Chapter 29: Three-Tailed Scorpion

After Zang Feng issued the battle order, he immediately activated his body technique and sprinted beyond the three-tailed scorpion’s attack range, then casually scooped up a handful of dirt and flung it at the creature’s six eyes.

No matter how powerful a creature may be, if it has eyes, those eyes are always among its most vulnerable points—and the three-tailed scorpion was no exception.

The dirt caused it great distress; it frantically swept its pair of auxiliary feeding limbs across its eyes to clear the soil, clacking its massive pincers shut in fury.

Enraged, the three-tailed scorpion scrambled toward Zang Feng at speed, its four pairs of walking legs kicking up clouds of dust and leaving two deep grooves three inches wide in the earth—testimony to the immense strength of its limbs.

Seeing the three-tailed scorpion charging at him, Zang Feng remained unfazed, calmly retreating backward toward the towering cedar behind him.

As the scorpion drew near, Zang Feng rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding its collision attack.

“Bang!”

The three-tailed scorpion missed Zang Feng and slammed into the cedar with a heavy thud, momentarily dazed.

Due to its excessive speed and massive body weight, it couldn’t stop in time; its front limbs plunged deep into the ground and became stuck.

Cang Luo, watching through his satellite feed, couldn’t help but sweat at the sight, silently admiring Zang Feng.

“He actually dares to risk his life luring the three-tailed scorpion into ramming the cedar—wow! That sidestep just barely missed the creature’s pincers!”

While Cang Luo was still impressed, Liu Xuande and Li Zhan suddenly darted out.

Both activated their body techniques, gripped their iron swords tightly, and lunged with all their strength toward the scorpion’s anal opening.

They knew this was the perfect opening Zang Feng had created—they couldn’t let his effort go to waste.

Since joining the outer sect six months ago, Liu Xuande and Li Zhan had teamed up with Zang Feng multiple times and developed a strong rapport; they knew exactly what to do now.

Meanwhile, Cang Luo, seeing the scene unfold, refused to stand idle—his Wind Rush technique was already primed; he dashed forward with a single stride, following closely behind Li Zhan.

“Hah!” Liu Xuande shouted.

“Ah!” Li Zhan cried out.

“Chrysanthemum’s End!!!” Cang Luo declared loudly.

The three of them drove their iron swords straight into the black “chrysanthemum” of the still-dazed three-tailed scorpion.

Watching the scorpion about to be anally violated, Cang Luo thought this first-rank beast wasn’t so formidable—perhaps its strength was great, and a single hook strike might kill him.

But only if it landed. Unfortunately, this creature had abysmal intelligence; humans could outwit it.

Right now, this fearsome-looking three-tailed scorpion was being toyed with by four warriors.

But was defeating it this easy?

Cang Luo recalled his purpose for coming to the Beast Forest: to fight in life-or-death situations, to unearth his potential under desperation, to improve through real combat.

Yet now, they were defeating the beast through tactics and numerical advantage—this felt contrary to his original intent.

As he pondered, Cang Luo, still monitoring via satellite, suddenly spotted another shadow bursting from nearby bushes, lunging at the three men.

Cang Luo was stunned—there was another three-tailed scorpion!

And it was a third larger than the first.

“Watch out!”

“Get out of the way!”

Cang Luo and Zang Feng shouted simultaneously; Cang Luo, having spotted it seconds earlier, immediately twisted left and backward to evade.

But Liu Xuande and Li Zhan, directly in front of him, couldn’t dodge in time—they could only hastily raise their iron swords to block.

After evading the attack, Cang Luo didn’t pause—he dashed behind the nearest towering cedar, gripping his iron sword tightly, heart pounding.

Just now, without the satellite, he—being the last one to react—would have been the scorpion’s first target.

Cang Luo sucked in a sharp breath, watching through the satellite feed as Liu Xuande and Li Zhan struggled desperately against the second scorpion.

The creature’s two massive pincers had clamped down on their iron swords; they strained with all their might to pull free, but the blades wouldn’t budge.

A stalemate formed—the two men kept fighting to reclaim their swords.

Cang Luo knew: without their weapons, their bare fists and feet could never inflict meaningful damage on the three-tailed scorpion.

But the scorpion’s weapons weren’t just its two pincers—it had three hooked tails!

If they didn’t abandon their swords, they’d be struck by the tail hooks at any moment.

Worse still, the first scorpion had finally regained its senses, pulled its front limbs from the ground, let out two shrill cries, and charged toward Liu and Li.

“Damn it! Still holding on? You’re asking to be sandwiched?”

