Chapter 164: As the Mantis Hunts the Cicada, the Oriole Stalks the Mantis

“For….for fucks sakes!”

In this quaint valley area, an exasperated but frustrated roar called out from a cave on the walls. Echoing for a good while, the roar soon petered away.

It was a mystery just when this saying became a personal mantra as Bai Yunfei had at one point found himself repeating this line again and again. Perhaps it was by saying this one line he would be able to let loose all of his frustrations and anger.

“Where’s my treasure!?”

His eyes swept across the landscape in a desperate attempt to find the hidden treasure that he so desperately coveted. Already did Bai Yunfei reach the dead ends of the cave, and there was nothing to be seen behind the vegetation and any loose stone throughout the cave.

“No no no! This can’t be happening….” Bai Yunfei muttered despondently. For a while, he was vexed. But in the next second, his eyes lit up enthusiastically as if a new thought came to rekindle his hopes. “Oh right! Underground! It has to be hidden in the ground!”

Burning bright with this sliver of hope, Bai Yunfei retrieved a shovel and began to dig at the ground.

Only five minutes were needed with Bai Yunfei’s speed before his shovels hit rock-bottom. Not even a small pit-core of a fruit could be seen, let alone any hidden treasure, however….

“There’s...there’s really nothing…” Not only did Bai Yunfei fall down to the ground, his heart sank with him. “I’ve wasted so much time and energy to fight that fifth-tier soulbeast. But for what use?! Why has it come to this! It just can’t be….was my instincts wrong? I could have sworn….”

“Eh? Hold on…” Out of the corners of his eyes, Bai Yunfei saw a spot of dirt that was out of place. He didn’t touch this part of the dirt yet.

He squatted down to inspect the patch of dirt. At a closer look, signs of some sort of plant was grown here. Just barely, Bai Yunfei could see a small part of what seemed to be the stolon of a plant and…

“Elemental wind!”

Bai Yunfei’s eyes lit up with joy. In this little spot of dirt was a small bit of elemental wind from whatever plant that was plucked here!”

“And this must be….footprints!” Looking around, Bai Yunfei saw another footprint on the ground, but it wasn’t his!

Several seconds were taken for Bai Yunfei to think. But then a sudden thought caused him to fly to his feet with a pale face.

It was said that when the mantis hunts the cicada, they become unaware of the oriole standing behind it.

He was that mantis!

Unfortunately for him, Bai Yunfei was the foolish middleman. It was very clear to see that in the time that Bai Yunfei was dealing with the scorpion, someone else took the chance to come in the cave first!

“Careless, I was too careless! I was so focused on fighting the scorpion that another person came in to take the treasure! But he can’t be weak if he managed to do all that before I got back….fuck him! Just fuck it all! He better not let me find him or else!”

He was angry, but even he knew there was no point to his anger. At the very least, he’d be able to vent out his anger instead of holding it up in him.

“Skree!”

At that moment, a furious screech erupted from the cave entrance. In the next second, a furious scorpion came rushing in! Whilst Bai Yunfei was so busy mumbling to himself, he forgot to keep an eye out for enemies!

The scorpion came to a stop five meters away from Bai Yunfei so that it could sweep its three eyes frantically around the place. First, it spotted the hole next to Bai Yunfei.

Then it spotted the spade in his hands.

“Oh—wait! It’s not what you think….” With his heart skipping a beat, Bai Yunfei hastily stored away his spade and waved his hands in the gesture for innocence. “It wasn’t me! What I was looking for was already gone! Someone else came in while we weren’t here. Maybe you’ll be able to catch up to them if you go now!”

“Pfft!”

The scorpion took a single step back before spitting out a glob of dark-green liquid.

“....Big brother, I don’t know what you lost, but it doesn’t warrant you spitting blood out right?”

This blob of liquid wasn’t aimed at Bai Yunfei, but the ground in front of him as if an actual reenactment of someone puking blood from anger.

So it came as a surprise to see the scorpion raise its head with all three of its eyes transfixed onto Bai Yunfei. Not only was it angry, but each of its three eyes had a tint of insanity to them almost. A bluish-green energy soon pervaded the entire room before condensing into a furious whirlwind. With the centripetal attraction force, the green liquid that the scorpion threw up earlier flew towards the whirlwind and immediately dyed the entire thing a dark-green hue. Tearing up the cave rock underneath it, the whirlwind stalked towards Bai Yunfei.

“Fuck!” Bai Yunfei cursed to himself. With a deep breath, he ran straight for the cave entrance.

The poisonous liquid that the scorpion spat out was already close to vapor form as it spread throughout the cave. By now, it had already covered the entire cave with it vapor. All that was left for Bai Yunfei to do was to try his best to sidestep the whirlwind itself towards the entrance without taking in another breath.

“Skree!”

Another roar from the scorpion cleared away the whirlwind. Following up with a burst of orange light, the scorpion’s pincer slammed into the ground to transmit the powers of the elemental earth into it.

This one stab held far more power than any previous attempt, and just three meters before Bai Yunfei reached the entrance, he could feel that all around his feet, the ground was starting to vibrate. Left and right, orange-colored spikes erupted from the ground to try and surround or stab him!

“Crack!” Following the cracking sounds of the stalagmites forming, Bai Yunfei’s figure was surrounded by these spikes.

A lot more carefree than before, the scorpion strode for the caged formation it put up. But as it approached, a bright red light flashed out from the cracks between the stalagmites!

And with a loud explosion, the stalagmites crumbled away to reveal a blade of fire around Bai Yunfei.

Once more pushing off against the ground, Bai Yunfei charged for the cave entrance. He was already very depressed about the current matters. The scorpion after him had fallen into the pits of indignation and would most likely kill itself in an attempt to retrieve the treasure it was safeguarding and kill the one responsible

He had been used as a scapegoat!

Since there was no more need to fight, Bai Yunfei was far more willing to forego the effort.

But at the entrance, Bai Yunfei felt slightly troubled. Should he go up, or should he go down?

There was two hundred meters to go if he went up. But the scorpion could fly after him and the use of the Compliant Rope to travel up was rather hard to do so under the circumstances. If he went downwards, it was unsure just how long he could last before reaching the valley.

The six blades of wind coming at him from behind gave Bai Yunfei no time to think however. Gritting his teeth, Bai Yunfei leapt down. “Forget it! Wasting my energy on dodging is better than wasting it on climbing! Down we go!”

With the combined efforts of gravity and pushing off against the cliff walls, Bai Yunfei was able to accelerate towards the ground. Of course, he couldn’t just focus on speeding down towards the ground. Every so often, Bai Yunfei used the Compliant Rope to deccelerate himself to manageable speeds and to dodge the attacks of the scorpion whenever it came.

Teeming with rage, the scorpion continued to chase Bai Yunfei without fail. As it drew closer to Bai Yunfei, the blades of wind and the poison it shot out rained down onto him with a furious tempo.