Bai Ye left the stream and plunged back into the mountain forest, heading towards the summit.
He already had a rough idea of the route. After eliminating the areas known to house three spider demons, only one direction remained.
That direction was north!
As it turned out, Bai Ye's guess was correct.
After an unknown amount of time running through the forest, Bai Ye suddenly slowed his pace.
There was the smell of blood, very strong!
Bai Ye twitched his nose, walked forward, and looked at the ground.
The soil underfoot was covered in a layer of red. He then looked at the trees to the side, where there were clear indentations on the trunks.
If he wasn't mistaken, Bai Ye thought it must be spider silk.
Then...
He continued forward!
Soon, a hellish scene appeared before Bai Ye.
Under a large tree by the side, a woman sat with her head missing. Her head had been severed and was held in her hands, cradled there.
Directly in front, a man was bound to a tree with spider silk.
The spider silk had dug into the man's body. When a gust of wind blew, pieces of flesh would suddenly fall off, hitting the ground.
Further ahead, on another tree, countless strands of spider silk were entangled, and a woman was hanging from them.
Her limbs were bound by the spider silk, twisting grotesquely.
The entire person looked like a disassembled doll, with its limbs and head haphazardly reattached. Without a doubt, all her bones were broken.
Continuing forward, the smell of blood became even stronger, and bloodstains were everywhere.
Along the way, Bai Ye saw over a dozen corpses.
Each corpse had met a horrific end. It was rare to even see a complete body; most were dismembered. Those who had only lost their heads had gotten off lightly.
Slowly, a mist began to appear around Bai Ye, tinged with a hint of red.
At that moment, Bai Ye sensed something and quickly leaped to the side.
The instant Bai Ye leaped away...
Strands of spider silk attacked from behind, hitting the ground with...
BOOM!
The power of the spider silk was astonishing, shattering the ground.
After the attack, Bai Ye looked in the direction of the spider silk's impact and saw a figure rapidly leaping from the treetops, soaring forward and rapidly moving across the canopy.
Without hesitation, Bai Ye immediately sprinted forward, rapidly chasing after the figure.
As he ran, a golden light screen appeared behind Bai Ye, followed by rings of golden ripples.
Weapons shot upwards with a deafening roar, continuously blasting through branches.
However, after the treetops were blown away, Bai Ye couldn't find the figure.
Broken branches and leaves continuously fell around him, but the target was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, a tearing sound filled the air.
Bai Ye spun around sharply, looking behind him, and saw spider silk descending from above, stretched taut like sharp arrows.
Bai Ye leaped up quickly, dodging backward.
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!
The spider silk repeatedly shattered the ground, kicking up a large amount of dust that obscured vision.
The next instant, amidst the dust, a silver gleam flashed. Threads of silk shot out from Bai Ye's sides, taking advantage of his obscured vision to quickly wrap around his arms.
Bai Ye felt his arms being constricted, but before he could react, the threads wrapped around nearby trees and slowly pulled him up into the air.
"I've got you!"
From in front of Bai Ye, a voice rang out.
A young boy emerged from behind a tree. He wore white clothes, had white hair, and a pale face. On his forehead were red markings, like the eyes of a spider.
The boy walked towards Bai Ye and said, "You seem stronger than the others."
Bai Ye smiled and looked down. "Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki?"
"Oh? How did you know?" The boy slowly moved his hair away from one eye. "Most people think my father is the lower rank."
In his revealed eye, strange characters were printed: Lower Rank Five!
The boy lowered his hair, spread his palm, and countless spider threads emerged.
"Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki," the boy said. "My name is Rui!"
The moment Rui finished speaking, the threads in his hand shot out, entangling Bai Ye's body.
"I like you very much, because you are stronger than others," Rui looked at Bai Ye and said. "Would you like to be my brother? If you do, I can give you some of Muzan-sama's blood."
Bai Ye replied, "I don't need that."
Rui gradually tightened the spider silk. "Then you can only die here. So, aren't you going to reconsider?"
Bai Ye tilted his head, then said, "Alright, it seems I've been misunderstood. What I meant by not needing that is that I don't need *you* to give it to me."
Rui looked confused. "Hm?"
Bai Ye continued, "If I kill you, I can take as much of your blood as I want."
Contempt appeared on Rui's face. "You humans are always hypocritical, spewing reckless words. Don't you understand your current predicament?"
As Rui spoke, he beckoned with a finger, and the spider silk wrapped around Bai Ye tightened again.
"Will the pain make you clearer?" Rui said again. "One 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. Then I'll demonstrate directly!"
The moment Bai Ye finished speaking, he began to exert force, spreading his arms to the sides.
Almost instantly...
The spider silk binding Bai Ye snapped, and Bai Ye fell from the air.
"This is impossible..." Rui's eyes widened. "You can't possibly break free from my silk!"
Rui's spider silk was incredibly tough, and more importantly, extremely sharp.
Even if Bai Ye had the strength to break the spider silk, his body would be torn to shreds due to its sharpness.
So...
Bai Ye didn't break free with brute force. Instead, he used...
Poison!
Bai Ye corroded the spider silk with the poison from his Poison-Poison Fruit, and with a little effort, he could easily break free.
Bai Ye stretched his muscles and looked at Rui. "Now, do you understand what I mean?"
Rui gritted his teeth and produced spider silk again.
"Blood Demon Art!" Rui whispered. "Killer Cage!"