Cang Luo cursed under his breath, leapt from behind the cedar, and sprinted after the first scorpion.

Cang Luo activated Wind Rush at full power, sliding sideways behind the scorpion, his iron sword slicing through its hind leg at the joint as effortlessly as cutting bamboo.

“Sssss!”

The scorpion, having lost one hind leg, instantly lost balance, crashed to the ground, spun several times, shrieked in agony, and thrashed desperately to rise.

At the same moment, Zang Feng appeared beside the scorpion locked in struggle with Liu and Li.

Zang Feng sprinted a few steps, leapt three meters high, and precisely kicked the incoming tail hook away, sending it reeling several meters back.

Forced to release its grip, the scorpion let go of the swords—Liu Xuande and Li Zhan reclaimed their weapons, and the four regrouped behind a cedar three meters thick.

Once temporarily safe, Zang Feng praised Cang Luo: “Well done.”

“Just luck,” Cang Luo replied, still shaken by the memory.

Why had he acted so recklessly? But this beast didn’t seem that hard to handle after all?

Li Zhan patted his chest and nodded: “Thanks to Zang Senior Brother warning us earlier that the three-tailed scorpion can’t strike behind it—otherwise, Cang Senior Brother wouldn’t have dared to attack.”

“Hmm,” Cang Luo murmured noncommittally.

In truth, when he acted, he hadn’t thought at all—he’d simply wanted to stop the scorpion, and did whatever came to mind.

The four huddled behind the cedar, whispering their next strategy.

The two three-tailed scorpions, nearby, hissed eerily—as if discussing how to deal with these humans who disturbed their meal.

Liu Xuande, tense, asked: “Senior Brother Zang, what do we do now? Two of them—and the second one seems stronger.”

Zang Feng quickly peered out from behind the cedar, then calmly said: “The one Cang Junior Brother cut a leg off is crippled—deal with it.

I’ll hold the other. You three kill it quickly, then come help me—we’ll combine forces and kill it together.”

Liu Xuande and Li Zhan had no objections to Zang Feng’s plan; they’d always followed his leadership during Beast Forest training, and he’d always delivered great results—they trusted him completely.

But Cang Luo had a different idea. He stopped Liu and Li as they prepared to charge: “Wait...”

“What is it?” Liu Xuande looked at Cang Luo in confusion.

Li Zhan, seeing Cang Luo hesitate, assumed he was still afraid and reassured him: “Senior Brother Cang, don’t be scared—you just assist. Me and Lao Liu will lead the attack.”

Cang Luo shook his head: “I’m not afraid. I want to fight the wounded three-tailed scorpion alone.”

Upon hearing this, Li Zhan’s expression turned to shock, then annoyance: “What? Senior Brother Cang, don’t overreach—listen to Zang Senior Brother.”

Li Zhan was shocked by Cang Luo’s overconfidence, and annoyed by his defiance of Zang Feng’s orders.

Liu Xuande and Zang Feng frowned slightly—they thought Cang Luo was indeed showing off. Had the earlier ambush made him arrogant?

Cang Luo’s face was resolute: “I’m not overreaching. Senior Brother, trust me—I can handle it.”

Without waiting for their objections, Cang Luo watched through his satellite as both scorpions crawled toward them, then left the cedar’s cover and sprinted toward another cedar ten meters away.

“Senior Brother Cang...” Li Zhan tried to stop him but was too late; he frowned: “Zang Senior Brother, what now?”

Zang Feng took a deep breath and said calmly: “Fine. Give me your sword.

You two lure it—I’ll lead the attack. We kill this big one fast, then go help Cang Junior Brother.”

“That’s all we can do. Hope Cang Luo holds out a little longer.”

Saying this, Li Zhan handed his sword to Zang Feng and picked up a nearby stick.

Ten meters away, the wounded scorpion, seeing Cang Luo appear, immediately charged after him in frenzy—but its speed was slowed by its missing leg.

The stronger scorpion, sensing its companion would handle Cang Luo alone, did not rush to help.

It charged straight at Zang Feng, who had just leapt from behind the cedar—it remembered this human who had struck it before.

“Heh. Still holds a grudge.”

Seeing the second scorpion wasn’t chasing him, Cang Luo felt a surge of relief and ducked behind the cedar.

Cang Luo didn’t choose to fight the scorpion alone out of overconfidence—he’d found a safe way to kill it.

This method worked only for him, because no one else had the satellite’s godlike perspective.

Hidden behind the cedar, Cang Luo monitored the scorpion through the satellite—without even needing to peek out, he saw every move it made.

