Nine-legged spider bites Xiu

The nine-legged spider bites Xiu after Daji and her companions finally reach the girl they have been trying to capture. The attack exposes the spiders’ intended target, separates Xiu from her sister Hua Mulan in Daji’s calculations, and brings Mulan into the room as Xiu calls for help. Its suspense comes not only from the sudden assault but from the long, frustrated pursuit that precedes it.

The Pursuit and Its Intended Target

The scene begins from the perspective of one of the spider-form attackers. In that form, her sight is dimmed and the world resolves into indistinct shapes, yet she can still follow Daji. Daji appears as a white spider, distinct even in the shadows. The attackers have tried repeatedly and failed; their frustration is measured in both failed attempts and years. The scene therefore presents the bite not as an isolated encounter but as the culmination of a persistent search.

Daji’s impatience has a specific cause: the spiders have repeatedly gone after the wrong girl. She regards Mulan as an obstacle, describing her as clumsy and dismissing the possibility that she could save the Emperor. The attackers are instead directed toward “the other one,” Xiu. The distinction matters because the sisters are present in the same household, but Daji does not treat them as interchangeable. In her view, the mission depends on reaching a particular girl, and Mulan’s repeated interference has prevented the attempt from succeeding.

How the Attack Reaches Xiu

The spiders move out from the shadows, cross the floor, climb the table, and approach Xiu without being noticed. Daji’s spider form slips into the folds of Xiu’s dress; the attackers have come closer than before, and their movement signals that the pursuit is nearing its goal. The narration slows the approach into successive movements, making the concealment itself part of the danger: the threat advances while Xiu remains unaware.

Daji then leaps from the sleeve onto Xiu’s hand and bites her. The attack is swift: Xiu gasps, but the bite has already occurred. The spiders’ earlier patience and careful approach give way to a sudden, decisive act. The narration marks the moment as the success Daji has been seeking, while Xiu’s scream makes the danger audible beyond the room and breaks the attackers’ concealment.

Mulan Enters and the Attack Is Named

The door flies open as Mulan rushes in and asks what has happened. Xiu grasps her sister’s arms and identifies the attacker as the nine-legged spider. In doing so, she names both the danger and the person she is calling for: Mulan. The scene moves from a covert pursuit observed among the attackers to an open exchange between the sisters, and the change in perspective makes the consequences immediate. Mulan is no longer merely the girl Daji resents as an obstacle; she is present to face the crisis that has befallen Xiu.

The sisters’ different roles in this moment sharpen the contrast established by Daji. Mulan has been dismissed as the wrong target, yet she is the one who arrives when Xiu cries out. Xiu, whom Daji has singled out, is now the person in need of help. The attack thus overturns Daji’s practical distinction between the sisters: whatever the spider’s intended purpose, the event directly draws Mulan into the danger.

Consequence and Narrative Function

The bite creates the immediate emergency that propels the action beyond the room. In the following passage, Mulan rides Black Wind at speed with a man seated behind her, taking a shortcut through a field and galloping up a slope. The narrative shifts from the spiders’ stealth to urgent travel, linking the attack to a response without yet resolving Xiu’s condition in this scene. The horse’s name and the hurried route give the aftermath a concrete direction: Mulan is moving rather than remaining at the site of the bite.

The scene also withholds the full explanation of Daji’s objective. It establishes that Daji believes the intended girl can save the Emperor and that her repeated failures have lasted for years, but it does not explain the nature of that danger or the means by which the girl might save him. This combination of a clear immediate event and an unresolved larger purpose makes the attack a turning point in the opening action: Xiu has been reached, Mulan has been alerted, and the pursuit has become a crisis that demands a response.