Chapter 161: Greater Scorpion
But the very moment Bai Yunfei took a single step into the cave, there was a slight wriggling motion from the right side of the cave before an ashen whip-shaped object came flying out. The end was tapered off into a point with a slightly intimidating light, but even more frightening was that it was coming to stab him through the head!
“Haha, there’s even something like this!”
Rather than being startled, Bai Yunfei was overjoyed–if there was danger, there was treasure in this cave then!
It was true that Bai Yunfei was excited when he discovered the cave earlier. But even as he approached the cave, he had always maintained a wary attitude in case his expectations were not met. Since this was a cave with treasure in a ‘mysterious’ place, there would be no way that it would be safe for any one person to approach.
And as you could tell, here comes an enemy.
The attack had been sudden, but Bai Yunfei had only needed a half-step at the last moment to sidestep the whip-like object. As a result, the object grazed past his head and slammed into the ground with a cracking sound to scatter away stones upon impact. There was a shrill cry from his right side, causing Bai Yunfei to move towards the left to strictly avoid the right wall. Stopping just barely a meter away from the left wall, he whirled around to see just what had attacked him.
“Soulbeast!”
Upon seeing his attacker, Bai Yunfei couldn’t help but cry out in alarm. Right in front of him was a giant jet-black scorpion standing guard at the cave entrance. It was about two meters long and had a stinger that was practically tall enough to touch the ceiling. What had attacked Bai Yunfei had been this very stinger. Two giant pincers were raised menacingly in the air with a “cling cling” sound as they clacked together. Each time the pincers clacked together, several sparks could be seen and illuminated three separate chicken egg-sized eyes that gave a death glare at its intruder.
“Fifth-class…early-stage fifth-class soulbeast!” Bai Yunfei’s eyebrows knitted together. From the body of this scorpion, he could sense a strength comparable to the Thunderbird, this was an early-stage fifth class soulbeast!
“So there’s a soulbeast like that here too! And a fifth-class to boot!” Bai Yunfei cried out to himself in shock. While it was untrue that he didn’t come across any soulbeasts in his travels, Bai Yunfei had only met a meager few third-class soulbeasts. But not once had he met a soulbeast like this.
“A treasure that even a fifth-class soulbeast would protect….what kind of worldly treasure would this be….” Bai Yunfei remarked to himself. He had been elated since a worldly treasure would almost always have a strange beast protecting it. These beast had probably borrowed the strange nature of the area to grow even stronger, or perhaps they had waited for when one of the hidden treasures to fully mature before devouring it to grow in strength.
There were simply far too many soulbeasts that gained a huge boost in power from eating a worldly treasure. Unlike humans, they had a natural advantage that allowed them to eat what could possibly harm or kill a human that tried to eat something similar. Poison to humans was but a tonic to a soulbeast.
And if there was a strong soulbeast standing guard in an area, there was a very good chance such a treasure was hidden somewhere nearby. These soulbeasts would regard such items as objects belonging to them in their territory. Any single biological being that intruded in this territory would suffer a quick assault by them.
For a brief moment, Bai Yunfei’s caution was raised to the maximum. It was only after he spread his soulsense that he realized there was only a single soulbeast here. Relaxing by a small margin, Bai Yunfei looked to the already charging scorpion and brought his fists together in a happy salute. “An early-stage fifth-class soulbeast is a Soul Ancestor in the eyes of a human. Hehe, what luck! Allow me to use you to test my strength!”
“Skreee!”
The scorpion let out a shrill cry as if it realized what Bai Yunfei was preparing to do. Now noticing that the intruder in its territory wasn’t as strong as it was, the scorpion had been all too happy to unleash its attack.
Both of its strong pincers flew forward to cut down Bai Yunfei in its powerful vicegrip. But instead of hitting Bai Yunfei, it had instead struck against the ground. Because of the claws acting like a fulcrum, the upper body of the scorpion was pitched into the air while allowing its long stinger tail to soar forward Bai Yunfei like a spear ready to run him through.
