Chapter 668: The Mantis Stalks the Cicada

The compass showed that the two monsters had stopped. Perhaps they had fled far enough, perhaps this stretch of rugged mountains was sufficiently treacherous, or perhaps the injured monster simply could not go on.

There were no trees here, and cover was scarce. He pulled out the skin of Lord Boshan to drape over himself, then crept forward while keeping to the leeward side.

Upon closer inspection, the two monsters were indeed resting in a mountain hollow, panting heavily. The injured one had even collapsed, its legs curled up, looking to be in great pain.

Yet it still held the beast egg tightly in its embrace.

Its companion extended its tongue to lick the wound, while quietly stretching out a claw, trying to hook the egg over.

The injured monster immediately hissed a warning at it.

To snatch the egg but guard it without eating it—did that mean it was waiting for a companion, or perhaps, waiting for the boss?

After observing this, He He Lingchuan did not act, but quietly retreated.

There were two targets, both highly aggressive and swift-footed; it would be best for him to set a trap.

When patrolling the Panlong Wasteland, he had often set snares to hunt game for his own meals; making traps was a piece of cake for him—he was a prize student of Liu Tiao.

The Fu Realm had no trees, lacking the most convenient materials. Fortunately, Lingxu City was full of unscrupulous merchants who had been selling all sorts of hunting gear since before the Grass Sea hunt began; the most classic styles were the heavy iron bear traps and spiked pit boards.

The bear trap was suitable for all Danube beasts, while the spikes were mainly for those with massive bodies—that is, digging a large pit in the ground and burying the spiked board; when a Danube beast walked over, it would fall in, its guts pierced and shredded to death.

Thirty breaths later.

The two monsters' panting had just settled; the injured one closed its eyes to recover strength, while the other climbed up, intending to stand in a high place to keep watch.

Just then, a person suddenly stood out from behind the mountain rocks and let out a loud roar at them.

The sentry was startled and instinctively charged out.

He He Lingchuan turned and fled.

But the sentry stopped after running only ten-odd yards, even slowly shrinking back, clearly unwilling to stray too far from its companion.

A creature like this, and it even knew how to lure the tiger away from the mountain? He He Lingchuan had a trick; whenever it retreated, he would pick up pebbles to pelt it, even letting out wild laughter; whenever it chased, he would run.

After a few rounds of this, the monster's temper was stirred up.

Where there is intelligence, there is temper; it was unavoidable.

On the final pass, He He Lingchuan even raised his hand and fired two sleeve arrows.

The monster nimbly dodged one arrow, but little did it know He He Lingchuan had already anticipated its move. It dodged to the side, right into the path of the second sleeve arrow.

*Swish*, the arrow pierced its nostril—a stroke of luck.

The monster was enraged, casting its companion to the back of its mind, and finally charged up with a scream, looking exceptionally determined.

He He Lingchuan turned and fled into the mountain hollow.

When the monster followed him around, it found him climbing upward along a stone crevice, the distance between them only five yards.

To it, that was just a matter of two leaps. The monster didn't think twice and gave chase with all its might.

Directly ahead, two giant boulders intersected, forming a natural stone gate at the base.

He He Lingchuan slipped through the stone gate.

This gate was five feet wide; he could pass through, and the lean, long monster could too.

But he suddenly slowed his pace; the monster approached with long strides, following close behind, its nose nearly touching his hem.

It charged into the stone gate, rushing forward impatiently, its big mouth wide open—

*Snap*, a resounding clang.

But this sound was much crisper and more metallic than the monster closing its jaws.

It was the bear trap snapping shut, locking onto its neck in one go.

The force was so great that it sent the monster into a headlong tumble.

It wanted to shriek, but its windpipe was firmly gripped by the iron teeth; unable to make a sound, it could only claw frantically with its front paws.

But the trap was designed so that prey caught in it could not escape; the seventy shark-tooth-like spikes on the top and bottom pierced directly through the prey's skin, locking onto the throat. The more it struggled, the deeper and larger the wound in its throat was torn.

Purple blood sprayed, staining the hard rock red.

Its two hind legs scraped the ground frantically, sending stone chips and mud flying everywhere.

The monster couldn't understand where this strange thing had come from. When it had lunged into the stone gate after its prey, the area ahead had been completely empty.

How could it know that He He Lingchuan had wedged the heavy iron trap into the stone crevice beforehand, covering the surface with the skin of Lord Boshan? Thus, looking at the stone gate from the front, there was nothing there.

He He Lingchuan could avoid it himself, but the simple-minded monster had delivered its own head into the trap.

It got a good taste of what it meant for the human heart to be treacherous.

This bear trap was a sub-large size, capable of hunting a Thunder-Shattering Beast; dealing with the less powerful, leaner monster was even less of a challenge.

Seeing it squealing and thrashing, He He Lingchuan didn't waste words; he raised his blade and went to hack off its head.

Having been beaten to the punch last time, this time he was bound to have a harvest.

With a swing of his blade, two strikes separated the head of the unlucky monster from its body, which could be considered a final release for it.

Fearing that a long delay would lead to trouble, he immediately stowed both the beast's head and the bear trap into his storage ring.

Whether the goal of this trip could be successfully completed depended on whether this "head blind box" could yield what he wanted.

After finishing this step, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief; at least he had secured a baseline for this adventure.

He put away the skin of Lord Boshan and ran back toward the stone hollow.

He wasn't sure if the monsters could produce Frost Pellets, but the probability was higher with two than with one.

