they had died.
Rumble~
Following the death of the souls, the mass of black ash on the ground trembled for a short moment before it settled on the ground, this time without any small movements outside of the bits outside the cave system getting carried away by the wind every now and then.
"Everything should be fine now…" Muttering this to himself with a sense of uncertainty, Xuan Hao could not help inspecting the black ash on the ground again. Just to make sure that the Domain Lord Realm spider didn't have another special technique up its sleeve. After all, he had been fooled by it not too long ago and was in no way willing to let that happen again.
For this reason alone, Xuan Hao ended up spending far longer than he would normally have on inspecting the remains of the spider swarm. Making extra sure to check the area around the place where the Domain Lord Realm Spider had died, and the cluster of souls had been located… And because of all this, Xuan Hao did end up finding an anomaly around the black ash where the Domain Lord Realm spider had died.
"Don't tell me…"
Not knowing what to say as he focused his attention on the anomaly, Xuan Hao was left speechless at the small fragments of the Domain Lord Realm spider's soul that seemed to have somehow survived his attack once again.
Looking more closely at these small fragments, he even had a feeling that they would be able to gather together again over a long period of time. Allowing the Domain Lord Realm spider to recover at some point in the future.
What in the world is this thing? Its soul is far more tenacious than a Domain Lord- No, even the soul of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm isn't this tenacious…
Feeling a sense of fear when faced with the seemingly undying soul of the spider demon beast, Xuan Hao once again used his sword to destroy all of the fragments before searching through everything around its remains once again.
In the end, he ended up spending far longer than before on searching for any more traces of the spider demon beast without finding anything. However, deep down, Xuan Hao had a feeling that the spider demon beast was still alive somewhere and in the process of recovering.
?α?dαsηθνε| As for how long it would take for it to recover from its current state? Xuan Hao estimated it to far exceed the lifespan of someone in the Domain Lord Realm!
But then again, the spider demon beast was not really normal, so he did not dare say whether or not it could recover in the future…