The cave both soulbeast and human was in was not big at all. There wasn’t nearly enough room to dodge by a safe margin. Squinting his eyes to stare down the incoming stinger, Bai Yunfei’s feet began to let loose a dazzling light underneath before his body abruptly flickered away. Even though the stinger was fast in its movements, not a single one of its stabs had managed to land a hit on Bai Yunfei at all.
As Bai Yunfei calmly weaved in and out of the stingers, he was on the look out for the right time to strike back. Another stinger streaked past his ear with a gentle crackling sound, but as it moved about a third of a meter away from Bai Yunfei, the tip of the stinger gave a slight shake before it bent at an angle to strike at Bai Yunfei’s back.
With the danger of the stinger attacking him from behind, Bai Yunfei’s right arm moved to block the stinger. Simultaneously, his feet pushed off against the ground to propel him to the left. Successful in his evasion attempt, Bai Yunfei had managed to make it so that instead of his back, the stinger struck his right waist. Straight away, the sounds of fabric being torn could be heard along with the bright illumination of sparks. Following the sparks, Bai Yunfei could feel his Goldsilk Armor gaining a long gash in it.
At this slight sound, Bai Yunfei let out a small gasp. Just as he was about to take advantage of the opportunity to strike, Bai Yunfei immediately another danger wash over him on the very next step. Startled, Bai Yunfei made no hesitation to leap back for a tactical retreat.
“Skreee!”
The scorpion let out another shrill sound as the two pincers in the ground suddenly started to glow bright with a yellow light before being transmitted instantaneously into the ground. And in the next second, Bai Yunfei could feel the earth beneath him shake furiously as several sharp stalagmites erupted from the ground. If Bai Yunfei had not trusted his instincts and leapt back, then not only would his feet and legs be punctured, his ass would be too.
“Screw you, how fucked is this!”
Thumping himself in the chest to drive away the lingering fear in him, Bai Yunfei shook his right hand to bring out three daggers. With one dagger for each of the scorpion’s eyes, Bai Yunfei tossed them with as much strength he could muster while running at it.
The scorpion brought out its large pincers to protect its body. With barely any effort, the daggers were blocked and allowed the scorpion to swing its pincer to try and cut off Bai Yunfei’s left leg. Once more, the scorpion tried to impale Bai Yunfei in the stomach with its stinger.
A brilliant gleam entered Bai Yunfei’s eyes as his body moved to bend towards the ground. The stinger had failed to strike Bai Yunfei in the stomach and instead arced over his spine. But while he dodged the stinger, the scorpion’s giant pincer shot forth towards his left leg. But instead of trying to evade it, Bai Yunfei stretched out with his right arm as if to receive and greet the pincer.
A very human-like emotion of shock registered in all three eyes of the scorpion. In its mind, it thought to itself “This human is a reckless one if it dares enter my pincers. Then. I’ll snap him in two and use his remains as fertilizer.”
“Crack….”
The pincer came snapping shut with a sharp chafing sound–much to the surprise of the scorpion. Bai Yunfei’s arm had been completely unharmed!
Incredulous, the scorpion’s entire body flashed with a golden light while twisting the pincer that held Bai Yunfei’s arm with increased force.
But! The Flame-edge Bracer’s ultimate defense was not something that could be so easily broken!
Pleased as punch, Bai Yunfei clenched his right fist tightly so as to increase the density of his muscles in that arm. With his right leg pushing a single inch into the ground, Bai Yunfei immediately let loose with as much power as he could muster in his right arm whilst it was in the grasp of the scorpion’s vicegrip.
The enormous body of the scorpion was lifted into the air, and with Bai Yunfei’s momentum, the body was smashed ruthlessly into the cave wall to its left!
“Bang!”
A crater was formed upon collision with the stone wall. The entire back of the scorpion had been submerged into the cave wall, and the pincer that had been holding Bai Yunfei’s right arm tightly just a moment ago loosened its grip, allowing Bai Yunfei yet another chance to strike. Without mercy, he slammed a fist into the unprotected flesh of the underbelly of the scorpion.
“Pow!”
“Pchht!”
At the same time Bai Yunfei’s right arm slammed into the scorpion’s underbelly and drove it even deeper into the wall, the jaws of the scorpion dropped open to unleash a dark green blob of liquid towards Bai Yunfei!