Spider-Dog Duo

"Woof!"

In the yard outside the house, Little Black was in a good mood today. After barking a couple of times, it flopped down and began lazing around.

Living here meant no worries about food or drink, and its cultivation level had skyrocketed like a rocket. Now, Little Black had even reached the Golden Core stage.

It lay in the yard, belly up, basking in the sunlight.

Occasionally, all it had to do was fetch a package for its owner, and it would be showered with praise—truly the peak of dog life.

But today, the perfect day seemed a little different.

Because aside from its own doghouse, Little Black noticed a new little structure in the yard.

And then—

A spider neighbor moved in.

"Little Black, this is your new neighbor, Red Red. You two, the spider-dog duo, better get along," the man said before heading back inside without another word.

"Spider-dog?"

Little Black stared at the spider, which was about its size. It was a face-off—or rather, a face-off between Little Black’s eyes and the spider’s many, many eyes.

Since its owner had told them to get along, Little Black, though not particularly fond of this spiky creature, let out a gentle "Woof" as a peace offering.

"Chirp." The spider seemed a little afraid of Little Black, its scythe-like legs shuffling backward.

But soon, it seemed to lose strength, its body slumping weakly.

Hungry?

Noticing the spider’s fear, Little Black turned around, went into its house, and came back with a bone in its mouth.

It placed the bone in front of the spider.

The spider didn’t react, its energy fading even more.

Little Black circled the spider a couple of times before finally trotting to the front door and barking, "Woof! Woof!"

"..."

The door opened, and Lan Xiaoke peeked out. "What’s up? Hungry?"

"Woof!" Little Black turned its head and pointed a paw at the spider nearby.

"It’s hungry?" Lan Xiaoke was already aware of the spider’s existence—Ye Chuan had just tamed it as a pet. Though Lan Xiaoke was afraid of spiders, keeping one in the yard wasn’t a big deal.

After seeing this, she turned and jogged off to find Ye Chuan. "Ye Chuan, did you feed the spider outside? It looks hungry!"

"Hungry?" Ye Chuan was in the kitchen making breakfast with Luo Xi. Hearing this, he suddenly remembered that the spider had just hatched and hadn’t eaten yet.

But what did that little thing even eat?

"Lilith?"

"Something energy-rich," Lilith replied casually.

Energy-rich?

Ye Chuan pulled a spirit crystal from his spatial backpack and handed it to Lan Xiaoke. "Here, Xiaoke, try feeding it this."

Lan Xiaoke took it and handed the crystal to Little Black at the doorway. "Here."

Little Black carried the crystal in its mouth and hurried back to the spider, placing it down.

"Chirp!" The spider suddenly perked up. It sliced open the spirit crystal with its scythe-like legs and stuffed the pieces into its mouth, chewing loudly. Despite the crystal’s metal-like hardness, it crunched away as if it were crispy.

After a while, the spider’s many eyes turned to Little Black, pleading.

"Woof?" Little Black glanced back at the front door, then at the purple-red spider.

Finally, it returned to the door and barked twice.

Lan Xiaoke opened the door again. "What now?"

Little Black spun in a circle, then flopped onto its back, belly up, and patted itself with a paw.

"You want me to play with you?" Lan Xiaoke said. "No time! Gotta serve porridge soon."

"Woof!"

"What do you mean?"

"It’s still hungry!" Little Black spoke.

Lan Xiaoke froze, then stumbled back in shock. "Wait, Little Black, you can talk?!"

"I’m a spirit beast!"

"Huh?"

"Woof!"

"Alright… still hungry, huh." Lan Xiaoke turned and went back to Ye Chuan. "Ye Chuan, Ye Chuan, I just discovered something crazy!"

Ye Chuan, still in the kitchen, asked, "What is it?"

"Our Little Black can speak human language!"

"What’s so strange about that?" Ye Chuan said. "It’s a cultivated spirit beast. Talking isn’t that weird, is it?"

Lan Xiaoke blinked.

Wait, it’s not weird?

She looked at Luo Xi for confirmation.

Luo Xi chimed in, "You didn’t know? Last time, Little Black even asked for my phone number when fetching my package."

After seeing everyone around her start cultivating, Luo Xi found a talking dog perfectly normal.

"..." Lan Xiaoke scratched her head.

Was she… the only one out of the loop?

Remembering the main issue, she said to Ye Chuan, "Oh right, the spider’s still hungry."

"One spirit crystal wasn’t enough?" Ye Chuan was surprised.

Was it eating like a meal?

Could he even afford this?

But considering the stat boosts Red Red provided, Ye Chuan pulled out a small bag of spirit crystals from his spatial backpack. "Here. Let’s see how much it can actually eat."

The bag contained hundreds of spirit crystals—even on the Tianxuan Continent, that wasn’t a small amount.

If it could polish them off in one go, Ye Chuan might just go broke.

"Got it."

Too afraid to approach the spider, Lan Xiaoke handed the bag to Little Black.

Little Black carried it back to the spider.

"Crunch, crunch." The spider sliced open the crystals and ate them.

After a few, it even raised a scythe, offering some to Little Black.

Little Black shook its head.

It didn’t need spiritual energy.

The purple-red spider ate five more before finally stopping, satisfied—now, when it looked at Little Black, there was no fear left. Instead, it scooted closer, pressing against Little Black’s body.

"Chirp!"

Little Black suddenly felt like a parent.

No way—what if the corgi next door, Cuihua, misunderstood?

It quickly barked, signaling the spider to back off.

"Chirp?" The spider retracted its scythes, staring blankly at Little Black.

Though its face was expressionless—and those compound eyes were kind of creepy—Little Black could somehow sense its sadness and loneliness.

The spider shuffled backward, curling up in a corner.

"..." Little Black sighed and barked, signaling it could come back.

The spider immediately perked up and clung to Little Black, its scythes wrapping tightly around its neck!

"Chirp!"

"Woof?!" Little Black felt the sharp blades against its fur and suddenly feared for its life.

Even though it was at the Golden Core stage, for some reason, this little thing seemed capable of slicing its head off with ease!

The spider, oblivious, just hugged tighter.

"Woof!"

"WOOF!!!"

"Ouch ouch ouch! Easy, easy! You’re gonna crush me!" Little Black yelped, finally breaking into full speech.