The other injured monster was indeed no longer in its original spot, and the mountain wilderness was completely silent.

Its companion had fought to the death for it, yet it had actually slipped away on its own?

Only the whimpering of the wind remained in the stone hollow.

He He Lingchuan changed his Spirit-Rinsing Bead, reopened the Tracking Bee compass, took a careful look, made some arrangements around the stone hollow, and then circled around to the top.

Looking up here, there was only a sliver of sky; the hard rocks on both sides were too high to see the top, leaving a stone-crevice path in the middle that was at most seven feet wide.

After doing this, he suddenly threw a few firecrackers under the giant boulder.

There had been nothing under the giant boulder, but with a few *bangs*, something was hit and moved.

It was the injured monster.

It had been lying under the rock the whole time, activating its camouflage to blend in with the surrounding environment.

But once it moved, its invisibility would fade within a few breaths.

When it stood up, He He Lingchuan finally understood why it had been lying on the ground—it could change color, but the Thunder-Shattering Beast egg could not. It had been using its body to shield the egg.

But it had long been marked by the Tracking Bee; even if it blended in perfectly with the environment, it was still clearly located on the compass.

No need for words; the human-versus-beast battle began.

The monster even used its frost breath, but He He Lingchuan had seen it before and was well-prepared.

It was already severely injured and its movements were far less agile than before; after seven or eight rounds, it met its end.

But the egg it was holding flew far away during the fight and fell into a stone crevice.

After He He Lingchuan severed its head, he still had to go into the small path to retrieve the egg.

Who would be willing to let go of a trophy within reach?

He He Lingchuan bent down to pick up the beast egg and put it directly into his storage ring. If it were anyone else, they would have turned and run by now to find the Spirit-Rinsing Bead. But he took clear water to rinse the bloodstains off his blade and hands, then applied scent-removing powder.

The spirits of the floating life would probably be angry. But he kept in mind that this was likely a rendezvous point for the monsters, and the monster leader would also arrive. These guys seemed to have a very keen sense of smell; if he killed a beast and stole an egg here, it would be troublesome if the leader caught wind of him.

This scent-removing powder was his own concoction, the formula obtained from the patrol guards of Panlong City.

When hunting the two monsters, he had constantly used his true qi to seal every pore on his body, preventing his own scent from leaking out. This way, when he left, the monsters shouldn't be able to track him.

Ever since entering Lingxu City, He He Lingchuan's level of caution had stepped up a notch.

A faint breeze suddenly brushed past the back of his head.

The Fu Realm had constant strong winds, so this wasn't strange, but he felt a trace of chilling killing intent.

An ambush! There was a third party lurking on the side, waiting for him to rise without defense before striking suddenly!

He struggled to twist his body, but was hit in the left shoulder by a flying spike. A shadow swept over from above, rolling and crashing toward him, blade and all!

The figure stretched out in mid-air, the long blade slashing along with the momentum, unleashing a ferociously peerless arc slash.

The arc was perfect, and the *gang* energy surged.

In this instant, the blade light was like lightning, even illuminating the dim mountain terrain.

Facing this long-hidden, fully-charged strike, He He Lingchuan didn't bother to block in his haste; he simply flicked out a short blade, shooting it toward the opponent's lower abdomen in a very tricky posture.

He couldn't block it anyway; the opponent's move had been brewing for a long time, the killing intent was surging, and the strike was earth-shattering. He He Lingchuan was responding in a rush and could not withstand its edge.

Although his reaction was swift, it could not be called a strike that forced the enemy to save themselves.

The opponent chose to take this hidden stab head-on, the remaining momentum of the slash unabated, grazing across He He Lingchuan's neck.

Fast, steady, accurate, and ruthless, leaving no room for error.

Such refined killing techniques made even Fan Sheng, the Deputy Commander of the Concentric Guard, look far inferior by comparison.

In one encounter, He He Lingchuan was decapitated.

The blade energy almost shredded his armor to pieces; with a soft *bang*, a cloud of yellow mist suddenly exploded on the spot.

An indescribable stench assaulted the air.

Anyone who smelled this odor would almost immediately bend over and retch uncontrollably.

It was the "Fragrant Dumpling" at work. He had improved it several times; the dosage was more economical, the stench was stronger, and it wasn't easily dispersed by the wind, allowing it to linger... for over ten breaths.

The ambusher was also a veteran of many battles; seeing the yellow mist rise, he held his breath and locked his pores immediately, but he still caught a whiff.

That stench was so overwhelming that even he couldn't help but turn and jump away.

His willpower was already considered strong, to be able to endure the discomfort without bending over to vomit on the spot.

A trap—he had actually fallen into a trap too! Just then, the ambusher felt his whole body tighten, bound firmly by something.

Looking closely, it was shockingly a few extremely thin spider threads.

The light in the Void Realm was already dim, and with the yellow fog filling the air here, it would have been strange if he could have seen these spider threads.

However, these spider threads were originally pressed tightly around the stone crevices, fashioned into a "return" character-shaped snare; once any living creature rushed in, the hunter would gently pull the guide line, and the two loops would tighten together, binding the prey securely.

This trick was originally intended for the beast, set inside the stone crevice to prevent it from escaping through this path. His experience patrolling the Red Cloth Plateau had taught He He Lingchuan that it is best to set an extra layer of traps as insurance.

As it turned out, the beast didn't get to use it, but the ambusher got to enjoy it instead.

Only then did a figure leap through the yellow fog, emerging from behind a black rock several yards away.

This was the real He He Lingchuan.

(End of chapter)