The forest was dark, but not silent. Chang-li was surprised just how loud it was between the dripping of water from leaves onto the floor, the crunch of branches under his feet, and various distant calls and cries.

"What is all that racket?" he asked as they went along.

Joshi shrugged. "Whatever lives here, I suppose."

"It's so loud."

Joshi smirked. "Is this your first time in a real forest?"

"I've trained with you in a dozen different levels," Chang-li protested.

Joshi shook his head. "The different floors of a tower may imitate the natural world, but they are a pale shadow. They don't truly have a connection to the Mother or her son."

From what things Joshi had said before, Chang-li was pretty sure he was referring to the Darwur earth goddess and her eldest child, the sky, neither of which would have a particular connection to a tower, he supposed.

"In nature, all things are interconnected. The sheep grazes on grass, then falls to the wolf. The wolf is shot by the hunter and his pelt made into a good winter coat. In a tower, lux takes the place of so many of those interactions. Unnatural things happen. A rabbit will attack and kill a lion and devour its lux. So, no, those places are not as real as this is."

"And how do I know what to watch for?" Chang-li asked, just as a trio of giant spiders dropped from the trees.

Magen chirped a second's warning. Joshi's gauntleted fists were already flashing. Chang-li's sword was in his hand. He sliced and took two legs off the nearest spider before it could even hit the ground.

As soon as it could, it rushed toward him, hobbling on its remaining legs. Chang-li struck up one of the combat stances Joshi had been teaching him, his left arm and sword extended, conjuring up a lux shield in his right hand. As the spider rushed him, he slashed with his left, and then shifted to the side, blocking the spider's fangs as they shot in toward him.

The spider bounced off his shield. Chang-li thrust his sword, stabbing deep into the creature's abdomen. The beast was more than three feet tall, but when Chang-li pierced it, it flopped to the ground before rolling over onto its back, its remaining legs writhing. Chang-li stabbed once more to ensure it was dead. Silvery liquid leaked out, confirming this was no ordinary beast.

Joshi was punching the second spider over and over in its bulbous abdomen. The third spider was skirting to the side, flanking Joshi. Chang-li moved to intercept it just as it spat a globe of webbing. Chang-li conjured a Firepot but left the weave open at both ends, then forced yellow lux through it while holding on to the orange shell. Fire burst from his hand, burning the web as it neared him. He raced toward the spider, catching it with his gout of flame, then sliced downward and severed the thin neck connecting the spider's head to its bulbous body.

Chang-li spun again, making sure no more enemies were approaching, but it seemed clear. He took a deep breath as Joshi cleaned spider ick off of himself.

"Definitely lux-tainted, if not Tower Beasts," Joshi grunted. "That web had blue lux woven through it."

"Yes," Chang-li agreed, glad he'd not had to find out what the lux in the webbing actually did. "I doubt that was all of them."

"It seems unlikely," Joshi agreed. "We should keep moving."

They continued deeper into the forest. The trees changed. Instead of the mix of leafy oaks, beeches, and arrow-straight pine trees, they soon found themselves walking between tall, thin stalks of bamboo. The leaves rustled in their passing. Chang-li kept thinking he heard skittering noises off among the branches. Soon enough, the spider webs between the stalks grew denser and thicker until they were following a path between walls of thick webbing.

Chang-li's sword was a comfort in his hand. He kept up a familiar cycling pattern, Breath of the Heavens, but rather than venting the lux out of himself, he recycled it back through his channels.

Joshi froze. "Magen found them."

Chang-li stopped. "Found what?" he whispered.

"The nest." He turned grimly to Chang-li. "There's a lot of them. And they have prisoners. Magen says some are not dead yet."

Chang-li shuddered at the idea of being captured by giant spiders. He imagined they'd be tied in the webs and sucked dry a little at a time. "We have to free them."

"Yes, but killing the spiders without collateral damage is going to be difficult," Joshi said.

"They didn't like fire, did they?"

"No," Joshi frowned, "but if there's prisoners—"

"Not what I'm thinking," Chang-li said. "What if we try to lure some of them out?"

"Go on…"

"Can we have Magen show itself to the spiders?"

"I see what you're thinking," Joshi agreed. "Let's get closer."

They crept up together to where the bamboo forest came to an abrupt end. A wide circle had been cut here, bamboo fallen to the ground to create a clearing 50 feet or more across. Webbing stretched all around the edges of the clearing, enclosing it, coating the bamboo with silvery strands. Overhead, the moon shone down, making the whole place look as though it had been frozen. On the far side of the clearing, dark bundles hung between the stands of bamboo. One or two were wiggling.