I can see you. You cannot see me.

This was Cang Luo’s path to victory: exploiting the scorpion’s blind spots and using the cedar as cover, he would wear it down, sword-strike by sword-strike.

After all, he was a man with infinite Qi.

The three-tailed scorpion, unable to see Cang Luo behind the cedar, circled around it.

It wanted revenge—it would tear this insignificant human into pieces to avenge its severed leg.

Its three hooked tails, gleaming with metallic luster, were primed; as soon as it reached the far side of the cedar, it launched its attack.

All three tails shot out at once, faster than arrows released from a bow.

“Duo! Duo! Duo!”

The three hooks didn’t pierce Cang Luo as expected—they missed entirely, slamming into the ground with three heavy, muffled thuds.

The scorpion hissed wildly, its entire hooks buried deep in the earth, unable to pull free.

Where is that human?

Its six fist-sized eyes spun rapidly, emitting confused hisses as it searched for Cang Luo.

At that exact moment, Cang Luo—still activating Wind Rush—suddenly appeared behind the scorpion.

Cang Luo was utterly calm, his eyes glinting with cold light; he raised his iron sword and aimed for the scorpion’s other hind leg.

“Crack!”

The blade passed without trace—again, Cang Luo severed a hind leg; the scorpion lost balance and crashed into the cedar, dark green fluid gushing from the severed stump.

Before the three-tailed giant scorpion could react, Cang Luo swiftly retreated from danger and hid behind another giant cedar.

Cang Luo chuckled: “Heh! Besides its belly and anus, all crawling creatures share another fatal weakness.”

“That’s their inability to turn quickly. With the giant cedars as cover, killing it is just a matter of minutes.”

Just now, when Cang Luo circled behind, the three-tailed giant scorpion noticed—but it couldn’t turn fast enough to attack, letting Cang Luo strike.

Cang Luo grinned and poked his head out to taunt the scorpion: “Come on, you trash, Grandpa’s right here!”

Hearing Cang Luo’s taunt, the three-tailed giant scorpion yanked its tail from the ground and crawled toward him.

But with one hind leg missing, its body lacked support—it dragged its rear as it crawled.

Cang Luo smiled confidently, readying his attack.

Again, the three-tailed giant scorpion, faced with the giant cedar’s two-meter diameter, had to circle around—and once more, Cang Luo slipped behind and slashed off another walking leg.

Now, the scorpion, originally with four pairs of walking legs, had only two and a half pairs left: three on the left, two on the right.

The scorpion lost its balance, collapsed onto the ground, struggled for a long while, then rose again, leaning sideways as it hissed in agony and slowly crawled toward Cang Luo.

Unconsciously, Cang Luo’s battle of wits with the three-tailed giant scorpion had drifted out of the view of Zang Feng and the other two...

Half an hour later, beneath a giant cedar.

The three-tailed giant scorpion, now with only one pair of walking legs, furiously waved its two massive pincers; the severed joints oozed thick, disgusting dark-green fluid.

The three-tailed giant scorpion had lost all capacity for offensive action—it was surely doomed—but Cang Luo had no intention of killing it yet. It made an excellent training partner.

Cang Luo circled behind the scorpion and, with immense effort, severed its three tails, then carefully cut off and stored the tail hooks.

Cang Luo thought the tail hooks could be made into flying claws—he wouldn’t waste them.

After removing the scorpion’s greatest threats, Cang Luo stepped before it, staring at its hissing mouthparts and six eyes filled with despair, thinking of the saying: “Others are the butcher’s knife and cutting board; I am the fish and meat.”

Cang Luo would never be the fish and meat—he would risk his life to avoid it!

The three-tailed giant scorpion longed to tear the human before it into a thousand pieces, but it could no longer do so.

Nearly all four pairs of walking legs had been severed; it had lost all mobility.

All three tails had been cut off, stripping it of its deadly weapons; only its two pincers flailed uselessly in the air, trying to strike Cang Luo.

Cang Luo snorted, set his iron sword aside, then activated Thunderclap Palm and slammed it hard against the scorpion’s pincers.

One man, one beast—hand against pincer—they fought desperately.

This was dangerous; one misstep could mean his arm crushed—but this was exactly what Cang Luo wanted.

Cang Luo sought to forge himself in life-and-death trials, to strengthen his cultivation.

Yet Cang Luo, lost in training with the three-tailed giant scorpion, did not notice another battlefield two hundred meters away.

Zang Feng and Liu and Li were now in peril...