Capítulo 441: Chapter 256: Return with a Full Load

While waiting for the chief to arrive, Jiang Xuan chatted idly with Hong Zhu and continued to examine the Spider House with great interest.

Outside the Spider House, there were eight lifelike spider legs, and between these legs, many spiders were weaving webs.

On one of the webs, Jiang Xuan saw a brightly colored large spider quietly crouched in the web.

Just then, a spider about half its size appeared.

This smaller spider was the same species as the large one, with nearly identical patterns on its body.

The smaller spider carefully approached the web, then began to dance in a spot where the big spider could see it.

It wriggled its vibrantly colored rear end, waved two spider legs, and danced with great effort.

Noticing Jiang Xuan staring at those two spiders, Hong Zhu explained, “The smaller one is the male, and the larger one is the female. The male is performing a courtship dance.”

“Courtship? Interesting.”

Jiang Xuan kept watching the two spiders. The male was dancing fervently, but the female seemed irritable, running to the edge of the web several times, trying to drive the male away.

But the male spider didn’t give up; it kept changing positions, continuing to dance, and rhythmically tapped its forelegs on the web’s edge, sending courtship signals.

After a few rounds, the female spider was either moved by the male’s sincerity or simply gave up resisting; she crouched in the middle of the web and rhythmically tapped the web a few times with her forelegs too.

The male spider was overjoyed, at once crawling over along the web and entwining itself with the female, as if afraid she’d change her mind.

The spiders’ pleasurable process was brief, and soon the male spider, exhausted, tried to leave.

But just then, something unexpected happened for Jiang Xuan.

“Pfft!”

The much larger female suddenly wrapped her eight legs around the male, then with sharp fangs, bit into the male’s head in an instant!

The male spider struggled violently, but it was useless; in no time, its legs went stiff, dead on the spot.

“What’s going on?”

Jiang Xuan felt incredulous—the cost of a moment of pleasure was just too high for the male spider!

Hong Zhu said, “After the female spider gets pregnant, she needs lots of nutrition to have offspring. Eating the male is a good choice. Of course, only a small number of spider species do this. Most males still survive.”

After hearing Hong Zhu’s explanation, Jiang Xuan immediately thought of mantises, since female mantises are also known to eat males.

Jiang Xuan looked at Hong Zhu again and quietly asked, “In your Spider Tribe, are women of higher status?”

Hong Zhu replied, “The Spider God blessed female Warriors with stronger bodies and greater power. So in the Spider Tribe, women are much stronger than men—their higher status is only natural.”

“No wonder.” Jiang Xuan had an epiphany.

The Totem Gods of large tribes all bestow their Tribal Warriors with some special abilities. The Totem God of the Spider Tribe had clearly given their female Warriors the large and fierce traits of female spiders.

He just wasn’t sure if the women of the Spider Tribe would also kill their men like the female spiders did.

If that was true, it’d be terrifying.

Of course, Jiang Xuan believed that even if it happened, it was only in rare cases—after all, he’d seen plenty of middle-aged and even elderly male Warriors in the Spider Tribe.

Besides, not all spiders eat their mates.

Still, even if they aren’t killed, the men of the Spider Tribe have very low status, pretty much like tools.

As Jiang Xuan was letting his imagination run wild, a tall, muscular woman walked over.

She looked to be about thirty or forty years old. Her features were unremarkable, but she was massive, a full head taller than Jiang Xuan, radiating an intense sense of intimidation.

Most importantly, she had seven Warrior Patterns drawn on her face; clearly, she was a powerful Seven-Color Warrior!

“Chief!”

All the Tribal Warriors of the Spider Tribe, including Hong Zhu, lowered their heads at the sight of this formidable woman.

The Spider Tribe chief nodded slightly, then looked Jiang Xuan up and down and asked, “You are the chief of the Vine Tribe, Xuan?”

“That’s right.”

For the first time, Jiang Xuan felt a bit insecure in front of a woman, because this woman was just too tall and too strong.

The Spider Tribe chief looked at the Beast Hide Bag in Jiang Xuan’s hand and asked, “You want to exchange all your Insect Wax for Spider Silk Clothing?”

“Yes.”

The Spider Tribe chief bent down, picked up a candle made of Insect Wax from the Beast Hide Bag, turned it over in her hand for a while, then sniffed it under her nose and said, “This Insect Wax is pretty good. As you said, one stick of Insect Wax gets you three pieces of Spider Silk Clothing.”

“Hong Zhu, count the Insect Wax. Figure out how many pieces of Spider Silk Clothing we need, and come to me to get them.”

“Yes!”

The usually assertive Hong Zhu was noticeably more subdued in front of the chief. She came over to Jiang Xuan, poured out all the Insect Wax, and counted each stick. She counted them twice.

“Fifteen sticks of Insect Wax in total.”

“Fifteen sticks—how many Spider Silk Clothes does that make…”

Hong Zhu started counting on her fingers for a long while. She’d never learned arithmetic, and the lack of education was catching up. After all that effort, she still couldn’t figure it out.

The Spider Tribe chief finally couldn’t take it: “Stop counting. Just bring over a big pile. If it’s too much, take some back; if it’s not enough, go get more.”

“Yes!”

Hong Zhu thought that made sense, so she simply took people to fetch Spider Silk Clothing. Anyway, all she had to do was exchange one piece of Insect Wax for three pieces of Spider Silk Clothing. Stupid maybe, but it worked.

The Spider Tribe chief, meanwhile, regarded Jiang Xuan, asking, “Where is your Vine Tribe located?”