The place was alive with spiders. Five or six were bigger than the ones Chang-li had already fought, a dozen or so were medium-sized, and hundreds or more of small fist-sized spiderlings running and skittering about. Then Chang-li spotted what his eyes had passed over at first. Thousands upon thousands of small, round objects lying in the fallen bamboo. Eggs. He shuddered. This had to be new. There was no way an infestation of giant spiders like this could have been existing so near Vardin City. They would destroy it. And save the prisoners, if possible.

"Ready?" Joshi asked.

Chang-li prepared himself. He wove a Firepot, the largest he'd ever managed, and held it ready. "Go ahead."

In the middle of the clearing, Magen flickered into brightness until it rivaled the moon for light. The spiders took notice, chittering and chasing Magen, who bobbed along this way and that until, having attracted the attention of multiple spiders, it dashed for the entrance to the clearing where Joshi and Chang-li waited. A dozen spiders pursued, two of the big ones, and ten of the smaller, along with innumerable hatchlings.

Chang-li and Joshi waited until they had entered the narrow corridor of webbing. Then Joshi stepped out from concealment and struck the nearest spider. Chang-li hurled his Firepot into the clearing then turned his attention to one of the medium-sized spiders, slashing at it with his sword.

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The Firepot exploded. Shrieks and screams from the spiders beyond pierced the night. He heard the roar of flame, but he was busy fighting off the ones who had come after Magen. He conjured his Mirror Blade so he had blades in both hands and swung back and forth, this way and that, hacking limbs off spiders and cleaving heads from necks.

Four of the medium ones were down. Joshi was struggling with one of the large ones, pounding it furiously. Chang-li swung again, killing another medium size one, but the tiny babies rushed ahead in a wave. He hurled another Firepot near his own feet to destroy the onrushing swarm.

One of the larger spiders ran up the wall of webbing and bamboo beside him, then dropped a coil of sticky web. Chang-li dodged it. He coated his hand in red lux and seized the strand, yanking. The spider came off balance and fell toward him. He raised his sword and letting it impale itself on his blade, skewering it.

The another group of spiders from the clearing rushed for them, even as they killed the last first swarm. Many of the newcomers smoked and smoldered. Joshi and Chang-li set themselves in the bamboo and web corridor, side by side, as the swarm came on.

Chang-li had flame in one hand and a sword in the other, slashing and searing. Joshi's fists were like lightning. He struck high and low. Each of his punches reflected half a dozen times by his Thousand Fists technique. They were so closely packed that each strike hid several spiders, causing havoc as they were knocked into each other. Still, they came on. Chang-li and Joshi were pushed back down the path. Spiders ran up the bamboo beside them, hissing and lashing out with their fangs and sharp legs. A strike from one leg grazed Chang-li's cheek, drawing blood. He cleaved that spider in two with one swift stroke, but four more took its place.

Chang-li arched a Firepot over the first ranks of spiders into the ones behind. It exploded and he heard dozens, if not hundreds, of spiders scream. But there were so many that he kept being pushed back. Chang-li tried to be as efficient as he could. His Lux reserves wouldn't last forever. What should they do here? What would Noren do?

He could hear Noren's voice in his head. The Grandmaster sounded disgusted. "What kind of a cultivator are you? Look at you, swinging your sword like a peasant reaping grain. Is this how a cultivator fights?"

No, no, it wasn't. Chang-li had been focused on his sword and his techniques, both of which were fine, but he still wasn't thinking like a cultivator. He needed to learn to use his will and his Intent.

He focused on the enemies in front of him. Vermin, mindless beasts, not even worth his time to individually crunch underfoot. He would put an end to this now and rescue their victims before they could hurt anyone else. Chang-li focused his will like a hammer and brought it down on the masses of spiders swarming him. The blow hit so hard some of the smaller ones vanished in a spray of smoke and blood. The larger spiders sprawled flat like they'd been stepped on. Still more were coming. Chang-li prepared his will for another strike. This was different from using his will against other cultivators, much easier. The spiders had no will of their own to resist him.

Joshi shouted, and Chang-li felt him gather his own will. So, he wasn't the only one who had forgotten that cultivators had more tricks up their sleeves. Joshi broke formation, rushing into the mass of spiders. His will was wrapped around him like a shell, and as the spiders hurled themselves at him, they crashed against the shield of will and fell to the forest floor dead.

Chang-li sharpened his focus. More spiders were racing along the bamboo at him. He thrust outward with both hands, directing his thoughts and will. Twin shockwaves burst from him, shaking the bamboo forest. The spider webs fell away in motes of silvery ash, taking the spiders with them.

Joshi was nearly back to the clearing now. Chang-li raced forward toward him, slashing and burning through the few stragglers that remained until they reached the spider clearing. Only a handful of the small ones were left.

Chang-li threw a Firepot into their midst. They would have to take time to kill all of the babies and save the prisoners, but without opposition —

The mass of fallen bamboo at the edge of the clearing began to stir. It pushed upward, an enormous mound of poles and webbing. Something thrust its way out and reared up on hairy, enormous legs.

