Bai Pu swiftly went offline, opened the Storage Space, took out the dark gold cocoon, and placed it in front of him.

Above the dark gold cocoon, there seemed to be transparent ripples in the air, as if two invisible creatures were battling in the void.

Bai Pu couldn't see anything with his naked eye, so he released his Spiritual Detection.

Under the blue glow of his Spiritual Power, the transparent air ripples appeared to be coated with a layer of blue brilliance.

One was the image of the Demon Spider Lady, the other was the image of Emperor Gustav!

However, the image of the Demon Spider Lady was clearer and more complete, appearing proactive in the struggle, constantly trying to bite the opponent.

Emperor Gustav had his eyes closed, his image fading, and he was mainly defending from the Demon Spider Lady's "attacks" on instinct. But it was this instinctive defense that left the Demon Spider Lady struggling.

Bai Pu waited for some time but didn't see the dark gold cocoon break, the dark gold equipment he longed for had yet to appear.

"What's going on? Wasn't the progress bar at 100%?"

Bai Pu was a bit confused and could only consult a professional.

Bai Pu connected with Level 9 Blacksmith Chi Li through the help of his teammate, Anvil.

Through the video connection, Chi Li could clearly see the images of the Demon Spider Lady and Emperor Gustav outlined by Bai Pu's Spiritual Power.

"An artifact spirit?"

Chi Li said in bewilderment, "Your shield is extraordinary, it actually gave birth to an artifact spirit... Some advanced dark gold equipment doesn't even have an artifact spirit."

For a well-informed person like Chi Li, dark gold equipment was not unheard of.

Bai Pu thought for a moment and said, "I got this shield from the Heart Demon World as Demon Ghost Equipment, it devoured an intermediate lord's corpse and evolved into its current form."

"Demon Ghost Equipment?" Chi Li was startled, "Be careful, Demon Ghost Equipment usually has a strong demon nature. Awakened ones who possess Demon Ghost Equipment could easily become extreme and ruthless like those wanted criminals."

Bai Pu also recalled the negative skills on the Spider Demon Tower Shield. He was a bit surprised and remembered that he hadn't really felt the effects of this negative attribute, so he mentioned it to Chi Li.

"You haven't felt the negative effects? The artifact spirit is helping you." Chi Li said in amazement, "How did you manage that? Killing a Demon Spider Lady and then having her spirit assist in suppressing the inherent demon nature."

Bai Pu couldn't really explain it, so he just attributed it to good luck and then asked Chi Li for a solution.

Chi Li said, "Currently, the Demon Spider Lady's artifact spirit wants to devour the lord's remnant soul. I think this Demon Spider Lady's artifact spirit must have some unique opportunities. Normally, a leader-level Demon Spider Lady would not be qualified to devour a lord's remnant soul due to the natural rank suppression."

Leader-level Demon Spider Lady? Unique opportunity?

Bai Pu thought it over carefully and understood. At the time, the Demon Spider Lady was just an elite, but with the help of pure blood in her body, she managed to seize and devour the skull of the Demon Ghost Leader, which must have given her a leader-level template qualification.

Additionally, the effects of the Black Emperor's True Blood facilitated the possibility of further evolution for the equipment, which was likely the "unique opportunity" Chi Li spoke of.

Understanding this, Bai Pu felt more confident in Chi Li and asked, "What should I do now?"

"The natural rank gap between the two is too great. Even if the lord's remnant soul is in a chaotic state, it's not easy for the Demon Spider Lady to devour it. You should try to help her."

"How can I help?"

"Demon Ghost Equipment relies on demon energy for enhancement," Chi Li said. "You probably experienced this process when you first obtained the Demon Ghost Equipment."

Bai Pu suddenly realized and confirmed, "I... should feed the Demon Spider Lady some more demon materials?"

Chi Li nodded.

"But I don't have any demon materials on hand..." Bai Pu regretted having traded the two Arachnid Scythes from the Demon General's Hunting Scythe to Anvil.

Chi Li also seemed to have thought of this and was a bit troubled.

Anvil indeed hadn't used those two scythes yet; he was preparing other materials to craft his first golden equipment, aiming to become a Level 4 Blacksmith.

But asking Anvil to give back the Arachnid Scythes was quite a request.

Bai Pu said, "Never mind, I'll think of another way."

If push comes to shove, he could make another trip to the Heart Demon World, though this time the only available destination would be the Heart Demon: Great Wilderness River world, which is a Mid-level Spirit Realm. However, obtaining the ticket to this Mid-level Spirit Realm wouldn't be easy, especially since the national competition was fast approaching, leaving no spare time.

"Actually, you can choose to fuse without the artifact spirit now. But doing so won't ensure the Demon Spider Lady's artifact spirit's dominance, and the final negative effects will still exist."

Chi Li thought for a moment and said, "For a perfect fusion, those two Arachnid Scythes might not suffice, considering you need to devour a lord's remnant soul. It's best to prepare materials from Lord Level Demons. This Demon Spider Lady's spirit has a close relationship with you, which is rare. If a remnant soul with animosity toward you prevails during fusion, it might exacerbate the negative demon nature effects."

"Lord Level Demon?" Bai Pu shook his head and smiled wryly; indeed, upgrading dark gold equipment wasn't easy. The shield had devoured a lord's corpse only to meet the basic upgrade condition. It still required Lord Level Demon materials for a perfect upgrade.

"With enough money, many things can be resolved."

Chi Li said, "I can help you ask in the Advanced Awakened circles to see if there's any Lord Level Demon's remains. The final price might be high, so be prepared."

"I'll leave it to you then. Luckily, I recently made some money in the Virtual Spirit Realm, so I'm not short of Spiritual Points for now," Bai Pu said.

Chi Li smiled and said, "I know your Character Card sells well. Otherwise, I wouldn't have mentioned spending Spiritual Points on Lord Level Demon materials."

"Gangxin, get in the car." came Senior Xuan Pin's voice from afar.

"Got it." Bai Pu ended the communication and put the dark gold cocoon back into the Storage Space.

Next, Bai Pu was to head to the Western Capital with the team for the national competition.

During the ride, Teacher Cai Cai briefly explained the schedule of the national competition.

The national competition is divided into two phases.

The first phase is the group stage, with thirty-two teams from seven regions nationwide gathering in the Western Capital, divided into eight groups.

Within each group, the four teams play a round-robin, and only one team can advance to the top eight, entering the second phase, the knockout stage.

Of course, to ensure fairness, the top seed in each region won't face off in the group stage and will be pre-assigned to each of the eight groups.

Bai Pu was quite puzzled why there were eight top seeds from seven regions.

Upon hearing Teacher Cai Cai's explanation, he realized that both Western Capital University and Qianyuan University, though from the same Western Capital Region, were deemed as equally powerful top seeds.

Xili Institute of Technology's team managed to secure a top seed after defeating Jiangnan University and dominating their other matches.

"This greatly increases our chances of reaching the top eight," commented an average-looking guy, "Thanks to Junior Sister Blood Spider, we won many matches and secured the top seed position."

"In other regions, the second and third seeds might not be weaker than the top seed; there's also a matter of counters," Teacher Cai Cai said with a serious expression. "Among the 32 teams in the national competition, almost none are weaker than Jiangnan University... Just look at Jiangnan University's national ranking."

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