The crawling figure moved its long legs, and after a moment, voices came from the other side of the desk.
"I know your name. Don't even think about escaping from here."
Lu Liangsheng reached out to touch the oil lamp, rubbed his fingertips with a faint tone, and a yellow flame lit up from the wick. The scholar put away the lamp, moved a stool to the front of the spider spirit, put it down, sat on it, and looked calmly at Zhu Erniang opposite.
"Next, I'll ask you questions and you'll answer them, okay?"
The compound eyes on her forehead moved as she looked around. The walls, doors and windows of the room were all filled with magical power, so Zhu Erniang didn't dare to force her way out. As for the scholar in front of her, she had also heard about him from Madam Gu. His cultivation wasn't that high, but the amount of magic he had learned was astonishing, including both evil and righteous magic.
Seeing the scholar sitting there calmly, Zhu Erniang dared not use any of her magic tricks. She tremblingly retracted her eight long legs, crawled on the ground, hesitated for a moment, and nodded.
"Lu...Mr. Lu, just ask."
After two breaths of silence, Lu Liangsheng spoke in a low voice and with a cold expression.
"Is Hua Hongyi related to Wu Se Zhuang?"
Unexpectedly, he asked the question right away. Zhu Erniang was a little flustered. Before she could open her mouth, Lu Liangsheng nodded.
"No need to answer. I've already gotten the answer from your expression. You should also have a pattern of five fireballs on your body. If you open your mouth, you will die, right?"
The former visibly breathed a sigh of relief, with gratitude in his eyes.
"Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Lu."
"Then let me ask you again, how did you know about Wu Se Zhuang? Just tell me the beginning of the process."
The doors and windows were closed, and the dim oil lamp was shaking, flickering on Zhu Erniang's terrifying face. She was lying on the ground with her lips trembling slightly, and it took her a while to raise her face.
"Yes... It was outside the city of Chang'an. That day, Master Lu and your master were trapped, and that's when they met that person."
Lu Liangsheng's eyelids twitched, and another expression finally appeared on his face. He frowned and leaned forward slightly.
"Pick this up. You are far away in the mountains of the northwest. How did you know that my master and I were surrounded?"
Perhaps frightened, Zhu Erniang leaned back and swallowed a mouthful of saliva with a "gulp".
"It was my husband... No, it was Hua Hongyi. She sent the little demon to tell those cultivators about your master... Master Lu... I didn't get involved... I was just brought by her and watched from afar... I really didn't do anything... Don't hand me over to that pig demon, please, you can imprison me or torture me..."
Lu Liangsheng stopped questioning, put his hands on his knees and closed his eyes. He had been wondering how his master could be found out, but he didn't expect that this was the reason. When he was about to speak again, the Taoist's voice was heard outside.
"Old Toad, come over here and drink and play finger-guessing games!"
In the yard, the ragged Toad Taoist, with a swollen eye, walked over the mess with his two flippers on his back. He raised his toad eyes slightly and glanced at Sun Yingxian who was holding a wine glass.
"Come back after I change my clothes."
Behind him, eight big men from Lujia Village followed in and sat at the Taoist's table. As they stretched out their legs, the white hen glanced gloomily at the figure who had jumped onto the stone steps, cackled, raised her head, and limped to the kitchen to nest.
The door creaked slightly and opened. The Toad Taoist slipped in sideways, saw the crawling spider spirit, rolled up his sleeves and strode over, raised his short webbed feet and flapped them a few times before he jumped to the edge of the bed in relief.
"Liangsheng, bring me a bowl of water."
The scholar, who was thinking, came to his senses, quickly took the teapot on the desk, poured a bowl of cold tea and handed it over.
"Master, what happened to your eye?"
The Toad Taoist, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, took a few big gulps from the bowl handed to him by his disciple, then let out a long, comfortable sigh, took off his torn robe and threw it aside, then walked to his small wardrobe.
"It's just a minor injury. It's from fighting with Zhu Erniang."
"But your magic power..."
"Hehe, even if I don't have any magic power, I am still very powerful. Think about the time when we were surrounded by several major sects on the mountain..." The Toad Taoist took out a colorful dress from the closet, shook it twice, and looked back at the spider spirit: "Tell me, am I very powerful? Did I subdue you?"
Zhu Erniang looked at the scholar opposite her, lowered her head and replied carefully, "Yes... yes."
Amid the rustling sounds of people changing clothes, Lu Liangsheng did not continue asking. After all, no matter how detailed the spider spirit was, he probably wouldn't be able to get any more information out of her. He propped himself up on his knees, got up from the stool, and walked to the desk.
"I don't know how many evil things you have done, but now that you have been captured, I naturally cannot let you go easily. It is not justifiable."
From under the pile of books, he pulled out a long and wide volume and spread it on the table with the painting. Lu Liangsheng turned around and looked at the spider spirit with her head down.
"Practicing is not easy. I don't want to kill you, so just repent in this book!"
As soon as "Boundless Mountains and Seas" was displayed, the painting on it flowed, as if there was a suction force. Zhu Erniang showed panic on her face and said several times: "No, no, no..." The eight long legs struggled for a few times, grabbing the ground and trying to escape. Before she ran to the door, she was forcibly pulled away and turned into a column of purple smoke, which was sucked inside.
"Once you have reformed and gotten rid of your hostility, I will let you return to the human world and let you practice cultivation."
After saying that, the volume of "Boundless Mountains and Seas" closed by itself, lay in Lu Liangsheng's palm and was placed on the desk.
"Eh? Where's Zhu Erniang?"
The Toad Taoist put on his festive robe and looked around. Apart from a trace of evil spirit remaining on the ground, there was no trace of the spider spirit.
"Put it in here." Lu Liangsheng patted the books, picked up his master from the ground, put him on the edge of the bed, and sat down beside him. He poured a bowl of cold tea, tilted his head back and drank it in big gulps, feeling indescribably refreshed.
He put the tea bowl on the bedside table and then told Toad Taoist everything he had interrogated from Zhu Erniang, along with his own guesses.
"… After returning from the northwest, we were surrounded by those sects outside Chang'an City. In fact, it was Hua Hongyi who secretly revealed it. It was not difficult to guess from Zhu Erniang's mouth. Afterwards, we met Master Wu Yuan from the Five Colors Manor. Hua Hongyi became his disciple and was given a lot of magic tools for him to use. I just don't know what his purpose is…"
The Toad Taoist lying on the bed opened one eye, turned over on the quilt, and suddenly widened his eyes.
"When will the banquet start?!"
Lu Liangsheng was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "Wait for Hong Lian to send Yue Rou over. By the way, did Master hear what I just said?"
"I heard it clearly. It makes sense."
The Toad Taoist sat up and hugged his flippers, as if remembering something: "It's a pity that Zhu Erniang was taken into the painting. I don't have time to eat one of her legs."
As if in high spirits, he waved his flippers and spoke excitedly:
"Liangsheng, let me tell you, Zhu Erniang's long legs are so crisp, and when you bite them, they are juicy and fragrant."
“Master!”
Lu Liangsheng suddenly interrupted him, and said softly, "Next year, let's go to Luohe Town and erect a monument for those who died in vain."
At one side, the Toad Taoist slowly lowered his flippers, and his white belly shrunk.
"Well, go ahead."