Joshi swore in a language Chang-li didn't know, but the meaning was clear enough. This must be the spider queen. Thousands of faceted eyes shone out of her head. Her mandibles dripped poison. On her stomach was a golden shape. It took Chang-li a moment to realize it was a skull marking, gold against her black carapace.

She chittered and rushed them, even as the last few young spiders clawed at his legs. Chang-li didn't waste any lux dealing with them, just slashed with his sword.

"Keep her busy," Joshi shouted. Chang-li felt Joshi filling himself with lux a moment before he sprang forward. Chang-li threw a Blindfold at the spider queen's face. It landed across some of her eyes, but more still blinked beadily at him.

Joshi landed atop the spider with Meteor Punch. The massive spider staggered but recovered quickly despite Joshi on her back raining blows down on her. "Her carapace is too thick," he shouted. "I can't get through."

The spider queen raised a leg and brought it down toward Chang-li. He threw himself to the side just in time. Her foot slammed down beside him, shaking the ground . Chang-li regained his stance and swung his sword as hard as he could. It stuck against her leg and bounced off. His arm reverberated with the shock.

"I can't get through her legs either," Chang-li cried. He needed to bleed her and start using the blood-flame venom technique like he'd done to great avail against the tower beasts in the last week.

He channeled orange lux into the blade, sharpening its edge, strengthening it as much as he could. Then he ran forward as the spider ducked its head down toward him. He dodged under her head and stabbed his sword up into the bottom of her bulbous body.

This time, the sword pierced. Black, thick blood dripped down. A drop landed on Chang-li's right hand. It burned. He wiped it on his robes as best he could and wove the blood-flame venom technique. He could feel it working, but it didn't seem to have any effect just yet.

Joshi, atop her, was roaring and smashing. The spider queen ducked and wove, trying to dislodge him or to crush Chang-li, or both. Chang-li raced out from under the forest of legs, slicing another as he passed and casting blood-flame venom again.

"It's working," Joshi shouted. "I can feel her slowing."

The spider queen bit at him, her mandibles closing on the edge of his robes, tearing a chunk out of it. He slashed his sword across her eyes, and she reared back, shrieking in pain, raising her legs to protect her remaining eyes..

Joshi shouted, "I see!" and the spider queen shrieked again as Joshi used his Thousand Fists to rain blows on her head. The queen thrashed as the strikes crushed more delicate eyes.

Chang-li took advantage and struck her wounded leg again. He cut through. It buckled, and the spider lurched forward. Her mandibles snapped at the air near Chang-li, but he had timed this just right. He thrust his sword inside her mouth, up into the top of her mouth, pushing deep. At the same time, he wove blood-flame venom.

The curse was all through her body now. She writhed in agony. Chang-li's arm was burning. He looked down. One of her mandibles had grazed his left arm. Sick green and black lines already came off the wound.

Chang-li backed away, gasping for breath as Joshi aimed one last blow at the spider queen's head. The spider erupted in flames. Joshi leapt clear as her body was consumed from the inside out by the blood-flame venom. A moment later, Joshi joined Chang-li.

"What happened to your arm?"

"She bit me," Chang-li grimaced. "It's pretty painful. Poison, I think." He switched to cycling Purification of Heaven and Earth. The technique pushed back the poison. To have affected him even this much, the spider's venom must be lux enhanced. Nothing else would harm a cultivator past the Peak of Bodily Refinement. He focused on his cycling, and the pain and venom retreated. "I'll be fine. Let's make sure they're all dead."

"Do that," Joshi urged. "I'm going to see if she has a natural treasure."

Chang-li remembered the captives. He swore and raced for the far side of the clearing where the bundles still hung from the trees. He awkwardly swung his sword, but his arm didn't respond well, so he switched to his right hand and slashed as carefully he could, letting the bundles drop to the clearing floor and slicing them open.

There were eight. Two of the men were dead. Their bodies pale and drained, their skin stretched tight over the bones of their bodies. All of the fluids had been sucked from their bodies by the spider's vicious bites. The other six were only slightly better off, alive but in bad shape. There were four men and two middle-aged women, barely conscious.

Joshi approached as Chang-li was freeing the last of them. He held up a bloody fist. In it gleamed something silvery. "We'll want to look at this later," he said. He tossed it to Chang-li, who stored it in his soulspace. Then they turned to the captives. After a few minutes, some of the men started to come around.

"We can carry the two worst off," Joshi said, gesturing to a man and a woman that still hadn't woken up. "The rest can follow as best they like. I think we've killed all the spiders now."

Chang-li agreed. His arm still throbbed, but he picked up one of the women and slung her over his shoulder. Then he, with his aching left arm, helped one of the men to his feet. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you back safely."

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